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JSE-listed vehicle retailer Combined Motor Holdings (CMH) achieved a significant turnaround in its financial performance in the second half of its financial year to end-February 2021.
- Industry News
- 7 May 2021
With International Workers Day on 1 May what better way to celebrate it than with an announcement of 1 200 new jobs created in South Africa’s motor industry.
When Ford Motor Company announced an investment of R15.8-billion in its South African manufacturing operations in February this year, it marked the biggest investment in the company’s 97-year history in this country.
With a direct investment of R10.3-billion in the Silverton Assembly Plant in Pretoria, Ford will generate revenues exceeding 1.1 percent of South Africa’s gross domestic product. Furthermore, the expansion in manufacturing capacity to 200 000 vehicles per annum will be achieved with the construction of a new body shop, new high-tech stamping plant and a new chassis line.
At the centre of this expansion and increased manufacturing capacity will be the creation of 1 200 incremental Ford jobs, increasing its total workforce to 5 500 employees.
To promote further development of its employees, Ford is currently building a new training centre at the Silverton Assembly Plant to ensure that its team is equipped with the knowledge and skills required to maximise the efficiencies of the new, modernised facilities to produce the next-generation Ford Ranger, starting in 2022.
In addition to the new jobs created at Ford itself, the company’s local supplier network will benefit from the investment of R5.5-billion in tooling to support the expanded production. This will create an estimated 10 000 new jobs, taking the total number of jobs Ford supports in the total value chain to over 60 000.
Many of these suppliers will be located on the Tshwane Automotive Special Economic Zone (TASEZ), located adjacent to the Silverton plant. Ford is represented on the board of the TASEZ along with national, provincial and local government. This project is creating over 8 700 jobs during the construction of the first phase of the Special Economic Zone, with an estimated 2 100 incremental permanent jobs for operations.
Ford is also working closely with all three spheres of government and relevant state-owned entities in developing the Gauteng Province – Eastern Cape Province High-Capacity Rail Freight Corridor. This will be a full-service line linking the Silverton Assembly Plant and the TASEZ with Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), which is home to Ford’s Struandale Engine Plant and the Coega Special Economic Zone.
Channelling all of Ford’s inbound and outbound logistics exclusively through Gqeberha to support the higher production volumes is projected to create thousands of additional jobs within the value chain.
The National Automobile Dealers’ Association (Nada) is encouraged by the new vehicle sales data for the first quarter of 2021, despite sales declining by 17.6% month-on-month in April.
There is a massive distortion to new vehicle sales on a year-on-year comparison for the month of April.


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Vinyl listeners can now circle the third Saturday in April on their calendars in ink rather than pencil. Sure enough, Record Store Day has been held on that day every year since launching in 2008. But now it’s official: Record Store Day 2015 will be held on April 18, event organizers have announced.
The eighth annual celebration of independent record store culture ought to bring with it another batch of exclusive releases and in-store performances at participating shops across the United States. And yes, for lesser-known artists and their fans, it also means another year of potential delays in getting vinyl records made and shipped — though it can’t hurt that pressing companies have recently been working to expand their capacity.
In terms of purely album sales, it’s hard to argue with the event’s results last year. Independent record stores enjoyed an 11.2 percent gain in new album sales for the week, compared with the same week in 2013, despite a 2.2 percent U.S. decline overall. Indie stores’ new vinyl album sales alone were up 57.5 percent for the week. And at least several stores said Record Store Day 2014 was their biggest sales day ever.
It just so happens that every year there has been a Record Store Day, vinyl album sales have reached a new high since Nielsen SoundScan started keeping track (admittedly in 1991, after the format’s initial collapse). That includes last year, when new vinyl album sales rose 52 percent to 9.2 million copies, a seventh straight annual record. Yes, there might be signs of a possible peak: For instance, the recent trend of vinyl subscription clubs has spawned a startup billed as “Netflix for vinyl.” But Fat Possum label’s new vinyl pressing plant, combined with vinyl giant United Record Pressing’s plans to open a new plant, suggests the industry is betting there’s still life in the vinyl comeback.
It’s also fair to note that a fair portion of the biggest sellers on Record Store Day, as throughout the rest of the year, tend to be from familiar major-label names. A Nirvana seven-inch topped last year’s best-selling singles for the week, while the album best-sellers included Notorious B.I.G., Bruce Springsteen and Jimi Hendrix alongside Afghan Whigs and Tame Impala (Childish Gambino’s Because the Internet was No. 1). Meanwhile, vinyl prices aren’t getting any lower, and fans risk losing out on their coveted exclusives to buyers who just plan to flip them for more on eBay.
All that said, year after year, if the goal is to bring more people into record stores, the numbers clearly indicate Record Store Day is succeeding. And for 2015 — mark it in Sharpie — that day is the second Saturday after Easter. Yes, confusingly, the resurrection is celebrated at a different time of the month this year. Not so Record Store Day: And despite all the valid complaints, a John Cale-channeling-Leonard Cohen chorus of “Hallelujah” for that.

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Partnership designed for sustainability of local grain
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Feb. 20, 2018) — A collaboration between a major food company and agriculture service companies has developed to secure local grain — primarily wheat — grown under specific ecological and agronomic practices.
Partnering with The Mill and Land O’ Lakes, Campbell Soup Company has committed to sourcing ag commodities from growers certified through Land O’ Lakes’ Sustain program, a suite of tools and research-based practices that promote sustainability. Locally, The Mill, an agriculture products retailer with six locations in Maryland and Pennsylvania, administers the Sustain program.
Prompted by consumers wanting to know where their food comes from and how it is grown, Andrea Chu, sustainable agriculture analyst at Campbell, said the company’s connection to the Sustain program dates back to 2015 when it was being developed by United Suppliers later acquired by Land O’ Lakes.
“We found the approach of leveraging the role of ag retailers to be very innovative and wanted to be the first to pilot it, using our demand signal as a buyer of grain to really accelerate sustainable agriculture,” Chu said.
In 2015, Campbell announced a goal of getting 70,000 acres under a fertilizer optimization program by 2020.
In the Mid-Atlantic, Chu said wheat is key to Campbell’s ability to manufacture products such as Goldfish and Milano cookies under the Pepperidge Farm product line but when considering crop rotations, the company is also looking at “the whole acre.
“And overall, we hope through this work that we drive momentum for sustainable agriculture, in general, throughout the region.
“With two bakeries in Pennsylvania, we rely on the Chesapeake area for sourcing and it’s important to us that agriculture continues to thrive in this region,” Chu said. “Furthermore, consumers are looking to better understand where their food comes from—they’re seeking more connection to how their food is grown. Given the complexity of grain supply chains, we needed to think creatively about how to approach this.”
Though there’s not a premium for marketing a Sustain-certified crop to Campbell, Chu said the collaboration provides “economic value for the farmer in the tools, practices, and products that the Sustain program recommends and The Mill can work with farmers to demonstrate just that.”
Launched by Land O’ Lakes in 2016, the sustainability platform involves many practices farmers in the Mid-Atlantic are well-accustomed to including no-till and splitting fertilizer applications, and integrates precision agriculture technology and other emerging practices such as crop modeling for nitrogen use and using nitrogen stabilizers.
Ben Hushon, agronomist and partner in The Mill, said an attractive component of the program is its emphasis on continuous improvement, increasing yields while being more efficient with crop inputs.
“As new technology unfolds, they’re going to be encouraged to adopted new practices,” Hushon said. We must do things better, everyone must. We all have to manage nutrients better than we were and with the new technology, we can.”
One example is in split applying nitrogen in corn production, a practice that in past years didn’t show a benefit in the Northern Maryland region under lesser yield goals, Hushon said.
But after conducting a demonstration plot in 2016, the number of farmer clients adopting the practice the following year doubled.
“They’re all telling us it works, that what you said was real,” Hushon said.
At The Mills’ recent winter grower meetings, Hushon said some farmers raised concerns about the program restricting what they can do on their land, but the program balances economics with environmental sustainability.
“They talk about all the time, it must be economical for the farmer or it’s not going to work,” he said of those individuals in the Sustain program.
“The last thing we want to do is tell farmers how to farm,” Chu said at one of the winter meetings.
Hushon said several of The Mill’s farmer clients have been using practices in the Sustain program, but only recently has The Mill acquired the means of gathering and recording data on farms for certifying growers that already meet the program standards.
1-800-634-5021 410-822-3965 Fax- 410-822-5068
P.O. Box 2026 Easton, MD 21601-8925


