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Cryptocurrency during the day lost 13-22% of the cost
Course Bitcoin, which a week ago was fixed at around $ 7,000, fell below 6500 dollars. On this day, 6 September, according to data from CoinDesk.
During the day, bitcoin fell by 12.8%.
As of 9:15 Moscow time, the exchange rate of bitcoin made 6391 dollar. Overnight the value of Bitcoin has dipped to 6279 $ – the minimum value in a few weeks.
The Bitcoin exchange rate for the day
Bitcoin rate in a week
The Bitcoin exchange rate for the month
Other cryptocurrencies of the TOP 5 by capitalization depreciated even more. As the findings of CoinMarketCap, price Ethereum dropped by 20.89% and is at the level of 224,8 USD.
Cryptocurrency Ripple (XRP) lost in the price of 14.45% and is trading at 0,283 of the dollar, and Bitcoin Cash fell by 20.96% to 496,88 dollars.
Cryptocurrency EOS lost in the price of 22,69%, and now stands at 5.02 USD per “coin”. In mid-August by market capitalization EOS back to fifth place, sliding the cryptocurrency Stellar.
Market capitalization is 201 billion dollars, just last week this figure was $ 30 billion higher. The share of bitcoin accounts for 54.9 per cent of the total market. The dominance of this cryptocurrency is growing:
We will remind, founder and partner of Morgan Creek Digital Assets Anthony Pompliano earlier this year predicted that before the end of 2018, the price of bitcoin could rise to $ 50,000, but now he is less positive: in his opinion, it is likely to fall to $ 3,000.


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German sportswear maker Adidas reported Wednesday higher profits in 2017 thanks to worldwide sales growth in its most popular lines and efficiency savings, saying the performance put it on track for more muscular returns in future.
Net profit at the group grew 7.8 percent to 1.1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) last year, on the back of revenues up almost 15 percent at 21.2 billion euros.
Operating, or underlying profit grew almost 31 percent, to 2.1 billion euros.
"Our strategic growth areas were the main drivers of our performance" in 2017, chief executive Kasper Rorsted said in a statement, pointing to a 27-percent surge in North American sales, adjusting for currency effects, and a 29-percent leap in China.
Currency-adjusted sales in Western Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa and Japan all enjoyed double-digit increases, with the only dark spot a 13-percent slump in Russia and the former Soviet Union.
Among Adidas' own-brand products, there were double-digit sales increases for running products and its Originals and Neo fashion lines, while subsidiary Reebok booked strong growth in shipments of its Classics products.
Looking ahead to the new year, 2018 will see "quality growth", CEO Rorsted said, putting Adidas on track for "an even stronger increase in profitability by 2020."
The group expects currency-adjusted sales to grow around 10 percent in 2018, combining with efficiency savings to produce an operating profit between 9.0 and 13 percent higher.
Further into the future, Adidas aims to boost its operating margin to 11.5 percent by 2020, from 9.8 percent last year.
That would put the group on track to hit its upgraded target of average growth between 22 and 24 percent per year in net profit from continuing operations between 2015 and 2020.
Executives plan to offer investors a dividend of 2.60 euros per share for 2017, up from 2.00 euros the previous year.
The group also unveiled plans to further reward shareholders with a 3.0-billion-euro share buyback scheme to run until May 2021, with 1.0 billion euros of purchases set for this year.
Adidas will mostly fund the buybacks from its cash reserves, while a smaller share will be paid for by borrowing at favorable rates on capital markets, it said.

domain: news


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The sour side of Central Texas' wine industry
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In all, the Nabers expect their vineyard to turn a profit at about the 10-year mark.
Though Texas vineyards are trying to brand themselves as a fully local industry, many are having to buy grapes from California and other states because Texas growers can’t keep up with demand.
Most years, Knepp said, that comes from Texas’ large agricultural grape growers in the high country or other vineyards with surpluses. But in bad years for Texas grapes, he has to go out of state.
This has become a bothersome issue among winemakers trying to produce fully local wines, said January Wiese, executive director of Texas Hill Country Wineries.
The high country, one of the largest wine growing areas in the U.S. and the largest in Texas, has 9 million acres. But only 3,500 of those are planted with grapes, Wiese said.
The Texas Legislature has a history of spotty support for the wine industry. In 2005, the Legislature allocated $4.3 million of wine sales to the Texas Department of Agriculture every two years to fund wine and grape industry research, marketing and education. But that money was cut completely in 2011. In August 2012, the Department of Agriculture regained $500,000 every two years, which it is using to promote Texas wines.
State support is important, Rick Naber said, because it draws tourists and enables research on Texas-specific problems.
“We don’t have a lot of academic support, like California does,” he said. “Those of us striving for perfection in Texas are really pioneers.”
Robert Grattan covers government, courts and economic development for the Austin Business Journal.
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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- For all the talk about the seemingly depressed nature of the semiconductor space, where companies like Broadcom (BRCM) are fighting to maintain lofty growth expectations, Avago Technologies (AVGO), coming off two consecutive beat-and-raise quarters, remains one of the best-kept growth secrets on the market.Perhaps "secret" is not the proper term to use given that the stock is up 25% for the year to date. But unlike Qualcomm ( QCOM), and to a lesser extent Texas Instruments ( TXN), Avago has had little media coverage. Here's the thing: As with Qualcomm and Broadcom, Avago enjoys excellent exposure in the wireless handset market. The company is prominently featured in the products of both Apple ( AAPL) and Samsung ( SSNLF). So when average selling price (ASP) of high-end mobile devices began to come down, which incited fear of saturation and margin pressure for the likes of Broadcom, Avago was still able to grow market share. I'm not going to tell you that Avago has surpassed Qualcomm or that it's even close to launching a threat to Qualcomm's 50% share of the wireless market. But what I do know is Avago has been using its next-generation FBAR system, or Film Bulk Acoustic Resonator, to enable multi-band phones. These are the types of phones that are able to operate in multiple regions of the world. Essentially, Avago's FBAR system can allow device manufactures like Apple and Samsung to design one phone that can operate on virtually any network. Band fragmentation (among other things) has been one of the biggest headaches for hardware companies since they increase production costs. With Avago's FBAR system, Apple and Sumsung won't have to build various versions of their devices just to support multiple carrier frequencies.
What's more, as with Broadcom, Avago also has a strong networking business, which grew in the recent quarter by 16% year over year, helped by better-than-expected shipments of Cisco ( CSCO) equipment. However, and perhaps even more impressive than the revenue growth, is that with the 19% sequential surge in operating income, Avago is turning itself into a strong profit producer. On a non-GAAP basis, that figure was closer to 21%, which was enough for a 9% beat. Another thing to consider is that given how strong of a quarter this was, management still raised guidance -- suggesting the company doesn't expect this momentum will be stunted anytime soon. Although Qualcomm has a strong lead in this market and offers similar-to-greater advantages in its partnerships with Apple and Samsung, I believe the near-term share gain opportunities are greater in Avago. Follow @saintssense This article was written by an independent contributor, separate from TheStreet's regular news coverage.


