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Apple CEO Tim Cook said during the company’s big event in San Francisco – “The TV experience has been virtually standing still,”. With all of its new features—tvOS (a new launched operating system for Apple TV), Siri and the tiny but ground-breaking remote—Apple once again showed a glimpse of better future for smart television. And, that too, free of the UI problems we’ve seen thus far.
Apple’s TV seems to be satisfying because by looking through its features seems as if you get more out of it than you put into it. You just turn it on and watching smart TV will make you feel intuitive and quick. However, some industry gurus and geeks are predicting calling it a cumbersome gadget as user needs to spend too much time scrolling through a wall of icons. And, it takes a while deciding first where you needs to go and then you can only decide what you want to watch. It seems as if turning on a smart TVs will make user wastingtime in a digital Blockbuster store, hence, forever assessing the pros and cons of every TV show or movie in sight.
Although by launching Apple TV, Apple has taken a step ahead toward new enticing technology by integrating voice addition feature in Apple TV remote –Siri. Apple’s one of the key features – Siri will make content selection more user-friendly and conversational. At September 9th event, Apple showed the Siri demo by showing the response of – “Show me anything with Jason Schwartzman.” And, according to some geeks who attended the event, the feature works. Next isthe new TV remote control, which embraces the up-down-left-right clicking motion. The Apple’s TV remote touchpad lets the user’s finger glide through icons smoothly — we can call it asmooth interaction that finally brings smartphone UI to the larger and bigger screen. Think – If you have ever spent hours on the couch, interminably clicking through a trellis of tiles or nudging at an on-screen keyboard, then Apple’s TV remote is merely seems to simplify the search experience.
Hence Apple TV seems to be a faster and smoother version of the existing paradigm. However, it is helping users to get around easier, but still you need to know exactly where Apple TV is making you go around.As it isn’t seems to actually paring down TV in a far-reaching way.
On September 9th event Tim Cook said – “We believe the future of TV is apps,”.And, major chunk of his announcement was focused on the App Store. With the new tvOS, Apple is giving opportunity to developers to go with all kinds of new applications—games, e-commerce, etc.—and that too on the big screen.
Apple TV offers “Real world, Real time” connection
Apple TV lets it user enter the hyper-connected world through the platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Hence it lets you get connected with the real world and that too in a real time. Surfing through live TV lets you connect with rest of the world. And, that’s the “real world, real time” connection.
But for now, the challenge remains the same – TV is different.The user-friendly, simple, a-lot of interaction – all that we love about our laptops and tablets, will be there in television, too.In addition to all of the enticing features and apps on the newly launched Apple TV, the new version will definitely come up with some much-anticipated enhancements, including a comprehensive app store, integration with Apple’s Siri voice-recognition feature that will help in search and flawless device operation, and undoubtedly a new enticing remote control with a smooth touchpad.
By leveraging Apple’s peer-to-peer technology, we at Parangat have already started in-depth research of Apple TV apps. Over the years we have delivered impeccable iPhone as well as iPad applications to our clients across the world. Our dexterous and experiencediOS apps developers ensure to develop applications as per the market trend and needs. Our robustiOSapp development methodologies as well as proficient iOS developers have yielded exceptional results, thus offering the competitive edge to our clients business over the years.We are bestowed with a highly efficient team that comprise of iPhone SDK developers who have deep and extensive knowledge on the iPhone App store as well as Apple’s guidelines, thus making it easy for us to develop, deploy and publish best-in-class applications in the app store. Our strong expertise and focus on delivering the best and cost effective mobile solutions and services for Apple every new launch including Apple TV enable us to cater to the requirements of our clients worldwide.
Since inception, we have been involved in a variety of native, hybrid and HTML application development. Till date, we havesuccessfully delivered top-notch mobile applications. And, thus we embark the same methodology while creating applications for iPhone, iPad and newly launched Apple TV by understanding our client’s business requirements entirely.


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Bharti Airtel Ltd and Amazon Web Services (AWS) will join forces to develop the Indian telecoms firm's cloud business, allowing it to offer a wider range of products to its enterprise clients, the two companies said on Wednesday. Airtel Cloud currently provides data centre and cloud services to companies and governments via different partnerships. "AWS with the depth and breadth of our platform, and Airtel with its deep reach and expertise and focus, I think together we can build a set of really differentiated cloud products and go serve customers at scale in India," Puneet Chandok, President, India and South Asia at Amazon Internet Services told a virtual news conference. New products could include data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and security services among others, the two companies said.
A chatbot can benefit the biggest or the smallest eCommerce company. Whether you're selling clothes, shoes, makeup, electronics, art & crafts, or furniture, having a chatbot is a great investment for your store. Big brands benefit from chatbots because it allows them to engage with numerous customers in a timely and efficient manner. At the same time, small stores that cannot hire several employees can compete with bigger businesses by providing immediate service. Having a chatbot can help increase your revenue because it solves different customer problems that often lead to cart abandonment.
RBC's AI private cloud platform is the first-of-its-kind in Canada to deliver intelligent software applications and boost operational efficiency Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and its AI research institute Borealis AI have partnered with Red Hat and NVIDIA to develop a new AI computing platform designed to transform the customer banking experience and help keep pace with rapid technology changes and evolving customer expectations. "Modern AI cannot exist without access to high performance computing. This collaboration means that we can conduct research at scale, and deploy machine learning applications in production with improved efficiency and speed to market." As AI models become more efficient and accurate, so do the computational complexities associated with them. RBC and Borealis AI set out to build an in-house AI infrastructure that would allow transformative intelligent applications to be brought to market faster and deliver an enhanced experience for clients.
If you're a data scientist who has been wanting to break into the deep learning realm, here is a great learning resource that can guide you through this journey. It's pretty much an all-inclusive resource that includes all the popular methodologies upon which deep learning depends: CNNs, RNNs, RL, GANs, and much more. The glue that makes it all work is represented by the two most popular frameworks for deep learning pratcitioners, TensorFlow and Keras. This book was a real team effort by a group of consummate professionals: Antonio Gulli (Engineering Director for the Office of the CTO at Google Cloud), Amita Kapoor (Associate Professor in the Department of Electronics at the University of Delhi), and Sujit Pal (Technology Research Director at Elsevier Labs). The resulting text, Deep Learning with TensorFlow 2 and Keras, Second Edition, is an obvious example of what happens when you enlist talented people to write a quality learning resource.
If you're a data scientist who has been wanting to break into the deep learning realm, here is a great learning resource that can guide you through this journey. It's pretty much an all-inclusive resource that includes all the popular methodologies upon which deep learning depends: CNNs, RNNs, RL, GANs, and much more. The glue that makes it all work is represented by the two most popular frameworks for deep learning pratcitioners, TensorFlow and Keras. This book was a real team effort by a group of consummate professionals: Antonio Gulli (Engineering Director for the Office of the CTO at Google Cloud), Amita Kapoor (Associate Professor in the Department of Electronics at the University of Delhi), and Sujit Pal (Technology Research Director at Elsevier Labs). The resulting text, Deep Learning with TensorFlow 2 and Keras, Second Edition, is an obvious example of what happens when you enlist talented people to write a quality learning resource. I've already recommended this book to my newbie data science students, as I enjoy providing them with good tips for ensuring their success in the field.
Nowhere is more apparent than the massive growth within the online marketing advertising sector. The effects of lockdowns and quarantines forcing companies to operate remotely and keeping people at home shone a light on increased software use, digital reliance, and online advertising. Before the pandemic, the largest companies in the world were already tech giants. All of the big five have fought for and earned revenue from software services, but the growing advertising slice of the pie had become dominated by the duopoly of Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG). Now, that media advertising market has grown to US $100 billion largely on advertising revenue and digital ad spending that are both forecasted to keep increasing.
Over the last couple of years, Google has gradually improved YouTube Music with features like playback screen lyrics and an Explore tab. Now, it has unveiled integration with some of its other products, including Android TV, Google Maps and and Google Assistant. The first feature is recommendations via Google Assistant. To use it, you simply say: "Hey Google, play recommended music from YouTube Music," and you'll get personalized music suggestions, including favorite artists and genres, based on your listening history. Unfortunately, this feature is only available on newer Nest speakers and not Google Home devices.
As IBM (IBM) and Red Hat team up with Adobe (ADBE) on artificial intelligence and personalization technology, Adobe stock is trying to customize a new base and buy point. The IBD Long-Term Leader is also setting its sights on a fresh all-time high. In July, Adobe, IBM and Red Hat announced a strategic partnership aimed at accelerating the digital transformation and strengthening of real-time data security for enterprises, with a focus on regulated industries such as banking and health care. Building on IBM's acquisition of Red Hat in 2018, the goal of the partnership is to "enable companies to deliver more personalized experiences across the customer journey, driving improved engagement, profitability and loyalty." Having already made its own successful shift to a software-as-a-service model, Adobe has become a major player in cloud-based creative, personalization and analytics products.
Alibaba Cloud has added three hyperscale data centres in China and plans to build more over the next few years. The move is part of the Chinese tech giant's $28 billion investment to modernise its cloud infrastructure and support customers' digital transformation needs. Located in Hangzhou, the Jiangsu Province's Nantong, and Inner Mongolia's Ulangab, the three new sites run on Alibaba's own technologies including its Apsara Distributed OS, Hanguang 800 AI chip, and X-dragon architecture. The launch was part of its previous announcement to park another $28 billion over three years to build out its cloud infrastructure, the company said in a statement Tuesday. While coy over how the Huawei-US debacle may impact other Chinese technology vendors, Alibaba Cloud executives play up their "in Asia, for Asia" focus and investment in the region as a key competitive advantage over its US competitors, including AWS, Microsoft, and Google.
We read a lot about IoT, but not clear what exactly it means, although we know about its definition so here we explain in simple terms. IoT is basically connecting of computing devices, mechanical, digital machines, objects, and people with one another. Ex: wirelessly connecting devices such as smart speakers i.e. our very own Amazon Alexa or Google Home, smart TVs, Apple Watch, internet-connected baby monitors, video doorbells, and even toys, CCTV camera's controlled by smartphones. The technology that is concerned with safeguarding the connected devices and networks in the internet of things (IoT). IoT is a concept based on the idea of everyday physical objects with the ability to communicate directly over the Internet.

