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RED’s latest Hydrogen One device recently had a troubling rollout. Jim Jannard, the founder of the company has offered a partial explanation for the issue while announcing initial details for the successor of the device. In the post covered at H4Vuser.net, which is a Hydrogen-focused website, Jannard actually blamed the unnamed ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) of Hydrogen One based in China. The CEO blamed that this Chinese manufacturer had significantly under-performed while making it almost impossible to renovate the issue with this phone.
Now, Jannard has shifted his attention to the upcoming successor of Hydrogen One named as Hydrogen Two. He is also focused on the camera module which was long-promised to function on both the phones. The Hydrogen Two device is now being designed right from scratch with a partnership established with new ODM which is clearly capable of supporting and building a product demanded by the company and its customers.
Meanwhile, the company RED by itself is working on its camera’s cinema module. This is since the last ODM wasn’t capable of competently completing the module which they had committed to providing with a guarantee as well. The latest module has been termed as Komodo & its capability shall supposedly include features that vastly exceed the existing one. Jannard also mentioned that it won’t be a match for the existing top-notch RED cameras. However, it is meant to serve as a complementary camera designed to capture cinema-grade images with the highest of quality at the lowest possible price.
The owners for Hydrogen One shall get a “Major Preferential Treatment” for their Hydrogen Two as well as the orders for the camera module, mentioned Jannard. This includes an undefined discount. As of now, the company has provided no commentary on when any of the products shall land in the market.
The company’s much-hyped Hydrogen One device actually received demotivating reviews when it was released in the market last year. The reviews noted that the screen of the phone was actually of poor quality, the photo features of its headline camera were also disappointing. Users also stated that the software in the camera was particularly rough around its edges. However, Jim Jannard stated that this wasn’t a fault of the company but of the manufacturers. Not just that, the phone’s fingerprint sensors broke down every now and then. Hydrogen One was also termed by Mashable as “Worst Tech-Product for the year 2018”.


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The deal was finalized between Yanolja, the Korean travel-leisure platform, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2 as the latter invested $1.7 billion in the former. Also, Yanolja strengthens its data security with Query Pie. BMQ & Korea International Trade Association (KITA), Naver Cloud & Ministry of SMEs, and Startups announce acceleration programs for Korean startups. Check some interesting news from the Korean startup ecosystem.
Source: Korea Herald
Travel and leisure platform operator Yanolja completed a $1.7 billion investment round by sole investor SoftBank Vision Fund 2, the company said on Thursday.
Yanolja said the company will use the proceeds to scale digital transformation of the global travel and hospitality industry and expand its technology offerings in new markets.
The company plans to build and operate an advanced global travel platform by enhancing its automated solutions using artificial intelligence and personalized offerings based on big data, in line with its expansion of its cloud-based hospitality solutions business.
“Powered by (artificial intelligence), we believe Yanolja is a leader in transforming the travel and leisure industry in South Korea through its Travel Super App approach,” Greg Moon, managing partner at SoftBank Investment…

domain: news


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Aahar is a business-to-business event for the culinary and hospitality industry. Many young entrepreneurs and small company owners attend the Aahar trade expo in search of creative ways to help them build their enterprises or put their ideas into action.
Consumers began increasing purchases online during the pandemic, generating significant demand for the eCommerce business. Digistik, Sai Com Codes Flexoprint’s new digital branch, was created to serve businesses of all sizes, particularly startups and SMEs.
Digistik at the Aahar served labels for food and beverages, pharmaceutical, nutraceuticals, cosmetics and liquor markets. “Through this show, we want to reach out to these budding groups of professionals to help and educate them about the attractive benefits of digital label printing technology,” said Harish Gupta, managing director of Digistik.
A connecting ground for all at Aahar
Digistik’s participation in Aahar was to create awareness about the benefits and beauty of digital label printing. “For us as a company, there is a long road ahead with digital,” said Priyanka Verma, senior manager of Media and Marketing, Digistik.
Understanding the different varieties of substrates available in the market, their suitability and application for a certain segment of products, experimenting with varying ideas of design and colors to create an innovative label is still a miss by customers. Without understanding the product label requirements and the environmental challenges it endured, it isn’t easy to enjoy digital label printing’s exceptional and unconventional benefits. “When you need labels immediately, digital printing is your best friend,” said Verma.
Inquiries at the stand
Gupta mentioned, “We are a startup for startups. In the past three days, we have met many startup owners who want to explore and understand more about the advantages of digital labels and are keenly interested in finding the right digital label printing partner for their business. Change is inevitable and continuous expansion is necessary for the growth of any organization.”
The company’s mission is to help businesses grow big by introducing them to the world of digital printing. The product and packaging labeling solutions gave them a competitive advantage. “With a small investment, the customer can get high-quality graphics with multiple finishes and embellishments. No minimum order quantity requirement is another plus,” added Verma.
Verma further added, “Startups and small businesses enjoy the flexibility of getting labels on-demand without stock keeping.”
Customers now with more versatility may easily personalize their labels, introducing limited-edition packaging and personalization to the market, which was never a part of their previous brand-building strategy.
Every product which is available on the shelf is packed and labelled. Today a label is not just a label. It is a strong magnet which pulls the customers towards your product,” said Gupta.


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RSA said its profit jumped by a quarter as the general insurer benefitted from strong trading in the UK and Scandinavia.
It said annual operating profit lifted 25% to £655m compared to 12 months ago, as the group comes to the end of a three-year turnaround programme.
The FTSE 100 business, which runs the More Than brand in the UK, also turned in a record underwriting profit leaping 73% to £380m in the period. Shares lifted more than 4% to 602.5p in early trading.
RSA is run by former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Stephen Hester who has streamlined the group since he took the helm in 2014, after a £200m black hole was found in its Irish business.
Chief executive Hester said: "In 2016 RSA took major strides forward, moving seamlessly from 'successful turnaround' to organic outperformance.
"Our ambition now is to drive RSA's performance towards 'best in class' levels. Industry and financial market conditions will remain tough.
"We plan to outperform through continuing self-help measures on customer service, underwriting and costs."
The group said its Scandinavia operations in Norway and Denmark contributed £311m to operating profit, while the UK accounted for £259m.
Hester said: "2016 was a year of volatile financial markets, testing both capital resilience and profits."
But he also added that the lower pound since June Brexit vote had helped the group as around 70% of its operating profit is earned outside the UK.
Under Hester RSA sold off a number of international units in Latin America and Russia, and focused on key markets in the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia and Canada.


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HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- If you're looking for the perfect camp for your child this summer, Microsoft is offering a free camp.
The Microsoft store in Houston is providing free summer camps that will help students engage in STEM topics.
Children of all ages will get the opportunity to learn how to create their own video games and learn how to code by their favorite wizard from Harry Potter.
"Parents should really take advantage of these free camps because it really brings our children into STEM, and it allows them to grow their knowledge base, especially during a time of summer technology," Microsoft store manager, Leonard Caudillo, said. "It's a great opportunity to keep their children engaged and learning."
The two hour camp will take place everyday starting at 10:30 a.m. at the Microsoft store in the Galleria, Baybrook and The Woodlands. Parents must be present during the entire course.
To register your child, visit the Microsoft website.
Make your own video game at free Microsoft store summer camps
More TOP STORIES News


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WESTON, Fla., Sept. 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bang Energy has prevailed yet again in court against Monster Energy in the Netherlands. On September 5, 2019, a Dutch district court found that Monster had acted unlawfully towards Bang Energy by disseminating public communications, including letters to Bang Energy’s customers, containing false allegations about Bang Energy and its products. The court held that, contrary to what Monster had alleged, BANG® energy drinks are freely available in the EU. The court held also that Monster had wrongfully suggested that in prior litigation between Monster and Bang Energy an injunction would have been granted against the marketing of BANG® energy drinks when, in fact, the prior court said no such thing and instead denied the majority of Monster’s claims, finding Monster to be the losing party. Separate press releases about this prior litigation are available here (May 10, 2019 press release) and here (May 23, 2019 press release).
In the present action, the court found Monster’s allegations particularly damaging to Bang Energy, since Bang Energy has just entered the EU market and is starting to conquer market share from traditional high-sugar energy drinks, such as those of Monster. Monster has been forbidden to make such allegations again on pain of a hefty monetary penalty. Monster also was ordered to inform Bang Energy of all recipients of Monster’s unlawful letters, so that Bang can rectify Monster’s false and misleading statements.
A translation of the recent Dutch ruling is available at Bang Energy’s European website, https://bangenergy.eu/.
Bang Energy is represented in this lawsuit by VPX’s in-house attorneys, Marc J. Kesten, Frank Massabki, and Matthew Davidson, and its outside Dutch counsel, Gregor Vos and Darya Bondarchuk, of Brinkhof N.V., a specialist law firm based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
For further information about this action, please contact VPX’s General Counsel, Marc J. Kesten, Esq., at Legal@vpxsports.com, or (954) 641-0570.
About Vital Pharmaceuticals, Inc., d/b/a VPX Sports (“VPX”), and as Bang Energy:
VPX has been producing epic performance beverages and sports nutrition products for more than 27 years. The company is unrelenting in its pursuit of creating trendsetting inventions that enhance both physical appearance and physical performance. These innovations, including BANG® ENERGY DRINK, are backed by 28 landmark, human-subject studies at UCLA, University of South Alabama, Florida State University, Baylor, University of Southern Maine, Memphis University, College of New Jersey, FIU, Nova University, and other top universities. Likewise, Bang Energy’s cutting-edge marketing, advanced distribution systems, and meteoric growth have been featured by prestigious news and business research outlets such as Forbes and Wells Fargo. BANG® is sold in iconic retailers such as 7 Eleven, Publix, and Walmart in the United States; it is the #1 selling beverage of all time in two of the world’s largest health food retailers (GNC and The Vitamin Shoppe); and, it is also the #1 selling beverage of the world’s largest sports nutrition distributor, Europa Sports Products. Bang Energy is led by the world's leading authority, author, and developer of performance-enhancing supplementation and physique-altering nutrition—Founder and CEO, Jack Owoc. For daily trendsetting fun and business updates, stay connected by following Jack Owoc on Instagram: @BangEnergy.CEO.
Please also visit Bang Energy’s U.S. website, https://bang-energy.com/ , and European website, https://bangenergy.eu/ , to follow the company’s growth and on Instagram at @ BangEnergy and @BangEnergy.EU for continuous updates, workout tips, and supplement research.


