text:
By Anupam Saxena
HTC Desire 816 is part of the Taiwanese device maker’s mid-range smartphone lineup. The company is now banking on this very segment to revive its fortunes in addition to riding on the critical acclaim that its flagship phone, One (M8) received. With Desire 816, HTC is perhaps looking at offering a feature-complete, yet affordable, big-screen smartphone to consumers. Does it succeed? We try to find out in our review.
Build & design
HTC Desire 816 essentially follows the same design philosophy as the company’s flagship phone, HTC One, complete with front dual stereo speakers. However, unlike the One’s all-metal chasis, Desire 816 is made of plastic.
Since the phone sports a big, 5.5-inch display, the overall footprint is also larger compared to One. Having said that, it doesn’t look unwieldy like One Max and people with small fingers will also find the phone’s use manageable.
It sports a unibody form factor with rounded corners. Although made of plastic with a glossy finish, the build quality is pretty good and exudes a premium feel. In fact, it reminds us of Apple iPhone 5C.
The display is flanked by dual stereo BoomSound speakers on both sides. The speaker grill fits in a single line, with bigger holes unlike the One’s grill that is spread over four lines. The 5MP front-facing camera lens sits above the display and is prominent.
Just like HTC One (M8), this phone doesn’t sport physical keys at the front and uses on-screen keys for navigation.
The left edge of the phone features the Power/Screen lock and the volume rocker keys that offer decent tactile feedback, while the right side sports a plastic flap that hides two nano-sim card slots and a microSD card slot. We found the positioning of the power button a bit awkward. It’s more towards the top and is on the right side, making it cumbersome to use.
One of the sim card slot supports both CDMA-EVDO and GSM-HSPA sim cards, while the other one supports a GSM-only sim card.
The 3.5mm headset jack sits at the top while the micro-USB port is placed at the bottom edge.
The back of the phone features a 13MP rear camera and LED flash. It sports a glossy finish, but it is designed such that smudges are not easily visible.
Overall, Desire 816 feels durable as HTC has used quality plastic material.
The front of the phone is dominated by a 5.5-inch Super LCD 2 display with a resolution of 720 x 1280pixels. Although, the number of pixels packed are less due to the large size of the display, we did not notice any pixilation and images and text appeared sharp and crisp.
Watching videos and movies is a pleasurable experience thanks to the phone’s big screen. Having said that, a single hand usage becomes a little difficult due to its large form factor.
Viewing angles were also good and colours appeared vivid, though not as vibrant as that on HTC One (M8). Under-sun legibility was good.
Unfortunately, Desire 816’s display doesn’t come with Gorilla Glass protection, so you’ll need a scratch guard, or be careful about protecting it from keys and coins.
HTC Desire 816 comes with Android 4.4.2 KitKat, the latest version of the OS with Sense 6, the new version of HTC’s custom UI, running on top. The software on the phone is very similar to the one on HTC One (M8), HTC’s flagship phone for 2014.
However, unlike One (M8), Desire 816 does not offer support for gestures like ‘double tap to unlock’ and ‘swipe to unlock’ to a home screen/Blinkfeed. The gestures would have made more sense on 816 given its bigger form factor and the awkward placement of the Power/Unlock key.
While the UI looks very different from stock Android, we quite like the Sense 6 interface. It doesn’t look very different from that of the previous version of Sense.
It sports the on-screen navigation keys which hide while playing games and using apps that make use of Android’s new immersive mode. For more on the user interface, you can check out our HTC One (M8) review.
Camera Unlike HTC One (M8), Desire 816 doesn’t feature an UltraPixel camera. Instead, it includes a 13MP BSI sensor with f/2.2 aperture and a 28mm lens.
Unlike HTC One (M8), Desire 816 doesn’t come with HTC ImageChip. This means that features like the Zoe mode are not included and the camera takes extra time to process the image after capturing it.
Images shot with the phone in optimum light looked great. Colour reproduction, exposure and contrast were just right and images looked natural.
However, the same can’t be said about low-light photos (without the use of night mode) which looked noisy and lacked detail. The camera also offers Panorama and HDR modes.
It is capable of capturing 1080p videos and did not disappoint us in terms of audio and video quality.
Desire 816’s front-camera has a 5MP sensor with f2.0 wide angle lens for taking selfies. It also includes a timer switch and touchup feature for enhanced selfies. The phone clicks good-quality selfies and offers a number of options to eliminate blemishes, fix red eye and whiten skin tone.
HTC Desire 816 is powered by a 1.6GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor and 1.5GB RAM. Even though it is a mid-range device, the 816 never felt underpowered with the hardware being capable of supporting multitasking and gaming without hiccups.
We did not notice any lag while launching and switching between apps, editing photos, browsing the web, clicking pictures, watching high definition videos, or playing graphics-heavy games.
In synthetic benchmarks, the phone scored 20,623 in Antutu, 12,653 in Quadrant, 1466 in Geekbench 3(Multi-core) and 58.1 in Nenamark 2 benchmark tests.
We were able to play videos of popular file formats without any issues. Additional file formats can be played through third party video player apps. The phone also comes with FM Radio.
Call quality was excellent and the phone works well even in weak signal areas. We also observed that 816 catches even weak Wi-Fi signals. The phone comes with GPS and A-GPS for navigation and maps, and it was easily able to lock a signal.
It supports Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX codec support. This allows the phone to deliver CD-like sound over Bluetooth (usually, the sound quality deteriorates over Bluetooth). We found that the phone offers good sound quality even when connected to a Bluetooth stereo headset.
But the thing we liked the most about this phone is its battery backup. The phone comes with a 2600mAh battery and will last you more than a day with moderate to high usage including about one to two hours of making calls, playing games, clicking some pictures, listening to music and browsing the web; and about one-and-a-half day if you don’t play games or watch multimedia content.
Just like One (M8), the phone comes with an Extreme power-saving mode, activating which will make the phone’s battery last much longer. The mode restricts background data and offers access to Phone, Messages, Mail, Calendar, and Calculator apps.
We were able to play games like Subway Surfers, Riptide GP2 and Asphalt 8(with Visual Quality set to High and Engine at 100%) without encountering any frame drops or freezes. The phone tends to get a little warm after long gaming sessions.
Desire 816 is a capable mid-range phone that offers almost all features you’ll care about. If you can’t afford One (M8) but want a similar experience, this is the closest you’ll get by shelling out less than Rs 24,000. All the more better if you’re a fan of big displays.
The phone is well-built, sports a decent display, offers good performance, great battery life and comes with the tag of a premium brand. The enhanced audio quality and multimedia experience is the cherry on the cake.
We have no qualms in recommending the phone over others in the same price range and feel that it is a value for money proposition. If you want an even bigger phone, Sony Xperia T2 Ultra is an option but you’ll need to spend about Rs 1,000 more. However, that phone comes with a slightly inferior chip and an older version of Android.
You can also take a look at Moto X if you’re okay with a smaller screen and want a near-stock Android experience.
Joint statement from the Greater Toronto Area & Hamilton Mayors and Chairs
We are united in fighting COVID-19 – protecting our residents and saving lives.
While the measures we have taken to stop the spread of the virus have made a difference, this virus has still taken far too many lives in our communities and continues to threaten the lives of our residents.
At the same time, there is no denying the devastating impact of COVID-19 on the economy. Jobs have been lost, many businesses have closed or are at risk of closure, and many families are worried about their financial future.
We’ve been hit hard but that’s why it is so important that we keep moving forward and come back as strong as possible.
Today, the GTHA Mayors and Chairs met to discuss the impacts of COVID-19 on the region and how our municipalities can work together on the economic restart and recovery.
We know the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area alone is projected to lose 355,000 jobs and 28% of GDP along with $894 million in lost wages and $3.7 billion in revenue losses for businesses. This will be felt right across the GTHA but it also threatens the provincial and national economies.
A strong recovery right here in the GTHA is crucial to healing the economic damage done by COVID-19 and helping the families and businesses all governments have been working to protect throughout this emergency.
Ontario’s economy and Canada’s economy need the GTHA to come back stronger than ever when the restart begins.
We are determined to deliver this recovery and we agreed today that the GTHA municipalities will be working together to successfully and smoothly reopen our vital regional economy when the time comes.
We also discussed how we can in a consistent way achieve significant, necessary financial support from the other governments to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and protect our ability to contribute to the recovery. A strong recovery needs strong cities and regional governments.
We have agreed we will work together to share information about our respective financial positions and explore together measures we can advocate to the other governments which will help to ensure the financial stability of local and regional governments in the GTHA.
Our child care and recreation programs help parents get back to work.
Our emergency services keep people safe.
Our transit systems get people to work and home safely.
Our major infrastructure projects – often built in conjunction with the other governments – will help kick-start the recovery and create countless jobs.
Our economic development activities attract jobs and investment.
We built a strong and vibrant GTHA and we know that we will need to come back even stronger and as quickly as we can in order to keep Canada’s economy going.
With the cooperation and support of the provincial and federal governments, we are ready to rise to this challenge.”
Four People Charged in Mississauga Pedestrian Fail to Remain Fatality
Investigators from the Major Collision Bureau have charged four people in Mississauga’s most recent fatal fail to remain collision.
On Thursday, February 15, 2018, at approximately 8:40 p.m., the victim, a 61 year-old female from Mississauga, was struck by a south bound vehicle as she was crossing Mavis Road in the area of Knotty Pine Grove in the City of Mississauga. The vehicle did not remain and the victim, having suffered major injuries, was pronounced dead at the scene.
On Saturday, February 17, 2018 shortly before 7:00 p.m., Satchithanantha VAITHILINGAM, a 60 year-old male from Brampton, and the driver believed to be responsible in this incident, surrendered to police at 22 Division. Satchithanantha VAITHILINGAM has since been charged with Fail to Remain Cause Death.
Hivissa SATCHITHANANTHAN, a 25 year old female from Brampton, Shajeetha SATCHITHANANTHAN a 28 year-old female from Brampton and Gowtham SATKUNARAJAH a 28 year-old male from Brampton have each been charged with Accessory After the Fact in relation to this incident.
Satchithanantha VAITHILINGAM will answer to his charge on March 12, 2018. Hivissa SATCHITHANANTHAN, Shajeetha SATCHITHANANTHAN andGowtham SATKUNARAJAH will answer to their charges on Monday March 26, 2018 at the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton
Anyone who may have witnessed the collision, have dashboard video footage of the incident or who may have any information regarding this incident is asked to contact investigators with the Major Collision Bureau at (905) 453-2121, ext. 3710. Information may also be left anonymously by calling Peel Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), or by visiting www.peelcrimestoppers.ca or by sending a text message to CRIMES (274637) with the word ‘PEEL’ and then your tip.
Justin Trudeau in India: Hug missing! Mounting pressure?
The much publicized and anticipated visit of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to India was marred with questions. The questions were centered on the kind of welcome he would be given in the Sikh dominated state of Punjab. Also the famous hug by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was being anticipated. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau finally made his much-touted visit to India. He landed on the Indira Gandhi Airport, New Delhi only to be received by Gajendra Singh Shekhawat not even a Cabinet Minister in Narendra Modi’s government.
He is presently the second rank Minister of State for Agriculture. That comes in complete contrast to the warmth that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his NDA government has generally displayed towards the visiting dignitaries. Only a couple of weeks ago, when the heads of the 10 ASEAN states arrived in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi didn’t receive Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the airport, as he has previously done with many leaders including Barack Obama, Xi Jinping, Shinzo Abe, and Benjamin Netanyahu.
The fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi didn’t join him is all surprising even when Prime Minister Trudeau visited Gujarat. This is unusual because the Indian Prime Minister has set a trend that he always accompanies head of the state when they visit his home state.
Even Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath did not show up, let alone accompany Prime Minister Trudeau to the Taj. However, during Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s 15 January visit to the Taj Mahal at Agra, Yogi Adityanath had received Netanyahu and his wife and shown them around as well as hosted a lunch for them. For first three days, none from the executive or the elected representative held any meeting with the delegation.
Media in India is trying to spread a message that the cold treatment given by Prime Minister could be because two of the four Sikh members of Trudeau’s cabinet – Harjit Sajjan and Amarjeet Sohi – support the Khalistan movement. However, had that been the case his visit to Punjab would have got a similar response. However, the Punjab Government led by Captain Amarinder Singh rolled out a red carpet during his stay at Amritsar and even the two leaders held some fruitful discussions.
Thus putting an end to those criticisms that that Prime Minister Trudeau’s visit was devoid of any warmth. Chief Minister of Punjab Amarinder Singh, for instance who met Prime Minister Justin Trudeau setting aside his earlier prejudice that he exhibited during the visit of Defence Minister Harjeet Singh Sajjan.
In recent months, Gurudwaras (Sikh temples) in Canada, the United States and Australia have banned Indian officials from visiting gurudwaras and the moment started with Gurudwaras here in Toronto. Could that be the reason for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to not accord one of the warmest welcomes that he is known to provide? Or the use by Canada’s parliament of the term genocide to describe mass killings of Sikhs in India in 1984 has left the Indian Prime Minister disturbed? However, more than Prime Minister Modi, this could have left the Congress party in troubled waters, but that was also not the case as Amarinder Singh hails from the same party.
The lukewarm welcome to Prime Minister Trudeau can have its political ramifications too. Will it hamper the significant 2015 deal, in which Canada agreed to supply 3,000 metric tons of Uranium to power India’s atomic reactors?
Somewhere Prime Minister Modi has not taken the issue of non allowing entry of Indian officials to Gurudwaras and the statement on Genocide too lightly. Prime Minister Modi however has failed to understand that Canada cannot curtail the right of freedom of speech and expression of its citizen.
Two nations perhaps failed to resolve the matter before Prime Minister boarded the flight from Canada and not welcoming Prime Minister Trudeau could be a tactical decision to put pressure on him. With Prime Minister Modi preferring to meet him at the far end of the tour has conveyed a lot about the myopic approach of Prime Minister Modi.


