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Apple has been battling VirnetX in courtroom for over a decade over patents, and on Thursday, the US Courtroom of Appeals handed Apple a victory within the newest skirmish.
In 2010, VirnetX launched a authorized dispute by alleging quite a few situations of patent infringement associated to FaceTime, VPN, and iMessage companies. A Texas courtroom fined Apple $368 million in 2012 for violating one patent, however the ruling was overturned virtually two years later.
In the newest replace, Apple satisfied the US Courtroom of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to invalidate the 2 patents by upholding a choice from the USPTO’s Patent Trial and Attraction Board, based on Reuters.
It’d overturn the $502 million tremendous that Apple was ordered to pay in 2020. The corporate individually appealed that verdict, however the Federal Circuit nonetheless has to rule in that case.
“If the courtroom upholds the [USPTO’s] choice, we now have a giant drawback,” VirnetX lawyer Jeff Lamken of MoloLamken stated on the September listening to. “I do not suppose we now have an enforceable judgment.”
The case has gone by means of quite a few appeals and rulings. With the Federal Circuit’s choice on Thursday, Apple and VirnetX await a remaining choice in Apple’s attraction of the preliminary verdict out of East Texas.
VirnetX had individually received a $302 million verdict towards Apple in 2016, which was elevated to $440 million in a while.


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China seems to have reserved most of its ire over the arrest of the CFO of Chinese telecom giant Huawei for Canada—but at least one US company is facing some pressure.
In the wake of the arrest of Meng Wanzhou Dec. 1 at the request of the US on suspicion of violating sanctions on Iran, some companies announced they would favor Huawei devices over competitor Apple, and offer employees money to do the same, according to a Yahoo report. Huawei, apart from being the world’s biggest provider of telecom equipment, overtook the US company in smartphone sales in August.
A Zhejiang-based technology company apparently took things a step further, according to a report today (Dec. 24) from local newspaper Qianjiang Evening News today (link in Chinese). The newspaper obtained an internal notice titled “An announcement about resisting Apple and supporting Huawei,” in which the company said staff purchasing Apple products will lose chances of promotion and company subsidies. The company said it would reimburse managerial staff who purchase a Huawei phone 50% of the product’s sticker price, and will pay 20% of the phone price for other employees. The company will also give those who agree to relinquish their existing Apple phones a 25% reimbursement to purchase a Huawei phone.
The newspaper didn’t disclose the company’s name but said the firm confirmed it had issued the notice a week after the arrest. Apple didn’t immediately respond to a query about the measures companies are taking to deter iPhone purchases.
The nationalistic efforts to support Meng, who is also the daughter of the founder of Huawei—considered one of China’s “national champions” (pdf)—come after an arrest seen by many in China as linked to the US-China trade tensions, and to US concern over China’s technology advancement. Still, it’s Canada that has faced more fallout—at least three (paywall) Canadians have been detained in China since then. The reaction toward the US, by contrast, has been relatively muted, with Meng’s fate and the threat of increased US tariffs on Chinese goods in the balance.
Apart from company incentives for Huawei use, tourism spots are offering patriotic promotions for customers using Huawei and other domestic phone brands. The biggest setback for Apple yet—like the Huawei arrest—was a legal one, when a court on Dec. 10 granted Qualcomm a preliminary injunction against Apple iPhone sales on the grounds that the phone maker infringed Qualcomm’s patents. The ruling, which affected nearly all recent iPhone models, came as Apple this year has struggled against cheaper domestic firms. (Apple says the order only applies to older models.)
Still, Apple can take heart from the fact that people don’t seem very impressed with these coercive patriotic purchasing policies. The hashtag #员工买苹果手机将无法晋升# (“employees buying iPhones will not be promoted”) was among the top five trending topics (link in Chinese) on social media platform Weibo Monday morning, with around 360,000 real-time searches. One even questioned the legality of linking personal purchases to professional advancement.
“It’s a staffer’s personal freedom to choose a phone brand, it’s personal and shouldn’t be restricted by the company. It’s certainly a good thing to support domestic products, it’s good for the country and the staffers that the company rewards them to support domestic brands like Huawei, but no law supports penalizing a person for using an iPhone.. and taking away promotion chances and subsidies,” user Buyer Zhang Jun wrote on Weibo (link in Chinese). “The penalized staffer should report it to the labor department. It’s good to love your country, but using Huawei doesn’t equal patriotism.”

domain: news


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Walmart store plan divides Ballston residents
Signs demonstrating pro and anti views of the plan to build a new Wal-Mart in the village of Ballston Spa can be seen in numerous yards around the area on Wednesday, June 4, 2014 in Ballston Spa, N.Y. Smart Growth Ballston is gathering petition signatures to protest the application of a big box development by a Walmart Saturday May 17, 2014, in ... (more)
Join the discussion below, or Read more at Albany Times Union.
#1 Jun 21, 2014
Where can I sign the protest of the Walmart store in Ballston Spa?
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The great challengers to the banking establishment, digital banks – or neobanks – are taking an ever-widening slice of the financial industry, as they move in to outmuscle legacy institutions that have long held a vice-like grip on an economic treasury now in the midst of a technological revolution.
As more consumers shift their allegiances from traditional banking establishments to new, digital offerings, we look at the Top 10 digital banks from across the globe.
10. Current US$402.4m
New York-based Current provides mobile banking services to consumers through its partner bank, Choice Financial Group. With no physical branches, Current is one of the US’ leading digital-only banks with US$402.4m in total funding and over 4m accounts as of December 2022. Its mantra to serve the needs of Americans who are working to create a better future for themselves has led its push to innovate with the best technology, delivering motivational products in a world of increasing digitisation and complexity.
9. Starling Bank US$710.3m
The UK’s first woman-founded bank, thanks to Anne Boden, Starling Bank has seen a meteoric rise since its founding in 2014. Offering personal current accounts, joint accounts, business accounts, and Euro accounts, Starling has remained branchless throughout its nine years of operation so far. Although Boden has stepped back from her role as CEO, which FinTech Magazine covers in this Lifetime Achievement Award article, the neobank remains a strong player in the UK market, with over 3m customer accounts and US$710.3m in funding
8. Atom Bank US$732m
A bank built exclusively for mobile, Atom Bank was the first digital-only bank founded in the UK, and the first to be granted a full UK regulatory licence. Founded by Metro Bank Co-founder Anthony Thomson, and former First Direct CEO Mark Mullen, the fintech has generated £574m (US$732m) in funding since its founding. With investment from Spanish bank BBVA, Atom Bank has expanded its services to offer mortgages and savings accounts, along with secured loans for small businesses.
7. Varo Bank US$992.4m
San Francisco-based Varo Bank is a digital bank offering premium banking services wrapped in an inclusive design. Raising US$992.4m over seven rounds, Varo Bank has received investment from strategic partners including Warburg Pincus, The Rise Fund, Gallatin Point Capital, Harbourvest Partners, Progressive Insurance, Russell Westbrook Enterprises, and Lone Pine Capital. Leveraging a team of banking veterans and technology experts, Varo Bank has built a mobile app offering access to premium banking, including fast cash access, high-yield savings, and automatic savings tools products.
6. Monzo US$1.1bn
UK-based Monzo is the UK’s second-largest digital-only bank by total funding. Founded in 2015 as a mobile app and prepaid debit card, Monzo was able to offer its first full current account in 2017, when its UK banking licence restrictions were lifted. Fast-forward to 2023, and today Monzo has over 7.4m customers. Monzo has sustained its growth in the UK, recently launching Monzo Flex, a buy-now-pay-later product to help consumers spread costs.
5. N26 US$1.7bn
German neobank N26 was founded in 2013 by Valentin Stalf and Maximilian Tayenthal. Launching its first product in 2015, today N26 has over 7m customers in 25 different markets, including its native Berlin, Barcelona, Madrid, Vienna, Milan, São Paulo, and Paris. The holder of a full European banking licence, N26 leverages technology to maintain its no-branch network, with its app available on Android, iOS, and desktop. With US$1.7bn in total funding, N26 is one of the most well-funded neobanks in Europe.
4. Revolut US$1.7bn
Generating US$1.7bn in total funding, Revolut is the UK’s most well-funded digital-only neobank. Founded in 2015 by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko, Revolut offers accounts for currency exchange, debit cards, virtual cars, Apple Pay, stock trading, and crypto, among other offerings. Most recently valued at US$33bn, Revolut says its aim is to build the first global financial super app. With 30m customers using its array of financial products worldwide, Revolut processes up to 250m transactions a month.
3. Chime US$2.3bn
One of the fastest-growing fintechs in the US, Chime has raised US$2.3bn in funding since its founding. Accrediting its growth to its focus on members, Chime partners with regional banks, designing customer-centric financial products. The fintech says this has allowed it to better function in a more competitive market, providing lower costs options for Americans. Recently valued at over US$25.5bn, Chime’s leading investment partners include Sequoia Capital Global Equities, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, General Atlantic, and Tiger Global among others.
2. SoFi - US$3bn
Coming in second on our list of Top 10 digital-only banks, SoFi leverages technology to provide financial products that help customers save, invest, and better protect their finances. Originally utilising an alumni-funded lending model that connected students and recent graduates with investors and alumni, SoFi shifted its approach to a non-traditional underwriting model focused on lending to responsible customers. Today, SoFi also offers cash management checking accounts and investment platforms including advisor services and brokerage options. Generating US$3bn in total funding, the fintech recently received approval from the OCC for a National Bank Charter, after merging with a SPAC to go public at a US$9bn valuation in 2021.
1. Nubank US$4.1bn
Top on our list of digital banks by total funding is Nubank, with US$4.1bn generated in investments since its 2013 founding. With a mission to battle complexity and empower people to get better control of their finances, Nubank is on a path to revolutionise financial services in Latam. Operating across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, the fintech currently serves over 70m customers, leveraging technology and machine learning to innovative business practices and create new financial solutions for SMEs and individuals. Heralded for its efforts in fostering financial inclusion in what are traditionally underserved markets, Nubank was ranked as the best bank in Brazil by Forbes. A digital-only offering, Nubank’s services are tied to its mobile app, as it looks to promote financial solutions that are simple, intuitive, empowering, and human.