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Shares of Capri Holdings (CPRI -0.13%), which owns the high-end Versace, Jimmy Choo, and Michael Kors labels, rose a swift 14.9% as trading began on Wednesday. The big move was likely driven by the company's fiscal third-quarter 2022 earnings release, which hit the market before it opened. But by roughly 10 a.m. ET today, the gain had already started to wither away, with the stock having given back about half of its earlier advance.
Capri Holdings reported fiscal third-quarter 2022 sales of $1.61 billion, up 24% from the same period of fiscal 2021. Notably, that was up slightly from the $1.57 billion it brought in during the fiscal third quarter of 2020, before the pandemic. All in, it looks like the company has returned to a more normal level of sales. The top line also beat management expectations, with growth at all three of its luxury brands.
On the bottom line, adjusted earnings per share (EPS) were $2.22 in the quarter, compared to $1.65 in the prior year. Analysts had been calling for $1.69 per share, so this was a notable beat. It's little wonder that investors bid the stock higher. Adding to the excitement, Capri Holdings also increased its full-year fiscal 2022 guidance: It is now targeting EPS of around $6, up from the $5.30 it was looking for just a quarter ago.
The news wasn't all good, however, which might be why the early gains didn't stick. For example, management highlighted a 400-basis-point gross margin headwind because of rising supply chain costs. And it noted that inventory levels at its stores have been lower than planned because of supply chain constraints, leaving it with a material amount of inventory "in transit." The luxury retailer stated that it lost out on sales during the quarter. The risks posed by inflation and supply chain issues are high on investors' minds today, so it's not too shocking that these issues might temper the initial burst of enthusiasm.
All in, Capri Holdings had a pretty good quarter, and it looks like it has managed to come back from the pandemic hit. But it isn't free and clear from the lingering impacts of inflation and the still-worrying global supply chain chaos. So it makes sense that investors were upbeat here, but it also seems logical that the early excitement didn't hold.


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Local Businesses to UAlbany Kids: “Change Out of Your Pajamas!”
By Fred Furnace
Published January 24th, 2016
Students wearing pajamas in public / State Quad — UAlbany (Photo by Matt Wade)
ALBANY — A growing number of area merchants say they’ve had it with college kids venturing out in the morning and into their businesses while still wearing their pajama bottoms, adding they will introduce a “zero tolerance” policy prohibiting PJs in their establishments.
“It’s become an epidemic,” said Nigel Jones, owner of a bagel shop on Western Avenue near the SUNY campus. Jones says his shop is "overrun" on weekends with college girls still wearing their pajama pants.
“Ten years ago, it was maybe one or two college girls a weekend,” Jones said. “But these days, the kids just roll out of bed and head straight out for breakfast. They don’t even have the sense to change out of their damn pajamas.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty gross,” agreed Jana Smith, who owns a nearby bakery. “There is nothing charming about an unwashed college girl wearing Minnie Mouse PJs in public. It’s like they don't bother to make any effort at all.”
A recent Gallup poll found a whopping 89 percent of UAlbany co-eds ventured out for breakfast at least once last semester while wearing their pajamas. In light of the local “pajama epidemic,” a consortium of local shop owners determined a “no pajamas” policy was necessary. It will go into effect this weekend, they said.
“If the university won’t do anything about this problem, then we have no choice but to take matters into our hands,” said Jones, who estimates his bagel shop could lose 75 percent of its revenue as a result of the initiative.
Still, he said, “What’s right is right.”
“It’s bad enough we have to post signs that say: ‘No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service,’” said Deborah Martin, who operates a convenience store on Washington Avenue. “I never would have imagined we would also need to remind people to change out of their damn pajama pants. But that’s the crazy world we live in now, I guess.”


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Index Awards honor innovative design
A Web site designed to help the working poor borrow money and the makers of a clean-energy system for electric vehicles were among the five winners of Denmark's biennial Index design awards announced Friday in Copenhagen.
The two Bay Area winners are Kiva.org, a system that brings money and intellectual capital to the working poor, and Better Place, a clean-energy system for all-electric vehicles.
Since its inception in 2005, the juried competition's large cash prizes for designs that improve life have attracted talent from energy and resource conservation-conscious regions like the Bay Area.
Index's 100,000-euro prizes (about $43,000) in five categories - home, body, work, play and community - have included 2005 winner Life Straw, a water-purifying device that has helped to reduce deaths from contaminated water in Africa, and a cheap yet effective prosthesis for feet destroyed by land mines, a winner in 2007.
This year, of the 720 nominations from 54 countries, the 69 finalists included 10 from the Bay Area.
"That's a huge testament to the area's creativity," says former CNN news anchor Porter Anderson, who now represents Index.
Community category winner Better Place, a Palo Alto battery-charged system for cars inspired by Israeli Shai Agassi, and work category winner Kiva.org, a micro-lending Web site led by Matt Flannery and Premal Shah in San Francisco, are testimony to Anderson's claim.
Agassi and Shah were joined at Friday's ceremony by John Hutchinson, whose Freeplay fetal heart rate monitor won the body category award; Stefano Marzano, CEO of the Dutch company Philip Design, whose India-based team designed the home category winner, Chulha, a safe kitchen stove for one-room homes; and Rotterdam's Christien Meindertsma, who won the play category for her Pig 05049, a list of the 185 good and bad products made from a single pig. Such playful studies will help people choose what they buy - or boycott.
Microlending gives hope to world's working poor
Kiva.org, winner of the Index design award in the work category, is a microlending Web site based in San Francisco's Mission District and is the brainchild of two young Stanford graduates, Matt Flannery and Premal Shah. In short, it's a message board for individuals with extra money and entrepreneurs who need small loans.
The working poor rarely have access to capital because traditional lenders don't know them. Personal photos and stories posted on Kiva's site make a tailor in Ghana, a goat herder in Uganda or a barber in New York City visible.
With the click of a mouse, Kiva's bulletin board morphs into an interactive person-to-person lending window where money, monitored through Kiva's banking or nongovernmental organization partners, moves around the globe. For its role, Kiva sometimes receives donations for each transaction.
"We make moving money simple," says Shah, who since 2005 has watched the current version of Kiva handle nearly $90 million in loans, ranging from $25 to $500,000 each. Kiva grew out of the discontinued micro-investment model he designed for eBay's PayPal, where he was a financial products manager, and Flannery's more viable nonprofit version, which Shah discovered on a blog.
"We were two people with nearly the same idea, but we didn't know each other," says Flannery, 32, a former software programmer for TiVo.
Kiva, Swahili for "agreement," was conceived in 2004 when Flannery traveled through Kenya and Tanzania with his then-wife, Jessica Jackley, who was working there on behalf of Village Enterprise Fund, a Bay Area charity. The couple's observations of poor working people altered their notions of giving. Flannery finally understood what Bangladeshi Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus - founder of the first microcredit organization, Grameen Bank - described during a 2003 talk at Stanford: Small loans offer dignity and motivate recipients more than outright donations.
Flannery decided to promote humane lending - not giving - to help people in East Africa.
After a year of planning he had a nonprofit Web site ready for testing. One weekend, invited friends and family successfully funded $3,500 to seven featured entrepreneurs in Tororo, Uganda. Most eventually got their money back to fund again.
"For months we had just our mailing list using the site, but one day a stranger appeared," Flannery said. It was Shah.
Shah saw Kiva's potential beyond East Africa.
"I suggested to Matt that we should merge our plans and go global," Shah recalls. He was also able to persuade PayPal to process online transactions without fees. Now Ernst & Young, Google, Yahoo, American Express, YouTube, Intel, Facebook, Lenovo and Purex also support Kiva.
Why? "Ninety-eight percent of our loans have had no defaults," Flannery says. And Kiva makes transactions less intimidating.
"I think of Kiva as an Internet phenomenon like Wikipedia," says Shah, who simplified the design of the lender page for Kiva.
"Wikipedia democratizes information. Kiva democratizes capital for everyone who works for a living," he says.
Now it's not just the developing world that is borrowing.
"People in San Jose and San Francisco are finding money in other places," says Flannery. "Africans are lending to Americans."
Making electric cars viable
Better Place, the Palo Alto winner of the Index design award in the community category, was founded in 2007 by Shai Agassi, 41. The former executive at software company SAP was inspired by a question posed at the 2005 World Economic Forum: "How do you make the world a better place by 2020?"
His answer? A visionary system to supply cars with electrical power as easily as gas.
"That's what it will take to shift from gas consumption to clean, renewable and uniformly priced electric power for cars," he says.
Agassi's plan involves highway stations for exchanging removable batteries for long-distance driving, and ubiquitous charging "hydrants" in parking lots, garages and driveways that can automatically scan coded chips in subscriber cars before dispensing electricity.
The blue and white objects of the system - charging spots, cables and other accessories - have been designed by Gadi Amit of San Francisco's New Deal Design. The zero-emission electric car that will plug into this system is being developed by the Renault-Nissan Alliance.
Agassi, the brain behind the entire project, shuttles between Los Gatos, where he has a home, and an area just north of Tel Aviv, where Better Place's research and development prototype is already humming.
From its observations in Israel, Renault-Nissan learned to design shorter (and therefore less expensive) charge cables to connect to sockets on the front sides of the electric car (only volatile gas tanks need to be in the rear). A battery-switching station prototype funded by the Japanese government is testing a robotic arm to change batteries, to be used first in Israel.
By 2010, Agassi will implement such tested ideas in Canada, Australia and Denmark.
In Hawaii and later in the Bay Area, with the help of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and others, he expects to have a Better Place infrastructure by 2012.
Agassi describes the idea as game changing.
"We've not just designed a product. We've reimagined an integrated market and the products required for it. It is a new business model, a new brand, a pricing packet and a new ecosystem," Agassi says. "Ford's Model T was the last true innovation in vehicular design. That was a hundred years ago."
With Better Place's convenience and affordability, Agassi hopes electric vehicles (EVs) will make gas-powered cars obsolete.
"We are not in competition with other EVs. We are in competition with oil," he says.