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Learn how to debug your servers when they won't start with CommandBox 4.
Close on the heels of our big CommandBox 4.0.0 release, we have a small update we've released today: 4.1.0. This release is mostly to fix a couple small bugs in the 4.0.0 release, but it does have a few new features in it, so we've bumped a full minor version instead of just a patch release.
Learn about new improvements to tab completion and syntax highlighting in the REPL and shell in CommandBox 4.
Today we are very pleased to announce the final release of CommandBox 4.0.0. This has been one of our most ambitious releases and closed more than 70 tickets over 6 months of development and testing.
This release has gone through a month of testing that created two release candidates. A big thanks goes out to everyone who helped provide feedback. There are a lot of new features and libraries in 4.0 as well as a major overhaul of many of the UI aspects of the CLI.


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NEW YORK — MSNBC, eager to spread the word about its higher-visibility primetime series featuring the likes of Matt Lauer, Brian Williams, Chris Matthews and Ollie North, is about to sign veteran Mary Ellen Holden as its new head of marketing, advertising and promotion.
MSNBC declined comment, but sources say Holden has resigned as senior VP of marketing for USA Network and that she’ll report to her new VP job on April 3.
Despite a primetime lineup that features the magazine hour “Special Edition” at 8, “The News With Brian Williams” at 9 and the Matt Lauer-hosted biographical documentary “Headlines and Legends” at 10, MSNBC has remained stuck at a less-than-stellar 0.4 average primetime rating in cable homes.
Holden’s job, sources say, will be to ramp up the visibility of the lineup among cable and satellite viewers, and devise a strategy for cross promotion of the network’s primetime shows in other media.
MSNBC will also get the benefit of a potentially lucrative promotional platform for its various series when the network schedules well over 100 hours of Summer Olympics programming from Sydney over 18 days from mid- to late-September.
Before joining USA Network as VP and brand manager in 1996, Holden was VP of consumer products and new-business promotions for Nickelodeon. Earlier, she spent two years as director of worldwide marketing for Jim Henson Prods.
Holden will report to MSNBC prexy Eric Sorensen.


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Chiara Marinai is VanityFair.com's Senior Photo Editor.
In his new book, Barack Before Obama, campaign photographer David Katz shares up-close stories about the man, and his family, before they ever set foot in the White House.
The photographer is releasing a new book of portraits, Look at Me, “a very stylized look back at my life.”
The Nigerian photographer’s latest collection looks at self-portraits not through the lens of vanity, but in an effort to provide fresh context to the lives of Black icons.
Photographer Brian Bowen Smith, with the help of his camera and a vintage Ford pickup truck, offers a socially distanced glimpse of a country in turmoil.
In honor of Juneteenth, these art sales are helping Black communities across the country—and a piece from one of them could be yours.
As coronavirus spreads across the country, the social-distancer-in-chief is still pressing the flesh. A photo gallery.
At the final awards show before the Oscar nominations announcement, the biggest stars of the season continued their red-carpet hot streak.
A look into the archives of the fashion photographer who died in September, courtesy of the new Taschen book Peter Lindbergh, Dior.
Ah, the Met Gala after-parties: one more shot at glory, one more chance for camp.
The Duchess of Cambridge, Party Attendee Extraordinaire, is here to help.
Ahead, a look at the must-see looks as the fashion crowd brought out its best.
A look at the most amusing times Harry has tagged along with William and Kate.
Awards season officially kicks off at the Colorado fest, featuring some of the biggest names in Hollywood.
See Angelina Jolie, Emma Stone, and more of the biggest names at the annual fest.
“I’m glad he did it in such a blatant, unprofessional way,” said an Air Force master sergeant who still fears coming out. “People are no longer sitting on the fence.”
Sarah Shoen asked ten transgender service members to share their proudest accomplishments—and correct some common misconceptions.
Kate as Katniss! Kate as Scarlett O’Hara! Kate as Eliza Doolittle!
Joan Crawford and Bette Davis may have been better movie stars than they were mothers, but as FX’s Feud shows, relationships weren’t always so strained between these Oscar winners and their offspring.
How The Crown’s royal family stacks up against Downton Abbey’s Crawleys.
Black-and-white photographs of Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, and the outdoors will leave you feeling like you were under that same western sun.


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With COVID-19 cases retreating in the U.S., the scope of most businesses has moved from reacting to change to accelerating recovery.
When it comes to innovation and creativity, some analysts say current conditions are ideal for a boom cycle.
"Times of turmoil are always followed by great times of prosperity," said Jay Pattisall, principal analyst at Forrester, during the virtual Forrester Technology & Innovation North America conference Tuesday. "The last time that civilization faced and defeated a pandemic, what followed was the roaring 1920s, with loads of innovation, new products and new opportunities for people."
Boosting creativity in an enterprise can put a business in overdrive. Companies that are creative leaders grow 2.6 times faster than their peers, according to a Forrester survey of 530 technology executives. Three in four employees at firms operating under a hybrid model say creativity is now a requirement in their day jobs.
Tech executives play an essential role in harvesting creative energy for improved operations, as efficiency from technology further spurs creativity. With bandwidth to iterate, tech executives can fuel experimentation, supporting their companies as they capitalize on the advantages of the upcoming creativity boom.
Companies that jump on this opportunity can also enjoy advantages in the constrained talent market. Half of employees at creative-leading companies feel highly engaged, the survey found.
The demand for creativity comes at a time when technology executives are being asked to deliver results. The charge on CIOs is to leverage the expanding IT budgets to help companies pick up the pace in economic growth. Forrester expects 2022 IT budgets to grow by 6%.
But it's not just expense and iteration that can drive creativity and better outcomes. IT departments can improve return on investment rates by finding new ways to use their existing systems, according to research published in the Information and Organization journal.
"As technologists, you're supporting products and experiences and operations. You're solving problems," said Ted Schadler, VP and principal analyst at Forrester. "Creativity will help you in every one of these areas where your contributions are vital to the success of your organization."
One company spurring creativity and innovation in their work methods is Adobe, according to Pattisall. The software firm considers creativity as part of its company DNA.
"When they go to create software and products and services for their clients that very much serve creative industries, they do so in a collaborative manner that allows for risk and allows for teams to come together in a set of conditions where they feel free to create," said Pattisall.
Another upside of a creative approach to IT operations is the fact that it does not mean additional costs.
"Creativity doesn't cost money," said Schadler. "You're not standing up a new organization. It's a different way of thinking and working that it's available to everybody."


