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Meta has announced the launch of Meta AI in South Africa with built-in Llama 3 on WhatsApp. This is a leapfrog step for…
Helm chief executive Dawood Patel urged businesses to adhere to fundamental principles when incorporating artificial intelligence into their operations. Drawing from his extensive experience in developing AI-powered products since 2017, he highlighted the necessity to critically evaluate existing systems and processes before incorporating AI.
Patel, speaking at the MMA Impact Forum, stressed that a thorough analysis is crucial to determine the technical feasibility of AI implementation. For businesses lagging behind in digitalisation, rushing into AI adoption might create more problems than solutions.
“You don’t want to be making major changes to your business just because everybody else is doing it,” he advised.
Addressing the rapidly evolving landscape, Patel outlined five key principles for companies to consider when integrating AI into their operations:
1. Timing is everything
The right timing for adopting new technology varies across industries. Generative AI, for instance, is ideal for fashion labels looking to enhance marketing efficiency, but heavily regulated sectors like banking must exercise caution due to stricter privacy and security regulations. Evaluating needs against potential risks and benefits is essential in determining the opportune moment for AI integration.
2. Build a supportive ecosystem
Implementing AI requires a collaborative effort. Companies must assemble a team willing to take risks and embrace technologies. Patel emphasised the importance of enthusiastic individuals who can support and collaborate effectively, highlighting that without proper support, AI implementations may face significant risks.
3. Cultivate a culture of tolerance for failure
Acknowledging the inevitability of mistakes in AI and tech innovation, Patel emphasised the importance of fostering a culture that accepts and learns from failure. He quoted Einstein, emphasising that mistakes are fundamental to the learning process. Embracing failures as learning opportunities is crucial for sustained innovation.
4. Understand your customers
Putting humans first is a core principle at Helm. Patel stressed the significance of understanding customers’ needs, challenges, and pain points before adopting new technology. AI should enhance the human experience, not replace it. Comprehensive user research ensures that the implemented technology genuinely benefits customers, leading to successful integration.
5. Plan to fail (and plan to recover)
Failure is inevitable in any innovation process. Patel advised businesses to plan for failure, anticipating potential challenges, and creating contingency plans to adapt and move forward. Planning for recovery is as crucial as planning for success, ensuring that setbacks do not become insurmountable obstacles.
In his closing remarks at the MMA Impact Forum, Patel reminded delegates that AI is still in its infancy, and the rules governing its use are not set in stone. He encouraged companies to seize the unique opportunity and responsibility to shape the future of their industries.
He urged businesses to embrace the challenge and lead rather than follow. By understanding and adhering to these principles, companies can navigate the AI frontier successfully and transform their operations for the better.


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Products and services company Ecolab has opened a purpose-built manufacturing facility in the UK.
The company, headquartered in the USA, provides cleaning, sanitising, food safety and infection prevention products and services for the healthcare and other markets.
The new plant, at Baglan Energy Park, near Swansea, south Wales, is four times the size of the former production facility, bringing it to 50,000sq ft with a 16,000sq ft production area.
Susan Nestegard, Ecolab’s senior vice-president and chief technical officer, said the move was a major step in the company’s development.
The facility is part of Ecolab’s Centre of Excellence for Contamination Control ï¿½ Shield Medicare, which supplies specialist contamination control products to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare and medical device industries internationally.
It specialises in pharmaceutical and medical cleanrooms, whose needs are often very different from those of electronics cleanrooms.
Ms Nestegard said the site housed some of the most innovative technology in the industry, including state-of-the-art cleanrooms and laboratories.
This meant the company could carry out large-volume production and single-batch supply to major pharmaceutical companies, and could devote more resources to research and development.
The plant has five Grade B and C cleanrooms with laminar airflow at point of fill.
The cleanroom design incorporates new features aimed at minimising contamination risk from people traffic and airflow during the production process, including interlocking hatches, talk-through panels and intercom systems.
Ms Nestegard said even changing areas and preparation rooms had a high specification and used different coloured flooring to identify “clean” and “dirty” areas.
She said an additional risk-reduction measure was an innovative sprinkler-system design that made it easy to clean cleanroom ceilings, and crash-through fire doors that were fully sealed.

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Juneau entrepreneurs had a very busy 2012.
Name brands brought new wares and jobs to Juneau’s market and long-time locals took a risk on a new business.
Downtown Juneau was spared the loss of a central grocery store as Seattle-based grocer transitioned Alaskan and Proud to Foodland IGA.
Myers Group swooped in and scooped up the grocery in the Foodland Mall days before Ketchikan-based Alaskan and Proud was scheduled to close its doors after years of operation. Myers Group renamed the grocery Foodland IGA.
Arrow Refuse offered curb-side recycling pickup to its Juneau customers. Shops opened that offered goods from east-coast grinder sandwiches to alpaca sweaters. One group of entrepreneurs proposed opening a land farm.
Bicknell, Inc. of Juneau requested permits to build a 6,000 square foot land farm. The facility would clean earth contaminated with petroleum products.
Gold prices remained high. Kensington and Greens Creek mines took advantage of the bounty with good production and investments in efficiency and future production.
Though results have been reported as good, Grande Portage and Quaterra Resources Inc. are still in the exploration stage of developing their claim at Herbert Glacier.
Chieftain Metals has its environmental assessment from the Canadian government to build a road to its mine near the Taku River in British Columbia. The road passes through Taku River Tlingit First Nation land, a group opposed to Chieftain’s opening the mine.
The University of Alaska Southeast, with help from local mining companies, unveiled a world-class simulator of heavy mining machinery. The immersive simulator can train miners on large, dangerous and expensive machinery before putting themselves, others or equipment at risk.
Long-time Juneau business Rent-A-Wreck changed hands this year becoming Juneau Car Rental Co.
Pharmacists sought legislative help as suppliers applied pressure with what local pharmacists said were abusive audit practices.
Alaska cable company GCI and sports entertainment provider Root Sports went head to head on Major League Baseball pricing. The result? Juneauites lost the Mariners on cable television.
Long-time Juneau resident and well-remembered owner of a Douglas grocery Robert Thibodeau died in September.
The U.S. Forest Service makes steps toward its goal to transition away from large-scale timber sales to a combination of smaller sales and restoration and maintenance contracting. Kake company CSC Tree Service won the $26,050 contract to maintain roads and bridges near the village. A small-scale timber sale in Wrangell will provide wood for local small mills and instrument-wood manufacturers.
Alaska’s wild salmon market faced a double threat in 2012.
Alaska’s D.C. delegation set their hooks in the issue of genetically modified Frankenfish. Genetically modified salmon promised to add the fast growth of Alaska’s prized Chinook salmon to the farm-friendly Atlantic salmon to bring farmed fish meat faster to the market. Recently the Federal Drug Administration deemed AquaBounty’s AquAdvantage salmon technology safe for human consumption.
Canada questioned whether Pacific salmon near Vancouver Island were dying of an Atlantic salmon virus.
New Environmental Protection Agency rules on diesel fuels burned in certain large marine engines could have financial impacts on Alaska’s cruise industry. While Juneau’s shipping and ferry service already meets EPA standards, the state of Alaska has come out in opposition to the EPA imposing new diesel emissions rules on cruise ships in Alaska.
Juneau Chamber of Commerce was recognized as Alaska’s 2012 Chamber of the Year. This is the second time Juneau’s chamber has earned this recognition since 2008.
Local wedding cards, event posters, business cards and all sorts of print on paper have come to Juneau care of Alaska Litho for the last 65 years. Constant adaptation to new technology and new techniques while holding on to tried-and-true old ways has kept employee-owned AK Litho growing in the local market.
Juneau’s cruise visitor numbers were back up to pre-2010 levels in 2012. Passengers spent an estimated $180 million in Juneau. Visitor numbers are expected to top 1,000,000 in 2013. Alaska Cruise Association’s John Binkley and CBJ Docks and Harbors Carl Uchytil discussed what those numbers mean to Juneau’s economy in an article from the final day of the 2012 cruise season.
Alaska Sen. Mark Begich talked tough with Xtratuf about substandard boots coming out of China. Begich asked Xtratuf for ideas about policy changes that could lure production back to the U.S.
Three Juneau entrepreneurs received permitting to build and operate an indoor gun range and retail shop. The five-lane underground shooting range is designed to handle larger caliber weapons. Including clip and belt-fed rental machine guns.
Elgee, Rehfeld Mertz LLC has ranked in the top 100 accounting firms to work for twice in the same number of years. Principal Max Mertz was awarded a public service award from his fellow Alaskan certified public accountants. To wrap up the year George Elgee, Bob Rehfeld and Max Mertz were awarded Citizens of the Year by the Juneau Chamber of Commerce.
Stanley Motor Group owns car dealerships, rental cars, auto body shops and quick service shops all across Alaska. Stanley recently added a Ford dealership to its Budget Rent-a-Car outlet in Juneau.
A deadly shooting in Connecticut shocked the nation and talk soon turned to legislating an assault weapons ban. In response, Juneau gun enthusiasts cleared the shelves at Rayco sales of assault rifles and parts.
"I'm ordering more and more stuff," Rayco gun shop owner Ray Coxe said.
An Alaska Airlines Flight 731 landed safely in Juneau on one engine and the nation takes a feint at the fiscal cliff.
• Contact reporter Russell Stigall at 523-2276 or at email@example.com.