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Downtown Donalsonville is helping area residents get their holiday shopping done early.
On Tuesday, town merchants held their annual Holiday Open House from 3 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. Stores held sales, served refreshments and had special drawings.
In addition to shoppers getting great deals, local businesses also benefitted from the event.
“I want to help our town grow and bring more customers to Downtown Donalsonville,” explained Teri Hornsby, Owner of Teri’s Art Boutique. “It started early today and I have had a steady flow it started at 2 p.m. instead of 3 p.m. so I am pleased with it.”
Although the Holiday Open House is over Downtown Donalsonville remains open for all holiday shopping needs.


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A Journey Through Time: Trace Pfizer's Evolution From 1849 To 2015
This article was originally published in Scrip
Pfizer Inc. this week has signed its biggest deal to date, agreeing to pay $160bn for Allergan Inc., to unshackle itself from a US corporate tax regime and create a pharmaceutical business that will dominate the industry.
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|By PR Newswire||
|April 2, 2014 05:00 AM EDT||
LAS VEGAS - International Security Conference and Expo, April 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
eInfochips, a global product engineering company; The Kroger Co. (KR), one of the world's largest retailers and Wincor Nixdorf (WIN), one of the world's leading providers of IT solutions and services to retail banks and the retail industry today introduced a new enterprise IT architecture called Retail Site Intelligence (RSI). This architecture for stores of the 21st century uses ZigBee® wireless mesh networks to integrate long battery life sensors, hand held devices, point-of-sale devices and video management software into a next generation platform for retail applications such as loss prevention, store automation and analytics. The companies will demonstrate the RSI video management solution in booth #6141 at ISC West 2014.
"Retail Site Intelligence is, above all, about Customer 1st innovation. We are leveraging technology to help customers have the best possible shopping experience in retail stores, whether by more easily finding the products they want or saving time at checkout," said Chris Hjelm, Kroger's Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer. "We expect Retail Site Intelligence to be the cornerstone of the technology infrastructure for Kroger stores in the future."
Innovative Products and Commercial Solutions
The introduction of the RSI architecture, and the deployment of new retail business solutions by Kroger, culminates two years of global collaboration between Kroger and eInfochips to develop the underlying technology products for Stores of the 21st century. The results of this phase of development are new wireless devices (cameras, scanners, scales, and more to come) featuring ZigBee wireless technology, and Vigil360, a new video management software kernel designed specifically for RSI.
Commercial versions of the RSI solutions being piloted by Kroger will be available later in 2014 with support and customization services delivered globally.
"Retail Site Intelligence is an exciting new frontier for retail business solutions," said Brian Baker, Vice President, Professional Services at Wincor Nixdorf, Inc. "As always, our solutions will represent world-class customization, integration, deployment and support services."
Retailers who want to conduct a pilot run of an RSI solution can register at www.retail-site-intelligence.com.
Live Demo at ISC West
Representatives from eInfochips, Kroger and Wincor Nixdorf will be demonstrating RSI products and applications including a new handheld bar-code scanner used by shoppers, and a loss prevention application using the world's first video camera which serves as both a video camera and a ZigBee Access Point. The new camera is easily integrated into a store's IP network for better camera network scalability and support.
According to John Osborne, Chairman of the ZigBee Alliance, "The new products introduced by eInfochips, Kroger and Wincor Nixdorf will fit perfectly into the ZigBee Retail Services ecosystem. Their ZigBee Certified products will support a fully integrated ecosystem of technology suppliers, merchants, and distribution centers in providing a standard way to purchase, fulfill, automate and monitor the purchase and delivery of goods. Using our open, global standard will bring the benefits of Internet of Things for retailers and their customers."
"Most IT products are developed by design teams insulated from the user and application," said Frank Berry, founder and senior analyst, IT Brand Pulse. "Kroger's hands-on involvement in the development process has yielded products that are innovative and tailor made for digitized store environments."
Parag Mehta, the CMO at eInfochips added, "Our collaboration with Kroger to develop products for their Retail Site Intelligence Initiative embodies the trend of businesses partnering with technology companies to develop intellectual property for a sustainable competitive edge. The results of the Retail Site Intelligence project demonstrate why this trend is gaining momentum."
Kroger, one of the world's largest retailers, employs more than 375,000 associates who serve customers in 2,640 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 34 states and the District of Columbia under two dozen local banner names including Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry's, Harris Teeter, Jay C, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith's. The company also operates 786 convenience stores, 320 fine jewelry stores, 1,240 supermarket fuel centers and 38 food processing plants in the U.S. Recognized by Forbes as the most generous company in America, Kroger supports hunger relief, breast cancer awareness, the military and their families, and more than 30,000 schools and grassroots organizations. Kroger contributes food and funds equal to 200 million meals a year through more than 80 Feeding America food bank partners. A leader in supplier diversity, Kroger is a proud member of the Billion Dollar Roundtable and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber's Million Dollar Club.
About Wincor Nixdorf
Wincor Nixdorf is one of the world's leading providers of IT solutions and services to retail banks and the retail industry. The main focus of the Group's comprehensive portfolio is on business process optimization, especially in the branch operations of both sectors. We also apply the expertise we have gained from our core business to related industries such as postal services and service station networks.
About the ZigBee Alliance
ZigBee® offers green and global wireless standards, connecting the widest range of devices to work together intelligently and help you control your world. The ZigBee® Alliance is an open, non-profit association of approximately 400 members driving development of innovative, reliable and easy-to-use ZigBee® standards. The Alliance promotes worldwide adoption of ZigBee® as the leading wirelessly networked, sensing and control standard for use in consumer, commercial and industrial areas. For more information, visit: www.zigbee.org.
eInfochips is a global product innovation partner recognized for technology leadership by Gartner, Frost & Sullivan, NASSCOM and Zinnov. eInfochips has contributed to 500+ products for top global companies, with more than 10 million deployments across the world.
The cloud promises new levels of agility and cost-savings for Big Data, data warehousing and analytics. But it’s challenging to understand all the options – from IaaS and PaaS to newer services like HaaS (Hadoop as a Service) and BDaaS (Big Data as a Service). In her session at @BigDataExpo at @ThingsExpo, Hannah Smalltree, a director at Cazena, will provide an educational overview of emerging “as-a-service” options for Big Data in the cloud. This is critical background for IT and data profes...
Feb. 11, 2016 01:15 AM EST Reads: 205
SYS-CON Events announced today that Men & Mice, the leading global provider of DNS, DHCP and IP address management overlay solutions, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. The Men & Mice Suite overlay solution is already known for its powerful application in heterogeneous operating environments, enabling enterprises to scale without fuss. Building on a solid range of diverse platform support,...
Feb. 11, 2016 01:00 AM EST Reads: 218
One of the bewildering things about DevOps is integrating the massive toolchain including the dozens of new tools that seem to crop up every year. Part of DevOps is Continuous Delivery and having a complex toolchain can add additional integration and setup to your developer environment. In his session at @DevOpsSummit at 18th Cloud Expo, Miko Matsumura, Chief Marketing Officer of Gradle Inc., will discuss which tools to use in a developer stack, how to provision the toolchain to minimize onboa...
Feb. 10, 2016 11:45 PM EST Reads: 109
SYS-CON Events announced today that Avere Systems, a leading provider of enterprise storage for the hybrid cloud, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Avere delivers a more modern architectural approach to storage that doesn’t require the overprovisioning of storage capacity to achieve performance, overspending on expensive storage media for inactive data or the overbuilding of data centers ...
Feb. 10, 2016 09:00 PM EST
SYS-CON Events announced today that Alert Logic, Inc., the leading provider of Security-as-a-Service solutions for the cloud, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Alert Logic, Inc., provides Security-as-a-Service for on-premises, cloud, and hybrid infrastructures, delivering deep security insight and continuous protection for customers at a lower cost than traditional security solutions. Ful...
Feb. 10, 2016 02:30 PM EST Reads: 428
SYS-CON Events announced today that Interoute, owner-operator of one of Europe's largest networks and a global cloud services platform, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 18th Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7-9, 2015 at the Javits Center in New York, New York. Interoute is the owner-operator of one of Europe's largest networks and a global cloud services platform which encompasses 12 data centers, 14 virtual data centers and 31 colocation centers, with connections to 195 ad...
Feb. 10, 2016 02:30 PM EST Reads: 395
Companies can harness IoT and predictive analytics to sustain business continuity; predict and manage site performance during emergencies; minimize expensive reactive maintenance; and forecast equipment and maintenance budgets and expenditures. Providing cost-effective, uninterrupted service is challenging, particularly for organizations with geographically dispersed operations.
Feb. 10, 2016 01:15 PM EST
SYS-CON Events announced today that Commvault, a global leader in enterprise data protection and information management, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7–9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Commvault is a leading provider of data protection and information management...
Feb. 10, 2016 12:15 PM EST Reads: 427
SYS-CON Events announced today that VAI, a leading ERP software provider, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. VAI (Vormittag Associates, Inc.) is a leading independent mid-market ERP software developer renowned for its flexible solutions and ability to automate critical business functions for the distribution, manufacturing, specialty retail and service sectors. An IBM Premier Business Part...
Feb. 10, 2016 12:00 PM EST Reads: 623
With an estimated 50 billion devices connected to the Internet by 2020, several industries will begin to expand their capabilities for retaining end point data at the edge to better utilize the range of data types and sheer volume of M2M data generated by the Internet of Things. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Don DeLoach, CEO and President of Infobright, will discuss the infrastructures businesses will need to implement to handle this explosion of data by providing specific use cases for filte...
Feb. 10, 2016 11:00 AM EST Reads: 191
Cognitive Computing is becoming the foundation for a new generation of solutions that have the potential to transform business. Unlike traditional approaches to building solutions, a cognitive computing approach allows the data to help determine the way applications are designed. This contrasts with conventional software development that begins with defining logic based on the current way a business operates. In her session at 18th Cloud Expo, Judith S. Hurwitz, President and CEO of Hurwitz & ...
Feb. 10, 2016 10:45 AM EST Reads: 251
Fortunately, meaningful and tangible business cases for IoT are plentiful in a broad array of industries and vertical markets. These range from simple warranty cost reduction for capital intensive assets, to minimizing downtime for vital business tools, to creating feedback loops improving product design, to improving and enhancing enterprise customer experiences. All of these business cases, which will be briefly explored in this session, hinge on cost effectively extracting relevant data from ...
Feb. 10, 2016 10:45 AM EST Reads: 112
SYS-CON Events announced today that Pythian, a global IT services company specializing in helping companies adopt disruptive technologies to optimize revenue-generating systems, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 18th Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7-9, 2015 at the Javits Center in New York, New York. Founded in 1997, Pythian is a global IT services company that helps companies compete by adopting disruptive technologies such as cloud, Big Data, advanced analytics, and DevO...
Feb. 10, 2016 10:30 AM EST Reads: 226
As enterprises work to take advantage of Big Data technologies, they frequently become distracted by product-level decisions. In most new Big Data builds this approach is completely counter-productive: it presupposes tools that may not be a fit for development teams, forces IT to take on the burden of evaluating and maintaining unfamiliar technology, and represents a major up-front expense. In his session at @BigDataExpo at @ThingsExpo, Andrew Warfield, CTO and Co-Founder of Coho Data, will dis...
Feb. 10, 2016 09:00 AM EST Reads: 186
With the Apple Watch making its way onto wrists all over the world, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes a staple in the workplace. In fact, Forrester reported that 68 percent of technology and business decision-makers characterize wearables as a top priority for 2015. Recognizing their business value early on, FinancialForce.com was the first to bring ERP to wearables, helping streamline communication across front and back office functions. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Kevin Roberts...
Feb. 10, 2016 09:00 AM EST Reads: 386
SYS-CON Events announced today that iDevices®, the preeminent brand in the connected home industry, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. iDevices, the preeminent brand in the connected home industry, has a growing line of HomeKit-enabled products available at the largest retailers worldwide. Through the “Designed with iDevices” co-development program and its custom-built IoT Cloud Infrastruc...
Feb. 10, 2016 08:00 AM EST
Eighty percent of a data scientist’s time is spent gathering and cleaning up data, and 80% of all data is unstructured and almost never analyzed. Cognitive computing, in combination with Big Data, is changing the equation by creating data reservoirs and using natural language processing to enable analysis of unstructured data sources. This is impacting every aspect of the analytics profession from how data is mined (and by whom) to how it is delivered. This is not some futuristic vision: it's ha...
Feb. 10, 2016 07:45 AM EST Reads: 439
Silver Spring Networks, Inc. (NYSE: SSNI) extended its Internet of Things technology platform with performance enhancements to Gen5 – its fifth generation critical infrastructure networking platform. Already delivering nearly 23 million devices on five continents as one of the leading networking providers in the market, Silver Spring announced it is doubling the maximum speed of its Gen5 network to up to 2.4 Mbps, increasing computational performance by 10x, supporting simultaneous mesh communic...
Feb. 10, 2016 07:00 AM EST
SYS-CON Events announced today that Fusion, a leading provider of cloud services, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Fusion, a leading provider of integrated cloud solutions to small, medium and large businesses, is the industry's single source for the cloud. Fusion's advanced, proprietary cloud service platform enables the integration of leading edge solutions in the cloud, including clou...
Feb. 6, 2016 03:30 PM EST Reads: 769
Most people haven’t heard the word, “gamification,” even though they probably, and perhaps unwittingly, participate in it every day. Gamification is “the process of adding games or game-like elements to something (as a task) so as to encourage participation.” Further, gamification is about bringing game mechanics – rules, constructs, processes, and methods – into the real world in an effort to engage people. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Robert Endo, owner and engagement manager of Intrepid D...
Feb. 5, 2016 09:00 PM EST Reads: 831