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LVMH reinforces 24S ecommerce and goes into men’s fashion
The electronic commerce platform or the luxury conglomerate, launched two years ago, has presence in more than one-hundred markets and distributes about two-hundred brands.
LVMH boosts the 24S ecommerce. The luxury French giant’s electronic commerce platform has reinforced its business line with the incorporation of men’s fashion brands to its offer.
Among the new firms that the group will incorporate are Balenciaga, Fendi, Gucci, Off-White or Acne Studios, as well as Dior or Céline. “Launching men’s fashion is part of our strategic plan because it is a natural evolution of our business”, has explained Eric Goguey, general director of the platform.
This move comes after the change of name of the platform, from 24 Sèvres to 24S, last May. The objective was to facilitate the identification of the company at an international scale to accelerate the platform develop in the foreign markets in which operates, according to what LVMH explained.
The platform, which was launched two years ago within the French group, has presence in more than one-hundred markets and distributes about two-hundred brands, including LVMH’s firms like Louis Vuitton or Céline, among others.
The French conglomerate ended the first quarter of the exercise of 2019 with sales of 12,538 million euros, 15.5% more than in the same period of the previous year.
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Chandane told The Asian Age on Wednesday that, there were many reasons for the fall in prices.
Nashik: Pomegranate prices have dropped to Rs15 per kg as orchards are holding distress sales, with prices of all fruits having dropped due to bumper harvests and overproduction. The pomegranate production this year has increased by nearly 200,000 to 250,000 tonne to touch a total of 18,00,000 tonne, according to Prabhakar Chandane, president of the Pomegranate Growers Association of India.
Mr Chandane told The Asian Age on Wednesday that, there were many reasons for the fall in prices. The first being an increase in production because more orchards had come up in Maharashtra and now, production had begun even in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
“In Karnataka, the trend is growing and more orchards are coming up. In short, the area under cultivation is increasing by 15 to 20 per cent annually.
Presently, Maharashtra leads in pomegranate cultivation with approximately 175,000 hectare and other states totalling 30,000 to 40,000 hectare. Solapur is the largest producer followed by Nashik and Sangli,” he said.
Outlining the second reason, Mr Chandane said that inclement weather, including unseasonal rain, had caused spoilage of some fruits though there were fewer reports of oily stains on the rind. “The third reason is that there is a bumper harvest of other fruits. Grape prices are down to Rs 12 per kg. Oranges too are in abundant supply and are flooding the markets. Now, according to reports, there is a heavy harvest of mangoes and low prices of pomegranates are likely to continue this month,” he said.
Mr Chandane said that the fourth reason was less export demand. The European markets were saturated with heavy arrival of pomegranate and grapes from Peru, Chile and South Africa, effectively stopping Indian exports to European markets.
Exporter Sheetal Chandane of Sangola Agro Solapur said that about 100 containers of pomegranate had been exported to Europe from December 2016 to March 2017. “Now, some exports are continuing to Dubai and Bangladesh,” he said.


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2021 was Great!
Since GFR Fund has been launched, it will be in its seventh year in 2022. To date, we have invested in more than 50 companies, and our portfolio has shown impressive growth. In particular, last year was a very good year with RTFKT being acquired by Nike. Globally, we witnessed an active year in terms of investment, with $621B invested worldwide, which is an exponential 111% growth over the $294B invested in 2020. The investment climate for startups continues to be a favorable one. ( 'State Of Venture 2021 Report
' CB Insights)
In 2022, GFR Fund will continue to look at the Entertainment x Consumer space, with a focus on Seed & Series A. Although the domain remains largely the same, the market sentiment and trend towards consumer entertainment has evolved significantly amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, gaming, creator economy, and NFT/Blockchain are three sectors that have transformed radically due to the pandemic.
Although gaming was a major sector even before the pandemic, it remains to be one of the sectors that has grown most exponentially in 2020 and 2021. Not only were there more stay-home opportunities due to the global health crisis, rise in trends such as the Metaverse, NFT, Web 3.0 that is compatible with gaming have facilitated the boom in the gaming sector. Roblox and other UGC-type platforms are also gaining momentum, especially among the Gen Zs.
The Creator Economy
The creator economy is another sector that thrived in 2020 and 2021. Like gaming, it is a sector that has benefited from the lockdowns as many people had to scramble to look for alternative sources of income. As creators become increasingly active, many startups like Patreon (raised $155M in April 2021 with a market cap of $4B, TechCrunch) have emerged to support creators. We believe that the market for creators will continue to grow.
The intersection of Blockchain technology and entertainment is one of the most exciting spaces in 2021. With the resounding success of Axie Infinity and RTFTK, startups are flooding into the market one after another. NFT auction marketplace OpenSea raised $300M in Series C funding ($13.3B market cap), a ballooning valuation up from $1.5B just 6 months ago. This is indicative of huge volume growth of NFT transactions. On the other hand, there are a number of startups hopping on the trend and entering the market, making this a highly competitive sector.
There are many other sectors that have grown throughout 2020 and 2021. For example, we have seen significant changes in XR, eSports, Media, Fintech, and Marketplace. As the pandemic has inevitably remodelled the new normal for entertainment, we believe that more seeds of innovation will continue to be planted in 2022. I believe we will see stronger startup growth than ever before. On the other hand, we may see a slight slowdown in the investment climate, with the IPO market showing some signs of slowing down. Nonetheless, we look forward to seeing people and products that continue to weather the storm and come out the other side, stronger than before.
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Dutch airline KLM uses an AI-powered bot to address low-level customer concerns via Facebook Messenger. It will be interesting to see how Google integrates Vark’s technology into its social efforts and the widely rumored competitor to Facebook it’s said to be working on. In this article, I’ll offer an overview of the current state of conversational AI, the no-code movement, and ways the latter is likely to shape the future of this technology. We’re — there’s also on the innovation side, there’s just a lot on the AI, when you think about what it’s going to do, it’s going to free up capacity. And if you look at your models, that wasn’t going to happen until somewhere probably toward the third quarter next year or a year or so. So it’s a positive sign that we’re adapting to this new normal and finding ways to grow despite having that same option for in-person marketing as we did last year. The enterprise — I mean, we have initiatives that’s been going on for — since we gave a year or two to make the platform so we can land it and then it can even in our businesses and the people internally could use it and expand it without us having to do a sales or implementation process, which is happening today.
York University reported 761 questions in October 2003, up from 298 in 2002 but even at that rate, virtual reference accounts for less than 6 percent of the 155,000 or so questions that York libraries handle with more traditional means. This replacement of humans with machines may pick up more speed in coming months as companies move from survival mode to figuring out how to operate while the pandemic drags on. You know We had a, you know, our issues but things worked out fine, then you know, it was a nightmare. And so we’re able to power those things. As long as you live like you don’t have reverse and you’re driving forward and you’re able to divert around things and you don’t look backwards. This example I talked about, this marketplace that we set up is the customer who runs this marketplace literally presses the button and 1,000 of their customers go live on a conversational front end, and they have automation automatically created at the same time. Time to revenues, signed the contract and however long the implementation takes, call it three to six weeks.
So, the $150 million of bookings that you referenced, just to be clear, is that total contract value? We’re going to have $100 million quarter coming up in Q4. So here we have some stuff going on with that right now. Is the cost sort of the acquisition cost to the customer going to come down or coming down dramatically, then I know those events you did were a real high end, serious VIP events as you’ve gone fully digital, radical transformation in the cost of customer acquisition here? And we’ve seen both the demand for those events and the pipe generated from those events increased throughout the year, including quarter-over-quarter in Q3. I know the initial surge did cause some disruption, but also drove a big surge in demand for you as well. And so we are working to fill the gap of the demand of conversations and digitizing with AI. Some customers are trying to get them back running, but completely working from home, it’s a challenge. “Think ‘show’ instead of ‘tell’ whenever possible: share YouTube videos of a talk you led or a link to a working application you created,” adds Nash. The move will help enable millions of consumers to avoid the frustrating experience of legacy, voice-based customer support, which requires them to dial an 800 number, wait on hold, then talk to an agent, and often multiple agents over multiple phone calls.
You’re buying a ring, an engagement ring, you want to talk to somebody, and you want to do it in a digital format. People want to move fast and want to get on the stuff and get done. The stuff we’re doing with Lowe’s massive amount of retail volume and Conversational AI with them. If I look at my visions they like where how we should be doing Conversational Commerce. If I look at my visions they like where — how we should be doing conversational commerce. And, you know, that for me was, you know, that just wasn’t what I was doing. We hit our 25%, we hit our 25% growth rate this year. Obviously, the growth rate is only as meaningful as its base. I guess just looking across your customer base in respect to the ELA and CPI deals. And in this quarter, if you’re looking at deferred, I mean, I think it’s helpful to note that we did have large deals signed that were not — that didn’t come with upfront annual payments. Is it — I mean, just one follow-up there. But Rob, as you look forward to the next one or two years, what are the key drivers for — to sustain this kind of growth?