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USA, Laurel, Mississippi. Sanderson Farms, Inc. reported results for its second fiscal quarter and six months ended April 30, 2017.
"The results for our second quarter of fiscal 2017 reflect benign feed costs, continued favorable demand for poultry products from retail grocery store customers, higher volume, and an improving export environment," said Joe F. Sanderson, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Sanderson Farms, Inc. "Our sales price per pound increased during the first half of this fiscal year compared with last year as market prices improved steadily through the second fiscal quarter. Poultry export market fundamentals improved, market demand for wings improved counter seasonally, and market prices for boneless breast meat improved significantly during the second half of April and have continued to move higher into May.
According to Sanderson, overall market prices for poultry products were higher during the second quarter compared with the same period last year. Market prices for chicken products sold to retail grocery store customers remained relatively strong during the quarter and continue to reflect good demand. Compared with the second fiscal quarter of 2016, boneless breast meat market prices were approximately 9.1% higher, the average market price for bulk leg quarters increased approximately 17.2%, and jumbo wing market prices were higher by 5.1%. The Company's average feed costs per pound of poultry products processed were essentially flat when compared with the second quarter of fiscal 2016, while prices paid for corn and soybean meal, the Company's primary feed ingredients, decreased 0.4% and increased 15.0%, respectively, compared with the second quarter of fiscal 2016. The Company's feed costs per pound processed were affected by changes in feed formulation and improved broiler performance.


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The owners of Chinatown restaurant in Green Hills, which has been getting positive reviews (including from the Scene) since an overhaul last year, have taken over the shuttered Lucky Bamboo restaurant space on Charlotte. They plan to reopen Lucky Bamboo in the next few weeks with dim sum service and an extensive menu of dim sum delights, something Nashville has been lacking for a while.
Details are still few, but we know the team aims to open the new Lucky Bamboo (which they are describing in an ad as "Your hot pot and dim sum H.Q.") sometime in December. And as of late last week, they were hiring, encouraging candidates to apply in person at the restaurant, 5855 Charlotte Pike, between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The Lucky Bamboo space is in the same retail strip that houses K&S World Market. The new owners are touting its banquet facilities, with the ability to serve up to 300 people.
This is promising news, indeed. Bites will keep you posted.


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The government experiment with regulated marijuana cultivation must not give the impression that the state is encouraging the use of the drug, the ministers responsible for the trial have told MPs in a briefing.
‘On the contrary, using cannabis can lead to acute health problems, such as accidents, panic attacks and psychotic episodes,’ the ministers said. ‘It can also lead to addiction and lung problems, partly due to the way it is inhaled in combination with tobacco.’
For this reason, the ministers said, all the packaging will carry a compulsory health warning and there will be leaflets inside the packets with further warnings, health minister Bruno Bruins and justice minister Ferd Grapperhaus said.
The packaging should not be attractive and the THC-CBD levels in the drug should be indicated as well, the ministers said.
In addition, all cannabis cafe personnel will have to go on a compulsory course to be able to identify problematic behaviour and direct users to organisations which can help.
Ten local authorities, including Tilburg, Breda and Almere, are taking part in the trials, which are due to start in 2021.
But the four big cities, including Amsterdam were most coffee shops are located, have said they will not join in. In particular they are unhappy that all coffee shops will have to take part.
The aim of the experiment, which will see a number of growers licenced to produce a range of marijuana products, is to remove the grey area between coffee shops, which have permits, and the illegal circuit of suppliers.
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The online-privacy game has many rules, but few ways to keep score.
Fiderus Corp., a privacy consulting firm based in Cary, N.C., seeks to address that issue. The company recently unveiled its Privacy Assessment Tool, which shows how well—or how poorly—organizations are doing in the privacy department. From business strategy to information technology, the tool considers privacy from a number of perspectives as it checks for compliance with both external regulations and internal privacy standards.
The goal is to provide clients “a baseline against which they can prioritize where they need investments to improve,” says Peter Reid, principal of Fiderus national privacy practice.
Opportunities for improvement abound amid todays array of privacy regulations. Health-care providers are racing to comply with the privacy provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which mandates standards to protect individually identifiable health-care information. Similarly, financial services firms have the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act with which to comply. Companies doing business internationally have the European Unions “safe harbor” data privacy agreement to consider, as well as national online-privacy laws. Canadas Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act—also known as Bill C-6—went into effect Jan. 1.
Fiderus Privacy Assessment Tool queries organizations on the specifics of HIPAA, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, and the like, but also probes with more general questions. For example, participants are asked how important they consider privacy as a business issue. Fiderus analyzes the responses to that and other questions and develops a score. The score then becomes a benchmark for measuring companies privacy progress.
Eventually, participants will be able to see how they mea- sure up to others in their industry sector. Fiderus will build a knowledge base to enable such comparisons as it completes more privacy assessments, according to Reid. Fiderus, not yet a year old, has thus far completed about a half-dozen assessments using its tool.
Fiderus aims to point companies in the right privacy direction, but may team with other firms to get them there.
Reid believes one way to help companies get rolling on privacy is to tie such initiatives to customer relationship management (CRM) projects. He says Fiderus does not plan to become a CRM integrator, but instead seeks to work with CRM specialists—both software vendors and professional consultants in the field. “We would advocate that … consultants from Fiderus would become part of the implementation team,” Reid says.
Following the path of IT security checkups, privacy assessments will become more commonplace this year. Consultants have an opportunity to help customers meet current requirements, while preparing them for future privacy-related laws. Many observers believe Congress will pass a comprehensive online-privacy bill this year. If thats the case, companies such as Fiderus should have no shortage of assessment seekers.