text:
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited, one of India’s largest port developers, has reported record breaking cargo throughput volumes in the first half of the current financial year, ending September 30th, 2019. The company’s network of ports and terminals in India handles a total of 109 million tonnes, 9% more than in the same period of the previous financial year.
The fastest growing port within the group was Dhamra, on the eastern coast, which registered a growth rate of 46%. Kattupalli, to the south, achieved a 17% increase, while the western ports of Hazira and Mundra increased cargo flows by 7% and 5% respectively.
There were a number of key developments over the six month period, including the establishment of a new container terminal with a capacity of 500,000 teu a year at Mundra, and the commencement of LNG handling operations at the same port at a new facility, with a 3.2 million tonnes annual capacity, this October. Adani’s Kattupalli port now has a new liquid bulk terminal, while Hazira port benefits from new tank storage units with a total capacity of 24,000 KL.
Adani Ports’ share of the Indian port market in the first half of the year increased to 22% of all cargo volume and to 35% of all container traffic. The company says it is optimistic about prospects for the second half of the year and is confident of achieving over 224 million tonnes of cargo throughput in the full 12 month period.

domain: news


text:
If you love digging your fork into that red meat cutlet, then think again, as that could even cost you your life!
A recently conducted study states that there is a definite association between red and processed meat, and cancers. The experts involved in the study found that the more frequent your red meat intake, the larger is the risk to develop a range of cancers.
Carried out by National Institutes of health and the AARP, the study examined health info from 500,000 who were in the age group of 50-71. The researchers began gathering the data in the period of 1995-1996 and subsequently trailed the partakers for around eight years. As many as 53,396 cases of cancer were recorded during this period.
Participants were divided into five groups on the basis of their average consumption of red meat and processed meat. The findings suggest that the top fifth group of participants, whose average daily consumption of red meat was the highest, had the greatest risk of developing colorectal, lung, esophageal and liver cancer as compared to the consumption of the lowest fifth group of people.
The data accumulated was not merely about meat intake, but also about opposite lifestyles such as smoking habits on one hand and exercising on the other.
The red meats that were included in the study were beef, pork and lamb. While the Processed meats taken were bacon, red-meat sausage, poultry sausage, luncheon meats, cold cuts, hot-dogs and ham.
While the quantities of red meat consumed ranged from three slices of ham per day and a quarter pound hamburger or a small steak or a pork chop per day, the processed meat consumption varied between one slice of bacon a day to four slices, the highest.
Researchers went on to say that 1 in 10 colorectal and 1 in 10 lung cancers could be evaded if people reduced their red and processed meat intake to very low amounts.


text:
Good morning and Happy Sunday. Our news for today comes via Facebook. Everyone aged 11 years and over who lives, works or is educated in the London postcode area E1 is strongly encouraged to take a COVID-19 PCR test when … Continue reading NEWS DIGEST 02.05.2021: Surge testing in Tower Hamlets, tombs discovered in Egypt, and more.
Today’s news comes via my own Twitter account at @VShah1984. In the UK, the Labour MP (member of Parliament) for Slough in Berkshire county and Shadow Railways Minister, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, has paid tribute to his grandmother, who passed … Continue reading NEWS DIGEST 25.04.2020: Mourning, questioning, and celebrating in the COVID-19 Lockdown
Bognor Regis, United Kingdom VIJAY SHAH via Bognor Regis Observer Working as a delivery driver for big-name logistics and retail companies is a hard slog, and it is difficult to find time for toilet breaks during the long … Continue reading YOU CAN’T SPELL PRIME WITHOUT ‘P’: Delivery driver caught urinating in customer’s driveway
London, United Kingdom VIJAY SHAH via BBC News Smoking is a habit that causes numerous health complications, ranging from the characteristic ‘smoker’s cough’ through to serious and life-threatening illnesses such as cancers and emphysema. Now a poll organised … Continue reading SMOKING: A tobacco habit can damage your eyes, specialists say
On the 16th September 2014, Transport for London (TfL), the London authority in charge of the city’s public transport formally ushered in a new way of paying fares for its customers. This new paying method, which TfL has branded ‘contactless travel’ enables commuters with special credit or debit cards to use these cards to pay for their daily travel without having to buy tickets or top up an Oystercard, making it ideal for occasional users or tourists…or anyone unfortunately unable to access their usual means of fare payment (lost Oystercard/photocard, for example). Many banks and building societies in the UK now offer credit and debit cards with a distinctive ‘sound wave’ logo. … Continue reading TRANSPORT FOR LONDON: Contactless Travel


text:
SpiderHeck landed on Switch this week, and new gameplay shows off the eShop title. 15 minutes of footage is available for the physics-based couch brawler.
Continue on below for more information about the game.
SpiderHeck launch trailer
Posted on 4 months ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Switch eShop, Videos | 0 comments
To celebrate the game’s release, SpiderHeck has been given a brand new launch trailer. Fans can get another look at the couch co-op brawler.
More information can be found in the following overview:
SpiderHeck out on Switch this month, new trailer
Posted on 4 months ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch eShop | 0 comments
Publisher tinyBuild and developer Neverjam have determined a final release date for SpiderHeck. The game, a non-stop co-op brawler, will be available for Switch on September 22, 2022.
We have more information about the title below:
Physics-based couch brawler SpiderHeck coming to Switch
Posted on 1 year ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Switch eShop | 0 comments
Today, publisher tinyBuild and developer NeverJam announced that the physics-based couch brawler SpiderHeck is on the way to Switch. The two sides did not share a release window. It’s only said to be “coming soon” at the moment.
SpiderHeck is described as “a fast-paced brawler that launches up to four players into a ridiculous spider showdown.” You’ll be able to use some crazy weapons to secure victory in battle, including laser swords, grenades, and rocket launchers. The primary goal is to navigate multiple platforms (and the dangerous lava) to web-sling your way to victory.