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Revain, a blockchain project aimed at revolutionizing online company reviews, announced today that their token will be listed on OKEx, the world’s top cryptocurrency exchange by volume. The token, which works in the project’s rapidly developing platform, is currently listed on Cryptopia, Kucoin and several other exchanges.
Revain $R has been listed on the OKEx exchange. You can start trading right away! Trading pairs Include R/BTC, R/ETH and R/USDT.https://t.co/pGmdQGxFZw
Stay tuned for more updates on #Revain! pic.twitter.com/EvFadfWbLS
— Revain (@Revain_org) February 9, 2018
Revain is a platform that rewards users for writing reviews, thus helping solve common issues with ICO review reliability and ensuring authentic human-produced feedback for companies. Here’s how V0.4 of the Revain platform looks currently:
The Revain token (R) has avoided the market slump of late, gaining around 70 percent in February. It currently trades at around $2.38 (~$438M market cap), with a circulating supply of 184,450,000 R and a total supply of 484,450,000 R.
According to today’s press release, the Revain team is hoping to unveil version 1.0 of their platform in Q2 of this year.
Revain is aimed to revolutionize online reviews using blockchain technology. Its platform is designed for accumulating authentic user reviews on projects and startups that have concluded their crowdfunding / ICO stage. The platform is bringing to life the service that will finally allow businesses to receive detailed and genuine feedback about their projects, while users will get access to other people’s experience with ICOs and share their own insights as well. The platform will be aggregating information on token dynamics and major milestones in startup’s development.
Revain released version 0.4 of the platform in January 2018 with a target to deliver full release 1.0 as early as Q2 2018. Using blockchain technology, Revain creates an economic model that rewards users for creating honest reviews online through its token RVN. RVN remains as a stable internal token thanks to a nonlinear conversion mechanism based on R, the token that is tradable and available outside the platform. The entire system remains transparent, incorruptible and immutable thanks to its reliance on the Ethereum platform.


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For the fourth year, the Township’s SPOOKtacular Pet Costume contest will find the cutest, most frightening outfit donned by our friends with four legs, two legs or no legs. Pets of all types and sizes are encouraged to enter. Our Facebook friends will decide the winner, with the pet gaining the most “likes” being crowned Cranberry’s Best Pet Costume. The proclaimed champion will receive a basket full of treats which have been donated by local pet stores.
- LIKE the Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania Facebook page
- MESSAGE us, via Cranberry's Facebook page, a photo of your pet dressed in costume by October 16.
Eligible photos will be posted in our Contest Pet Album on October 18. Tell your friends and neighbors to LIKE THE PHOTO of your pet from October 18-28. The winner will be announced at noon Monday, October 31.
Need some help taking a photo of your pet or making your pet look glamorous?
The Pittsburgh North Regional Chamber is partnering with the Township on a contest that can help!
The Chamber’s Barktoberfest will be held at the Cranberry Township Farmers Market at the Municipal Center from 3-7 p.m. Friday, September 30.
Pets in costume will be photographed in the Chamber’s photo booth. Those photos will automatically be entered in the SPOOKtacular Contest.
Barktoberfest will feature agility demonstrations led by trainers from myDog Inc. and other pet-friendly events. That’s in addition to the vendors, live music, and food trucks that highlight the Farmers Market each week.


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Google launches ebookstores in Germany, Spain
20 June 2012 @booksandpublishing
Google has launched Google Play stores in Germany and Spain in the past week and is now selling ebooks in both countries, reports Publishers Lunch. The launch of the new ebookstores follows the launch of Google’s first foreign-language ebookstore in Italy in May.
Category: International news


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The South Kansas City Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting in Martin City for the new owners of Premier Mazda on July 16th and it looks like they’re off and running! The dealership was full of people eager to drop their name into the box for a chance to win a free Mazda 3 car. Food, cake and blue margaritas were served while DJ John Barlet kept the mood lively during the entire event.
The new owner, Thomas Bies of Elm Creek Autogroup, LLC, lives in Texas where the majority of his car dealerships are located but he made a special trip up to Martin City for the dealership’s official launch.
“From day one, Martin City has welcomed us with open arms,” said Bies. “You can tell it’s a tight-knit group of people who truly care about their community. We are beyond thrilled to be a part of it now.”
“Joining the South Kansas City Chamber of Commerce was just the first step in becoming more involved with this community,” said Bies. “Martin City has been incredibly welcoming…and we’d like to give back in more than one way. We had an amazing month in July, ending the month as the Number 1 Mazda store in Kansas City.”
Bies said more than 700 hundred people signed up to win the free car and the winner’s name was drawn on Friday, July 31st, right on the showroom floor. BIG congrats to Zach and Rachel Sewell for winning the 2016 Mazda 3! Premier’s owners say the car giveaway is just the beginning of Premier Mazda’s planned engagement in the Martin City community and in South Kansas City and we couldn’t be happier to have them in the neighborhood!
Click here to view the full album of ribbon cutting photos.
Premier Mazda is located at the northeast corner of Wyandotte and Hwy MO-150. They promise free loaner cars for life, free car washes for purchasers of Premier cars, and free first-year maintenance on all new and certified pre-owned vehicles! Call or stop by for more information (816) 942-4040. http://www.premiermazdakc.com


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Are you shopping for a new car this year but feel like there are no interesting choices? Time Magazine has released a list of the 10 cars they think are the most exciting of 2010. Here’s their list:
1. Kia Soul
2. Hyundai Genesis Coupe
3. Ford Taurus SHO
4. Cadillac CTS Wagon
5. Jeep Grand Cherokee
6. Toyota Venza
7. Nissan 370Z
8. Suzuki Kizashi
9. Volkswagen Golf
10. Mercedes-Benz E-Class
While the Grand Cherokee, CTS Wagon, Venza, Kizashi, Golf and E-Class are all new cars, there really isn’t anything exciting about them. The Grand Cherokee and E-Class are just refreshes of the same tried-and-true formulas.
The CTS Wagon is part of Cadillac’s ongoing quest to break into the luxury car market dominated by European car companies. But those cars are bought by people who imagine themselves as having European sensibilities, and most likely wouldn’t ever consider a Cadillac.
The Venza isn’t exciting at all. Sure, it’s built using the Camry’s platform, which means it will be a pleasure to drive and last forever, but there’s nothing exciting about a dependable do-it-all vehicle. Besides, Honda has already ripped off the idea with their Accord Crosstour.
This will mark the third switch between the Golf and Rabbit names in the history of the car. That’s a little bit interesting if you’re into that sort of thing. I’ve owned three of VW’s small cars from three different generations, and even I don’t care about their silly name games.
The Suzuki Kizashi could be exciting. It’s always possible that the guys at Suzuki automobiles have been hanging around the motorcycle department and decided to build a four-door Hayabusa. But Suzuki is in the business of making money and sane people aren’t actually interested in a rocket ship masquerading as a family car, which is why Ford will sell 10 times as many standard Tauruses as SHOs.
Which brings us to the actually exciting cars on the list. The SHO, with its turbocharged V6 engine, is a pretty cool car, as are the Nissan 370Z and Hyundai Genesis. All three of those will be a blast to drive, and the only thing you’ll really need to consider is whether or not you have the self control to keep yourself out of jail if you’re driving them every day.
Which brings us to the Kia Soul, the funky subcompact that fills the gap left when the Scion XB ballooned up after its first generation. The Soul features cool features like lighted speakers that seem absolutely stupid to people who don’t get it. It’s too bad that nobody told Time about the Nissan Cube, which is in that same category and is even funkier.