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Using industry-leading technology and machine learning, Beatchain is launching its newest tool for artists and music marketers of all levels — Fan Builder.
Building off its unique big data dashboard of digital insights, Beatchain has created an easy-to-use feature guiding artists and music managers through building their fanbase with targeted ad buys.
If an artist would like to increase their Facebook or Instagram presence, or spread the word about a new song release, Beatchain’s Fan Builder feature can start an advertising campaign with just a few simple clicks. After setting a campaign goal, promotion budget, and timeframe, artists will select and purchase online digital advertising curated for them based on machine learning, with ads automatically targeted toward their own unique online audience.
“The amazing thing about Fan Builder is that it uses data from the artist’s own social media and streaming profiles to hyper-target ads that will focus on audiences that have already shown interest in their music and brand,” said Ben Mendoza, Founder and CEO of Beatchain. “This levels the playing field for independent artists and gives them access to the same tools and processes they’d get working with a marketing team at a major record label.”
During a Fan Builder promotional campaign, artists and brand managers can keep track of the rise in music video views or social media presence using Beatchain’s extensive data insights page, where they can see the return on investment through website page views, song streams, merch sales, email signups, and even in what country and city these originate, eliminating the black hole long associated with digital marketing.
“For as little as 5 dollars, artists can start a targeted digital ad campaign that is proven to find them more fans,” said Ed Godshaw, Beatchain CTO. “Even though we believe our distribution platform is best in class, we don’t see ourselves as a pure play distributor and don’t require artists to distribute their music through Beatchain to use Fan Builder. Fan Builder empowers artists to take their releases and deliver them to engaged and growing audiences.”
With the addition of Fan Builder, Beatchain is making good on its vision to upend the traditional way of marketing and distributing music, and revolutionizing the way artists are discovered. Currently, the Fan Builder tool supports both Facebook and Instagram advertising, but Beatchain plans to deliver both Google and Twitter Ads in the near future.


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Recall alert: Frozen strawberries linked to Hepatitis A
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a nationwide recall on frozen strawberries and strawberry products based on reports of hepatitis A detected.
WZZM 13 in Grand Rapids said state officials report they are working to ensure that recalled frozen strawberries are removed from stores and no longer being served in Michigan restaurants. The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services are working to provide the most current information from federal partners.
The Calhoun County Public Health Department said in a news release that it is reaching out to area food establishments and organizations who may have had the product delivered. But at this time the department is not aware of any contaminated strawberries being delivered in Calhoun County or of any cases of Hepatitis A related to the investigation.
According to WZZM 13, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention reports 134 people with hepatitis A as of Oct. 20, 2016. The outbreak has been reported from nine different states. The origins of the strawberries link back to Egypt, sold by the International Company for Agricultural Production and Processing.
According to a CDC report, 129 of the cases reported eating a smoothie containing strawberries from Tropical Smoothie Cafe. However, five cases reported no exposure to Tropical Smoothie Cafe and the latest illness onset date being among these cases, occurring Oct. 1, 2016.
Tropical Smoothie Cafe has reported to the CDC that they removed strawberries from their cafes nationwide and switched to a different provider. The CDC does not believe there is any further risk of infection involving the restaurant chain.
On Oct. 25, the ICAPP recalled all frozen strawberries and strawberry products that had been imported to the United States since Jan. 1, including whole, sliced and sugared, and diced frozen strawberries, based on FDA reports.
Hepatitis A is a contagious liver disease that results from a hepatitis A virus infection. According to the FDA, illness occurs within 15 to 50 days of exposure and symptoms include yellowing skin and eyes, fatigue, abdominal pain, dark urine and pale stools. The CDC states that 52 people have been hospitalized and zero deaths have been reported.
WZZM 13 in Grand Rapids contributed to this report.


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Startups and VCs to Gather for Xconomy’s New York Venture Emergence Forum
Silicon Valley may get the lion’s share of attention when it comes to tech and biotech startups, but as has been clear since well before we launched Xconomy New York in April, the Big Apple has plenty to brag about, too. Take, for example, Gilt Groupe, the fashion e-commerce site that has raised more than $218 million in VC funding. Or bitly, which shortens, tracks, and analyzes Web links and is backed by a Who’s Who of venture and angel investors from RRE Ventures to Ron Conway and Mitch Kapor. The New York area is also home to dozens of other cutting-edge startups, big and small, including Armgo Pharma, BarkBox, and Simulmedia.
Entrepreneurs from all those companies and more—along with their VCs—will be sharing their secrets to creating innovative new companies at Xconomy’s February 1 half-day conference, New York’s Venture Emergence.
At this afternoon event, entrepreneurs will share the stage with VCs to pass along stories about how they built their startups. There will also be keynote chats with Barry Silbert, CEO of Second Market, and two of the country’s most influential and astute investors—Union Square Ventures’ Fred Wilson and Todd Dagres of Spark Capital. Moderating the chat between Wilson and Dagres will be former Doubleclick CEO David Rosenblatt, who now heads online luxury marketplace company 1stdibs, and no doubt knows how to bring out the best in VCs. Finally, we will showcase some “burst” presentations from some of the city’s most promising new ventures.
Check out the exciting lineup of speakers we have planned:
Keynote chats featuring:
Fred Wilson, founder and managing partner of Union Square Ventures
Todd Dagres, founder and general partner of Spark Capital
Barry Silbert, founder and CEO of Second Market
David Rosenblatt, CEO of 1stdibs
Featured speakers and storytellers:
Nick Beim, general partner of Matrix Partners
Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, founder and chief merchandising officer of Gilt Groupe
Alexis Maybank, founder and chief marketing officer of Gilt Groupe
Rich Levandov, managing director of Avalon Ventures
Dave Morgan, founder and CEO of Simulmedia
Dennis Purcell, senior managing partner of Aisling Capital
Sapan Shah, CEO of Armgo Pharma
Peter Stern, CEO of bitly
Eric Wiesen, general partner of RRE Ventures
Bonus presentations by:
Carly Strife, co-founder and CEO of BarkBox
Chris Wiggins, co-founder of HackNY
Xconomy Forum: New York’s Venture Emergence will take place at the Apella Event Space at Alexandria Center for Life Science from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 1. There will be a networking reception, too.
You can find more information—plus special discounted ticket prices for super early birds, students, and startups—by clicking here. Please join Xconomy for this exciting review of the New York venture scene.


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Thanks to the generosity of the White Lake area community, including customers of Wesco Conveniences stores in Whitehall and Montague, the White Lake Food Pantry will be able to serve struggling families through this coming August.
A community fundraising effort by the four Wesco stores in the community earned $8,600 which was donated to the food pantry.
“The community came through,” said Melissa Rendulic, manager of the Wesco on Colby Road, next to McDonald’s. “This was the best we’ve done for the food pantry. This was exciting.”
In the fundraiser in which store customers donated their change from purchases, the four stores raised $4,300, including a $1,000 Wesco corporate match per store.
Rendulic said $460 was raised by Wesco which provided a donation jar at the pumpkin roll in Montague last October.
In addition, the Edukators, a band formed by local educators, raised the balance from a recent benefit concert held at The Double JJ Resort. Mike Snell, a member of the band and food pantry liaison, took the proceeds and donated them to the Wesco fundraiser to make sure the company match offer was met.
The other Wesco stores involved in the fundraiser were the ones on Benston Road and downtown Whitehall (Colby), and the Montague store on Water Street.
Pastor Doug Ogden of Lebanon Lutheran Church in Whitehall where the White Lake Food Pantry is located, said cash donations are the best way to support the pantry because they can leverage the money to purchase discounted products. Ogden said the pantry can purchase products from Feeding America West Michigan for 25 cents on the dollar.
The pantry also gets discounted products from Country Dairy (39 gallons of milk a week), Save-A-Lot and Aldi’s.
The pantry also received 2,000 pounds of donated food from the Electric Forest Music Festival which held its annual event last June at Double JJ Resort in Rothbury. In addition, the festival donated leftover bottled water from last year’s event.
Ogden said the pantry feeds a breakfast to food recipients each Wednesday while they wait to receive their food. The recipients volunteer at the weekly distribution. The pantry is also providing lunches for the weekend to qualified students at the local schools. Ogden said about 15 students are receiving the free lunches.
The food pantry recipients live in the Montague, Whitehall and Holton Zip Codes. Some Spanish speaking Oceana County residents also come to the pantry because Ogden is conversive in Spanish. Food recipients are charged a $1 for a gallon of milk if they have the funds available.