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Profit and Loss Take on New Meaning for Swedish Pro Viktor Blom
He is 23, down $3.6 million for the past 30 times; but that’s not terribly unusual for the poker phenom understood round the globe to online fans as ‘Isildur1,’ aka Viktor Blom. Following a dazzling two-week online winning streak from the beginning of the brand new year, Blom has since dropped back once again to a meager $1.5 million, according to HighstakesDB.com, a poker tracking data web site. More than $800,000 of those brutal losses occurred in just the previous week, and took place on Full Tilt poker, the online site he represents as an expert.
High Stakes Is Their Game
It’s all in one day’s benefit the pro that is young that is no stranger to uber high-stakes online poker: he caught the breathless attention of poker fans everywhere simply four years ago, whenever in 2009, he was active in all ten for the largest pots in poker online history. Blom was still playing under wraps by his pseudonym that is online when joined Team PokerStars at the finish of 2010, only to own his real identity revealed as he played live during the annual PokerStars Caribbean Adventure (PCA) in the Bahamas. Blom remained on the PokerStars roster that is pro 1 1/2 years, moving on to Full Tilt just recently, in October 2012.
Highs and Lows
Blom is no complete stranger to the highs and lows of internet poker; in their initial cloaked ‘Isildur1’ days, he played pros that are top Tom Dwan, Phil Ivey and Patrik Antonius in cash games as big as $500/$1000 No Limit. Inside of simply two months of their debut that is online had amassed an impressive $6 million, only to lose back $4 million from it by December of 2009, one month later. The staggering loss took him largely out of online play on Full Tilt until February 2010.
It’s reported that the gun that is young built a short bankroll of $2,000 into an extraordinary $1.4 million; the first half-million of this coming from a $100/$200 No limitation Hold’em match with high-stakes Full Tilt online regular Haseeb Qureshi.
Blom, who hails originally from Gotheburg, Sweden, has career competition winnings of nearly $2 million. Their many impressive tournament finishes to date include taking first within the 2012 PCA No Limit Hold’em Super High Roller Eight Max occasion for a $1,254,400 cash, as well as the May 2012 online PokerStars SCOOP 02-M $215 purchase in No Limit Hold’em event for a $247,200 finish.
Betable Teams free real money casino no deposit app Up With Real Money Gaming Developer 3Oak
Betable recently announced a partnership with startup video gaming designer 3Oak, a division that is new of’s Frima Studio. The partnership aims to take both social gaming and real money gaming in completely new directions, namely, by merging them into what both companies hope will be a delectable, real-money social gaming treat.
To that particular end, 3Oak has stated which they are not preparing on doing the casino that is same-old games, although the social gaming real cash casino scene is largely untapped and potentially ready to burst. What kinds of titles they do plan on building has been held under wraps for the right time being. Suffice to state, they have big plans for creative new ways to activate players in social games, with a a real income twist for added flavour.
‘Frima’s bullishness on real-money gaming that is social evidenced by the creation of a new division of their company which will focus on the opportunity and we couldn’t be happier to be powering it for them,’ said Christopher Griffin, founder and CEO of Betable. ‘With their resources and experience, we’re confident that 3OAK has the vision and ability necessary to produce innovative, industry leading real cash video gaming games.’
And real money gaming is truly where a majority of designers want to simply take their social games as time goes by. Current social games are largely subsidized through micro-transactions by way of a small portion of paying clients, and that small percentage only spends a few dollars per month on average. As a result, it requires a massive player base to generate any significant amount of revenue.
Real-money gamblers however tend to spend a much greater amount of money on their gaming pursuits, in the product range of $100-$200 each month. Frima and 3Oak are relying upon that gambling customer generosity to carry over into a various gaming format. While they’re not sure of just how willing their clients are to spend wads of cash wagering on the games, they have at the very least seen positive early returns in how willing customers are to spend some money on a social gambling game, predicated on a prototype game their company developed.
‘It showed that it creates sense to do free-to-play games where you can cash out,’ Mikael Lefebvre of 3Oak told Gamesbeat in an meeting. ‘It brings you higher engagement rates.’
Instead of the usual conversion price of 3% of players into paying clients for most social games, their prototype game accomplished rates much greater than that, and those customers were willing to spend more independently since well.
It could also wind up being far more, and help revolutionize the social gaming space while it may not be the guaranteed money making machine that an online casino could be. It’s exciting news for any other gaming businesses, along with the scores of gamers that don’t have much interest in slots or movie poker, but appear ready and ready to plunk their money down on more creative and skill-based video gaming wagers.
Bonza Gaming Becomes Third Company to supply Real-Money Gaming on Facebook
Facebook has added a partner that is third their real-money gaming fold, that partner in this case being Bonza Gaming. Bonza joins Gamesys and 888 because the companies that are only by Facebook to give real-money gaming opportunities.
Gamesys and 888 have both utilized those discounts to launch real-money bingo games hence far, which are currently just open to UK residents (as per Facebook’s current policy), but should be extended with other regions in the future.
Bonza immediately launched their real-money offering, Bonza Slots following the announcement and finalization for the partnership. Those games have been developed in partnership with web Entertainment, who will continue to develop and add more casino and slot offerings to your Bonza Slots app in the future.
‘We are delighted to have partnered with web Entertainment, which after a thorough supplier selection process was the clear champion, and the supplier which could provide our venture with Facebook the best long term strategic value and stability. We are now actually focused on delivering an effective commercial launch, along with our combined knowledge and experience, I am very positive about this long term partnership’, said Rick Brownlow, CEO at Bonza Gaming.
Net Entertainment is no complete stranger to real-money video gaming, which made them an attractive and experienced partner for Bonza. Net Entertainment boasts over 15 years into the casino gaming industry as being a developer of both online and offline slots and casino games. They also operate several online casinos by themselves (which naturally use their software that is own).
For their part, Net Entertainment is also delighted with all the deal, and anticipate expanding their offerings to Facebook users through Bonza Slots.
‘Net Entertainment is certainly one of the first companies of on-line casino games to enter money that is real on Facebook and I will be very pleased that we have been partnering with Bonza Gaming as their casino platform provider of choice,’ said Per Eriksson, president and CEO at web Entertainment.
‘Net Entertainment’s gaming portfolio contains a number of the globe’s most widely used games on the traditional online casino market and we am positive that the users on Facebook will be given a great experience. Genuine money video gaming over Facebook is just a new distribution that is exciting for Net Entertainment and is closely associated with the company’s existing core company.’
Bonza Slots will use advanced age verification and identification confirmation tools to make certain their platform isn’t being abused, and that it includes a safe gaming that is social for everybody involved. The company will initially give attention to Barclaycard as their payment that is major service, with additional choices prepared for the near future.
The launch of Bonza Slots is a superb accomplishment for the young London-based startup, whom began development on the product just 6 months previous, with supporting from Sportingbet and Plumbee, two companies with expertise into the gaming sector that is online. And as the first business to offer a wide selection of real-money games on Facebook, they’ve been poised become at the forefront of this exciting and brave new social gaming world.
Caesars Entertainment Interactive Division To Render Unto The Highest Bidder That Which Is Caesars
Dealing with a daunting $20 billion-plus financial obligation load, casino giant Caesars Entertainment could be forced to increase funds by offering minority stakes in just one of its most possibly lucrative divisions, Caesars Interactive, aswell like in some of its brick-and-mortar casino properties. Ironically, the gambling conglomerate only recently purchased a number of its very own interactive division holdings; Buffalo Studios, a Santa Monica-based social and mobile games developer was acquired in the same way 2012 drew to a close, and Playtika, an Israeli social games company, was purchased by Caesars significantly less than two years ago with a 51 percent stakehold.
Bad Timing For Caesars Entertainment
Incorporating to the news/bad that is good timing is the Nevada Gaming Commission’s December 2012 state online video gaming license approval, which could eventually allow Caesars to use real-money poker games online, including their World Series of Poker brand. It is anticipated that legal poker play online in Nevada could be available as early as very first quarter 2013. Impending ‘yay’ or ‘nay’ online gambling legislation awaiting New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s signature could affect perceived value of the business’s Interactive division as well, in exactly what’s anticipated to be an eventual $6 billion annual U.S. online player market.
Caesars intends to launch its Q4 and FY 2012 profits on February 25, but has already granted an advance view of its profit-and-loss that is grim statement last year. Estimated quarter that is fourth could range anywhere from $452 million to $556 million, on earnings of $1.55 billion to $1.58 billion. Analysts had predicted fewer than half the loss that is high-projection, expecting approximately $268 million; the losings are also expected to be double Caesars reported $246.9 million Q4 2011 reports. Revenues are anticipated to are available well below earlier projections of $2.11 billion.
Caesars Debt Hurt By Hurricane
From $30 million to $35 million of this projected loss is attributed to October 2012’s devastating Hurricane Sandy hit in nj’s Atlantic City, where Caesars holds substantial investments.
Caesars says it plans to offer $1.5 billion in seven-year, 9% senior secured notes in an effort to settle loans which have come due. It is also attempting to get on board the extremely successful Asian gambling junket with a proposed South Korean casino project, although a lot of the high-revenue American gaming operations are making bank away from Macau, a gambling Mecca operated under the auspices of the People’s Republic of China.
Finally, a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing shows the chance that Caesars may sell off shares in Planet Hollywood in Las vegas, nevada and a proposed Baltimore, Maryland casino to hold the sinking business afloat. The organization have not posted a profit since 2009.


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The San Jose, Calif.-based company reported net income of $83.3 million, or 35 cents a share, for the final quarter of fiscal 2003, which ended Nov. 28. That compares with income of $40.1 million, or 17 cents a share, in the same period a year ago.
Excluding one-time charges, Adobe reported earnings of $83 million, or 34 cents a share. On that basis, estimates from analysts research firm First Call polled averaged 32 cents a share.
Revenue for the quarter was $358.6 million, compared with $294.7 million a year ago.
For the year, Adobe reported revenue of $1.29 billion, up from $1.17 billion in 2002. Net income for the year was $266.3 million, or $1.10 a share, compared with $191.4 million, or 79 cents a share, in 2002.
The most significant growth came from Adobe's ePaper division, which produces products and services based on the company's widespread Portable Document Format () for electronic distribution and presentation of documents. Adobe launched a number of projects during the year aimed at expanding PDF into a .
Revenue in the ePaper division was $444.1 million for 2003, up 42 percent from a year ago. The division now accounts for more than a third of Adobe's overall revenue.
Shantanu Narayen, executive vice president of worldwide products for Adobe, said he expects continued steady growth from the ePaper division, as businesses migrate to new Adobe server products and services. "I think the results we're seeing are a validation that the platform we've built on the intelligent document side is resonating with customers," he said.
Adobe also launched its most significant product upgrade for the year in the fourth quarter, introducing a, the company's market-leading image editing application. Photoshop is sold as a standalone product and as part of a Creative Suite that includes new versions of the InDesign page layout program and Illustrator graphics tools.
Narayen said initial response to Creative Suite has been strong but it's still too early to tell how the package will fare against the stand-alone version of Photoshop and other products. "We think the value proposition to the customer in being able to reuse their assets across Web and print production" will push customers toward Creative Suite and boost InDesign's market share over competitor QuarkXpress, Narayen said.
For the current first quarter of fiscal 2004, Adobe predicted revenue of $460 million to $380 million and per-share earnings of 33 cents to 36 cents. For the full year, revenue is targeted at $1.43 billion.