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Turkey and Bangladesh are going to establish a great relationship between these two countries. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan today hoped that Bangladesh and Turkey would be able to increase the trade to US$ 3 billion by 2015 by enhancing the partnership with business communities of the two counties.
The Turkish Prime Minister was speaking at a luncheon meeting
organized by Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (FBCCI) at Sheraton Hotel in the city.
Erdogan and his spouse Emine Erdogan arrived here yesterday
on a two-day official visit to Bangladesh.
Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Ali Babacan and other
members of the Prime Minister’s entourage joined the meeting.
FBCCI president AK Azad gave the welcome speech while Finance
Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith addressed the meeting.
Administration Affairs Adviser HT Imam, Economic Affairs
Adviser to Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Dr Moshiur Rahman,
Commerce Minister Lt Col (retd) Faruk Khan and Press Secretary to
the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Abul Kalam Azad were present,
Erdogan expressed the hope that the target to achieve the
two-way trade worth US$ 3 billion by 2015 is achievable as the
two countries have determined business people and untapped
“We can achieve many things in terms of expanding trade and
commerce through partnership,” said the Turkish Prime Minister.
Dhaka-Ankara trade volume rose to US$ 742 million in 2010
from only US$ 47 million in 2002, he said adding that the two
countries achieved the increased trade balance despite the global
He praised Bangladesh’s target of transforming into a middle-
income status by 2021 and said Turkey has also a target to be
amongst top ten economies of the world by 2023.
“Our economy is growing at record level as in the last six
months our growth has increased by 11 percent,” said Erdogan and
added that faster development in tourism sector and better credit
rating have contributed a lot to this end.
A country can achieve higher economic growth if there is no
corruption and it fights against poverty, said the Turkish Prime
Minister. “I see Bangladesh has very prospects in near future as
the government of the country has taken several sincere steps,”
The Turkish PM favoured renewal of the Promotion and
Protection of Investment to boost trade and commerce between
Bangladesh and Turkey.
Muhith stressed the need for trade reciprocity between the
two countries. He also pointed out that Bangladesh has two
bottlenecks in transportation and energy, which must be resolved.
He described the anticipated launching of Dhaka-Ankara direct
flight as milestone and said it will be instrumental to
strengthening the trade ties.
AK Azad said a target has been set to attain 8 percent Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) growth by 2013 contributed mainly by
service and agriculture sectors.
He identified tourism, IT, light engineering, agro-based
industries, leather and leather goods as potential sectors for
DHAKA, Nov 14 (BSS)


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Apple is at last ready to make devices thicker so they work better
Apple has begun to make its items thicker with an end goal to give individuals what they need: functionality over structure. This is something to be thankful for. There are two late models: the current year’s iPhones and the new 16-inch MacBook Pro.
This is a theory, however it appears this might be that there are some structure changes being made after the flight of Apple’s previous boss plan official Jony Ive. Ive was known for making dazzling items be that as it may, some of the time as we’ve seen with the more seasoned MacBook console, maybe at the expense of usefulness. Structure over capacity, as is commonly said. (Here’s a genuine model: as per Bloomberg, the bounty of glass at Apple’s new HQ, structured by Ive, was making individuals supposedly stroll into windows.)
They’re not thumping Ive or his capacity to make extraordinary items. Simply take a gander at the iPhones in the course of recent years alongside the iPad, Apple Watch and AirPods. And so on, he took part in it. In any case, some of the time there were simply parts of those items that appeared to be imperfect on the grounds that the items were excessively thin.
On the off chance that you glance back at the iPhone 8, for instance, the phone estimated simply 7.3-mm thick, a case of Apple’s appearing fixation on making devices that were as thin as could be allowed yet regularly at the expense of battery life. Yet, this year, Apple put a gigantic spotlight on battery life since it realizes that is one of top things individuals need from their phones (alongside extraordinary cameras). Because of the bigger battery, the current year’s iPhone 11 is marginally fatter at 8.3-mm thick. It’s scarcely recognizable however shows that Apple realizes individuals are eager to forfeit on slimness for a phone that endures throughout the day.
At that point there’s the 16-inch MacBook Pro that was reported on Wednesday. It’s under 1-mm thicker than the 15-inch MacBook Pro that it replaces, and it weighs 4.3 pounds rather than 4 pounds in the earlier model. It’s 2% bigger than the 15-inch MacBook Pro, as well. The entirety of this enables Apple to incorporate what individuals need in a comparative however marginally greater structure factor: a console with keys that you can really take advantage of and that works, rather than one that is essentially level with almost no key travel. The level alleged butterfly keyboard was inclined to introduction to residue and trash, which could prompt keys not enrolling or rehashing themselves and, at last, lots of typos.
Apple likewise centered around battery life in its new laptop. It endures an hour longer than a year ago’s model and charges completely in simply 2.5 hours. That is incompletely in light of the fact that Apple had the option to build the battery size, something that feasible added to the bigger and heavier structure factor.
Ive most likely took part in a portion of these items, since Apple regularly creates them over a significant stretch of time and his flight was just reported last June. Be that as it may, without Ive, who was said to be increasingly pulled back at the finish of his time at Apple, maybe the company’s design groups had more opportunity to make devices somewhat thicker than previously, rather than concentrating on thinness and external beauty.
Bunches of individuals appeared to be concerned that Apple may lose its way in structure after Ive’s takeoff. How would it be able to perhaps make notorious gadgets assuming, apparently, the entirety of the significant discharges in Apple’s last decade of strength have been planned under him?
Be that as it may, if Apple is pushing forward without Ive’s steady information (his new structure firm will even now prompt the organization), at that point it might have more opportunity put work over plan, and giving individuals consoles that work and batteries that last more.


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Almost two dozen Bunnings stores across Queensland will begin offering COVID-19 vaccines as the state government rushes to increase the number of residents who have received the jab.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced that from this Saturday, 23 Bunnings stores will host pop-up vaccination clinics that will allow customers to walk in and receive a dose.
A full list of the participating stores can be found below.
"Pop-up vaccination clinics are coming to Bunnings. From this Saturday, you can get a Bunnings sausage and vaccine dose at several sites across Queensland," Ms Palaszczuk wrote on Twitter.
Bunnings Managing Director Mike Schneider said the retailer was proud to help with the rollout.
"We're really pleased to be helping Queensland Health with the rollout of community vaccinations across South East Queensland by hosting pop-up vaccination clinics in around 30 of our store carparks. We hope it makes accessing vaccinations as easy and convenient as picking up an item for a weekend DIY project," Mr Schneider said.
"We've always tried to play an active role supporting the local communities where we operate, so providing space to QLD Health to accelerate the vaccination rollout just makes sense.
"Like everyone, we can't wait to see the whole community protected so we can all get back to doing the things we love."
The clinics will be run completely by Queensland Health and will be based in the carparks of Bunnings stores.
The decision to use Bunnings as a vaccine destination is one of a number of strategies used by the Queensland Government to boost the state's vaccination rate.
Currently just over 70 per cent of eligible Queenslanders have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, with 52.7 per cent now fully vaccinated.
In terms of full vaccination, Queensland is lagging behind NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, the Northern Territory, South Australia and the ACT.
Despite the delay in its vaccination rate, Queensland continues to record no new locally acquired cases of COVID-19.
The state is currently managing 33 active cases of the virus, the majority of which have been acquired overseas.
Devastating fires tear through Western Australia
Participating Bunnings COVID-19 vaccination clinics in Queensland:
Fairfield Waters (Townsville)