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The cost of a poor credit rating: Households with bad records 'spend £1,225 extra' each year on financial products
A family with a poor credit rating could end up spending £1,225-a-year more on financial products compared to one with an excellent credit history, a study has found.
With many likely to be struggling with debt repayments already, a study by credit card provider Aqua found that families with poor credit records also have to pay hefty premiums on their household expenses.
Middle income households with a chequered financial history, it found, could be paying anything between £1,089 and £1,225-a-year more than those with decent credit ratings, as the fork out more on car loans, energy bills, and credit card interest.
Cost: The study from Aqua showed how much more families with poor ratings can pay on household essentials.
Cranfield Business School's Dr John Glen, who carried out the research, said: 'Simply put, poor credit is costing households in the UK billions.
'It's alarming that often the people who need the most help are the ones who are charged more for everyday household products and services.
'And it's not just a small number of people, previous research commissioned by Aqua has found that 57 per cent of adults in the UK are "at risk" of being declined credit as a result of a low credit score.'
Aqua's Cost of a Poor Credit Rating report compared a series of financial products and how much they would cost for someone with a poor rating compared to someone with a good credit score.
It found that in some cases, a £8,000 car loan could cost a household with a poor rating as much as £6,798 in interest payments, compared to just £1,198 for someone with an excellent rating.
They may also spend up to £115-a-year extra on broadband, £1,500 on credit card interest, and £150 on energy bills.
Difference: A poorer credit rating can mean the interest you get charged on loans is much higher.
The study found that families with children were the hardest hit by the additional costs associated with poor credit.
James Corcoran, of Aqua, said: 'We commissioned this research as we believe in the importance of helping people be better with money, and so be better off.
'Our latest research shows that having a poor credit rating really does matter - it costs you money.
'The amount wasted every single year by having a poor credit is significant in terms of people's disposable income and is the equivalent of an average family's annual gas and electricity bill.'
If you want to improve your credit rating, follow the tips in This is Money's guide.
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station network (www.admin5.com) news October 17th, held yesterday in the "Alipay share day", released a new version of Alipay wallet 7.6. According to reports, the new version will be formally launched online public account services, banking, telecommunications operators and other enterprises to open. Users only need to add to Alipay’s public account, you can directly access the bank balance and change mobile phone packages.
this platform, some similar to WeChat public account, all businesses can stay in this platform. Alipay wallet also hope that through the transaction of the series, to more in-depth user’s life. Through public service platform, Alipay wallet to circle the merchants, inhibit the development of public accounts of WeChat. Now, WeChat 5 version of the folding of WeChat, Alipay is also a good opportunity to assault. Currently, CITIC, Ping An, GF, merchants and other banks, water and coal payment, China Telecom has been finalized in public service platform. The ordinary individual users can add to Alipay wallet home.
Ali small and micro domestic business group president Fan Zhiming said that the next will have more partners settled quickly, the number of users of the public platform will also grow. Alipay wallet this is also considered the obvious move with the WeChat public platform competition. Tencent’s WeChat public platform has provided a similar function. And this, Ali financial executives are not shy of the two. President Fan Zhiming said that these two products belong to a payment, one belongs to the field of instant messaging; WeChat is from the user service of more than 400 million users, the daily increasing user activity, let WeChat in a short period of time has become a huge mobile pay entrance, which makes Alipay to increase therefore the rapid alert, in the new version of the function of the upgrade, the sniper WeChat paid.
however, Fan Zhiming lambasted the circle of friends: "WeChat is a selling fake position." Fan Zhiming said that WeChat is just a tool for information exchange, security can not be guaranteed. From the point of view of safety, Alipay has been done for ten years. In this regard, in the afternoon, Ali Micro Finance Research Institute president Chen Dawei said, WeChat paid security is flawed, because there is no account, the card, once the micro signal stolen money on security. "No diamond, not to live in china." Chen Dawei said.
after version 7, pay is a product of Alipay wallet recommended. In October 16th, in response to the Jiujiang question, Ali small and micro financial services group’s domestic business group president Fan Zhiming said, "we have to pay very high expectations, which is reflected in the real mobile internet."
Alipay to "destroy behind cash", how to do the hidden transaction demand for
Alipay wallet at the end of October will be on-line push public account services
version will launch the 4 functions of death "


