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Compare Hotels rates & Flight tickets prices from 100+ top booking sites at once...
Check the prices & save up to 80 %...
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new deals campaigns... >>> www.travelkinds.com
Over 1,000 people reported falling ill while staying in the Dominican Republic on a popular food safety site, as reports of mysterious tourist deaths and rampant sickness plague the Caribbean island
|June 21, 2019||Posted by TravelKinds.Com under General||
- The Dominican Republic has seen a spate of widely-publicized deaths and illnesses of tourists.
- The website IWasPoisoned.com has also experienced an unprecedented wave of reports from people who claim to have fallen ill in the Dominican Republic.
- The website’s been flooded with around 1,600 reports concerning the Dominican Republic in 2019 — up from 10 in 2018.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.


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Colorado Springs, Colorado 2021-06-08 12:10:00 –
Colorado lawmakers dispatched Governor Jared Polis on Tuesday House building 1162, Set prices for disposable products such as plastic and paper grocery bags, and allow retailers to retain some of their revenue.
The bill also bans the use of Styrofoam in restaurants from 2024.
The bill has long been a Democratic priority, but despite business opposition, it took years to get enough votes to pass Congress.
The bill looks like this:
Colorado will ban plastic bags from 2024, with a few exceptions.
The bill will ban all disposable plastic bags in Colorado from 2024. However, there is an asterisk.
Restaurants that prepare or serve food in individual parts for immediate consumption on or off the premises are open only in Colorado and are exempt, as are stores with up to three stores.
Companies that are allowed to provide plastic bags must charge a fee of at least 10 cents per bag. If the city or county establishes a higher fare, the fare can be higher. (I’ll talk more about that later.)
“We hope they make a cultural change decision,” said Senator Julie Gonzales, a Democrat in Denver and a major sponsor of the bill.
Companies that are banned from providing plastic bags can distribute them for a fee between January and July 2024, if they are in stock before the start of the year.
This news was first published as an independent. Click here to subscribe Receive a twice-weekly political newsletter from Colorado Sun.
Plastic and paper prices start in 2023
Beginning January 1, 2023, all businesses will be required to charge a fee of at least 10 cents on plastic and paper bags. If the city or county establishes a higher fare, the fare can be higher.
Persons participating in federal or state food aid programs do not have to pay as long as they can prove that they are enrolled in one of these initiatives.
Where does the full membership fee go?
Companies must remit 60% of the bag fee revenue they collect to the municipality in which they operate. If the business is in the county’s unincorporated area, the money will be sent to the county.
Local governments need to spend money on the next initiative.
- Baggage charge execution costs
- Waste treatment programs such as outreach and education
The remaining 40% of baggage fee income is held by the company but is not subject to sales tax.
Stores that collect baggage charges of less than $ 20 in a given quarter can store their money without having to transfer the income to the municipality or county.
How do consumers know?
Under the bill, businesses will be forced to “prominently display” signs inside and outside the store to warn customers of bag charges.
The fee will also be printed on the user’s receipt. Fees are non-refundable.
Goodbye to Styrofoam
It’s not just plastic bags that lawmakers are aiming to abolish. The bill will also ban polystyrene products (also known as Styrofoam) throughout the state from January 1, 2024.
The only exception is that the restaurant will continue to use Styrofoam products after that date until it is out of stock.
What if the store does not support it?
Municipalities and cities could sue companies that do not comply with the new bag rates and Styrofoam rules.
They may also evaluate the following fines:
- $ 500 for the second offense
- $ 1,000 for third and subsequent violations
Fines are assessed for each breach during retail sale. This means that if you illegally distribute 10 plastic bags in a single transaction, you will only be considered one breach.
Colorado Sun does not have paywalls. This means readers don’t have to pay to access the article. We believe that affected people need to see important information, such as public health crises, investigative journalism, and parliamentary accountability.
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Get ready for plastic and paper bag fees in Colorado — and say goodbye to styrofoam Source link Get ready for plastic and paper bag fees in Colorado — and say goodbye to styrofoam

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Anyway, today’s news comes from the Brazilian site ZTop, who say that the first Boot to Gecko devices will come out in early 2013. Their source? Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs made the announcement in São Paulo. Who will make the devices? That hasn’t been confirmed. Who will sell the devices? That hasn’t been confirmed either, but since Telefónica is backing the project, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.
Look, we like the concept of Boot to Gecko, but productizing an open source platform without it being backed by a large organization is incredibly challenging. Hell, Samsung has their own Linux based OS called Bada, yet when was the last time you heard about a new Bada device coming out? And Samsung is the world’s largest phone vendor, so put two and two together. People don’t care about open source, they care about getting a cheap device that’ll give them access to the web and to their email.
Android does that already.
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Pakistan Bloodies Its Indigenous Armed Drone | China Opening Up Unlicensed Defense Research, Production| New U.K. Drone Pilot School OpeningSep 08, 2015 12:35 UTC
- Pakistan announced that it had used its own indigenously-built armed drone against militants near the Afghan border, marking the first time the air asset – first revealed in March – has been used. It said that three militants were killed in the strike.
- China, through state-owned media, is announcing that it is widening the categories of defense-related items that can be researched, produced and sold in China without special licenses. According to the Xinhua news service, the move is designed to eventually lower the domestic cost of military goods by introducing more competition.
- Indonesia again indicated continued interest in purchasing Su-35s to replace its long-in-the-tooth F-5Es. Indonesia already has some earlier models, the Su-27, which appears to have been a positive influence over others being considered, such as the F-15 and F-16, of which the country already owns eight.
- Lockheed is upgrading laser targeting on the AH-64E Apaches, upgrading the M-LRFD modules. The work will cost $21.7 million.
- A new school for would-be drone pilots is opening up in the U.K., staffed by commercial drone pilots
- Pakistan Tests First Indigenous Armed Drone…


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For over 25 years the CCA has recognized businesses that have attained the highest levels of customer service, and business ethics and standards. The award is based on a survey of residents and businesses in the Columbus Metropolitan area responding to a questionnaire on customer satisfaction. The survey was conducted by Survey Sampling International, a global leader in customer satisfaction studies.
In addition to the consumer survey, the law firm of MacMurray, Petersen and Shuster reviews each awarded company to ensure they have maintained the highest standard of business ethics.
“It is a terrific honor to receive such a prestigious acknowledgement from the consumers of Central Ohio” said Patrick Hernon, President, All Seasons Spas. “Our staff of professionals work hard to provide members of our community with the highest quality products and after-sale service. It makes our customers happy to refer friends and family and we look forward to exceeding our customers’ expectations well into the future.:
“Only the finest businesses in the market qualify for this recognition.” Said CCA President, Jeff Chernoff. “This is a notable achievement and we are proud to have All Seasons Spas in the Consumers’ Choice Award family.”


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...one of the most inventive forms of creative capitalism involves someone we all know very well. A few years ago, I was sitting in a bar here in Davos with Bono. Late at night, after a few drinks, he was on fire, talking about how we could get a percentage of each purchase from civic-minded companies to help change the world. He kept calling people, waking them up, and handing me the phone to show me the interest.
Well, it's taken time to get this going, but he was right. If you give people a chance to associate themselves with a cause they care about, while buying a great product, they will. That was how the RED Campaign was born, here in Davos.
RED products are available from companies like Gap, Motorola, and Armani. Just this week, Dell and Microsoft joined the cause. Over the last year and a half, RED has generated $50 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and Malaria. As a result, nearly 2 million people in Africa are receiving life-saving drugs today.


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U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson on Tuesday certified a class action lawsuit brought by several banks against Target over the company's massive 2013 data breach, which exposed at least 40 million customers' credit card information, Reuters reports.
Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder told Reuters the company is "disappointed" by the ruling and is evaluating its next steps.
"This important ruling brings financial institutions one step closer to collectively holding Target accountable for its unprecedented data breach," Charles Zimmerman, one of the lead lawyers representing the banks, said in a statement.
The ruling follows Target's recent agreement to pay as much as $67 million to financial instutitions that issue Visa cards -- a proposed $19 million settlement with MasterCard fell through earlier this year because an insufficient percentage of affected banks supported the deal.https://o1.qnsr.com/log/p.gif?;n=203;c=204660766;s=9477;x=7936;f=201812281312070;u=j;z=TIMESTAMP;a=20392931;e=i
Carrie Hunt, senior vice president of government affairs and general counsel at the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, said in a statement that the organization is pleased with the decision to certify the class action. "As we have consistently maintained, credit unions deserve to be made whole for their losses, and this includes the opportunity to pursue all legal options available," she said. "Today’s class certification constitutes one important avenue for recovery."
Still, Hunt said, the lawsuit is only one part of the equation. "To prevent these types of data breaches in the future, Congress must act to protect consumers' financial information by enacting national data security standards for retailers and holding them directly accountable for their data breaches," she said.
STEALTHbits channel marketing manager Jeff Hill noted by email that U.S. courts have thus far been reluctant to side with plaintiffs against breached enterprises, let alone to certify class action suits. "This Target decision joins the recent loss by Wyndham in its five-year battle against the Federal Trade Commission's asserted right to regulate enterprise cyber security in the bad news bucket for any organization with a computer network and data to protect," Hill said.
"This decision raises the stakes yet again for organizations that were the victims of a data breach," STEALTHbits marketing manager Nathan Sorrentino added. "A new precedent has been set -- be prepared to not only face financial backlash from the general public, but from the banks and credit card companies as well."


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Apple has released a new firmware software update for their AirPods Pro headphones, the update comes with the firmware number 3A283 and it brings some new features to the headphones.
These features include support for Spatial Audio and also Automatic Switching, you will need iOS 14 for these two new features to work, this suggests that we may see iOS 14 sooner than we thought.
Some readers of MacRumors have been testing out the feature and you can see what they had to say about it below.
Just tried out spatial audio on my iPad. Very cool! The illusion of the audio coming from the iPad is so convincing that I actually thought at first that the sound was coming from my iPad’s speakers. Had to take an AirPod out of my ear to confirm I was really hearing it from the AirPods themselves. I would really like to learn more about whatever dark magic Apple is using to pull off this illusion!
Previous rumors have suggested that Apple will launch iOS 14 in October along with the new iPhone 12 handsets. With this new feature added to the AirPods Pro this week, it could suggest that iOS 14 may actually launch this week, I guess we will find out later.


