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Sony is working to add support for PlayStation 5 storage expansion this summer. The Sony next-gen console is an impressive machine, only challenges fans are facing is the storage limit. A games typically sizing up at around 50GB to 70GB minimum, managing new game downloads – plus updates – has been a bit of a nightmare for PS5 owners. But that is about to change, the console maker Sony is reportedly working to add support to upgrade the storage this summer.
According to Bloomberg, Sony’s upcoming update will enable the PS5’s expansion bay, allowing players to install a second M.2 SSD to the console. If you remove the detachable “fins” covering the PS5, you’ll notice the internal slot meant to house an additional drive. The slot has been disabled since launch, with Sony promising last November that external storage support would come in a future update. To that end, the update will also unlock faster cooling fan speeds to prevent the system from overheating. The sources point to this summer as to when Sony will announce the update. While that all sounds great, the company has yet to provide a list of compatible drives approved for PS5.
Even still, this is welcome news given that PS5 owners currently have scant options when it comes to adding storage space. PS5 titles can only be installed internally, limiting the usefulness of external USB drives; those can only be used on PS5 to run less-demanding PS4 games. You don’t need to be told how disasterous the Call of Duty size on PlayStation 4 racking 500GB space. You can imagine what the newly released CoD upcoming updates size is going to look like. Yes Sony really need to add expandable storage support.
My1sttoday: House passes sweeping protections rights for LGBTQ people. The House on Thursday passed the Equality Act, a sweeping civil rights bill that expands protections in education, housing, employment and more to LGBTQ folks.
The bill would also prohibit discrimination based on s_xual orientation or gender identity in credit, jury service and public accommodations.
Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) reintroduced the legislation, which passed the House in 2019 but never moved in the Senate. The bill, which passed the House on Thursday by a vote of 224-206, faces an uphill battle in the upper chamber, where GOP support is needed to reach the 60-vote threshold.
GOP Reps. Tom Reed (N.Y.), John Katko (N.Y.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) opted to buck party lines and vote in favor of the measure on Thursday.
The bill would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and the Jury Selection and Services Act by extending existing protections to s_xual orientation and gender identity.
Proponents of the legislation argue it’s a necessary step toward ensuring equal rights for all Americans regardless of s_xual orientation.
“Madam speaker, discrimination is wrong. As children, we learn the golden rule: treat others the way you yourself want to be treated. Right now discrimination is a fact of life for millions of LGBTQ Americans,” Cicilline said on the floor ahead of the vote.
“The fact is that in most states an LGBTQ person is at risk of being denied housing, education, or serve on a jury because of who they are. That’s why we are here to consider HR 5, the Equality Act. The equality act does no more and no less than say LGBTQ people deserve the same rights and responsibilities as all other Americans – most fundamentally the right to live lives free of discrimination.”
But the measure received strong pushback from conservatives, with critics arguing that it could infringe on religious liberties and could lead to taxpayer-funded abortion. They have also taken issue with its language allowing transgender women to take part in women’s sports.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) forcing two motion to vacate procedural votes, argued that members needed “some time to think about how they’re going to vote on the Equality Act, but because the Equality Act truly destroys women’s sports and women’s rights.”
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) vowed to fight it in the courts if it is signed into law, arguing it is unconstitutional and blasting Democrats for opting not to have the bill go through the committee process.
“The definition of s_x in HR 5 inserts the right to abortion into the Civil Rights Act, the Equality Act could be used to force a universal right to abortion until birth, it forces medical professionals to conduct or assist in performing abortions and perform certain surgeries, administer hormone blockers even if it is against their medical advice, forces employers to cover sexual assignment surgeries, forces schools, hospitals, and businesses to recognize a chosen gender. I can go down the list, but this is about power and control,” he said on the floor.
Major companies like AT&T, Bank of America, Chevron, CVS and General Motors support the passage of the legislation and are part of Human Rights Campaign’s Business Coalition.
My1sttoday — Poll: Majority of Americans supports raising federal minimum wage to $15. Reuters/Ipsos poll released Thursday found 59 percent of Americans say they support the idea of raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour by 2025.
When survey participants were told raising the minimum wage would lift some families out of poverty, but economists expected it could do away with low-income jobs, 55 percent still supported the move.
Approximately 40 percent of respondents said either they or a family member would personally benefit if the minimum wage was increased.
The poll was conducted online between Feb. 19 and Feb. 24 and includes online responses from 4,430 adults; 2,159 of which identify as Democrats and 1,482 who identify as Republicans. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
The poll comes as the Senate parliamentarian heard arguments from Democratic and Republican staff Wednesday on whether raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 could be included in the coronavirus relief bill. A ruling is expected Thursday.
Democrats are using a process called reconciliation to pass the aid package with a simple majority, rather than the 60 votes required for most legislation.
My1sttoday Tech: Apple leads the global smartphone for the first time in 5 years, surpassing Samsung. Apple shipped more smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2020 than any other company, including its rival, Samsung.
This is the first time since 2016 that Apple has been on top of the worldwide smartphone sales chart.
According to Gartner smartphone sales report, smartphone sales declined worldwide by 5% in the fourth quarter of 2020, as Apple secured the top spot for the first time since 2016.
The launch of the 5G iPhone 12 series helped Apple record double-digit growth in the fourth quarter of 2020 surpassing Samsung to retake the No. 1 global smartphone vendor spot.
Samsung has been on the top spot for a few years, but after Apple released the new iPhone 12 models, Apple surpassed Samsung with 20.8% of the global smartphone market in the fourth quarter.
Samsung came second on the chart with a 16.2% market share followed by Xiaomi with 11.3%, OPPO with an 8.9% market share before Huawei.
Due to the ban on the use of Google applications on Huawei’s smartphones, the company recorded the highest decline among the top five smartphone vendors which negatively affected its sales.
Samsung showed a decline in sales in 2020. while Apple was one of the few, along with Xiaomi, that showed growth over the entire year.
According to CNBC, Apple shipped nearly 80 million units in the quarter, surpassing all other smartphone makers including Samsung. Apple’s business is seasonal and the quarter ending in December is the company’s biggest in terms of sales.
My1sttoday: Elon Musk becomes world’s richest person again after gaining $10 billion in a day. The world’s richest man amid a daily gain $9.81 billion.
Musk wealth surged back to $190 billion, as the electric car company’s shares recorded impressive gains of 6.18%, thereby putting the market value of Tesla at $712 billion coupled with the SpaceX he founded completing another funding round, pushing him atop the Bloomberg Billionaires Index for the third time in 2021.
Tesla Inc stocks were on a record buying spree at Wednesday’s trading session, indicating that global investors are buying the dip following a four-day plunge that erased the world’s most valuable car company year-to-date gains.
That being said, MicroStrategy CEO, Michael Saylor, has revealed that SpaceX, a company founded by Elon Musk, is exploring the merits of buying Bitcoin.
Saylor revealed that top representatives from SpaceX were among 7,000 companies represented at MicroStrategy’s recent Bitcoin seminar, which the leading business intelligence company organized to aid companies interested in buying Bitcoin as a treasury asset.
The Tesla’s chief and owner of SpaceX worth’s $190 Billion putting at the top list of the richest person on earth.
Nubia Red Magic 6 will come with the highest Refresh Rate seen on a Smartphone. Years ago smartphones were equipped with a 60Hz displays, but now alot of devices are equipped with screens with a refresh rate of 90, 120 and 144 Hz.
Nubia President Ni Fei has announced that the refresh rate of the Nubia Red Magic 6 will reach a new maximum and set a new record. The exact value is not reported, presumably, we are talking about a refresh rate of 160 Hz.
The company previously officially confirmed that the smartphone will receive a Snapdragon 888 SoC, a 4500 mAh battery and 120W ultra-fast charging.
It will receive a unique design and an active cooling system with a fan. Ni Fei added that they not only strengthened the fan, but also made a real breakthrough in cooling technology. An efficient cooling system will be used not only in games, but also in the 120-watt wired charging process.
The Nubia Red Magic 6 will be the first flagship powered by Snapdragon 888 with active cooling.
President Biden: Hardware components shortage will be investigated. A semiconductor shortage brought on by the ongoing pandemic is beginning to become detrimental to a wide range of industries, prompting Joe to launch an investigation into how it can be resolved.
President Biden is expected to sign an executive order today that will kick off a 100-day review of the semiconductor production pipeline, so that alternatives and strategies can be formulated to alleviate its effect on the American economy. This follows a collective call from companies such as Apple, Sony, AMD, and Qualcomm for the president take notice of the shortages and what it might mean for the economy in the short and long term.
“Semiconductors play a critical role in enabling the products and services that fuel our economy, contribute to American innovation, and enhance our national security,” the groups said in a letter to the president last week. “Given the central role of semiconductors, strengthening the US position in semiconductor research, design, and manufacturing is a national priority.”
The executive order isn’t limited to semiconductors either, with President Biden also launching investigations into the defense, public health, biological preparedness, information communications technology, transportation, and energy and food production sectors.
My1sttoday Tech: Driverless cars are successfully tested in Las Vegas. The first autonomous cars without a safety driver at the wheel were successfully tested in Las Vegas this month, automotive technology start-up Motional announced Monday.
The group, a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and driving software company Aptiv, unveiled the achievement in a press release, noting that it is one of the world’s first companies to operate driverless vehicles on public roads.
The firm said that the testing in Las Vegas this month included multiple “driverless vehicles safely navigating intersections, unprotected turns, and interactions with other road users, including pedestrians and cyclists.”
“In pursuit of this milestone and a future of safer roads, Motional set a high bar for the industry,” the company said in its press release, adding that the driverless operation “follows decades of innovation, 1.5 million miles, and a two-year self-imposed safety evaluation process that took hundreds of employees more than 100,000 hours to complete.”
Motional stated that as it was conducting internal safety evaluations, TÜV SÜD, a leading technical service and inspection provider, following a review gave Motional a “first-of-its-kind endorsement to operate with an empty driver’s seat.”
This backing was then followed by official approval from the state of Nevada last November, the company added.
“Not all driverless systems are created equal. Ours is the product of decades of innovation, a relentless commitment to safety and process, more than a million miles of testing, and a rigorous external review,” Karl Iagnemma, president and CEO of Motional, said in a statement.
“We’re one of the first companies in the world to go driverless,” he added. “It’s a significant step on our path to making driverless vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality, and a proud day for Motional.”
Motional added Monday that since 2018, more than 100,000 rides with no reported “at-fault incidents” have already been given in Las Vegas through a partnership with ride-hailing app Lyft in what Motional called the “the world’s longest-standing commercial robotaxi service.”
Motional added that in 2023, it will again partner with Lyft to launch “a scalable, fully-driverless, multimarket service – the largest agreement of its kind for a major ridesharing network,” which Motional called “a quantum leap forward for an already successful partnership.”
The announcement from the autonomous car firm is the latest movement toward a possible future of regularly seeing driverless cars on roadways.
My1sttoday: Jeff Bezos is world’s richest person, as Elon Musk loses $15 billion in a day. The race for the world’s richest person on earth has obviously become staggering, precisely this year.
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon the world’s biggest online retail company, has once again become the world’s richest person for the second time this month, after surpassing Elon Musk some hours ago, according to the real-time data retrieved from the Bloomberg Billionaire index.
Bezos’s current wealth valuation of $186 billion has seen his personal wealth, which mostly comes from Amazon stocks, immune against record sell-offs as seen in Tesla stock price in the past few days.
My1sttoday:Johnson & Johnson all set to provide doses for 20M Americans by end of March 2021, if its vaccine is authorized by the Food and Drug Administration.
The vaccine is being eagerly awaited as the next in line to join the COVID-19 vaccines already in use from Pfizer and Moderna. An FDA advisory committee is meeting Friday to consider the application, and emergency authorization could come soon after.
The company for the first time on Monday gave some specificity into the number of doses it will have immediately available. The vaccine, unlike those from Pfizer and Moderna, only requires one dose, so 20 million doses would completely vaccinate 20 million people.
“Assuming necessary regulatory approvals relating to our manufacturing processes, our plan is to begin shipping immediately upon emergency use authorization, and deliver enough single-doses by the end of March to enable the vaccination of more than 20 million Americans,” Dr. Richard Nettles, vice president of U.S. Medical Affairs for Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a part of Johnson & Johnson, said in prepared remarks for the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The remarks were posted online by the committee ahead of Tuesday’s hearing with several vaccine manufacturers.
The doses from Johnson & Johnson, assuming FDA authorization, can help speed the vaccination program by adding to doses already available from Pfizer and Moderna, and needing just one dose can simplify the process.
White House officials had previously said they were not expecting many Johnson & Johnson doses immediately.
Separately, Pfizer is also ramping up its supply. John Young, the company’s chief business officer, said in testimony posted by the committee that the company will be able to increase production to 13 million doses per week by the middle of March, up from 4 to 5 million per week at the beginning of February.