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Earlier this week Samsung announced the Galaxy Note7, a 5.7-inch smartphone featuring a water resistant body and S Pen and a new iris scanning option for increased security.
In launching its new with the Galaxy Note7 phablet in New York this week, Samsung Electronics hopes to build on the company’s category-defining leadership “with innovative features that set a new standard for large-screen devices”.
The new 5.7-inch smartphone features:
- Top-of-the-line security that combines Samsung Knox with biometric authentication, including a new iris scanning feature;
- A water resistant body and S Pen (IP68); and
- Immersive entertainment features with HDR video streaming capabilities.
“The Galaxy Note7 combines productivity and entertainment, with strong security features,” says Craige Fleischer, Director of Integrated Mobility at Samsung Electronics South Africa. “The device strikes a balance between work and play, enabling people to achieve more than what they thought possible on a smartphone. Powering a robust ecosystem, it is the ideal device for those who want to achieve more in life.”
Samsung provided the following information on the new handset:
Advanced Security: Now in the Blink of an Eye
Samsung understands the importance of keeping content on users’ phones protected. Coupled with Samsung Knox, an industry-leading security platform, the Galaxy Note7 provides heightened security and privacy, with highly advanced biometric authentication, including fingerprint scanner and iris scanning technology. The Galaxy Note7 offers more authentication options that can be used interchangeably depending on how people use their phones, no matter where they are or what they are doing.
The Galaxy Note7 instils a new level of user confidence with Secure Folder, a separated folder that adds an extra layer of authentication to keep private and personal information safe.
Galaxy Note7 S Pen: Quickly and Easily Bring Ideas to Life
The enhanced 7th generation S Pen is more than just a writing tool – it is the gateway to getting more done efficiently and accurately. Users can bring ideas to life the moment inspiration strikes without unlocking the screen by using Screen off memo and simply pinning the memo to the Always On Display. The S Pen gives users the ability to easily create and share. Access the best of the S Pen’s creative abilities with Samsung Notes, a new unified app allowing users to make handwritten notes, draw, or edit memos from one location.
The new S Pen writes with ease and precision. The smaller 0.7mm tip and improved pressure sensitivity provides a real pen-like feeling. With the peace of mind that IP68 water resistant provides, the Galaxy Note7 S Pen lets users write down their thoughts without interruption, even when the screen gets wet.
The Galaxy Note7 features a gorgeous, curved 5.7-inch QHD Super AMOLED screen delivering a bold and immersive picture on a smartphone. It is ready to stream HDR video, enabling a cinema-like environment including brighter colours and a deeper black, which ensure users get the full perspective that the filmmaker intended. In addition, the Galaxy Note7 features Game Pack, available through Google Play, including top game titles, an easier redemption process and new user benefits.
Creating Connected Experiences
For people who live to create, tell stories and transport people to entirely new worlds, the Galaxy Note7 can be used with the new high-resolution (3840×1920) Gear 360 camera, to capture, edit and share 360-degree images and videos on the go. These memories can then be shared with friends via platforms including YouTube 360 and Facebook and can be relived with the ultra-immersive Gear VR. By pairing the Galaxy Note7 with the new Gear VR powered by Oculus, users can explore premium virtual reality almost anywhere. Galaxy Note7’s incredible Super AMOLED screen and powerful processor for ultra-immersive viewing.
“With the Galaxy Note7, Samsung continues to defy boundaries of engineering to perfect the user experience through innovative design and technology. We are extremely excited about bringing the Iris scanner security technology to the mass consumer market through the Note7. This is an example of Samsung pushing the frontier of what’s possible. The Galaxy Note7 is more than just a smartphone; it’s a connection point to Samsung’s ecosystem of devices, software and services,” says Fleischer.
The Galaxy Note7 will be available locally from September.
For additional product information, please visit www.samsungmobilepress.com, http://news.samsung.com/galaxy or www.samsung.com/galaxy
Samsung Galaxy Note7 Product Specifications
|OS||Android 6.0.1 (Marshmallow)|
|Network||LTE Cat.12 / LTE Cat.10 / LTE Cat.9 *May differ by markets and mobile operators|
|Dimension||153.5 x 73.9 x 7.9mm, 169g|
|AP||Octa core (2.3GHz Quad + 1.6GHz Quad), 64 bit, 14 nm process|
|Memory||4GB RAM (LPDDR4), 64GB (UFS 2.0)|
|Display||5.7” Quad HD Dual edge Super AMOLED
2560 x 1440 (518ppi)
|Camera||Rear: Dual Pixel 12MP OIS (F1.7), Front: 5MP (F1.7)|
|Battery||3,500 mAh, Fast Charging on wired and wireless
Wireless Charging compatible with WPC and PMA
|Connectivity||Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz), MIMO(2×2) 620Mbps,
Bluetooth® v 4.2 LE, ANT+, USB Type-C, NFC,
Location (GPS, Glonass, Beidou)
|Sensors||Barometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Hall Sensor, HR Sensor, Iris Sensor, Proximity Sensor, RGB Light Sensor|
|Audio||MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR,
AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA
|Video||MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI , FLV, MKV, WEBM|
Online retail gets real
After decades of experience in selling online, retailers still seek out the secret of reaching the digital consumer, writes ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK.
It’s been 23 years since the first pizza and the first bunch of flowers was sold online. One would think, after all this time, that retailers would know exactly what works, and exactly how the digital consumer thinks.
Yet, in shopping-mad South Africa, only 4% of adults regularly shop online. One could blame high data costs, low levels of tech-savviness, or lack of trust. However, that doesn’t explain why a population where more than a quarter of people have a debit or credit card and almost 40% of people use the Internet is staying away.
The new Online Retail in South Africa 2019 study, conducted by World Wide Worx with the support of Visa and Platinum Seed, reveals that growth is in fact healthy, but is still coming off a low base. This year, the total sale of retail products online is expected to pass the R14-billion mark, making up 1.4% of total retail.
This figure represents 25% growth over 2017, and comes after the same rate of growth was seen in 2017. At this rate, it is clear that online retail is going mainstream, driven by aggressive marketing, and new shopping channels like mobile shopping.
But it is equally clear that not all retailers are getting it right. According to the study, the unwillingness of business to reinvest revenue in developing their online presence is one of the main barriers to long-term success. Only one in five companies surveyed invested more than 20% of their online turnover back into their online store. Over half invested less than 10% back.
On the surface, the industry looks healthy, as a surprisingly high 71% of online retailers surveyed say they are profitable. But this brings to mind the early days of Amazon.com, in 1996, when founder Jeff Bezos was asked when it would become profitable.
He declared that it would not be profitable for at least another five years. And if it did, he said, it would be in big trouble. He meant that it was so important for long-term sustainability that Amazon reinvest all its revenues in customer systems, that it could not afford to look for short-term profits.
According to the South African study, the single most critical factor in the success of online retail activities is customer service. A vast majority, 98% of respondents, regarded it as important. This positions customer service as the very heart of online retail. For Amazon, investment back into systems that would streamline customer service became the key to the world’s digital wallets.
In South Africa online still make up a small proportion of overall retail, but for the first time we see the promise of a broader range of businesses in terms of category, size, turnover and employee numbers. This is a sign that our local market is beginning to mature.
Clothing and apparel is the fastest growing sector, but is also the sector with the highest turnover of businesses. It illustrates the dangers of a low barrier to entry: the survival rate of online stores in this sector is probably directly opposite to the ease of setting up an online apparel store.
A fast-growing category that was fairly low on the agenda in the past, alcohol, tobacco and vaping, has benefited from the increased online supply of vapes, juices and accessories. It also suggests that smoking bans, and the change in the legal status of marijuana during the survey, may have boosted demand.
In the coming weeks, we can expect online retail to fall under the spotlight as never before. Black Friday, a shopping tradition imported “wholesale” from the United States, is expected to become the biggest online shopping day of the year in South Africa, as it is in the USA.
Initially, it was just a gimmick in South Africa, attempting to cash in on what was a purely American tradition of insane sales on the Friday after Thanksgiving Day, which occurs on the third Thursday of November every year. It is followed by Cyber Monday, making the entire weekend one of major promotions and great bargains.
It has grown every year in South Africa since its first introduction about six years ago, and last year it broke into the mainstream, with numerous high profile retailers embracing it, and many consumers experiencing it for the first time.
It is now positioned as the prime bargain day of the year for consumers, and many wait in anticipation for it, as they do in the USA. Along with Cyber Monday, it provides an excuse for retailers to go all out in their marketing, and for consumers to storm the display shelves or web pages. South African shoppers, clearly, are easily enticed by bargains.
Word of mouth around Black Friday has also grown massively in the past two years, driven by both media and shoppers who have found ridiculous bargains. As news spreads that the most ridiculous of the bargains are to be had online, even those who were reticent of digital shopping will be tempted to convert.
The Online Retail in SA 2019 report has shown over the years that, as people become more experienced in using the Internet, their propensity to shop online increases. This is part of the World Wide Worx model known as the Digital Participation Curve. The key missing factor in the Curve is that most retailers do not know how to convert that propensity into actual online shopping behaviour. Black Friday will be one of the keys to conversion.
Carry on reading to find out about the online retailers of the year.
Reliable satellite Internet?
MzansiSat, a satellite-Internet business, aims to beam Internet connections to places in South Africa which don’t have access to cabled and mobile network infrastructure, writes BRYAN TURNER.
Stellenbosch-based MzansiSat promises to provide cheap wholesale Internet to Internet Service Providers for as little as R25 per Gigabyte. Providers who offer more expensive Internet services could benefit greatly from partnering with MzansiSat, says the company.
“Using MzansiSat, we hope that we can carry over cost-savings benefits to the consumer,” says Victor Stephanopoli, MzansiSat chief operating officer.
The company, which has been spun off from StellSat, has been looking to increase its investor portfolio while it waits for spectrum approval. The additional investment will allow MzansiSat’s satellite to operate in more regions across Africa.
The MzansiSat satellite is being built by Thales Alenia Space, a French company which is also acting as technical partner to MzansiSat. In addition to building the satellite, Thales Alenia Space will also be assisting MzansiSat in coordinating the launch. The company intends to launch the satellite into the 56°E orbital slot in a geostationary orbit, which enables communication almost anywhere in Africa. The launch is expected to happen in 2022.
The satellite will have 76 transponders, 48 of which will be Ku-band and 28 C-band. Ku-band is all about high-speed performance, while C-band deals with weather-resistance. The design intention is for customers of MzansiSat to choose between very cheap, reliable data and very fast, power-efficient data.
C-band is an older technology, which makes bandwidth cheaper and almost never affected by rain but requires bigger dishes and slower bandwidth compared to Ku-band connections. On the other hand, Ku-band is faster, experiences less microwave interference, and requires less power to run – but is less reliable with bad weather conditions.
MzansiSat’s potential military applications are significant, due to the nature of the military being mobile and possibly in remote areas without connectivity. Connectivity everywhere would be potentially be life-saving.
Consumers in remote areas will benefit, even though satellite is higher in latency than fibre and LTE connections. While this level of latency is high (a fifth of a second in theory), satellite connections are still adequate for browsing the Internet and watching online content.
The Internet of Things (IoT) may see the benefits of satellite Internet before consumers do. The applications of IoT in agriculture are vast, from hydration sensors to soil nutrient testers, and can be realised with an Internet connection which is available in a remote area.
Stephanopoli says that e-learning in remote areas can also benefit from MzansiSat’s presence, as many school resources are becoming readily available online.
“Through our network, the learning experience can be beamed into classrooms across the country to substitute or complement local resources within the South African schooling system.”