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Well, according to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Congress will consider the proposed plug-in point-of-purchase rebate as part of changes to U.S. tax and energy policy for 2012. LaHood, who was touring Nissan's Smyrna, TN facility on Tuesday, told those in attendance:
Under current policy, consumers who buy qualifying vehicles like the Nissan Leaf or the Chevrolet Volt receive a $7,500 credit when they file their federal income tax returns. LaHood says that the Obama Administration firmly believes that allowing dealers to handle the incentive as an immediate rebate will entice consumers and, hopefully, convince them to buy plug-in vehicles.We're doing a lot of talking about it. When you give people that incentive to buy a battery-powered car, they'll do it. We know these incentives help.


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Overland Park, KS, November 22, 2016 —John Carr, President and CEO of MIQ Logistics, was featured in Ingram’s Magazine Listing of The 250 Most Powerful Business Leaders in the Kansas City Area. Each year, 250 leaders in business are selected out of the approximately 2.8 million people in the Greater Kansas City Metropolitan Area.
American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted (SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index contracted 0.3% in October, following a 6.3% drop during September (a downward revision from our press release last month). In October, the index equaled 131.6 (2000=100), down from 131.9 in September. The all-time high was 144 in February.
Sales. The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that the combined value of distributive trade sales and manufacturers’ shipments for September, adjusted for seasonal and trading-day differences but not for price changes, was estimated at $1,314.6 billion, up 0.7 percent (±0.2%) from August 2016 and was up 0.8 percent (±0.4%) from September 2015.
The November 2016 Logistics Link contains industry news and recent MIQ Logistics updates.
As part of a recent video series, Paul Fitzpatrick, Managing Director of Global Trade Management, discusses key point regarding the “Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015.”
Back in December 9, 2015 Congress reached a final agreement on H.R. 644, the “Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015.” The bipartisan, bicameral trade legislation was created to authorize U.S. Customs and Border Protection to put in place effective tools to: (a) strengthen trade enforcement at the border; and, (b) facilitate the efficient movement of legitimate trade and travel. The Bill went to the President for signature, was signed, and a statement was released by The White House Press Secretary on February 24, 2016.
Source: National Retail Federation
With the holiday shopping season officially under way, imports at the nation’s major retail container ports are expected to be up 4.4 percent this month over the same time last year and should see a slightly larger increase next month, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.
Paul Fitzpatrick, MIQ Managing Director of Global Trade Management, recently presented on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and other trade agreements.
The TPP is a trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim countries signed on February 4, 2016 in Auckland, New Zealand after 7 years of negotiations. The TPP will create the world’s largest free-trade zone. The countries within its scope account for 40% of the world’s economic output. The Agreement will not enter into force until ratified by the respective governments.
OVERLAND PARK, Kan., November 7, 2016 – MIQ Logistics was recently listed on the Top 100 U.S. Domestic Transportation Management (DTM) and Freight Broker list from Armstrong & Associates. MIQ Logistics ranks 35th on the listing for the second year in a row.
“The U.S. LEI increased in September, reversing its August decline, which together with the pickup in the six-month growth rate suggests that the economy should continue expanding at a moderate pace through early 2017,” said Ataman Ozyildirim, Director of Business Cycles and Growth Research at The Conference Board. “Housing permits, unemployment insurance claims, and the interest rate spread were the main components lifting the index in September. Overall, the strengths among the leading indicators are outweighing modest weaknesses in stock prices and the average workweek.” – The Conference Board
Andy Martin, MIQ Vice President & Managing Director of EMEA, was featured in the September 2016 issue of Forwarder Magazine. In the article, Martin talks about how he started at MIQ Logistics, as well as what the future holds for the company.
“In 1993 I joined Ultimex Global Logistics,” Martin says. “By 1998 the owners’ vision was paying off. Ultimex had grown considerably and was attracting a lot of attention from perspective buyers. In 2010 the senior global leadership team partnered with venture capitalists Austin Ventures to buy the business; rebranding as MIQ Logistics and retaining many original colleagues globally.”


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Australian environmental flooring company, Style Plantation is planning to expand its production base to other parts of the world with a unique transportable strand woven factory.
Style Plantation’s transportable strand woven factory is an innovative technological development and can be installed to existing wood finishing factories anywhere in the world to manufacture strand woven products using locally available soft wood species as input material.
Using locally available materials would enable the manufacture of an entirely new range of strand woven wood products, based on domestic soft wood species such as Poplar, Australian Blue Gum, Oak and Hickory.
Until now, Style Plantation’s strand woven products have only been manufactured in China because the existing labour-intensive manufacturing process could not be replicated outside China due to raw material sourcing and manufacturing cost issues.
The ‘mobile’ manufacturing factory is a result of a 12-month research program undertaken by Style in partnership with Flinders University’s Molecular Technologies Research Centre in Adelaide, South Australia and partly funded by the Australian Federal Government.
According to Style’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Peter Torreele, the research has resulted in the development of a unique model for an exportable and economically viable manufacturing cell to produce strand woven products outside of China, by designing a highly automated international block factory with a similar cost base to China.
Mr Torreele explains that the new transportable strand woven factory model has been designed as an ‘add-on module’ to existing wood flooring finishing factories anywhere in the world. The company is currently in discussion with wood flooring manufacturers to form strategic partnerships for licensing of this patented technology, thereby creating a new revenue stream for Style Plantation.
This latest technological breakthrough will allow Style to increase its global market share of the strand woven flooring market.
A world leader in green strand woven technology, the Melbourne-based Style introduced strand woven flooring products in 2004.
Strand woven flooring products are increasingly being adopted in interior design projects, gaining mainstream appeal as the ‘green alternative to exotic hardwoods’. Additionally, increasing consumer demand has created a vast ‘green building’ market for sustainable design and construction products.


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Published Jun 25, 2009Despite the economic crisis, rock nerds are spending more money than many of us can even imagine having as disposable income on cool rock rarities. And, because we're rock nerds, too, we love reading about it.
Earlier this week, Christie's had one of their pop culture auctions, this time featuring several items that had rock buffs drooling - and forking over the dough.
According to Rolling Stone, the biggest of the big-ticket items was a Sears bass that Kurt Cobain used to record early demos with pre-Nirvana bands like Fecal Matter. Purchase price: $43,750.
Also bought for way too much money was a Beatles fan club poster signed by all four Beatles, which went for $52,000; two notebooks that original AC/DC screamer Bon Scott wrote lyrics in, for $35,000; a "dirty piece of paper" that Bob Dylan wrote some of the lyrics to "With God on Our Side" on, which went for $25,000; a Tokai Stratocaster which Stevie Ray Vaughn once owned, which someone paid $22,500 for.
There were other items sold, such as letters between a young Jimmy Page and an American pen pal ($12,500) and more hand-written Bob Dylan lyrics (also $12,500). But perhaps most surprisingly was a series of autographed Alice in Chains promo pictures; they went for $4,375.


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The Birmingham, Alabama-based sportswear retailer reported a 21.4% decrease in net sales for the first quarter on Tuesday, as a peak in online revenues helped to temper declines related to temporary store closures.
As the Ferragamo family steps down from its executive roles, the Florentine label has appointed Michele Norsa, who led the company from 2006 to 2016, as executive deputy chairman, alongside CEO Micaela le Divelec Lemmi.
Few fashion designers have had as much impact in the past three decades as Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. With FashionNetwork.com the duo discuss DGfattoincasa; handling the lockdown and their next runway steps
Facebook Inc's Instagram app on Wednesday rolled out new tools enabling people to make money off the videos they post, as it competes for creative talent in an increasingly crowded market for mobile video content.
India's antitrust body is looking into allegations that Alphabet Inc's Google is abusing its market position to unfairly promote its mobile payments app in the country, five sources familiar with the case said.
Hong Kong's biggest retailer association has urged the local government to protect tenants from legal action or eviction even if they are unable to pay rent due to the impact of protests and virus restrictions.


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Burrito lovers can celebrate National Burrito Day on April 1 with the chance to win a Chipotle burrito or some Bitcoin.
Chipotle Bitcoin or burrito contest winners
Three lucky winners will receive a $25,000 Bitcoin prize, while another 50 “fans” will win $500 in Bitcoin. The popular restaurant chain will also give away 10,000 free burritos.
"National Burrito Day is a huge moment for Chipotle as our fans traditionally flock to our restaurants and digital platforms to order their favorites," said Chipotle’s chief marketing officer Chris Brandt. "We're always looking for unique ways to enhance the celebration, and this year, we're giving fans the opportunity to acquire two highly valuable assets: Burritos or Bitcoin."
Hopefully, the contest isn’t an April Fool’s hoax like Volkswagen’s recent announcement that it was changing its name to Voltswagen.
Chipotle partners with Stefan Thomas for Burrito or Bitcoin game
The fast-casual Tex Mex chain is teaming up on the contest with Coil founder and CEO Stefan Thomas. Thomas famously lost access to $387 million in Bitcoin earlier this year when he forgot the login to the hard drive that stored his Bitcoin and he used up all 10 allowed attempts to gain access.
How to play “Burritos or Bitcoin”
For a chance to win the Bitcoin, customers need to go online to play an interactive game called "Burritos or Bitcoin." The players go on a mock "chiptocurrency" rescue mission and crack the code on a digital wallet that contains the Bitcoin. The game is a playful jab at Thomas's experience.
Each player will have 10 tries to guess a valid six-digit code for a chance to win a free burrito or Bitcoin. If players aren't successful in their attempts and endure the same fate as Thomas, they might still receive a special offer from Chipotle.
The contest officially goes live at 12 p.m. EST on April 1 and ends at 9 p.m. EST that same day. The contest is only open to legal U.S. residents in 50 states and Washington, D.C., who are 18 or older. No purchase is necessary to enter.
What does Chipotle offer?
With this contest, Chipotle becomes the first U.S. restaurant brand to offer a cryptocurrency giveaway to consumers.
With a single restaurant started by Steve Ellis in Denver in 1993, Chipotle has grown to over 2,750 restaurants in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., France, and Germany. The company’s mission is to cultivate a better world by serving responsibly sourced, classically-cooked real food with wholesome ingredients without artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.
Chipotle went public at $22 in January 2006. By the end of the first day of trading, its share price had doubled. The company made a successful move toward digital in 2020 amid the COVID-19 shutdown of restaurants across the world. Currently, Chipotle employs over 88,000 people.