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"Point to point rate of inflation based on the CPI-AL (Consumer Price Index-Agricultural Labourers and CPI-RL (Consumer Price Index for rural labourers) decreased to 7.16 per cent and 7.00 per cent in June 2020 from 8.40 per cent and 8.12 per cent, respectively in May 2020," the ministry said.
According to the statement, inflation based on food index of CPI-AL and CPI-RL stood at (+) 8.57 per cent and (+) 8.41 per cent, respectively, in June 2020.
The All-India CPI-AL and CPI-RL (Base: 1986-87=100) for June 2020 decreased by 1 point each to stand at 1,018 and 1,024 points, respectively, compared to 1,019 and 1,025 in May this year.
The major contribution towards the fall in general index of agricultural labourers and rural labourers came from food, with (-) 1.82 points and (-) 1.58 points, respectively, mainly due to fall in prices of rice, arhar dal, masur dal, ground nut oil, meat goat, poultry, vegetables and fruits, among others.
Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said, "The softening of inflation is mainly due to free supply of food grains under PM Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY). This has benefitted a large number of households under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) including agricultural and rural labourers thereby putting less burden on their daily budgetary requirement".
The CPI-AL and CPI-RL are brought out by Labour Bureau - a wing of labour ministry.
Director General Labour Bureau D S Negi said easing of inflation reflects the efforts done by the central and state governments along with civil societies to ensure supplies of essentials during these testing times amid COVID-19 outbreak.
According to the data, the rise/fall in index varied from state to state. In case of agricultural labourers, it recorded an increase of 1 to 7 points in 9 states and a decrease of 1 to 19 points in 9 other states, while it remained stationary in 2 states - Manipur and Rajasthan.
Tamil Nadu with 1,214 points topped the index, whereas Himachal Pradesh with 784 points stood at the bottom.
In case of rural labourers, it recorded an increase of 1 to 8 points in 9 states and a decrease of 2 to 20 points in 10 states, while it remained stationary in Manipur.
Tamil Nadu with 1,199 points topped the index, whereas Himachal Pradesh scored the lowest 832 points.
Amongst states, the maximum increase in the Consumer Price Index Numbers for agricultural labourers and rural labourers was experienced by Orissa (7 points and 8 points respectively) mainly due to rise in the prices of meat goat, fish fresh/dry, vegetables and fruits and saree cotton (mill) etc.
On the contrary, the maximum decrease in the Consumer Price Index Numbers for agricultural labourers and rural labourers was experienced by Jammu & Kashmir State (-19 points and -20 points respectively) mainly due to fall in the prices of fruits and vegetables, among others.
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- Indices End 8-Day Rally Ahead of US Jobs Data
Indian equities reversed their eight-day winning streak Friday, taking a pause on their record-breaking path as traders trimmed bullish bets ahead of key US jobs data and carried lighter positions to next week amid a negative undertone in global markets.Luxe EV Sales on Full Charge, Push up Waiting Period
Luxury carmakers are seeing unprecedented demand for high-end electric vehicles (EVs), with the well-heeled snapping up models such as the Mercedes Benz EQS, BMW iX and Audi e-tron.OpenAI’s Chatbot Thinks Out of the Box, Comes up with Detailed Answers
A new chatbot created by artificial intelligence non-profit OpenAI Inc has taken the internet by storm, as users speculated on its ability to replace everything from playwrights to college essays.
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Boys & Girls Club turns East End shopping center into new Richmond teen center
Jack Jacobs <br/>
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Richmond spent $5 million to build its new East End teen center. The 16,000-square-foot facility is part of the Eastlawn Shopping Center that the nonprofit bought in 2019.
Posted at 12:01 PM, Oct 26, 2021
and last updated 2021-10-26 12:01:14-04
RICHMOND, Va. -- Seeing a need for dedicated space for older boys and girls, a local nonprofit has opened the doors to a new facility in the East End. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Richmond unveiled its $5 million teen center at Eastlawn Shopping Center last month, several years after the nonprofit acquired the shopping center. Click here to continue reading on Richmond BizSense.
EAT IT, VIRGINIA restaurant news and interviews.
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Henry Byous Becomes Successful Entrepreneur After Being Released From Prison
"The small business owner now works with the First 72+ program, helping other formerly incarcerated people like him start their own businesses as well as finding them transitional housing and mental health services in the first days of their release. The program’s small business incubator has had its hands in the launch or scale-up of 22 small businesses. According to First 72+, more than 63% of those business owners work full time for their business.
Byous is proud to say that he has had a hand in six of these small businesses, including repair businesses and a barbershop. “I can’t be more proud of myself. This is me. I’m doing this now. This is my new life. Pat myself on the back. Let’s go. You know. My sons, hope [they] follow in dad’s footsteps and keep this process going.”"
Read the full story HERE!


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Some clarifications about NV30
tries to clear the air:
On one of the recent conferences, Nvidia`s CEO, Jen-Hsen Huang, told analysts that the upcoming graphics processor code-named NV30 is not yet taped-out. Most of the industry observers started at once claim that NV30 will be late as it is not ready. We decided to ask our sources at the company about what is happening and, in fact, they told us some hot`n`juicy details about the current condition of NV30 and its architecture. They even were kind enough to whisper us some performance estimates.
Hopefully, this will begin to reduce the amount of FUD swirling around NVIDIA's next generation part. It's still up to NVIDIA to execute, though.


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Uber and Lyft Could be in the Capital Region as Soon as Summer
It's been a long hard struggle, but it seems as though we're in the final stretch of getting ride sharing services like Uber and Lyft here in the Capital Region.
It has definitely been a long uphill battle to be able to have ridsharing services available to Upstate New Yorker's even though services like Uber and Lyft have been available in New York City for quite some time.
It took an entire extra week to pass the 2017-18 New York State budget but it seems it was well worth the wait because as result New Yorker's will now benefit from a few different changes and added programs. One of them is allowing ridesharing services to operate outside of New York City. Now as with implementing any new system it's going to take a minute to get up and running as of right now it's looking like it should take about 90 days.
Which is super exciting to me because living in the city of Albany I find myself not even leaving the city on the weekends if I don't have to especially if I have managed to score a good parking spot near my house. If i can hit up Uber or Lyft and get a ride in a timely fashion and a more affordable rate I would definitely be more inclined to venture around the Capital Region.
There is a bit of catch, according to the Daily Gazette:
Individual counties can opt to block ride-hailing services from expanding in their jurisdiction, but leaders in Schenectady, Saratoga and Albany counties have publicly expressed support for the technology.
As of now it looks like most of the Capital Region is on board so we should be good to go. What do you think are you excited for ridesharing services to be available in the Capital Region?