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Canadian technology M&A took a pause in May after a run of big deals every month since January.
$112 million in announced value across 22 transactions is second only to January as the lowest month (January was $109m). We happen to know that some of the deals in this list (Wurldtech for instance) will likely be announced in the quarterly filings by their public company buyer. When it is announced, we will re-visit the month and add on what we find in the public domain.
The only sizable announced deal in May was PNI Digital (formerly known as Photochannel Networks) being sold to Staples fro $75m CAD. Fixmo sold to Good Technologies after an intellectual property battle, but deal terms were not announced.
On the financing front, the announced $154m in financings is about the average of the first four months of 2014 ($165m per month). A couple of Toronto based companies raised significant growth rounds. Top Hat Monicle closed $11m and Shop.ca added an impressive $31m to its coffers.
But the big story of the month was the massive funding on the Rock. St. John’s Verafin raised a whopping $60m from Spectrum Equity Partners. Not only is this a big funding anywhere in Canada by our count, it is the fourth largest of a private technology company in the past 18 months behind Hootsuite ($171m), Xplornet Communications ($148m) and Shopify ($106m).
Please send us any publicly disclosed transactions that did not make our list. We aim to update and submit the quarterly and year end amounts for all of the M&A and private fundings into the private and public technology companies in Canada.


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After an extraordinary three days at the National Exhibition Centre the 2017 FIT Show has been hailed as another momentous event in the series that first took place just four years ago.
The event was universally praised as being an unequivocal success with exhibitors taking healthy numbers of sales leads from visitors keen to engage and explore the hundreds of new products on show.
The organisers have revealed that 9,984 unique visitors attended this year’s FIT Show, a number that rises to 13,285 when their revisits were counted across the three days of the event (multiple daily entries are automatically de-duplicated). This is an increase of almost 17% (16.85%) more unique visitors compared to the previous FIT Show in 2016 (8502), offering a massive boost of 62% more visitors in just two events.
Daily numbers were Tuesday – 4808; Wednesday 5136; and Thursday 3341, figures that reflected the subjective comments of exhibitors at the show and typical for many business-to-business events, with the middle day showing the highest numbers.
This year saw a significant presence of aluminium for the first time at any fenestration industry B2B event for more than three decades and visitors flocked to some of the most exciting stands as the surge in interest in aluminium framing continues. The majority of PVC-U systems producers were in attendance and they also enjoyed crowds as they rode the wave of interest in coloured and heritage framing. The machinery suppliers were also busy throughout as new technology drove interest from fabricators at all levels though especially in seamless welding.
With sales leads taken in abundance and the general feeling that quality and genuine interest was high many exhibitors were keen to stake their place at the next FIT Show, which was confirmed as taking place in two years time on 21st, 22ndand 23rd May 2019. Almost half of the available stand space for the next event was contracted or reserved before the doors closed, with this figure expected to grow significantly during the weeks following this years show as companies consider their performances and look ahead to 2019.
The sold and reserved advanced stand sales figure was all the more impressive with the further 25% increase in space that was announced for 2019. This represents a doubling of the FIT Show in just two events.
The FIT Show’s Matthew Glover says that once again so much of the success of this year’s FIT Show is down to the efforts of exhibitors: “As our marketing campaigns emphasise the FIT Show is all about the people and companies that exhibit. Exhibitors have once again worked hard to promote the event and those efforts, combined with the biggest FIT Show campaign ever, succeeded in boosting visitor numbers once again.
“And when the show opened visitors were greeted with the most creative and beautiful stands; everyone involved with the building of this event commented how impressed they were with the efforts made by exhibitors.”


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Closed Coke Cans Not Allowed At Air Force Base Due To GPS Threat
from the gotta-be-careful dept
You may recall the story about Coca-Cola’s bizarre summer promotion where they’re sticking soda can sized (and weighted) GPS-enabled phones into Coke cans. The idea is that the winners of the promotion opens the can and discovers the phone. They press the big red button and are immediately connected to prize central, who will use the phone to determine the caller’s location and send out the prize brigade who will show up with your winning car or stereo or whatever. There’s just one problem. Sneaking a device that transmits your location into a secure military base is a big no-no. So, security folks at a variety of Air Force bases have now been instructed to open up all entering Coca-Cola cans heading into conference rooms in secure areas. Coca-Cola execs point out that this is a bit silly. The so-called sodaphones don’t transmit or receive a damn thing until someone pushes the red button. However, Air Force officials just want to be safe, and they promise that winning cans will be returned to their owners after they’ve left secure areas. Well, cross off the possibility of the US military opening fire on the Coca-Cola prize patrol.


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San Francisco, Oct 10 (IANS) Apple has started selling Microsoft's Xbox Wireless Controller in its online stores, after adding support for the gamepad in the latest software updates for iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and the Mac.
The controller, spotted by MacRumors on Wednesday, costs $59.95. It is now available on both Apple's and Microsoft's websites.
As of now, Sony's DualShock 4 has not appeared on Apple.com.
The Cupertino-based company has also introduced support for the PlayStation 4's gamepad with iOS 13, iPadOS, tvOS 13 and macOS Catalina.
According to earlier reports, Microsoft was expected to introduce a mini Xbox priced around $60, especially for its Project xCloud.
Project xCloud is a vision for game-streaming technology that was introduced in October 2018 to complement Microsoft's console hardware and to give gamers more choices.
The tiny box would be designed to make it easier for users to connect their Xbox controller to TVs and offer minimal processing power itself.


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Some of the biggest U.S. retailers have instituted mandatory mask policies over the past two weeks to combat the spread of COVID-19, including Walmart. The Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs from some of America’s biggest corporations, called for companies to require face mask mandates for customers of retail locations and restaurants. However, a week later, many companies are walking back their mask mandates following several highly publicized incidents centered around wearing face coverings.
Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, Home Depot, Lowe’s, and other nationwide retailers said they would serve customers even if they violate mask mandates, according to CNN. The change in policy is to prevent confrontations between customers and employees.
The companies want to avoid negative publicity and potential violence stemming from customers refusing to wear face masks in stores. This comes after multiple events where customers became irate, including one instance where a man brandished a gun at a Walmart employee because of the mask mandate.
A Florida man threatened to kill a fellow shopper at the Walmart in Royal Palm Beach on July 12. The man, Vincent Bruce Scavetta, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and improper exhibition of a firearm, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Earlier this month, two women confronted a man in a store because he wasn’t wearing a face mask. A woman trashed a Target store in Arizona because of the mask mandate. A Texas woman was angry that a 7-Eleven convenience store required face coverings, so she spit all over the counter.
An incident of a maskless Florida man clashing with a Walmart employee in Orlando went viral in June. In May, there was a tense encounter between a man who refused to wear a mask and a Costco worker. Two California men were caught on video attacking a Target security guard because he told them to wear a mask.
A Walmart training video recommends that its employees deal with anti-mask customers by letting “them continue to shop” and avoid any physical altercation.
“With every requirement there are exceptions that have been established to avoid escalating the situation and putting our associates in harm’s way,” a Walmart representative told CNN. “Our goal is to keep associates from a physical confrontation in the stores.”
“We will not ask our associates to put their safety at risk by confronting customers about wearing masks,” a Lowe’s spokesperson said.
Home Depot said its mask policy is like the company’s shoplifting policy, and no employee should put themselves in danger. “It’s too dangerous to forcibly or physically deny entry,” a spokesperson for the home improvement company said.
“In the event of non-compliance [the store] will expedite their transaction and provide them with other options for their future needs,” such as delivery and drive-thru, CVS said.
- People are fed up with the ‘mask or die’ shit.
- The ‘mask or die’ enforcers are out of control.
Here’s the deal: If that forcefield of a mask prevents you from getting COVID (it really doesn’t) then stop worrying whether or not other people wear them. Stay in your own lane, Mind your own fucking business.