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Some food vendors have gone to great lengths, or heights, to deliver orders to customers at a university in China.
Vendors have resorted to scaling walls (inspired by these parents in India, perhaps?) after a university in the Heilongjiang province of China banned food delivery vehicles from entering campus grounds.
Campus officials could only watch helplessly as they straddled three-metre high walls to hand packets of food to hungry students. Images of them perched on top have been making the rounds on social media.
According to a notice dated March 23 at the university, the ban was enforced to ensure food and traffic safety within campus.


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Staff at Charlottetown’s Eastlink Centre are bracing for a busy day on Friday when tickets to Shania Twain go on sale to the public.
There were a limited number of tickets sold to sponsors on Thursday but sales to the public begin Friday at 10 a.m.
Dave McGrath, general manager of the Eastlink Centre, says they’ve taken steps to try and make sure the computer system doesn’t crash with the demand.
A major software and hardware upgrade has been made to the ticketing system this week, giving the Eastlink Centre more capacity to handle traffic and greater speed.
“The new software program is to make sure that the speed is there,’’ McGrath said.
Shania Twain will perform at the Charlottetown Event Grounds on Saturday, Aug. 30. The grounds are operated by the Eastlink Centre. Ticket sales will be capped at 28,000 based on the provincial fire marshal’s inspection of the site.
The new ticketing system that will be used Friday and going forward was given a test-run in Boston.
“It went very, very well. We’re working with the company and there has been some successes with it so we’re hoping for the same thing (Friday).’’
McGrath is asking those trying to buy tickets on Friday to be as patient as possible.
“The tough part is that initial spike at the start of the sale where could potentially have 20,000 . . . to 60,000 people trying to get on the system. We’re just asking people to be patient so they can work their way through.’’
The company that’s helping the Eastlink Centre upgrade for the Shania sale has had representatives in Charlottetown all week working on and monitoring the system.
McGrath also suggested people looking for tickets online set up an account in advance. Having mailing and billing information already in the system will speed things up on Friday.
McGrath said staff will be manning the phones on Friday and three ticket windows will be open for walkup sales.
“It will be interesting to see exactly what the walkup will be. Traditionally, walkup isn’t what it used to be in the old days. Now, with computers and technology, we figure the computer probably will be our No. 1 (area) where people are shopping. No. 2 will be phones and walkup will be three.’’
These are busy times for the arena. It’s just coming off the Jack Frost Festival, has been going back and forth between Island Storm playoff basketball games and the QMJHL’s Charlottetown Islanders. It has the Shania sale and the P.E.I. Home Show getting underway Friday.
“We’re in the thick of it. It’s part of our business plan. We’ve been looking at different businesses and how to increase (traffic in the arena and trade centre). Now, with the event grounds, it’s certainly what it’s all about.’’


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We’ll have to wait a bit more to see more about this new opus. However, a small video is now available.
Yesterday, we talked about this Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 in a news item, and we reported the following: this sequel will take place one year after the first opus and will also offer an improved combat system and a new event system. It was even said that the game from CyberConnect 2 would target, like its predecessor, the PS5 consoles, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Switch and PC. Its arrival is scheduled for 2023.
Now, we’ll just have to wait a bit more before we know more about these new features and the exact release date, of course. However, contrary to what was previously reported, we can now have a small glimpse of the game. And, as the video doesn’t show us much, we’ll turn instead to the series of images (including the official poster) that has been released.


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Britney Spears Participating in some Black Friday shopping…Go to the mall near her crib the day before Thanksgiving.
The singer ventured to the Oak Mall in Thousand Oaks, California on Wednesday for some retail therapy… she definitely stood out.
As you can see, Britney wears some bright red boots and shows off her legs… She wears a fluffy white jacket to keep her warm, and she wears dangling sunglasses inside.
Since Britney’s supervision ended 13 years later, we have seen her more and more in public… She has recently Sign up to WeHo hotspot Chat with her fiance Sam Asgari.
The shopping trip is definitely a popular sight Lance Bass …Remember, he told us recently that he wants to see more Britney enjoys her life Opening up.
Britney’s appearance has caused a sensation on social media, and many people claim that they have seen her walking around…The staff of a bunch of shops in Oak Park told us that BS is a regular customer.


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Titan is sparkling in todays session, rising over 5.5% to hit an intraday high at Rs.1267.80. Its 10% UC of the day is at Rs.1319.90.
The market is optimistic about the Q2 performance after the company gave its update of the business for Q2FY21. It said that its return to normalcy on the business front has been progressing well with the almost complete lifting of restrictions in phased manner over last few months across the country. The company is now gearing up to gain well from the upcoming festival season which is expected to further uplift the mood of the consumers.
The jewellery unit did very well in Q2, with a recovery rate of around 98% (excluding sale of raw gold) in Q2 (YoY). Its Watches & Wearables division had a recovery rate of around 55% in Q2, with a recovery of 70% in the September month. E-commerce is leading the recovery with absolute growth but the trade channel continues to pose challenges primarily due to destocking.
Its Eye Wear division showed a recovery of 58% in Q2 and a recovery of 70% in the September month. After a gap of 1.5 years, the division has again started selling its products through Amazon and Flipkart, which is seeing a good response.


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In 2017 Amazon shipped an amazing 5 billion items to customers who were part of its Prime membership program. The year was the first that Amazon has released such detailed information on its Prime business. TechCruch reporter Sarah Perez writes:
Amazon still won’t officially reveal how many consumers worldwide participate in its Amazon Prime membership program, but it did today offer a few new stats related to that program’s adoption and growth. The company on Tuesday announced that more new, paid members joined Prime worldwide in 2017 than any other year. It also noted that over 5 billion items worldwide shipped with Prime in 2017, including via one-day and two-day shipping.
The company has never before released details around how many items it has shipped via Prime in a year’s time, and declined to provide last year’s figures for comparison purposes.
The closest it got last year was revealing that over a billion items shipped via Prime and Fulfillment by Amazon during the 2016 holidays.
To some extent, the increases in membership and shipments represent the expanded reach of Prime in 2017, and its more recent arrival in key markets – not only its ability to convert online shoppers to paying members.
Read more here.


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Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority (Dubai Culture) has inaugurated the second chapter of the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale in Dubai.
The 10-day book sale is recognised as the world’s largest and will open its doors to the public from 10-20 October in Dubai Studio City. Offering more than three million books at heavily discounted prices of 50% - 80% off recommended retail price, the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale is free and open to all for 24 hours a day, giving Dubai communities an unparalleled opportunity to engage with booksellers and purchase their favourite books at affordable prices.
HH Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed said: “It is part of our mandate at Dubai Culture to spread a passion for knowledge and literature across local communities. In 2015, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced a 10-year National Reading Strategy to make reading an integral part of the lives of all UAE residents. By supporting initiatives such as the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale, we encourage everyone to read more and contribute to building a knowledge-based economy of educated, conscious, empowered and tolerant people.”
HH Sheikha Latifa added: “The Big Bad Wolf Book Sale comes soon after we announced the new cultural vision for Dubai which gives a more prominent role for literature and reading by establishing Dubai’s World Literature Festival. This reflects our commitment to empowering communities and providing the tools of success while fostering Dubai’s position as a global centre for creativity.”
Big Bad Wolf Books was founded in 2006. The ethos behind the sale is to encourage people, and especially children to read books by offering discounted prices. It visited Dubai in 2018 for the first time and welcomed over 150,000 visitors over 11 days. This year, the sale has been extended in terms of choice of titles on offer. Now, Big Bad Wolf Book Sale Dubai will include local and foreign publishing houses, with a total of 500,000 new books in Arabic.
The Big Bad Wolf Books visits 25 cities worldwide offering over 25 million books. The fair attracts about three million visitors every year. Open 24 hours a day, the global event offers exceptional discounts as high as 80% with the mission to cultivate reading habits around the world and build a new generation of readers by making books more affordable and accessible to everyone.
Dubai Culture aims to enhance Dubai’s cultural scene and highlight the UAE’s rich cultural heritage. The authority’s mandate is to build bridges of constructive dialogue between civilisations and cultures to enhance Dubai's position as a creative and sustainable global city for culture, heritage, arts, and literature, with the aim to empower these sectors by developing creative and innovative projects and initiatives locally, regionally, and globally.