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From the desks of the Hotel News Now editorial staff:
- Accor reports sound numbers, awaits AccorInvest cash
- IHG sees RevPAR rise 2.3% in Q3 numbers
- US hotels see continued boost across all metrics
- Interstate launches lifestyle division Intrigue
- 50% of business travelers still favor rogue bookings
Accor reports sound numbers, awaits AccorInvest cash: AccorHotels executives at the company’s third-quarter 2017 earnings conference call were confident of fulfilling its full-year 2017 operating profit guidance at the upper end of the €460 million ($542.1 million) to €480 million ($566 million), as announced at its last earnings roundup in July.
Executives were jubilant at recent M&A activity that saw full and 50% stakes in Australia’s Mantra Group and the French brand Orient Express, respectively, as they also continue in negotiations with a “potential investor” regarding offloading a sizable share of its HotelInvest division, known as AccorInvest or Booster Perimeter.
IHG sees RevPAR rise 2.3% in Q3 numbers: InterContinental Hotels Group released its third-quarter 2017 earnings numbers, which highlighted a 2.3% increase in revenue per available room. Two of its regions saw revenue per available room increase by more than 7%, with Greater China coming in at 7.8% and Europe coming in at 7.1%.
Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson, CFO, added at a conference call that two areas he would like to see IHG investigate further are the potential establishment of a soft-brand collection and an additional “something in the luxury space.” The company’s net system size grew 4.1% year on year to 786,000 rooms, which Edgecliffe-Johnson said was IHG’s “fastest pace of growth since 2010.”
U.S. hotels see robust boost across all metrics: Occupancy, average daily rate and revenue per available room all went up year over year at U.S. hotels for the week ending 14 October, according to the latest data from HNN’s parent company STR. Occupancy was up 2.4% to 72.3%, while average daily rate climbed 5.3% to $130.83 for a combined increase of 7.8% in RevPAR to $94.58.
The top performer in growth numbers for top 25 markets was Houston, which saw occupancy rise 37.3% year over year to 85.2%, while its RevPAR increased 57% to $99.76. Two additional markets saw RevPAR growth of more than 25% for the week: Washington, D.C.-Maryland-Virginia (36.3% to $160.43) and Dallas, Texas (26.2% to $96.26).
Interstate launches lifestyle division Intrigue: Interstate Hotels & Resorts has launched a lifestyle management division, Intrigue Hotels & Resorts by Interstate, which in a news release it states will deliver “innovative culture, style and technology, as well as next generation lodging and experiential services to fulfill the curiosities of the modern traveller.”
Leslie Ng, Interstate’s chief investment officer, said “with our extensive experience with independent and lifestyle properties, we anticipate strong future momentum, especially in urban and gateway markets such as New York City, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles. Intrigue will be based in Arlington, Va., and New York City.
50% of business travelers still favor rogue bookings: Half of all business travelers are still allowed to book travel using any method they choose, regardless of the existence of any corporate travel program being in place, and a full 46% have done so for hotel bookings, according to the fourth edition of the Egencia Business Travel & Technology Survey.
The report added that “business travelers book out-of-policy because either they could not find a hotel close enough to their destination (37%) or found a better price or hotel within their per diem (37%) and suggested companies needed to “rein in these rogue booking tendencies … (and) relevancy, incentivization and clear policies can pave the way” to more people choosing to book via the corporate program.
Compiled by Terence Baker.


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Australia’s fruit and vegetable supply is facing devastation as the damage continues to be surveyed in the aftermath of Cyclone Debbie.
The Bowen region, where Cyclone Debbie’s destruction had locals comparing their neighbourhood to a “war zone”, bore the brunt of the tropical cyclone's wrath.
Bowen also happens to be known among farmers as the ‘fruit bowl of Australia’ in that it provides around 95 per cent of red and green capsicums and tomatoes to consumers.
"In the Bowen region, the majority of crops grown include tomatoes, capsicum, beans, corn, melons and pumpkins," Anthony Joseph, managing director at fruit and vegetable wholesaler Alfred E. Chave, told 9Finance.
"In the winter months that region supplies almost the entire country with those crops."
As a result of the damage caused by the cyclone, it is now estimated that prices of tomatoes will soar to $10 per kilogram.
"Farmers have spent weeks preparing their crops for the peak season over winter – it's going to be devastating," Joseph continues.
Rockmelons, passionfruits, beans and avocado prices are also predicted to increase, says Nick Martelli of Allcrops to Today.
“Conservatively, I would say 50 to 60 per cent increase on current prices,” he explains.
“There will be a shortage. We have no other areas in Australia that can compensate for that little block that Debbie has put on us now."
More Debbie coverage below.


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WHAT WERE the files containing the account information of 200 customers doing on the floor of a Volvo dealership? That’s what University of California, Berkeley researcher Diana Jones wants to know.
In January, her loan application was among those stacked in a box at Berkeley’s McKevitt Volvo, ready to be transported to secure storage when they went missing.
Shane Lavery, McKevitt Volvo general manager, blamed an identity theft ring that has been gaining force in the Bay Area since the last quarter — and targeting car dealerships — for walking off with the 200-plus customer files.
Besides suffering the loss of $5,000 from an ATM she had never visited, Jones said, “The perpetrator opened new accounts in my name and charged $16,000 worth of merchandise at Wal-Mart, Target and Trader Joe’s in Emeryville.
“I have lost hours of time and sleep, and it’s been hard on my family,” she said.
The bad news about protecting Americans’ personal information may be this: It probably is not possible.
The Federal Trade Commission says 27,000 people fall victim to identity theft every day in the U.S.
“The cat is out of the bag,” said Yankee Group senior analyst Andrew Jaquith. “You must assume that your identity is going to be stolen at some point if it isn’t already. It is passed on from provider to provider.”
Although technology has made it easier for personal information to circulate and be traded, the Internet is not necessarily the culprit for breaches in your security. The fact is, identity theft is a fast-growing problem, with many sources and no easy fixes.
“Without the Internet, ID theft would be tougher to do,” said Charles L. Moore, chief executive officer of security software firm Acendi. “Yet there is so much information that is public, such as home ownership. One of the biggest forms of ID theft is public records of your mortgages.”
There are ways to protect your personal information. But once it leaves your control, the task becomes more difficult.
First, your ability to control your information depends on whether it lands in a database or not. Once your Social Security number, date of birth, driver’s license, passport number, bank account numbers, credit card numbers and all the digits that identify you are part of a database, you no longer have control over them.
Linda Foley, executive director of the Identity Theft Resource Center, warned that the most egregious violator of personal identity can be your employer. “Seventy percent of all ID theft happens in the workplace, the main repository of all our information,” Foley said.
Employers share much of this data with health providers. What is to prevent them, she asked, from selling it to others?
Legitimate information brokers like ChoicePoint and LexisNexis also control huge repositories of personal data. Security breaches at those companies have put hundreds of thousands of people at risk of identity theft.
In addition, there are Web sites where you can buy personal information easy as pie. Until just recently you could log onto www.secret-info.com and www.Iinfosearch.com, where people were in the business of identifying you to marketers to make a buck.
“I think Congress is going to agree that the private sector cannot police itself. Maybe there’ll be some sort of Sarbanes-Oxley law for consumers,” said Yankee Group’s Jaquith, referring to the legislation requiring greater transparency on the part of corporations.
While California already has a state law to this effect, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein recently introduced the Notification of Risk to Personal Data Act, which would require an enterprise or public agency to notify people when there is reason to believe their personal data may have been compromised.
But can any amount of regulation protect against simple theft of a physical object, such as occurred at McKevitt Volvo’s stack of papers or the recent theft of a UC-Berkeley laptop containing the names and personal information of 98,000 graduate students?
James Van Dyke, chief of Javelin Strategy & Research, completed a study in January, sponsored by the Better Business Bureau, that suggested the Internet is far from the biggest avenue for identity theft. His findings show the compromise of identity occurs most often not online but when people lose their documents or wallets. The study was not designed to detect database identity theft, however.
People who avoid performing transactions online because they fear some hacker will grab their credit card numbers are misguided, Van Dyke said. If the site bears the logo of the TRUSTe authentication program, it is secure to do business on, most experts agree.
“People think if they shop online, someone might intercept the transaction. But, really, hackers are more likely to hack a database to get all of the account information en masse; they would not intercept one transaction at a time. This is a misconception on the public’s part,” said Dave Nielsen, a Pleasanton resident who created the Web site www.fightidentitytheft.com.
But if the criminal goes online to mine information, “that doesn’t mean that if we stay offline we are safe,” Van Dyke said.
Francine Brevetti can be reached at email@example.com or (510) 208-6416.


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Mexico City, Mexico — The governor of the Bank of Mexico (Banxico), Alejandro Díaz de León, announced that the first incident of the cyber attack that affected the Interbanking Electronic Payment System (SPEI) came from a brokerage house.
“April 17 was the first incident in a small institution, which was a brokerage house. We are not naming names because we still researching,” he explained.
Díaz de León said that the next attack happened on April 26 with a much larger sum in a larger bank. He added that the hake so far has cost 300 million peso, the same figure that was deposited.
He explained that through those five banks, cash withdrawals were made in branches in amounts ranging from 200,000 to 300,000 peso.
The official noted that the accounts from which the money was deposited have already been identified. He explained that the attack was carried out with sophisticated technology in addition to a logistics of which there was no precedent.
“It involves not only accessing these accounts of the financial institutions, but also depositing in private accounts and then having people arrive within minutes of the deposit to withdraw the cash,” he said.
“Until the review is over, we cannot be certain that it (the cyber attack) is over,” he added.
After the April cyber attack that compromised hundreds of millions of peso in Mexico banks, Banxico says they have implemented new security features to help protect consumers.