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The Heiress of Water, won the 2007 International Latino Book Award for “Best First Book.” The award, also known as the “Mariposa Award” was announced at Book Expo America, the largest book publishing/booksellers convention in the U.S. The competition included titles from the U.S., Spain and Latin America.
http://chazmena.blogspot.com/ is working on a a one-man show about Jose Marti. Check out the blog for more info!
www.tengopride.com is a website, that launched last week, where Puerto Ricans can purchase fashion forward and authentic Alianza Latina de Béisbol merchandise to demonstrate their cultural pride and celebrate their heritage during National Puerto Rican Day Parade festivities.


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Leonteq Extends Its Crypto Service In Europe
Leonteq, a Swiss fintech, has developed an investing package of 18 cryptocurrency assets aimed at large investors in Germany and also Austria.
Since the expansion of its crypto offering inside its native country of Switzerland, financial technology company Leonteq has already debuted a cooperative process with ICF Bank — which is one of Germany’s top financial institution — to carry cryptocurrency to large investors across Germany and Austria.
The business is well-known in the Switerland Marketplace for its achievements, which include becoming the “globe’s debut short tracker license on Bitcoin back in 2017, as well as the globe’s debut backward convertible on Bitcoin back in 2019,” and is now poised to make additional inroads in the developing industry.
Just after the evolvement of a long relationship, Leonteq and ICF Bank have partnered up in an attempt to widen the latter’s financial options well outside typical assets with the emergence of 18 cryptocurrency resources, such as the unrivaled Bitcoin and Ether, as well as Cardano, Aave , and XRP.
Each of these items have monitoring licenses that may be accessed on the Börse Frankfurt Zertifikate AG.
After that, Leonteq is said to have the best cryptocurrency products in the DACH area for both retail and institutional investors (Germany, Austria and Switzerland).
Tino Wendisch, Leonteq’s director of cryptocurrency services, commented on the advantages which their clients would receive as a result of these current events:
“We are delighted to provide our customers with such a large underlying environment and distinctive investment opportunities in numerous issues within the cryptocurrency market, such as dApps, storing, or blockchain tech, in a securitized layout.”


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Sony has announced that a projector that can turn any surface into a touchscreen will go on sale in the Spring.
The Xperia Touch, which will cost €1,599 (around £1,350), uses infrared sensors to detect finger movements and presses on a surface, allowing owners to use a table or wall as they would a smartphone or tablet touchscreen.
The projector will also have finger detection technology that lets users control the screen by waving their finger in the air and pinching their finger to select items. Like Sony’s smartphones, it runs Android and can create a display up to 80 inches from corner to corner.
Unveiled at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the device is designed to be used both for presentations and Skype calls, but also as a family hub. For example, users can simulate playing the piano when the Xperia Touch projects onto a table, or play multiplayer games.


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Bloomberg NewsWires connect components of lithium-ion battery packs at a production site in Kansas City, Mo.
A team of researchers has found a way to use magnetic resonance imaging to inspect lithium-ion batteries for problems without opening them up and thereby destroying them. Advances in such batteries have helped reduce the size of smartphones and put new electric and hybrid cars on the road, but volatile lithium has also been identified as a cause of fires under some conditions. The notion would be to determine whether lithium deposits have built up on electrodes after charging. [Scientific American]
The government of Bangladesh creates three sanctuaries for freshwater dolphins in the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove ecosystem. The sanctuaries will protect the last two remaining species of freshwater dolphins in Asia: the Ganges River dolphin and the Irrawaddy dolphin. [The Gulf Times]
Climate change could cause so-called 100-year storms to make landfall far more frequently, with the devastating storm surges occurring every three to 20 years, researchers report. [PhysOrg.com]
West Africa faces mounting health and environmental risks related to used electronic equipment that is dismantled for refurbishment, recycling and further use, a United Nations report warns. Sometimes the equipment is re-exported but returns when it proves useless. [Voice of America]
There sure is a lot of excitement percolating around plug-in hybrid and electric cars these days. Chevrolet’s Volt and Nissan’s Leaf are the talk of the car world, city governments are installing battery chargers, and the Obama administration has promoted them. Even the TV commercials for the battery chargers are cool.
Bloomberg News A Nissan employee installs a battery-charger component for a Leaf vehicle at a plant in Yokosuka City, Japan.
There are some skeptics, however. And on Thursday I caught up with one of them, William M. Colton, ExxonMobil’s vice president for corporate strategic planning, who is definitely not a fan. A reverse skeptic could say, sure, why would ExxonMobil say nice things about a car that would displace gasoline? That’s certainly true, although Exxon Mobil is getting more and more invested in natural gas, which would indirectly help fuel electric and hybrid cars because it is an important fuel stock for the electric utilities that ultimately charge the car batteries.
For Mr. Colton, the argument against the electric car is purely economic. “One word tells you the whole picture, and its starts with the letter B: batteries are not ready for prime time,” he said, noting that the last time he looked, the battery in the Leaf cost $17,000.
AES Energy Storage As ordered by a computer, the AES Energy Storage plant in Johnson City, N.Y., absorbs or delivers energy to the grid at intervals of five seconds with thousands of lithium-ion batteries.
“Frequency regulation,” an esoteric but increasingly important element of the electric system, is getting a new competitor.
Frequency regulation is as critical as voltage control or generating capacity but is not something that most customers notice, at least until it goes catastrophically wrong. It means fine-tuning the system to keep supply and demand in balance.
The problem is that the North American electric grid is supposed to run at 60 cycles, meaning that the electrons change direction 60 times each second. In practice, if electricity supply and demand are not perfectly matched at every instant, the system runs just a little bit too fast or too slow.
If the pace strays too far from 60 cycles per second, equipment like pumps and motors run too fast or too slow and various other equipment will shut down to avoid getting damaged. A sharp decline in frequency was one reason that the blackout of August 2003 spread as far as it did.
Silicon Valley may be an epicenter of the nascent electric car industry, but don’t expect the battery revolution to mimic the computer revolution, one of I.B.M.’s top energy storage scientists advises.
“Forget Moore’s Law — it’s nothing like that,” said Winfried Wilcke, senior manager for I.B.M.’s Battery 500 project, referring to the maxim put forward by Gordon Moore, an Intel founder, that computer processing power doubles roughly every two years.
“Lithium ion, which clearly is the best battery technology today, is flat, completely flat since 2003,” Mr. Wilcke said last week at a gathering in San Francisco attended by executives from I.B.M. and Better Place, a Silicon Valley electric car infrastructure company.
Mr. Wilcke’s team at the Almaden Research Center of I.B.M. in San Jose, Calif., is trying to develop a new battery technology called lithium air that could allow a car to go 500 miles on a single charge. Most electric cars coming onto the market this year have a range of around 100 miles. Read more…
A company with a different approach to the electric car battery problem got a small boost recently when the Patent Office said it would issue a patent on its concept: using a storage device called a capacitor in conjunction with a traditional battery.
The company, AFS Trinity, plans an announcement on Monday.
Capacitors store only small amounts of electricity, but they can accept it or deliver it very quickly without damaging themselves. By contrast, lithium ion batteries, the kind now favored for cars, can store large amounts but have trouble delivering it fast enough to allow good acceleration. What is more, they don’t capture energy very well, a problem in electric cars. Electric cars are designed so that when a driver hits the brake pedal, the electric motors switch functions and become generators, converting momentum back into current. But the current flows very fast.
Engineers refer to these two qualities – the ability to store energy, and the ability to deliver it quickly, as energy and power. Lithium ion has good energy storage but poor power; capacitors are the opposite.
So AFS Trinity marries lithium ion and capacitors.
1.) Advanced water treatment technology comes to China.
2.) Bolivia’s lithium-powered future.
3.) The superfreakonomics global-warming fact quiz.
4.) What to expect as the Senate tackles the energy bill.
5.) The pros and cons of urine-powered cars.
Reuters An electric car takes a charge in London. The government announced new subsidies for potential EV buyers on Thursday.
The British government signaled firm backing for low-carbon, electric cars on Thursday with millions of pounds in subsidies for consumers who want to buy them. But whether that sum of money is enough to tilt the market towards a predominantly electric future remained an open question.
The incentives amount to between 2,000 pounds to 5,000 pounds ($2,985 to $7,463) for each buyer, making electric cars “a real option for motorists” when a crop of models becomes available starting in 2011, said Britain’s transport secretary, Geoff Hoon.
Peter Mandelson, the country’s business secretary, said the initiative showed a “new industrial activism.”
The two men made the announcement in Scotland where, according to news reports, they were scheduled to take a Mini E electric vehicle for a drive. Currently less than 0.1 percent of the 26 million cars on British roads are electric models.
As batteries go, the rechargeable lithium-ion variety is among the greenest options available. They can last for years, they are recyclable, and they don’t contain the toxic heavy metals found in many of their Walkman-powering predecessors.
Your iPod has a lithium-ion, and most likely, so does your laptop computer.
Now, ZPower, a company based in Camarillo, Calif., is developing a new kind of battery for consumer electronics that it says will be more powerful than lithium-ion, safer, and potentially more earth-friendly as well.
The technology ZPower is banking on is called silver-zinc, which it says will provide up to 40 percent more power than a lithium-ion battery of the same size.
Ross Dueber, the company’s chief executive, says a top-tier laptop manufacturer will release the first computer designed to accept silver-zinc batteries in mid-2009. The laptop’s runtime with silver-zinc will increase from the roughly 5 hours afforded by a typical lithium-ion battery to at least 7 hours, according to Mr. Dueber.
Financial backers of ZPower include Intel, the computer industry giant, and OnPoint Technologies, a venture capital fund of the United States Army.