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Sweet success for Sawston’s Keeley
With her face painted like a peacock, the image of Keeley Thomas, 7, from Sawston is being featured on a chocolate brand in shops and supermarkets everywhere in the UK.
She was one of six children selected from thousands of competition entries to be the face of the chocolate brand Kinder.
Keeley has Down’s Syndrome and has twice had her hair cut for the Princess Little Princess Trust, which provides real hair wigs to children who have lost their hair through cancer treatment.
The competition asked parents to submit what their child would like to have their face painted as, and why. Keeley, who goes to Icknield Primary School, chose to be a peacock because “they are beautiful and like to show off like her” she said.
Mum, Lindy said her daughter is lapping up all the attention and is excited to tell people about it. “We went to Tescos and she spent ages telling everyone it was her face on the wrappers,” she said.
The competition has also been good for raising the profile of Down’s Syndrome, she added.
Keeley, from Westmoor Avenue, also appears on the company’s website www.faceofkinder.com. A spokesman for the company said: “The number of creative, thoughtful entries received was astounding.”


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The turn of the year has also seen a new development at eco, where a new interdisciplinary division for the area of “Digital Business Models” has been established. Management responsibility is vested in Andreas Weiss, who has led EuroCloud Deutschland_eco as Director for eight years. With this development, the largest association of the Internet industry in Europe is pooling existing competencies, providing for stronger networking, and creating new synergies.
Entirely new approaches to value creation
“With the digitalization of established business models, new ecosystems have emerged which, enhanced by technologies such as Big Data, IoT, AI, or blockchain, enable completely new approaches to value creation,” explains Weiss.
“The studies published last year by eco on Smart City, Smart Home, and Industrial IoT testify to the enormous associated economic potential. Nonetheless, positive development is ultimately dependent on successful cooperation between different providers. We need to take a closer look at this, develop interdisciplinary concepts, and strengthen cooperation,” said Weiss.
Strengthening digital infrastructures
A further prerequisite for the new value creation processes is a good and stable infrastructure. eco represents the relevant providers and, together with them, is forging the new “Alliance to Strengthen Digital Infrastructures in Germany,” an alliance which harbors the potential to function as a model for other economies.
“So we have a lot of work ahead of us, but I am confident that the newly created eco structures will achieve a great deal for our members and for the digital industry,” says Alexander Rabe, eco Managing Director.


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Wordspy is a useful website for language lovers - it's a site dedicated to tracking new words and phrases and their meanings. According to the website, they track "new terms that have appeared multiple times in newspapers, magazines, books, Web sites, and other recorded sources." For example, the top new term today is listed as:
Cyber Monday n. The Monday after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, when online retailers reportedly experience a surge in purchases.
The entry also includes citations for use of the term and the earliest usage of the term.
Hat tip to beSpacific.


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Vev, a collaborative visual editor for professional developers, designers and content creators to build and launch interactive websites and digital content, today announces a €5 million seed funding round led by EQT Ventures. Existing investors, Sagene Tech Ventures and Skyfall Ventures, also participated in the round.
Founded in 2017, Vev is on a mission to empower the next generation of creators, ranging from individuals to the most advanced professionals, by creating the new industry standard for visual web design. The funding will be used to launch its platform to the public, invest in product development, and scale its commercial team, including growth and marketing.
Vev creates streamlined workflows for creating and launching interactive web content, appealing to all sides of the web design process: developers, designers, and content creators by combining code and no-code. This combination of design tools, code, and content editor in the same platform means users can produce websites with complete creative freedom for design and content, with the flexibility to edit and create code components when needed. Vev customers can one-click publish finished websites and content directly to any CMS (such as WordPress), backend, or hosting provider. This opens up for using Vev to speed up production without the cost of switching CMS systems.
Vev signals that visual web design has drastically transformed in the past 10 years, and with a record 1.8 billion websites, it is vital to stand out from the crowd. Vev allows enterprises and professionals to create outstanding digital experiences quickly, collaboratively, and on existing infrastructure. It is used by agencies and large organisations, ranging from Netflix to Osprey to The Economist, and also appeals to freelancers as the next generation of creators.
Founded by Tine Karlsen (CEO), Nicolay Thafvelin (CTO), and Fredrik Evjen Eklis (CPO), the core team met in 2013 while working at a digital design and publishing firm. They witnessed the persistent problem of developers being siloed from designers and content creators; to solve this, they founded Vev in 2017.
“We are entering a new era of visual web design, where we are bringing together code and no-code to allow unlimited creative freedom through frictionless collaboration between designers and developers in one platform,” Tine Karlsen, CEO and Co-Founder at Vev. “Designers, developers, and content creators can now collaborate using Vev when building and launching interactive websites — igniting a fully immersive experience.”
Sandra Malmberg, Investment Manager at EQT Ventures, added: “Vev is part of the next wave of groundbreaking tools that is entering the ecosystem, bound to propel a shift in visual web design. With my background as a marketer, I am excited about the potential in truly enabling seamless collaboration between developers, creators and designers. Ultimately the web is where you win, through unique, immersive and engaging experiences. At EQT Ventures we are thrilled to back the talented team at Vev on their exciting journey.”


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Tag Archives: Rare
TOKYO (Reuters) – Flea market app operator Mercari Inc’s shares surged 100 percent in their Tokyo stock market debut on Tuesday, hitting their daily limit high, underscoring strong investor appetite for a rare Japanese unicorn bent on U.S. expansion.
Shares rose as high as 6,000 yen in early afternoon trade, valuing the company at as much as $ 7.4 billion. That made it the most valuable firm on the Tokyo bourse’s Mothers market for startups, ahead of games and social network company Mixi Inc and robotics firm Cyberdyne Inc.
A popular smartphone app that allows people to trade used items online, Mercari has been downloaded 71 million times in Japan where it has 10.5 million active users. It makes money by charging sellers commission, and expects sales to jump 62 percent to 35.8 billion yen ($ 325.93 million) this financial year.
Mercari shares already look expensive, said Masayuki Otani, chief market analyst at Securities Japan. While the app is well known in Japan and still growing, it is likely to face more competition at home, he said, with companies such as Rakuten Inc and Start Today Co Ltd offering used-goods services.
Mercari shares were trading at 5,350 yen at 13:00 local time (0400 GMT).
Its initial public offering, the biggest in Japan this year, raised $ 1.2 billion through the sale of around a third of Mercari’s shares, with the majority bought by overseas investors.
The company is profitable at home but is losing money in the United States, where its expansion plans are being headed by former Facebook Inc executive John Lagerling.
Its U.S. expansion dragged it to a net loss of 4.2 billion yen in the last financial year through June 2017, with a further loss of 3.4 billion in the nine months to March as the company committed funds to improving its brand recognition through advertising.
“We can’t be successful globally without success in the U.S.,” Chief Executive and founder Shintaro Yamada told Reuters in April.
In a country that has many successful giant corporations but lacks a vibrant startup culture, Mercari gained attention as one of Japan’s two unicorns – startups with valuations above $ 1 billion – according to data provider CB Insights. The other is information technology startup Preferred Networks Inc.
Mercari’s growing popularity as Japanese shoppers shed their inhibitions about buying and selling used goods has seen it join the ranks of companies such as Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing Co Ltd that have grown by appealing to consumers’ economizing instincts.
The app has outperformed rivals with its focus on mobile, its ease of use – with users able to trade goods with just a few taps – and by offering anonymity to its privacy conscious Japanese audience.
Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Christopher Cushing
The district of Kowloon, Hong Kong, is a crowded place—there are 124,000 people packed into each of its 18 square miles. Apartments can be amazingly small. The dearth of parks doesn’t help. So Kowloonians use whatever space they can find, often escaping to the tops of buildings to walk their dogs, hang laundry, or just take a catnap.
Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze is one of them—only he takes to the roof with his camera, documenting unsuspecting strangers on shorter buildings below. The images appear in his stunning new book Concrete Stories. “It’s daily life stuff, but it’s surprising to see it on the roof,” he says.
Jacquet-Lagrèze grew up in the suburbs of Paris, where people have yards and cars, and can even see the stars. He sacrificed it all for love, moving into a 200-square-foot apartment in Kowloon eight years ago to be with his wife. Now they have just 400 square feet to call their own, but Jacquet-Lagrèze doesn’t mind. The city is inspiring, its density enabling him to create series like The Blue Moment, photographed from rooftops.
While shooting, Jacquet-Lagrèze often glimpsed others who were also out and about atop other buildings. As development began transforming the cityscape, he worried these communal rooftops could disappear. “This part of the city is now surrounded by modern buildings, and bit by bit these old buildings are being destroyed and replaced by really big, tall buildings with locked rooftops,” he says.
This—coupled with his sheer curiosity about the neighbors—inspired him to document rooftop culture while it’s still around. Twice a week over the last four years, he rode an elevator up a highrise with his Sony DSLR and a couple zoom and telephoto lenses. He hunkered down near a ledge, munching on a snack as he waited for people to appear. In the golden afternoon light, he photographed Kowloonians as they jumped rope, watered their plants, even burnt offerings to their ancestors.
If spying on such tender moments of solitude sounds creepy, Jacquet-Lagrèze says it’s par for the course on Kowloon’s rooftops. While shooting the series, he sometimes glimpsed people higher up watching him. “Whenever you are on the rooftop in the open air, you know there are hundreds, if not thousands, of windows potentially looking at you,” he says.
Kowloon is ridiculously crowded, even up in the air.
More Great WIRED Stories
LONDON (Reuters) – Tesla’s shift to a magnetic motor using neodymium in its Model 3 Long Range car adds to pressure on already strained supplies of a rare earth metal that had for years been shunned because of an export ban by top producer China.
Efforts by governments around the world to cut noxious emissions produced by fossil fuel-powered cars is driving demand for electric vehicles and the metals used to make them, such as lithium and cobalt which are key ingredients for batteries.
Now the spotlight is on neodymium. Several auto makers already use permanent magnet motors that rely on the metal because they are generally lighter, stronger and more efficient than induction motors that are based on copper coils.
But it is the switch to neodymium by Tesla, an auto maker that has staked its future solely on the electric vehicle, that is showing the way the industry is moving and the direction of demand for the rare earth metal.
Research group imarc estimates the market for the neodymium-iron-boron magnet used in the motors is now worth more than $ 11.3 billion, with demand for the magnets rising at a compound annual growth rate of 8.5 percent between 2010 and 2017.(For a graphic of Neodymium market balance click reut.rs/2FD6bUb)
“Some electric car motors use the permanent magnet technology, probably the most famous is the Tesla Model 3 Long Range. All the other Tesla models — Model X and Model 3 standard — use induction motors,” said David Merriman, a senior analyst at metals consultancy Roskill.
Global demand of 31,700 tonnes for neodymium last year already outstripped supply by 3,300 tonnes, he said. Demand was expected to climb to 34,200 tonnes this year and 38,800 tonnes in 2018, leaving larger deficits.
“Tesla’s decision to switch to permanent magnets has completely changed the dynamics of the market,” said a source at a fund manager that specializes in metals.
The price of neodymium is now about $ 70 a kg, well below the $ 500 hit after China held back shipments to Japan in 2010 during a row over disputed islands but it is still 40 percent higher than at the start of 2017.
(For a graphic of neodymium prices click reut.rs/2DlOHtE)
China, which resumed neodymium exports in 2015, imposed strict export quotas across a range of rare earth metal in 2010, saying it wanted to curtail pollution and preserve resources.
“People seem to have forgotten China’s export ban. It could happen again. China is really the main producer, no one else has invested as much in rare earths,” a rare earth trader said.
Despite their name, rare earths are found in many places around the world, but the process of extraction is difficult and expensive, as it requires separating multiple different metals from a single deposit. This is unlike the much simpler process, for example, of recovering copper from ore.(For a graphic of Rare Earth Producers click reut.rs/2Fu5HnE)
China has invested heavily in the rare earth metals process but its crackdown on mining, smelting and other polluting industries is forecast to slow supply. It already helped push the neodymium price to a two-year high of $ 96 in September.
“Rare earth production is as bad as you can get in terms of environmental damage,” the trader said. “China used its dominant position before, what’s to stop it doing so again?”
Such supply concerns are encouraging automakers to search for ways of cutting down neodymium use. Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said last month it had found a way to cut use of the metal in electric motors by about a fifth.
The Japanese firm said it had developed a magnet which replaced some of the neodymium with more abundant and cheaper rare earths — lanthanum and cerium. Toyota aims to use the magnets in electric vehicle motors within the next 10 years.
Several companies produce rare earth metals outside China, including London-listed Rainbow Rare Earths (RBWR.L), Canada-listed Namibia Rare Earths (NRE.V) and Australia’s Spectrum Rare Earths (SPX.AX).
But, for now, auto makers making permanent magnet motors remain heavily reliant on China, which according to Roskill accounted for 85 percent of global output of rare earth oxide estimated at 161,700 tonnes in 2017.
Morgan Stanley analysts estimate electric vehicles will total 50,000 units in 2020 or 2.3 percent of the total, rising to 400,000 in 2025 or 17.4 percent, and 975,000 in 2030 or 40.9 percent.
Reporting by Pratima Desai; Editing by Veronica Brown and Edmund Blair