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Early on the morning of Wednesday, March 18, 2020, General Motors sent an email to Chevrolet dealerships around the country, telling them to immediately stop accepting orders for the 2020 Corvette. This email was quickly leaked by a member of CorvetteForum and in it, the automaker explained that 2020 orders were no longer being accepted, why 2020 orders were no longer being accepted and what the plans are for the 2021 model year.
No More 2020 Corvette Orders
Below is the content of the email sent from General Motors to Chevrolet dealerships.
“Due to an overwhelming response to the all-new 2020 Corvette and to avoid false customer expectations, it will be necessary to suspend the ability to create a sold order (SRE) beginning March 18, 2020. This does not prevent you from processing existing sold orders (SRE) within allocation, nor creating and processing a normal stock order (TRE).
Regretfully, launch timing was delayed by the six-week work stoppage that reduced the 2020 Model Year production schedule. Therefore, it is possible some of your 2020 orders, sold or stock may not be produced as planned.
Chevrolet plans to deploy 2021 Corvette Ordering Capability in Order WorkBench 30 days earlier than planned, on Thursday, May 21, 2020. The purpose in advancing the 2021 Model Year ordering is to enable you and your existing customer to create a replacement 2021 Model Year order. Further information will be forthcoming from Chevrolet regarding the handling of sold (SRE) 2020 Model Year that we will be unable to accept, and the creation of a replacement 2021 Model Year sold order.”
In other words, General Motors is not sure if they will be able to build all of the 2020 Corvettes for which they have already received orders, so as of yesterday, no new 2020 orders were being accepted by the automaker.
One Delay after Another
In the email to dealerships around the country, General Motors is citing the six-week work stoppage last year. That labor dispute-based stoppage caused production of the 2020 C8 Corvette Stingray to begin late. With an insanely popular model like the C8, that late start alone poses a problem in terms of fitting all of those units into the normal production schedule. However, there is more to this issue.
We have to keep in mind that on March 18th, it was announced that all American assembly plants from Ford, GM and FCA would be shutting down through at least the end of March. Realistically, we would be surprised if the Covid-19 downtime doesn’t extend into April, so the Bowling Green Assembly Plant is looking at two-to-six more weeks of unscheduled downtime. If the company wasn’t sure if it could build all of the 2020 Corvettes prior to this unplanned stoppage, the impact of Covid-19 may mean that Bowling Green isn’t able to produce every 2020 C8 ordered prior to Wednesday the 18th.
Some analysts believe that the national work stoppage could run on for months and if that is the case, it is unclear how GM will handle the ordered yet unbuilt 2020 Stingrays. The company can only push 2021 production back so far, so if they cannot build all of the 2020s in time, those orders will have to be commuted to the 2021 model year.
If you wanted to order a 2020 Corvette and did not, you will now have to wait until Thursday, May 21, 2020, when the order banks open for the 2021 Stingray. Production of 2021 models was slated to begin on September 1st, but right now, schedules pertaining to dates months in the future don’t bear much weight.
Patrick Rall is a professional writer and photographer with a passion for all things automotive. Patrick has been sharing his automotive expertise in automotive journalism from Detroit for more than a decade covering the Big Three. Having grown up in his father’s performance shop, he spent extensive time at the oval track and drag strip – both driving and wrenching on various types of vehicles. In addition to working as a writer, Patrick previously worked as an automotive technician before moving on to a business office position with a chain of dealerships, and this broad spectrum of experience in the industry allows him to offer a unique look on the automotive world. Follow Patrick on Youtube and Twitter.


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The number of tour companies offering women-only packages has surged in the last decade, but how commonly do women leave their husbands and boyfriends to vacation with other women?
One company that runs all-women tours surveyed nearly 300 of its customers and found that 65 percent of them had left their men at home to take part in the trips. The company that surveyed its customers, Women Traveling Together, based in Annapolis, Md., said 80 percent of the women surveyed felt that men and women have different vacation interests, which meant both had to compromise on a trip together.
Women Traveling Together offers about 20 tours a year to U.S. and foreign destinations. Group size is 10 to 15 women, ranging in age from 40 to 65.
For a list of trips, call 800-795-7135 or visit www.women-traveling.com. Other companies offering women-only tours also are mentioned on the site.
Another good source is Journeywoman, a Web site and newsletter devoted to women's travel. It's at www.journeywoman.com.
PAPER TICKETS DISAPPEARING
As of June 1, most airlines are likely to start imposing a fee if you insist on a paper ticket, according to Michael Wascom of the Air Transport Association, an airline trade group.
"That's the benchmark date when e-ticketing will become standard," he said. "Paper will be available for a fee."
Already, nearly 60 percent of tickets are of the e-variety, which cost a fraction of the amount airlines pay to issue tickets the old-fashioned way.
Trade associations that represent the majority of U.S. and international carriers recently agreed to "preclude e-tickets from being converted to paper documents for purposes of doing exchanges or refunds" as of June 1, according to Allan Muten of the Airlines Reporting Corp., which handles ticketing for 140 airlines. However, if there is a "compelling reason," airlines may still turn an e-ticket into a paper ticket. A strike would be such a reason.
But having an e-ticket adds an extra step if you need to get rerouted to another airline: You must first go to the counter of the original airline to get paper documentation of your e-ticket before going to the counter of the airline you will fly.
Hotwire, the airlines' Internet site that pioneered so-called "unpublished" discounted fares when it launched last fall, has inspired an apparent copycat: "Bargain Fares" at Expedia.
The giant Internet travel marketer, at www.expedia.com, is offering low fares not available on computerized reservations systems used by travel agents and Internet search engines. The catch in both cases: The customer doesn't learn which airline or the exact departure and arrival times until after buying the non-refundable ticket online.


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Raise a glass to Nosh’s Wine Week, five days celebrating local makers, venues, and everything plonk. Check back all week for new stories on the East Bay’s unique vino scene.
After seven years in business, Hal’s Office Coffee, the cleverly monikered cafe in Albany, is preparing to launch a spin-off business later this month. Tentatively titled Hal’s After Hours, this new wine bar will operate in the Hal’s space a bit after the coffee shop’s closure at 4 p.m., with a menu of small bites and a cozy, date night vibe.
The idea, according to co-owner Bonnee Elterman, is to re-open the Solano Avenue shop at 5:30 p.m. and serve wine until 10 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays (with weekend day drinking in the parklet). The libation menu will focus primarily on what they bill as “natural and low-intervention wines” from Farm Wine Imports, with a small savory menu featuring empanadas with green sauce and tinned fish (e.g., Portugal-caught anchovies, boquerones, tuna, and mackerel from Jose Gourmet and Fishwife). Fresh bread, pickles, and olives might also make cameos on the menu once it’s fully realized.
(A bit of Hal’s etymology: Located next door to As You Wish, the frozen yogurt spot also owned by Bonnee and her spouse and co-owner, Abraham Elterman, the cafe was originally home to Hal Hoffman’s notary and real-estate business. Hoffman, who died in 2014, was a staple of the venue — he worked out of the Solano Avenue office for many years — and the Albany community. “We wanted to honor Hal and hope to maintain this location as a meeting place for locals to gather,” Bonnee told Nosh of the spot’s name, when Hal’s first opened in 2015.)
Nile Schneider, former sommelier of Village Pub in Woodside, will helm the After Hours wine program, and is putting together an approachable, truncated wine selection at a price range of $13-$16 per glass.
1207 Solano Ave. (near Cornell Avenue), Albany
“Hal’s legacy is a beloved gathering place that’s unpretentious,” he said. “We don’t want to blow our customers away with esoteric wines from around the world, but ones that are familiar.”
While specific wineries are still being selected, you can expect grapes from California, Europe and a smattering of bottles from South America. Around five to six wines will be featured on their new menu, which will rotate monthly.
“We want to bring the European wine bar/bistro vibe to Albany,” Schneider said. “We’re a community-focused place and want to build upon the humble relationship we already have with our clientele.”
In addition to the new menu and hours, Bonnee and Abraham also plan on featuring live music (think Berkeley High’s jazz band) in the cafe’s parklet. They’re also hoping to offer the occasional food pop-up at After Hours, with an eye to local makers.
Speaking of the parklet, the one outside Hal’s Office (Albany’s first, which was designed by Bonnee and Abraham) has turned into a community hub in recent years — an adult version of the Peach Pit, if you will, for the 94706. Built well before parklets became synonymous with pandemic efforts, it has acted as a gathering spot for people in the neighborhood over the years — which only increased in popularity once COVID hit.
“Hal’s has really become a central part of Albany and it really is this community gathering place,” Bonnee said. “We know most people on a first-name basis – and if we don’t know your name, we know you by what your coffee drink order is.”
Albany isn’t an area known for its nightlife, save a few bars and sit-down restaurants. Hal’s After Hours just might offer residents an ideal evening sweet spot between a hard-booze watering hole and full-meal dining.
“We just put our beer-and-wine license in the window, and everybody is so excited,” Abraham ssaid. “The amount of support that existing customers and the community have shown has been really awesome.”
Oh, and fret not, caffeinated ilk: Hal’s Office will still offer its evening patrons some items from its regular coffee menu, like empanadas from Firebrand, as well as cookies, quiche and pastries. Keep your eye out for After Hours’ opening at the end of the month, just in time to celebrate the tailend of our region’s chaotic weather.