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A memristor-based circuit that spits out a steady stream of true random numbers could hold the key to enhanced security in NFC transactions, reports IEEE Spectrum. The tiny circuit, invented by engineers at the National Tsing Hua University (NTHU) in Taiwan, offers the prospect of using small low power devices to generate true random numbers — something that is difficult to do using today’s digital circuits, which typically produce numbers that aren’t completely random, the publication explains.
- Semble picks Gemalto for NFC in NZ
- White paper explains NFC-enabled sensors and their uses
- Contactless makes Word of the Year shortlist
- Harris+Hoole reports 200,000 mobile payments
- Dunkin’ Mobile gets 10m downloads


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We are excited to bring Transform 2022 back in-person July 19 and virtually July 20 - 28. Join AI and data leaders for insightful talks and exciting networking opportunities. Register today!
Computers have become an important part of our world, especially in the classrooms and at home, but while many can afford these devices — often costing hundreds, if not thousands of dollars — there are still those left behind. Endless Mobile was founded five years ago with the mission to make computing universally accessible, creating an operating system initially targeted toward emerging markets.
On Wednesday, the company expands its focus to the U.S., launching two new lines of computers called the Mission Mini and Mission One, priced at $129 and $249 respectively. Endless is also executing a program that teaches people how to code.
“Our lives are filled with beautiful design, and yet our PCs are still ugly black rectangles that are stashed under desks. We believe that the computer should be an industrial-design object, something that you are proud to showcase,” said Endless CEO and product officer Matt Dalio in a statement. “Mission is a design object for the modern home.”
Unlike its other offerings — the Endless Mini and Endless One — Endless is working with undisclosed manufacturers to produce computers with premium hardware and design, but won’t break the bank for families. The Mission Mini comes equipped with an 1.50 GHz, quad-core ARM Cortex A5 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 64GB solid state hard drive, and the company’s proprietary operating system. Endless believes this device will be ideal for those who are just starting out with using a PC or for households that just want a single family computer.
The slightly more expensive product launched today is the Mission One, which packs an Intel Celeron N2807 1.58 GHz dual-core processor, Intel HD graphics card, 2GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and Endless’ software.
“By initially focusing our design on first-time users in emerging markets, we had to build something incredibly simple. But we always held the belief that everyone deserves the best, so we hired the best designers in Silicon Valley and Rio to design an OS we at Endless would be proud to use,” said Evelyn Wang, the company’s vice president of design.
Customers can begin ordering these computers on January 16 either from Amazon or through Endless’ website.
But it’s more than hardware that the company offers — it also has an operating system that likely attracts a lot of interest in emerging markets. Its namesake software features more than 100 free apps and tools that can be used without an internet connection and are as intuitive as using a smartphone. The Endless OS is Linux-based and free to download.
On January 16, an update will be released that also works on Windows machines. This version of Endless OS includes more support for open source technologies, including for OSTree, Electron, Flatpak, and third-party SDKs.
In addition to the new computers, Endless is also unveiling a coding initiative called Endless Code. Launching later this year, the goal is to teach kids how to program in a way where they’re inspired and through an explorational and interactive manner. “The biggest barrier to kids learning to code it is that it’s boring. And yet programming is the most powerful creative tool — the ultimate ‘Minecraft’. We are focused on inspiring delight, so that kids discover their inner passion,” Dalio explained.
The launch of new computers and a coding program are part of five new initiatives Endless said that it has planned this year. With the goal of making computing accessible to “digital have-nots,” the company is not only thinking globally, but now pursuing a more local strategy, one that affects those less fortunate in its home country.
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The Atlanta Braves are expected to announce on Wednesday the first slate of retailers for the entertainment district adjacent to SunTrust Park, a person with knowledge of the situation said.
The ball club and its development team also has been working on a name for the $400 million mix of retail, restaurants, apartments and a performance venue.
The team has set a press conference for 1 p.m. at their season ticket sales office at 1100 Circle 75 Parkway to discuss a real estate matter.
A Braves spokeswoman declined to discuss the announcement in advance of Wednesday’s event.
The Braves have previously announced an Omni hotel and an office tower to be occupied by technology workers from Comcast. Comcast also is planning to deploy ultra-fast internet capabilities in the entertainment district and at the ballpark.
At a recent brick laying ceremony, Braves marketing chief Derek Schiller wouldn’t name retailers the development team has been pursuing. He said demand has been strong. Field & Stream is one retailer said to have shown interest in the Braves development, something Schiller at the time would not confirm.
Jeff Fuqua and partner Heather Correa of Fuqua Development, the retail team involved in the project, have targeted chef-driven restaurants, bars, high-end women’s apparel companies and a grocery store.
In April, Fuqua said higher-end retailers on par with J. Crew, Anthropologie and lululemon were to be expected. Fuqua is aiming for flagship stores for new entrants and retailers that have few shops in metro Atlanta.
The Braves this summer announced a partnership with Live Nation to open a theater under the Roxy brand, reminiscent of the former Buckhead and downtown Roxy venues. The project is also expected to have hundreds of residential units, likely rental apartments.
In May, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution attended the International Council of Shopping Centers convention in Las Vegas and caught up with Fuqua as he cruised the halls shopping the Braves project and other projects he has in the works.
At the time, the paper reported:
(Fuqua’s) mission is to fill the entertainment district next to the new Atlanta Braves ballpark with merchants and restaurants that not only can serve throngs of fans during 81 regular season baseball games, but also draw patrons every other day of the year.
The deadline is immovable: first pitch is just 23 months away.
“We’re going to make it. We talk about it every single day,” said Fuqua, 53 but a decade younger according to his hairline and boyish visage.
On Monday and Tuesday, the veteran metro Atlanta retail developer and his team crisscrossed acres of convention floor and miles between hotels and restaurants for 78 meetings with brokers, lawyers and some of the world’s most-prominent retailers to talk up the Braves site and others he has underway.


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ACT Research: Net Class 8 Orders Pull Back in April, with Backlog Essentially Filled
MAY 20, 2021 - 6:32 am
According to ACT Research’s latest State of the Industry: NA Classes 5-8 Report, April Class 8 net orders pulled back to a seven-month low, with benign cancellations. ACT Research said the order pullback was not due to any slowing demand, but was rather an indication that the 2021 backlog is essentially filled.
“As we’ve said for some time, commercial vehicle demand is hot, but supply chain problems persist,” Kenny Vieth, president and senior analyst at ACT Research, said. “Since the end of last year, ACT has been reporting that the 2021 question is not one of demand but rather supply. The freight economy continues to enjoy broad-based strength, evident in freight rates that caught fire last July and have remained at or near record levels for months. With freight rates at current levels, carrier profits are soaring. Finally, jammed ports, inventory restocking and persistently tight driver capacity suggest that the current freight and profitability landscape has legs, giving truckers the confidence to buy equipment.”
By commercial vehicle segment, Vieth said, “While demand is as strong or stronger than it has ever been for both medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, the industry’s ability to tackle that backlog has been beset by a series of issues that have thrown roadblocks in front of its ability to turn orders into trucks, including chip shortages, steel output and plastic resin availability. Capacity to produce Class 8 vehicles this year essentially is full, and using 2018 as a guide, we would expect OEMs to begin opening 2022 order books in June and July. Broad-based economic strength continues to build the best medium-duty market since ACT began reporting data, with the order trend eclipsing the prebuy-fueled market of 2006.”
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The workplace of today is vastly different than it was even a couple years ago, but there are still many obstacles that impede employees, particularly women, from thriving in their jobs, ultimately disrupting success in other areas of life. Michelle... read more
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Hello, hello, is there anybody out there (still buying DRM-restricted music)? Pink Floyd is the latest band to have their back-catalogue knocked out as DRM-free digital tracks, thanks to a deal with UK etailer 7digital.
The company claims it’s the first UK-based online store to sell the Floyd’s “entire albums repertoire as DRM-free downloads” – which is a crafty bit of marketing language, since some of those albums are already as DRM-free iTunes Plus files on the iTunes Store.
Still, thumbs up to 7digital for its initial pricing, with several albums going for £5.49, and the rest (including the Echoes compilation) going for £6.99 – £1-2 cheaper than iTunes, and these are MP3s rather than Apple’s AAC files.
7digital Pink Floyd collection


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Gauteng MEC Jabu Moleketi has announced the names of three companies that are set to invest more than R75 million in the Blue IQ programme’s R1-billion automotive supplier park in Rosslyn.
Gauteng MEC for finance and economic affairs Jabu Moleketi has announced the names of three companies that are set to invest more than R75 million in the Blue IQ programme’s R1-billion automotive supplier park in Rosslyn.
on Wednesday quoted Moleketi as saying that Faurecia, a French automotive equipment manufacturer, Grupo Antolin, a Spanish automotive component supplier and Tensile Rubber Mouldings, a 60-per cent black empowerment-owned company established earlier this year through the sale of the mouldings division of Tensile Rubber, would invest R75 million in setting up operations in the park.
Last month, CARtoday.com reported that BMW SA managing director and Naamsa president Ian Robertson had announced that three foreign automotive component makers would set up operations near the assembly plants of BMW, Fiat, Nissan and Ford in Rosslyn next year.
At the time, Robertson mentioned two German firms and one French company, but declined to name them: "They will be new companies to South Africa, and the investment will be quite substantial," Robertson said, adding that that buildings were being put up to house the companies.
Naacam executive director Clive Williams recently estimated that by situating their operations in the supplier park, component firms could save up to three per cent on costs and “make a huge difference" to their profitability.
Blue IQ is investing R200 million in the infrastructure of the supplier park, with R800-million being sought from the private sector.
Original article from Car