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The put up Dubai, Bangkok and London most popular for India outbound appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Travel Daily.
Revealing journey traits for Indian vacationers this festive season, Kayak said that Dubai, Bangkok and London are the most popular worldwide cities to go to. The festive season journey interval (between 1 September to 30 November) of 2022 has grow to be one of many most eagerly awaited in recent times. After an easing of COVID journey restrictions, tourism exercise is selecting up once more, as travellers need for new locations and new experiences will increase as soon as once more.
“There are great deals to be grabbed this festive season, try using flexible search options and filters on KAYAK to identify the most affordable dates, and set price alerts for your preferred destinations,” mentioned Tarun Tahiliani, India Country Manager, KAYAK. This is usually recommended by search information from KAYAK.co.in, the journey search engine, which has analysed flight searches for the 2022 festive season journey interval.
The information reveals combat searches from airports in India have elevated by about 118% in comparison with pre-pandemic ranges. International flight searches have elevated by about 143% and home flight searches have elevated by about 91%*. Indian travellers don’t look like deterred by greater flight costs both, which in comparison with 2019 have elevated by about 38% for worldwide flights and by about 39% for home flights*.
The common price of a return economic system home flight through the festive interval is about INR 8,585, (USD 107.41) and about INR 56,332 (USD 704.70) for a return worldwide economic system flight. “The stars are aligned for Indians to take that much-awaited journey as restrictions worldwide are eased or eliminated fully, simply in time for the nation’s festive interval to set in.
It seems that Indian travellers are making up for misplaced time and are extra prepared to journey than earlier than the pandemic, based on the variety of searches carried out on KAYAK.co.in. In addition to flight curiosity surpassing pre-pandemic ranges, we’ve additionally seen searches for motels surpass that of 2019.
The put up Dubai, Bangkok and London most popular for India outbound appeared first on Travel Daily.


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It’s not just the U.S. where Samsung is selling its wildly popular Galaxy S smartphone like hot cupcakes on a cold winter day. In its own backyard they are doing the same as you may’ve read from our previous posts.
As a matter of fact, the Android-powered device is the single fastest selling phone in the South Korean market, ever. Period. The only other Samsung handset that comes close is Yu-Na Haptic, which was bought by half a million people in 80 days.
Of course, this isn’t the “regular” Galaxy S phone we’re talking about, but the one fine-tuned for the high-end mobile market of South Korea – model number SHW-M110S. You guessed that correctly, it rocks T-DMB allowing Koreans on the move to stay tuned to their TV programming. Rest of the specs, however, remain unchanged and include that beautiful 4-inch Super AMOLED WVGA capacitive touchscreen, HSPA and WiFi(n) connectivity, 5-megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording capability, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS and a whole lot more…


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China recently began the investigation over alleged anti-competitive claims against Alibaba Group. The study announced that Thursday marked the crackdown’s official beginning on Jack Ma’s extensive dominance in all sectors from social media to logistics and e-commerce. There has been rising pressure on Ma over his increasing influence on the internet. The anti-monopoly regulations gave the government strange wide liberty to restraint investors like Jack Ma, who enjoyed unusual freedom to increase their territories until recently.
Alibaba and other companies used to be the country’s technological prowess and drivers of prosperity. The companies have been facing increasing pressure from the government after gathering millions of users and acquiring power over almost everything in China.
Alibaba is currently being investigated by TSAMR, which is the highest antitrust regulator. Regulators like banking watchdog and the central bank will distinctly summon associate Ant to a meeting to introduce strict financial rules. According to the experts, the rules currently pose a threat to developing the global chief online financial service company. In a statement on its official account, Ant said that it would read and conform to all the requirements.
Jack Ma, the co-establisher of Ant and Alibaba, has been out of public view since its general donation was overturned the previous month. The government officials then advised him to stay in the country. However, those familiar with the situation have said that this can be the beginning of Ma’s downfall.
Stockholders remain divided on which level Beijing will go after Alibaba and its compatriots as the country prepares to introduce new monopoly rules. The government officials have not talked much about how strictly they intend to clamp down or why they decided to take that action.
For a long time, the country’s online ecosystem has been protected from competitions like Facebook and Google. For the past years, Alibaba and Tencent have dominated the investment network through a complicated investment connection that includes the larger majority of the country’s companies ranging from AI to digital finance. Their support has led to the development of new startups like China’s uber.
The rule against monopoly now threatens to interfere with the status quo of several capable outcomes, from a benevolent state of fines to business leaders’ break-up. Different agencies in Beijing organize their efforts, which is a terrible sign for the internet industry.
The operation against Alibaba and its counterparts kicked off in November after Jack Ma publicly criticized Chinese regulators. The market regulators also suspended Ant’s IPO, which is the largest in the world. There are slimmer chances that Ant will be able to restore its substantial stock this year as china fixes regulations governing the fintech sector, which had boomed over the past years.
It is believed that China has set aside a collective team to regulate Ant. The group is in constant contact with the company to gather information and other materials, investigating its rearrangement and other fintech sector regulations.
Jack ma is one of the most influential people in the world.


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SIMFEROPOL, December 5. /TASS/. Mriya Resort & Spa, a five-star hotel in the Crimean city of Yalta, has won a 2017 World Luxury Hotel Award, the Russian Tourism Agency said on Tuesday.
"The 11th World Luxury Hotel Awards ceremony took place in Switzerland in early December," the agency said in a statement. "Mriya Resort & Spa was named the 2017 World Luxury Family Resort and confirmed its status of the best spa hotel in the category Europe Luxury Spa Resort."
Mriya, a luxury hotel with 422 rooms, was unveiled on the South Shore of Crimea on August 14, 2014.
"We are happy that the Russian hotel has left its rivals behind and was named the best hotel again," Oleg Safonov, the head of the Russian Tourism Agency, was quoted as saying.
In all, 800 hotels were nominated for the 2017 awards in 99 categories. More than 300,000 people took part in the voting.
World Luxury Hotel Awards is a recognized global organization providing luxury hotels with recognition for their world class facilities and service excellence provided to guests.


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On the RBI’s response to inflation, Dr Pronab Sen, Programme Director, India, Programme, International Growth Centre (IGC) and Former Chairman, National Statistical Commission, said that the RBI waited too long to act on inflation and must have acted around November 2021. He opined that RBI has now been forced into a situation to overact in terms of policy rate increase. This will increase the cost of funds, especially for MSMEs, who are trying to come back into the market after the impact of COVID-19 over the last two and a half years.
Dr Pronab Sen was speaking as the Chief Guest at the “Open House Discussion on Impact of Inflation on Economy, Businesses and People” recently organised by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry .
Dr Pronab Sen highlighted that inflation is a process which feeds on itself and continues until an external force is applied to slow it down. He states that the global commodity prices are high but they have been high since the covid-19 struck and have not changed much since then. Even then, inflation has accelerated across the world.
He said that over the years, corporate India has captured a huge amount of market share as compared to the MSMEs. This situation has caused the movement of price power in the hands of large corporates, which are continuously passing down the cost increase to consumers.
Guest of Honour, Shri Subhash Chandra Garg, Ex-IAS, Author of Book- The $10 Trillion Dream and Former Finance & Economic Affairs Secretary, Government of India, said that CPI has tended to underrate inflation problem in economy. He opined that both the policy makers (Government and RBI) have not acted on the base of high WPI, which has been increasing since the last 13-14 months.
visit EasyShiksha for skill development
He opined that inflation has been the result of mismatches in global demand and supply. The stimulus provided by various countries amid COVID-19 provided a big boost to the demand, while the supply remained disrupted, thereby creating inflation problem. He highlighted that the impact of high inflation has been borne by households and MSMEs.
He added that though the RBI has increased the interest rate to deal with the inflation, however, this will not have much effect to decrease the liquidity supply in the economy.
During the Open House Discussion, PHD Chamber released a report on “PHDCCI Inflation Trends”.
Inflation is expected to start softening by July 2022 on the back of diminishing unfavourable base effect particularly in food articles and liquidity drain as RBI has increased the repo rate by a significant 90bps recently (40bps in May 2022 and 50bps in June 2022), said the Industry Body PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry in a press statement issued here today.
Monetary tightening will have an impact on consumption demand and resultant price corrections in the various goods and services in both consumption and whole sale segments, said the Industry Body.
Also, increase in interest rates by advanced economies will have an impact on international commodity prices as the cost of inventory carried by speculators will go up and there will be significant price corrections, said the Industry Body.
Recently, RBI increased the policy repo rate by 90bps to 4.9% and also raised the cash reserve ratio by 50bps to 4.5% (in May 2022) which will drain Rs. 87,000 crores liquidity from the banking system.
It is the second-rate hike since 2018 as persistent inflation pressures are becoming more acute, said the Industry Body.
Increase in loan EMIs would impact the consumption sentiments and reduce demand in the economy which would lead to corrections in wholesale prices, said the Industry Body.
The study stated that the overall WPI inflation showed an upward trend during the last 12 months. The WPI inflation mainly consists of manufactured items which have a weight 64.23%, fuel and power with weight of 13.15% and primary articles with weight of 22.6%.
The WPI inflation stood at 15.1% in April 2022 as compared to 10.7% in April 2021. The recent rise in WPI inflation is majorly because of the rise in oil and other essential commodity prices on the back of geopolitical distress.
WPI Inflation remains in the double-digit range since the last 13 months. CPI Inflation remains above the RBI’s upper band for the fourth consecutive month.
PHDCCI study stated that the annual CPI inflation rate in India accelerated for the continuous 7th month to 7.8% in April 2022. Food and Beverages inflation increased to 8.1% in April 2022, the highest reading since November 2020, with cost of oils and fats, meat and fish, and vegetables recording the biggest rises. Other upward pressure came from prices of fuel and light, clothing and footwear, housing and pan and tobacco.
Going ahead, in case of CPI, the statistical effect will also start diminishing from the month of October-November 2022 and inflation will continuously soften towards the normal range of RBI upper band, said the Industry Body.
PHD Chamber suggests a 5 prong strategy to soften the inflation
1. Possible cut in the state excise duties especially on the petroleum products and bring petroleum products under the ambit of GST.
2. Strengthening of the global value chains and shifting of the sources of the imports from higher price to low price countries.
3. Import substitution for the technology intensive and labour-intensive products where India has a high imports category and comprises higher import shares.
4. Enhancing indigenous production possibilities where there is high demand for the commodities.
5. Measures for preventing hoarding of the essential commodities to stop price accelerations
Eminent dignitaries including Dr Vijay Mehta, Founder and Chairman, Mefcom Capital Markets Ltd. and Alternate President, ANMI and Prof. (Dr) Gurbachan Singh, Eminent Economist & Adjunct Faculty, Indian Statistical Institute, also graced the Open House Discussion with their presence and shared their viewpoints. Dr S P Sharma, Chief Economist | DSG, PHDCCI, moderated the Open House Discussion and presented the Vote of Thanks.