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Australia Eyes Open Banking 'Testing Ground' As Data Sharing Becomes Law
2nd Aug 2019 | Written by:
Legislation to launch open banking in Australia has passed parliament after months of delays, but is likely to face imminent changes to allow consumers to “delete” data held by firms.
Australia Has Second Attempt At Open Banking Legislation
23rd Jul 2019 | Written by:
The Australian government has said it will re-introduce legislation this week to enable open banking to begin on schedule in February 2020, but its reception from opposition parties remains...
Buy Now, Pay Later Sector Warned On AML As Afterpay Probed
14th Jun 2019 | Written by:
Australia’s financial intelligence unit has ordered the doyen of the country’s payments industry to hire an external auditor to comb through its entire anti-money laundering (AML) compliance...
Australian Regulator Issues Fraud Warning Over 'Unusual Payment Methods'
29th Apr 2019 | Written by:
Australia’s top consumer protection regulator has issued a warning over the fraudulent use of prepaid gift cards, cryptocurrencies and money remittance firms, after losses soared to almost half a...
Australia: Competition and Consumer Commission Consults on Proposed Consumer Data Rules 2019
1st Apr 2019 | Written by:
On March 29, 2019, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) released a consultation paper seeking feedback on its approach and positions of its draft Competition and Consumer ...
Aussie Banks, Fintechs Finally Lay Eyes On Open Banking Rules
1st Apr 2019 | Written by:
The Australian competition regulator has issued draft rules for financial data portability under the proposed Consumer Data Right — the foundational legislation for bringing open banking to the...
Open Banking In Australia Flies Into Political Headwinds
25th Mar 2019 | Written by:
The beginning of open banking in Australia could hit another snag after the opposition Labor Party flagged its intention to propose amendments to a bill establishing a Consumer Data Right.
We're Locked Out Of Instant Payments, Aussie Fintechs Complain
22nd Mar 2019 | Written by:
Fintechs in Australia hope the country’s central bank will make sweeping changes to a new instant payments system that they view as expensive and dominated by an “exclusive club” of incumbent...
Australia Consults On Locking Industry Standards Into Law
20th Mar 2019 | Written by:
Voluntary industry codes could gain greater legislative weight in Australia, as the government there is consulting on proposals to give regulators powers to prescribe those standards and enforce...
In Depth: Australia And New Zealand Pave Way For Global Open Banking Harmonisation
11th Mar 2019 | Written by:
Payments bodies in New Zealand and Australia are examining ways to adopt common standards in open banking regimes shaping both jurisdictions, as ambition for closer international cooperation ...
Watchdogs Savage Australian Open Banking Law As Fintechs Strain At The Leash
5th Mar 2019 | Written by:
Consumer and privacy watchdogs have heavily criticised the draft Australian law to facilitate the launch of open banking in the country, while fintechs eager to move onto legacy banks’ turf urge...
Open Banking Risks Played Down By Government, Australian Banks Claim
25th Jan 2019 | Written by:
Australia’s top representative body for banks has accused the Treasury of underestimating the fraud and cybersecurity risks of data sharing under the country’s proposed open banking regime.
Political Turmoil In Australia Forces Open Banking Delay
3rd Jan 2019 | Written by:
The beginning of Australia’s open banking regime has hit a snag after political turmoil and “complex issues” during consultations forced the competition watchdog to delay the introduction of a...
Australia: Reserve Bank Issues Bulletin on Payment Surcharges
14th Dec 2018 | Written by:
On December 14, 2018, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) published a bulletin titled "Payment Surcharges: Economics, Regulation and Enforcement", which provides an overview of the surcharging...
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Eileen DeChaves of Chelmsford, co-owner with her brother of Old Mill House Coffee & the Artisans Exchange in Chelmsford Center, made a crochet version of Bernie Sanders with his mittens at the inauguration, which they are raffling off as a fundraiser for the Greater Lowell Food Pantry. (SUN/Julia Malakie)
According to an Associated Press article, Texas resident Tobey King sold the 9-inch Bernie doll at auction on eBay for an eye-popping $20,300. King then donated the money to Meals on Wheels America. Her charity choice was inspired by Sanders, whose campaign created sweatshirts displaying the famous image and donated all the proceeds to Meals on Wheel in Vermont — an endeavor that has raised nearly $2 million for the organization at last count.
The pattern showing how to crochet the Bernie doll was shared online, so DeChaves decided to grab her crochet hooks and get to work.
“I thought this would be kind of cool to do, so I tried to make it and I made it,” DeChaves said, noting it took about 10 hours to complete. “Then I shared it around, and everybody was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you could make a fortune.’”
After a discussion with Danielle McFadden, president and CEO of the Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce, DeChaves decided a fundraiser would be the way to go with the roughly 8-inch doll. Like Sanders and King, DeChaves decided to donate what she raises to a hunger-relief program, naming the recipient Merrimack Valley Food Bank, of Lowell.
Debbie Callery, assistant executive director of MVFB, was thrilled with the news of DeChaves’ generosity.
She pointed out MVFB provides food to feeding programs in 35 communities throughout Greater Lowell and beyond, including Life Connection Center, Megan’s House and the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lowell. MVFB’s contributions reached nearly 80,000 people in November.
“It helps spread the word about what we’re doing to maybe a different audience,” Callery said about DeChaves’ fundraiser. “Whatever kind of exposure we can get is terrific.”
As of late Sunday afternoon, DeChaves said the fundraiser had pulled in $400 for MVFB, with the drawing set to take place Friday. Tickets can be purchased online, or in shop at the Old Mill House Coffee. Those dropping by the shop will even have the opportunity to see the Bernie doll.
“Right now, the doll is keeping warm, sitting on the espresso machine,” DeChaves said.
Callery said she bought three raffle tickets for the drawing. She’s been actively seeking out a spot to place the doll, assuming she becomes the lucky winner of the item that seems to be locked in as a piece of light-hearted American history.
“Social media has been a little volatile the last couple years, and even the day of the inauguration, obviously, there were people who weren’t happy with the results, and didn’t find joy in the inauguration,” Callery said. “But the day after it felt like everyone came together with those Bernie memes, sharing them, laughing — a really light moment we’ve been waiting for.”
Raffle tickets can be purchased online at $10 each. Those who buy their tickets in person, at Artisans Exchange and Old Mill House Coffee, will get two tickets for the price of one. The shop is located at 24 Central Square in Chelmsford.
For more information on how to buy a raffle ticket, visit facebook.com/ArtisansExchange.
Follow Aaron Curtis on Twitter @aselahcurtis


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"We will invest Rs 50 crore to open 5 new stores this year. Apart from a store in Kirti Nagar in New Delhi, we will open another store in the city along with a couple of stores in Mumbai and Hyderabad this year," said Rajat Mathur, Business Head at Script.
The company also plans to open a total of 18 stores in the next three years out of which 5 stores will be launched in Delhi-NCR.
With the launch of its exclusive three-storey store in New Delhi followed by four more stores in the next three years, the brand expects to touch a revenue of more than 60 crore from this market and a total turnover of Rs 320 crore by 2020.
"We feel Delhi-NCR will contribute to 25 per cent of the brand's revenue and we are eyeing a turnover of over Rs 60 crore from this market in the next three years," said Mathur.
The company is yet to start its e-commerce operation but Mathur is hopeful that within the next 2 months they will start transacting online as well.
According to Mathur, all the planned 18 stores will be company owned but they may consider getting franchise partners on board in a couple of years time to carry on with the expansion at a later stage.
Script will roll-out three store formats-- flagship outlets which will be in the range of 12,000 sq.ft to 14,000 sq.ft., smaller outlets in the range of 6,000 sq.ft. to 7,000 sq.ft and the boutique format which will help the brand to penetrate the malls and airports and other smaller cities.


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SCHAFFHAUSEN, Switzerland–Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN) recently announced that it has sold more than 200 million of its GPS navigation and wearable technology products to customers around the world pursuing their passions throughout the automotive, aviation, fitness, marine, and outdoor markets Garmin serves. This milestone is concurrent with the opening of the first phase of the company’s facility expansion at its North American headquarters in Olathe, Kansas. Built to enable growth in many areas of its business, this 750,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution center more than doubles the company’s aviation product manufacturing and distribution capacity. These exciting achievements reinforce Garmin’s continued commitment to its customers, associates, shareholders and community.
“All over the world, one product at a time, we help our customers beat yesterday with products that fuel their passions,” said Cliff Pemble, Garmin president and CEO. “Just six years ago, Garmin sold its 100 millionth product. Today, we’ve doubled that number and have significantly expanded our business to become a leader in all markets we serve, including wearable technology which has been a source of remarkable growth in recent years. As we celebrate these tremendous milestones, we thank our customers and associates who made these achievements possible, and look forward to many more milestones to come.”
Founded in 1989 by a small group of engineers passionate about creating GPS applications for active lifestyles, Garmin now employs more than 12,000 associates in over 30 countries. Now that the first phase of the Olathe campus expansion – the expanded manufacturing facility – is open and operating, the move of the company’s distribution center will begin early next year. Following the move of the distribution center, the second phase of renovating the existing Garmin warehouse and manufacturing space into a state-of-the-art research and development facility and supporting office space will begin. Once completed, the 96-acre Garmin Olathe campus will offer 2.25 million square-feet of space, with room for up to 2,600 additional associates. In addition to continually advancing its highly diversified automotive, aviation, fitness, marine and outdoor markets, Garmin continues to grow its global presence.
For decades, Garmin has pioneered new GPS navigation and wireless devices and applications that are designed for people who live an active lifestyle. Garmin serves five primary markets, including automotive, aviation, fitness, marine, and outdoor recreation. For more information, visit Garmin’s virtual pressroom at garmin.com/newsroom, contact the Media Relations department at 913-397-8200, or follow us at facebook.com/garmin, twitter.com/garmin, instagram.com/garmin, or youtube.com/garmin.