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Supermarket chain Morrisons has knocked 2p off the cost of its diesel and unleaded fuels, prompting a new round of price cuts at rival forecourts.
The move, which takes unleaded petrol to 97.9p a litre and diesel to 109.9p, was immediately matched by Asda.
Tesco said it would follow suit at the majority of outlets, and Total announced cuts at some of its forecourts across England and Wales.
Last week Morrisons kicked off a petrol price war by dropping the cost of unleaded to less than £1 a litre for the first time since December 2007.
Retailers have hinted at further price cuts thanks to a slump in the cost of oil, which hit $66 a barrel earlier this month.
Asda trading director Darren Blackhurst said: ‘We expect oil prices to fluctuate in the coming weeks and will continue to pass on cost savings to customers whenever and wherever possible’.
Fuel duty increase
However, motorists may soon see petrol prices rise again. According to reports, there could be a 2p a litre rise in fuel duty by April, with an announcement due before the end of the year.
Motoring industry leaders who met Treasury Minister Angela Eagle ahead of autumn’s pre-budget report said they were left ‘in no doubt’ that a fuel duty rise is planned, the Daily Mail reported.
Ministers are also reportedly pressing ahead with their plans for a new road tax system, which will charge drivers retrospectively based on the CO2 output of their car.
To find out more about how the system works – and how you will be affected – read our guide to the new road tax rules. If you’d like to find out where you can find the cheapest petrol, diesel or LPG in your area, read the Which? guide to finding the cheapest fuel.
All the latest car news
For daily consumer news, subscribe to the here. If you have an older web browser you may need to copy and paste this link into your newsreader: https://www.which.co.uk/feeds/reviews/news.xml . Find out more about RSS in the Which? guide to news feeds.
To be kept in the loop on all the manufacturer offers and great car deals we spot each week, sign up for our Which? Car email – delivered to your inbox every Friday, and including all our latest news and first drive reviews, too.


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2019 BMW 530i It is Larger and Appears to be like Nice. 2019 BMW 530i new compact sedan continues the brand's good-seems streak. The keyword compact had its greatest 12 months ever in 2017, with almost 118,000 models sold, yet Kia is doing precisely the opposite of resting on its laurels by introducing an all-new version of the favored.
The 2019 BMW 530i new look is an appealing upgrade, with more chiseled lines and cleaner detailing than before.
Kia will launch particulars in regards to the 2019 BMW 530i pricing and equipment closer to its launch later this year. Information about the 2019 BMW 530i hatchback and a attainable turbocharged improve engine, which can abandon the current moniker, needs to be coming as effectively.
2019 BMW 530i These packages additionally embody the remaining driver help safety features: Forward Collision Warning system, a lane departure warning system, lane maintain assist system, HID headlights, blind-spot monitoring, Lane Change Assist and rear cross traffic alert.
Tags: #2019 bmw 530i


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*Update: General Motors Co. said today it has given its tentative approval for Russian financier Vladimir Antonov to become a major shareholder in Spyker Cars’ struggling Saab unit.
We reported last week that Saab production at Saab had been halted for almost a month due to the the company’s failure to pay suppliers’ bills. That situation seems to be worked out, at least in theory, as Saab has secured a deal that would with the European Investment Bank, that would alleviate its immediate cash crunch issues.
There is one caveat however; EIB Vice Chairman Eva Srejber says that GM, the Swedish auto-makers former owner, must sign-off and approve a sale and lease-back plan in order for the cash to be raised. As part of the sale agreement to Spyker Automotive, GM retains redeemable preference shares in Saab.
The deal that Saab has in place is with Russian financier Vladimir Antonov, who is seeking to buy from the company, a bundle of real-estate, included in which is the company’s main production plant, and lease it back, providing Saab with much needed cash to pay bills.
Antonov has traveled to Sweden to meet with the country’s Debt Office, where he told the media he is not giving up, though the situation is by and large beyond his influence at this point.
“It is not yet certain whether the above parties will be able to fulfill all of the conditions of the EIB and finalize the sale of Saab Property within a short time frame,” Spyker said.
– By: Stephen Calogera
Source: Automotive News


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Microsoft's relationship with Cyanogen never better.
More news involving Microsoft and Android. After Cortana became available for the platform as an app, Cyanogen has announced the virtual assistant's deep integration into its Android fork.
Alcatel's affordable stunner up for grabs in India.
We love the design of Alcatel OneTouch Watch. It's beaten almost all of the more established players in that respect. After the announcement in Berlin a few weeks ago, it's now available for purchase.
USA, UK, Germany and a few others
Some of Apple's top markets got the chance to preorder the brand new iPhone and the first customers that just pre-ordered have a chance to get their devices after the September 25th.
Fastest GTX 980 Ti next to K|NGP|N and Classified
EVGA has unveiled its newest Geforce GTX 980 Ti FTW ACX 2.0+ graphics cards that is dwarfed only by EVGA's GTX 980 Ti K|NGP|N and Classified versions.


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Fifty five jobs are expected to be axed as Imperial Tobacco’s non-tobacco product subsidiary, Fontem Ventures, implements its plan to close its electronic cigarette warehouse and office in Edinburgh, Scotland, according to a Herald Scotland story relayed by the TMA.
The closure is to be carried out from September 30 to December 30, basically during the company’s first quarter.
The Edinburgh operations are to be transferred to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Charlotte, North Carolina, the US.
Imperial said that the 55 employees facing the axe would be offered assistance to find new employment.
“We deeply regret that this strategic restructuring will result in redundancies among our 55 employees in Edinburgh [and] appreciate the commitment, achievements and contribution of all our employees” in the city, Bart Maas, general manager of Fontem, was quoted as saying.
Fontem Ventures, set up in 2013 to develop non-tobacco ventures for Imperial, used the Edinburgh site as a base to distribute electronic cigarettes.
The Herald reported that, in November 2013, Fontem acquired vapor technologies and patents from Dragonite International.
It acquired the blu e-cig brand in July 2015 and owns the e-cig brands Jai and Puritane.


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Major League Baseball has finalized details for its on-uniform advertising program.
Starting with the 2023 season, teams will be able to sell ad space on jerseys in the form of a 4-by-4-inch patch on jersey sleeves. Additionally, advertisers may be able to put corporate logo decals on batting helmets beginning with the 2022 postseason.
Alcohol, betting, and media companies will not be allowed to advertise with this program.
The inclusion of jersey and helmet sponsors was approved as part of the new collective bargaining agreement — but the full details of the program were only just made available.
On-uniform advertising could prove to be big business for MLB. The average jersey patch deal in the NBA sells for between $7 million and $10 million per year — and the Lakers’ deal with Bibigo is worth $25 million per year.