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The University College of London (UCL) has teamed up with London’s electric scooter operators Tier, Lime and Dott to develop a ‘universal sound’ for rental e-scooters to alert pedestrians and other roads users of their approach.
This aims to fix the main complaint people have with the electric scooters currently being used on the pavements around the UK and could help to improve safety across the entire electric scooter industry, helping pedestrians, particularly those with sight loss, detect when an e-scooter is approaching.
The main question we have is whether this sound will also be added to electric scooters that people purchase, like those included in our best electric scooter guide.
The research is being led by UCL's specialist Person-Environment-Activity Research Laboratory (PEARL) and will begin next month.
The universal sound developed will be used across all operators and electric scooter models, which should make identifying the sound easier. This approach is endorsed by TfL.
The sound will take into account a number of individuals needs, including those with sight loss, hearing loss and neurodiverse conditions. It will be tested at the PEARL research facility, which can create different city environments, before being tested on public roads and pavements. This will ensure it works for people in a real-world setting before it gets fully rolled out.
It's expected that the sound will start to be tested by operators in London this year, eventually attaining an industry standard and ultimately scaling up to other cities in the UK and beyond.
The joint initiative is an e-scooter industry first and follows extended engagement with disability experts, including Transport for All, Thomas Pocklington Trust and Royal National Institute of Blind People.
Professor Nick Tyler, Director, UCL PEARL said:
'Through studying how the human hearing system has evolved, we can create sounds for e-scooters that are detectable without adding more noise to the environment. We plan to test a range of combinations of sounds and environments at UCL PEARL with people who are less likely to detect e-scooters nearby, so that we create a sound that works for all. It is a huge scientific challenge, but one that will enable everyone to feel comfortable with this new form of micro-mobility that is quickly growing in popularity.'
Personally, I hope this will also help move electric scooters along the path to becoming legal, as I think they're a convenient and environmentally friendly way to get around a city.
If you could choose the sound for an electric scooter, what would it sound like? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter.


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Bayer to sell animal health business to Elanco in $7.6bn deal
German pharmaceutical and life sciences group Bayer has agreed to sell its animal health business to US-based Elanco in a $7.6bn cash and stock deal.
Under the terms of the transaction, which is expected to complete in mid-2020, Elanco will pay $5.3bn in cash and $2.3bn in shares.
Bayer's animal health business, which develops and markets products and solutions to prevent and treat diseases in companion and farm animals, had sales of $1.8bn in fiscal 2018.
The company said the combination is "highly complementary" and creates the number two animal health company, with top three positions across a broad range of species and geographies. It also enhances Elanco's portfolio of leading global brands and bolsters its innovation capabilities and R&D pipeline.
Chairman Werner Baumann said: "This transaction enhances our focus as a global leader in life sciences. The exit of the animal health business marks the largest transaction in the series of portfolio measures initiated by Bayer in November 2018.
"The company had previously announced the divestiture of its consumer health brands Coppertone and Dr. Scholl's along with the sale of its 60% stake in German site services provider Currenta. We are therefore delivering ahead of schedule on one of the key priorities for driving value creation that we communicated at our capital markets day in December 2018."
At 1100 BST, the shares were up 0.3% at €66.50.


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Final news inside Van Thiet. Look at this source: talkvietnam.com.
Eu Ttip Negotiations
2023-09-18Place on the map
👫 Persons: auramon supthaweethum, markus schlagenhof
🏢 Organizations: department of industry, department of trade negotiations, plant protection department le van thiet, united nations industrial development organisation, handbag association, european union, european commission, vietnam institute of agricultural engineering, institute of future studies for development, national day, posco, rural development, vietnamese ministry of industry, vietnam embassy, market development, vietnam news agency, national authority for agro, ministry of agriculture, swiss state secretariat for economic affairs, commerce ministry, ministry of industry, thailand department of trade negotiations


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Alternatives to popular UK companies with a track record of dividend growth are available in the US and beyond.
Sticking with what you know is not a bad philosophy for investors, but that shouldn’t stop you from looking at overseas companies. It need not be a big step out of your comfort zone. For every familiar company listed on the London Stock Exchange, there are almost certainly several more in a similar line of business operating elsewhere.
You can widen your portfolio safely by considering profitable foreign alternatives that pay steady or rising dividends, so we asked four investment experts to suggest overseas alternatives to well-known British companies.
With Sainsbury’s shares under the cosh after the supermarket’s proposed merger with rival Asda was blocked on competition grounds, Dan Coatsworth, stockmarket analyst at AJ Bell, suggests Target, a more widely based US retailer with sales split almost evenly across five areas: beauty and household essentials, food and drink, apparel and accessories, home furnishing and decor, and hardlines. The latter includes items such as electronics, sports equipment and jewellery.
Adapting to change
Like most retailers, Target has had to adapt to the changing landscape and invest in both its physical and its digital channels. It is launching new brands, turning many stores into showrooms and ‘neighbourhood fulfilment’ centres, moving into new markets by opening new small-format stores, and investing in technology platforms to fulfil digital orders faster and more efficiently.
James Rowbury, research coordinator at Redmayne Bentley, sees parallels between the turnaround at UK supermarket Wm Morrison and that at Target, the eighth largest retailer in the US. He says it has capitalised on the rise of e-commerce, re-modelled its stores and increased loyalty perks to drive its sales growth back towards its peaks of 2013.
He says: “Contrary to its S&P 500 peer companies, Target has become somewhat of a dividend grower, not missing a hike for over 51 years. It has managed to increase its sales volumes through investment and adaptation, rather than price increases, illustrating a core organic growth which sees it well-placed for the unremitting changing consumer landscape.”
Coatsworth adds: “It is refreshing to see a retail business embrace innovation and execute major changes without any big hiccups. The benefits are already visible, with faster earnings growth.”
He also points to United Parcel Service, better known as UPS, as an alternative to Royal Mail. As the largest provider of domestic express parcel services in the US, it is in a superb position to benefit from a robust American economy. It also runs a large international express air network. “UPS is confident about growing earnings in both its US and overseas operations,” Coatsworth points out. “Capital expenditure is forecast to peak next year, before dropping considerably in 2021. And net debt is forecast to decline over the coming years thanks to impressive rates of cash generation.
Consistent dividend-raising US companies
|Company||Sector||Stock exchange||Years of dividend rises||Share price ($)||Yield (%)|
|Johnson & Johnson||Medical||NYSE:JNJ||56||141.20||2.6|
|ExxonMobil||Oil & gas||NYSE:XOM||36||80.28||4.1|
|Philip Morris Int||Tobacco||NYSE:PM||10||86.56||5.4|
Notes: *Share price and yield interactive investor, as at 30/4/2019
Opportunities from scale
“On a global basis it services 1.5 million shipping customers and more than 9.1 million delivery customers daily. This huge scale creates earnings growth opportunities, as UPS can cross-sell small package, supply chain and freight services across its customer base.”
Chris Beauchamp, senior market analyst at IG, suggests US telecoms giant AT&T could be an attractive alternative to beleaguered Vodafone. He says: “With Vodafone labouring under heavy debt, rising infrastructure spending costs and a dividend cut, AT&T is a possible replacement offering international focus, plus a compelling media offering now that its merger with Time Warner is completed.” Beauchamp admits that in an age of streaming and content wars AT&T is not a cheap business, but it offers the prospect of international growth that is likely to outstrip that of Vodafone. In addition, the firm generated record free cash flows in 2018, while also managing to invest heavily in the business.
Although BP looks well-positioned, Beauchamp also thinks US giant Exxon Mobil may be another worthy contender for a place in an international portfolio – especially if global growth picks up, fuelling more demand for oil.
The world’s top company with treatments for diabetes-related conditions is the Danish firm Novo Nordisk, listed in Copenhagen and the US, Chris Bailey, founder of analyst Financial Orbit, points out. Since both types of diabetes are on the rise all round the world, with an estimated 422 million people affected, and as Novo Nordisk is continuing to come up with new products and treatments, it is a sensible alternative to large pharmaceutical stocks Glaxo and AstraZeneca. Bailey points to a good record of returning cash to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks.
Innovator in growth area
He says: “Recent results saw the company slightly improve its financial outlook, benefiting from continued product innovation and new treatment launches. While there are continued pressures on public healthcare budgets, the growth of the diabetes challenge with improved diagnosis will keep treatment demand high for the foreseeable future.”
Investors looking at consumer products could, Bailey believes, consider American company Colgate alongside Unilever and Reckitts. Colgate is the world leader in toothpaste, with a 42% global share. It has a third of the global market for manual toothbrushes, too. Sales are split pretty evenly between emerging and developed markets. He says: “Prospects look bright, with the company making positive comments about internal initiatives, including a relaunch of a reformulated version of Colgate Total toothpaste and ongoing efforts to improve pricing across its main markets, including China.”
Among miners, Billiton, Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Glencore remain listed in London, but Rangold Resources departed in December through a merger with Canadian-listed Barrick Gold – a combination described by Bailey “an enhanced entity both in size and via the reality of owning half of the world’s tier one gold mines”. With the successful Randgold management team effectively put in charge of the new venture, he sees prospects as bright.
The hunt for international income
UK income investors looking to diversify abroad should look in the first place for well-known multinational companies with a track record of raising dividends. Look for reliable companies operating in growth sectors, producing goods and services that will continue to be in demand. There is likely to be plenty of information and research on them on the internet, and they are among the small number of overseas stocks featured in the business sections of UK newspapers.
It’s only 11 years since the financial crisis but, surprisingly, there is a bank that has now raised its dividend for a decade and got back to where it was before the crunch. Step forward America’s biggest bank, JP Morgan Chase. The multinational investment bank and financial services company slashed its annual dividend from $1.52 to just 20 cents immediately after the full impact of the crash was realised, but it resumed its progressive dividend policy right away and has now reach an annual payout of $3.20, double the pre-crisis level.
It has generated record results in eight of the past nine years, including 2018 when it earned $32.5 billion in net income. Helped by president Trump’s tax cuts, the trend has continued, with profits of $9.2 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2019 – a record for a US bank.
As a manufacturer and distributor of medical and pharmaceutical products, Johnson and Johnson is about as immune to cyclical factors as it is possible for a company to be. Hence its record of continuous dividend increases for more than 50 years. The ageing population in developed countries plus a growing middle class in developing nations will mean increased demand for health products and a wider ability to pay for them if governments continue to squeeze their spending in this area.
UK investors heard a lot about the US’s largest telecoms provider Verizon Communications indirectly through its tempestuous but successful joint venture with Vodafone. Verizon bought out its partner and has since fared the better of the two. Its run of increased dividends extends to 12 years, and it has become one of the world’s most profitable companies.
Ethical investors may baulk at the idea of putting money into a tobacco company, but Philip Morris International, which sells cigarettes in 180 countries, has raised dividends for the past 10 years since it was spun off from parent company Altria. It owns six of the world’s top 15 international brands, including Marlboro. Tobacco remains under increased attack from regulators, not least in the company’s home base in the US – but it’s a habit that is hard to kick, and vaping is giving the industry a new lease of life.
Some companies that are big in their own countries can be surprisingly little known in the UK. Take Duke Energy, for example. Founded more than a century ago, it has become the largest electricity utility in the US, with operations spanning the southeast and Midwest and serving 7.6 million electricity and 1.6 million gas customers. It also has a rapidly growing gas infrastructure arm and a portfolio of renewable energy assets. It used to have an international energy business, but this was sold three years ago to focus on domestic operations.
Duke pays quarterly dividends, which have increased year by year since 2005 and are likely to continue to do so considering the stability of the business.