text:
In a bid to stop Nintendo producing region locked hardware, many fans have petitioned to the company in order to purchase region-free games. The petition, which outlines the reasons behind why Nintendo should allow region-free titles, has over 13,000 signatures and – at the time of writing – only needs 1,548 signatures to be submitted to Nintendo bosses.
The company has previously explained why region locking exists for their hardware, stating that they “take into account different languages, age rating requirements and parental control functionality” when producing games. Region locking also occurs as there can often be problems with software bought from another region when playing on hardware from your current region. But with region locking seen as something of the past, the petition claims that Nintendo should look to the future as it’s creating consumer restriction.
Following Microsoft’s U-turn on its DRM policies, including making the Xbox One region-free alongside the PS4, Nintendo is now left as the only major console manufacturer that maintains a region-locking policy. This practice is restrictive to customers, including those who enjoy playing foreign games not available domestically, speak foreign languages, serve in the military, or otherwise travel or live abroad. If anything, region-free policies encourage the additional sales of legitimate software that cannot otherwise be obtained in a given country; the money would still go to Nintendo, the developers and the distributors behind each game.
The petition recognises Nintendo’s stance on the matter, though, and has stated that it has shortened the amount of time between releases in each region, using Pokémon X and Y’s worldwide release as an example. If you’d like to sign the petition, you can do so here, but let us know your thoughts on region locking in the comments below.


text:
FortuneZ can confirm that Conor O’Driscoll has left his role at forex broker FxPro.
According to the retail broker’s Companies House page, O’Driscoll ceased to be a director with the firm on the 13th of August. The requisite filing was uploaded to FxPro’s profile page on Wednesday.
FortuneZ reached out to FxPro for comment on O’Driscoll’s departure. The firm was fairly ambiguous in its response, noting only that it was “a joint decision” between O’Driscoll and the firm.
Being the respectable journalists that we are, we also reached out to O’Driscoll for comment. Unfortunately for us, O’Driscoll did not respond to our request.
Given his career thus far, it seems likely that O’Driscoll will move on to a senior executive position. The reason for this being that he spent the last year and a half with FxPro as the retail broker’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) and deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Conor O’Driscoll – moving up the ranks
In fact, O’Driscoll has moved up the ranks of the retail industry at an extremely fast pace. Having graduated from University College Dublin in 2008, he spent the next three years working in management positions for Pan-Index and BAXTER Financial Services.
In 2012, he joined the firm that he has just left – FxPro. In his first couple of years with the firm, O’Driscoll worked as an FX dealer. From there he progressed to become Assistant Chief Dealer.
Following this, in early 2016, O’Driscoll worked on FxPro’s now-shelved plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO). The retail broker put those plans on hold after the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK’s financial regulator, began to put pressure on contracts for difference brokers.
Having worked on the IPO, O’Driscoll was then promoted, in January of 2017, to his most recent role. As deputy CEO and COO, O’Driscoll was responsible for an array of activities, including regulatory compliance, new product launches and improvements to customer service.
(Photo: Conor O’Driscoll)


text:
Worcester State University used to churn out teachers, but now its most popular major is business. Thanks to the generosity of an alumnus, Robert K. O’Brien ’58, who followed an entrepreneurial path, WSU students are being rewarded for following in his footsteps.
Launched this year was the Robert K. O’Brien “Next Big Idea.” Six students entered the competition, and the contest awarded cash prizes to three in a ceremony May 8.
Mr. O’Brien rose from Hanover Insurance trainee to vice president, retiring in 1989. In 1990, he founded Health Reinsurance Management. He is a director of Uruguay’s American Security Life Insurance Co., chief financial officer of OGRE, a software developer for landlords, and president of HRMI, a mortgage company.
Mr. O’Brien said, “I believe Worcester State University students have the creative innovation to launch the ‘Next Big Idea.’ And I’m excited about the creativity and enthusiasm this first group of competitors demonstrated in this entrepreneurship competition.”
WSU President Barry Maloney said he views the Next Big Idea contest as phase one in the development of Worcester State’s entrepreneurship curriculum. He pointed out that the majority of its students are business majors from Central Massachusetts.
“All the winners shared underlying values that Worcester State University wants to support: Find a need and build a sustainable business to meet it, constructively take chances, and don’t wait around — create your own opportunities.”
First-place winner Derek Canton, a WSU business student, won $2,000 for G1G, which is described as a maker of well-designed, high-quality novelty items “with a positive message” such as T-shirts, tank tops, hoodies, sweaters, hats, bracelets and sunglasses.
In awarding first prize to Mr. Canton, Mr. Maloney said, “This young man clearly demonstrated that he understood both his new business — a casual clothing line — and the requirements of a successful business plan. It is our ambition at Worcester State that our students not only have ideas good enough to succeed in the new creative economy, but also the necessary skills to bring those next big ideas successfully to the marketplace.”
Mr. Canton started his business to promote his religious values and to sell products.
As he explained in a May 10 interview, “G1G stands for God is Good. I got the idea for this because many of my peers were using acronyms like YOLO (You Only Live Once) and I wanted to make up my own. A year and a half ago, I used G1G in text messages and Facebook. G1G caught on, and I decided to do T-shirts using G1G. We have sold 1,600 units of product. This is my heart and my passion.”
Mr. Canton believes that he has benefited from the help of many people.
As Mr. Canton explained, “When I was looking for a company to make T-shirts for me, the prices were too high. I met Joe Astrella at my church, and told him about my idea. He offered to guarantee me a better price and grow with me. I have also had the help of mentors like my father, Danny Canton Sr., and Dr. George Cladis, who have guided me in my decisions. I have also been fortunate to work with photographers who gave me good pricing and models who agreed to work for free.”
One of the contest judges, Kim Harmon, told Mr. Canton that he had a great personality, an obvious passion for the business, and — unlike some of the other contestants — was already running the business.


text:
DIFFA and Dallas Contemporary lead this lineup of COVID-friendly fundraisers in November
UPDATE: As of November 5, Dallas Contemporary has postponed its Car Ball until spring 2021, a spokeswoman says. Check the website and social media pages for updates.
As the coronavirus continues to keep gatherings off-limits, Dallas-area nonprofits continue to innovate to raise vital funds for their programs and services.
They're getting more creative every day. From a popular auction of holiday wreaths going virtual to a socially distanced, drive-in style "car ball," these upcoming fundraisers are sure to be different — but no less fun and important. (See a list of previously announced November events here.)
Here are six new ones to check out for November:
Fashion Meets Mask benefiting Fashion Group International, November 5-30
More than 50 celebrities and designers have created masks for "Fashion Meets Mask," an exhibit and virtual auction that will raise funds for scholarships to aspiring fashion designers. The display will be on view for free at Galleria Dallas, November 5-30. Each mask is also being auctioned online to benefit the Dallas chapter of Fashion Group International, a nonprofit that provides scholarships to fashion design and fashion merchandising students across North Texas. Read more about it in this story. The public can view "Fashion Meets Mask" on Level One of Galleria Dallas then bid online using the QR code onsite at the exhibition or by visiting the auction site here.
A Virtual Taste of West Dallas benefiting Wesley-Rankin Community Center, November 8
A Taste of West Dallas supports Wesley-Rankin Community Center and participating West Dallas restaurants. For the first time, they are providing donors and sponsors a virtual experience, at 6 pm November 8. A pre-taped show online will feature West Dallas chefs and restaurateurs presenting their establishments and a few of their popular dishes, spiced up by updates from Wesley-Rankin and special prize drawings. Participating restaurants/caterers are 3015 at Trinity Groves (with Chef Sharon Van Meter), Steam Theory Brewing Company, Saint Rocco’s at Trinity Groves, Locura Dallas, and Frida’s Tacos. A $50 ticket gets each attendee a "reward card" redeemable at one of the participating restaurants, as well as one prize-drawing ticket. Wesley-Rankin Community Center (WRCC) partners with their West Dallas neighbors by providing education and resources to drive community transformation. More information and tickets are available here.
DIFFA/Dallas 25th Annual Holiday Wreath Collection, November 9-13
DIFFA/Dallas’ 25th annual Holiday Wreath Collection, aptly themed "Home for the Holidays," will be a reimagined event, featuring the popular holiday-themed auction taking place virtually. DIFFA/Dallas will host the event on their website and will include some nostalgic-style holiday specials, including holiday performances. A selection of DIFFA Wreaths will be on display each day between 3-6 pm at the Tower Club in Downtown Dallas so patrons can see the custom works of art in person before they bid online, if they'd like. This year’s silent auction will feature a collection of one-of-a-kind designer holiday wreaths, as well as holiday décor, artwork, and home accessories. The virtual auction is free to join, here.
Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity Dream Builders Luncheon, November 12
Dallas Area Habitat will celebrate the community, highlight their work, and showcase the success of their partner families at this first-ever virtual event. Guests will have the opportunity to learn about personal stories of Habitat families, hear from guest speakers, and give back from the comfort of their own home. The event aims to build awareness for housing equity and raise money to advance Habitat’s mission. Special guest speakers include Lee Bird, CEO for At Home, and an interview with Jim Lites, chairman and alternate governor for the Dallas Stars, along with Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Kirk Franklin and NBC5 anchor Deborah Ferguson. The event takes place 12-1 pm November 12; it is free to attend, but donations are welcome and registration is available here.
Dallas Contemporary Car Ball, November 12
UPDATE: As of November 5, this event has been postponed until spring 2021.
Dallas Contemporary will present its first ever Car Ball, a socially distanced, drive-in style event. Guests will be welcomed by a collection of low-riders leading them into a loop around the new parking lot. The tour will take attendees through a visual and musical journey with DJs, a dance performance by friendswithyou, digital projections, a tattoo parlor, and more. Safe rest stops will be provided for drinks and nibbles. Timed entry tickets are priced at $100 for a two-hour visit and at $275 for an all-nighter option. Proceeds from the evening will raise vital funds for Dallas Contemporary in a year where the health crisis forced the museum to temporarily close in mid-March. Tickets and more information here.
Buckner International Virtual 5K Run for Hope, November 14-15
Dallas-based nonprofit Buckner International is holding its first-ever virtual 5K run to benefit its various international services and initiatives. As a pandemic-friendly event for the family, participants can run or walk anywhere they choose on Saturday, November 14 or Sunday, November 15. Adult registration costs $30 and includes a race shirt and bib. Children 12 and under cost $15 to register, which also includes race shirt and bib. Pet race bandanas are available for $6. Registration must be completed by November 3 to guarantee receipt of race packets prior to the race. Those who register after November 3 may receive their packets after the race. For more information and to register, visit Buckner.org/RunForHope.