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Diesel drivers ‘days away’ from £2 a litre pump price
The average price of petrol rose by half a penny to 189.84p on Wednesday, while diesel was up by nearly 1p to 198p a litre.
This takes the cost of filling up an average 55-litre family car with unleaded to £104.41 while the equivalent cost for diesel drivers stands at £108.90.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “It seems as though we are just days away from the frightening prospect of the price of diesel averaging £2 a litre across the UK taking the cost of a full tank to a staggering £110. For drivers who still think in gallons this would be £9 a gallon.”
Williams added that they are “surprised and disappointed” to see the price of unleaded continuing to rise as the cost on the wholesale market “tells a very different story”.
He explained that over the course of last week delivered wholesale petrol averaged 148p a litre which should lead to a price of around 186p after factoring in 7p-a-litre retailer margin and VAT at 20%.
“We suspect if retailers fail to reduce their prices in the next few days they will find themselves playing into the hands of the Competition and Markets Authority which is currently looking into their behaviour,” he said.
Meanwhile, the average price of a litre at motorway services is now 203.45p for petrol and 205.88p diesel. Supermarkets – which tend to be cheaper – are recording an average price of 187.83p for petrol and 196.21p diesel.
The price of supermarket diesel has rocketed by 11p a litre in the last fortnight.


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Bob Dakin, senior vice president of store operations in the J. Jill unit of The Talbots Inc., has joined the Warnaco Group Inc. as senior vice president of retail, a new position.
Among his duties will be the identification of global retail strategies, as well as new retail opportunities in the U.S.
Dakin's "retail experience will be invaluable to us as we continue to expand our direct-to-consumer presence globally," said president and chief executive officer Joe Gromek. Dakin will report to Gromek.
Gromek said Warnaco previously stated that it expects retail to account for about 30 percent of revenues by the end of 2012 and has established a sales target for its stores of about $1,000 a square foot.
In fiscal 2007, Warnaco's retail revenues rose 36.7 percent and were responsible for $337.4 million of the company's $1.86 billion in overall volume, or 18.1 percent. Retail operating income rose 42.4 percent and accounted for $51.2 million, or 37.4 percent, of the corporate total of $137 million.
As of April 5, Warnaco operated 129 freestanding Calvin Klein stores and 632 Calvin Klein shop-in-shop or concession stores.
Before working at J. Jill, Dakin was executive vice president of Brooks Brothers and senior vice president of AnnTaylor Stores Corp. He began his career at Lord & Taylor.
Alberta Ferretti's "Rainbow Week" sweaters are back. The designer closed her #MFW show with a few day-of-the-week sweaters, which first debuted on the catwalk last January as part of the pre-fall 2017 collection. #wwdfashion (📷: @delphineachard)


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DAR: WHY FARMERS ARE NOT COMPETITIVE
Agriculture Secretary William Dar underscored underlying factors why farmers in the Philippines are not competitive and earning enough.
“First, our farmers remain individualistic, unorganized and thus are not linked directly to markets. Second, our farmlands are small and fragmented. The saving-link is to organize them into cooperatives, and thereafter consolidate and cluster their farms to attain economies of scale, and thus be competitive. We will assist them to partner with big business and venture jointly into food value chain enterprises,” said Dar during the “Food Security in the Subic-Clark Economic Corridor Webinar,” on October 6, 2020.
“The Department of Agriculture (DA) will strive to consolidate and cluster farms and fishing grounds, under our new thrust called ‘Bayanihan sa Agrikultura‘ or ‘BayanAgri ‘ program,” he added.
“We will also teach and arm them with modern and innovative technologies to increase their productivity and incomes,” the DA chief said.
“Further, once organized we will help them avail of needed credit for their working capital so they will not be forced to borrow from traders. Kagaya ngayong rice harvest season, traders are taking advantage of our farmers as they are heavily indebted to them, thus dictating low buying price for their palay,” the DA chief said.
During the webinar, he also explained how the redesigned food security development framework of the DA will come into play in the “new normal,” particularly in empowering farmers and fishers to be competitive.
“One new program that the Department is pursuing towards attaining food security is the establishment of agri-industrial business corridors or ABCs, which are aimed to tap and unleash the potential of rural communities to produce and contribute to national development,” Dar added.
He said the country’s first ABC will be set up at the New Clark Green City, and plans are in final stages with the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA).
“Building an economic corridor in Subic-Clark will serve as a magnet to attract investors, while at the same time promote farmers’ cooperativism,” Dar said.
With the development of more ABCs in other conducive areas in the country, the DA chief encouraged the private sector to invest and engage in rural industries.


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Polaris India has launched the iconic Indian Motorcycles brand in India today, at an event in Delhi. The Indian Chief Classic is the entry-model in their three-product range with a starting price of Rs 26.5 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
The two other motorcycles in their range are the Indian Chief Vintage (Rs 29.5 lakh) and the Indian Chieftain (Rs 33 lakh). All three motorcycles are powered by the Thunder Stroke 111 V-Twin engine with a displacement of 1,811cc and 139Nm (at 2,600) of torque. The engine is mated to a six-speed constant mesh helical gearbox.
Polaris will import all the models from the US as CBU (completely built units) and is soon setting up a dealership in Delhi and Bangalore. The deliveries of all three models will commence in March.
The Indian Motorcycles are known for their vintage looks and the company has taken a lot of effort to maintain that image. The supplier of seats and leather hasn’t changed since 1930 and neither has the styling been altered from 1940. There are a few technology updates though, it is the first motorcycle to have keyless ignition. Polaris claims that all Indian motorcycles are a blend of 40 per cent ‘past’ and 60 per cent ‘latest’.
The Indian Motorcycles compete with Harley-Davidson models in India.
Prices of the Indian Motorcycles (ex-showroom Delhi).
Indian Chief Classic – Rs 26.5 lakh
Indian Chief Vintage – Rs 29.5 lakh
Indian Chieftain – Rs 33 lakh


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After teaming up with the commercial real estate experts at CBRE, Spaces signed a new lease to expand its presence in the greater Los Angeles area. Found right next to JP Morgan’s Water Garden complex in Santa Monica, this all-new Spaces will mark the brand’s eighth coworking hub in California’s largest city.
Spaces’ footprint in LA has increased greatly in just a few years, offering flexible workspace in exciting areas such as Hollywood, Fairfax and Downtown LA.
City of coworking
According to a recent CBRE report, LA is the second largest market for coworking spaces in the US. What’s more, the number of available spaces has doubled in the past 24 months. With almost 2% of LA’s 222 million square feet of office space now being flexible workspaces, there’s still room for growth.
Michael Beretta, IWG’s Vice President of Network Development in the Americas, says that this growth is fueled by two important factors: Los Angeles’ thriving start-up community and the surge in demand from tech and entertainment companies seeking coworking spaces in the city’s suburbs.
“As the LA market continues to establish itself as an entrepreneurial hub, more and more businesses are leaning into the benefits of coworking,” he says. “Coworking has shown to be a key driver in attracting and retaining talent, which is important in a competitive market such as LA.”
Further enforcing this, a recent survey by IWG found that talent is embracing flexible working – 80% of the US employees said they would pick the job that offered flexible working over one that didn’t.
The Santa Monica Dream location
Spaces chose the nearly 70,000 square feet location at Water Garden – Santa Monica’s Media District – for its convenience, nearby facilities and pleasant environment. “We’re striving to find buildings and locations that embody the Spaces brand – inspiring, energetic, and diverse areas that are found near shops, restaurants, outdoor spaces and provide easy access to parking and transportation”, says Beretta.
“The Water Garden in Santa Monica is the perfect example of this. The creative office campus, which includes 17 acres of indoor and exterior space with a landscaped river walk, Zen gardens, a fitness centre, shops and restaurants, is located within the Silicon Beach area. An area home to major tech and entertainment players, including Snap, Google and Hulu.”
Other facilities at this brand-new Spaces will include fire pits, a dining terrace, and an outdoor space where people can meet and visit concerts, film screenings and events.
The partnership with CBRE has proven to be a successful one, says Beretta. “We have a long-standing relationship with CBRE. Their expertise and depth of market knowledge is integral to in helping us reach our goal of finding locations for our co-working sites where businesses can thrive.”
Can’t wait for this brand-new location to open for business? Explore other Spaces in Los Angeles right here.


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GREEN consumers sometimes take the moral high ground – but it’s all too easy to slide back down. New research suggests that those who make “green” purchases are more likely to behave selfishly, cheat and steal afterwards.
Nina Mazar and Chen-Bo Zhong of the University of Toronto in Canada presented students with simulated online stores. Half were given a store stocked mostly with “green” products – compact fluorescent lamps instead of incandescent light bulbs, for instance – to make it more likely that they would shop green. The other half were given a store stocked with mostly conventional products, and all the volunteers were told to spend up to $25.
The students then did one of two tasks. One group was told to share $6 between themselves and another participant. Mazar and Zhong found that green shoppers in this group kept more for themselves than the others did (Psychological Science, DOI: 10.1177/0956797610363538).
One group was told to share $6 – the green shoppers kept more for themselves
A second group was shown a pattern of dots and asked whether more fell to the left or the right of a line. They were told they would get 0.5¢ each time they said more dots were on the left, but 5¢ each time they said more were on the right – providing a clear incentive to lie.
Playing this game accurately and truthfully would win students $2.07 – roughly what those who had shopped in the conventional store in fact won. “Green” shoppers, however, lied and earned on average 36¢ more.
The second group was then told how much they had won and told to take the


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A new type of 3D printer with a moveable arm can now print on every surface and even on existing objects.
In collaboration with Dutch company Océ Technologies, the researchers at the TU Delft (Delft University of Technology) Robotics Institute in the Netherlands developed a working prototype of a novel 3D printer. The printer works by means of a robot arm with various degrees of freedom and utilizes a high-performance printer head from Océ.
The printer head used in current 3D printers is only able to move along straight lines, but the robot arm from TU Delft is able to print in all directions, which means that the arm can move the printer head along complex, curved surfaces. This new technology not only reduces the printing time but also improves the quality of the printed surface. In addition it is also possible to print on any existing objects.
The researchers carried out different tests to try out the prototype 3D printer. In the first test, the 3D printer made a large 2D print. Because the robot arm does not need to move linearly, the printing time is considerably shortened. For example, printing the Océ logo is twice as fast as the other printer.
The second test was to print on a curved surface. Using data from a laser scanner, the printer head can always be positioned perpendicular to and at the correct distance from the surface. In addition the robot arm can also print on other non-flat surfaces. This technology allows many potential applications, such as repairing tears, coating and restoration with 3D printers.
2D printer prints object on a single layer. But in a 3D world an object is built up by placing a number of 2D prints on top of each other. In order to get a better quality 3D print, researchers analyzed more possibilities for 3D printing with this robot arm. The robot arm is able to move in all directions, in principle it is possible to develop new and more complex building strategies. The researchers say that, further optimized, the device could be used for printing more complex objects with fast speed.
Posted in 3D Printers
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Dan wrote at 10/11/2013 3:22:12 AM:
Industrial robots possess for a long time exclusively good values of accuracy and repeatability of movements to serve as high-precision 3D-printers. The only lacks - the price which for the most inexpensive samples begins approximately from 50000.