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EA Sports is relaunching its college football series for next-generation consoles. Announcement on Tuesday that the break will end The game has lasted since then – Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson appeared on the cover of NCAA Football 14.
There is still a lot to be clarified about what the game will be like, how it will be set up, and when it will be available. But college football is back to game consoles (at some point).
Here’s what we know and what we don’t.
Why is EA Sports bringing the video game back now?
A relaunch of the game has been discussed within EA Sports since the last edition of the game in the 2013 season. It was a very popular title at the time of his retirement, and his return remained high on the company’s priority list.
EA Sports actually dropped a couple of Easter eggs indicating the possibility. In the last two editions of Madden, some college football programs have been added as part of the game’s Face of the Franchise story mode. EA Sports vice president and general manager Daryl Holt told ESPN that while it wasn’t a conscious decision to do this as a test run for the return of a college football game, there has been positive feedback and returns, especially on these College markets.
“That was another check mark – we know [fans] itch and we know we can design and deliver a great college football experience, “said Holt.” So why are we waiting?
“So the question may not be so much ‘why now’ or ‘why not now?'”
EA Sports recently began assembling a strategy and development team, leading to the announcement on Tuesday.
When can i play the game?
At this point, no one from EA Sports would commit to when the game could return or even an appointment to announce a start date. For now, consider this message a commitment for the game to return at some point.
One thing is certain, though: Holt said it won’t happen this year.
What will be in the game?
It is still unclear. It is very early in the process.
EA Sports works with the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) – the licensing partner for many schools – to ensure the use of the stadiums, uniforms, mascots, traditions and names for over 100 teams in the FBS. Holt said the game itself will be “a deep, immersive experience that is a truly open game for college football”. What this looks like remains to be determined and may depend on continued technology in the next-gen PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X gaming systems.
It could have a possible connection to Madden – in previous iterations, for example, you could import design classes from NCAA Football into Madden. According to Holt, EA Sports looks at things in terms of what’s part of a football career, but the company is still in experimental mode.
Holt said EA Sports start playing the game, make sure it’s strong, and then go from there.
“Regardless of whether it’s a reinterpretation or a further development of things that were previously in the game, or new things and new ways of playing, I don’t want to go into the details of what we’re already planning and what we’re going to put into it.” Said Holt. “But it will be something that if our core fans appreciate and love NCAA 14 they will love this game because that’s just the starting point.”
Does the NCAA have to change its rules before the game can return?
No. Current NCAA rules prohibit EA Sports from paying players to use their names, images, and likenesses in-game. If these rules are still in effect at the time the game is released, EA Sports plans to include real details like team names, mascots, and uniforms, but nothing that would resemble the real players on these rosters.
EA Sports announced it would end the 2013 college football game just before the company agreed to pay a portion of the $ 40 million reported to former college players to resolve a lawsuit filed by former UCLA basketball player Ed O ‘ Enclose Bannon. The lawsuit argued that it was illegal for EA Sports to sell a game with characters strikingly similar to real athletes without paying those athletes.
While O’Bannon was sometimes mistakenly blamed for the game’s demise, the company said at the time that it was ceasing production because the NCAA and some conferences were no longer interested in licensing their logos and names to game makers, what prevented them from creating an authentic game experience. These schools are ready to work with EA Sports again. Holt did not comment on why these partnerships were revived but insisted that there is currently nothing stopping EA Sports from producing the game.
How will the current debate about NIL rules (name, image and likeness) affect the game?
While real gamers don’t to have to be included in the new version of the game, them could to be included when future legislation allows college athletes to negotiate as a group. The NCAA – under pressure from state and state legislators – is changing its rules to allow athletes to benefit from endorsements in the future. It is not yet clear whether these new capabilities will include the ability to organize group license agreements.
For professional sports video games, the game maker will typically negotiate a price with the league union for all players’ NIL rights. The union then ensures that each player receives a portion of the total payment. The NCAA says players can’t unionize because they’re students, not employees. While a traditional union is not essential to building the collective bargaining organization, NCAA officials have tried to steer clear of any agreements that would provide a mechanism for athletes to bargain as a group.
However, the NCAA may not be able to set the terms for future NIL rules. Congress is expected to look at reform and compensation for college sports in the relatively near future – most likely before EA Sports is ready to launch its new game. At least two of the proposals under consideration by the Senate aim to guarantee future university athletes the right to collective bargaining. With any of these options signed into law, EA Sports will have the door open to negotiate with players and create more realistic rosters.
“We’ll just keep an eye on everything as it develops and we’ll be ready,” said Holt.
What will the game be called?
The name changes. Gone is the name of the NCAA football series. In its place will be EA Sports College Football. According to Holt, this is the branding the company works with and wants to use.
“It all really starts with where we see college football,” said Holt. “A lot happens and a lot happens in sport. EA Sports College Football gives us a name and a brand to work on some things that could develop and what we really focus on, the goal that is actually the FBS Division I School and which is the route to the College Football Playoffs and College Football Championship.
“We believed EA Sports College Football was the right name for the product not only now, but also as it continues.”
What else has to be determined?
Holt said the early focus at EA Sports was on building a team to develop the game and work on its design.
“Right now the focus has been more on the partnership with CLC, the design aspects and early innovations that we are working on that may have a long tail,” he said. “And then build a team and bring the team together internally and externally to make a great game.”