text:
EverFocus launches IP line
DUARTE, Calif.Ã¢â‚¬â€With 13 years of experience manufacturing analog video surveillance products for the middle market, EverFocus will showcase its first IP-based products at ISC West. The companyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s U.S. offices are based here, with global headquarters and most manufacturing in Taiwan.
Ã¢â‚¬Å“ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a new initiative,Ã¢â‚¬Â said sales engineer Rodney Guinto, Ã¢â‚¬Å“itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s something completely new to EverFocus. WeÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve decided to jump into the game during IPÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s infancy, or maybe toddler, stages.Ã¢â‚¬Â
ThereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s no timeline for a full rollout, Guinto said, but the company will be showcasing two IP cameras, an NVR, and some client software in its ISC booth. They are the result of about a year of planning and development.
Ã¢â‚¬Å“We started with surveys to the end users and dealers,Ã¢â‚¬Â Guinto said. Ã¢â‚¬Å“Doing research on anything from gigabit networks to power over Ethernet to varifocal lenses, anything feature-wise with a camera or IP-related thing. And the best way to do the research is to pinpoint the end user, and the people that are out in the field, rather than just get a perspective from an engineer.
Ã¢â‚¬Å“WeÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re trying to be more market driven,Ã¢â‚¬Â he said, Ã¢â‚¬Å“when we started we were doing everything engineering-based.Ã¢â‚¬Â
He said EverFocusÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s core customersÃ¢â‚¬â€those who donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t want to go very low cost, but donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t want to go high end, is how Guinto described themÃ¢â‚¬â€wanted hybrid solutions that would allow them to test the IP waters. Ã¢â‚¬Å“Some people are not 100 percent sure that the industry is going IP,Ã¢â‚¬Â he said. Ã¢â‚¬Å“To take baby steps, theyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢re asking for a hybrid DVR or encoders, and we can offer the encoders in a single or four-channel, and weÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll soon have a 16-channel.Ã¢â‚¬Â
The companyÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s certified dealer program will be upgraded as well, Guinto said. Ã¢â‚¬Å“Right now, our most advance class is just basic networking of a DVR,Ã¢â‚¬Â he said, Ã¢â‚¬Å“but with the IP products weÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ll need to get a little more advanced.Ã¢â‚¬Â SSN


text:
New York-In Demand will distribute Spring Communications' June 4 pay-per-view event featuring psychic Sylvia Browne.
Browne, who was featured in a similar PPV event last year, will help viewers to connect with their future through her live psychic event, which will retail at a suggested price of $19.95, Spring executives said.
The smarter way to stay on top of the multichannel video marketplace. Sign up below.
Thank you for signing up to Multichannel News. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.


text:
The European Commission said here on Wednesday that it has authorized temporary Finnish scheme aimed at companies in financing difficulties as a result of the credit squeeze in the current economic crisis.
The European Commission, the executive of the European Union (EU), said that the Finnish scheme, which allows granting aid of up to 500,000 euros per company, "meets the conditions of the commission's Temporary Framework for state aid measures to support access to finance in the current financial and economic crisis."
It said the scheme "is appropriate to remedy a serious disturbance in the entire Finnish economy, is limited in time, respects the relevant thresholds and applies only to companies that were not in difficulties before July 1, 2008."
"The Finnish measure facilitates the access of firms affected by the credit crunch to investment and working capital loans," Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said.
"This is an effective way of encouraging business investment and economic recovery, without unduly distorting competition," she said.
The Finnish measures can be applied until Dec. 31, 2010 and the scheme does not apply to firms that were already in difficulties on July 1, 2008.
"The Finnish authorities demonstrated that the scheme is necessary, proportional and appropriate to remedy a serious disturbance in the entire Finnish economy," said the commission.


text:
On the last day 28, a 7.5 earthquake on the Richter scale reached Indonesia central, especially the island of Sulawesi. The impact, combined with the subsequent tsunami generated by it, caused the death of more than 1,200 people and the destruction of entire towns and cities was an unparalleled tragedy in this decade in Southeast Asia.
Today, Tim Cook announced that Apple is donating $ 1 million humanitarian recovery and rescue efforts working in Indonesia:
Our hearts go out to the people of Sulawesi and all of Indonesia after this weekends devastating earthquake and tsunami. Apple is donating $ 1 million to aid relief efforts as this beautiful country starts to rebuild.
– Tim Cook (@tim_cook) October 2, 2018
Our hearts are with the people of Sulawesi and all over Indonesia after the devastating earthquake and tsunami last weekend. Apple is donating $ 1 million to help humanitarian efforts as this beautiful country begins to rebuild.
Apple is in the habit of donating when natural disasters strike different parts of the world, but this time, unlike recent cases, it has not yet opened a page on its website and iTunes Store to receive contributions from its users as well.
If something like this goes on air, we will notify you after all, all help for this type of effort counts.


text:
To make matters more confusing, nine states (including California, Washington, and Colorado) let residents buy cannabis-based products with or without THC. Nearly two dozen other “medical marijuana states” allow the sale of cannabis, including capsules, tinctures, and other items containing CBD or THC, at licensed dispensaries to people whose doctors have certified that they have an approved condition (the list varies by state but includes chronic pain, PTSD, cancer, autism, Crohn’s disease, and multiple sclerosis). Sixteen more states legalized CBD for certain diseases.
Several weeks after a hysterectomy last spring, Bo Roth was suffering from exhaustion and pain that kept her on the couch much of the day. The 58-year-old Seattle speech coach didn’t want to take opioid pain-killers, but Tylenol wasn’t helping enough. Roth was intrigued when women in her online chat group enthused about a cannabis-derived oil called cannabidiol (CBD) that they said relieved pain without making them high. So Roth, who hadn’t smoked weed since college but lived in a state where cannabis was legal, walked into a dispensary and bought a CBD tincture.
This is why Amanda Oliver, 31, a career consultant in Charleston, SC, pops a CBD gummy bear each night before bed. “I used to lie there tossing and turning as my mind raced from work projects to whether I had set the home alarm,” Oliver says. One piece of candy with 15 milligrams (mg) of CBD is enough to shut off her brain and facilitate sleep. She also swears by the CBD oil she takes at the height of her period, which she says quells her debilitating cramps.
All this talk about THC lands us nicely in the whole “Full Spectrum vs. Pure Isolate” debate. Once you begin shopping for CBD products, you’ll notice a lot of jargon that gets thrown around without much explanation. Now that we’ve introduced THC into the conversation, we can talk about the difference between, and relative benefits of, Full Spectrum CBD and CBD Isolate (and the lesser-known contender: Broad Spectrum).
Hemp-derived CBD oil products will not get you “high” since they contain little or no THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. They are also now federally legal in the United States following the signing of the 2018 Farm Bill. More medical research studies are needed, but we expect that these products will continue to gain even more mainstream acceptance over time.
When it comes to bang for the buck, Lazarus Naturals is the industry leader. They’ve built a loyal customer base because of their low prices, high-quality products, and compassionate assistance program for those in need. In fact, they’ve been voted the Brand of the Year by members of the CBD Oil Users Group on Facebook for the last 3 years. We particularly like their dedication to posting third-party lab reports on their website by batch. Their 30-day money-back guarantee speaks to the confidence in the quality of their products which clearly makes them one of the best CBD oil brands on the market.
Spruce was founded by Tony Spencer, who had a clear mission for his company—give people access to safe and effective lab-grade, hemp-based CBD. Spencer realized that many other CBD oils on the market were low-potency and simply didn’t work. “We have a lot of customers in pain who have wasted money on CBD products in the past that didn’t work for them,” remarks Spruce on their website.


text:
Victoria’s Secret could be on its way to Australia if local retailer
The famous bra and undies chain, which counts Miranda Kerr among its “Angels" and is known for its lavish and colourful fashion shows, has been trading out of Sydney Airport since last year under a licensing agreement with Malaysian-based retailer Valiram Group.
When asked if Victoria’s Secret stores were expected to open elsewhere in Australia, Specialty Fashion chief executive
“[Owner Limited Brands] is not quite ready but soon will be," he told The Australian Financial Review. “Victoria’s Secret has only two stores in Canada, so they have plenty of global growth yet."
Specialty Fashion signed a 10-year licensing agreement with Limited Brands last August to run the La Senza lingerie chain in Australia. Mr Perlstein last week confirmed that the group was on track to open stores this half and remained committed to 100 new La Senza stores over three years.
“We are on our way to becoming [Limited’s] largest licensee," he said. “They are launching a flagship site in London next year. We want to get things up and running here to give them a solid base in Australia."
Victoria’s Secret has more than 1000 stores and annual turnover of more than $US5 billion. Limited Brands also owns Pink (by Victoria’s Secret), Bath & Body Works, CO Bigelow, White Barn Candle Co and Henri Bendel. It recently took the Bath & Body Works to the Middle East.
Other international brands that also have plans for Australia include The Gap, which opened in Melbourne and Sydney, and Spain’s Zara, which is set to open at in Sydney in the next few months. Banana Republic, also owned by Gap Inc, is reported to be considering opening a store in Melbourne, while property and retail sources recently told the AFR that Top Shop, H&M, Victoria’s Secret and Forever 21 were sizing up the Australian market and might make an appearance here in the next 18 months.
Mr Perlstein said he would like to be part of Limited Brands’ global plans but his main focus was on La Senza.
Meanwhile, Specialty Fashion, which runs Millers and Katies brands, revealed its own international expansion last week. It entered the New Zealand market in the first half of 2011 with the Millers and City Chic brands. City Chic’s US online presence was launched in November.
“City Chic’s online business we investigated for two years," Mr Perlstein said. “There is enough opportunity there alone to do that. The other brands will follow suit.
“We are getting a lot of global intelligence with our partner Limited Brands."
The Australian Financial Review