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Carol Tomé, UPS CEO, says: “We’re excited about the future and the opportunities this creates for both UPS and UPS Freight as part of TFI International.
“The agreement allows UPS to be even more laser-focused on the core parts of our business that drive the greatest value for our customers.”
UPS says the decision to sell UPS Freight was reached following a “thorough evaluation” of the UPS portfolio, and aligns with the company’s “better not bigger” strategic positioning.
UPS and TFI International will also enter into an agreement for UPS Freight to continue to utilize UPS’ domestic package network to fulfill shipments, for a period of five years.
The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, is expected to close during the second quarter of 2021. UPS expects to recognize a non-cash, pre-tax impairment charge of approximately $500 million on its statement of consolidated income for the year ended December 31, 2020.
With an operating history of over 85 years, UPS Freight is one of the largest LTL carriers in the US, offering a full range of regional and long-haul solutions and an on-time delivery guarantee for all LTL shipments and is headquartered in Richmond, VA.
Goldman Sachs is serving as financial advisor, and King & Spalding is serving as legal advisor to UPS.


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NEC’s SV9100 comms platform took centre stage at a special open day for Nimans’ resellers recently.
The exclusive event was staged at the manufacturer’s UK headquarters near Nottingham and included advice on how to position and sell the scalable feature-rich system that has evolved from the popular SV8100 model.
Based on an evolutionary ethos the Unified Comms enabled system can accommodate up to 1,000 users and has been specifically designed to grow with SMB up to enterprise level businesses. Resellers were able to enjoy a networking lunch, stay and play sessions and learn about new handsets and applications.
John McKindland, Head of Systems Sales at Nimans, enthused: “The half-day event was a resounding success and proved the perfect opportunity for our customers to see the product first-hand and understand how to position and sell its many enhanced features.”
He added: “The SV9100 represents a significant step forward for our NEC resellers and we look forward to providing unrivalled levels of support to help them capture greater levels of business throughout this year and beyond.”
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ATLANTA – Joan Jett may not care about her reputation, but many companies live and die on how their brands are perceived in the marketplace.
Axios and the Harris Poll teamed up again this year for the Axios Harris Poll 100, which ranks the 100 most visible brands and their reputation.
For the poll, more than 16,000 Americans were surveyed between March 13 and 28. Respondents were asked to give their opinion on the top two companies with the best reputation and the worst two companies. Any sub-brands are compiled with their parent companies.
The respondents then are asked to rate the 100 “most visible” companies to help create the company’s “reputational quotient” score.
There are six Atlanta-based companies on this year’s list with two being listed as “good”, three listed as “very good” and one “excellent”. There were no “fair”, “poor”, or “very poor” companies from Atlanta.
Here is a look at the “Good” companies:
No. 69 – Arby’s
Plymouth, Minnesota, Arby’s restaurant with a hiring sign in the window and paying up to 15 dollars an hour. (Photo by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Born in Ohio, but migrating its world headquarters to Sandy Springs, America’s second-largest sandwich chain boasts more than 3,400 location in seven countries. The franchise is known for its roast beef sandwiches and its slogan “We have the meats!” In 2018, the company began serving Coca-Cola, another Atlanta-based company on this list, at the locations. They currently are listed in the “good” group.
No. 58 – Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines upgrades training center
FOX 5 Atlanta received an exclusive look at Delta Air Line’s new Flight Attendant Training Center. It just underwent a multi-million dollar expansion near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
The second-largest airlines in the world is based out of the world’s busiest airport in Atlanta. The legacy carrier also operates eight other hubs in seven states. Founded in Macon, Georgia originally as a crop-dusting company more than 98 years ago, Delta has grown into an internationally recognized brand. The airline missed the “very good” category by less than a tenth of a point.
Here are the “Very Good” companies:
No. 49 – Coca-Cola Co.
In this photo illustration, bottles of Coca Cola are displayed on April 24, 2023 in San Anselmo, California. Coca-Cola reported first-quarter earnings that beat analyst expectations with revenues of $10.96 billion compared to the expected $10.8 billi
May 8, 1886 is a date that forever changed Atlanta and the soft drink industry. That was the first time Coke was served at Jacobs’ Pharmacy. Now, the brand reached more than 300 counties with nearly two million Cokes being served a day. Folks must have gotten over the “Beverly” because it moved up nine places from 2022’s survey.
No. 25 – The Home Depot
In an aerial view, a sign is seen posted on the exterior of a Home Depot store on February 21, 2023 in El Cerrito, California. Home improvement retailer Home Depot announced plans to spend an estimated $1 billion to raise pay and benefits for hourly
Founded more than 45 years ago by Bernard Marcus, Arthur Blank, Ron Brill, Pat Farrah, and Ken Langone, the home improvement store has boomed into more than 2,300 locations in North America. Despite falling seven spots from last year’s survey, the Marietta-based company still falls in the “Very Good” rating.
No. 14 – UPS
UPS twins make history at company
UPS representatives admit it’s rare to see a woman of color in a managerial role in their male-dominated industry. These trailblazing twin sisters from Georgia didn’t just break the color and gender barrier, they demolished it together, landing parallel positions.
“What can brown do for you?” Well, the Sandy Springs-based company can ship a package like nobody’s business. The United Parcel Service was founded in 1907 as the American Messenger Company specializing in telegraphs. It since has transformed into an international juggernaut. The company shipped its headquarters to Georgia in 1994 and has been there ever since.
Here is the “Excellent” company:
No. 5 – Chick-fil-A
The history of Chick-fil-A
Chick-fil-A, one of the largest family-owned restaurant chains in the U.S., rose from humble beginnings as a small diner in a suburb of Atlanta.
Is it any surprised the highest ranking company from Atlanta on this list is the self-proclaimed inventor of the “chicken sandwich”? Chick-fil-A’s history is as long as the lines at the drive-through lanes, but this will be as quick as the wait. The Atlanta-based company is the only fast-food franchise in the “Excellent” and one would have to skip down past the “Very Good” rankings to find its closest competing brand at No. 64. Despite the original location in Greenbriar Mall closing, there doesn’t appear any end to the growth of the company, now with nearly 3,000 locations in North America, and all closed on Sundays.
To find the full rankings, click here.