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- Samsung brings the Future of Smart TV in 2012 Smart TV Lineup
experience and interact with their TV’s. The future of Smart TV is here Samsung Gulf Electronics, a market leader in consumer electronics, today launched the 2012 Samsung Smart TV ... said: “Samsung’s latest Smart TV line-up stems from our vision to provide consumers with the most ...
Press Release - 11/04/2012 - 10:32 - comment 0
- Samsung smart home becomes reality, set to transform everyday life
global launch of its Samsung Smart Home service. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. announced the official global launch of its Samsung Smart Home service. The service willfirst be rolled out ... and control home appliances, TVs and mobile devices. “We are excited that the launch of Samsung Smart Home ...
Press Release - 08/07/2014 - 09:16 - comment 0
- Samsung’s Smart Camcorders for Smart Consumers
Samsung’s Smart Camcorders for Smart ConsumersSamsung HMX-R10 and SMX-C10 offer unique active lens designed to reduce wrist pain and fatigue Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the global leader in consumer ... Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the global leader ...
16/05/2010 - 17:45 - comment 0
- At CES 2014, Samsung unveils ‘Smart Control’, its enhanced remote control for Smart TV
Samsung Smart Control, the updated version of its Smart TV remote control featuring faster and more ... Samsung Smart Control, the updated version of its Smart TV remote control featuring faster and more ... will be unveiled at the CES 2014 in Las Vegas. The 2014 Samsung Smart Control combines gesture-recognition ...
Press Release - 05/01/2014 - 09:16 - comment 0
- Samsung partners with Yahoo to provide top headlines and weather updates on Samsung Smart TVs
delivers easy access to timely news information and content straight to Samsung Smart TVs. Building on Samsung’s innovative Smart TV experience, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader ... to timely news information and content straight to Samsung Smart TVs. With a click of a remote, users have ...
Press Release - 10/11/2013 - 07:51 - comment 0
- Samsung Gear S enhances the smart wearable experience
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. unveiled the Samsung Gear S, the next generation smart wearable device that expands the smartphone experience to the wrist. The new Samsung Gear S delivers an up-to-date smart ... Electronics Co., Ltd. unveiled the Samsung Gear S, the next generation smart wearable device that expands ...
Press Release - 09/09/2014 - 08:46 - comment 0
- Samsung to focus on delivering more Video Content on SMART TV’s
on Samsung’s SMART TV in the GCC. Last year, YouTube was the most used application on Samsung’s SMART TV in the GCC. According to recent consumer research by Samsung, there has been a remarkable ... based applications and video content are dominating Smart TV consumer usage habits. Samsung has ...
Press Release - 27/02/2013 - 09:57 - comment 0
- Samsung and IOC team up to announce GALAXY Note 3 as Olympic Games phone for Sochi 2014 as part of “Samsung Smart Olympic Games” initiative
with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the “Samsung Smart Olympic Games” initiative. ... category, introduced a collaboration with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on the “Samsung Smart ... wireless, paperless digital lifestyle. The “Samsung Smart Olympic Games” initiative will create a digital ...
Press Release - 05/11/2013 - 09:05 - comment 0
- Samsung’s new Smart TV Software Development Kit supports various O/S
and Mac, in addition to Windows O/S. Up till now, Samsung's Smart TV software development only ... HTML5 in the Smart TV SDK 4.0, a standard programming language, Samsung has laid the foundation for many software developers to easily take part in development of Smart TV applications. With HTML5, Samsung ...
Press Release - 08/01/2013 - 09:22 - comment 0
- Samsung host workshop for content developers
winner in innovation and digital appliances, recently hosted a workshop on Samsung’s Smart TVs ... and award winner in innovation and digital appliances, recently hosted a workshop on Samsung’s Smart TVs ... the latest line-up of Smart TV’s Samsung has introduced to the market last May, and encourage them to develop ...
Press Release - 23/11/2011 - 06:31 - comment 0


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For ad tech companies Criteo and Viant, it’s onward and… upward?
Ad-tech company Viant completed a company buyout earlier this week that the co-founders say allows them to “take back control” from Meredith Corporation.
Adelphic by Viant’s New Programmatic Report Shows Trader Opinions and Challenges, Coincides With National Programmatic Advertising Day
Viant, a leading advertising technology company, announced it has completed a company buyout and that the Viant co-founders, Tim and Chris Vanderhook, are taking back control of the ad tech company from Meredith Corporation.
Meredith Corp. has sold the 60% stake it owns in ad tech company Viant to its co-founders.
Ad tech company Viant’s co-founders,Tim and Chris Vanderhook, announced they have bought back the 60 percent stake of the company from Meredith Corp for an undisclosed fee. The company will therefore return to the market as independent.
Ad tech firm Viant has acquired itself from Meredith. Viant’s founder brothers, Tim and Chris Vanderhook, already held on to 40 per cent of the company and have now picked up the remaining 60 per cent from the media giant.
Viant co-founders Tim and Chris Vanderhook said Monday they’ve bought back the 60% stake they sold to Time Inc. in 2016, before Time Inc. itself was acquired by Meredith. They declined to reveal the deal price, though the Vanderhooks sold Viant in 2016 for a reported $87 million.
Viant has acquired itself from media publishing powerhouse Meredith, the companies said Monday. Brothers Chris and Tim Vanderhook, who started Viant 20 years ago, owned a 40 percent stake; Meredith sold the pair the remaining 60 percent.
Viant Technology LLC, an Irvine-based advertising technology company, announced Monday it has completed a company buyout and that Viant co-founders Tim and Chris Vanderhook are taking back control of the firm from Meredith Corp.


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FIDEA advises Torf Corporation on attracting financial investor 21 December 2016
FIDEA acted as an exclusive financial advisor to Torf Corporation – Fabryka Leków Sp. z o.o.(„TORF”), one of the leading cosmetics producers in Poland, and its shareholders on partnering with a financial investor – Resource Partners.
Established in 1989, TORF is one of the leading Polish cosmetics producers. Products sold under the TOŁPA brand are valued by customers due to their natural and innovative features. TORF is also a leading producer of oral hygiene products under private label, sold on European markets.


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KTM and Aki Ajo have finalized their agreement for Ajo to run the factory Red Bull KTM Moto3 team. KTM issued the following press release announcing the deal:
KTM and Aki Ajo officially seal the Moto3 deal for 2013
KTM is delighted to have finalized the arrangements for Aki Ajo to continue to manage the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 Factory Team through 2013, Pit Beirer Head of KTM Motorsports has reported. Aki signed on the dotted line at KTM headquarters, confirming the already agreed verbal commitment from both sides.
“Aki did a fantastic job with the factory team in our first year back in MotoGP competition in the new Moto3 category. He pushed us hard to reach a very high level. He asked the right questions and wanted the right materials. We developed the bike in record time and the results speak for themselves. That we were able to take the team to such a high level and win the Moto3 World Championship with Sandro Cortese and take the manufacturer’s title was a remarkable result.”
KTM welcomed Ajo this week at the headquarters of KTM Motorsports to formerly settle the already agreed verbal agreement. He also visited the factory and had in-depth discussions with technical staff. The team has been analyzing and testing the 2013 factory bike prototype with Spanish rider Luis Salom and already have a very fast bike with which to work, Beirer confirmed.
“Now it is up to us to refine the prototype and build and deliver excellent factory bikes to Aki’s team in a quality and reliability that will let them continue to work at the same high level that we were able to achieve in 2012,” said Beirer.


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Find out what’s new at Volofit—the latest news and our most up-to-date thoughts on fitness and wellness.
Volofit Studio Comes to Pittsburgh
Newest studio under construction set to open in September.
July 19, 2021
Top 5 Tips for Goal Setting
Learn from our of Chief Fitness Officer, Caitlin Donato.
July 14, 2021
Seize the Summer With Volofit
Check out our top three tips to help you achieve your fitness and health goals all summer long.
June 25, 2021
Volofit's Flagship Studio Comes to Charlotte
Construction begins on the first corporate location.
June 7, 2021
How Franchising Creates Successful Business Owners
Read from our CEO, Britt Canady, on brand building, the importance of shared business principles, and the entrepreneurial beauty of franchising.
May 21, 2021
The Rise Of Boutique Fitness Post COVID
An inside view from our COO, Kory Angelin
May 5, 2021
Our Top 3 Reasons Why Group HIIT Fitness is Right For You
It's all about fun, accountability and motivation
April 16, 2021
Volofit Fitness Studios Focus On Fully-Balanced Workouts
Volofit is now open in Apple Valley, MN
April 6, 2021
Volofit Appoints Fitness Industry Leader Kory Angelin As COO
The newest hire for Volofit's Executive Team
March 30, 2021
South Florida Gets 15 Unit Area Representative Deal
Newest franchise agreement signed in Florida
February 10, 2021
Volofit Adds 15 New Units to Franchise Network
Volofit is expanding across the US


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RimTyme store opens in Houma
Houma, La.-based entrepreneur Paul Angelette has opened a RimTyme tire and wheel rental store in that town.
The new store -- which contains a large showroom stocked with more than 800 tires and custom wheels -- is the first of three RimTyme outlets Angelette plans to open.
The shop offers customers a flexible lease-purchase option "with no long-term commitment required," he says. "We give customers their choice of ways to pay: cash, credit, 90-days-cash, or lease-purchase."
Tim Hogan, RimTyme's vice president of operations, says RimTyme "is seeing a great deal of interest... from potential franchisees. We plan to be the hottest and fastest-growing wheel and tire company in America."
Plano, Texas-based RimTyme has 13 franchise locations and 11 company-owned stores in 11 states.