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E-commerce giant Amazon has removed the Black Lives Matter organization from its AmazonSmile charity platform as the organization faces increasing financial scrutiny. Amazon previously was a major cheerleader for Black Lives Matter, including making large donations to the group and a notorious incident in which founder Jeff Bezos scolded a customer for saying “All Lives Matter” in an email.
The Washington Examiner reports that Amazon has removed the Black Lives Matter organization from its AmazonSmile charity donation platform as the social justice group faces increased financial scrutiny. AmazonSmile has donated $306 million to U.S. charities throughout its existence, money that BLM will now be cut off from.
Jeff Bezos speaks about his flight on Blue Origin’s New Shepard into space during a press conference on July 20, 2021 in Van Horn, Texas. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 11: Producer Patrisse Cullors attends the Viacom Winter TCA 2019 panel on February 11, 2019 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Viacom)
Amazon previously donated $10 million to BLM and 11 other social justice groups during nationwide unrest caused by the killing of George Floyd. Multiple other silicon valley tech firms embraced the group amidst riots throughout the country, including Netflix, and Hulu. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also scolded an Amazon customer in an email for saying “All Lives Matter.”
An Amazon representative discussed the removal of BLM from the AmazonSmile platform with the Washington Examiner, stating:
Charitable organizations must meet the requirements outlined in our participation agreement to be eligible for AmazonSmile.
Among other eligibility requirements, organizations are required to be in good standing in their state of incorporation and in the states and territories where they are authorized to do business.
Organizations that don’t meet the requirements listed in the agreement may have its eligibility suspended or revoked. Charities can request to be reinstated once they are back in good standing.
The co-founder of the BLM organization, Patrisse Cullors, who resigned from the group in May said that the unaccounted millions her group received came from “white corporation guilt.” Cullors stated: “People have to know we didn’t go out and solicit the money. This is money that came from white guilt, white corporation guilt, and they just poured money in.”
BLM shut down its online fundraising on February 2nd after California and Washington issued legal threats to the group of failing to report what it did with the millions it received during 2020. The organization published a report in February 2021 which alleged that it ended 2020 with $60 million on hand.
Filings recently reported by the Washington Examiner found that BLM has retained the services of the law firm owned by Democratic lawyer Marc Elias who previously funded the anti-Trump Steele dossier while serving as Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign general counsel.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address email@example.com


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20 March 2019, 10:11
Custom AMD GPU backed service will work on Chrome browser, Chromecast, and more.
15 March 2019, 11:11
Run the software on your PC and play on your Android phone, TV, or even RasPi - anywhere.
14 March 2019, 10:11
Presenter played Forza Horizon 4 on an Android phone using s standard Xbox One controller.
11 March 2019, 15:31
And through 2019 we should see the store not just add new exclusive titles but transform.
8 March 2019, 12:11
This video and the recent Daily Order challenge for Firestorm hint at imminent release.
7 March 2019, 13:11
Two such kits arrive on 12th April, the VR Kit, and the VR Starter Set with Blaster.
5 March 2019, 12:11
That's a much faster take-up than Fortnite, and it is almost on a par in Twitch view rankings.
4 March 2019, 10:21
Executives say there are no plans for a follow-up device.
28 February 2019, 12:11
This action adventure title from EA / Respawn will be released in the autumn.
20 February 2019, 11:11
It is thought that the firm will present its plans for the Project Stream game streaming service.
19 February 2019, 11:11
And data miners have discovered references to new modes, weapons, and Legends.
12 February 2019, 11:11
Meanwhile, EA's Apex Legends hits 25m players in a week, with 2m concurrent players.
7 February 2019, 10:11
Investors weren't impressed, and stock suffers largest drop in more than a decade.
5 February 2019, 11:11
This Battle Royale game takes place in the Titanfall universe. Low PC spec requirements.
1 February 2019, 13:21
This smaller and cheaper Switch could be a replacement to the Nintendo 3DS line.
30 January 2019, 12:11
Games publisher backs down after period of defiance. FIFA Points sales end tomorrow.
28 January 2019, 12:11
Minimum states it is OK to run on a 4GB RAM PC system with Intel HD Graphics 4000.
2 January 2019, 12:31
Entertainment retailer appointed KPMG as administrators late on Friday.
2 January 2019, 10:11
And there is a little over a year left of extended support for Windows 7 from Microsoft.
31 December 2018, 11:11
Though you might need to turn on Developer Mode, which requires a $19 developer account.
24 December 2018, 12:01
'BCoins' will be used to buy optional cosmetic items for character customisation etc.
20 December 2018, 12:11
And earlier this week code was unearthed indicative of Steam PC and Xbox cross-play.
7 December 2018, 12:01
And other news from The Game Awards about Mortal Kombat 11, The Outer Worlds, etc.
6 December 2018, 13:31
Battle Pass owners can start their designs today but general availability starts a week later.
5 December 2018, 14:51
Other games featured are; Overcooked, Penarium, Sheltered, and Interplanetary: EE.
5 December 2018, 11:01
Fortnite-maker says eStore store is "launching soon," initially for PC and Mac.
3 December 2018, 12:21
Move might help prevent bigger publishers from straying away or starting their own platforms.
29 November 2018, 14:11
That's a quad-core ARM Cortex A35 running at 1.5GHz, paired with a PowerVR GE8300 GPU.
16 November 2018, 15:11
Event is in celebration of the debut of Hurston, the game's first explorable planet.
15 November 2018, 10:11
And EA/DICE has issued a real time raytracing DXR enabling patch for Battlefield V.
12 November 2018, 11:01
Probably best known for Fallout: New Vegas and Wasteland 2, respectively.
9 November 2018, 11:11
In eight days Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2) has sold 17 million units.
5 November 2018, 11:01
And Destiny 2 PC is free to grab and keep via Battle.net (claim before 18th November).


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Another day, another storied video game franchise going free-to-play. This time, it's Command & Conquer, with the revered real-time strategy getting an all-new iteration powered by DICE's Frostbite 2 engine.
Well, all new to a point. This is actually the Command & Conquer: Generals 2 that was announced last December as BioWare's next big project, repurposed and retooled to serve as the free-to-play launch title for a new online strategy platform in 2013. The game is still being developed by EA's Victory Games under the BioWare label.
Here's the official word from EA:
With a familiar blend of cerebral, strategic gameplay and fun, fast-paced action, Command & Conquer will deliver an authentic and modern RTS experience that will instantly exhilarate longtime fans and captivate new players. Gamers can sign up for a chance to be among the first to try the closed beta of Command & Conquer at www.CommandandConquer.com/free.
"We are thrilled about this opportunity to transform Command & Conquer into a premier online experience," said Jon Van Caneghem, VP/GM at EA. "For nearly two decades, this franchise has existed as something you buy; now we are creating a destination where our fans will be able to access the entire Command & Conquer universe, starting with Generals and continuing with Red Alert, Tiberium and beyond. With Frostbite 2, we are able to keep an emphasis on the AAA quality our consumers expect while staying true to the RTS gameplay they know and love – all available online for free.
Fans of the franchise might not have to wait until next year to play — beta signups are going on right now.
Edit — This post and its headline were adjusted after publishing for clarification and focus.


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FMQB reports today about the rise of advertising on satellite... They report, "As for Sirius, ad sales grew to $6.1 million last year. The satcaster is also considering increasing the spotload on Howard Stern's show from six minutes per hour up to nine, reports Business Week."
They also ask the question, will Satrad be like FM in a few years?!?!?
Read about it here


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PayPal announced on Wednesday that it would allow PayPal account holders to buy, store and, and sell popular virtual currencies, including bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin. PayPal's cryptocurrency...
New investment will bring Graphcore's market valuation to more than $2 billion
New research from Computing Delta reveals how organisations are intending to spend their IT budgets during the COVID-19 crisis, with most staff continuing to work remotely
Banks are using more AI, but customers don't always trust it