text:
Oh, I'm sure he will. But will everyone? Johnson County is close to its restaurant saturation point. Restaurants continue to open, but who the hell is eating in all of them?
Recently a friend and I drove out to the six-month-old Shogun Sushi and Steak Restaurant (12028 West 95th Street in Lenexa). That bustling stretch around 95th Street and Quivira Road boasts nearly a dozen chain restaurants, including Mimi's Café, Outback Steakhouse, BD's Mongolian Barbecue and Houlihan's.
Although it's in one of Lenexa's dreariest shopping centers, Shogun is exceptionally attractive, with a long and comfortable sushi bar and a pretty dining room designed around the six shiny teppan-yaki grills. When Lou Jane and I arrived, a couple was sitting at the sushi bar, and several people were seated around one of the teppan-yaki tables. By the time our Mexican-born chef started grilling meat for our dinner, we were the only customers in the place.
In south Johnson County alone, there's Haru (15202 West 119th Street in Overland Park), Han Shin (4817 West 117th Street in Leawood), Izumi (11658 West 135th Street in Overland Park) and Nikko (10800 Metcalf in Overland Park). So it might have made more sense for Shogun to have opened in a less competitive neighborhood -- like, say, downtown Kansas City.
Is it too controversial to think that a sushi-and-steak restaurant might be as successful north of 18th Street -- closer to convention trade and the after-work crowd -- as in an ugly suburban strip?
Yes, says Shogun's owner Shelly Wong. "We have a great location near Oak Park Mall. There's lots of people here."
No, says Andi Udris, president of the Economic Development Corporation, who would love to see a Japanese steakhouse downtown. (Udris insists Crown Center's Kabuki has a teppan-yaki grill; it doesn't.)
"There's this misconception among restaurateurs -- and especially their lenders -- that they have to go where everyone else goes," Udris says. "They don't realize that there's less competition downtown and a lunchtime population of 50,000 people."
Take that idea and grill it.


text:
Google, Others Support Samsung in Apple Patent Dispute
In an amicus brief last week, Google said it wants the Supreme Court to review the design patent infringement case between Apple and Samsung.Google joined a slew of technology companies, legal professionals and intellectual property experts in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a design patent infringement case between Apple and Samsung that has already cost the latter some $548 million in damages. In amicus briefs filed last week, Google, along with Facebook, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, eBay and several other tech companies, urged the nation's highest court to take up the case; they cited concerns over the way the damages against Samsung were assessed. Joining Google and the others in expressing support for Samsung were as many as 37 law professors and six civil rights, public policy and trade groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA). In all, a total of six amicus briefs were filed with the Supreme Court in support of Samsung last week. If the court decides to hear the case, that will mark the first time it has reviewed a dispute involving a design patent in 120 years, Samsung said in a statement announcing the new support it has just received. The briefs show that Google, Facebook, eBay, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and the others agreed that the manner in which design patent laws are applied is "out of touch with economic realities," Samsung noted. It could slow innovation and prevent companies from spending on research and development, the company said.
In December 2015, Samsung paid Apple $548 million after an appeals court determined that the company needed to pay Apple that amount for violating its iPhone's design patents. The amount represented the total profits from Samsung's sales of smartphones and tablets based on the infringed Apple design patents. Though substantial, the $548 million in damages was significantly lower than the $1 billion that a jury had originally awarded to Apple in the case, back in 2012.


text:
If two cups of coffee look the same, smell the same, and taste the same, would you pay a dollar more to feel "good" about buying it, knowing that the farmers who grew the beans were compensated fairly? About 60 percent of Americans would at least consider the pricier cup, making that "emotional attribute" of each consumer purchase key to the new wave of social entrepreneurship that Paul Rice, CEO of FairTrade USA, says has the ability to change the world.
"You can tackle the world's problems through market-based approaches," said Rice, who will speak Friday at 5 p.m. at Tulane University as part of a series of speakers on social entrepreneurship. "In the past, companies thought profitability and sustainability were incompatible, and now they're realizing they can very much go together."
FairTrade USA is a non-profit organization that certifies products imported into the United States as "fair trade" goods, meaning the suppliers are compensated at a higher rate than they would be otherwise. The price premiums contribute to community development initiatives, such as a clean water distribution system in Argentina for grape farmers who produce wine for Target, or school buses for coffee growers' children in Nicaragua. FairTrade USA's new pilot program for manufacturing apparel in India will double workers' wages, from $3 to $6 a day.
All those social impacts sound great, but they are costly to consumers too. Even so, demand for these expensive yet do-good products not only exists, but is increasing. In spite of the nationwide recession, fair trade products have continued to grow in sales. Since January, fair trade sales are up by 63 percent overall, with sales at mainstream grocery stores having grown by 87 percent, according to a report by SPINS, an industry analysis company.
Rice came up with the concept for FairTrade USA after working with coffee farmers in Nicaragua. He saw the government and non-profit aid the farmers received as debilitating, because it kept the coffee farmers surviving but still in poverty.
"The old view was top-down government money or a charity-driven model," said Rice. "Now we are realizing we can harness market forces to create financial self-sustainability within the organization itself."
"There's this invisible dividend, too, of pride, diginity and self-confidence because these projects are the result of these peoples' own hard work, not some development agency or some well-intentioned NGO."
FairTrade USA is a "perfect example" of social entrepreneurship, said Rick Aubry, assistant provost for civic engagement and social entrepreneurship, a new department at Tulane University that will soon launch the nation's first major in social entrepreneurship.
"FairTrade USA has leveraged the consuming power of people who buy coffee and bananas in a way that lifts the millions of people who grow those products out of poverty," Aubry said.
In spite of the increasing consumer demand, the biggest challenge Rice has faced in his venture is attracting capital investment. Seventy-five percent of FairTrade USA's operating costs are covered by sales of its certified products. The rest of its costs are funded by grants and foundations.
"If you're a social entrepreneur with a great concept for a business that will generate what is sometimes referred to as the 'triple bottom line' -- the financial, social, and environmental returns -- it's more challenging to find capital to fund that," Rice said. "Angel investors and venture capitalists, they are just more skeptical. What that points to is the fact that we're still at an early stage in this movement."
Rice will speak at 5 p.m. Friday at the Freeman Auditorium, Woldenberg Art Center on Tulane University's uptown campus.
Naomi Martin can be reached at email@example.com or 504.826.3495.


text:
In His New Book, Wewege Looks at the Future of Traditional Retail Banking and Discusses Whether it will be One of Revolution or Evolution
LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / March 24, 2017 / Luigi Wewege, CEO of Vivier & Co, a boutique financial services firm based in Auckland, New Zealand, is pleased to announce the release of The Digital Banking Revolution book. In his new book, Wewege discusses his belief that emergent FinTech companies have rapidly transformed the traditional retail banking industry through disruptive innovation.
To learn more about Vivier & Co, and how the company is planning for continued transformation of banking by FinTech companies, as well as to read more about the financial services they offer, please visit their website: www.vivier.finance.
Wewege notes in his recently published book, that mobile banking, check imaging, and smartwatches are just a few of the latest financial service innovations that assist people with a variety of ways in which to spend, transfer, and manage their money nowadays.
"Advancements in technology have contributed to a completely new way in which consumers can conduct their financial affairs online, threatening the status quo of traditional retail banks, and redefining a banking model which has been in place for generations," Luigi said, adding that if people want to receive updates about the latest in banking and finance news they should follow Vivier's LinkedIn company page.
FinTechs have rapidly emerged as the new low-cost competitors to established international retail banks, which will ultimately force them to swiftly increase their pace of digital adoption. If banks implement these changes they may have a chance at staying relevant within the industry, and stopping mass client attrition to these agile financial startups.
"It's been predicted that there will be more financial service innovations developed over the next five years by FinTech players than in the last twenty years combined," Wewege said.
He continues to explain that the underlying reason for this continued innovation push by FinTechs, is due to them desperately trying to win the hearts and minds of bank customers, and convince them to switch to their product and service offerings. However, as for how much further current technologies can be advanced is not known precisely, and is currently the subject of much debate.
This means that for FinTech companies to continue their rapid growth, it will ultimately come down to the reliability of the technology being developed at present.
"This will either directly affect the performance of FinTechs positively or negatively, and will be a major determining factor on their long-term viability in a highly competitive industry," Wewege said.
As traditional retail banks come to terms with the vital importance of digitizing their services quickly, they will likely find that when migrating to this digital world it could prove rather difficult for them.
"This being primarily due to most of them having decades-old back office legacy technology systems, and if these banks want to still be a relevant player today and beyond in the financial industry, they will need to ensure that they equip themselves with a completely new set of innovative digital solutions," Luigi said.
He then clarifies this further by saying, that once this has been accomplished, banks shouldn't stop but continue a program of adapting to the digital era by nurturing their customer experience. Banks will be able to achieve this through constantly observing market demands for convenient, simple-to-use, easy-to-understand banking products and financial services that will integrate seamlessly into their customers' lives.
Despite the varied amount of challenges that retail banks now face, they do still however possess an inherent competitive advantage over financial technology companies. This derives from banks' larger customer bases, which provide them with vast amounts of customer and transaction data. Additionally, they have built-up valuable know-how in the areas of payments, security, compliance, and financing over several decades.
"These competencies are exceptionally difficult to replicate by any startup financial firm, and what will invariably happen is that they will be confined to acting as financial intermediaries, whilst banks will continue to have the experience and know-how for transactions carried out between their customers and merchants," Wewege said, adding that transactional data should be considered one of the greatest assets of retail banks today.
The information obtained by retail banks will allow them to better understand their customers, he said, and consequently enable them to better provide their customers with value-added services, as well as the ability to offer certain financial services in a variety of new and innovative ways.
"Traditional retail banks worldwide will now need to leverage opportunities enabled by digital technologies, which will be critical to their future chances of success," Luigi said, adding that most retail banks have been taken completely by surprise with the rapid emergence of financial technology companies, and that they now need to go on the offensive by developing innovative financial technologies of their own to disrupt the industry.
"This will ensure that retail banks are back at the forefront of providing people with new financial service solutions, and thus help them regain market share which they have been steadily losing ground to FinTechs throughout this entire digital era."
About Luigi Wewege:
Luigi is the Chief Executive Officer of Vivier & Co a boutique financial services firm offering private digital banking solutions to clients worldwide. Outside of Vivier he serves as the Non-executive Chairman of Nikau Global an international trade development company, as a Partner/Director of Palmetto Global Ventures a bespoke financial management consultancy based in South Carolina, and is an invited member of Massachusetts non-profit The YEC. Luigi is also the author of the book: The Digital Banking Revolution which is available in audio, kindle and paperback formats through all major online bookstores in over fifty countries. For more information, please visit his personal website: www.luigiwewege.com.
About Vivier & Co:
Vivier is a boutique financial services firm incorporate in New Zealand in 2001, and offers a complete financial package which includes: current accounts, savings accounts, debit cards, an online platform, and international money transfers. Vivier also offers escrow accounts which assist companies to facilitate international trade and mitigate their risk on critical transactions. For more information, please visit the company's website: https://vivierco.com.
Brandon Hopkins, Owner of California, USA based AfterHim Media LLC.
SOURCE: Vivier & Co