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In 2008, Ryan Chin, a Singaporean, and Reggie Yam, who hails from Hong Kong, founded a B2B cybersecurity company Nexusguard in Taiwan.
In 2017, with so many cloud incidents, such as website outages due to cloud failure, including the AWS outage, Chin saw a huge opportunity and decided to start a new venture to tackle this.
Chin immediately stepped down as Nexusguard CEO and invited Yam to start a venture, with the funding support from an angel investor.
An AI solution
Headquartered in Taipei, mlytics is an online platform/marketplace, on which businesses can subscribe to multiple top-tier CDNs or content delivery networks (a solution to boost website performance for their website). mlytics’s Machine Learning-trained Artificial Intelligent solution will monitor the internet and automatically route the website traffic to the best-performing CDN. This can boost the performance of a website and avoid outages.
“It would be hard to overstate the importance of avoiding downtime. Every minute your website is inaccessible represents both a financial and customer relations hit. The cumulative effect can lead to catastrophic consequences for e-commerce sites, in particular,” says Chin, CEO at mlytics. “We are trying to address this using our SaaS product.”
In other words, mlytics enables enterprises to buy and install CDN for their website, as opposed to signing up for an account individually via a different portal. All the user has to do is add his or her website to the platform. Similar to Google Tag Manager, once an initial installation is done, they can install any CDNs on their website without having to go through the technical hassle again.
“Traditionally, if you are using only one CDN and if it is underperforming or malfunctioning, your website will stop working,” Chin explains. “But with multi CDNs, along with our AI Load Balancing feature, the system can auto-detect such situation and redirect all the traffic to another CDN.”
For example, if a news portal is using Cloudflare, and suddenly Cloudflare is down without notice, the whole site goes down. Now, if the site has Cloudflare, CloudFront, and Alibaba Cloud CDNs installed, even if Cloudflare is down, the mlytics system can redirect all the traffic to CloudFront or Alibaba Cloud depending on which performs the best.
If simplified further using an analogy, let’s say you’re an e-commerce company located in the US, with customers from around the world. If a US customer places an order, the shipping won’t take too long since it’s domestic. Now, if a customer from Japan places an order, shipping will take longer since you’re shipping to Japan.
To overcome this, hiring a shipping company and using its shipping centre to preload products in Asia can vastly decrease the time of shipping.
“This is how CDN works. You have CDN PoPs (point of presence) at some of the essential locations acting as a shipping centre to deliver the website at a faster speed,” he explained.
Now, let’s say the company you hired for shipping isn’t working for the day without notice, and if a second shipping company isn’t planned, it will delay the whole shipping schedule.
“This is what happens when you use just one CDN and it fails without proper failover planning. If you have a second shipping company (CDN) ready, you can switch the operation over to assure uninterrupted operations. mlytics is this company that helps you hire multiple shipping companies (CDN) and helps you decide which shipping company to use depending on where your customer is located in,” Chin elucidated.
The firm works with multiple top-tier CDN companies, including Alibaba Cloud, Akamai, CDNetworks, Cloudflare, CloudFront (AWS), Imperva, and TencendCloud.
Expanding to Europe
Chin claims mlytics has been “doing pretty well” lately in the Southeast Asia region, and it now aims to expand to Europe in 2020. Its potential customers are medium-sized businesses in the e-commerce, multi-media (video, streaming, news), finance, and gaming.
The company has already bagged some clients — Aurora, an Asian IT solution company; DaAi, an Asian Buddhist TV station company; CloudMile, a Taiwanese firm focusing on AI solution.
The SaaS model means clients can subscribe to the service by paying a monthly fee, and cancel whenever they like without contract and restrictions. The firm also has an enterprise-grade solution, which is customised depending on the customer’s requirements.
mlytics has a staff strength of 50 people, mostly located in Taipei.
The entrepreneur-duo has extensive experience in building a company and had clear innovative visions, goals, and execution plans on how to address the existing CDN market pain point and weaknesses. As such, they planned to need very minimum capital to get the business off the ground, and manage to get mlytics off the ground (ROI and profitable) from a single angel investor.
Chin started his career as a network engineer. He had worked in some of the biggest network/telecom companies such as Siemens and AT&T. Yam started his career as an IT and network security specialist in Hong Kong and worked his way up to CIO in Nexusguard in seven years.
Lack of trust a challenge
In Chin’s opinion, B2B companies have been constrained by a lack of innovative solutions for the modern world internet delivery requirement. CDNs came into existence in the late 1990s as a means for alleviating the performance bottlenecks of the internet, and nothing much has changed since then.
“The challenge is how to disrupt an industry that has been the same for two decades, and convince businesses to make the shift,” he said. “We’re overcoming it with the right product, but we’re missing that extra punch due to the lack of credibility, social proof, and trust, which is extremely important for a SaaS business model especially in Europe and the US.”
This article was first published on e27, on Feb. 28, 2020.


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Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK –
‘Last night the Federal Reserve raised rate interest rates, for the fourth time in the last 12 months pushing the Fed funds rate up 25 basis points to 1.5% to 1.75%. This was a widely anticipated move and no surprise, with investors much more interested in the Fed’s forecasts for the economic outlook, as well as their expectations for further rate rises.
‘There had been an expectation that the central bank would signal its intent for a higher pace for rate rises in 2018, however this always seemed optimistic, with policymakers keeping the prospect of three rate rises intact for this year, while upgrading the prospects for 2019 from two to three increases. The Fed also upgraded the growth outlook for this year and next.
‘At this press conference the new Fed chief cut an optimistic figure about the US economy, however the statement did suggest that the Fed did have some concerns with a slight tweak to the language which downgraded the description of economic activity from “solid” to “moderate”
‘This seems entirely sensible in light of recent data on the consumer side which has seen retail sales decline for three months in succession.
‘Despite this fairly upbeat tone US markets finished the day lower probably more as a result of the announcement earlier that the US would outline a series of tariffs later this week aimed at cracking down on Chinese theft of intellectual property, in what could be the opening shots of a new front on the current battles on trade policy.