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By Kyong-Ae Choi
SEOUL--South Korea's August car sales fell 7.0% from a year earlier as the country's two largest car makers saw domestic sales plunge due to ongoing strikes that exacerbated already low inventory levels.
The country's five car makers - Hyundai Motor Co. (005380.SE), Kia Motors Corp. (000270.SE), GM Korea Co., SsangYong Motor Co. (003620.SE) and Renault Samsung Motors Corp. - sold a total 550,213 vehicles last month, down from 591,942 a year earlier, data from the companies showed.
Overall domestic sales fell 25% to 85,543 units in August and exports declined 2.8% to 464,670 units, according to the data.
Hyundai posted a 31% on-year slump in exports from its domestic plants last month and Kia also reported a 18% decline in shipments from its local plants. The two companies are South Korea's largest car makers.
"If Hyundai workers reject the tentatively agreed wage deal and continue to strike, it will further drive down domestic sales next month and earnings in the third quarter," said Jeff Lee at NH Securities. "With its inventory already at record lows, the company will also have fewer vehicles to be delivered to major markets such as the U.S. in the fourth quarter."
Hyundai's domestic sales fell 30% to 35,950 autos and Kia's was down 12% to 32,078 autos. But sluggish domestic sales were offset by solid overseas sales from foreign plants in markets such as the U.S. and Europe.
Among the five, Renault Samsung was the worst performer last month with a 59% on-year plunge in overall sales due to a lack of new models.
As of Aug. 28, Hyundai and Kia suffered combined lost production of 118,880 vehicles valued at 2.288 trillion won ($2 billion) because of strikes held at their domestic plants since July 13. The workers want higher wages and better working conditions in this year's wage talks.
Hyundai workers voted Monday to decide on whether to approve a tentative wage deal with the company. The vote result will be available after midnight or 1500 GMT Monday.
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Califa Farms, the maker of plant-based beverages that are packaged in unique curvy bottles, has experienced their most successful product launch to-date with the introduction of their new line of fermented dairy-free yogurt drinks. The new line of probiotic beverages incorporates multiple consumer trends and is finding success in nearly 7,000 stores across 47 states.
The company has found unprecedented success with cross-channel distribution in a variety of store formats such as c-stores, traditional brick-and-mortar grocery stores, health food stores, drug stores and online. This cross-channel adoption allows Califa’s innovative new products to have an expansive reach throughout multiple consumer demographics and plays a key role in their successful launch. In fact, the company achieved a 60 percent gain in the latest 12 weeks versus last year. With over 42 retail chains in the US offering Califa’s Probiotic Dairy Free Yogurt drinks, it really speaks towards the current demand for innovative dairy and meat alternatives.
“The immediate appeal of our new Probiotic Dairy Free Yogurt drinks across a wide variety of retail channels underscores the increased demand and mass acceptance for innovative plant-based products that have a great taste profile,” said Greg Steltenpohl, co-founder and CEO of Califia Farms. “In just four months after launch, our Probiotic Yogurts have nearly 28,000 points of distribution – which is a major achievement for an independent company like Califia. To put in perspective, it normally takes several years for new products to incubate in natural and specialty stores before being picked up by mainstream retailers. This represents a real tipping point for the future of the category.”
Califa’s immense success can also be attributed to the qualities of their new product line. The company’s vegan yogurt drinks align with the growing demand for drinkable yogurt in the consumer space. According to Packaged Facts’ recent Breakfast Product Trends report, the retail sales of drinkable yogurt products and yogurt smoothies grew faster than any other category with a 19.9 percent increase from $760 million in 2016 to $911 million in 2017. The product’s segment is expected to continue to grow an additional 13 percent by 2022.
Additionally, the product’s probiotic properties help it to stand out in the growing probiotics market. According to the company, it took them two and a half years to develop their line of probiotic yogurts. In addition to their dairy-free base made of almond, coconut and oat, the company is the first to batch ferment the BB-12 strain of probiotic bacteria, also known as the most documented bifidobacteria in the world, in a non-dairy yogurt. According to research from Markets and Markets, the global demand for probiotics is expected to grow with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of seven percent from 2017 to reach an overall value of $64.02 billion by 2022 with North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific leading the market. These are promising numbers for Califa who has had an amazing start to their unique probiotic product launch.
However, what makes Califa’s new Probiotic Dairy Free Yogurt Drinks so unique is the fact that the product line is completely vegan. As animal welfare continues to be a top priority for North American consumers, there is a growing demand for plant-based, dairy-free and vegan food options. This is why major food companies such as Aldi, Maple Leaf and KFC have invested in adding vegan or vegetarian food options to their portfolio. In terms of vegan dairy products specifically, this segment is expected to continue to grow as the sales of conventional dairy products are expected decline by 11 percent by 2020.
It seems that Califa Farms was able to achieve such impressive results after their product launch because they invested in cross-channel distribution and incorporated multiple consumer trends in a single product.


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The last time the excise duties were raised for vodka distillers in July – to UAH 70.53 per one liter of 100% spirit. MRP grew 5.6%, 15.9% and 14.3% over the course of the year. Since August the cheapest halfliter bottle in retail chains cost UAH 39.9 (although in the beginning of the year a bottle of legal 0.5 l vodka bottle cost only UAH 28.5).
In September vodka producers have again spoken about low profitability and prepared to print new price tags again. Now, however, the largest companies promised not to raise the prices for vodka, at least in the nearest future.
VODKA AS IT IS
Following lengthy negotiations between state company UkrSpyrt and UkrVodka association, the industry lobbyist managed to convince the state monopoly to reduce sale prices for ethyl alcohol by UAH 10 per decaliter. Starting from October the maximum price of ethyl spirit of Lux category is reduced to UAH 178.04/dal. The current result is a real precedent that will help eliminate price increases of other components of the production cost of the alcoholic products, as over the past five years nobody made any concessions for the companies neither in the raw materials issues nor excise duty. For instance, from 2010 to 2014 the prices for ethyl spirit of Lux category almost tripled: from UAH 70/dal to UAH 188.04/dal. The last time Ukrspyrt added to the cost of its products UAH 21/dal in the beginning of this year. It is difficult to tell what pushed the state monopoly to such a show of loyalty. On the one hand record yield of grain crops, in particular corn, could have influenced reduction of the price for ethyl spirit. Collapse of world corn prices (from US $190/t to US $160/t on FOB terms) also contributed to the situation.
On the other hand, it is also possible that this was a new thing of the changed policy of Ukrspyrt, the new management of which declared a fight against counterfeit products, although in 2013 the share of the shadow market reached record high 50%, according to ProConsulting. In particular, thanks to production of unaccounted products by Ukrspyrt the government fell short of UAH 3.5 bn.
Inspired by success lobbyists immediately demanded from the officials to adopt a moratorium for increase of excise duties for 2015 and not to introduce 5% tax for retail sales of commodities subject to excise duty. “People’s incomes are not catching up with the price growth, which is why the sales are declining,” says President of the Ukrainian Commercial and Industrial Confederation Volodymyr Demchak. The decline of the vodka market in 2014 is nearly 15%, according to the estimates of UkrVodka.
Chairman of the board of directors of Nemiroff Yakov Hrybov says that the production cost of a bottle of vodka in the medium price segment is US $0.750.8 (UAH 9.510.3) along with marketing expenses – US $11.25 (UAH 12.9516). If you add to that the excise duty and VAT (UAH 22.08 per half a liter bottle) and also earnings of distributors (UAH 23) and retail chains (UAH 57), the vodka producers are not making much. The situation is similar in the economy segment, although the marketing expenses are lower.
If the prices for vodka do not increase on the eve of the New Year’s holidays, the manufacturers will manage to earn more by selling larger volumes of the alcoholic beverages as NovemberDecember account for nearly 40% of the total volume of sales.
It seems that market players are strongly interested in keeping the vodka prices affordable for the consumers, because in the current situation of continuously deteriorating quality of life total sobering up of the nation risks of becoming tougher than any hangover. In fact, according to the World Health Organization our country has started losing its reputation of a vodka state. Following the report of WHO, over the past year Ukraine dropped from fifth to sixth place on the list of the heaviest drinking nations in the world. In 2013 each Ukrainian consumer drank a liter less of pure alcohol – 13.9 l instead of 15 l as it was in 2012.
However, so far the purchasing power of Ukrainians continues to remain at the low level and the domestic consumers often calculate the most acceptable and affordable ratio between the price and the strength of alcohol. Although in natural units (liters) Ukrainians drink more beer, its percentage share on the alcohol market is twice lower due to the low alcohol content. In addition, a degree of alcohol in beer is more expensive than a degree of alcohol in vodka.
At that, vodka at the MRP remains the most demanded product of the past several years. Concentration of producers and labels in the lowers price segment reached its high – its share is around 80%.
“In 2008 every producers believed it beneficial to have a brand from the subpremium price segment, while now the majority of trademarks changed their price policy,” claims analyst of Tanita Capital Pavlo Mishchenko. As a result, the nonbranded products and brands from the higher price segments practically equalized in price on the legal market.
“When people are in a bad mood, they drink strong alcoholic beverages, and when people are in a good mood, they drink light alcoholic beverages for communication (beer, wine),” says former general director of Carlsberg Group Ukraine Petro Chernyshov.
Furthermore, vodka for Ukrainians has now become more affordable that in the last decade of the USSR. Back then, only 7 bottles of vodka could be purchased for the minimum wage. Now (even taking into account increase of the excise duty and revision of MRP to UAH 39.9 per 0.5 l bottle) Ukrainians earn at least 30 bottles per month.Printable version


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Adidas extended its partnership agreement with premier club league Arsenal until 2030.
The soccer club rejoined the brand in 2019 after a 25-year break. Arsenal previously had kit deals with Nike and Puma during the late 1990s and 2000s.
Arsenal’s Chief Commercial Officer, Juliet Slot, said, “We’re delighted to agree to a new partnership with Adidas until 2030. The long-term nature of our extension means there’s a real commitment to build on this brilliant collaboration with a strong focus on growing women’s football and developing our sustainability strategy.
“Since we’ve been reunited, we’ve driven initiatives and investment in our local communities and developed exciting and bold product ranges for our players and supporters alike. We’re proud of the progress we’ve made together, and we’re excited to take our partnership forward.”
The announcement comes following a summer where Adidas hosted pre-season training camps for Arsenal’s men’s and women’s teams at its global headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany.
CEO Kasper Rorsted at Adidas added: “The work we have done with Arsenal has broken new ground in football partnerships, and both on and off the pitch, Arsenal continues to be at the forefront of the sport. We’re truly excited to continue to support both the men’s and women’s teams, delivering the very best for the athlete.
“We believe in helping the local community in London, investing in the causes and issues that matter most to them and, through exciting products and authentic storytelling, we’re looking forward to celebrating the rich and diverse Arsenal fanbase globally in the years ahead.”
Photo courtesy Adidas x Arsenal