text:
Hong Kong businesses are known for their flexibility and adaptability. A family-owned factory, now in its second generation, has faced constant challenges since the current owner took over the operation, so it took the decision to actively diversify.
Clock in and experience a world of business opportunities at the HKTDC Hong Kong Watch & Clock Fair! This year’s event presents an array of complete watches and clocks, parts and components, machinery, equipment, packaging and wearable tech expertise. The fair also features the Intelligence Hub, Hong Kong International Watch Forum, seminars, product launches and a daily watch parade.
Faced with the challenge of growing its business following the COVID-19 pandemic, a well-established Hong Kong watchstrap maker realised it had to use the right channels to go out into overseas markets, in addition to providing quality products that people want to buy.
Sales of consumer goods such as watches and clothing serve as a gauge for the economy. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic made consumers cautious, but now, as markets begin to recover, Hong Kong watch brand Glitzy Owl, which initially rolled out in Japan and Taiwan last year, is setting sights on its home market.
Quality timepieces call to mind the image of the watchmaker painstakingly assembling cogs and springs. Modern watchmakers identify with this image of tradition and craftsmanship but when marketing products, they are firmly placed in the cyber 21st-century.
Thanks to an abundance of luxury watch boutiques, multi-brand retailers and specialist auction houses, Hong Kong is the largest watch market in the world, with exports to the city representing about 9 billion Swiss francs (HK$70.3 billion) in 2018, an increase of 10% over the previous 12 months.


text:
Nintendo Switch has several big-name exclusives that players are hoping to see highlighted soon. For instance, we have Bayonetta 3, which is a game we’ve been waiting on for years now to see released. Now, we know that there is a Nintendo Direct scheduled for tomorrow, September 23, 2021. That could mean there are plenty of big-name video game titles that they’ll finally showcase. Although, we don’t know just what video games will be highlighted during the upcoming stream.
Nintendo Directs pop up at random times. We typically get very short notice of when they’ll be posted. Today Nintendo of America has alerted fans through Twitter that there is a Nintendo Direct scheduled tomorrow. Starting at 3 PM PT, viewers can join in online through the official Nintendo YouTube channel. During the stream, Nintendo will be highlighting video games that are launching this winter season. Again, there are no video game titles confirmed right now to be showcased at this event.
We should see some big-name titles that could be launching soon. Again we may see Bayonetta 3, but then there are also fans hopeful on other titles. Some might be hopeful for a tease on The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 and Metroid Prime 4. Although the stream will be mainly focused on the winter season launches, there are bound to be some games that are highlighted to launch before the season starts up.
Nintendo will likely have showcased one of those games is Metroid Dread, a Nintendo Switch exclusive coming out on October 8, 2021. Likewise, we do have Mario Party Superstars coming out on October 29, 2021. Seeing those titles make an appearance could be a safe bet. So with that said, what are you hoping to see showcase during this upcoming Nintendo Direct?


text:
That’s according to GamesBeat journalist Jeff Grubb, who said on his paywalled Giant Bomb video show (transcribed by VGC), that he’d heard from multiple sources that a new Street Fighter was what Capcom’s teaser site is ticking towards.
“Everybody should expect Street Fighter 6, because that’s what I have heard,” Grubb said.
According to the timer on the Capcom website, the reveal will be made at 1am ET/ 6am GMT on Monday, February 21 (or Sunday 10pm PT).
Although there has been no indication from Capcom for what exactly the countdown is ticking towards, fans had expected something Street Fighter related, since its timing coincides exactly with the conclusion of the company’s Street Fighter Pro Tour Season Final.
Until Sunday, February 20, Capcom is hosting three days of exhibition matches featuring the 31 pro Street Fighter V: Champion Edition players.
Street Fighter series celebrates its 35th anniversary this year and Capcom recently confirmed it would celebrate the occasion. “Please look forward to the future development of the Street Fighter series,” it said.
In 2017, Capcom celebrated the series’ 30th anniversary with the release of the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, which included all 12 main arcade versions of the Street Fighter, Street Fighter II, Street Fighter III and Street Fighter Alpha games.
The first Street Fighter was released in arcades in August 1987, but it was Street Fighter II, released in 1991, that revolutionised the one-on-one fighting game genre and established many of its rules going forward.
The most recent game in the series, Street Fighter V, was released in 2016 in arcades and on PS4 and PC. it was updated to Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition in 2017, then again to Street Fighter V: Champion Edition in 2020.
Capcom has continued to update Street Fighter V with five separate seasons of content, with over 2000 individual DLC items released to date


text:
The Ford Mustang GT4 factory race car has been revealed at the SEMA show in Las Vegas.
Built to compete in both the US and Europe in 2017, the new Mustang GT4 builds on the highly successful Shelby GT350R-C that won IMSA’s Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge this season.
Like the GT350R-C and the Le Mans-winning Ford GT, the GT4 is a joint development with race preparation specialist, Multimatic. It has been developed from the outset with customer, not factory race teams in mind.
“This car will enable us to run a customer racing programme worldwide,” says Dave Pericak, director of Ford Performance. “We wanted to get this to market as quickly as we could. We’ve already tested it on track and in the wind tunnel; we’re extremely happy with its performance and it’ll be homologated early next year.”
Although the best elements from the GT350R-C have been incorporated into the GT4, Pericak stresses that this is an all-new machine.
“We learned a lot racing the R-C, in terms of aerodynamics and suspension, for example, to make the car more forgiving in certain situations,” he says. “It’ll be extremely adaptable to different levels of competition, teams and drivers. There will also be a way for people to inexpensively adapt it to endurance racing spec.”
The GT4’s price is yet to be announced, but Pericak promises it’ll be “very affordable” and describes early interest from teams as “phenomenal”. Ford hasn’t published a full spec, but the car features unique rear lower control arms, extensive aerodynamic development with a front splitter and rear wing, and Multimatic DSSV dampers.


text:
Egypt: Inflation increases in December
Consumer prices decreased 0.08% month-on-month in December, swinging from November’s 0.15% increase, marking the first drop in prices since January 2021. December’s fall was due to prices for food declining at a quicker rate and prices for health services increasing at a softer pace.
Inflation rose to 5.9% in December, up from November’s 5.6%. Meanwhile, the trend was unchanged for the third month running, with annual average inflation coming in at November’s 5.2% in December. Finally, core inflation inched up to 6.0% in December (November: +5.8%), hitting its highest value since at least September 2019.


text:
Manning Up in the Kitchen - Changing the way we Talk Turkey in 2013.
Men in the kitchen is a growing trend. Credit popular TV shoes such as Top Chef, Chopped, and the notoriety of famous male chefs who frequent The Food Network. Bobby Flay, Michael Chiarello, Robert Irvine, and Guy Fieri are portrayed as masculine and adventurous, and yes they happen to cook well too.
Regardless of the reason, more and more men are getting comfortable with a role in the kitchen. A consultant for the Food Republic, a website for male chefs, is celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson. Samuelsson says, “The kitchen is the new garage. The cool gadgets and tools are now in the kitchen."
A first for Butterball - Manning Up for their turkey hotline.
This trend isn’t lost on one of the country’s biggest poultry producers. Butterball’s Turkey Hotline has been staffed with operators for 32 years. Women who have offered advice on how to handle the often overwhelming tasks of turkey making during the holidays.
For the first time ever Butterball is adding male operators to their popular Turkey Talk Line. According to the company, when the talk line started in 1980, only 9% of the calls were from men. But now, it’s one in four.
Manning Up the Home Buying Process.
Those of us who sell homes should pay attention. Assuming a male buyer is more interested in the garage, or a an outside shop area, rather than a kitchen might represent outdated thinking.
If chef Samuelsson is right, and the kitchen is the new garage for men, both builders and Realtors would be wise to take note. If manning up in the kitchen continues as a growing trend - it may well change the face of homes and home-buying preferences.
It's certainly changed the way we Talk Turkey in 2013.