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Technology news for New Zealand's largest enterprises
These search results are from across the Techday network of sites
Do you know how to spot and destroy that BEC scam?
Business email compromise scams, also known as CEO fraud, is a huge problem in 2016. How can you spot one and what should you do about it?
Growing data loss concerns driving Backup-as-a-Service market
Growing concerns about data loss is having huge impact on the the BaaS sector, with new forecasts predicting the market to surpass $4 billion by 2020.
Expert dishes on Symantec/Blue Coat 'powerful' merger
Symantec announced the acquisition of web and cloud security specialist Blue Coat. Symantec is about to become bigger and more powerful than the rest.
Symantec launches cyber protection for vehicle manufacturers & connected cars
Cars & the Internet of Things are the latest focus of Symantec's cyber security, as it launches its specialised Anomaly Detection for Automotive.
Symantec's acquisition of Blue Coat to amplify cybersecurity protection
Symantec has announced its acquisition of cloud security provider Blue Coat for $4.65 billion, strengthening cyber protection for Symantec customers.
Swift growth expected in healthcare cyber security market
The Asia Pacific healthcare cyber security market is expected to grow swiftly due to the rapid enhancements in the healthcare sector.
Zuckerberg password breach prompts warning about account security
Change your password now and make it strong. That's the advice from Symantec after Mark Zuckerberg was the latest victim of a password leak.
Symantec offers encryption software for web hosters
Web hosters must make sure their websites are encrypted for security, trust & to keep their business afloat. Symantec has offered one solution.
Security hole in Symantec antivirus exposes Windows, Linux and Macs
A major security vulnerability has been uncovered by UK white hat hacker and Google Project Zero developer, Tavis Ormandy.
Symantec CEO exits as company reduces revenue forecast
Symantec chief executive Michael A Brown is exiting the company, with the vendor also revising its Q4 revenue forecast downwards by US$12 million.
Cisco leads IoT security market, followed by Intel and Symantec
“With an increase in the number of connected devices, it's difficult for organisations to manage and maintain data traversing between networks."
NZ growing target for cybercrime, especially ransomware
New Zealand averaged 108 ransomware attacks per day in 2015 according to a new Symantec report, which shows we're an increasing target for cybercrime.
Watch out, there's a new breed of cyber criminal in town
“Advanced criminal attack groups now mirror the skill sets of nation-state attackers. They have well resourced and highly-skilled technical staff."
Banking Trojans plummet 73% – but don’t get comfortable
Financial Trojans targeting online banking services dropped 73% last year, but Symantec is warning that Trojans are still thriving - and profitable.
Cyber crims targeting Netflix users - watchout
New research from Symantec has revealed cyber criminals are targeting Netflix users on the back of the company's recent global expansion.
Veritas looks ahead following Symantec split
The split from security vendor Symantec is officially complete as Veritas Technologies this week begins life as a newly independent company.
Kiwis overconfident when it comes to online security
Symantec says that despite the concern and awareness of cybercrime, consumers are overconfident in their online security behaviours.
Symantec unveils single console advanced threat protection
Symantec is upping the ante in its attempt to win the advanced threat protection space, launching a new offering designed to detect and remediate APT.
Aussie companies win at Symantec APJ Partner Awards
Australia’s InfoTrust and Intalock Technologies have won key awards at Symantec’s APJ Partner Awards, held this week in Singapore.
Symantec: Ransomware on the rise
There’s no shortage of security issues. Ransomeware on the rise, and the Internet of Things (IoT) is providing rich pickings for cyber crims.
Hands on review: Norton Security 2015
In the bad old days keeping a PC secure was simple. Nowadays, a huge chunk of our lives exists online, and digital security issues have escalated.
Symantec promises higher potential payouts with new program
Symantec is promising 50% higher earning potential in quarter, quicker payments and easier progression through the tiers in its new channel program.
Top tips to secure your new iPhone
Security advice on how to keep your Apple iDevice, and the data stored on it, safe.
Symantec sells off Veritas in US$8 billion deal
Symantec is selling the Veritas information management business for US$8 billion in cash to a group of investors lead by Carlyle Group.


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Google's (GOOG) Chromecast streaming video dongle for TV sets is getting good reviews and its surprise popularity is prompting more content providers to come on board.
Google announced the low-cost device last Wednesday and the gadget sold out within hours. The $35 dongle proved so popular that Google cut short its promotional offer for three months of free Netflix (NFLX) service to purchasers after 24 hours.
Chromecast plugs into the HDMI port on your TV and allows you to control streaming video services from your tablet, smartphone or laptop. Initial services on the device are Netflix, Google's YouTube and Google Play. But other services are looking to join the action, including Vimeo and Redbox Instant, according to GigaOm. Redbox Instant is a joint venture of Outerwall 's (OUTR) Redbox and Verizon Communications (VZ). Hulu and Time Warner's (TWX) HBO Go might be coming to Chromecast soon as well, Engadget reported.
Meanwhile, consumer electronics reviewers have given the two-inch dongle high marks for simplicity, ease of use and its low price.
Since Chromecast streams video directly from the Internet instead of your phone or tablet, the video looks great, the Verge reported. The device is "ridiculously simple" to use and does what it says it will do, the Verge's Evan Rodgers said. "It's probably one of the best impulse purchases you'll make this year."
Time magazine called Chromecast "a cord cutter's dream."
The Google Chromecast competes with set-top boxes like Apple's (AAPL) $99 Apple TV and similar devices from Roku costing $49 to $99.
Chromecast is on back-order at Google's online store, promising to ship in three to four weeks. Best Buy (BBY) lists the product as sold out online. Amazon.com (AMZN) says Chromecast is out of stock, with no estimated shipping dates.
Related: Google Chromecast sold out; TV device looks like a hit product.


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WhatsApp users are aware that one profile can only be connected to one smartphone at this time. This means that if you use WhatsApp on one phone, you won’t be able to use it on another phone with the same number. For the Web version, users can use laptops or desktop computers. However, WA Web does not function on mobile devices or tablets, thus access is confined to computers. This, however, may soon change.
WhatsApp’s beta update (version 126.96.36.199) implies a new feature is coming shortly, according to WABetaInfo.
Yes, you will be able to link WhatsApp through one main device to additional mobile devices shortly. Keep in mind that the function is currently in beta, so not everyone will see it.
WhatsApp’s New Feature Will Roll Out Soon
According to the source, this will be the second iteration of multi-device functionality, which was first introduced last year. For example, WA Web’s Multi-device compatibility is restricted to four devices, regardless of the account’s primary smartphone.
The new forthcoming functionality might be found under the “Register Device as Companion” section of the settings. When a user attempts to access WhatsApp on a second mobile device, this message will appear. It appears that, like WhatsApp online, this will also operate by scanning a QR code. In the future, users will be able to link an Android tablet as a secondary device, according to the article.
For all those who missed it, WA has announced that the Communities feature, which will help groups organize themselves better, will be released soon. It will also allow users to react to messages in group conversations and exchange files up to 2GB in size. It has already raised the group voice call limit to 32 persons.


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This is the Morning Shift, our one-stop daily roundup of all the auto news that's actually important — all in one place at 9:00 AM. Or, you could spend all day waiting for other sites to parcel it out to you one story at a time. Isn't your time more important?
1st Gear: Sergio Sends Stupid Snappy E-Mail To UAW President
Sources close to UAW-Chrysler negotiations told The Detroit Free Press that a deal was imminent with General Motors when Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne decided to fire off a sharp letter to UAW President Bob King at 10 p.m. Wednesday, accusing the union leader of violating their gentlemen's agreement to sign off on a deal by the 11:59 p.m. deadline. Shortly after the letter was sent, talks stopped at both companies. Chrysler and the UAW agreed to extend their current contract for one week. Talks resumed Thursday between the two sides, but nothing of substance is being discussed at the bargaining table, according to people familiar with the talks. Smooth move, Sergio.
2nd Gear: Jeep Wants To Be Imported From Detroit To China
Automotive News reports this morning that Jeep CEO Mike Manley hopes to negotiate a deal in the next several weeks that will result in Jeep production in China. Manley departed for China Wednesday to negotiate a deal with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd. Good. Because the truth is that nothing brings Democracy to a country faster than a Jeep. Of course usually it's a Jeep carrying U.S. Armed Forces.
3rd Gear: "Revolutionary" Next Mustang Design "Being Locked Down"
Ford's design chief, J Mays, says the styling for the next-generation Mustang is "being locked down." The redesigned car arrives for 2014 and coincides with a big historical event for Ford enthusiasts, Mustang's 50th anniversary. So can we expect another evolution of today's retro look? No way, Mays said this week during an interview at the Frankfurt auto show. Mays points to the Mustang redesigns introduced in 2005 and 2010: "Both of those cars everybody would say, ‘they are retro vehicles.' " But Mays said the next-generation Mustang will follow a different road. "The challenge or the opportunity for 2014 with a 50th anniversary car is to not just look back over your shoulder, but to try to win all of the Mustang faithful yet bring the brand forward as well," he says. I can't help but think that the reason for a change from evolutionary to revolutionary design is that the Mustang's been getting its lunch eaten by the Chevy Camaro this past year — partly because the Camaro has a much more future-forward design.
4th Gear: Just Remember Who Was The First To Welcome Our New Korean Overlords
As we told you last month, every automaker fears competition from Korean automakers, once mocked for their low value and unimaginative design. Hyundai and its affiliate Kia earned high praise from rivals at this week's Frankfurt Motor Show. "They're a very powerful company and a powerful competitor, and they've come on a lot in the last three or four years," General Motors Europe President Nick Reilly told Automotive News, who knows the two well, having run GM unit Daewoo in Korea. "They have caught up to being a very good, leading company."


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Music Gear News
Quincy Jones' Haiti track recorded
Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Eminem and Bono are among stars who have recorded vocals for charity single 'We Are the World'.
The song, originally a hit in 1985 for an all-star line-up led by its writers Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, was re-recorded by some of the world's biggest stars including Jay-Z, Barbara Streisand, Pink, Celine Dion and Jennifer Hudson to raise money for earthquake-stricken Haiti.
Natalie Cole, Justin Bieber, Usher, Wyclef Jean, Josh Groban and the Jonas Brothers were also included in the line-up, which totalled over 75 artists at final count.
Producer Quincy Jones, who was also behind the 1985 version of the song, said: "It's the 25th anniversary and it's perfect timing. It's not an accident, man. That's God. It will be 'We Are the World' for Haiti."
RedOne, who also helped produce the track hopes the song will make a difference.
He said: "I'm so delighted and so happy to get a dream call from Quincy Jones and Randy Phillips and Lionel Richie. I know Lionel has been asked like 150-something times to redo 'We Are the World' and he said no to everything until this Haiti thing happened. The moment he saw that it happened he was like, OK, 'We Are the World.' And to be one of the people they called to have fresh input to the song, to help produce the song - I have no words."
An anniversary version of the track had rumoured to have been planned for some time, but following the earthquakes which hit the Caribbean nation last month, it was decided to change the direction of where the money raised from sales would be sent.
The original single was the brainchild of Quincy, Lionel and Michael and featured a host of world famous performers, including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper and Billy Joel.
It raised $63 million for the USA for Africa campaign.Posted on 2 Feb 2010 10:30 to category : Music News
Related Music News
With the advent of various new files formats and the cancelling of several licensing programs, the MP3 is speculated to soon become a thing of the past.
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Facebook Ad Boycott
Social media giant Facebook Inc has been facing plenty of heat lately. It has been accused of failing to check misinformation and hate speech. More than 90 major marketers have joined an ad boycott campaign, known as “Stop Hate for Profit”, against Facebook. The list includes prominent brands like Coca-Cola, Unilever, Starbucks, Diageo, Clorox, Honda, Hershey, and Verizon.
The criticism against Facebook centers primarily around the social media platform’s failure for not conducting robust fact-checking and not removing political messages that contain misleading or false information. There is also no labeling of inflammatory posts in a manner that Twitter labels potentially offensive content with warnings.
Facebook seems to be taking action to address the issue. The company’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said in a blog post recently that Facebook will start blocking content that violates company policies and will take other measures to fight hate speech as well as crackdown on voter suppression. Zuckerberg said, “Even if a politician or government official says it, if we determine that content may lead to violence or deprive people of their right to vote, we will take that content down.”
Meanwhile, analysts do not seem to be too perturbed by these developments. They have argued that the impact on revenue from the ad boycotts will be less than 5%. Analysts have even suggested that the pullbacks by many of the brands mentioned above may even result in lower facebook ads cost for a direct-response campaign, which may boost the demand among advertisers. During the last earnings call, Facebook had revealed that total advertisers on Facebook went up from 7 million in 2019 to 8 million in 2020.
FB stock closed at $220.64 on 20th June 2020, down 4.86% for the month.