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UK: Proposal for hygiene ratings display in British food outlets
The British Government's Food Standards Agency is currently discussing the possibility that each of Britain's 550,000 eateries and food shops may have to provide consumers with a visible hygiene score before they are served. This scheme would complement the plans to increase information held by local councils, and improve the council's environmental health departments.Consumer groups welcome the idea, which would bring consumer power into line with the US system. Ann Goodwin, of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, asked "why not inform consumers? Then they can vote with their feet." The Consumers Association raised concerns earlier this week about hygiene standards and the under-reporting of food poisoning, which leads to around 60 deaths a year in Britain. The proposal also follows the recent government pledge that inspection regimes would become tougher. Local council officials would control the new system, rating establishments in accordance with regulations on health, safety and food handling. Head of the agency's local authority enforcement division, Tom Murray commented that while the proposal was being discussed, "any system would have to be objective and robust and consistently applied."If the scheme is given the go head by the agency's board, consumers may be able to judge for themselves from January. EU Laws which require businesses to prove themselves worthy to trade could take up to four years to introduce. In the meantime, however, Goodwin believes there is no reason why a voluntary scheme could not be introduced: "What would businesses have to hide?"
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How Shipping Exchange cuts out middlemen and acts as a price aggregator for freight ships
The knowledge of trade is with the middleman in India. There are middlemen in farms, in the movement of goods, across the country, and also when goods are leaving the country. The mark up of the cost is sometimes close to 150 percent, and businesses have to pass this cost onto the customer. All this happens because small businesses are not aware of the processes involved in shipping a product across the world. Perhaps there is a need for an Ola-Cabs-kind-of disruption. The taxi service aggregator brought the power of entrepreneurship and pricing to the cab drivers. They were no longer in the clutches of the operator who denied them payments for long periods. An almost similar scene is being played out in Indian ports. Shipping Exchange, the two-year-old startup, is trying to make shippers discover real pricing, across all ports in India, on its portal, while exporting or importing a product. In the process, it is reducing the time taken to get ocean transportation deals and for the product to reach the market. It is also increasing the bottom lines of SMBs because of the fall in the cost of logistics.
Shipping Exchange brings freight forwarders, non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOCCs) and shipping lines on a common platform. It is eliminating the need for agents and small-time services businesses, who are adding on to the cost without offering transport solutions. The pitch was perfect for large freight forwarders and liners, because they could get more customer leads from one platform rather than having to deal with multiple small companies.
“Most of the containers that go out are only 60-percent full, so we tell the freight forwarders that an SME’s products can fit into the container and the freight forwarder gets extra revenues in the process,” says Ashutosh Shrivastava, CEO, Shipping Exchange. He adds that in this case, apart from the shipping companies getting leads, the SME gets a price benefit, handles less bureaucracy and gets the goods shipped to location faster.
The beginning and business model
Ashutosh was working as an IT sales executive in Australia, in 2014, when he met Harmeet Kohli at a party. After an engaging conversation on how they could disrupt the shipping industry, they began to meet regularly to chalk out a business idea. Harmeet, who had over 15 years of experience in the shipping industry, told Ashutosh that the industry needed a price aggregator for small businesses. By the end of 2014, the company was founded.
According to data provided by the Ministry of Commerce, SMEs account for nearly 40 percent of the country’s exports. The Central government has recognised 108 clusters as export promotion zones and the government has set an ambitious target of increasing SME exports to $900 billion from the current level of $600 billion. Also, 73 percent of the global trade is made by SMEs. Obviously this segment spends at least 12 percent on logistics cost, which amounts to $72 billion. It is very high because of the number of middlemen involved before one gets to the freight forwarders and shipping lines.
The business model for Shipping Exchange works on a subscription fee for companies or SMEs, on an annual basis, which allows them access to deals. The startup also charges a percentage of every transaction made with a freight forwarder or NVOCC. They have 25,000 shipping companies and freight forwarders onboarded, along with 77,000 registered users. Once the deal is signed by the SME, all the tracking services are provided by Shipping Exchange. “This business is not limited to India alone; we have signed up global players across different countries,” says Ashutosh.
Investors see the potential in such platforms, but point out the need to step up and not just be price aggregators. “There are opportunities for technologies to intervene in legacy businesses. But startups should go beyond just price discovery by adding services and they should test their ideas,” says V Ganapathy, CEO of Axilor Ventures.
Although a logistics business like this is an opportunity, it involves its own set of challenges. The traditional players are still the gatekeepers of the shipping industry and control the pricing. The competition are small-time consulting companies that do documentation services and also act as brokers. No wonder Ashutosh and Harmeet are trying to make that group inclusive and increase the order base with them too. They are also trying to build an app to make it accessible to logistics managers. To get the system to move to the Shipping Exchange platform there must be a consistent user base of SMEs. Logistics is a business that will continue to be a large opportunity for startups. Shipping Exchange will need to spend money on signing in SMBs, freight forwarders and shipping lines. At least for now they are onto a big thing.


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The two-day sale was held at The Westbury Hotel in central London, a short walk from Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions’ premises on Maddox Street where many of the Forum staff previously worked.
The new company was established by Stephan Ludwig, former owner and CEO of Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions, earlier this year. He has since been joined by Rupert Powell as deputy chairman and head of books who resigned from Bloomsbury Auctions in March having worked for the company for 31 years.
The series of Bloomsbury specialists who have also joined Forum include Dido Arthur, Justin Philips, Alexander Hayter, Max Hasler and Richard Carroll.
The first sale on July 13-14 posted an 80% selling rate with 31% of the lots sold online.
It was led by a copy of Cicero’s Epistolae familiares printed on vellum at the Aldine press in Venice in 1502. Examples of the 1502 first edition are extremely rare and only four copies on vellum are known. Estimated at £150,000-200,000, it was a dedication copy illuminated with the arms of the dedicatee, Sigismund Thurzo.
It sold at £160,000.
ATG understands that Forum Auctions originally planned to stage their first sale in September but, due to the volume of consignments, moved the date forward by two months.
Stephan Ludwig said: “The success of this week's sales are a testament to the professionalism and commitment of our staff, most of whom joined us less than three months ago. Whilst the hammer outcome is of course pleasing, an equally significant achievement is the performance of our integrated trading and e-commerce platform.”
Rupert Powell, who conducted the auction, said: “We are absolutely delighted with how our first sale went; not just the results we achieved, but also the venue, the extremely positive response from customers and the fact that the whole operation went smoothly.”
Forum Auctions’ next sale will be held on September 22, again at The Westbury Hotel.


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FCX Clarity: Honda FCEV Concept Makes World Debut at Los Angeles International Auto Show
The sleekly styled Honda FCEV Concept, made its world debut today at the Los Angeles International Auto Show. The concept expresses a potential styling direction for Honda's next-generation fuel-cell vehicle anticipated to launch in the U.S. and Japan in 2015, followed by Europe.
Showcasing exciting and modern styling, the Honda FCEV Concept features sweeping character lines underscored by an ultra-aerodynamic body. The Honda FCEV Concept also delivers ample passenger space and seating for 5-passengers thanks to new powertrain packaging efficiencies.
"The Honda FCEV Concept hints at Honda's future direction for fuel-cell vehicles," said Tetsuo Iwamura, president and CEO of American Honda Motor Co., Inc. "While this car is a concept, it points toward a very real future."
Next Generation Honda Fuel Cell-Electric Vehicle
"The Honda FCEV Concept not only sets our direction for our next generation fuel-cell vehicle in 2015, but for future improvements in electric drive technology," said Mike Accavitti, senior vice president of American Honda Motor Co. "The advancements we are making are substantial, meaningful and very real."
Honda Fuel-Cell Leadership
Honda began leasing its first-generation FCEV, the Honda FCX, in 2002 and has deployed vehicles in the U.S. and Japan, including its successor, the FCX Clarity, which was named the 2009 World Green Car. Honda has delivered these vehicles to individual retail consumers in the U.S. and collected valuable data concerning real-world use of fuel cell-electric vehicles and hydrogen stations.
Honda's current fuel cell-electric vehicle, the FCX Clarity, launched in July 2008 and was quickly heralded as a technological breakthrough in the areas of design, packaging and efficiency. As the world's first dedicated fuel-cell vehicle, the FCX Clarity features a striking silhouette and a low-slung cabin. With the V-flow fuel cell stack positioned down the center of the vehicle and the electric motor located in the front of the vehicle, Honda was able to maintain the Clarity's futuristic styling while delivering 240 miles of driving range.
In the effort to speed the advance of a refueling infrastructure, in May 2013, American Honda joined the public-private partnership H2USA, which brings together* automakers, government agencies, hydrogen suppliers, and the hydrogen and fuel-cell industries to coordinate research and identify cost-effective solutions to deploy infrastructure that can deliver affordable, clean hydrogen fuel in the United States.
In July 2013, Honda entered into a long-term collaborative agreement with General Motors to co-develop the next-generation of fuel-cell systems and hydrogen storage technologies, aiming for the 2020 timeframe. The collaboration expects to succeed by sharing technological expertise, economies of scale and common sourcing strategies.*
Honda Fuel Cell-Electric Vehicle Firsts:
Honda Environmental Leadership
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Once upon a time in America, deregulation was good. But that was then and this is now.
While I now advocate some sort of oversight of various industries, I have been a proponent of less government rather than more. I’ve been a life-long Eisenhower Republican and until recently the GOP platform was less government in state and local issues. Today, however, the GOP [and legislature in general] is trying to assert government’s power into almost every issue and activity—while at the same time pushing for deregulation.
While the law of “supply and demand” of basic economics certainly dictates some of the cost index of all products, recently, due to the deregulation of the utilities industry, electric retail costs have “gone through the roof,” as have the costs of daily living expenses. We need to find and develop alternative sources of energy, but that’s years down the road. How many people will lose their jobs and homes during the next decade or two?
There are many examples that show how government regulation of industry is bad for the economy in general. Look what happened in California re: the electric industry, which I won’t go into here.
However, I don’t believe it’s in the best interests of consumers to permit the travesties in pricing that are occurring due to relentless profiteering, lax legislation and lack of some reality-based oversight. The trouble is that the corporate sector no longer has the “conscience” about over-pricing goods and services that it did years ago. Today, with the outsourcing of American jobs and services to lower their costs while gouging out higher prices for goods and services, corporations only seem to care about ensuring infinite profits. Affordability has taken a back-seat to profit-making.
If we agree that we don’t want the government to regulate industry pricing, then at least we need to come up with some other alternatives that will regulate pricing more fairly. There appears to be a need to set pricing guidelines in various industries to ensure that costs to consumers remain fair. It becomes increasingly apparent that most corporations will not regulate themselves; rather they seem hell-bent on profiteering.
Sky-high costs of goods and services are not unique to the energy industry. Several years ago, for example, due to lax legislation and little oversight, the insurance industry in Texas doubled overnight the cost of homeowner’s insurance. Currently, Texas homeowners pay the highest insurance costs anywhere in the nation. While publicly chastising the industry for this maneuver, the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI), the governor and state legislators have ignored this urgent issue.
The truth is that today, without some sort of reality-based price cap or regulatory oversight system, our economy will suffer even while various industries continue to reap huge profits.
What happens when Americans can no longer afford to pay their daily living expenses, let alone for elective goods and services? For now, the price-gougers are content with short-term excessive gains. Future generations of Americans will have to deal more properly with the issues of deregulation and profiteering.
The greed for increased profits will ensure that many Americans will lose their homes to foreclosures and that millions will be forced into bankruptcy. Meanwhile the laws continue to favor the credit card/financing industries, and more people are being forced to pay high interest rates for credit—along with high monthly fees and penalties when they get behind in payments. Meanwhile, credit is easier to get today than ever before, ensnaring more struggling people.
In his farewell address on January 17, 1961 former President Dwight Eisenhower, noting the possibility of a conglomeration of military and corporate might and special interest profiteering, tried to warn all Americans by stating,
“The total influence – economic, political, even spiritual – is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government……..The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.”
Eisenhower knew then that influential men of government and industry often are weak-spirited and may become significantly misguided by their lust for money, and that “The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present…. and is gravely to be regarded.” What Eisenhower called the industrial division during his time period has evolved into the wealthy and powerful corporate sector.
How long can this go on? Already more people have lost their jobs and homes than since the days of the Great Depression. Our government continues to protect the private sector, e.g., the “bail-outs”. We must review the issue of regulation vs. deregulation and determine what is in the best interests of the American community at large, something the government and most corporations prefer not to do in this time when profiteering is proliferating, and so much in vogue.