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The Xiaomi shock
China’s booming smartphone market has spawned a genuine innovator
“FROM the beginning, Xiaomi has considered the mobile phone to be a converged gadget of software, internet services and hardware, not just a simple device.” So declared Lei Jun, the charismatic founder of Xiaomi, a Chinese smartphone-maker with global aspirations, during a recent meeting at his firm’s headquarters in Beijing with Choi Yang-hee, South Korea’s telecoms minister.
Bland as Mr Lei’s comments may sound, the meeting revealed something important about Xiaomi. That a South Korean minister would deign to visit a Chinese tech firm which until recently was barely known outside its home country, let alone sit through such a lecture, is telling. Such has been the Korean hubris over the prowess of its chaebol—most notably Samsung, the world’s leading mobile-phone firm—that the scene would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. It shows how worried Samsung is of being upended by what another South Korean minister has called the “Xiaomi shock”.
To see what he means, consider what the firm has accomplished since its first phone was launched four years ago. Its worldwide sales were 61m handsets last year, a rise of 227% on the year earlier, making it the sixth-biggest mobile-phone firm in the world. In China, Xiaomi had leapt ahead of all its rivals, foreign and local, by the final quarter of last year, to become the top-selling brand of smartphones (see charts). This year Mr Lei wants to sell 100m units worldwide.
The company has already started a big push towards achieving this. Last year it began selling phones in a few South-East Asian markets, including Singapore. It also struck a deal with Flipkart, India’s leading e-commerce firm, to sell handsets in that market. Earlier this month it unveiled plans to sell headphones and other accessories (though not yet phones) in America.
Conquering the world will be harder than dominating the home market. Google and its Android app store are unavailable in China, making it easier for Xiaomi’s flavour of the Android operating system, and its app store, to flourish there. Few consumers in other emerging markets are as plugged into e-commerce as the Chinese are. Entering such markets may require Xiaomi, which has thus far relied mostly on internet sales and word-of-mouth buzz, to make expensive investments in advertising and in bricks-and-mortar retailing.
Profitability is also a big concern. Xiaomi, still private, releases few details of its finances. But Mark Li of Sanford C. Bernstein, a research firm, suspects that its handsets do not make the sort of double-digit margins earned by Apple. Even the firm admits it has enjoyed higher margins from selling millions of fluffy promotional toys—in the form of a bunny called “Mitu”—than it has from handsets.
Another snag is its lack of intellectual property. Smartphone companies are highly litigious. Unlike its more experienced local rivals, Lenovo (which has bought Motorola’s smartphone division from Google) and Huawei, Xiaomi does not have a huge patent portfolio. Lin Bin, its president, says it has been filing thousands of patents in preparation for a legal onslaught: “This is something we expect to happen.” Indeed, an Indian court is investigating claims that Xiaomi has disobeyed its order to halt sales of some of its phones in the country, over a patent dispute.
Given these obstacles, why is Samsung still worried? One reason is that Xiaomi has positioned itself perfectly to be a disrupter of firms offering overpriced, over-elaborate devices. Its best handsets are not quite as good as Apple’s or Samsung’s best, but they are far better than those from other, cut-rate rivals—and they cost half what an unsubsidised new iPhone does.
Consider again the sweeping assertion made by Mr Lei to the Korean minister. From the start he has understood the awesome power of the connected mobile device. That has led to a business model that blends Apple’s walled garden, which encourages users to stay loyal to its “ecosystem” of apps, with Amazon’s use of the Kindle as a loss-leader to sell lucrative content, software and services. Xiaomi started off peddling handsets without profit, but it is creating a bunch of apps, “smart home” gadgetry, online video and peripheral devices to make a return on its investment.
The other reason incumbents should worry about Xiaomi is its financial firepower. Some 29 banks tripped over themselves to offer it a $1 billion loan in October. In December several respected venture capitalists including GIC, Singapore’s sovereign-wealth fund, and DST of Russia, an early investor in Facebook, provided another $1.1 billion. Some reckon that this latest investment, which values it at $45 billion, makes the Chinese upstart the world’s most valuable startup. Xiaomi’s shock-and-awe campaign rolls on.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline "The Xiaomi shock"
From the February 28th 2015 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the edition
The rise of ChatGPT-like AI applications has profound implications for internet use
BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies are increasingly looking to their backyards
Is the worst over for Mark Zuckerberg’s social-media empire?


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Episerver announced the winners of the Premium, Solution and Associated Partner of the Year Award at the UK Customer and Partner Day 2011.
London, UK – 23rd November 2011: Yesterday Episerver, the world’s fastest growing provider of platforms that drive online engagement, held its annual Customer and Partner Day and announced the winners of the Episerver UK Partner of the Year Award 2011. The award this year has three categories: Premium, Solution and Associated. Partners in each of these categories were judged by new customer wins achieved in the past 12 months across Episerver’s range of online platform solutions, their number of (advanced level) Episerver Certified Developers and overall performance as an Episerver Partner.
Among the highly qualified UK partners, Episerver awarded top London agency Fortune Cookie as Premium Partner of the Year, followed by Emperor Design - Solution Partner of the Year, and Freestyle Interactive - Associated Partner of the Year.
Reema Gainley, Head of Partner Sales, Episerver UK, speaking at the event, said “We appreciate our partners’ contribution to the rapid growth of Episerver in the UK. And we want to use this opportunity to recognise their dedication and ongoing commitment to the Episerver platform.”


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While Amazon is tussling with regulators over drone deliveries, one company has found a way to make the unmanned flying machines deliver packages today, by launching them out of the roof of a truck.
U.S. firm Workhorse has created a system called “HorseFly” that has managed to stick to the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) latest rules.
The drone can travel at 50 miles per hour, carry a 10 pound package and fly for 30 minutes. Workhorse’s idea is to address the last mile of delivery – places trucks or vans can’t reach such as rural areas.
Earlier this year, the FAA issued new rules on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). One of the key points was that drones needed to remain in the visual line-of-sight of the operator, something that essentially thwarted Amazon’s plans for drone delivery.
Workhorse’s solution has been to place these drones to launch out of trucks because they remain within sight of the driver. Steve Burns, chief executive of Workhorse said that the drones remain within the line-of-sight of the truck drivers.
“We launch from atop the truck, and efficiencies are not as good as if you could just launch from 30 miles way, but they are staggering,” Burns told CNBC in a TV interview on Thursday.
Burns explained that drone deliveries are interesting because of cost savings. He said drivers are paid around $30 to $40 per hours and deliver between 150 and 200 packages. Drones however cost about 2 cents per mile because of electricity, and the fact that drivers are not involved.
The current solution, which requires drivers to take a truck to a location, then release the drone, is just the beginning of Workhorse’s plan.
“Like a lot of new technologies you kind of go for the low hanging fruit. And the long distance out in rural areas and some suburban, that’s the longest cost per package because it’s not very efficient for the driver or the truck. So you start there, then you move inland, if you can imagine a drone jumping up on top of a building, maybe, and there is a central landing spot where everybody picks up their packages…it could get that precise,” Burns said.
US regulators behind?
Of course, Amazon is continuing to invest in drone technology. Recent patents show the company’s potential plans with drones being perched in high places like lampposts ready to be deployed at any time.
But the FAA’s regulations are so far holding Amazon back. As a result, the U.S. e-commerce giant recently struck a partnership with the U.K. government to test its drone delivery technology in rural and suburban areas in Britain.
Burns said that the drone industry was “disappointed” with the FAA’s latest rules, but within them, the regulator has said companies can operate drones for deliveries if they can prove that you can stay within the rules and still be safe, an exemption Workhorse has taken advantage of.
Workhorse is developing and testing the HorseFly drone with the University of Cincinnati and is hoping to sell it to customers later this year.


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Ford knows that there are some people out there who aren’t into SUVs, trucks, or Mustangs, which are the only vehicles the automaker is going to offer in the U.S. after its car cull. What does it expect buyers to do if they don’t want an SUV or Mustang, with all the cars gone? It wants buyers to opt for the 2020 Escape instead.
The Escape crossover is specifically called car-like by Ford. At the New York Auto Show, Ford SUV marketing manager Craig Patterson described the 2020 Escape as being designed to portray a car-like appearance. We talked about that design and what it has in common with the Ford GT and the Fusion that is still offered overseas not long ago.
Ford still wants those car buyers, despite only offering the Mustang on the car front. The platform that the 2020 Escape rides on is shared with the new Lincoln Corsair and will reportedly be shared by a coming SUV that has been dubbed the “Baby Bronco.” The Baby Bronco might ride on the same platform, but it won’t be the luxurious ride the Corsair is or the car-like crossover that the 2020 Escape aims to be. The Baby Bronco will aim directly at the buyer looking for something more rugged.
Whether the vehicle will be capable of playing off-road remains to be seen. Ford is aiming the Escape to two different buyer groups, says Patterson. Those groups are young, first-time buyers and suburban empty nesters wanting easier ingress and egress. That last part is provided by the 2020 Escape’s more car-like seating position.
As if to punctuate that the 2020 Escape is more car-like, the design uses Ford’s car familial design traits rather than looking like the other Ford SUVs. The front of the 2020 Escape is very Ford Focus and Fusion-like. The 2020 Escape is going on sale later this year, and while pricing hasn’t been officially announced, it is expected to cost about what the 2019 Escape costs, putting the starting price at around $24,000.