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In recent years, the CBD industry has seen massive growth in terms of the number of brands and products available to consumers. Last year, there was estimated to be over 1,500 different CBD brands in the United States alone. Both the buzz surrounding the potential health benefits of CBD and more studies confirming those benefits has brought profit-seeking companies into the marketplace.
Due to the industry becoming crowded with low-quality and illegitimate CBD brands, now is the time for you to learn about why third-party lab tests are important. Ensuring anything you put into your body is of high quality is crucial for health, so let’s go over what a third-party lab test is and how it can help keep you safe.
What Is A Third-Party Lab Test?
When a product is “third-party lab tested” it means the product is tested by a laboratory independent from the company who made the product. This ensures the laboratory has no stake in whether the product passes or fails the lab test.
“Third-party” refers to a group that is not directly involved with the business, which means they are 100% impartial.
Third-party CBD lab tests look for substances present in CBD such as heavy metals, solvents, terpene content, microbial contamination, and pesticides. A report from CBS claims that over 70% of the top CBD companies are not performing proper lab tests and are blatantly lying about what’s in their bottle!
CBD vs the Food and Drug Administration
While the CBD industry has grown exponentially, the Federal Drug Association (FDA) has yet to offer up any real regulations for CBD products. This lack of regulation is what has allowed the industry to grow so rapidly and without any real consequences for those who lie in their advertising.
Senate Majority leader, Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has become one of the most prominent public figures trying to put pressure on the FDA to provide more regulations on CBD brands, saying in a statement, “CBD is brimming with potential to be a billion dollar industry … But before that can happen, farmers, growers, producers, consumers and vendors need to know exactly what the rules of the road are – and right now they’ve got no idea. That’s why I’m calling on the FDA to do its job in a timely manner and issue guidance related to CBD classification, labeling, quality, marketing, and sales.”
All of this to say, the FDA has essentially left the CBD industry to regulate itself-making third party testing that much more important.
So, Why Is CBD Lab Testing Important?
A study done in 2019 by ABC News of the top CBD brands in the US found 70% of them to be “highly contaminated” and over 50% of them bore inaccuracies on their labels. Those statistics are truly terrifying. This is why CBD lab testing is important.
It’s criminal that these brands are still allowed to be sold! But, with no FDA regulation, this can continue to happen. That means there are endless numbers of consumers who have not just wasted their money on a product that won’t give them the results, but are also consuming unknown substances that could actually harm them.
3rd-Party CBD Testing: On Amazon
Amazon is notorious for selling fake CBD. Sometimes, you’ll see products advertising 30,000mg of CBD for $12 – with no lab test! In the reviews of these products, behind the fake 5-star reviews, you see people who needed much more than placebo and are left disappointed. You also see the occasional customer who has been harmed by this fake CBD.
According to multiple, independent sources, including the National Library of Medicine, CBD has no side effects, meaning whatever hurt these people was not CBD. This is the terrifying truth of navigating this industry and another reason why third party lab testing should be a standard practice.
How To Spot A Fake CBD Brand
Another thing to keep in mind is that many fake CBD companies (and even the really popular ones) will say that they are third party tested, yet, their test results are impossible to find.
You as the consumer have to ask yourself why? Typically, the answer is because they have something to hide. The CBD oil for sale from USA Medical has lab test results from an ISO-certified laboratory readily available to you on the front page of the website, because there is nothing to hide! These test results serve as proof to the claims of purity, potency, and the organic nature of USA Medical CBD.
The Bottom Line
Your health is the most important thing in the world and fake CBD products are a danger to you and anyone who falls victim. When discussing third-party lab tests and why they are important, remember, a 3rd-party CBD lab test is the only way to verify whether or not the CBD you plan to buy is pure, potent, and worth your money.
Don’t settle – demand the best from CBD companies, because your heath and wellness is what matters most!
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Watch Dogs has been delayed to sometime in spring 2014, Ubisoft announced today. The action-adventure game was expected to be one of the major titles to launch on both current and next-gen consoles this holiday season.
It’s being positioned as Ubisoft’s next high-profile IP after franchises like Assassin’s Creed and Tom Clancy, but now we’ll have to wait a few months longer to see if it can live up to that popular pedigree.
Ubisoft communications manager Gary Steinman wrote in a blog post: “We know a lot of you are probably wondering: Why now? We struggled with whether we would delay the game. But from the beginning, we have adopted the attitude that we will not compromise on quality.\”
“As we got closer to release, as all the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place in our last push before completion, it became clear to us that we needed to take the extra time to polish and fine tune each detail so we can deliver a truly memorable and exceptional experience.”
Watch Dogs is still scheduled to arrive on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 when it launches. Another next-gen Ubisoft title, open-world racer The Crew, was delayed from early 2014 to early 2015 today as well.


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Delta has started a huge unadvertised fare war from Vancouver to various U.S. hub cities! Including a lot of cities that rarely ever go on sale.
There's a crazy last minute flight deal from Regina to Montego Bay, Jamaica. Here's how to find it...
I've seen some very cheap flights to Europe on Air Transat in my day, but this one takes the cake.
Samsung Electronics Co. began offering a free radio-streaming service in the U.S. today, taking on Pandora Media Inc. and Apple Inc.
Oscar Mayer says it has created a bacon-scented app for the iPhone, developed by the Madison-based company’s Institute for the Advancement of Bacon
BlackBerry Ltd ( NASDAQ: BBRY TSE: BB ) on Tuesday suffered a network outage affecting some users in Canada and the Asia-Pacific region, the smartphone company said


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Weichai Power Co., Ltd. Business Report FY2010
Performance for FY2010 (in million yuan)
|FY2010||FY2009||Rate of Change(%)||Factors|
-demand of commercial vehicles increased；
-sales of engines for heavy-duty trucks reached 414,000, with an increase of 83%.
-Profits increased due to greater demand in the Chinese market
Joint-venture company-On November 30, 2009, Weichai Power Co., Ltd. signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Yangzhou city government. The agreement is designed to strengthen the city's auto parts business in terms of making it more competitive, and also expand Weichai's operations in the Yangtze Delta area. At the same time, Weichai also signed an agreement to create a joint-venture company with both Yangzhou Diesel Engine Co., Ltd. and Jiangsu Yaxing Automobile Group. The three companies established Weichai Power Yangzhou Diesel Engine Co., Ltd. on November 30 and held an opening ceremony on February 1, 2010.
-Zhuzhou Torch Spark Plug Co., Ltd., which is a subsidiary of the Company produced 134 million spark plugs in 2010, which was an increase of 37 percent from the previous year's volume. Sales rose 32 percent year-on-year, hitting the all-time high figure. The company thereby took the first place in the Chinese spark plug market for the eighth straight year. During 2010, the company started supplying spark plugs to the Chinese facility of Fuji Heavy Industries, Ltd., tapping into the market captured by Japanese major suppliers such as NGK and Denso. The company also won exclusive supply contracts to provide iridium and platinum plugs to Changan Ford, Chery Automobile, Brilliance Auto, and Haima Automobile. In addition, it began supplying high power cables to Geely Automobile. (From a press release, February 14, 2011)
R&D structure- The Company has R&D centers in China and Austria.
- Its Europe Technical Center, which was established in October 2003 with an investment of 100 billion yuan, developed Landking lll engines by using advanced technology provided by AVL. The new engines meet China lll emissions standards.
-On June 21, the Comapny invited Chinese manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks and buses, vehicle parts suppliers, and the media to explain its strategic business plans for its Green Power R&D Center and its facility designed to produce 1.5 million heavy-duty diesel engines. Its Green Power R&D Center, labeled the 5810 green power project, is aiming to generate sales of 50 billion yuan in 2012, 80 billion yuan in 2015, and 100 billion yuan in 2020. Its heavy-duty diesel-engine facility is planning to attain the annual production capacity to make 1.5 million units in 2015 and 2 million units in 2020. (From a press release by the Company, June 29, 2010)
-On June 2, the Company and Tongji University signed an agreement to collaborate on developing new energy powertrain systems. Based on this collaborative agreement between academia and industry, the Company will develop new-energy powertrain technology, hoping to commercialize it. (From a press release, June 3, 2010)
Capital investment projects for FY2010 (Automotive business only)
(in million yuan)
|Revamping production lines making steering products at Shaanxi Fast Gear Co., Ltd.||516.70||Under construction|
|Revamping production lines at Weichai Power Co., Ltd.||84.84||Under construction|
|Revamping production lines manufacturing high-power diesel engines at Weichai Power Co., Ltd.||236.13||Under construction|
|Revamping production lines manufacturing transmissions at Baoji Fast Gear
|Revamping production lines manufacturing transmissions at Shaanxi Fast Gear
|Revamping production lines at Zhuzhou Gear
|Extending production lines at Weichai Power Co., Ltd.||539.61||Under construction|