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A busy day at the 3GSM for Nokia. With the launch of the Nokia 6070 and Nokia 6131 already under their belts, they have now unveiled the Nokia 6136 handset.
The quadband 6136 with a clamshell design supports UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) technology that allows for a seamless handover of voice and data connections between GSM and WLAN networks. The phone also features a 1.3MP camera with 8x digital zoom, MP3 player, an SD card slot (to store your MP3 favourites), radio tuner, MMS, email, push to talk and Nokia Xpress audio messaging.
Nokia has announced that Orange will be the first service provider to take delivery of the phone, which should be in the second quarter of 2006. No price details are available as yet.


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In the face of net neutrality’s imminent doom tomorrow, Washingtonians can at least feel good about our state’s efforts to preserve it. Last week Governor Inslee sent a strongly-worded letter to the FCC about how the repeal would strangle innovation and damage tech jobs here. And now, one state legislator wants to make sure that, at least here in Washington, the open internet remains open.
“Literally no one other than the giant cable companies think that it's a good idea to let the giant cable companies dictate the speed and price of the content you view on the internet,” says Representative Drew Hansen (D-Bainbridge Island), who is introducing HB 2282, a bill designed to protect consumers in the state from said giant cable companies.
And what Hansen says is pretty much true—a recent poll from the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation found that 83 percent percent favored keeping net neutrality laws in place.
“We believe in a free and open internet, a wide-open platform for ideas and debate, and commerce, and letting the giant cable companies throttle that because of their basic effective monopoly on broadband service in many areas just seems like a bad idea.” Hansen continued.
“A terrible, terrible, stupid idea,” he added, one more time, just to make sure we all got the point.
The bill would make sure that even if the FCC decides to repeal net neutrality rules at the federal level, they can remain in place in Washington under the state's Consumer Protection Authority. It would force broadband providers to publicly disclose accurate information about the price and speed of their internet services, and stop these companies from being able to block content online. They wouldn’t be able to engage in paid prioritization—creating internet “fast” and “slow” lanes for consumers who would have to pay more to access the internet.
Even though net neutrality can be repealed by the FCC, Hansen says states “have historically had very broad consumer protection authority.” And even though the FCC plans to try and squash states from making their own net neutrality rules, Hansen believes the FCC doesn’t have the authority to stop them without Congressional approval. But first, the bill needs to pass—which now seems likelier than ever.
Hansen says the bill was passed in the House “with gigantic bipartisan support,” but was “bottled up” by Senate Republicans and didn’t make it to the floor.
(“Spoiler alert: that bill is coming back next year, Lord willing,” says Hansen.)
But now that there’s a Democratic majority in both Washington state's House and Senate, the chances of Hansen’s net neutrality bill getting passed are good.
“Perhaps everyone will see reason and vote in favor of consumer advocates and the many, many disadvantaged groups who will be harmed by the removal of net neutrality, from average consumers to companies like Amazon and Facebook that depend on free access to the Internet,” Hansen says.
But he knows there’s one group who probably won’t be on board: “You can guess that Verizon, for example, is not going to like it.”


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Artificial intelligence is changing everything we thought we knew about websites
With the right mix of human innovation and artificial intelligence, CYBUR is leading the way down a new path of web design.
(Tech News) – When it comes to the world of website design, one company is paving a path of its very own and likely setting the stage for what’s to come in the industry.
It’s called CYBUR and this team of artificial intelligence experts, brought together by CEO Charles Glar, is changing the way businesses spread their message and reach their customers. CYBUR is a state-of-the-art AI company that uses human-assisted artificial intelligence to build entire websites from scratch.
“CYBUR has been a platform designed to push technological limits in order to simplify a difficult task,” said Glar.
With entire design teams, marketing experts and data analysts on staff, this company offers more than just a website. Glar says you can count on support from start to finish of the web design phase, and beyond.
Business owners provide CYBUR with some basic information about their company and what they’re looking for and the AI takes it from there. Using that data and key details from your current website, CYBUR can build an entire draft of the perfect, SEO-friendly, custom website in just 60 seconds.
Computers don’t do all the work alone. Behind this amazing technology are entire design teams who help companies bring their websites to life and even add the finishing touches and custom extras.
These design teams are in it for the long haul, sticking by a company’s side to continue helping the business evolve. These websites are auto-evolving, meaning artificial intelligence assists the designers in updating the websites with changing trends, business patterns, and web traffic. After the website is up and running, companies can still make changes by providing feedback to the design teams, letting them know what’s working and what’s not so adjustments can be made.
Perhaps the key feature that’s helping CYBUR corner the market on AI web design is the ability to auto evolve with each individual company and the changing times. Algorithms are used to decide where certain content should be on the site to help maximize returns, but as the world changes, that content placement may need to move, too. Their design teams keep their finger on the pulse of changing customer trends so companies don’t have to.
Throughout the design and launch process and beyond, business owners have access to a team of marketing experts who help with future marketing strategies, as web traffic starts to increase.
Companies looking for a little help launching their brand into the future would be wise to check out CYBUR and all it has to offer. You’ll be in good company because they’ve already worked with more than 10,000 clients worldwide. Now is the time to try AI.


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Devolver Digital and DeadToast Entertainment have announced that their popular My Friend Pedro has received an official release date for Playstation 4. The game will launch for the console on April 2.
You can view the PS4 trailer down below:
Hi, what are you looking for?
Keen Software House have released update 1.181 for their popular space game Space Engineers. This new update fixes major multithreading issues and performance optimizations....


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Job cuts as family timber firm shuts
10:00am Friday 13th July 2012 in Keighley
Twenty-five jobs have been lost through the closure of a family-run timber firm which has been forced out of business after suffering significant losses in the double-dip recession.
CR Taylor (Timber) Ltd, which has operated at Denholme since 1960, suffered as customers such as major house builders forced down prices and squeezed its profit margins.
However, five jobs have been saved in Bradford following the sale of part of the business to former chairman Charles Taylor, who will run the cash and carry timber business from its depot in Thornton Road.
Ironically, the Thornton Road site remains in operation after surviving the axe in the 2008 downturn after an outcry from customers. The depot opened in the 1990s to supply local builders and tradesmen.
Mr Taylor said he would be focusing on developing the operation, which had remained reasonably untouched by the severe downturn in business which hit the rest of the group.
“The Thornton Road operation is in a good site and I’m optimistic by focusing entirely on that business we can remain successful. I’ve been in this trade since I was 16 and don’t know anything else, so I’m determined to keep this operation going and build it up,” he said.
The demise of CR Taylor (Timber) Ltd came as demand fell away in recent months following an optimistic start to the year.
In January Taylor said it was looking to double sales of both roof trusses and joists to £2 million each and sales of I-joists were up 15 per cent on 2010, with a further 80 per cent growth expected this year.
But as the winter wore on, business fell away as a result of the double-dip recession which saw the construction sector suffer a 14 per cent decline in April.
The business had faced tough times previously. In 2007 sales slumped by 40 per cent. Between 2008 and 2011 trade continued to decline, leading to significant losses in spite of a survival strategy put in place by the directors.
Early last month they tried unsuccessfully to sell the business and after deciding it could not trade itself out of the depression, decided to put the business into administration.
Paul Whitwham and Gary Blackburn, of corporate recovery and insolvency firm BWC in Leeds, were appointed administrators on Friday and sold the Thornton Road depot as a going concern to Charles Taylor.
They are now seeking buyers for the company’s main engineered timber business, although operations at the 13-acre Denholme site have ended and employees have been laid off. The CR Taylor (Timber) Limited business name is also for sale, along with customer lists and other assets.