text:
US Raises Travel Alert to Japan
The U.S. State Department on Saturday raised the travel alert level to Japan from Level 1 to Level 2, calling for increased caution for American citizens traveling to the country.
Officials said the coronavirus originating in China is spreading in Japanese communities via unknown infection routes.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) has proposed a rule that would clarify the legal meaning of “unfair and deceptive practices” in the airline industry.
The clarification would apply to potential punitive action against both airlines and ticket agents, including travel advisors.
The rule, says the DOT, would benefit consumers, airlines and ticket agents alike by providing more certainty as to what constitutes an unfair or deceptive practice.
Richard Branson launches adults-only cruise line
With voyage fares ranging from $1,600 to $19,000, Branson’s new cruise line, Virgin Voyages, is set to tour the Caribbean starting in April 2020.
Will Coronavirus Spur Asian Countries To Reduce Dependence On Chinese Tourists?
The sudden reduction in the number of international Chinese tourists as a result of the coronavirus outbreak may force the tourism and transportation industries to address long-running concerns about overdependence on a single market – the classic eggs/basket metaphor.
One country reckons it has already taken measures: Singapore. “Our tourist market can grow up even faster. I got tons of tourists queuing up to come to Singapore,” Singapore Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing reportedly told a business forum this month.


text: Russian innovative company CSort presented its equipment at the world’s largest trade fair for agricultural machinery & equipment Agritechnica-2017 in Hannover. As a result, a German company bought a color sorter SmartSort in a complete set. Further machines will be delivered to the European clients in the first half of next year. Also successful was the presentation of a new innovative belt sorter Horizont. A Russian company from the Southern Federal District pre-ordered two machines, the serial production of which will be launched in 2018.


text:
Is it GAME over for Gloucester video game retailer?
By James Young | 13th January 2020
A "store rationalisation programme" will see up to 40 branches of video game retailer GAME close their doors over the coming months.
The retailer currently has 259 outlets across the country as well as 21 Belong eSports arenas, including a store in Gloucester's Eastgate Shopping Centre.
The retailer used to operate a store in a prime position on Cheltenham's High Street, but that closed in September 2018.
According to reports, Game has already served notice on 13 sites across the country, including stores in Canterbury, Glasgow, Leicester and Watford.
The Gloucester store is not on the current list of stores marked for closure.
The retailer has blamed the challenges of the retail market and landlords charging high rents fort he store closures.
Game is part of Mike Ashley's Frasers Group - previously known as Sports Direct, who spoke about the challenges facing the video game retailer in their 2018/19 annual report.
It said: "Sports Direct believes that GAME needs to diversify and future-proof its product mix if it is to keep up with technological developments and ensure that it does not become irrelevant to customers."
Copyright 2020 Moose Partnership Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any content is strictly forbidden without prior permission.


text:
Amazon wants everyone to know today that sales of the various Kindle models on Friday were the best ever. Compared to last year, 4 times as many Kindles moved on Black Friday as ever before. But since we don’t really know how many Kindles sold last year, this year’s boast doesn’t really mean much.
I would estimate that Amazon sold 5 Kindles last Black Friday, and that means that this year they sold 20. That’s a respectable number, and Amazon should be proud.
Joking aside, the Kindle Fire is expected to sell around 5 million units before the end of the year, so it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that Amazon sold a hundred thousand or more Kindle Fires and a fair number of Kindle ebook readers.


text:
Adidas Yeezy Boost 750
Police and other officials said it was Adidas Ultra Boost Grey Metallic
will also become the first openly bisexual governor in Adidas Yeezy Boost 750 the nation. She will not assume office until Wednesday, when Kitzhaber's resignation takes effect. He is stepping down amid suspicions that his fiance used their relationship to land contracts for her green energy consulting business. "This is a sad day for Oregon. But I am confident that legislators are ready to come together to move Oregon forward," Brown said Friday.
"I know you all have a lot of questions, and I will answer Adidas Superstar 2
them as soon as possible. As you can imagine, there is a lot of work to be done between now and Wednesday. "Unlike most states, Oregon has no lieutenant governor. Under the state constitution, the secretary of state takes over if a governor steps down or dies. That has happened eight times since statehood, according to the Blue Book, the state government almanac. The official told The Associated Press the suspects were on a chat stream and were apparently obsessed with killing and death and had many photos of mass killings.
inegar a hero to some for beauty, health, homeQuinn on Nutrition: Sounds nutty, but here's latest on avoiding this allergyHealth Fitness FileFamilywize rings of savings of more than $1 millionIn BriefBrown to replace Kitzhaber as Oregon governorThe resignation of Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber instantly promoted the liberal Democrat who is next in line to succeed him: the 54 year old secretary of state who has long been thought to have her eye on Oregon's top elected position. Kate Brown, who is widely considered to be to the left of the departing Democratic governor, Adidas Stan Smith Black On Feet
not related to Islamic terrorism. The official said one of the two suspects, a 23 year old American woman from Geneva, Ill. , was arrested at Halifax's airport and confessed to the plot. The official said she prewrote a number of pronouncements to be tweeted after her death. Warrants filed in Durham County Superior Court listed an inventory of weapons seized by police from the Chapel Hill condominium of Craig S.
Adidas Yeezy Boost 750
Adidas Shoes For Girls Blue
Prada Nylon Bag With Chain Strap
Adidas Shoes Superstar Pink
Prada Bag Ioffer
Prada Bags Brown
Adidas Yeezy Boost
Adidas Superstar Gold Outfit
Adidas Shoes For Men White
Adidas Ultra Boost Black Reflective
Adidas Tubular Radial Triple Black
Adidas Zx Flux Black Women
Adidas Shoes For Girls White
Prada Bag Red Lining
Adidas Nmd Xr1 White
Adidas Ultra Boost Triple Red
/ Adidas Yeezy Boost 750


text:
Some 15,000 people who thought they had secured London 2012 Olympics tickets in the second round of sales have now been told they will not receive them.
The disappointed fans had been able to book seats for events which had already sold out because the booking website was not updated quickly enough.
Some 2.3m tickets went on sale online on Friday for 10 days on a first-come, first-served basis.
Locog said almost 90% of those who applied on Friday got some tickets.
Those who lost out fell foul of the way the Ticketmaster system was updated during the second round process, BBC sports news correspondent James Pearce says.
The original online ticket system was designed for the ballot arrangement used for the first round sale of tickets where live updating was not needed.
On a first-come, first-served basis, where tickets to events are withdrawn from sale as they sell out, the organisers had to rely on manual updating by a team of operatives.
These would appear not to have kept up with the speed of tickets sales, our correspondent says.
One applicant, Andy Pritchard, from Bangor, Gwynedd, contacted the BBC to say his application for second round tickets had been rejected.
"I was on the application website bang on 0600 on Friday to make my application and thought I had got tickets to three sessions," he said.
"As they were supposedly first-come, first-served, I had some confidence that I had been successful. But today I received an e-mail saying I had been unsuccessful and will not be going to the games, which I just found galling. Now I have no tickets for myself or my son."
A London 2012 spokeswoman said: "Over 150,000 applications have been processed since Friday for around 850,000 tickets. Just under 90% received tickets, subject to payment.
"Around 10% have not been successful due to the massive demand during the first two hours of sales where 10 sports sold out, some within 15 minutes.
"E-mails are being sent to applicants today, and whilst more applicants now have tickets to the Games, we know that there are still some disappointed customers and we will do everything we can to get them to the Games."
In all, 24 sports were in the second round, 18 of which sold out by Friday evening. Boxing and weight lifting joined the "sold out" list on Saturday.
Tickets for 310 sessions went on sale, 44 of which were medal events.
There were about 1.7 million tickets for football and 600,000 for other sports, including archery, hockey, football, judo, boxing and volleyball, among other sports.
Some half a million tickets were priced at £20 or less. A further one million tickets were priced between £20 and £50.
Tickets for football, volleyball, wrestling - freestyle and Greco-Roman - remain available.
Further ballot coming
Locog said there would be further opportunities to buy tickets for a wider range of events.
"Over a million new tickets will be offered to the British public next year from contingency seats, once venues are tested and licensed, and we aim to get as many of these tickets as possible into the hands of customers who have missed out to date."
Notification is being sent within 24 to 48 hours of applying. Payment will be taken once the sale closes at 1800 BST on 3 July.
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) said: "Broadly speaking, those who applied first, on Friday morning, will be those who hear first."
Fewer than half of those who applied got tickets in the first round, as demand outstripped supply in many events. In the men's 100m athletics final more than one million tickets were requested.
Those who were successful in the first ballot, held from May to June, will get their own second chance to buy from 0600 BST on 8 July to 1800 BST on 17 July. However, a 2012 spokeswoman said there was no guarantee that tickets would still be available by then.