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September 29, 2021 10:47
SK Innovation will join hands with U.S. auto giant Ford to spend more than US$10 billion on new U.S. plants to produce electric-vehicle batteries.
"The two companies will invest US$4.45 billion each through BlueOvalSK, a joint venture, to build three EV battery plants in the U.S. by 2027 -- the two in Kentucky and the one in neighboring Tennessee," an SK Innovation spokesman said on Tuesday.
They will have a combined annual capacity of 129 GWh of batteries, enough to power 2.15 million EVs per year.
In May this year, SK Innovation and Ford decided to spend W6 trillion, but now they have agreed to nearly double the investment after U.S. President Joe Biden announced in August a plan to make half of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. eco-friendly by 2030 (US$1=W1,186).
SK Innovation will be able to produce 150.5 GWh of batteries per year in the U.S. alone, including those at its two existing plants in the state of Georgia, making it the biggest EV battery maker in the U.S. in terms of production capacity, surpassing LG Energy Solution (145 GWh).
"This is our moment -- our biggest investment ever -- to help build a better future for America," Ford CEO Jim Farley said. "We are moving now to deliver breakthrough electric vehicles for the many rather than the few."
- Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com


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In the run up to the launch of the HTC One M9 we were of course bombarded with leaks and rumors, some of which threw the cat out of the bag so violently we knew pretty much everything there was to know about the M9 before it was launched during MWC '15. We were also expecting the HTC One M9 Plus to be revealed, but considering the amount of leaks slowed down, rather than speeding up, as we got closer to Mobile World Congress it began to look like the product was shelved, or that it never existed in the first place. Leakers like @UPLeaks are of course convinced that the phone does exist, and in an interesting turn of events, we could be looking at the first two images of the HTC One M9 Plus.
As Russian site Mobilissimo is reporting, photos of what could be the HTC One Plus have appeared on China's Weibo network courtesy of the account "Ubuntu team". The images look like an HTC One device, but the camera lens is significantly different from both last year's HTC One (M8) – the lack of a second camera makes that obvious – and this year's square camera module from the HTC One (M9). The device has stickers plastered all over it, which could be a sign that this is some sort of device in testing, and the specs for the device have been teased yet again.
We've been hearing that this is going to be a device for the Far East markets, and with a 5.2-inch Quad HD display and a MediaTek MT6795 octa-core CPU (with a Snapdragon 810 version teased as well) it looks like this is shaping up to be a much better device than the original M9, on paper at least. We've heard these specs before, and if they turn out to be true it'll raise some eyebrows about HTC's strategy. With a 0.2-inch larger display, how could HTC justify a device with a better display and a more powerful processor? Wouldn't it be too similar to the original? Only time will tell, but these images look like an HTC One device, so a launch later this year seems very likely at this point.


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[QQ]Dilbert, the IT industry's most popular cartoon character, will undergo an amazing transformation when he becomes a TV star later this month, write John Geralds and Steven Mathieson.[QQ] In a blow...
Nearly 22 per cent of consumers who had never done any online grocery shopping before the pandemic are now doing so
Companies are challenging Amazon in retail and cloud
Cosmetics firm is undergoing a top-to-toe tech refresh with GDPR compliance thrown in
DFS resorts to cloud to help handle spikes in online demand
Economy and business performance not a problem, reckon small firms


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Agostinelli stated loans to people in the military are unusual for his organizations but that solution users might head to a name loan provider when it comes to reason that is same else does: they require money instantly and discreetly.
Loans comparable to the main one Tyler took away are broadly and lawfully offered by shops and on the internet. QC Holdings, Advance America, money America and Ace money Express вЂ” all on the list of nation’s biggest lenders that are payday
offer loans that fall away from definitions of this Military Lending Act, which defined a loan that is payday enduring 90 days or less.
The yearly prices is sky high, like those provided by Ace money Express in Texas, in which a loan that is five-month $400 is sold with a yearly price of 585 per cent, in line with the organization’s web site.
Ace money is among quantity of payday loan providers simply outside of the gates of Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, and possesses four stores within three miles of Fort Hood in Texas.
A 2012 report in the Military Lending Act because of the customer Federation of America discovered there have been no fall within the quantity of payday loan providers around Fort Hood because the 2006 legislation went into impact.


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For Release: Immediate
“Maine public utilities commission announced major increases in rates for residential customers that begin in march. The new rates for homes is about 11% higher and medium business customers will pay about 18% more.
The rate increases are not a surprise to electricity Maine. We are also seeing increases in the market for the foreseeable future. This is why many of our customers started to select our 24 month fixed rate. The rate allows them to lock in now a rate they can depend on.
One major surprise was the rate swings that many of the medium size business customers will have this year. Over the next year rates for this class of customer will be as high as 15 cents per kWh. One of the most significant impacts will be to businesses in the middle of the winter in January of next year when they are trying to heat their business they will be paying an incredible 49% more next January than they are right now.
One of the reasons our company has been so successful is that we offer one fixed rate for our business customers that allows them to budget and plan better especially during the winter.
Unless your business revenue increases in the winter while you are trying to heat you are better off with a fixed rate for your electricity that does not change every month and go up during the winter months.”
Kevin Dean/co-owner Electricity Maine


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Ferrari will form an owners' club and give its members first dibs on the ludicrously expensive limited-edition Ferraris that roll out from time to time.
Last year the Italian automaker announced plans to build 80 copies of the SA Aperta, a roadster derived from the 599 GTB coupe. But many longtime Ferrari collectors complained that the $540,000 cars were snapped up before they had a chance to act.
The SA Aperta was unveiled at a customer-only event in August 2010 at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and then shown at the very public Paris auto show the following month. The cars were sold out by the end of September 2010.
"I do not want our faithful collectors to miss the opportunity to buy one of our special series," Ferrari CEO Luca Cordero di Montezemolo told Automotive News Europe.
Montezemolo suggested loyal Ferrari hunters and gatherers should get a right of first refusal on special-edition models.
But what will it take to be admitted to the club? That's still under discussion. One option is to limit membership to Ferrari fanatics who own at least five Prancing Horse models. The company says there are about 300 people worldwide who can make that claim.


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To this point, much of the coverage of the Internet of Things (IoT) has been dreamy and idealistic: Connecting everything via wireless and the Internet will automate so much of what is done manually today that lives will be transformed and society will be changed, much for the better.
That still may happen, but Computerworld’s Mike Elgan suggests that the Internet of Things has significant obstacles to overcome. Despite the fact that the story is the second of two that runs under the headline “Why the Internet of Things May Never Happen,” he admits that it will. But, he writes, it will be a version that is far more fragmented, limited and insecure than the bright predictions call for today.
The bottom line is that the IoT that Elgan predicts is a scary place.
Elgan suggests two main reasons that the IoT is more a deadend than a road to the future: The war over the control of standards will erect walls where they don’t have to exist and the IoT is inherently insecure.
The Economist earlier this month posted a story about IoT standards. The bulk of the piece was about the AllSeen Alliance, a consortium trying to set standards for the IoT. It sums up the overriding challenge:
The real problem may turn out to be not a lack of standards, but too many—and disagreement over which initiative to pursue. The AllSeen Alliance is just one of many groups working on solutions. AT&T, Cisco, GE, IBM and Intel have helped form another group called the Industrial Internet Consortium to “define common architectures” for smart objects. Other organisations include the IPSO Alliance, which is promoting the use of the Internet Protocol, which eventually standardised the way that data could flow across different types of network; the Open Interconnect Consortium (Broadcom, Dell, Samsung and others); and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, which is working—perhaps ambitiously—to build consensus on standards.
The bottom line is that the group that ends up setting the standard will have at least an initial advantage for two reasons: It will have a better understanding of the intricacies of that standard and, since the organizations in the consortium developed it, it naturally will fit nicely with what they offered.
Without the standards, the IoT won’t reach even a small fraction of its potential. Thus, the idealistic dream that many hold for the IoT really is hostage to what undoubtedly will be intense marketplace competition.
Security also is a major obstacle. The problem seems even more daunting than standards, and one that already is having an impact: The Shellshock bug, which has been making news for the past week, is a threat to IoT-connected devices.
Engadget’s report on Shellshock seeks to be as simple as possible. In short, Shellshock attacks a popular shell, a computing device’s user interface, called Bash. The bug can be used to insert unwanted code, which can get the device do many unwanted things, in the Bash shell.
The IoT is at risk:
The internet of things complicates the situation because there are many more devices that should be updated, and for some, the manufacturers may not even issue patches. However, most of the devices are configured to function in a secure manner, behind a firewall. Regardless, if you suspect your “things” use a version of Linux (and there’s a really good chance they do), we recommend you check for updates and even inquire about them from the manufacturer.
Even if Shellshock itself is dealt with, the idea is that the very promise of the IoT – billions of really inexpensive computing devices mixed deeply into systems, devices and networks – suggests that the crackers will have plenty to work with in the future.
Questions about whether the IoT will be built in the manner that people predict today are not uncommon. The IoT is a great dream. Some dreams indeed come true. Some don’t. One of the great dramas of the next decade or so will be which side of the line the Internet of Things falls on.
Carl Weinschenk covers telecom for IT Business Edge. He writes about wireless technology, disaster recovery/business continuity, cellular services, the Internet of Things, machine-to-machine communications and other emerging technologies and platforms. He also covers net neutrality and related regulatory issues. Weinschenk has written about the phone companies, cable operators and related companies for decades and is senior editor of Broadband Technology Report. He can be reached at [email protected] and via twitter at @DailyMusicBrk.


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Paulo Coelho became a household name among readers following the release of his 1988 novel The Alchemist, which proved to be a huge hit with young adults and celebrity readers such as Will Smith and Bill Clinton. The famed author has now announced that he intends to start distributing his novels for free across the continent of Africa.
The writer took to Twitter to announce that he plans to start distributing his books free of charge to African schools and libraries in both cities and more rural areas across sub-Saharan Africa. “I’m going to buy the titles from my publishers [and] give them for free to schools & libraries,” he wrote, before asking anyone who might be able to help to make contact at [email protected]
Looking at the response on Twitter, it appears Coelho has already had applications from users across African countries such as Madagascar, Kenya, and Tanzania. This isn’t the first time Coelho has gone out of his way to make his books available to all. He has insisted that his books be fairly priced and that translations of his books be handled by local publishers.
Coelho has also made a point of visiting more remote and out of the way locations when it comes to embarking on book tours. In 1999, he told The New York Times: “All my life the most important things have been what I learned from ordinary people.”