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February 6, 2014 |
Supermodel Doutzen Kroes has another little angel on the way! The Victoria's Secret model and husband Sunnery James are expecting their second child and announced the news Thursday with a nude Instagram photo of the model cradling her protruding belly. Some people just have the genes for that sort of thing ... PHOTOS: 2013 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show | Backstage "This is not a #throwbackthursday this is now!" the 29-year-old wrote . "So happy to share with you that we are expecting.
April 3, 2012 |
The wildly popular photo-sharing site Instagram released its app for Android devices. This comes about a year and a half after the app launched for iOS, Apple's mobile operating system, which has about 30 million users. On launch day, Instagram said it had 430,000 people on the Android waiting list. The app runs on any camera phone with Android 2.2 or above with support for OpenGL ES 2. But it won't yet run on Android tablets. The app includes the same filters as the iPhone app. But there are some missing features.
February 26, 2013 |
Instagram, the popular photo-sharing social network purchased by Facebook last year, has reached a milestone important for any social network: 100 million monthly active users. The mobile app, which has recently begun expanding its Web presence , announced the news Tuesday by uploading a photo to the social network. "Today, we're excited to announce that there are currently 100,000,000 active users on Instagram," a caption for a photo of the Instagram team says. "You read that number right -- one hundred million people use Instagram every month!"
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
November 21, 2013 |
A 13-year-old boy who allegedly stole a bronze dove from a statue memorializing a San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy killed during a massive manhunt earlier this year was caught after bragging on Instagram, authorities said. Deputy Jeremiah MacKay died in a gun battle with fugitive ex-cop Christopher Dorner in February and was immortalized for his actions and service with a statue in Lake Arrowhead Village. Sometime between the afternoon of Sept. 8 and the morning of Sept.
January 26, 2013 |
PARK CITY, Utah - Courtney Love was scurrying out the door of Kari Feinstein's Style Lounge, a pop-up swag suite coinciding with this week's Sundance Film Festival, a goodie bag heaving with free jewelry and spa treatments firmly in hand. Inside, pop singer/reality TV star Ashlee Simpson, along with former “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” star Kevin Sorbo were halfway through their respective gifting tours. The two listened intently as a publicist described the unique benefits of a facial moisturizer with essential oils extracted from a swamp in Austria.
April 9, 2012 |
Maybe Instagram needs a better filter for how it announces its deals. Its user base seems to have a twitchy reaction with every announcement. Last week, it was the end of the world as they knew it for iPhone users, who had the Instagram universe all to themselves until Android users were given the keys. It seemed a photo joust might have been in order. And now Facebook has announced it's buying the super popular photo-sharing app and social network for $1 billion. As @HmSeb put it on Twitter, Instagram is in a relationship now, and it's complicated.
April 10, 2012 |
And on the sixth day, there were more than 5 million downloads of Instagram for Android. That's right, in just six days, the free photo-sharing app has registered 5 million to 10 million downloads on the Google Play site . The same milestone took about six months for the iPhone app to reach. Of course, the Instagram community had been nascent in the early days of the iPhone app, whereas now it is established and robust. So robust that Facebook had to snap it up for $1 billion.
July 10, 2013 |
SAN FRANCISCO -- Good news for skateboarding dogs everywhere: You can now embed Instagram videos and photos across the Web. Last month when Instagram launched video to compete with Twitter's Vine, there was a collective groan. It lacked a key feature: the ability to embed videos elsewhere on the Web. So, just to make their visual moments much more visible, crafty people came up with all kinds of complicated workarounds that were not supported by Instagram and could, of course, break at any time.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
November 11, 2013 |
Four suspected burglars were arrested Sunday after Northern California police tracked them down -- with an assist from Instagram. Officers received four different reports of cars being broken into Saturday evening in Rocklin. Among the things taken from the cars were GPS devices and wallets, police told Fox 40. Investigators say one of the victims reported seeing a $120 charge at a Carl's Jr. on her credit card, which had been stolen. Officers spoke with the manager of the restaurant, who remembered a credit card being used for a rather large drive-through order.
December 18, 2012 |
Instagram is dealing with major backlash after announcing terms of service changes that say the social network may let companies pay to use your photos in their advertisements. Numerous users, including many photographers, have announced their plans to stop using or leave the Facebook-owned social network. Notably and quite embarrassingly, Noah Kalina, the photographer who shot Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg's wedding this year, said he'll be leaving the service if Instagram doesn't change the new terms of service.


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Birdie's Coffee + Stuff opens in Destin
There’s a new place in town to get your morning cup of joe.
Birdie’s Coffee + Stuff opened up last weekend on U.S. Highway 98 in front of the La Dolce Vita Beach Service office. The humble white building may be small, but it packs a punch with a delicious menu that includes coffee, tea and sandwiches.
“I wanted to bring a good coffee and good food option to the area that’s not pre-made coffee and bagels,” said owner Jenifer Rohrberger, who moved to Santa Rosa Beach from Washington, D.C. earlier this year.
Customers can either walk up or drive through to order. The menu includes different types of coffees and teas, as well as special sandwiches like grilled PB&Js with banana, blueberry, almond butter and honey and grilled cheese with mozzarella, tomato and basil.
But it’s the coffee that really makes Birdie’s stand out.
“We use a coffee out of New Orleans called French Truck,” Rohrberger said. “It started out as a small micro-roaster out of the guy’s laundry room.
“So we don’t really use a whole lot of syrups or whipped cream,” she added. “The coffee is so good you really don’t need to cover it up with anything.”
Rohrberger said the few syrups they do make are homemade, like chocolate, vanilla and simple syrup, and they are working to develop a homemade caramel syrup after several customers requested it.
She also said they would consider expanding their menu in the future.
“The focus will remain on the coffee, but over time we would love to add in more food,” she said.
It’s always a good thing to have a new businesses in town, said Elizabeth Spies, vice president of communications for the Destin Area Chamber of Commerce.
“We’re excited to welcome a new business into the community,” Spies said.


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Will make its debut in the Indian market for the first time.
Volkswagen is expected to unveil the second generation VW Tiguan crossover at the 2015 Frankfurt Show, with an all new design, platform and range of fuel efficient engines.
The 2016 VW Tiguan will draw influence from the latest concept models that the company have shown in the last 12-18 months. A render by Autobild depicts the second generation model with an evolutionary design that borrows cues from the new VW Passat.
Reports also suggest that VW will add a "long-wheelbase" variant (VW Tiguan XL) with 3 rows of seats, as well as a coupe-crossover variant (VW Tiguan CC) further expanding the market appeal of the compact crossover.
Volkswagen will drop the PQ35 platform sourced from the previous VW Golf for the lighter and efficient MQB platform, which underpins the latest range of VWs (such as the new Passat and Golf).
Under the hood, the Volkswagen Tiguan is expected to pack a new range of downsized TSI and TDI engines, which could include a frugal 1.0-liter TSI three-cylinder engine and a 2.0-liter TDI diesel engine. Entry-level variants will be front-wheel drive, while VW’s 4MOTION electronic all-wheel drive system will be offered as standard for higher variants.
For the Indian market, Volkswagen has confirmed that it will launch five new models in the next 24 months, with reports suggesting that one of them is the next generation Tiguan. To rival the likes of the Hyundai Santa Fe and Toyota Fortuner, the Tiguan could follow the CKD channel.
VW Tiguan (current model) - Image Gallery