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CEMEX reduce use of plastic and timber
Building products business making significant reductions in line with Future in Action programme
CEMEX have committed to a robust programme of reducing the plastic packaging of their concrete products across a comprehensive range of sustainable urbanization solutions.
The company’s key building products plant at Northfleet, in Kent, has made significant inroads over the last 12 months. This follows on from the recent launch of ReadyBlock Zero, the UK’s first zero-carbon concrete block, as CEMEX’s urbanization solutions business continues to improve the sustainability of its operations in line with the company’s global Future in Action strategy, which is committed to Net Zero CO2 in concrete by 2050.
Production equipment at Northfleet has been upgraded through a £100,000 capex investment to facilitate increased supply and ongoing maintenance. The new high-strength banding process means that plastic hoods are no longer required on dense and lightweight bricks and concrete blocks. As a result, Northfleet has eradicated 6.1 tonnes of plastic (the equivalent of more than 65,000 plastic water bottles) per year from its traditional plastic packaging process.
In addition to plastic reduction, Northfleet is continuing to make environmental savings in timber by increasing the volume of void packs, which reduces the volume of timber-palleted products. More than 100 tonnes of timber were saved in 2021 and this figure is expected to increase in 2022. The programme is further supported by CEMEX’s pallet-recovery scheme, which works with merchants and distributors to recycle and reduce timber waste across the supply chain, to make greater environmental efficiencies.
Damien Allen, CEMEX’s business manager for building products UK, commented: ‘We have been pushing a more sustainable approach to our packaging in concrete products. At our Northfleet plant, our results so far are very encouraging. We expect our usage of plastic and timber to reduce further in 2022 due to the upgraded process.
‘Our equipment meets the highest quality requirements. It is extremely reliable, requires little maintenance, and is highly energy-efficient too. We are looking at lots of different options to continuously improve our packaging, without compromising product quality. This includes a constant watching eye on recycled materials and our approach to repair and re-use across the plant, in line with the circular economy mindset.’


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Companies To Spend $144 Bn To Deal With Malware: Microsoft
DUBAI: Computer users will spend 1.5 billion hours and $22 billion identifying, repairing and recovering from the impact of malware, while global enterprises will spend $114 billion to deal with the impact of a malware- induced cyber attacks, says a Microsoft study.
According to the study commissioned by Microsoft Corp and conducted by IDC, although some computer users may actively seek pirated software in hopes of saving money, the chances of infection by unexpected malware are one in three for consumers and three in 10 for businesses.
"The cybercrime reality is that counterfeiters are tampering with the software code and lacing it with malware. Some of this malware records a person's every keystroke -- allowing cybercriminals to steal a victim's personal and financial information -- or remotely switches on an infected computer's microphone and video camera, giving cybercriminals eyes and ears in boardrooms and living rooms.
"The best way to secure yourself and your property from these malware threats when you buy a computer is to demand genuine software," said David Finn, associate general counsel in the Microsoft Cybercrime Center.
The study - The Dangerous World of Counterfeit and Pirated Software - was released as part of Microsoft's 'Play It Safe' campaign, a global initiative to bring awareness to issues related to software piracy.
"Some people choose counterfeit to save money, but this 'ride-along' malware ends up putting a financial and emotional strain on both the enterprise and casual computer users alike," John Gantz, chief researcher at IDC, said.
The global study analysed 270 websites and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, 108 software downloads, and 155 CDs or DVDs, and it interviewed 2,077 consumers and 258 IT managers or chief information officers in Brazil, China, Germany, India, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Thailand, the UK and the US.
According to the study, 64 per cent of the people respondents knew who had used counterfeit software experienced security issues and 45 per cent of the time, counterfeit software slowed their PCs, and the software had to be uninstalled. As many as 48 per cent of respondents noted that their greatest concern with using counterfeit software was data loss while 29 per cent were most concerned with identity theft, the study said.


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LUANDA (Reuters Life!) - You see them everywhere in Angola’s capital city of Luanda: thousands of sharp-eyed street children that hawk everything from pens to television sets in a desperate struggle to earn a living.
Authorities view them as a pain but Fernando Macedo, who runs the Association for Justice Peace and Democracy in Luanda, says they are anything but.
Without these street entrepreneurs, he says, the crime rate would shoot through the roof. That is because many Angolans who lack the skills to work for a major oil firm in Luanda are forced to make a living on the street.
“In the black market they can save enough money to support their families. The street children are the lifeblood of the informal economy,” said Macedo. “If they can’t make money in the market they will turn to crime.”
Angola emerged from a civil war in 2002 as one of Africa’s top oil producers, but an estimated two-thirds of the population live on less than $2 a day and unemployment hovers at around 40 percent.
Many of the street hawkers buy their products in open-air markets on the outskirts of Luanda, where their customers are too scared to venture. Then they sell them for at least twice the amount in the city center.
“We’re just trying to survive,” said Silva Jose, who came from the once-prosperous farming province of Benguela during the war and now sells car parts on the streets of Alvalade — one of Luanda’s finest neighborhoods.
“Without education or family connections how else could I make money in Luanda?”
But earlier this year, authorities began cracking down on street vendors in an attempt to transfer their business into regulated markets in Luanda such as the Roque Santeiro — one of Africa’s biggest open air markets.
The black marketeers have remained defiant even after having their goods confiscated by the police several times.
“We don’t want to lose customers who are scared or too lazy to venture outside the city center,” said Debong Faria as a BMW sports utility vehicle cruised behind him.
“We are here on the street because that’s where the money is,” said the 15-year-old, who sells soft-drinks and Sony car radios.
A spokesman for Luanda’s governor said the fight was far from over as thousands of street children continue to roam the streets for business every day.
“It’s illegal to sell products on the street and that is why police are trying to end this practice,” Ladislau Silva, said. “But there are so many of them right now that it will be hard to put an end to this phenomenon.”
Reporting by Henrique Almeida, editing by Paul Casciato


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Google Stadia is less than a week from launch, and Google is still answering questions about the game-streaming service. The company took part in a Reddit AMA, explaining more details on topics ranging from the launch roll-out to family controls and Google Home connectivity.
The most pressing question from fans was the roll-out plan, especially given the recent revelation that those who pre-ordered may not get theirs on launch day. However, the rep notes that Stadia is a service, not just a box, so you can create your account and start playing in your browser as soon as you get an invite code via email. The emails will be sent when your unit ships. The community manager even offered to deliver one in the Bay Area personally on launch day.
Other tidbits were scattered throughout the AMA. Several features were confirmed for day one, but some will be limited in various ways. Family Link will allow you to set parental controls right out of the box, but Family Sharing won’t come until early 2020. Until then you’ll have to buy your kids’ games separately inside their own account. You can also start earning game achievements immediately, but a dedicated interface to let you view all of them will come later. Some Google Home/Assistant features like remote starting a game will also be available from the jump, but more features are said to be in the works.
Other features and announcements are forthcoming later. Buddy Passes, which let you gift a friend with a temporary Pro subscription if you bought the Founder’s Edition, will be coming about two weeks after launch. Google also doesn’t have a time set for when it will outline its lineup of Pro subscription games, but that schedule is said to be coming soon.
Finally, the Google rep answered one important question for those who regularly use a Chromecast for other functions like watching TV. What happens if someone starts casting to your Chromecast while you’re mid-game? The answer is you get booted out of your game, of course, but the Stadia servers will continue running your game for 10 minutes afterwards while you sort it out.
All this comes as Google has just announced its launch lineup of 12 games, with 14 more to come by the end of the year. Lucy Morris, developer of Stadia launch game Kine, recently told GI.biz that some developers are hesitant to jump on board since they’re afraid Google could pull the plug.
Google Stadia News
Source: Game Spot Mashup


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Volta Energy Solutions, the European subsidiary of a South Korean electric vehicle (EV) battery materials company, plans to build Canada’s first battery copper foil factory in Granby, Que., further cementing the province’s EV battery manufacturing industry.
The plan for the $750-million factory east of Montreal represents the third international factory for Volta, joining facilities in Luxembourg and Hungary.
Volta, which will operate as Volta Energy Solutions Canada, expects mass production and North American sales of its copper foil to start in 2026. It anticipates producing 25,000 tons of copper foil per year, which will increase to 63,000 tons per year in its second phase – enough material for 2.5 million EV batteries, according to a release.
Volta is the subsidiary of Iksan, South Korea-based Solus Advanced Materials, a manufacturer of battery copper foil, copper foil and materials for electronics.
Dejae Chin, chairman of Volta and Solus, said in the release, "With its strategic geographical location providing privileged access to the North American market and its strong political commitment to making electric vehicle battery production a key sector of its economy, Quebec is the ideal location for Volta's first North American factory.”
Funding the factory
Copper foil is a critical component of EV lithium-ion batteries, used as an anode collector.
To boost circularity, Volta said the factory will reuse copper scraps created from its copper foil production process to reduce waste; steam and heat from electrolysis will heat the plant and control its temperature; and water treatment stations will recycle water.
The Quebec government will lend Volta $150 million, of which $26 million is forgivable. The Canadian government will offer approximately $70 million in investment tax credits and other programs for the project which is expected to create 260 jobs, according to The Canadian Press.
Construction is expected to start in 2024.
Quebec attracting investment for EV battery factories
The debut of Volta in Quebec makes it one of several South Korean firms intending to build EV battery material factories in the province.
In August, Ford Motor Company and South Korean battery companies SK On and EcoProBM announced their plan for a $1.2-billion cathode manufacturing facility in Bécancour, Que.
It is not just South Korean companies. Germany’s BASF also aims to commission a Bécancour cathode active materials and recycling site by 2025.
The companies have cited various reasons for choosing Quebec.
BASF said Bécancour’s location along the Saint Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City offers a place for efficient logistics and hydropower. EcoProBM Canada is reported to have been attracted to Bécancour due to EV tax credits and its proximity to U.S. logistics and battery materials such as nickel.
Volta said it is addressing the increasing demand of the North American market for EV battery materials in its location.