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British Airways, which became the first British carrier to operate passenger flights between the UK and Japan, is marking a significant milestone by launching its latest business class Club Suite cabin on the airline’s London Heathrow-Tokyo Haneda route from 31 October.
75 years ago in March 1948, BA extended its Poole-Hong Kong Plymouth class flying boat service to Iwakuni. Colm Lacy, British Airways’ Chief Commercial Officer, said: “It all started with a flying boat and now Tokyo is one of our longest-served and most valued destinations. We’re incredibly proud of our heritage – it’s been our pleasure to connect British travellers with Japan since 1948 – and we look forward to serving them for the next 75 years and beyond as we continue our investment into new products, customer experience and technology.”
Celebratory dishes will be served in all four cabins, with passengers being able to enjoy the most popular dishes that were served on the route in 1969 – beef stroganoff and beef cheek okaribayaki – and the airline has also created a celebratory cherry meringue gateau.
The airline’s Club Suite flat-bed seat has 40% more storage and a direct-aisle access and suite door for greater privacy in a 1-2-1 configuration. A vanity unit and mirror, Wi-Fi and 18.5-inch in-flight entertainment screens are also offered. The business class seats will be available on flights BA6 and BA5 which are operated by the airline’s Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
In the Club World cabin, pillows and warm quilts from The White Company are offered, together with an amenity kit and improved dining experience.
The First cabin to and from Tokyo will provide the airline’s most-premium service from 1 September. This includes bespoke loungewear and amenity kits designed by luxury British fashion brand Temperley London, ELEMIS products such as the ULTRA SMART PRO-COLLAGEN range and bedding made from recycled plastic bottles.


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Do not miss this opportunity to network and debate with policymakers and retail and wholesale representatives.
The event is exclusively a physical meeting and we have limited spaces available.
Please register as soon as you can.
We are delighted to invite you to join us in celebrating our 30th anniversary this year, at a very special exhibition, entitled ‘Smart, Sustainable and Skilled: the future of EU retail and wholesale’. European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, will open our event and visitors will have time to engage with more than 15 exhibitors and enjoy the cocktail reception. Our exhibitors will showcase projects in sustainability, digitalisation and skills development.
18:00 Start of the exhibition and cocktail
EuroCommerce President Juan Manuel Morales and
European Commissioner Thierry Breton
18:45 Touring the exhibition
20:00 End of event
European Commissioner for the Internal Market


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Samantha Clarke, veteran of retail sales, said she never expected that someone would sucker-punch her until she bled. This happened after a customer found out they sold the last above-ground swimming pool in stock to another customer.
Clarke said she has worked in retail her whole life. She added that she has had this job for 17 years and in those 17 years, she has “never heard of anyone being attacked, ever.”
“We had the normal upset customer from time to time, but rarely did someone lose their temper and cuss at us,” she said – referring to before the store began operating under coronavirus safety guidelines.
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“Now it’s just daily, sometimes back to back to back,” she said.
According to Rachel Michelin, the California Retailers Association’s president and CEO, “there’s just a high level of frustration everywhere right now.”
The Public’s Reaction
🇺🇸 Retail in age of coronavirus lockdowns can be dangerous, bloodied store manager says https://t.co/r4posEsfhK
— Neil Saunders (@NeilRetail) June 8, 2020
Thousands of people shared Clarke’s personal Facebook photos of her blood and bruised face. She also explained what it’s like to work in retail sales these days. She then created a separate page named “Retail Life During COVID-19.”
Fox Business reported that “thousands commented on her original post and subsequent messages as she talked of contacting the police and of healing physically and emotionally.”
In a statement, David French, senior vice president for government relations for the National Retail Federation said: “We are hearing an increasing number of reports of abuse and violence directed against retail workers who are doing their jobs by asking customers to wear face masks or comply with other guidelines intended to protect their own safety.”
He called on authorities to prosecute such cases “to the fullest extent of the law.”


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Landon Sproull, Peterbilt Motor Co.'s chief engineer, said the company invested over $100 million in product improvements in 2007 alone and plans to continue that effort this year in a number of areas. For starters, he pointed to a new proprietary front air leaf suspension option for its Class 8 tractors that improves ride performance by 20%, is compatible with air disc brakes, and improves tire life.
Sproull said that later this summer Peterbilt plans to offer a new dash for its medium-duty trucks, complete with a new navigation system to make those vehicles more productive for fleets.
The OEM is also giving hybrid technology a lot of attention in three distinct areas, he said: a hydraulic hybrid designed to offer either performance or fuel economy benefits to refuse-truck operators; Class 6 and 7 medium-duty diesel-electric hybrids; and testing of its second-generation Class 8 OTR diesel-electric hybrid in conjunction with Wal-Mart's fleet.
According to Sproull, using available tax credits combined with fuel and other operating savings over the life of these hybrids can balance out the nearly 30 to 40% higher sticker price when compared to diesel-only models.
Finally, Peterbilt is working with Wal-Mart to test four Model 386 tractors powered by LNG in Napa Valley, CA, this year.


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You may not be Amazon or a big box online store, but if you're a retailer, especially one that has an online shopping cart, you had best be ready for today – "Cyber Monday."
According to the National Retail Federation's "Cyber Monday Expectation Survey," 122 million Americans plan to shop online during Cyber Monday this year. That's up more than one million new shoppers over last year.1
Nearly 28 million of those will shop from their mobile devices, while another 98 million will shop from their home computers. Additionally, 11 million will shop from their work computers (we promise not to tell).
According to the survey, conducted by Proper Insights & Analytics, Americans are finding shopping online more convenient than ever before, even while traveling, email or or relaxing at home. (I hope they don't mean driving their cars when they say traveling.)
The study also shows that this trend is associated with all ages of consumers. Why? Because retailers deliver more online discounts on Cyber Monday than any other day of the year.
Traditional large brick-n-mortar stores like Neiman Marcus, Home Depot and Best Buy are offering savings online far above those available in their stores. Some are even teaming up at one-stop-online-shops like CyberMonday.com to provide promotional savings and hundreds of special offers.
SMBs set to take advantage of Cyber Monday with special value pricing, discounts, sales and promotions configured in their online shopping carts are sure to clean-up as well.
Why? Because smart shoppers, even your regular walk in customers or occasional online buyers have come to expect Cyber Monday deals from all their favorite retailers – even you.
Well, are you ready?
1- Content adapted and Statistics (including direct quotes) from: More than 122 Million Consumers Plan to Shop Online on Cyber Monday, National Retail Federation's Cyber Monday Expectations Survey, Prosper Insights & Analysis, November 27, 2016, Washington, DC.


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Porsche has announced that it will be relocating its Porsche Motorsport North America (PMNA) subsidiary to the new Porsche Experience Center in Los Angeles once it’s completed in fall of 2013.
The German automaker is currently working on building the new 53-acre Experience Center out in Carson, California and will feature a world-class test track and handling course, a leading sports science laboratory, a Porsche Cafe, and gift shop. Additional dining facilities will also be available for those upscale business meetings and events that could benefit with some track side views.
Porsche Motorsport North America will be relocating to the new Experience Center where they will continue to sell and service the North American customers sports programs. PMNA supplies a wide range of products from 911 Cup cars to the ultimate 911 RSR to race teams all across America.
“This not only makes sound business sense, but is symbolic as well,” said Detlev von Platen, PCNA’s President and CEO. “Aside from offering a modern, purpose built working environment, the motorsport specific operations will provide additional energy and dynamics to a facility that is all about performance both on the vehicle and human side. Thus our new Experience Center will perfectly symbolize the core of the Porsche brand, which has always been a successful blend of a passion for racing and for spirited yet responsible driving on open roads,” he added.


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SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - A bankruptcy law firm that claims it was discriminated against when electronic transaction service provider Square canceled its account must arbitrate whether the issue should arbitrated, a federal judge has ruled.
Square provides a service that allows businesses to accept credit card payments through mobile devices without having to sign up with a Visa or MasterCard bank.
Bankruptcy law firm Shierkatz signed up for the service in July 2013, but Square canceled the firm's account, explaining to the firm through an email that "your business is prohibited by section 6 of [Square's] seller agreement, which means we cannot accept payments related to your business. Unfortunately, our decision to deactivate your account is final. Due to the obligations of our agreements with card networks and other financial institutions, we cannot reverse this decision and are unable to provide additional details."
Shierkatz filed a putative class action lawsuit against Square this past May, alleging discrimination in violation of California's unfair competition law and Unruh Civil Rights Act. The firm, which seeks damages and attorneys' fees, says Square can refuse service to anyone through a vague description of the businesses and business activities it does not allow, and by singling out others such as bankruptcy law firms.
"Each and every category of business/business activity whose business/business activity Square deems a 'business [that] is prohibited' is either so vaguely described as to be unintelligible or else constitutes an entirely lawful business/business activity under any and all applicable federal and state laws," according to a 14-page second amended complaint filed in October. "This specifically includes but is not limited to the business/business activity of Shierkatz, which entity's business establishment requires licensure by the State Bar, admission to the Federal Bar of the Ninth Circuit, as well as the Federal Bar of the Northern District of California and other federal districts and which business establishment is otherwise specifically protected from discrimination of the sort being practiced against Shierkatz."
Square filed a motion to dismiss the claims this past September.
U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar applied federal arbitrability law because "the Square seller agreement's choice-of-law provision does not expressly state that California law governs the question of arbitrability."
Ruling within the scope of American Arbitration Association rules, Tigar said that "the parties clearly and unmistakably agreed to arbitrate the threshold issue of arbitrability."
He added: "The court further declines to find that the delegation provision within the Square seller agreement is unconscionable as a matter of California contract law, at least as it pertains to these parties. Accordingly, the court grants Square's motion to compel arbitration and will stay further proceedings in this case."
Shierkatz attorney William McGrane in San Francisco did not immediately return a phone call.
Tigar also ordered the parties to submit status reports by March 17, 2016.
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He does just about everything -- from perform to produce -- and Moby loves the opportunity Internet radio brings artists.
It's another year of Apple kicking Microsoft's holiday butt in pictures.
The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) wants you know they've been doing the same thing for the last 10 years.
Comments from Pandora's CFO at a recent investment conference shed light on what makes the Internet radio pioneer tick.
Use a keen eye when you come across Pandora short cases passed off as doomsday fact.
Isn't creating long-term value for shareholders part of Reed Hasting's job description as Netflix CEO?
The president of CNN predicts profound change at the network. But will he go the way of physical retail?
Rocco Pendola maneuvers through some of Internet radio's biggest and best names.
If you get long J.C. Penney stock, just make sure you understand what you're buying.
The days of PBA icon Marshall Holman pumping his fist after a strike are long gone. Or they just go off unobserved.