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Decentralized social media (DeSo) is a concept that is looking to stir up the digital landscape and promises to redefine how we connect online.
Meanwhile, traditional social media as we know it today is a vibrant hub of community engagement. It is a space where ideas flourish and voices are heard. But as we scroll through our feeds, a question lingers: Is there a better way to do this?
We now stand at the cusp of a revolution that promises to hand the reins back to the users.
The push towards DeSo arises from a growing discontent with how major companies manage privacy, political bias, user autonomy, and harmful content on their platforms.
What is this decentralization about? Unlike centralized platforms, they use independent servers or blockchain, giving users more control and transparency. This leads to better ownership and management of personal data and content.
Illusion of Ownership on Social Media
Users often overlook the fact that they don’t really own their social media content, noted Arie Trouw, CEO at XY Labs.
“Instagram photos, tweets, and Facebook posts all live on centralized servers owned by private companies – companies that could choose to pull the plug at any time,” he said.
“Decentralized social media projects upend these absurd norms and grant users sovereignty over the content they create. Users are typically able to store their posts on their own private servers, protecting them from data collection and preserving them from deletion.”
Mastodon, a federated social network, and Steem, operating on a social blockchain, serve as notable examples. And just this week, Jack Dorsey-backed Bluesky opened its doors to all users by lifting invite-only restrictions.
The buzz surrounding decentralized social media is certainly palpable. Still, these platforms might be trickier to navigate and may not have all the cool features you’d find on mainstream social media.
Lessons from Web2
The industry is actually just getting started, and is still in experimental phase — kind of like the early days of Web2 back in the 2000s.
Christian Quiver, CEO of decentralized social networking platform League.Tech, said that during that time, there wasn’t a clear winner between Facebook, MySpace, and other platforms.
In Web3, creators can earn from their audience without relying on ads or data mining, fostering trust in a decentralized space, he added.
Overcoming Adoption Hurdles
Users will likely adopt new social media formats if they provide a great user experience and valuable features. Christopher Bouzy, CEO of microblogging site Spoutible, noted that most users prioritize functionality, user interface, and ease of use over the technical aspects of platforms.
“Decentralized platforms, by virtue of their nature, tend to involve a learning curve and can present challenges in achieving the seamless experience provided by their centralized counterparts. This aspect can be a significant barrier to widespread adoption,” he said.
Juan Bruce, co-founder of Web3 social media firm DSCVR, agreed, emphasizing the importance of providing a user experience that matches or surpasses that of traditional centralized social networks.
“Users need to have a compelling reason to shift their time and engagement from a traditional network to a decentralized alternative, and one of the key aspects to this is offering incentives that are uniquely powered by blockchain networks,” he said.
He also underscored the necessity for these networks to run on high-performing blockchains like Solana, which can facilitate inexpensive and rapid transactions.
The Financial Viability of DeSo
DeSo platforms should consider new revenue models like SocialFi and modest subscription fees for added features and experiences.
While they looks promising, these hasn’t really been put to the test yet. And whether they can make money in the long run is still up in the air.
Kevin Lu, CEO of Friendzone, a platform that plans to debut on Polygon, said: “For a decentralized social media application to sustain itself financially, it must build intrinsic value and utility beyond mere speculation which we haven’t seen yet.”
Friendzone, a decentralized social app, has announced its launch on the Polygon PoS ecosystem, marking a significant milestone in the evolution of Web3 social applications.
— BitcoinWorld Media (@ItsBitcoinWorld) February 8, 2024
He pointed to the emergence of platforms like Farcaster, offering an open protocol for integrated social media functions. Similarly, Lens provides a decentralized social graph, and Friendzone offers a modular protocol for value accrual.
These platforms address critical issues of ownership, transparency, verifiability, and incentives. Incumbents struggle or are unwilling to resolve these issues.
Ryan Lee, chief analyst at Bitget Research, said that DeSo platforms primarily depend on the liquidity of their native tokens for monetization. According to him, these platforms must first prioritize user-friendly mobile features to achieve significant monetization.
“DeSo gives control back to the content creators and viewers — both in terms of monetization and censorship,” he said.
Although DeSo seems promising, overcoming challenges related to financial sustainability, governance, regulations, and user experience is crucial for realizing its full potential.
The post Can Decentralized Social Media Redefine Online Community Engagement? appeared first on Cryptonews.


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US consumer prices rose more than expected in July, with a measure of underlying inflation increasing by the most in 29-1/2 years amid broad gains in the costs of goods and services.
The report from the Labor Department on Wednesday, however, probably does not mark the start of worrisome inflation, and the Federal Reserve is likely to continue pumping money into the economy to aid the recovery from the COVID-19 recession.
The jump in prices is likely an unwinding of sharp declines experienced when nonessential businesses were shuttered in mid-March to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The higher prices further dispel fears of deflation, a decline in the general price level that is harmful during a recession as consumers and businesses may delay purchases in anticipation of lower prices.
"This should end any speculation that the pandemic-related slump in demand will quickly push the economy into a deflationary spiral," said Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics in Toronto. "But this is not a sign that the US is instead about to experience a bout of much high inflation because of supply restrictions."
The consumer price index rose 0.6% last month, with gasoline accounting for a quarter of the gain. The CPI increased by the same margin in June. In the 12 months through July, the CPI accelerated 1.0% after climbing 0.6% in June.
Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the CPI jumped 0.6% last month as the cost of motor vehicle insurance surged a record 9.3%. That was the largest gain in the so-called core CPI since January 1991 and followed a 0.2% rise in June. In the 12 months through July, the core CPI advanced 1.6% after increasing 1.2% in June.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI would rise 0.3% in July and the core CPI would gain 0.2%.
The report followed on the heels of news on Tuesday that producer prices accelerated in July.
With at last 31.3 million people on unemployment benefits, inflation is hardly a threat in the services-oriented economy.
"The biggest input to service sector prices is labor, and when you have more that 30 million people claiming unemployment benefits there is likely to be a glut for quite a while," said James Knightley, chief international economist at ING in New York. "This will keep wage pressure subdued, thus limiting the upside for service sector inflation."
The Fed tracks the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index for its 2% inflation target. The core PCE price index rose 0.9% on a year-on-year basis in June. Economists expect July data, which will be released later this month, will show the core PCE price index rose about 1.4%.
The US central bank has adopted an extraordinarily easy monetary policy, slashing interest rates to near zero as well as making large-scale asset purchases and funneling loans to firms among other measures. But the budding recovery from the pandemic is showing signs of stress as new coronavirus infections spiral across the United States, forcing authorities in some of the hot spots to either shut down businesses again or pause reopenings.
Job growth slowed significantly in July. The economy, which entered recession in February, suffered its biggest blow since the Great Depression in the second quarter, with gross domestic product dropping at its steepest pace in at least 73 years.
Stocks on Wall Street were trading higher, with the S&P 500 .SPX index edging toward a record high. The dollar .DXY fell against a basket of currencies. US Treasury prices were trading mostly lower.
Food price relief
In July, gasoline prices advanced 5.6% after soaring 12.3% in June. Food prices fell 0.4%, the first decrease since April 2019, after rising 0.6% in June. The cost of food consumed at home dropped 1.1%, with beef prices tumbling 8.2% after surging in recent months. But the cost of food consumed away from home rose 0.5%, with full-service meals increasing 0.4%.
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence, which is what a homeowner would pay to rent or receive from renting a home, rose 0.2%. That followed June's 0.1% gain, the smallest rise since July 2013. Many tenants have entered into forbearance agreements with landlords.
Consumers also paid more for healthcare in July, with prices rising 0.4%. The cost of doctor visits increased 0.7% and prices for hospital services rose 0.2%. The cost of prescription medication, however, fell 0.2%.
Prices for wireless telephone services rose 3.6%. Prices of used cars and trucks increased 2.3% after three straight monthly declines. The cost of airline fares jumped 5.4%, the biggest rise since July 1999. Prices for hotel and motel accommodation increased 1.3%.
New motor vehicles prices gained 0.8% and those of apparel advanced 1.1%. There were also increases in the prices of household furnishings, recreation, personal care products and services.
"The weakness in rents is arguably more indicative for longer-term inflation trends than the rebounds in travel and core goods, and the weakness is more likely to persist" said Oscar Munoz, macro strategist at TD Securities in New York.