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We are told that Web 3 — the amalgam of smart contracts, cryptocurrencies and their associated memes — offer a new vision of the internet.
Instead of the surveillance economy, where user data is collected, packaged and sold to the highest algorithmic bidder, we will have an ownership economy, where users can decide what to do with their data, digital property and other online traces — and even profit from them.
The Web 2 world collided conspicuously with its Web 3 counterpart last week, in the form of an auction for an NFT. Unlike the recent craze for tokenized basketball cards or original artworks, there was a different spin to this particular token. It was an early meme, made at the dawn of the Web 2 and circulated endlessly through the internet ever since.
The meme in question is Creepy Chan, which Know Your Meme tells me was invented by Allison Harvard as a teenager with a fixation on blood. She took photos of herself in various ghostly poses and published them on the burgeoning social networks of the time: MySpace and LiveJournal.
The photos of Harvard were seized upon by members of 4Chan, a low-fidelity message board that would become a crucible of internet culture. The 4Chan users, in particular those who frequented its /x/ sub-forum dedicated to the paranormal, christened the images, and Harvard by extension, “Creepy Chan.” A meme was born.
Last week, 16 years after Creepy Chan first appeared on the internet, Harvard decided to do something with the images. She put them on Foundation, a marketplace that helps artists tokenise their works. Two images were put on auction, and ultimately fetched over $150,000.
What was actually happening here? Could a meme that had already circulated billions or possibly trillions of times across the internet really be imbued with any real scarcity? Could Web 2 artifacts be grandfathered into the Web 3 world of ownership and financialization? I asked Harvard.
“It’s crazy because I was turned into an unwitting queen of 4Chan when I was 16 years old. Memes are part of internet culture and it’s hard to have any control over how they are used,” she told me between photo shoots from home.
As Harvard sees it, in a Web 2 paradigm, she relinquished control of her images the moment they were put on the internet—although she didn’t know it at the time. Web 2 culture championed remixing and re-appropriation, with original images turned into new objects, based on the wisdom —or the whims — of the crowd, and blasted across the web.
“I learned the hard lesson as a kid, when you put something on the internet, it doesn’t really belong to you any more. You have to accept it can be saved and used and put anywhere,” she said. “The damage is already done.”
In the 16 years since Creepy Chan was claimed by the internet, Harvard came across her own image in all sorts of unlikely places.
“I’ve seen it used in some ads in—I don’t even know, some of them were so annoying— like, they were making me the face of some child abuse thing!” she said. “I did not consent to this, it’s crazy!”
This is not to say the attention lavished on Harvard by the internet was all bad. She became internet famous, and then famous famous, briefly, as a contestant on America’s Next Top Model in 2009. She was spotted by a talent scout who saw a Creepy Chan image. Her fans on 4Chan stayed with her; They even hacked into the modeling show’s site to change poll results in her favor. Or at least she assumes it was them.
“I feel like I’m very lucky because overall, the way my life has changed for the better because of these images is kind of crazy and hilarious,” she says. “You kind of have to go with whatever happens, in a way.”
After America’s Next Top Model, Harvard walked runways and judged and appeared in various contests. Recently, she's been modeling while working as an artist and creative director. She has also followed cryptocurrencies for some time. Harvard started buying coins in 2017, around the time of a boom in initial coin offerings that drove Bitcoin and Ethereum to previous all-time highs.
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes in crypto with altcoins,” she confides. “For awhile I was killing it and then… I definitely wasn’t killing it anymore.”
When NFTs surged in popularity this year, Harvard was ready. She credits her fiancé, who she says is “really into crypto,” with helping her prepare to issue her own NFTs. The plan was to mint two of her Creepy Chan images and list them on Foundation on March 30.
“It felt right to start with her [Creepy Chan] because it’s such an internet thing to begin with,” she says.
On the day of Harvard’s NFT auction, she was scrolling Twitter when she came across another auction happening at the same time: another tokenized version of an earlier web meme that was also indelibly linked to a woman. This was the Laina Morris and her Overly Attached Girlfriend meme, made in 2012 as part of a lampooning of a Justin Bieber music video.
“She liked one of my tweets, so I checked out her profile,” Harvard said. “And I thought, this is crazy, as I was watching her auction. It was absolutely insane.”
By the time the auctions ended, Harvard’s NFTs had sold for over $150,000 and Morris’ had gone for more than $400,000. Both were acquired by the same buyer, a music studio in Dubai called 3F Music that is an avid collector of NFTs.
The successful auction made for "one of the best weeks of [her] life," but she points out that something much more powerful was going on: the ability to assert some control over the memes that have run wild for more than a decade and havee become inextricably linked to her 16-year-old self.
“When I minted my Creepy Chan NFTs I got to take my power back in a way,” she says.
She explains: “It’s kind of a cool and powerful thing to stake my claim on my images. These are mine, I can authenticate them, I can outright say that these are mine.”
Harvard’s experience speaks to the potential of Web 3 technologies. While the Creepy Chan images had been released for 16 years and endlessly remixed and reappropriated, turning them into cryptographic tokens offered their creator a way to harness their power. The new tokens are simply linked to the old images, but they carry a crucial additional feature: the ability to trace the chain of ownership back to their creator, Harvard herself. And that’s something genuinely new for memes, makers, and the web that birthed them.


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Amazon Books, a physical retail store in which Amazon sells physical books, currently exists on the west coast and may be making its way east in the next couple of years. According to a new report, Amazon is planning to launch a New York City store in either late 2018 or early 2019, offering paper books and a cafe like all the brick-and-motor bookstores it put out of business years ago.
According to the New York Post, Amazon will be launching the retail store in Manhattan’s Hudson Yards, a retail and residential development set to open its stores by early 2019. Assuming the Amazon Books rumor proves true, this will mark Amazon’s first bookstore on the east coast, hinting at a wider expansion as it looks to grow its ebook domination into the physical world.
Amazon first launched a retail bookstore in a Seattle mall last year, and it has since stated that it will launch a second retail store in San Diego by the end of 2016. It has not, however, said anything about opening a New York City store. Assuming the location is correct, and given the upscale area in which the Seattle store is located, it appears Amazon is currently targeting wealthy areas.
A source speaking to Post said, “I don’t know if the final lease was signed yet, but I know the deal is happening. There’s no way that deal is dying.” In addition to selling books — including those from its own publishing divisions — the physical retail stores are used to hawk Kindle ereaders and tablets.


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Hybrid kicks continue to roll out of the Nike design labs.
Debuting in Summer 2012 will be the Nike Air Max 95 360. Coupling a modified Air Max 95 upper with 360 Max Air, these grew out of the ideas first seen in 2006 with the “History of Air” pack. This time around, however, a full lineup will be available, now with seamless uppers. Neon, red, blue, grey, and orange colorways have been confirmed so far, likely with more to follow.
The Nike Air Max 95 360 is set to drop next Summer at a price point of $170.


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Spaces are available to sell your wares this weekend, as part of the third annual Salvation Army's Flea Market and Bazaar. Events/Volunteer Director Kathy Childress says they are hoping to raise around 15-hundred dollars. The public, local businesses and families are encouraged to purchase a space to sell their new or used items, and everyone is invited to stop by. The event takes place this Saturday, at the Salvation Army, located along Route 6 in South Haven, from 8am to 2pm. Interested vendors have until noon Friday to complete an application for one or more ten-by-ten foot selling space. For more information, contact Kathy, at (219) 762-9191.
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After much discussion, the Fulton City Council agreed Tuesday to pursue a sponsorship deal with the Coca-Cola Company for the new recreation center.
To formalize the agreement, they’ll have to vote on a resolution at the next City Council meeting Oct. 27. City Clerk Courtney Crowson said she’ll have that resolution ready.
“It’s a no-brainer,” said Bob Washington, Ward 4 City Council member.
If Fulton agrees to sell only Coca-Cola beverages at its new recreation center (set to open next year), Tanglewood Golf Course and Oestreich Municipal Pool, Coca-Cola will provide free beverage coolers and sponsor the installation of retractable volleyball standards at the recreation center.
According to a memo from P&R Director Clay Caswell, the retractable standards — the poles that hold up a volleyball net — were part of the original building design but were removed to save money. Caswell said retractable standards reduce the time needed to set up or take down the two volleyball courts from 20 minutes to 2 minutes, making it easier to use the courts for other purposes.
“We’ve done a really good job, in my opinion, of cutting expenses,” Caswell told the council.
Barring major unexpected expenses, he said the rec center would likely come in at $300,000-$400,000 below its estimated $8.89 million budget.
The standards will cost $14,064 to purchase and install. Coca-Cola has offered to pay $14,000 upfront, plus $1,000 per year over the next four years. They’ll also provide Coca-Cola themed signage somewhere in the rec center. To fulfill the terms of the five-year


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Motorola has launched their latest Android based smartphone named Atrix HD.
Motorola Atrix HD comes loaded with a 4.5” HD ColorBoost Display. The front of the phone would remind you of the HTC One X.
It comes loaded with Google Android Ice Cream Sandwich edition. Motorola has also equipped the phone with their SMARTACTIONS app. the device is also splash resistant and features a body with Kevlar enforcement.
It is powered with a dual core 1.5GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 8MP camera at the back and Gorilla Glass display.


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The minister said the amount of choice offered by supermarkets across the country could be limited by chaos at Dover if the UK leaves the EU without a deal, the Daily Mail reported.
The warning is the latest Project Fear threat, but this time it was made by a Brexiteer.
It comes days after Brexit secretary Dominic Raab was criticised for admitting he "hadn't quite understood" how reliant the UK is on the Dover-Calais crossing for trade.
Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Raab said: "We want a bespoke arrangement in goods which recognises the peculiar, frankly, geographic, economic entity that is the United Kingdom.
"We are, and I hadn't quite understood the full extent of this, but if you look at the UK and if you look at how we trade in goods, we are particularly reliant on the Dover-Calais crossing.
"And that's one of the reasons why, and there's been a lot of controversy about this, but one of the reasons why we wanted to make sure that we have a very specific and very proximate relationship with the EU to ensure frictionless trade at the border, particularly for just-in-time manufacturing goods whether it's pharmaceutical goods or perishable goods like food."
With the UK’s departure from the bloc looming, Mrs May is under high pressure to deliver a Brexit deal.
Britons could be forced to eat more turnips if there is no Brexit deal
But the Prime Minister faced a further setback yesterday after transport minister Jo Johnson resigned.
The Orpington MP - who campaigned for Remain - slammed Mrs May’s Brexit blueprint, calling for a second referendum.
Boris Johnson’s brother said: “To present the nation with a choice between two deeply unattractive outcomes, vassalage and chaos, is a failure of British statecraft on a scale unseen since the Suez crisis.
"We are barrelling towards an incoherent Brexit that is going to leave us trapped in a subordinate relationship to the EU.
"With no say over the rules that will govern huge swathes of our economy."
Speculation is high that more ministers could follow as Mrs May battles major divisions within her party over Brexit.
And in yet another blow to Mrs May the DUP - who the Prime Minister relies on for her House of Commons majority - has threatened to vote against her Brexit proposals due to the Northern Ireland-only backstop.