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Leong reports that the second-quarter GDP (third estimate) reflected the current stalling in U.S. consumer spending, as the GDP growth of 1.3% was well below the estimate of 1.7%.
Past News ReleasesRSS
New York, NY (PRWEB) October 15, 2012
In a recent Investment Contrarians article, editor and financial expert George Leong reports that a lot of retailers are betting on a strong holiday shopping season, driven by the easy money the Federal Reserve has in place for consumer spending. But, Leong believes that with slowing gross domestic product (GDP) growth and a decline in durable goods orders, the uncertainty of the upcoming “fiscal cliff” is impacting the spending habits of consumers, who are capping their spending—which, he notes, doesn’t bode well for the retail sector.
Leong reports that the second-quarter GDP (third estimate) reflected the current stalling in U.S. consumer spending, as the GDP growth of 1.3% was well below the estimate of 1.7%. (Source: “Economic Calendar,” Yahoo! Finance.)
Given this, Leong wonders about the underlying strength of the consumer spending.
“The retail sector is showing improvement in sales,” says Leong, “but consumer spending on durable goods was horrible in August, when spending on non-essential goods, and services cratered 13.2%.” (Source: U.S. Census Bureau News, U.S. Department of Commerce, September 27, 2012.)
Leong states that the poor reading indicates hesitancy in consumer spending in the retail sector on non-essential goods and services that, in his view, is a key component of a healthy and growing economy. When consumers refrain from buying non-essential goods and services, it shows a lack of confidence in the economy, thereby impacting consumer spending in the retail sector, reasons Leong.
“A strong fourth-quarter for the retail sector could boost the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth, since consumer spending accounts for about 70% of the GDP… Yet until the country’s jobs growth rises and the unemployment rate falls…consumers will remain hesitant; this will impact retail sector sales and the economy as a whole,” concludes Leong.
To see the full article, and to get a real contrarian perspective on investing and the economy, visit Investment Contrarians at http://www.investmentcontrarians.com.
Investment Contrarians is a daily financial e-letter dedicated to helping investors make money by going against the “herd mentality.”
The editors of Investment Contrarians believe the stock market and the economy have been propped up since 2009 by artificially low interest rates, never-ending government borrowing, and an unprecedented expansion of our money supply. The “official” unemployment numbers do not reflect people who have given up looking for work, and are thus skewed. They believe the “official” inflation numbers are also not reflective of today’s reality of rising prices.
After a 25- to 30-year down cycle in interest rates, the Investment Contrarians editors expect rapid inflation caused by huge government debt and money printing will eventually start us on a new cycle of rising interest rates.
Investment Contrarians provides unbiased research. They are independent analysts who love to research and comment on the economy and investing. The e-newsletter’s parent company, Lombardi Publishing Corporation, has been in business since 1986. Combined, their economists and analysts have over 100 years of investment experience.
Find out where Investment Contrarians editors see the risks and opportunities for investors in 2012 at http://www.investmentcontrarians.com.
George Leong, B. Comm., one of the lead editorial contributors at Investment Contrarians, has just released, “A Problem 23 Times Bigger Than Greece,” a breakthrough video where George details the risk of an economy set to implode that is 23 times bigger than Greece’s economy! To see the video, visit http://www.investmentcontrarians.com/press.


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USA Technologies, Inc. (USAT) announced a new agreement with Ameri-Source, LLC, a purchasing management company consisting of approximately 475 vending companies located throughout the U.S. The agreement establishes Ameri-Source as an endorser and promoter of USAT's cashless payment and telemetry solutions to Ameri-Source members.
John Plummer, Jr., president and founder of Ameri-Source, commented in a prepared statement, "We selected USAT because we believe our members, most of them small- to medium-size vending operators, need to keep pace with new technologies and trends. Ameri-Source, in its role of providing purchasing advice and volume benefits for our members, views the decision to adopt cashless payment and telemetry as a business essential.
"Every day we witness how the consumer under 30, the traveler, the office worker -- just doesn't carry cash anymore. Our members are going to have to change to keep up with these dynamics and, in our view, USAT offers an affordable way for them to do that," added Plummer.
"In addition, cashless payment and telemetry provides them with an efficient mechanism for raising prices and attracting incremental revenues through multi-vend purchases. USAT's Two-Tier Pricing Program, which can be implemented on a machine by machine basis, is another added plus that our members are already showing great interest in," concluded Plummer.
As part of the three-year agreement, Ameri-Source will endorse and promote USAT's ePort® technology and ePort Connect® service to its members and Ameri-Source members will be eligible to receive preferred pricing terms outlined in the agreement.
Michael Lawlor, senior vice president of sales and business development at USAT, said, "The addition of Ameri-Source to our list of buying groups allows us to reach another an important set of operators in the vending, office coffee and food service space with greater speed and efficiency. The ease of doing business with USAT as a true one-stop shop is a great fit for Ameri-Source members. In little time, we can help them position their businesses for the many revenue boosting benefits of cashless payment, new data about their businesses, telemetry options and USAT's growing list of expanded services around mobile and consumer engagement. We look forward to introducing our products and services to Ameri-Source members in the weeks and months ahead," concluded Lawlor.


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Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is requiring Xbox One owners to waive their legal right to a class action against the company, according to a disclaimer on the company's website. Those who buy the company's upcoming video game console, the Xbox One, enter an agreement that any future legal proceeding against Microsoft is done on a case-by-case basis.
The Xbox One's pre-order disclaimer says “Terms include binding arbitration with class action waiver to resolve disputes.” That means that if the Xbox One has a widespread issue like its predecessor's “red ring of death” (RRoD), the affected owners will have to sue Microsoft individually, rather than banding together in a class action.
Update: Commenters and Twitter users have pointed out that Sony introduced similar language to the terms and conditions of their online service a few months after the PlayStation Network was hacked in 2011. Sony has not responded to a request for comment from June 13.
According to attorney Paul A. Herman, a consumer advocacy expert who has previously worked on class suits against large corporations, binding arbitration helps companies like Microsoft avoid large claims. Should a legal situation arise with the Xbox One, consumers have to hire their own lawyer and pay for legal costs up front.
Class action, on the other hand, occurs when a group of people have the same problem with an entity such as Microsoft, and are therefore entitled to the same compensation. Legal representatives on the consumer's side in a class suit are called plaintiff lawyers, and are only paid if the suit is won. The amount of money charged by plaintiff attorneys is sometimes criticized for being too high. With binding arbitration in their terms and conditions of use, Microsoft is protecting itself against class action.
“It’s completely objectionable, because it’s a totally stacked deck,” Herman said. "The big money guys are picking out the arbitrators they want. It always has been so consumers get screwed."
In an agreement where binding arbitration is involved, consumers must use the arbitrator preselected by a company such a Microsoft, then undergo a “quasi-legal” process where there are no legal rules or objections.
“Arguments can be made that would not even be considered evidence in a real court of law,” Herman said. “If they pick the arbitration company, it’s easy to skew the judgment in their favor."
The Florida-based attorney raised the issue of objectivity in a proceeding like binding arbitration, where a mediator in the case is much less likely to be as impartial as a judge in a court of law.
"In court, justice is blind,” he said. “In arbitration, justice is not blind. It’s not even a case of one eye peeking out. The blindfold is over her forehead.”
Herman said that while a judge may be objective, the arbitrators used by big companies often are not. Microsoft was hit with a class action in 2008 over covering up possible Xbox 360 defects such as the "red ring of death." According to an email from Keith Cable, the attorney who issued the original lawsuit, that case was resolved confidentially and he is prohibited from discussing the terms.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:APPL) was recently ordered to pay $53 million in a lawsuit due to faulty liquid sensors in its devices, and also faces a suit over issues concerning burn-in on its MacBook Pro with Retina display. Will the iPhone 5S will be the next device to include a “binding arbitration” agreement in its Terms & Conditions?
A special thanks to Patrick Bowman (@KewkD) for the information regarding Sony's terms and conditions for the PlayStation Network.