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The ever-so-anticipated moment when more and more people are looking into buying low, or even zero emission vehicles has finally come. It does not come as a surprise that the giants in the automotive industry are racing to design the cleanest, the most efficient, or the best value for money model of a vehicle, ideally fully electric, which could lure people into choosing their model over the many others that are now increasingly available.
Unfortunately, as wonderful as the idea of having an EV can be, the cost of purchasing one is still quite high for the average customer. What is more, despite the technological advances and increasing number of charging stations, the time and money that have to be put into charging an EV battery, remain the tipping factor that makes many people still opt for a convenient diesel engine.
However, an invention by Guy Negre, developed by Zero Pollution Motors, a licensee for MDI in the US, might have just found the solution to all of the above problems. The AIRPod, a small zero-emission vehicle, which runs on compressed air. Yes, there have been other prototypes of such cars that run on compressed air, even one by Honda, and yes, the first time we told you about MDI’s AIRPod was quite some time ago. But it seems they are now finally ready to go, as they just managed to secure $5million investment.
Nothing has changed for the past five years. The price of one AIRPod is still estimated at $10,000, and from then on the money you have to put into it to keep it going is minimal. Its range is still around 80 miles, and it can still be “re-fueled” at any gas station, using the air compressor, for no longer than 5 minutes at a price of less than $2 (or 50 euro cents across Europe). OK, it is not a super fast car as it can only go to about 50 mph, but I don’t think a city car should go any faster (the top speed has also not changed since the first time we heard about it).
What is new, however, is that Zero Pollution Motors are now looking into having their first US-based factory in Hawaii, and they promise to have the first AIRPod vehicles ready for purchase later on this year. The developers also hope to transform the entire way of car manufacturing and selling. They want to create, as they call it, “turnkey micro production factories”, where the vehicles will be built and sold, reducing the assembly costs.
Image (c) MDI


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USA: New Headquarters Location for Kathryn Beich
Kathryn Beich has been conducting business in Bloomington for more than 100 years. The Lumber Street building has served as the company's headquarters since the early 1900s. Up until the 1960s, both the manufacture and sales of Kathryn Beich products were managed out of the Lumber street address. A separate manufacturing site was built off of Beich Road shortly thereafter.
Over the years, many changes have occurred in support of the business's growth. The company added new confectionery products and gift items to the fundraising programs; a national sales force was launched; Nestle purchased the business; and today, a new corporate headquarters facility. This move is yet another example of Nestle's commitment to Bloomington and its drive toward continued growth.
The Lumber Street building is still owned by the Beich family and no word has been released about their plans for the facility.
Nestle Confections & Snacks is one of the largest candy and snack manufacturers in the US and an affiliate of Nestle S.A. -- the largest food company worldwide. The company manufactures a number of well-known chocolate and sugar brands including: Nestle Butterfinger®, Nestle 100 GRAND®, Nestle Baby Ruth®, SweeTARTS® and SPREE®, DAVID® Sunflower Seeds, the Toll House® collection, as well as RUNTS®, NERDS® and Gobstoppers® from the Wild World of WONKA.
Japan was recently found to throw away more food than any other country in the world. And, being the world's biggest food importer, it also topped a recent food miles shame list. Michael Fitzpatrick r...
Dreyer's Ice Cream is anticipating a merger with Nestle Ice following the expiration of the company's put period for Class A shares....
Food company B&G Foods has announced that it has acquired the Ortega food service dispensable pouch and dipping cup cheese sauce businesses from Nestle USA....
Baby milk made by Swiss food giant Nestle that was withdrawn from sale in Italy because of contamination with packaging ink is unlikely to harm public health, the European Commission said on Wednesday...
Police in Italy have begun seizing 30m litres of baby milk produced by Swiss food giant Nestle after tests suggested possible contamination, the BBC reported....
China's Standardization Administration has banned Nestle from the production and distribution of 'inferior' infant milk powder, according to the Xinhua news agency....
More than 140 jobs will be lost in the Goulburn Valley town of Tongala in Victoria after food company Nestle's decision to stop powdered milk production, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corpo...
Nestle SA has apologized to Chinese consumers for high iodine levels found in its Chinese brand, Jin Pai Growing 3-Milk Powder, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing company sources, accord...
- Nestle catering for an ageing global population
- What post-Brexit trade with the EU could look like
- Unilever is "working harder" in tough environment
- What next for Nestle under new CEO Schneider?
- What delay means for UK child obesity strategy
- Kerry Foods sets its sights on C-sector
- Kar's gets Non-GMO verification for Second Nature
- Tesco drops John West products over sustainability
- Greencore pays GBP15m for Cranswick sandwich unit
- Job cuts imminent as General Mills restructures