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DZIRE TOUR S
Hasina gets call from Pakistan PM ahead of her India tour
Officials familiar with Dhaka-Islamabad ties said this was the first time since Kha...
Maruti Suzuki’s sales drop 26.7% in September
Despite the decline, the company’s wholesale volumes improved sequentially and crossed the one-...
Comfort is key: Meghan Markle wears $100 flats during Africa tour
The Duchess of Sussex rocked in a few of her other beloved flats during her royal tour last year.
Metallica frontman James Hetfield checks into rehab; band cancels Aus-NZ tour dates
The band released a statement apologising and saying that anyone who purchased tickets will receive automatic refunds.
Prince Harry-Meghan make their first official tour in Africa with son Archie
The royal couple attended wedding of fashion designer Misha Nonoo (who set them up) before their tour.
Maruti unveils grand new plan, to roll out CNG models of all small cars
India's top carmaker going big on CNG will help reduce dependence on imported oil and cut vehicular pollution.
South Africa royal tour: Meghan Markle ditches her engagement ring, here's why
The Duchess of Sussex decided to leave her engagement ring at home.
Sonata Software likely to achieve secondary gains from Thomas Cook's fall
Sonata Software, for whom travel firm TUI is a top client, could gain indirectly from Thomas Cook's collapse.
As NCP hit by desertions Sharad Pawar embarks on Maharashtra tour next week
The announcement came against the backdrop of exodus of key leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena.
India not behind our players' boycott of Pakistan tour: Sri Lanka
Fernando, who is Sri Lanka's Sports Minister, said that 10 players have opted out of the tour "purely" based on the 2009 incident.
Thomas Cook shareholder says firm to be sold as whole or in parts
Neset Kockar, who holds an 8% stake in the UK-based travel firm, said Thomas Cook owes "a few hundred million pounds" to Turkish businesses that may not be paid after it is sold.
F&O expiry, FII inflows, Modi's US tour among top six factors that may guide D-Street next week
Despite the record rise on Friday, the weekly gains were capped on rally in crude oil prices.
Want to attend Michelle Obama's latest tour? Tickets may cost you up to $4,200
The cheapest seat at the 'Moderated Conversation with Obama' event will go $144.
Cox & Kings defaults on payment of CPs worth Rs 30 crore
Shares of Cox & Kings closed at Rs 4.18 per scrip on the BSE, down 3.46 per cent from its previous close.
Copyright © 2019 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service


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Apple has unveiled the iPhone 6S and 6S plus, the latest in its line of flagship smart phones, as well as a new larger iPad and a new TV system.
Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiled the new devices during an Apple media event held in California on Wednesday. The new phones come with a new 3D touch technology that has different responses depending on the amount of pressure applied to the screen.
Both new models will be available in four metal finishes and will boast an improved 12-megapixel camera and will be capable of 4K video recording.
Cook also announced the revamping of Apple TV with a dedicated new operating system, app store, voice-operated remote control, and the additional ability to run video games.
The iPad Pro sports a 12.9-inch screen and Apple says it has nearly 80 percent of the processing power housed in recently sold portable PCs. The tablet should have 10 hours of battery life and can be used with a separately sold magnetically-connected keyboard.
During the event, a stylus dubbed the Apple Pencil was also announced. The new device uses special sensors to help simulate the effect of using an actual pencil on paper.
- Orlando Gay Club Terrorist's Wife Arrested
- iPhone Manufacturer Foxconn Plans to Replace almost Every Human Worker with Robots
- Obama Rushes Migrant Arrivals Ahead Of Trump Inauguration
- Metallica Frontman: I Escaped California Over ‘Elitist’ Progressives
- Hillary’s Popular Vote Win Came Entirely From California


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Grab and GoTo IPOs could spawn more SEA startups, says 500 Startups; According to 500’s Vishal Harnal, the public listings of Grab and GoTo would allow for more investment in smaller businesses; The comments counter speculation that the newly-capitalised tech giants may squash competition.
US-based Nityo makes US$100M strategic investment in banking-as-a-service platform MatchMove, becomes its largest shareholder; MatchMove empowers its corporate clients to offer own-brand, secure and compliant digital payments, remittance, loans, insurance, and investments to their own customers; Nityo is an IT services firm with a presence in 38 countries and serves over 3K enterprise clients.
Book-keeping app BukuWarung rakes in US$60M to build an OS for Indonesia’s 60M MSMEs; Investors include Valar Ventures (lead), Wise, N26, and Goodwater Capital; BukuWarung recently launched a Shopify-equivalent, called Tokoko; Over the last 6 months, BukuWarung claims to have recorded over US$15B worth of transactions and US$500M in payments.
Alodokter raises fresh capital, claims 30M MAUs and 43K doctors on its telemedicine platform; Investors are MDI Ventures and Samsung Ventures; Alodokter provides an end-to-end digital solution to patients including telemedicine, doctor booking, medical content, and health insurance services.
Filipino live-streaming app Kumu closes Series B; Investors include SIG, Openspace Ventures, PH Conglomerates, and Endeavor Catalyst; The firm claims ~11.2M registered users around the world watch live streams up to 60M times per month, with over 100K active streamers commanding about one hour of average daily usage.
Indonesia’s Qlue banks Series B financing to scale its smart city solutions to new markets in Asia; Investors are KDDI Open Innovation Fund, TMI, and ASLI RI; Qlue’s smart city platform enables one-stop centralised control of the detection, analysis, and solution of urban problems through AI and IoT.
Logistics firm SiCepat taps EV space in a JV with NFC Indonesia, buys EV maker Volta; The newly formed EV company ESB will focus on the distribution of EVs, batter exchange and supporting services; NFC is a subsidiary of listed digital firm M Cash Integrasi.
Singapore’s e-bond trading startup BondEvalue raises US$6M Series A, forms JV in Mexico; Investors include MassMutual Ventures SEA, Citigroup, Potato Productions, and Octava; The startup’s BondbloX allows investors to buy and sell bonds in denominations of US$1,000 instead of the usual US$200,000, and through a public exchange.
Malaysian digital healthcare startup Naluri secures US$5M Series A; Investors include Integra Partners (lead), Duopharma Biotech, M Venture Partners, and Sumitomo Corporation; Naluri offers human-led and AI-augmented digital health coaching that aims to transform the lives of people who are at risk of, or managing, chronic and mental health conditions.
Indonesia’s financial wellness platform wagely bags US$5.6M; Investors include Integra Partners (led), ADB Ventures, GFC, 1982 Ventures; wagely’s earned wage access platform reduces financial stress for millions of low- and middle-income workers, who struggle with unexpected financial expenses between pay cheques.
Thailand’s automobile workshops digitalisation startup Autopair raises funding; Summit Auto Body Industry led the round; Autopair will use the capital to digitalise 1,000 independent automotive workshops; It also plans to expand into markets like Indonesia and Malaysia.
MooVita raises ‘multi-million dollars’ Series A to bring driverless cars to Singapore’s public roads; Investors are Yinson Green Technologies and SMRT Ventures; MooVita is developing a solution that could transform various vehicle types into autonomous ones for multitudinous driving conditions and applications.
Philippines files criminal complaint against scam-hit payment firm Wirecard’ ex-COO; Wirecard collapsed last June, owing creditors almost US$4B, accused by its auditor of a sophisticated global fraud; Former COO Jan Marsalek is accused of violating banking, cybercrime and e-commerce laws.
Korean VC STIC Ventures invests in Vietnamese men’s wear e-commerce brand Coolmate; Hanoi-based Coolmate claims to have clocked revenues of US$1.7M in 2020, at a growth rate of 15-20% per month; It previously raised funding from 500 Startups.
Plant-based egg startup Float Foods raises US$1.7M seed funding; Lead investors are Insignia Ventures and DSG Consumer Partners; Float Foods aims to optimise its plant-based whole egg substitute OnlyEg with nutritional enhancements and longer shelf life track for commercialisation in Singapore by 2022.
Grab, BRI Ventures team up to launch accelerator for startups in Indonesia; The Grab Ventures Velocity Batch 4 x Sembrani Wira will identify and develop post-seed startups in the country, whose products and services focus on catering to merchants and micro-entrepreneurs.
What entrepreneurs can learn from Naomi Osaka’s withdrawal from the French Open; Mental health problems have been on the rise and those who work in fast-paced, high-stress environments such as startups can be at risk; Osaka’s withdrawal from the French Open may reveal some surprising lessons that startup entrepreneurs can learn.
How early-stage startups can build a thought leadership strategy; The major thrust of your thought leadership should always be market education, especially in Asia where most consumer and enterprise tech industries are still relatively new.
Image Credit: MatchMove
The post Ecosystem Roundup: Will the likes of Grab, GoTo crush competition in SEA? appeared first on e27.