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|general motors corporation news||0.07||0.7||9219||84|
Churchill Capital IV (NYSE: CCIV), the special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) set to merge with Lucid Motors, was down about 2.2%. Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) was down about 2.8%. General Motors (NYSE: GM) was down about 2.4%. Should Value Investors Buy General Motors Company (GM) Stock?Why did General Motors decide to go public?
A longtime real estate investor and former Goldman Sachs executive decided to take an electric truck company public. Chaos ensued. The Biden administration had asked Mexico to review potential labor violations, citing conditions in the new North American trade agreement.What was the income of General Motors in the first quarter?
GM Reports Income of $2.1 Billion and EBIT-Adj. of $2.3 Billion. DETROIT — General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) today reported solid first-quarter earnings. The company’s full-size truck launch is ahead of plan and drove strong pricing for the quarter in North America.Where is General Motors headquarters in Detroit MI?
General Motors Company P.O. BOX 33170 Detroit, MI 48232-5170


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Nakamoto Games Revolutionizes Gaming on Telegram: A Giant Leap for GameFi
Introducing Over 50 Playable Games on Telegram, Empowering 800 Million Users with Free-to-Play and Play-to-Earn Options
Today marks a monumental milestone in the gaming and blockchain industry as Nakamoto Games announces the launch of its dynamic $NAKA Ecosystem on Telegram. This strategic rollout, accessible via the @NAKAGamesBot, introduces over 50 games to Telegram's vast user base of 800 million, propelling Nakamoto Games to the forefront of innovative gaming experiences.
Phase I: A New Realm of Gaming on Telegram
The launch of Phase I ushers in a new era for Telegram users. By simply tagging @NAKAGamesBot, players can engage in both Free-to-Play and Play-to-Earn games directly on the messaging app. This integration not only simplifies access but also expands gaming horizons for the Telegram community. Here’s an additional How-To-Guide.
Play-to-Earn: Seamless Integration and Reward Distribution
The Play-to-Earn model, a cornerstone of the $NAKA Ecosystem, is now within reach of every Telegram user via @NAKAGamesBot. Prize distributions are seamlessly executed, credited directly to players' Nakamoto Games platform accounts. By syncing their existing accounts with Telegram through the bot, users can start earning rewards immediately.
Free-to-Play: Instant Access for Everyone
Free-to-Play games are readily available through @NAKAGamesBot, inviting both new and existing users to dive into the gaming realm without barriers. New users can effortlessly start playing on Telegram and later link their gaming activities to a dedicated platform account.
Cross-Platform Accessibility: A Unified Gaming Experience
Nakamoto Games ensures a comprehensive gaming experience across various device types. macOS, iOS, Android users enjoy direct gaming within the Telegram interface through @NAKAGamesBot. Windows users, while also accessing games via @NAKAGamesBot, initially play in a pop-up window due to current Telegram limitations. This experience is set to evolve, with plans for direct in-app gaming on Telegram for Windows users as soon as Telegram's development team finalizes the necessary enhancements. On the upside, Windows users can click @NAKAGamesBot, play, connect their wallet, buy items, and start earning immediately without the need to purchase items via their platform account first.
Looking Ahead: Phase II and Beyond
Phase II, scheduled for rollout at the end of next month, promises to revolutionize gaming finance by introducing the world's first Multicoin wallet integrated within Telegram via @NAKAGamesBot. Prize distributions will transition from platform wallets to direct deposits in users' Telegram wallets.
The Marketplace: A New Frontier in NFT and In-Game Trading
Nakamoto Games is set to launch its Marketplace on Telegram, becoming the first-ever platform for NFT and in-game goods trading within the app via @NAKAGamesBot. This expands the gaming ecosystem and lays the groundwork for future developments, including the integration of the NAKAVERSE 2.0.
A Visionary Expansion: Beyond Telegram
Nakamoto Games' ambition transcends beyond Telegram. The company is on a mission to integrate its ecosystem across all major messenger apps and social platforms, marking the beginning of a larger journey to revolutionize the gaming industry.
Join the Revolution
Today, as we celebrate this significant achievement, we invite you to be part of this exciting journey. Engage with @NAKAGamesBot on Telegram and be a part of the future of GameFi. Welcome to the new era of gaming on Telegram.


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All News Entries
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Even though their respective positions on a large-scale merger remain unchanged, Class I railroad carriers Norfolk Southern and Canadian Pacific made their voices heard in regards to CP’s perseverance in wanting to acquire NS in what would represent a roughly $30 billion deal.
Posted on 03/30 at 10:33 AM
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Heading up $0.02 to $2.121 per gallon, this follows a 2 cent increase last week.
Posted on 03/29 at 10:27 AM
Dynamo will work, it is inviting young logistics companies to apply for its accelerator program in an effort to advance what it called a “lagging” logistics sector in order to create efficiencies and faster business results for various technologies and practices.
Posted on 03/29 at 09:23 AM
Access America •
As Amazon continues to receive heightened interest in regards to how it handles supply chain and logistics operations. Logistics Management Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently caught up with Tom Racciatti, a director in West Monroe’s Operations Excellence practice, to get some fresh perspective on Amazon’s supply chain.
Posted on 03/29 at 02:02 AM
Monday, March 28, 2016
Despite improved results in January and February, the March edition of the Stifel Logistics Confidence Index suggests that these months may have merely amounted to positive blips within a downward trend.
With Congress having passed the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act into law late last year, a rail shippers group is ready for the bill’s objectives to be put into motion in order for the STB to be able to implement free-market reforms and resolve rate disputes in a swift and fair manner.
Posted on 03/28 at 10:02 AM
Railroad Shipping •
The Simon Property Group argues that going to the mall is greener than ordering online. SCMR’s authors argue the answer is not so black and white (or green).
Posted on 03/28 at 09:50 AM
Friday, March 25, 2016
The Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) recently reported that that U.S. trade with its North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico dropped 7.7 percent on an annual basis in January to $82.4 billion.
Posted on 03/25 at 09:34 AM
Carloads were down 17.2 percent compared to the same week last year at 235,390 carloads, and intermodal containers and trailers were down 10.7 percent annually at 248,073.
Thursday, March 24, 2016
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has announced that the Panama Canal Expansion will be officially inaugurated on Sunday, June 26, 2016 – two years beyond the original deadline.


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The Rock shopping centre in Bury reports that it has smashed its first year target after seeing 10m shoppers pass through its precincts, and has helped to boost business at the ‘world famous’ Bury Market.
It had hoped to welcome nine million visitors in its first year.
Centre director David Laycock said: “The Rock’s retail and leisure facilities have enhanced the attractiveness of the town for nearby residents.
“We place a great deal of importance on Bury’s profile as a tourist attraction for the wider region.
“Bury’s now excellent retail and entertainment offer, combined with good transport networks and proximity to surrounding areas of natural beauty all make The Rock a great place to visit and we look forward to attracting new visitors to The Rock over the coming years.”
But The Rock still lags behind Bury Market, which attracts an average of 13m visitors a year.
Andrew Heyes, Bury Market manager, said: “Footfall on the market increased following the launch of The Rock by approximately 10 to 15 per cent as people visited Bury to see the new attractions.”
Management reported that The Rock had maintained a strong occupancy rate over the past year, despite difficult economic conditions, and is currently 89 per cent let by area, up from 85 per cent at its launch in July last year.
Newly signed tenants include fashion retailer M.I.C, which has taken two units, hairdresser Toni & Guy and ladies fashion store Simply Be, which is part of the N Brown Group.
The Rock has been chosen as the location for Simply Be’s first ever ‘offline’ store, which is currently being fitting out.