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In November 2023, the software company MicroStrategy made a big gamble: it bought more than 16,000 bitcoin, spending nearly $600 million.
Then it threw them onto the pile of bitcoin it had been stockpiling, for a total of 175,000 bitcoin worth over $5 billion. This puts them on the Top 10 list of bitcoin holders, along with Binance, the U.S. government, and Satoshi Nakamoto.
MicroStrategy makes about $500 million in annual revenues, which makes you wonder why they need $5 billion in bitcoin. As MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor told Time, “My mission right now is to fix the balance sheets of the world.”
In Saylor’s view, “cash is trash,” so keeping his company assets in rapidly-inflating U.S. dollars is like holding a “melting ice cube.” Bitcoin, on the other hand, is “digital gold”: a lasting store of value.
While this has made Saylor a hero in the eyes of the bitcoin faithful, our view is different. By betting everything on bitcoin, Saylor has taken on unnecessary risk: he has bet the farm on bitcoin.
What Does MicroStrategy Do?
Since all the MicroStrategy news headlines are about bitcoin, it can be hard to remember that it’s actually a business.
MicroStrategy creates business intelligence software that helps businesses analyze and visualize large amounts of complex data. Competitor products would be Tableau, Microsoft Power BI, or Qlik.
The company has continuously innovated on its products, making it easier to develop applications that tie into your data, providing extensive support for mobile users, and adding advanced AI capabilities.
MicroStrategy’s revenues have gradually declined over the past decade, though fortunes have improved somewhat over the past few years:
Meanwhile, MicroStrategy’s stock ($MSTR) has increased by over 200% since Saylor started stockpiling bitcoin in 2020. In fact, the stock has increased even faster than the price of bitcoin, making it an attractive option for investors who can’t invest in bitcoin directly.
On the other hand, MicroStrategy’s huge bitcoin stash makes the stock extremely volatile, as if you were buying bitcoin directly. Note its correlation with the price of BTC:
Saylor’s fixation on bitcoin has thrown the economics of the company out of whack: in our view, when you buy $MSTR stock, you’re not buying the business, you’re buying bitcoin.
Which begs the question: why not just buy bitcoin directly?
Learning from History
Saylor is like a modern-day Scrooge McDuck, rolling around in his giant pile of bitcoin.
There’s nothing wrong with saving cash for a rainy day, even a lot of it. Alphabet, Microsoft, and Facebook hold billions in cash and marketable securities, which gives them options when they need to acquire a competitor, or move quickly into a new market.
But the historical performance of hoarding behavior is mixed, at best. For example:
Apple Hoarding Gold: Steve Jobs believed that gold was the ultimate hedge against inflation. (Sound familiar?) So for much of the 1970s and 1980s, Apple kept a huge gold reserve. The company sold off most of its gold in the 1990s, and was later criticized for not investing that money back into the business.
Coca-Cola Hoarding Sugar: For much of the 20th century, Coca-Cola kept a strategic sugar supply, in order to protect its supply chain from sugar shortages and unexpected price increases. The practice continued until the late 2000s, until sugar markets became more stable and globalized.
Iran Hoarding Oil: A good example of resource stockpiling on a national scale. Oil is one of Iran’s most valuable assets, so the country keeps enormous oil reserves, which allows it economic and political leverage. But it brings the threat of fluctuating oil prices and international sanctions.
De Beers Hoarding Diamonds: When the company held a monopoly on diamonds, they kept a stockpile of the precious gems, to manipulate prices and keep their market dominance. Thankfully, better regulations and smarter consumers have since forced De Beers to diversify their holdings.
Sometimes hoarding works, for a while. However, our view is that resources are usually better spent in growing the business, especially in the fast-moving technology industry. Long-term, Scrooge McDuck would probably be better off investing in his nephew’s new ideas.
The Risk of Betting the Business on Bitcoin
In our investing approach, we recognize that bitcoin is risky: it’s a roller-coaster. That’s why we hedge that risk by investing primarily in common stocks and bonds, with just a portion of our portfolio allocated to bitcoin:
You’ve got to wonder why Saylor doesn’t do the same. Why not hedge the risk of bitcoin with other investments – even gold?
By putting everything into bitcoin, he’s literally doing the thing we constantly warn you about. We don’t bet the farm on bitcoin.
Only in Saylor’s case, he’s betting the business on bitcoin.
True, it’s unlikely that bitcoin will go to zero. True, it’s possible that his bitcoin investment could 10x.
And then what? Buy more bitcoin?
Lots of Risk, Uncertain Reward
Ultimately, the purpose of a business is to generate new value for the world. If MicroStrategy is buying bitcoin without reinvesting it, investors should ask what the business really does. Is it a bitcoin holding company with a little software business on the side?
If so, where is the value in that?
Make no mistake: we’re bitcoin believers. More importantly, we’re believers in a new financial system. Here, MicroStrategy has enormous potential: it could use its considerable expertise to develop new financial software products or services that bring the world into the crypto age.
But sitting on top of a $5 billion bitcoin stash subjects the company to wild market uncertainty. It puts MicroStrategy on the bitcoin roller coaster. Lots of risk, with uncertain reward.
For investors who want to invest in bitcoin, our solution is simple: invest in bitcoin. Not MicroStrategy.
Subscribe to Bitcoin Market Journal to discover more investing opportunities in blockchain!


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Williams-Sonoma (WSM) reported its first-quarter earnings results after the market closed on May 30. For the quarter that ended on May 5, the company posted adjusted EPS of $0.81 on revenue of $1.24 billion.
Year-over-year, the company’s EPS rose 20.9%, while its revenue rose 3.2%.
In the quarter, WSM outperformed analysts’ EPS estimate of $0.69, while its revenue was marginally higher than analysts’ expectations. The company’s overall comparable-brand revenue growth came in at 3.5% against a tough comparison of 5.5% last year. The company’s management credited its compelling offerings and differentiated customer experiences for its strong sales growth.
After WSM reported impressive growth in its first-quarter EPS, its management raised its EPS guidance by $0.05. The company’s strong first-quarter earnings and its management’s raising of its EPS guidance appear to have contributed to the increase in its stock price. WSM was up 12.2% in after-market trading hours on May 30.
YTD (year-to-date), WSM has returned 2.3% as of May 30. The company is lagging the broader equity markets, with the S&P 500 Index returning 11.2% since the beginning of this year. The resumption of the trade war between the United States and China has put pressure on the company’s stock price. In comparison, Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) has returned 12.8%, while RH (RH) has fallen 27.3% YTD.
The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB), which invests ~21.0% of its holdings in home improvement and home furnishing retailers, has returned 19.8% in the same period.


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Many a couple have had their dreams of a ritzy wedding crushed by the global pandemic this year and even into next year.
In Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz’s case, the prediction that they’ll need to put the kibosh on two huge wedding parties has left them gutted – but no one is as bereft as his mum, Victoria Beckham.
According to sources, the former Spice Girl-turned fashion designer was feverishly planning a lavish UK celebration in the Cotswolds, along with a star-studded bash in the US for the bride’s family.
“She had it all planned,” says a source. “Elton John was booked, the guest list was finalised to include everyone from British royalty to Donald Trump, and work had begun on at least four of Nicola’s bridal couture outfits.
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November 2, 2020


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The Lister LFP is a 200-MPH F-Pace Itching to be the Fastest SUV in the World
Recently revived British company Lister revealed an all-new car - the Lister LFP. It’s a heavily tuned Jaguar F-Pace, crafted to be “the fastest SUV in the world.”
This isn’t the first time that Lister prepared a tuned Jag. In fact, only a month or so ago, the company gave us a car dubbed the LFT-666, a 666-horsepower F-Type with numerous pieces differentiating it from the stock F-Type cars. Obviously, Lister crafted a comprehensive tuning program for the F-Pace as well. After all, one cannot craft the fastest SUV in the world without making a lot of improvements.
The Lister Thunder Gets A Name Makeover, You Can Now Start Calling it The LFT-666
We previously knew it as the Thunder, but British sports car company Lister is renaming its Jaguar F-Type-based supercar with a somewhat more appropriate name that reflects its capabilities. So instead of the Lister Thunder, we’re going to have to get used to calling this beast the LFT-666. The model isn’t entirely new; in fact, we’ve discussed it a few times the past, most recently in June 2018. But, apparently, a lot has changed since June 2018. The Lister Thunder now goes by a different and far more fitting name.
British sports car company Lister has been around for six decades, but has always been considered a sort of fringe operation. To change that, the company has announced plans to launch an all-new hypercar that will challenge the likes of the McLaren P1, Ferrari LaFerrari and Pagani Huayra.
Auto Express recently spoke with Lister Cars managing director Lawrence Whittaker, who confirmed the new car would be powered by a massive. 7.8-liter V-12. No complex hybrid assistance here; just a supercharger that helps take power to 1,000 horsepower and drives the top speed up to 250 mph. Lister plans to build both the car and engine entirely on its own. A price tag of £2 million ($3.2 million) is estimated.
“We are not interested in building the fastest car we can, but one that puts the Lister name in the forefront of people’s minds with a world-beating product,” Whittaker told Auto Express.
Click past the jump to read more about the future Lister supercar.


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Korea, Britain sign post-Brexit free trade pactKorea signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United Kingdom in advance of its planned exit from the European Union (EU).
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that the two countries signed a finalized FTA in London on Thursday that will replace the free trade conditions currently in place through an FTA between Korea and the EU.
The U.K. is expected to depart from the European bloc by Oct. 31, following a public referendum on “Brexit” in June 2016. Korea and the U.K. have negotiated over the past three years on trade relations and signed the FTA in principle in June.
The agreement largely follows the existing Korea-EU FTA that went into effect in July 2011 and maintains tariff exemptions on all manufactured goods, including major export items to the U.K. such as cars and auto parts. Without a free trade deal, Korean cars would have faced 10 percent tariffs, and auto parts tariffs of 3.8 to 4.5 percent.
The U.K. is Korea’s 17th largest export destination, and its second largest trade partner in the EU after Germany. Outbound shipments to the U.K. last year totaled $6.4 billion and cars, the top export category, accounted for 23.1 percent of total exports.
Korea is also a sizeable market for the United Kingdom, being its 15th largest export destination. Top U.K. imports include crude oil, medical supplies, cars and whiskey.
The government has agreed to consider products assembled in the U.K. but originally sourced in the EU as U.K. goods for three years. U.K. products that are exported through the EU will also be considered as direct exports for three years.
Unlike most FTAs that take a long period for legislative approval, the FTA with the U.K. is expected to be approved before an Oct. 31 deadline as the agreement needs to go into effect to avoid trade disruption.
The Trade Ministry explained that it has prepared the FTA so that free trade relations with the U.K. will continue even if it leaves the EU without an agreement. The two governments agreed to make improvements to the FTA within two years.
The signing of the FTA with the U.K. came just a day after Korea signed a free trade deal with Israel.
Amid increasing weakness in the global economy, the government has focused on signing new FTAs. It is trying to finalize deals with Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines by the end of this year.
Korea has some kind of free trade agreement with 52 countries after first establishing free trade with Chile in 2004.
BY CHAE YUN-HWAN [firstname.lastname@example.org]


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OKLAHOMA CITY - A once bustling shopping mall that now sits nearly empty could soon get a fresh new start.
Crossroads Mall is not exactly known as a premier metro shopping destination right now.
But that wasn't always the case.
And new investors are hoping to restore the mall to its former glory.
On a weekday morning, Crossroads Mall is pretty much deserted.
"But it is kind of scary when you walk in the door. It's so quiet and there's nobody here," said customer Jamie Lane.
"There are still people that say, 'Oh that mall's still open?' You know," Crossroads Mall marketing and programming director, Robert Ruiz, said.
But Ruiz said that's all about to change.
Raptor Properties bought most of the mall last year and just acquired the old Dillard's building, meaning they own three of the four vacant anchor stores.
Ruiz says they plan to revitalize the mall.
"It's going to be I think one of the biggest investments that's been made in economic development on the south side for a while," said Ruiz.
Built in 1974, Crossroads Mall was one of the largest malls in the country.
Early 80's photographs of the parking lot show there's not a spot left empty.
But over the years, the mall lost customers and stores and was recently and briefly owned by the federal government as part of the Wall Street bail outs.
The new investors are planning a new name, new tenants and a new vision for the blighted mall.
"We love this mall. We're just waiting on it to get filled back up," said Linda Cobb, who works inside the mall at Inspirational Expressions.
Cobb says they average about 10 customers a day.
They'd love to see an increase in mall traffic.
And at Hot Spot Pizza, their 3 lunchtime customers say they're ready as well.
"I'm actually very happy. I'm getting tired of driving all the way out to Penn Square Mall, Quail Springs," said Demetrius Shannon.
"I remember coming up here when I was a little girl and I remember there was people everywhere," said Lane.
Customers remembering the hey day and promising, if they build it again, they will come.
"I'm excited to see you know how it's going to look. I'll definitely come back," said Lane.
Investors with Raptor Properties are not revealing any details just yet.
They're planning an announcement for late April when they will unveil the mall's new name, 8 to 10 new tenants and more detailed plans for the property.