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Droid update brings Flash Player 10.1 for Verizon customers
Verizon carrier announced today the update for Motorola Droid. This new update brings Adobe Flash 10.1 and will be available via Android Market.
“Verizon Wireless has begun pushing an update today to the DROID by Motorola (introduced November 2009) that will allow customers to download Adobe Flash 10.1 via Android Market. Flash Player 10.1 provides access to millions of sites with rich content including animations, casual games, videos, rich internet applications, audio and much more.”
[Via Android Central]


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The nationwide effort to create a uniform sales tax system is under way and gaining steam, as 13 states, so far are cooperating to create a streamlined collection process.
The Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement is a multi-state initiative meant to simplify the varying sales tax laws for businesses that sell their products in multiple states.
Forty-four states agreed, in November 2002, to participate in the program. The agreement officially took effect last October, when the 13 states became full members. They are: Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and West Virginia.
Utah is set to join the consortium this summer, while Arkansas, Nevada, Ohio, Tennessee and Wyoming should jump on board sometime next year.
âThe states basically got together to try to standardize their sales tax laws and rules to make collection of sales tax not as onerous on business,â said Matt Walsh, director of tax research for Massachusetts-based TaxWare.
TaxWare, which offers transaction tax software solutions for businesses, is one of four companies the Streamlined Sales Tax Governing Board is evaluating to direct and remit the taxes for states. The board is overseeing the project.
Mail-order based retailers have, for many years, been able to sell to customers out of state without having to apply sales tax to the transactions. That is because there has never been an efficient way to distribute the tax collected to the state in which the products are delivered, Walsh said.
But due to the growing popularity of Internet shopping, states want to close the long-overlooked loophole. Under the agreement, when a consumer from one state buys goods from a company located in another state, the retailer will collect a sales and use tax, which will be distributed to the state in which the product was delivered.
Wal-Mart, JCPenney and Target are among the biggest supporters of the effort, said Scott Peterson, executive director of the governing board.
âThey're trying to reduce the unnecessary differences between the states and how they administer sales taxes,â Peterson said. âIt costs them money.â
While the sales tax amount might be the same in numerous states, exemptions add to the difficulties in collecting the taxes. Some states tax groceries and others don't. In states that exempt them, there are six different definitions for what is considered food, Peterson said. One of the first things the agreement did was to actually define food, to further streamline the process.
Businesses that previously did not collect sales tax can register with the state and receive amnesty for previously uncollected taxes for up to a year after the state becomes a member of the agreement.
Of the 45 states that collect sales tax, Colorado is the only one that is not participating, Peterson said, because âthe governor does not support what we're trying to do.â The District of Columbia also has committed to the agreement.
Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon do not collect sales tax.
As sales from online purchases skyrocket, states are getting serious about collect taxes from the companies.
A California appeals court ruled last June that Borders Group Inc., the second-largest U.S. bookstore chain, owed taxes on online sales made to residents of the state.
The ruling means companies selling goods over the Internet to California customers may have to add taxes of as much as 8.75 percent, even if they don't have stores in the state. California loses out on about $1.3 billion a year in uncollected taxes on online and mail-order sales, said Anita Gore, a spokeswoman for the California Board of Equalization, in a Bloomberg News story.
Borders discontinued its online unit, Borders Online LLC, in 2001 and now lets customers order books through an alliance with Amazon.com Inc., keeping a percentage of the sales.
Seattle-based Amazon, the largest Internet retailer, doesn't collect taxes on sales in California. The ruling won't affect the company because it lacks a physical presence in the state.
The First Appellate Court of Appeals said Borders' return policy and cross selling between its online unit and stores established that the Borders stores were ârepresentativesâ of Borders Online, according to Bloomberg.
Conversely, some states are again offering sales tax holidays, in which consumers can purchases items without paying the tax. The holidays were most popular in August, when students were returning to class. But they fell out of favor in the early part of the decade, when the economy turned sluggish, Walsh said.
But states are beginning to offer the specials again. Georgia, Louisiana and Massachusetts were among those that did last year. Louisiana's holiday was meant to spur the state's economy following the hurricanes.


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Apple Strategically Seeks to Circumvent Watch Ban While Appealing Patent-Infringement Ruling
Apple Inc. (AAPL) is taking strategic steps to bypass a ban on its popular watch models while simultaneously appealing the patent-infringement ruling that led to the prohibition. The company is working on new software that could potentially allow the sale of noninfringing versions of the devices as early as January 12, according to Bloomberg.
The ban on Apple’s Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 models was imposed by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in October after it determined that Apple had violated patents owned by medical device manufacturer Masimo Corp (MASI). This ban resulted in the removal of these popular watch models from the U.S. market during the holiday season.
However, Apple was able to obtain a provisional stay, allowing the devices to be sold in its U.S. retail stores and online from Thursday onwards. The company is also appealing the ITC’s decision and is looking for ways to shut down the ITC procedurally, according to Smith R. Brittingham IV, who leads the ITC litigation practice at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP.
After the White House declined to intervene, Apple decided to appeal the ban imposed by the ITC. The ban was a result of accusations that Apple had infringed on two health-technology patents owned by Masimo Corp. Apple has petitioned the Federal Circuit to reconsider the ITC’s verdict and revoke its orders. The Federal Circuit has temporarily halted the ban and has given the ITC until January 10 to respond to Apple’s plea for a suspension during the duration of the appeal.
The development of new software by Apple is a strategic move to potentially offer noninfringing versions of its watch models while the appeal process is ongoing. This would allow Apple to continue selling its watches without violating the patents in question. By submitting the software to a U.S. customs agency, Apple hopes to receive approval for the sale of these modified devices.
The outcome of Apple’s appeal and its efforts to circumvent the ban will have significant implications for the company and the wearable tech industry as a whole. Apple’s watch models are highly popular and have a significant market share. The company’s ability to find a solution that complies with the patent laws while still offering its products to consumers will be closely watched.
In conclusion, Apple is actively seeking ways to bypass the ban on its watch models while appealing the patent-infringement ruling. The development of new software and the submission to a customs agency are part of Apple’s strategy to continue selling its watch models without infringing on the patents owned by Masimo Corp. The outcome of this legal battle will have a significant impact on Apple’s future in the wearable tech industry.


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Varun Dhawan’s wife and fashion designer, Natasha Dalal, is all set to make her digital debut on the popular reality show ‘Say Yes To The Dress India’.
As reported on Box Office Worldwide, Dalal who specialises in designing bridal gowns, said she can’t wait to show off her creations, “Designing has always been a passion, and there couldn’t have been a better opportunity to make my OTT debut. Say Yes to The Dress is a highly appreciated show around the globe and being a part of it is an amazing experience! Creating a dream outfit for a bride is such an honour for me. Every bride is unique and watching her eyes sparkle when she sees her dream outfit unfold in front of her makes up for all the effort that goes into the process of bringing it to life. I’m excited to be part of this show as it manages to give everyone a glimpse of how a bride-to-be feels just before saying yes to the Dress!”
The show will premiere next week on 8th December on Discovery+.


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Comparethemarket.com-owner reviews £300m media account
BGL Group, the owner of Comparethemarket.com, has put the £300 million media account for Comparethemarket.com and four of its other businesses up for pitch.
Comparethemarket.com: baby oleg by VCCP
Comparethemarket.com runs the VCCP-created 'Comparethemeerkat' ads featuring the animated Russian meerkat family.
The review also includes the media accounts for the Bennetts and Beagle Street instance brands, the French price-comparison site Les Furets.com and the Dutch comparison site Verzekeringssite.nl.
The brands are expected to spend a combined £300 million over the next three years.
Incumbent ZenithOptimedia has run the business for seven years, and will be part of the review process. It won the account from MediaVest Manchester (now Carat Manchester) in 2007, and retained the business after the last review in 2010.
The group said in a statement that it called the review to "ensure the group continues to engage with the strongest agency partners". It claims to have significantly invested in both its UK and international businesses recently, and is hoping that advertising will help it to grow in future.
Kal Atwal, the group director of brand-led businesses at BGL, and Mark Vile, the marketing director of Comparethemarket.com, will jointly lead the review.
Atwal said: "We are in the unusual and fortunate position that there is enormous potential for growth in every market where we operate.
"Given the success of our UK businesses and continued investment into Europe, now is the right time to review our current media partner to ensure we maximise future market opportunities."
This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk
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- ACCOUNT DIRECTORS - Integrated/ATL/TTL/BTL/SP/Shopper/Retail - London - up to £50k Judi Patton £40k-£50k plus excellent benefits, London (Central), London (Greater)