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CLOUD NINE®, appoints GOLD79 to handle its global PR
Hair and beauty tech brand, CLOUD NINE®, has appointed specialist PR, content, search and social agency, GOLD79, to handle its public relations and earned media strategies globally. The appointment comes after the agency successfully launched the styling must-have of 2023, CLOUD NINE®’s 2-in-1 Contouring Iron Pro, to British media this Summer.
UNSTOPPABLE since 2009, CLOUD NINE® is leading a revolution in hair and beauty to create industry-leading hair stylers, with a commitment to create a greener cycle. Changing the future of hair.
GOLD79 will blend human instinct with digital intelligence to champion its “NOISE CANCELLING” approach for CLOUD NINE®. Focus will initially stem in the UK, Australian and German markets with the launch of new product ranges, a constant media engagement programme, events and partnerships to elevate the brand’s ‘future of healthier heat styling’ strategy.
This latest win further strengthens the agency’s lifestyle specialism which includes the likes of The Kushnacht Clinic, Comvita and The 1:1 Diet by Cambridge Weight Plan.
Laura Proctor, Group Brand & Marketing Manager at CLOUD NINE®, said: “Collaborating with GOLD79 on the launch of our 2-in-1 Contouring Iron Pro cemented that the agency’s innovative and creative style perfectly matches that of our own, and acts as a natural extension of our team. Their use of digital nous to fuel ideas which are both on trend and brand-relevant has already delivered results far beyond our expectations and past experience.”
Tamarind Wilson-Flint, Founding Director at GOLD79, added: “CLOUD NINE’®s innovation, ambition and kinder-to-hair ethos hits a real sweet spot for our team. The beauty sector is a very cluttered space, and one in which our unique “NOISE CANCELLING” methodology excels, so we look forward to working with their team to constantly deliver content that matters, lasts, and shines, worldwide.”


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How hackers used a fish tank to breach a casino
Hackers are constantly looking for new ways to access people's data. Most recently, the way was as simple as a fish tank.
The hackers attempted to acquire data from a North American casino by using an Internet-connected fish tank, according to a report released Thursday by cybersecurity firm Darktrace.
The fish tank had sensors connected to a PC that regulated the temperature, food and cleanliness of the tank.
"Somebody got into the fish tank and used it to move around into other areas (of the network) and sent out data," said Justin Fier, Darktrace's director of cyber intelligence.
The casino's name and the type of data stolen were not disclosed in the report for security reasons, Darktrace said. The report said 10 GB of data were sent out to a device in Finland.
"This one is the most entertaining and clever thinking by hackers I've seen," said Hemu Nigam, a former federal prosecutor for computer crimes and current chief executive of SSP Blue, a cybersecurity company.
As more products with the ability to connect to the Internet become available, the opportunities for hackers to access data through outside-the-box ways has risen. The report, which was first reported by CNN, comes a few days after the FBI warned parents about the privacy risks of toys connected to the Internet, which could help a hacker learn a child's name, location and other personal information.
Fier said that with the recent FBI toy warning and the many ways by which hackers are trying to break into systems, he wouldn't be surprised if the government eventually got involved in regulating IoT products. But he said, even if it did, that would raise other questions.
"Everything has to go through FTC approval, I'd be curious to see if that happens on the cyber front," he said. "That you have to do the bare minimum to protect these products. But that's just for the U.S. How do you do this globally?"
As for what people can do to protect themselves against these kinds of attacks, customers should educate themselves about IoT products and take advantage of any security protection the product offers, Nigam said. He added that people should use the latest operating systems and software and constantly update them.
The fish tank incident was one of nine unique threats mentioned in Darktrace's annual report of innovative hacks. Some of the other threats mentioned included hackers using company servers to acquire bitcoin, a digital form of currency, and former employees using their old login credentials to steal company data.


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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The JAX Chamber announced Tuesday the creation of Jax Bridges, a supplier development program to connect small businesses with mentoring, capital access and contacts with larger companies to help earn business with established corporations.
The program is designed to be help smaller companies in Northeast Florida grow and to promote supply chain diversification among corporations, said Carlton Robinson, senior director of the JAX Chamber's Entrepreneurial Growth Division.
"This program benefits everyone involved," Robinson said. "Small companies are looking for growth opportunities and access to the larger companies in the region. Larger companies want to help develop local business and know that when our small businesses expand and create jobs in our community, we all benefit."
There are two main components to making this program successful: getting small businesses prepared for the opportunity and encouraging large corporations to give these companies an opportunity to earn the business.
"You can't just tell corporations to do this because you think it's the right thing to do," said Derek Lott, senior director of supplier diversity for BI-LO Holdings. "This has to make business sense and this program will get small businesses ready so it will make business sense for larger corporations looking for suppliers."
The goal of the program is to facilitate $100 million in contracts to small businesses annually, Robinson said.
For information on the program, visit JaxBridges.com.
Copyright 2011 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Kawasaki Motors Corporation, U.S.A., issued a recall for certain 2021 motorcycles with 400cc of displacement due to a flaw in camshaft chain tensioner production.
According to documents published by the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA), Kawasaki estimates that a total of 1,770 units are potentially affected by this issue.
The models involved are the following:
- 2021 Kawasaki Z400 ABS
- 2021 Kawasaki Ninja 400
- 2021 Kawasaki Ninja 400 ABS
Due to an improper heat treatment process during production of affected camshaft chain tensioners, strength of those units is insufficient to perform up to spec. Continued use may result in camshaft chain tensioner damage and noisy operation. In a worst-case scenario, it could potentially result in engine stalling, thus increasing a rider’s risk of a crash.
Currently, the only potential warning listed is an abnormal engine noise. Potentially affected units were produced between July 1, 2020 and October 27, 2020. Kawasaki is recalling all potentially affected 2021 models, and is sending owners a letter instructing them “Do not ride” until an authorized Kawasaki dealer replaces the camshaft chain tensioner.
Kawasaki is remedying this issue with replacement of the camshaft chain tensioner on all recalled bikes, with this recall service provided at no cost to customers. If you have already experienced the failure listed in this report, and have paid out of pocket to replace the camshaft chain tensioner, you may be eligible for full or partial reimbursement of the cost of repairs, as long as you have proper documentation. If this circumstance applies to you, Kawasaki asks that you please send current owner and VIN information along with copies of your repair orders and payment confirmation to: Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A. ATTN: Customer Care P.O. Box 25252 Santa Ana, California 92799-5252
Kawasaki is notifying dealers about this recall on December 18, 2020, and will send notifications to affected bike owners on December 21, 2020. Since it is currently the holiday season, it’s uncertain how quickly any such notifications sent by postal mail will get to owners. Concerned owners can contact KMC customer service at 1-866-802-9381, regarding KMC recall number MC20-13. Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.


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Torque Data investigated the power of Facebook Custom Audience ads for businesses, including Red Cross and Samsung, when used as part of a customer retention and engagement program.
In an environment where competition to acquire new customers is increasing by the day, having the ability to optimise your existing customer communications is a key competitive advantage.
It is a widely held view among marketing experts that it is more cost effective to retain and grow the value of an existing customer than it is to acquire a new customer. Facebook Custom Audience ads allow advertisers to communicate to their existing customers in a segmented and meaningful way.
Torque Data recently studied the success of two campaigns launched by major advertisers. The Study tested the impact of combining Facebook Custom Audience ads with the more traditional direct marketing channels of direct mail and email marketing (eDM), versus using those traditional channels in isolation. The impact of Facebook Custom Audience ads was then analysed across key marketing metrics.
The Study found there was a nine-fold uplift in sales conversion from existing customers receiving targeted Facebook Custom Audience ads alongside eDM versus those customers who received eDM in isolation.
This integrated channel approach also generated a sales uplift from priority customer segments that was over 35 per cent higher than sales generated from the same priority customers who only received eDM communications.
In a not for profit environment, Facebook Custom Audience ads in combination with direct mail generated a 19 per cent increase in total donation value compared to direct mail only.
General manager of Torque Data, Oliver Rees said: “Facebook Custom Audiences is a very exciting development for digital marketers looking to reach specific existing customer segments. Facebook Custom Audiences is a non-invasive channel which creates cut-through that could drive sustainably better results in customer retention.”
This White Paper from Torque Data highlights that there may be an opportunity for advertisers to embed Facebook Custom Audience ads into customer retention and optimisation activity to help drive higher response and conversion rates.
Equally, Facebook Custom Audiences communication can be deployed in a nurturing and subtle way, to relevantly engage with existing customers based on where they sit in the customer lifecycle.
Head of marketing at Australian Red Cross (a participant in the Study), Gary Bristow added, “This research highlighted the power of using Facebook Custom Audiences to support our donor communication in driving significant results.
“The lift in value from the activity showed we can add significant incremental return by using the channel, and the increased income we saw is supporting our everyday work with vulnerable communities across Australia and overseas.”
Leading Australian market research data brand, RDA Research, provides actionable consumer intelligence to help businesses inform decision making and growth strategies. RDA Research wanted to make its unique consumer data available for addressable digital targeting and required a data onboarding partner to help activate their data in an online environment.
Storytelling agency Enthral has appointed Channel 7 reporter and sports presenter Sean Sowerby as its new senior PR and content manager in Melbourne. Sowerby (pictured) started his award-winning career at 3AW before spending more than 15 years in television. Enthral founder and manager director, Cameron Smith, spoke of the significance of Sowerby joining the agency. […]
This week Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa are celebrating 10 years of their iconic radio show and plenty of famous faces have weighed in on the feat! For Fitzy & Wippa’s 10-year anniversary show they were joined by a bunch of special friends who shared their messages and favourite memories over the last decade. The guys […]
Ever since Google first announced it would be getting rid of third-party cookies on Chrome, digital advertising businesses have been actively sharing their plans for life after cookies. And now programmatic advertising company Blis might have come up with the most creative way to get the message across, in a new video which sees company […]
Integrated Melbourne agency Icon has taken top honours in the 2021 SABRE Awards, winning the coveted Australasian Consultancy of the Year for 2021 along with a host of category and craft awards. Icon led a large field of Australian agencies with a total of three major and seven minor awards, including gold in the cause-related […]
Former agency executives Tim O’Neill and Tim Fouhy have launched the auto technology startup Summon. Australia’s first full e-commerce service for prestige cars. O’Neill and Fouhy both founded Reactive, a digital agency, which was bought by Accenture in 2016. Following the deal, O’Neill and Fouhy ended up leading the company’s digital marketing arm, Accenture Interactive before […]