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WhatsApp’s latest privacy feature for iPhone which requires Face ID or TouchID to open the application is not working as planned. A newly discovered bug allows users to bypass the privacy controls introduced earlier this month.
According to the reports, the users can log in directly using iPhone’s “share” function.
The users can set the verification at intervals of up to 1 hour or immediately to open the application. Once the users choose any option other than ‘immediately’, the system tends to fail.
WhatsApp spokesperson urged the users to choose the ‘immediately’ option for logging in while promising a quick fix to the bug.
We are aware of the issue and a fix will be available shortly. In the meantime, we recommend that people set the screen lock option to ‘immediately’.
This isn’t the first time Apple is faced backlash for a privacy flaw. Earlier last month, iPhone users reported hearing and seeing users on the other end of Apple’s Facetime application even before accepting the call.


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SEVENTH-KILOMETER MARKET, Ukraine, May 16 — Most of the shops here on the airport road outside Odessa are neither buildings nor stalls. They are shipping containers, stacked two high in rows long enough to be called streets, though these are little more than overcrowded alleys.
From their steel gates spills a consumer abundance of inexpensive clothes, shoes and toys, kitchenware, hardware and software, cosmetics, sporting goods and various sundries — virtually everything, in short, in a part of the world that not long ago was used to getting by with virtually nothing.
Jeans for $9. Turkish suits, marginally stylish, for $60. Dior, Chanel and Armani are all a steal, if one harbors no complexes about authenticity. Speaking of complexes, there are no dressing rooms in shipping containers. Modesty, though, is in short supply, unlike anything else here, and men and women strip unabashedly in search of a proper fit.
"Juice! Water! Beer! Watch your feet!" a woman shouted as she plowed a battered cart through this cacophonous, dizzying retail labyrinth, offering to slake any thirst, with a warning to avoid any unfortunate collision with her mobile enterprise. That explains how the market earned its informal nickname, Tolchok. In Russian, still the dominant language in this part of Ukraine, it derives from the verb to push.
But the only way to avoid her was to stumble back into the entrepreneurial embrace of another container and risk encountering someone trying something on.Continue reading the main story
"They were growing wheat here when I came," said Aleksandr Sedov, who once programmed computers for the Soviet space program and now sells, mostly, suspenders and women's blouses. "Now this place is called the field of wonders."
It was also a dump and a garbage incinerator — paved over and torn down, respectively — when the last Soviet city fathers of Odessa expelled the pioneers in a previously unknown free market from the city, banishing them to a 10-acre spot seven kilometers, or about four miles, from the city's limits, hence the name. That was in 1989, as the Soviet Union itself was unraveling, and what has since emerged is Europe's most extraordinary and, some say, largest market.
It now sprawls over 170 acres. The largest shopping center in the United States, the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., covers 96 acres, though all comparisons end there.
The market is part third-world bazaar, part post-Soviet Wal-Mart, a place of unadulterated and largely unregulated capitalism where certain questions — about salaries, rents, taxes or last names — are generally met with suspicion.
Open every day but Friday, the market now has 16,000 traders or so and a central staff of 1,200, mostly security guards and janitors, making it the region's largest employer. An estimated 150,000 shoppers come each day, traveling in hundreds of buses from as far as Russia, more than 300 miles away, in search of the bargains that the evident avoidance of customs and taxes makes possible.
"Over the 15 years of its operation it has been called different things," the Ukrainian newsweekly Zerkalo Nedeli wrote in 2004, "but in fact it is a state within a state, with its own laws and rules. It has become a sinecure for the rich and a trade haven for the poor."
Change looms. President Viktor A. Yushchenko, elected in December 2004, has vowed to bring Ukraine's economy out of the shadows, which is apparently where seller and shopper alike would rather it stay.
During the presidential campaign, he pledged not to close the market, saying, "Nobody will roll Odessa's Seventh-Kilometer under asphalt." He apparently had something else in mind: tax inspectors. When Mr. Yushchenko visited the market last December, he ordered the creation of a commission to examine compliance with the tax code at a market where the daily sales, according to Zerkalo Nedeli, were believed to be as high as $20 million.
No one really knows, not even Anatoly I. Berladin, the deputy director of the market, which is owned by a local land and agriculture tycoon, Viktor A. Dobriansky, and three others.
Mr. Berladin said the owners themselves contributed roughly $11 million a year in federal and local taxes, but with the containers franchised out, the taxes on goods and income, like customs duties, are not the market's business. "We never tried to control it," he said. "We are not the tax authorities."
Mr. Sedov, the former computer engineer, said he paid $2,300 a month to rent his container. Others, depending on location, of course, rent for $6,000 or more. Like many left adrift by the Soviet implosion, he turned to shuttle trading, bringing in what he could from Poland or other countries of the former Soviet bloc.
Some, like Mr. Dobriansky, made millions; more, like Mr. Sedov, have squeezed a living out of 12-hour days.
A woman from neighboring Moldova comes on weekends bearing slippers from a factory where she used to work. "They pay workers with them," she said of her stock, made by a company called Florare in Moldova's unrecognized breakaway region, Transnistria. She gave only her name and patronymic, Yelena Yakovlena, refusing, like most here, to reveal her family name.
The market itself now has its own Web site — www.7km.net — and the owners have begun to build covered structures and actual buildings. Three health clinics provide emergency care at no cost, Mr. Berladin said, and there are a fire station and, at last, modern toilet facilities.
There are markets like this, if not so large, across Ukraine and Russia and the rest of the former Soviet Union, and gradually, sleek new malls are going up in these countries, as are big-box retailers. One just down the road, called Metro, caters to the budding consumer who, if not middle class, can afford better than the cheapest goods from China, Turkey and other low-end suppliers.
"The fate of the market depends on the economy of Ukraine," Mr. Berladin explained. "As soon as the economy of Ukraine develops normally, the necessity of our market will die."
And then what will become of this extraordinary place?
"We will go into wholesale."Continue reading the main story


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Ahead of its release next month, Grasshopper Manufacture has released a new gameplay trailer for Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes.
The trailer, which can be seen below, shows Travis Touchdown fighting through suburbia. Bugxtra and Mr. Dopper Ganger also make an appearance.
TSA_Life Is Destroy_Trailer
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes has the titular Travis Touchdown sucked into the demonic “Death Drive MK-II” video game console. He must defeat the bosses of each game, collecting Death Balls along the way.
The game will come out for the Nintendo Switch on January 18.


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Mint Payments and electronic payments hardware specialist Miura Systems have formed a strategic distribution partnership to deliver advanced, mobile point of sale (mPOS) solutions to Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific (Apac) region.
Aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the regions “the Mint/Miura solution provides businesses with a wide range of payment acceptance methods, including magnetic stripe (MSR), chip and pin (EMV), contactless (NFC), and local debit card transactions (EFTPOS) in Australia and New Zealand,” the partners announced.
“This solution will enable merchants to deliver value-added services, targeted marketing and advertising content from anywhere inside or outside the store.”
Alex Teoh, chief executive officer (CEO), Mint Payments added: “Mint is focused on delivering a complete omni-channel solution and mobile point of sale is an important aspect of this. By partnering with Miura, a world leader of innovative secure electronic payment hardware, we will be able to provide businesses with a secure and easy-to-integrate solution that leverages our enterprise-ready payment experience.”
Data from Swift’s latest RMB tracker shows exceptional growth in RMB adoption in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), witnessing a 210.8% growth in payments value of the currency since August 2014, albeit from a low base.
SWIFT has announced that it has successfully completed the first phase of the global payments innovation (GPI) initiative pilot, clearing the way for the go-live of the service in early 2017.
However, a London summit on the industry’s introduction of the technology cautions that testing and acceptance are still at an early stage and firms should proceed with caution.
The proposals of both US presidential candidates could shake up operating conditions in several sectors, reports the credit ratings agency.