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BOSTON—Microsoft announced its latest program aimed at recruiting channel partners to support its burgeoning security software business on July 12, an effort that company executives and outside experts say will be crucial in convincing customers to buy those products.
Unveiled at the companys ongoing worldwide partner conference in Boston, the software giants SSA (Security Software Advisor) program offers an incentive plan for channel partners that sign on to sell and support its business security products, some of which were also folded together under the firms newly announced Forefront product family name.
Those tools, which are largely made up of the technologies Microsoft garnered via its 2005 acquisition of anti-virus specialists Sybari, include an end client security package, a set of malware and spam-fighting programs for its Exchange messaging server software and instant messaging systems defense applications.
All of the technologies are marketed alongside Microsofts existing ISA (Internet Security and Acceleration) Server 2006 package.
Along with $15 million worth of funds set aside to help its security partners market the products and related services, resellers will be offered at least 20 percent of any security software license sales on top of their existing commissions, as Microsoft looks to aggressively build out its channel, said Steve Brown, director of product management in Microsofts Security, Access and Solutions division.
As with many of Microsofts other product lines, getting the right set of partners to back its growing security portfolio will be critical to driving the technology into end-user organizations, he said.
"It would be hard to underestimate the huge influence our partners will have in moving our entire security vision forward," Brown said.
"These companies are the ones who will bridge the worlds of identity, control and access that weve focused on. To the extent that we can enable our channel to become critical security partners for our customers, we will be able to move forward Microsofts vision for secure infrastructure."
Brown shunned the notion that Microsofts bid to get a larger piece of its channel partners security business will touch off a bidding war between the Redmond, Wash.-based software maker and other security applications providers.
Customers will still need many other types of security applications not offered by Microsoft, allowing channel partners to keep all their security vendors happy, he said.
At least one of the companys reseller partners said that Microsoft is doing a good job of getting its message across, even if the firm is still in the nascent stages of creating its security business.
Scott Keough, director at government IT specialist GTSI in Chantilly, Va., said that many customers are also impressed with what theyve heard from the software maker thus far.
"Theyre in the earlier stages, and SSA is still pretty high-level, but theyve made some concerted efforts to get consistent messaging out to both the channel and customers, so theres plenty of awareness of whats going on," Keough said.
"In terms of the security vendors we already do business with, having Microsoft in the market might actually make our lives easier based on the new level of competition; we already know how to balance those relationships."


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Hello friends of CannaVigilance,
Great news from our development team: We have launched a new version of our Cannavigia software! Our most important update is the implementation of the manufacturing feature. It gives producers, manufacturers and processors the possibility to plan, trace, monitor and document all manufacturing and processing steps taking place in their facility. It also helps to automatically check if there is enough available amount in stock before starting a production. If you want to learn more about the manufacturing feature or if you are curious about other updates, contact us.
To work with cannabis products or grow the plant, you need a license in most countries. What does the situation look like in Portugal? Read on and find out!
How to get a license in Portugal
Portugal seemed to be the dreamland for cannabis cultivation. But is it really that easy to get a license? In our latest cannabis country report we not only talk about the current legal situation in Portugal, but we also give you a detailed guide on how to get a license, what information you need to submit and how long the process takes.
Read the report here.
Meet us at the ICBC Barcelona and Spannabis!
We are going to Barcelona soon – meet us at the ICBC or Spannabis from March 10-12! The two trade shows have partnered up to form a super-conference that is a must-attend for anyone that is serious about succeeding in the emerging cannabis industry. At the ICBC our CEO Luc Richner will speak alongside Marguerite Arnold from Medpayrx, Shlomo Booklin, a master grower and chief cannabis strategist, and Clint Younge from Charlie’s Cannabis Co about supply chain strategies to forward the cannabis reform. The discussion starts at 4pm on March 10th.
No time to attend the panel but you have some questions about compliance, cannabis supply chain or the Cannavigia seed to sale software? Meet Luc Richner in Barcelona on March 10-12. You can schedule a meeting with him here.
A vigilant eye on cannabis news:
- Slovenian company PharmaHemp has started building an EUR 11 million facility to produce and process hemp products in Komenda, north of Ljubljana, in what it says will bring together the broadest range of services in the field of hemp in Europe. The 3,320-square metre hemp factory will be “the most modern and technologically-advanced infrastructure for the processing and production of raw materials and products from hemp”, the company announced in a press release.
- Infarmed, Portugal’s cannabis agency under the Portuguese Health Ministry released a circular reinforcing that the use of CBD extracted from cannabis for industrial purposes is prohibited. Citing the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the President of Infarmed, Rui Santos Ivo, makes it clear that “cosmetic products cannot contain substances/preparations related to the cannabis plant, regardless of their tetrahydrocannabinol”. If you want to learn more about cannabis in Portugal, read our country report.
- The South African government’s commitment to industrialise the cannabis industry was backed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his recent State of the Nation Address. The President justified the stance as part of a broader project “to realise huge potential for investment and job creation”, but the standoff between big companies and traditional small growers has not been resolved.
- Italy’s Constitutional Court rejected a request to hold a referendum on legalising the cultivation of cannabis, provoking the ire of promoters who called the decision a blow to democracy. Giuliano Amato, the Constitutional Court president said: “This is enough to make us violate multiple international obligations.”
- The rap legend Snoop Dogg’s VC firm, Casa Verde, is leading a $15m Series B round into Cansativa, a Frankfurt-based cannabis distribution platform that currently stocks German pharmacies. The country’s new coalition government, formed of the centre-left Social Democrats, The Green Party and the liberal Free Democratic Party, has pledged to move toward legalising recreational cannabis use within four years.
- High Times have made a list of what they think are the countries who are most advanced when it comes to cannabis research. We challenge this list and are very curious how Switzerland didn’t make this list with its cutting-edge technology companies that are redefining the understanding of the plant. See if you agree.


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Not long after the May 25 announcement that Ford customers would be gaining access to Tesla’s supercharging network came more big news: General Motors is now doing the same thing.
The announcement that (GM) – Get Free Report and (TSLA) – Get Free Report would be teaming up came during a June 8 Twitter Spaces conversation between each company’s respective CEOs — Elon Musk and Mary Barra.
Despite the magnitude of the arrangement, Deepwater Management analyst Gene Munster thinks the move helps out the competition more than it helps out Tesla.
“I view this more as a positive for GM and (F) – Get Free Report. It’s probably a neutral to slight positive for Tesla because they will pick up some infrastructure revenue,” Munster told CNBC. “But ultimately, they are giving the rails to these competitors which have been struggling. I think ultimately what Elon is doing here is he’s making good on his promise that he wants to advance electrification.”
“I think he’s doing this as more of a move for greater EVs than a positive for Tesla.”
Munster said that now, with two of the biggest names in traditional auto partnering up with Tesla, more might not have a choice but to follow.
“I was surprised at the speed, I think it took two weeks for GM. I think it was a telling sign,” he said. “Other car makers, they can’t build their own infrastructure, they have to adopt at this point. This is Tesla turning the screw down on the infrastructure piece.”
Munster said that, in the wake of this partnership, other charging companies, as well as traditional auto, are in “a tough spot.”
“Tesla’s going to run the table on these charging networks,” he said.
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A CV from an ex-Pandemic staffer has revealed the studio worked on a secret project called Legends, a working title at the time, for PS3, 360 and PC.
The game was revealed in a resume by Dorian Campo, with some concept art on his own personal website. It cites development was stopped for it in summer 2008, although not much else was given on what genre it might have been based on.
It’s the second big project to be revealed from the studio since its closure before Christmas last year. Soon after that, and the release of its final game, The Saboteur, Mercs Inc. was revealed to have been in development for the same three platforms as Legends.
Initially thought to be canned at first, it’s now in development over at EALA, although details on it have been slim since its formal announcement back in November. There’s some new concept art for that too over at Campo’s personal portfolio.


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You have a few hours to bid on the right to light the two cranes at Royal Inland Hospital.
The highest bidder will flip the switch that lights up the cranes for the holidays and receive a a $100 gift certificate to Earls restaurant, a holiday collection of chocolates from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and a bottle of bubbly.
The auction runs until 3 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 2, online at https://www.facebook.com/RIHFoundation/.
Lighting of the cranes will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at 4:30 p.m.
The cranes are being used by Ellis Don as the company works on the $417-million patient-care tower expansion at the hospital. The tower is scheduled to open in 2022.


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Chinaz.com note: in the industry competition, two election one often happens. According to news from Jiangsu TV station, many Wuxi businessmen recently reported that the US delegation was forced to choose two of the merchants. Many businesses chose to settle in drops after being excluded by the US group. They were not only left behind by the US regiment without any reason, but also fell sharply after being restored to the shelves. The former top ten merchants were placed on the twenty or thirty list after being put on the shelves. The top one hundred were also ranked one thousand. After such a ranking, it is impossible for anyone to arrive at them.
In this regard, the United States Mission customer service is given the system upgrade, but takeaway merchants said things were not so simple. They questioned the fact that the US side unilaterally broke up the contract, only to force them to choose two.
In view of the two election of unfair competition, the local industry and Commerce Bureau of Wuxi has made an urgent interview with the United States group, the hungry and the drop of three takeout platforms, Su Yiling, deputy director of the Wuxi industry and Commerce Bureau, said: “Wuxi has received reports from some of the service platforms in Wuxi. “Takeout and the takeout of the United States and the forced downline, the preliminary investigation shows that the related takeout service platform has been suspected of forming unfair competition and monopolistic behavior.” At present, the takeover of the US group is not convenient to respond to this situation.
The industry believes that the takeaway industry has a big cake and the competition is fierce. However, it is not conducive to healthy development to blindly burn subsidies to fight price wars or to harm merchant interests by unfair competition. The takeaway platform should pay more attention to distribution efficiency, service attitude and food safety.