text:
New year procurement and services marketplace wishes 2022
For several years now, Spend Matters has been collecting and publishing a series of predictions about procurement, supply and services trends for the year ahead from expert tech and service providers in the market. This year, given the unpredictability of events throughout 2020/21, we have been asking solution and services providers about their ‘wishes’ for the year ahead instead.
We’ve framed the ‘wishes’ around how they’d like to see their markets evolve, whether that be in terms of software or service, workforce or talent, suites vs best of breed or even the evolution of partnerships and ecosystems. Themes this year tend to be about sustainable procurement (thinking about COP26 and ESG — see our series on ESG here), antifragility versus the resilience we heard a lot about last year, and optimizing decisions with supply chain analytics and scenario modeling software. However, as you’ll see from some of the answers, we still can’t get away from the urge to form predictions, which is understandable given that many firms are busy aligning next year’s activities with what they forecast!
Our series of wishes will run from mid-December to early January, then our analyst Bertrand Maltaverne will wrap up with his own take on the key themes that emerge.
In no order of preference, other than by the date they dropped into our digital letterbox, today let’s hear the three wishes/predictions for 2022 from:
Kevin Frechette, co-founder and CEO of Fairmarkit, intelligent sourcing platform and one of Spend Matters 50 To Watch.
My wishes for 2022
1. 2022 will be the year of the supplier
In 2021, procurement went from a largely neglected area of business to mission-critical operations due to the massive disruptions to the infrastructure that delivers goods and services. In 2022, I believe we’ll see the spotlight shift more specifically to suppliers especially as businesses face mounting pressure from investors and government to diversify and localize their supplier base, not to mention source from eco-conscious and sustainable vendors. As a result, we’ll see an accelerated adoption of tech like artificial intelligence and machine learning within the dynamic between businesses and their suppliers, making it faster, easier and more efficient to run their businesses. This doubling down on supplier enablement and performance tech will have a positive trickle-down effect on the entire organization, particularly the long-neglected procurement teams, by helping the business make more money while also saving money.
2. Digital leaders will thrive and digital laggers will face a long uphill battle
The pandemic years have massively accelerated digitalization initiatives across practically all industries in all geographies, especially within procurement. The procurement teams that made their digital roadmap a priority over the past two years now have the doors wide open to them — they have the credibility and budgets to begin phase two of their digital transformation, resulting in huge upside for the business. They’ll also benefit at the professional level: digital leaders are now so marketable to other large enterprises that haven’t successfully completed phase one that it wouldn’t shock me to see a high amount of turnover and migration among procurement leaders in 2022. On the flip side, those that failed to get the ball rolling on phase one will face a long uphill battle: In two to three years when competitors’ digital initiatives are in full swing and driving a huge impact to their bottom line, digital laggers will be at a big competitive disadvantage. In this increasingly competitive market, digital vanguards will be the real winners, enjoying continuity of the supply chain, better margins, more agile teams, higher supplier diversity or sustainability benchmarks to win competitive business and recruit top talent, better end-user experiences and overall better brand to recruit top talent in this competitive arena.
3. Focus on measurement will shift to focus on action
The assumption going into 2022 is that organizations have largely figured out how to measure —after all, digital platforms continue to gain more venture investment while delivering easier and faster ways to digitize traditional processes. In 2022, it will no longer be acceptable to tell a CFO or a CEO that ‘we can’t measure it’ or ‘we don’t have the data.’ The conversation is about to shift to: ‘We have the data, now what?’ Faced with this pressure from executives, procurement professionals will find themselves in one of three different scenarios:
- Most of their data is able to be analysed and they now need a flexible platform that can not only identify actionable insights and opportunities from that data, but also automate those in a way that is configurable to quarterly objectives.
- Most of their data is unstructured and therefore it can’t be analyzed, but they’ve identified the business objectives they’d like to drive towards and are taking action by bringing in tech-first platforms to ensure future optimal data collection.
- Most data can’t be analyzed, and they’ve conceded to the fact that their data will always be in that format.
My hope is that most procurement leaders realize the opportunity in data and find themselves in either scenario 1 or 2.
And a bonus one from Fairmarkit:
CFOs will give Chief Procurement Officers a seat at the table
A long overshadowed C-suite role is finally grabbing the attention and respect of CFOs given the supply chain issues of the past few years: The Chief Procurement Officer. Chief Procurement Officers are responsible for the flow of resources, services and raw materials needed to sustain a business. In pre-Covid times, their function was largely regarded as a non-strategic, tactical role responsible for managing a company’s vendors. CFOs didn’t take them seriously, and the relationship has been fraught with friction over mis-aligned priorities. But with the pandemic impacting the flow of goods and services, CPOs are now regarded by CFOs as mission-critical. In 2022, I hope that we’ll continue to see this paradigm shift take hold with closer than ever collaboration between the CFO and CPO as they work to influence bottom-line profits and cost reduction amid continuous supply and talent shortages, product delays and more.
Thanks to Fairmarkit, and look out for more solution and services providers wishes/predictions over the next few weeks, with an overall take on the series from our analysts at the end. See more vendor predictions and wishes here with our analyst commentary from last year.
If you are looking for procurement technology to help with your wishes for 2022, try out Spend Matters TechMatchSM to benchmark and shortlist providers
And if you are looking for procurement services providers to help you with your 2022 decisions, look no further than our Procurement Services Market Landscape Directory.


text:
PepsiCo Pledges To Cut Sugar As Big Soda Comes Under Scrutiny
The beverage giant PepsiCo has announced a plan to cut the sugar content and calories of drinks it sells around the globe.
In a plan released today, Pepsi says that by the year 2025 at least two-thirds of the drinks in its global beverage portfolio are expected to contain 100 calories or fewer from added sugar per 12-ounce serving. Currently a 12-ounce can of Pepsi has 150 calories, all of which come from sugar. There will also be "increased focus on zero and lower-calorie products" according to the company's statement.
"I think Pepsi's announcement is a very meaningful commitment," Dr. William Dietz, a preventive health expert at George Washington University, told us.
PepsiCo says its goals are "informed by the latest dietary guidelines of the World Health Organization and other authorities." These guidelines recommend that people limit sugar consumption to less than 10 percent of their daily calories.
"We know that sugar intake is an important contributor to obesity, and ... soft drinks and soda and juices are a major source of sugar calories," Dietz told us.
And — as we've reported — there's now ample evidence that excessive sugar is linked to obesity and an increased risk of heart disease.
The announcement comes as big soda companies are under increasing pressure. "The kind of pressure we're seeing ... to tax sugary drinks ... sends an important message," Dietz says.
Next month, voters in several cities in California — San Francisco, Oakland and Albany — and in Boulder, Colo., will vote on initiatives that would place a tax on sweetened beverages in those cities. Momentum for this approach gathered after the city of Philadelphia passed such a measure last summer.
As we've reported, the soda industry is fighting to fend off these tax initiatives. After the Philadelphia City Council voted on the tax on sweetened beverages, the American Beverage Association called the measure a "regressive tax that unfairly singles out beverages." The ABA spent more than $4.2 million in advertising to defeat the measure in Philadelphia. The industry says it has reserved about $9.5 million in airtime for ad buys in the San Francisco area aimed at defeating the measures there.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


text:
Amazon blew past analysts’ predictions, reporting $192 million in profits for the first quarter of 2012, and earnings of $0.28 per share, about four times that of Wall Street analysts’ predictions. The online retail giant also reported $13.2 billion in net revenue for the quarter.
Amazon has been fueled by spectacular sales of its Kindle range of e-reader devices, particularly its Kindle Fire, a $199 tablet that runs on the Android operating system but with Amazon’s store and content applications integrated tightly with it. But it is believed that the real growth is coming from content and store sales from its Kindle devices, as customers transition from print to digital reading.
Indeed, Amazon reported a jump in revenue from its e-books and other electronic content, though keeping in line with its usual practice, refused to give any numbers.
Amazon’s foray into cloud computing, Amazon Web Services, is also growing rapidly. Industry analysts – and an IDC report – have predicted that Amazon’s cloud computing services are reaching a $1 billion a year run-rate and an estimated 10% to 20% profit margin, much higher than Amazon’s wafer-thin margins on its retail and other services.
Amazon’s shares shot up by at least 15% in after-hours trading after it announced its results. Investors have shied away from Amazon stock in recent quarters as the online retail giant has delivered razor-thin profit margins which are much lower than the rest of industry as it invests in growth.


text:
Ori and the Blind Forest director Thomas Mahler has some choice words for Sony regarding the recent PlayStation 4 Pro console, as well as a ringing endorsement of Microsoft’s next machine that should have Xbox fans very excited.
Speaking in a thread on popular gaming forum NeoGAF, Mahler called Scorpio a “full-blown next-gen machine that’s just backward-compatible to your current library.”
Mahler added that because consoles now largely rely on the same system architecture, it’s remarkably easy for console manufacture to iterate on their machines, adding more power and features without completely cutting off those who own an older model. He said that the PlayStation 4 Pro is more of a “half-assed upgrade” than a substantial next step, and this can be supported in large part by looking at the current “better with PS4 Pro” lineup — only a handful of games are capable of running at a native 4K resolution, and several AAA releases don’t even upscale to that resolution, or support high-dynamic range.
In contrast, Microsoft has said that all first-party games launching alongside Project Scorpio will run at a native 4K resolution. The console will also reportedly feature 12GB of RAM, a substantial upgrade from the Xbox One’s 8GB, and will feature some sort of VR support to rival Sony’s PlayStation VR.
Ori and the Blind Forest was released back in 2015 to critical acclaim, first arriving to Xbox One and PC before making its way to the Xbox 360. It wasn’t the most technically demanding title, hence its inclusion on the aging Xbox 360, but before it was released, developer Moon Studios had been working on another project. Code named “Warsoup,” the game was described by Moon Studios as a mix of Starcraft II and Halo, and should it be revived, looks like it would make much better use of Project Scorpio.
Project Scorpio arrives this holiday season.
- Xbox says its next console will be gaming’s ‘largest technical leap’ ever
- Valheim finally comes to Xbox next month with full crossplay
- Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty DLC not coming to last-gen consoles
- Xbox Series X vs. PlayStation 5, one year later: Which console is king?
- Back 4 Blood gets offline solo play and new cards next month


text:
PLANS to transform a convenience store have been rejected amid fears that the scheme could result in more animals invading the shop.
Supermarket bosses have been refused permission to alter the front of a Tesco Express store that was entered by a donkey earlier this year.
The application included automatic sliding doors at the shop in Brockenhurst, one of the New Forest villages where ponies and donkeys roam the streets. Members of the National Park Authority (NPA) were also asked to allow a recess beside the existing doors to be enclosed to create extra retail space.
But Maureen Holding, who is also a district councillor for Brockenhurst, objected to the proposals.
She said: “We had a donkey in this store not very long ago – and a lot of elderly people shelter in the doorway when it rains.”
Members also heard from Russell Horne, chairman of Brockenhurst Parish Council.
He said: “An automatic sliding door right on the edge of the pavement will open every time a person or animal walks by.
“This will leave an opening for ponies to enter the shop, which could be very unhygienic in a food store.”
NPA members criticised the design of the proposed alterations.