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Ireland-based Endo has made a $2.6bn cash-and-stock offer for Auxilium – which has been approved by the boards of both companies – that will add the latter’s portfolio of testosterone replacement therapies to Endo fast-growing speciality pharma business.
The deal comes after Auxilium hatched a $345m tax-inversion deal with QLT that would have allowed it to reduce US corporation tax exposure by transferring its domicile to Canada, QLT’s home market. A $28m termination fee paid to QLT by Auxilium is cold comfort for the Canadian firm, a former biotech star which is operating largely as a shell company after selling off its main assets in recent years.
Endo – which is itself the product of a tax inversion deal after buying Ireland-based Paladin Labs last year – first approached Auxilium with a $2.2bn offer in September but was rebuffed on the grounds that the bid undervalued the US company.
Bumping up the offer by $400m – coupled with the US government’s recent efforts to strip out the financial benefits of tax inversions – has swung the deal.
Auxilium’s main products are testosterone replacement products Testim gel and the implantable Testopel – expected to bring in between $255m and $280m in sales this year – as well as Xiaflex (collagenase clostridium histolyticum), the first non-surgical treatment for curved penis condition Peyronie’s disease which could add another $80m.
In a statement, Endo said the takeover would create a “leading specialty healthcare company”, adding that Auxilium’s products are “natural complements to [our] current men’s health and pain products.”
Endo also sells a testosterone replacement therapy called Aveed, although the prospects for all products in this category are somewhat clouded in the US after an FDA advisory committee concluded last month they should be restricted in their use as they are currently over-prescribed. They should be reserved for medical conditions and not used to boost flagging sex drive or low energy levels, said the panel.
The Irish company – which also sells generic drugs – has had a remarkably acquisitive year to date, spending more than $4bn on a string of deals including takeovers of Dava Pharma and Grupo Farmaceutico Somar and individual products, as well as completing the Paladin merger.
The company’s strategy is akin to that of Valeant – currently in hot pursuit of Allergan – and involves buying up companies with profitable product portfolios and stripping out costs. The Auxilium deal provides an opportunity to reduce annual costs by around $175m, according to Endo.


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Sour note: Vicarious confirms 50 layoffs from Guitar Hero demise
- Robin K. Cooper
Vicarious Vision in Menands, a developer of at least eight Guitar Hero video games over the past three years, will refocus its efforts.
The company, owned by California-based Activision Publishing, confirmed this week that it’s laying off 50 of its 200 employees as Activision abandons its Guitar Hero business.
Worldwide, Activision is trimming its work force from 7,000 to 6,500.
Activision (Nasdaq: ATVI) said last week that it will cease production of Guitar Hero and True Crime: Hong Kong games due to declining sales.
Instead, the company will focus on producing more Call of Duty interactive battle games, which have attracted 27 million users who have logged 2 billion hours of play over the past seven years.
Guitar Hero, which had sold more than 40 million units as of last June, still was very much in the limelight in 2010.
Bala introduced the new Guitar Hero application for the iPhone.
“It’s very cool,” Jobs said after watching a demo of the new app.
Sales of Guitar Hero games, however, are not what they once were, Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg said last week.
The company will re-allocate capital to take advantage of Call of Duty’s popularity and to invest in other games that are rising in popularity.
Activision is laying off 500 employees, including 50 in Menands, but CFO Thomas Tippl said last week that he expects the company to be back up to nearly 7,000 employees by the end of the year.
Executives from Vicarious Visions have not spoken directly about the impact of Activision’s decision.
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One of the world’s largest distributors of electronic components, Avnet will not accept crypto payments. The firm has partnered with blockchain payments processor Bitpay for the same. The customers can now pay via Bitcoin(BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) for services and products. Avnet now stands tall as the third largest company ion US to accept Bitcoin payments.
said Avnet vice president of demand creation Sunny Trinh.
As per Avnet, crypto payments time cost and complexities can be reduced. Further, the firm has sealed multi-million dollar crypto transactions within first few months of accepting crypto payments.
BitPay’s chief commercial officer, Sonny Singh, said:
Till January, BitPay had processed over $1 billion-worth of cryptocurrency transactions in 2018 for the second year in a row.
said Stephen Pair, BitPay co-founder and CEO.
As a matter of fact, the firm’s business-to-business venture increased about 255 percent year-on-year. This was because new clients including law firms, data center providers and IT vendors agreed to make crypto payments.
Avnet is a global technology solutions provider. It has an extensive ecosystem, which is into delivery design, product, marketing and supply chain expertise for customers at every stage of the product lifecycle.
BitPay was founded in 2011. It is the pioneer and the most experienced company in Bitcoin and blockchain payments.
The company has offices in North America, Europe, and South America. Moreover, it has raised over $70 million from leading investors including Founders Fund, Index Ventures and Aquiline Technology Growth.
BitPay has enabled businesses to send and receive cross border payments. Further, it has enabled consumers to manage digital assets with the BitPay Wallet and turn digital assets into dollars with the BitPay Prepaid Visa® Card.


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(WTVM) - The Better Business Bureau is warning consumers to look out for companies that say they're supporting Breast Cancer Awareness Month but in fact, are doing the opposite.
Pinkwashing is when companies take advantage of pink products and services to support breast cancer charity groups and organizations.
The BBB says many times companies market the items and make it seem like proceeds from pink or pink ribbon products are going to charity or organizations when the money is really staying in the company's pocket.
BBB's Regional Director, Tabitha Ingram, says there are a few ways you can protect yourself.
Ingram says, "Well, Better Business Bureau advises consumers to do their homework, ask questions. If you see a company and they've got products you're selling their claiming to go for breast cancer awareness ask questions, what's the charity their going to, what percentage or portion is going towards that and also if they have a cap? Some companies have a cap on where they're donating so they might be halfway through and they may have met that cap and everything after that is going into their pocket."
The widely recognized pink ribbon symbol is not regulated by an agency and does not mean it promotes breast cancer research or charities.
So, many stores or vendors can sell products just to show their support and isn't considered pinkwashing because they're not promising to give proceeds to research or charity.
The BBB says when in doubt use your head, as well as your heart.
Think about the product that you are purchasing.
If you don't need it, consider making a donation directly to the breast cancer charity of your choice that way you know where your money is going.


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In a recently published corporate management policy briefing, Nintendo has revealed that its latest handheld console now has an impressive library of over 6700 games published by third party publishers, making the Switch’s third party library easily the most comprehensive one in the company’s decades-long history. 1100 of these additions came out in the last six months alone.
Following the disaster that was Wii U, the biggest question aimed at the Switch was whether third-parties would actually develop games for the console, especially given that it was significantly weaker than the competition. The Switch received unprecedented third-party support with publishers like EA, 2K, Ubisoft, Bethesda, Capcom, Square Enix, and many more all flocking to deliver games for the system.
We have also seen some impressive ports of AAA games like Doom Eternal and The Witcher 3 on the Switch, alongside a huge number of indies- an aspect where the Switch has dramatically improved over Nintendo’s past generations. On the flip side, ports for games like WWE 2K18 and FIFA have been the pinnacle of cash-grabs for the 92 million+ install-base platform.


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US rival keen on assets of troubled firm
A US digital company with a base in Belfast could be acquired by another leading American firm after filing for bankruptcy protection.
Trident Microsystems, which makes parts for electronics companies like Samsung, LG and Sony, specialises in set-top boxes for digital televisions and employs around 20 people at its Malone Road office.
It is not yet known how staff in Northern Ireland will be affected.
The firm filed for 'Chapter 11' bankruptcy protection in the USA and has added that another company, Entropic Communications, has made a $55m (£37m) bid to acquire a portion of its business. Trident said in September it was laying off about 22% of workers - about 275 staff out of 1,300 - and shares have plummeted recently.
Entropic said it filed an asset purchase agreement as a "stalking horse" bidder and added it would plan to hire about 385 Trident employees primarily and acquire facilities in Austin, Texas, Belfast and Hyderabad, India.
According to court papers filed in Delaware, Trident has blamed its financial hardship on Taiwanese competitors that are selling products at cheaper prices and on its trouble in finding new sources of money.
Trident Microsystems is finding difficulties paying off debts of roughly $215.3m (£140m), the documents said. The firm wants to use Entropic's offer as the first at a February 15 auction to see if better deals emerge and if Entropic loses out, Trident would pay it a $1.65m (£1.1m) break-up fee.
The sale proceeds would fund Trident Microsystems until executives can find a way to restructure the business or sell off other product lines.
The company's chief executive Bami Bastani said: "A combination of increased pricing pressures in our industry, lower demand in consumer electronics, and slower than anticipated new product adoption has contributed to increased operating losses, a deterioration in liquidity and an erosion in equity values for Trident."
Neither Trident or Entropic was available for comment yesterday.


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DeWalt introduced 5.0 and 2.0 Ah lithium-ion battery packs and a new 12/20-volt jobsite charging station with dual USB ports.
Both batteries are compatible with the company’s line of 20- and 12-volt MAX tools.
“DeWalt continues to bring innovation and technology to our fastest growing cordless system,” product manager Ward Smith said in a statement. “One of the benefits of the DeWalt 20-volt MAX battery system is that we are able to continue to support our end users by adding solutions that are compatible with their existing DeWalt 20-volt MAX tools, and the introduction of our 5.0 Ah battery gives our user an instant runtime advantage.
“The new (2.0 Ah battery) includes the same cold weather performance as our previous 12-volt MAX battery packs, and can be fully charged in up to 90 minutes.”
The charging station charges both batteries as well as mobile phones and iPads.
For information, visit www.dewalt.com.