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Apple is officially killing its line of routers2018-04-27 08:32 by Daniela
Tags: Apple, router, AirPort, Time Capsule
Apple is officially abandoning the router business, with the company announcing today that it will be discontinuing its AirPort, AirPort Extreme, and Time Capsule routers. Apple will reportedly continue to offer bug fixes and security patches for the devices going forward, but the company is selling off all of its remaining AirPort hardware while supplies last.
"We're discontinuing the Apple AirPort base station products," Apple has announced. "They will be available through Apple.com, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers while supplies last."
The death of Apple's router business has been a long time coming. Back in November 2016 Apple disbanded the hardware division responsible for its routers, which last saw an update for 802.11ac Wi-Fi back in 2013. Since then, the company's AirPort offerings have been slowly rendered obsolete by the rising popularity of mesh Wi-Fi systems like Eero, Google Wifi, and the Linksys Velop (the last of which Apple actually sells in its stores now.)
The company noted that it might make routers again someday, if it finds a way to out-innovate the competition.
Read more -here-


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LaCie announced its new 5big NAS Pro, a five-bay network-attached storage device, which is available in 0TB (diskless), 10TB and 20TB capacities.
LaCie announced its new RuggedKey USB flash drive, which is available in 16GB and 32GB capacities and features a SuperSpeed USB 3.0 interface as well as AES 256-bit encryption.
LaCie announced its new 4big Rack Office backup appliance powered by Windows Home Server 2011.
LaCie announced that it has made a significant financial investment in Loewe AG.
LaCie announced its new 500 GB and 1TB Rugged Mini SuperSpeed USB 3.0 external hard disk drives.


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WASHINGTON – Hymn “What a ‘Friend’ We Have in Jesus” takes on new meaning Tuesday with the unveiling of a game on the world’s most popular social network.
Lightside Games releases “Journey of Jesus: The Calling” on May 15, allowing those who log on through Facebook to “walk in the Messiah’s steps, in an authentic experience of Israel in Christ’s time,” according to a company release.
Not to be outdone by heaven, the devil gets his own spot in the limelight with “Diablo III,” another game released on Tuesday. That game was so popular it crashed the servers. Check out the video, below, for more.
“Both games immerse the player, and you are what you eat,” says Lightside CEO Brent Dusing, according to the release. “Players want a game that’s more than a game; we know that well.”
A preview of the game on YouTube shows cartoonish renderings of major biblical points of Jesus’ life, such as his 40 days in the desert followed by temptation by the devil, curing the blind, casting money changers out of the temple and his eventual crucifixion. It’s set to a stylized version of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”
Comments have been disabled for the video.
The company cites one of its first religious social media games, “Journey of Moses,” with their motivation for launching the new program, which is free to play. That game drew more than 2 million players, it says.
Check out this preview of the game:
and the huge response that crashed Diablo III’s servers:


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“Ally Bank’s support of all major mPayment platforms highlights the growing presence of mobile payments in general, and may point to their eventual ubiquity.”
Ally Financial subsidiary Ally Bank is now offering customers Samsung Pay and Android Pay support. The move rounds out the bank’s support of the major mobile payment platforms, having enabled Apple Pay support this past March.
In a statement announcing the expanded mPayment support, CEO Diane Morais said it is “just another way to better serve our customers,” noting that it expands mPayment options “to a much larger base of Ally Bank customers, making banking easier and more convenient for them.” The bank’s statement also highlighted the security of both Android Pay and Samsung Pay, which is based primarily on encryption, whereas Apple Pay also employs biometric authentication via Touch ID.
Ally Bank’s support of all major mPayment platforms highlights the growing presence of mobile payments in general, and may point to their eventual ubiquity. But the institution may soon need to add another big name to its roster of support mPayment platforms, with Microsoft having just announced its own entry into the market—Microsoft Wallet.


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Pandora to Buy Rdio Assets for $75 Million to Fuel Expansionby
Latest acquisition provides technology, intellectual property
Company plans to offer on-demand library like Spotify
Pandora Media Inc., the Internet radio pioneer, agreed to buy assets from streaming music service Rdio for $75 million, gaining technology the company will use to expand its pay offerings to compete with Spotify Ltd. and Apple Inc.
Pandora plans to use Rdio’s technology and intellectual property to create multiple paid plans in addition to the world’s largest free, online radio service, Chief Executive Officer Brian McAndrews said in an interview. Pandora, which already sells an ad-free version for $3.99 a month, will offer customers access to an on-demand library akin to Spotify’s, McAndrews said.
Pandora, hampered by slowing U.S. growth, has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on acquisitions to expand into new areas, like ticket sales and paid music. The company is also spending millions of dollars to patch up differences with record labels and music publishers, so it can secure rights for new features and international expansion. Assuming those talks are successful, new features will arrive by late 2016, McAndrews said.
“We saw the opportunity to keep everything under one roof,” McAndrews said. “People who love Pandora, we believe we can create a better experience for them in the on-demand world.’’
The shares fell as Pandora’s spending plans led analyst Barton Crockett of FBR & Co. to speculate that the company, which has lost money in recent years, will raise funds. The earnings potential after the company’s reformulation “is subject to an incredibly wide range of guesses,” Crockett said in a research note. “It seems even more likely that a logical reasonable next step for Pandora could be to pursue an additional capital raise.”
Pandora declined 6.8 percent to $12.51 at 2:05 p.m. in New York Tuesday. Through Monday, the stock had fallen 25 percent in 2015.
Pandora isn’t acquiring Rdio’s operating business, according to a statement Monday, and the deal is subject to the approval of the bankruptcy court overseeing Rdio. Some of Rdio’s staff will be offered roles with the new owner, which is based in Oakland, California. Rdio CEO Anthony Bay will leave the company.
With pay services, Pandora may be able to extract more sales from a user base that grew 3 percent in the most recent quarter, reaching 78.1 million.
“Pandora clearly wants a comprehensive global licensing deal with labels,” Crockett wrote. “The labels have demanded upfront cash from Spotify and Apple for such deals. We presume they would want that from Pandora, which is why we think a capital raise could be in store.”
Pandora will also be pursuing international rights, McAndrews said, without offering a timetable. Bloomberg News reported last week that the company has reached out to rights holders to discuss its plans.
McAndrews projected the company would reach 100 million users in three to five years.
“We’re always looking for ways to grow,’’ McAndrews said.


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On July 28, in Denver, CO, GMA and the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) gathered the Education Advisory Panel, featuring experts across the food and beverage industry, to discuss Nutrition Keys, a voluntary front of pack nutrition labeling system designed to help busy consumers make informed choices when they shop.
The Education Advisory Panel provides expert counsel and perspective on the Nutrition Keys consumer education campaign and is comprised of experts from diverse health, nutrition and medical backgrounds, including culinary and nutrition education, medicine, nutrition sciences, exercise physiology, behavioral nutrition and public health.
“We are pleased to be working with such an esteemed, engaged and diverse panel of experts,” said GMA President and CEO Pamela G. Bailey. “Their expertise, perspective and input are invaluable to the success of the Nutrition Keys initiative.”
The initial meeting of the panel is the first step towards implementation of the Nutrition Keys consumer education campaign through collaboration across the industry, with the common goal of providing the necessary tools and information consumers need to achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle.


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A New York City-based Girl Scouts troop just closed out cookie season on a sweet note by selling more than 32,000 boxes of Girl Scouts cookies in one week. While plenty of troops sell thousands of boxes of cookies each spring, what makes Troop 6000 particularly unique is that the group is made up of approximately 300 children living in homeless shelters.
NBC News reported that this is the first time the troop participated in the annual cookie sale since the group was formed in 2016. With the girls living in homeless shelters, logistically, it was difficult for them to deliver cookies to buyers in New York. As a result, the troop worked with Kellogg’s to set up shop at a Kellogg’s café in Union Square. In addition, the girls helped to develop a Girl Scout cookie-inspired menu of specialty cereal bowls.
The troop’s original goal was to sell at least 6,000 boxes of cookies. However, by day six, the group sold a noteworthy 32,500 boxes. This was, in large part, due to the troop’s powerful story spreading like wildfire on social media. The group also received more than $15,000 in donations. Those proceeds will go towards financing camping activities, programs and trips for the girls.
“I’m so excited that I got a chance to sell cookies, just like any other Girl Scout,” Sanaa, a 10-year-old from the troop, told NBC News. “Next year we are going to reach a higher goal.”
Meridith Maskara, CEO of Girl Scouts Greater New York, championed the sale as a “resounding success.”
“They felt this support—they felt someone is on their side,” Maskara said. “When a shelter opens in a neighborhood, they are not always told that.”
Troop 6000 was created in 2016 by the Girl Scouts of Greater New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city Department of Homeless Services.