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Western Union is digging deep to assuage its fear of missing out.
The $9.7 billion payments company has offered to buy Australia’s OzForex Group, an international payments-services provider, for as much as $630 million. Perhaps it was spurred into action by PayPal’s $840 million acquisition of money-transfer service Xoom Corp. in July, which created a “direct competitive threat” to Western Union’s own online money-transfer business.
Western Union is willing to pay up for OzForex, offering a premium of as much as 42 percent, double the 21 percent premium PayPal forked out for Xoom. The offer values OzForex at 21 times Ebitda, which looks high considering Western Union's multiple is less than half that, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
This could have been avoided if Western Union moved earlier: it could have snapped up OzForex for less than $500 million ahead of the Sydney-based company’s IPO two years ago.
The deal is unlikely to move the needle in the near term: Western Union’s own online business contributes 5 to 6 percent of revenue and the addition of OzForex wouldn’t lift it much higher than 7 percent based on current results.
Rather, it’s a longevity play and designed to prepare Western Union for when its traditional money-transfer services fall further out of favor. Already, its main audience -- immigrants who send money to relatives or pay bills internationally -- are turning to cheaper and easier digital alternatives.
It’s already been a slog for Western Union, which earlier this year cut prices for domestic money transfers in response to its rivals. Its core consumer-to-consumer business has been a drag on growth, with revenue rising just 0.1 percent on average over the past four years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with average growth of 6.5 percent during the seven years before that.
Investors haven’t been impressed: Its shares have barely moved since its 2006 initial public offering, when the company was spun off from First Data Corp.
The Englewood, Co.-based company's offer for OzForex leaves at least one company out in the cold: MoneyGram International, whose shares shed as much as 2 percent on Thursday. MoneyGram was a takeover target as recently as May, although Western Union denied early-stage merger talks.
The lofty offer for OzForex may just be high enough to deter other potentially interested buyers, especially since most have recently locked in deals of their own. Last year, Euronet Worldwide bought HiFx while Bridgepoint snapped up Moneycorp.
Even if Western Union secures its target, the fragmented payments industry should prepare for more big checks: the consolidation wave has a way to go yet.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.
To contact the author of this story:
Gillian Tan in New York at firstname.lastname@example.org
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Beth Williams at email@example.com


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GameStop, Target deny cancelled Switch reservations
[UPDATE] Both retailers have now dismissed reports of allocation shortages, asking customers with issues to contact them
A Nintendo Today report of Nintendo Switch pre-orders being cancelled by GameStop has prompted the retailer to issue a clear denial. Responding to a GamesIndustry.biz request for comment, a spokesperson for the company indicated there was no need for those who reserved the system to expect a pending cancellation.
"GameStop has not, and is not, cancelling any Nintendo Switch pre-orders due to allocation issues," the representative said. "We are working very closely to confirm and validate any and all pre-orders of this innovative gaming system. Should any customer who pre-ordered a Nintendo Switch console from GameStop experience any issue with their order, we encourage them to contact our Guest Care team so we can help resolve the issue."
The company's Guest Care team can be reached through its website.
The Nintendo Today article is sourced in a number of reports making the rounds, but the site's own story attributes the information as "according to reports," with no further sourcing given.
A My Nintendo News article reporting that US retailer Target is cancelling Switch pre-orders due to allocation issues is also circulating today, based on a reader's news tip to the site.
[UPDATE]: A Target representative responded to a request for comment, saying, "Target has not cancelled any pre-orders for Nintendo Switch due to inventory allocations. Customers who have questions about their Nintendo Switch pre-order should contact Target Guest Relations at 1-800-440-0680."


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Mr. Jonathan Said On Wednesday That The Youth Should No Longer Require Godfathers To Achieve Success In Their Activities And That The Era Of `Godfatherism’, Where Some Nigerians Secured Government Opportunities, Without Merit, Was Over.
“The country should be the godfather of everybody. The government should be the godfather of every Nigerian.
“We will continue to encourage the young people,” the president said after inspecting products manufactured by some Nigerian youth.
The manufacturers were among the first batch of 1,200 Nigerian youth who benefitted from the “YOU-WIN Programme” introduced by the present administration.
Mr. Jonathan said he was impressed by the products manufactured by the youth and displayed for inspection by members of the Executive Council of the Federation (FEC) before the commencement of their weekly meeting.
“We must build a society where our young people will see a different Nigeria, see a Nigeria that they will believe in, a Nigeria that will also protect them,” the president said.
The President also pledged assistance to Nigerian youth by developing their skills and business expertise to become international entrepreneurs.
He reiterated his administration’s commitment to build a country that the future generation would be proud of.
“The concept of YOUWIN is to build entrepreneurs that will start from the scratch, develop their skills and their business acumen and grow them to the known larger business in the world.
“Some of the big names we are hearing started this way. Very few people get into their business in a big way but most times they collapse because they didn’t know how to grow businesses.
“We are quite impressed by what you have done so far,’’ he said.
The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the manufacturers whose products were displayed are just a small section of the first batch of 1200 YOUWIN beneficiaries.
She disclosed that over 16,000 jobs had been created by the first batch of winners of the programme.
The displayed products included food products like poultry feeds, coconut cooking oil, cakes from cassava flour, Moringa tea; as well as other items like V-Sat Internet connectivity gadgets, and dresses.
The President directed the Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu, to assist some of the young entrepreneurs who have difficulties registering their products with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control.


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ACT Entertainment has announced that James Suit, who previously served as Northeast Regional Sales Manager for the distributor’s brands, has rejoined the company’s regional sales team for the New York City Metro area.
“We’re very excited to have James back onboard and to take advantage of the expertise, values and skills that make him such a good fit for the ACT team,” says Doug Mekanik, ACT Entertainment director of sales.
Suit began his professional career in 2005 when he joined 4WALL in New Jersey as a moving light tech, followed by seven years in system integration and sales for Starlite Productions in Moorestown, NJ. He later moved to Ushio America where he served as regional sales manager for entertainment, covering the Eastern U.S. for the lighting manufacturer and distributor.
“I’m happy to rejoin ACT to continue building relationships with designers and customers that were cut short by the pandemic,” Suit says. “I look forward to working with everyone on the ACT Entertainment team to bring fresh, innovative products to the creative people who need them.”