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H.R. 4341, also known as the Truth in Advertising Act, is a bill being introduced to Congress. Sponsored by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Lois Capps (D-CA), the bill intends to do exactly as its title would suggest: monitor how distorted advertisements are allowed to get. More specifically, it’d be going after the excessive use of Photoshop that we see so present these days.
Back in February, we posted about Xitek’s testing of the highly anticipated Sigma 50mm f/1.4 Art lens. Against the $4000 55mm Zeiss Otus, Sigma came out on top in comparisons and shocked almost every photography blog out there. Today, however, DxO mark put both lenses up against each other and it seems from their end that the Zeiss Otus hasn’t been ousted just yet.
This isn’t the kind of crime you’ll find in The Wire, but it’s pretty big for the photography community. The City of Baltimore has just agreed to pay a fine of $250,000 in a settlement over the “unlawful seizure and destruction” of videos from a citizen’s cell phone. The videos contained footage of Baltimore Police allegedly arresting and beating another person.
Last night, a lunar eclipse came into fruition above us and the moon took the color of Mars. Living in Dallas, Texas, I was lucky enough to have a clear, cloudless sky so that I could see it for myself. All over North America, many others got to share the experience as well. #bloodmoon became a trending topic on both Instagram and Twitter, and people were genuinely excited to go outside and witness a wonder of the universe we live in.
But there were also many of you that didn’t get to see it. Maybe you had work, maybe you forgot, or maybe you just didn’t care. So here’s a video from NASA’s broadcast of the eclipse itself, from the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. Make sure you play it in full HD, and full screen; there’s good reasons why I didn’t embed you guys a weak 360p link here. [Read more...]
Google Glass is on public sale today for one day only. And by that, I mean that the development model with software specifications assigned two years ago is on sale today. They haven’t even fully implemented their Glass technology into the world of wearable consumer technology, yet, and Google already has their mind on the next move. A patent’s just been released that details plans by the company to invent camera technology for contact lenses.
Oh, eat your hearts out, NSA. Eat your hearts out.
The recipients of the 2014 Pulitzer Prizes have officially been announced, and taking over both photography awards is the New York Times- specifically, Tyler Hicks and Josh Haner. Hicks for his coverage in breaking news, and Haner for for his work in feature photography.
In case life took over and you haven’t been aggressively checking up on what’s new in the photography world every day, you probably missed quite a few big announcements this week. The NAB Show just wrapped up its run for 2014, and this past week has been an absolute roller coaster for tech media. Here’s a round-up of the show just so you can be caught up with what’s been happening.
So if you were getting tired of the 4K parade that’s been so prevalent at the NAB show this week, here’s a post that’ll be worth looking into. Thursday was a big day for lens announcements, with three main entries into the competition.
AJA is one of the most respected names in the video production business, and their presence at the NAB Show was bound to bring about high expectations. With the announcement of their newest video camera, it looks like they intend to deliver. At their keynote presentation, alongside a variety of mid and high-range products, AJA introduced the Cion.
Amidst all the noise generated by the NAB Show in the past two days already – with 4K Cameras making the headlines on every photography blog out there, or with companies like Blackmagic flooring audiences with how much they’re evolving the technology of cinema – There’s quite a few cool announcements that get lost in the middle. One of them is from Digital Bolex, and it’s a monochrome camera (based off the original D16) called the D16M.


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Fresh on the heels of a record-breaking second quarter, Mosquito Squad, America’s largest mosquito elimination and tick control brand, announced today that it has been named as one of the fastest growing companies by Inc. Magazine. The announcement was made by Chris Grandpre, chairman and CEO of Outdoor Living Brands, parent company and franchisor of Mosquito Squad.
With a three-year sales growth of 496 percent and a number 646 ranking of 5000 companies, Mosquito Squad is among the top 13 percent of fastest growing firms on the coveted annual list. The company boasts more than 70 franchise locations and specializes in eliminating mosquitoes and ticks from outdoor living spaces so that Americans can enjoy their yards, business spaces and outdoor events.
Among the country’s 2,500+ franchise concepts, Mosquito Squad was listed as the 13th fastest growing franchise company out of the 100 on the Inc. list. Mosquito Squad also has been continually recognized as a superior franchise organization by industry organizations.
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Renault Ireland showcased its electric Kangoo compact van at the Energy Show in Dublin recently.
Among the attractions on the Renault stand was the Kangoo ZE, which will hit Irish roads in November of this year, and attracted considerable interest at the show. And Renault recently announced a long wheelbase version of the Kangoo, the Maxi ZE, will also be available in both two seat and five seat versions.
As a result, Renault will have not just one, but three electric vehicles in the compact van segment by the end of 2011, enabling business owners to choose the vehicle that suits their needs most.
Renault launched its electric vehicle offensive in 2008 with the announcement of its comprehensive, upcoming line-up of four vehicles, which includes the Kangoo ZE, Fluence ZE, ZOE and the Twizy.
Their stand also featured information totems on charging electric vehicles.
Presented by SEAI, the Energy Show is regarded as a must for industry and business to learn about the latest sustainable energy technologies and practices. The annual two-day exhibition showcased leading energy suppliers and the latest innovative products and services.


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The team at Mecum Auctions recently announced that the “Black Corvette L88 once owned by Tony DeLorenzo will cross the block at Mecum!”
If you closely follow the blue chip Corvette market you probably think they were talking about the black 1967 L88 Corvette raced by Tony DeLorenzo and sold by Mecum in 2011. That car was the first documented Corvette L88 ever produced and it sold for $1.25M to Terry Michaelis whose intent was to return the car to its race delivery.
But Mecum’s recent announcement is not about that car, it is announcing the sale of another important L88, DeLorenzo’s triple black 1969 personal driver which will be offered in Mecum’s Dallas auction September 3rd through 6th.
The Mecum Dallas auction has become one of the premier auctions in the world for offering important and historic Chevrolet Corvettes. This year’s event is no exception and in addition to DeLorenzo’s L88 has several other excellent Corvettes crossing the block from blue chip collectibles to restomods.


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Farmers and growers who are part of the Red Tractor Assurance scheme will receive a new set of farm standards this month.
The changes are part of a review carried out by the Red Tractor every three years to ensure the certification is up to date with what consumers want and expect.
Farmers who are part of the scheme will have to implement the changes from October.
Industry and regulatory affairs manager Philippa Wiltshire said: “We have strengthened standards which have been identified as key areas of reputational risk and addressed industry concerns to keep our members ahead of the game.
“We recognise our new standards will require changes in farm management for some, but we also know that continuing to invest in a robust farm assurance scheme will keep consumers coming back to Red Tractor assured products.”
What will change?
We recognise our new standards will require changes in farm management for some, but we also know that continuing to invest in a robust farm assurance scheme will keep consumers coming back to Red Tractor assured products Philippa Wiltshire, Red Tractor
Standards on antibiotics use have been strengthened to encourage producers to reduce and record use in line with best practice advice from the alliance for Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture.
Notably, assured pig producers are now recording antibiotics use in the electronic Medicine Book developed by AHDB Pigs, in preparation for the new standards.
Significant changes have been made to the fresh produce scheme to reduce the risk of UK producers falling foul of the same food safety scares which have devastated some European horticultural business.
Packs containing the new standards and details of some of the most significant changes will be arriving on farms over the next few weeks.
Checklists for those who want to carry out a full self-assessment are available online on the Red Tractor’s website.
More detail soon
Farmers Weekly will be looking at the detail of the changes over the next few days.
Please check the Business section of the Farmers Weekly website for updates.


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The reviews for Google’s latest Nexus tablet are in — and sadly, it seems the HTC-made Nexus 9 is continuing the trend that was initially set by the first big-screen ‘Nexus’ tablet, the Motorola Xoom. The Nexus 9 is good, but it’s certainly no iPad killer — and for the premium price that it commands, it should be better.
Google has unveiled the Nexus 9, an HTC-made tablet that will run Android 5.0 Lollipop. Curiously, there’s an 8.9-inch 2048×1536 display — 4:3 aspect ratio, rather than the customary 16:9 — and also BoomSound dual front-facing speakers. Inside the Nexus 9, of course, there’s Nvidia’s 64-bit Tegra K1 SoC. Pricing starts at $400 for the 16GB model, and it’ll arrive in stores (in the US) starting November 3.
Yesterday, Apple announced the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Now, with Apple officially joining the battle for a market that is quickly gravitating towards large-screen devices, it’s time to compare the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus against the best the Android market can muster: The HTC One M8. We’ll also talk about where the Samsung Galaxy S5 and Note 3/4 fit into the equation.
Motorola has unveiled its second-gen flagship phone: the Moto X. It keeps the same name as last year’s offering, and also the same kind of factory-level customization as its predecessor, but everything else is much better. The new Moto X has much better, flagship-level internals, a glorious Super AMOLED 1080p display, and the chassis now has a metal edge. The Moto Maker customization tool remains, but the second-gen Moto X now has the option of having a real leather back — and according to early hands-on impressions, it feels fantastic. In short, the new Moto X is now a bona fide flagship phone that actually stands a chance of competing against the likes of the HTC One M8 and the upcoming iPhone 6.
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