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LADIES, if you have ever wanted to wear strappy stilettos with your favorite football jersey, you are in luck. This fall, the National Football League will begin an advertising campaign encouraging you to do just that.
The campaign, called “N.F.L. Women’s Apparel, Fit For You,” takes an approach to marketing clothing that is meant to be both fashionable and sporty.
And while jerseys and T-shirts for women have been available on Web sites like nflshop.com and in catalogs, this is the first time the league has dedicated a campaign to apparel for women.
If the terms “fashionable” and “football jersey” seem contradictory, that may be because of the way jerseys have been made. The league has carried women’s attire for the last 10 years, but followed the “shrink it and pink it” philosophy of taking a man’s jersey and making it smaller and, well, pink.
In 2007, the actress Alyssa Milano joined with the G-III Apparel Group to start a woman’s apparel line with the N.F.L. called Touch by Alyssa Milano for the 2008 season.Continue reading the main story
When a woman wears a traditional man’s jersey, “you just look like you’re wearing a big tent,” said Alice Ericsson, executive vice president and group creative director for Grey New York, which is working with the N.F.L. on the campaign (Grey New York is a unit of the Grey Group, part of WPP).
Mark Waller, the chief marketing officer for the N.F.L., agreed that the large cut of men’s jersey’s wasn’t flattering to women. It “kind of makes them look like a sack of potatoes,” he said.
The campaign features clothing from Ms. Milano’s Touch line and new items like animal print T-shirts, fleece sweatshirts, fitted jerseys and jackets. Also available, though not part of the campaign, will be plush flip-flops, customizable jeans and bedazzled wedges. The N.F.L. joined with G-III, VF, Reebok, Concept One, Little Earth, LogoArt, For Bare Feet, Modo and Gametime to produce the products.
“When I look at what women are wearing now, they are trying to be fashionable and yet show they are fit,” Mr. Waller said, adding that the campaign aims for women ages 20 to 40 who are active, family-oriented and casual or avid fans of football.
And there seem to be more of those. According to research by the Nielsen Company, an average of 41.9 million women 18 and older watched Super Bowl XLIV — the most on record, and more than watched the Academy Awards this year.
Additional research by the N.F.L. and Nielsen showed more than 45 million women watch N.F.L. games each weekend.
“Obviously we’ve got a large and passionate female fan base already. As we get more sophisticated in our marketing approach, we get to dive deeper and develop more targeted and appropriate messaging,” Mr. Waller said. The company plans to spend $10 million on the entire campaign.
A television spot that will be broadcast during kick-off weekend, Sept. 9-12, features the women of the N.F.L. sassily tossing their men’s jerseys back to them to the tune of “You Don’t Own Me,” a classic Lesley Gore song.
A print campaign that will begin in October will feature stylized photos of the women, among them Christy Cooley, who is married to Chris Cooley, a tight end on the Washington Redskins; Linda and Hope Del Rio, the wife and daughter of Jack Del Rio, the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars; and Michelle Ryan, who is married to Rex Ryan, the head coach of the New York Jets.
But some wives are luckier than others in their choices. “We’re fortunate enough to have the jaguar print,” Linda Del Rio said about her game day attire. “I’ve been in the league for 25 years and I always remember having to put on your husband’s jersey when doing charity work,” she added. “Now you can put on really cute clothes.”
The print ads feature headlines like, “Who Says Football Isn’t Pretty?” and “Finally. Love Your Team Without Looking Like You’re on It.” The campaign will run in magazines like Shape, InStyle and People.
“I think the idea of treating sports apparel like high fashion is pretty unique,” Ms. Ericsson said of the idea to mix designer label clothing with the N.F.L. line during the shoot. “It’s certainly new for the N.F.L.”
Like many campaigns created for major league sports, this one has a charity component. Alliance, the Grey Group’s entertainment marketing and public relations arm, will organize a series of 5K walks in various regions around the country. The walks will benefit charities that fall under the N.F.L. Play 60, a program that encourages children to play.
The Web campaign will start in mid-September and will feature an updated Facebook page, a Twitter presence and a microsite at nfl.com/women, where consumers will be encouraged to submit videos showing how they style their gear, for a chance to win a trip to Super Bowl XLV.
If football and fashion seem at odds, so too does football and healthy eating. The N.F.L. site, however, will also have a variety of Web videos showcasing healthy tailgating recipes and workout routines.
“This generation will actually be the first generation that lives less longer than their parents,” Mr. Waller said. “Our product is fundamentally dependent on having fit and healthy athletes.”Continue reading the main story


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Openet, a global leader in the supply of real-time BSS (business support systems) and customer engagement systems, today announced that Ireland's largest telecommunications company, eir, has deployed Openet’s Policy Manager solution.
The activation of Openet’s solution enables the Irish operator to offer advanced digital service functionality and bundled offers to its customers. This is the first deployment of its kind in the Irish market.
Openet’s Policy Manager allows operators to offer innovative, convenient, and flexible ways for subscribers to buy and use their services, such as on-demand services, real-time upgrades, service passes, and advice-of-charge alerts. This enables eir to provide its customers with greater access to service category bundles such as a social media bundles and mobile TV, using more flexible service pricing. eir now has greater flexibility to enhance customer data bundles while also enabling improved capability to offer variable speeds for digital service experiences.
eir’s deployment of Openet’s Policy Manager builds on a long-standing partnership between the two companies. The operator initially selected Openet’s Charging solution in 2009 to support its dedication to charging improvements, especially in relation to roaming offers and pre-emptive compliance with EU roaming requirements.
The combination of Openet’s Policy Manager and Evolved Charging enables enhanced flexibility as eir extends further into digital content and value-added services across its subscriber base.


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Wholly Cow, a trendy new destination serving gelato and premium coffee, opened its doors in the ground floor retail space at the Mint, the luxury rental community in downtown Rahway, according to a Wednesday announcement from Fields Grade, which developed the Mint with partner Slokker USA.
Located at 1542 Main St., the locally owned cafe is the latest addition to the busting new dining, shops and services that have been introduced to Rahway in recent years.
Wholly Cow is the brainchild of Terra Guaba, a Rahway resident and nutritionist that saw a glaring need for a casual social oasis that would serve tasty treats and beverages and become a community gathering place from morning to night.
The 1,300-square-foot shop has been conceptualized to provide a welcoming ambiance, where plush couches mix with traditional table seating to accommodate customers seeking remote workspace and others relaxing with friends in a laid-back environment. Wholly Cow features a full kitchen and offers a variety of gelato items, including highly popular gelato sandwiches, as well as locally roasted coffee, cappuccino and cold brew. Plans are in the works to expand the menu to include bakery items.
The café is open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday-Sunday.
“As residents of Rahway, we experienced firsthand the renaissance of its downtown and the addition of contemporary retail that’s created a cool New York City-type vibe,” said Guaba, who lives at the Mint with her husband. “What it lacked was an inviting establishment that was open late and where neighbors could join and socialize. After living at the Mint for a few years and walking by its retail suites countless times, my husband and I decided to inquire about leasing a space. Fast forward over a year and Wholly Cow has become a reality, fulfilling a dream to open a café that would bring people together and have delicious food options.”
“We are excited to welcome Wholly Cow to the Mint and congratulate Terra on its much-anticipated opening,” Robert Giannone, director of development for Fields Grade, said. “She has created a one-of-a-kind café in downtown Rahway where guests are welcomed with delicious gelato, great coffee and a warm, hospitable environment.”
Wholly Cow is one of several retailers at the Mint that are helping to foster the lively and diverse environment in downtown Rahway and drawing new residents to this Union County city.
Located at 84 Monroe St., the Mint’s newest building has experienced overwhelming popularity, riding a three-month wave of high leasing velocity that has resulted in only a handful of luxury apartments remaining.


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Indeed, ams [Unterpremstätten, Austria] recently started volume
shipments of its active antenna near-field communications (NFC) product
for mobile payments. The product helps integrated NFC functionality in
SIM or micro-SD cards, and complies with the EMV (Europay, MasterCard
and VISA) payment standard.
It also uses the industry’s smallest
antenna form factor with virtually a 100-percent read rate, a key
attribute since the antenna complexity is “severe” when designing in SIM
and micro-SD payment systems into devices.
Heugle said ams is
working on a family of products for POS readers and NFC-emulation
devices that will debut in the second half of this year, but didn’t
provide details. The company also makes UHF RFID reader products for the
Another growth opportunity is the
high-resolution display market for smartphones and tablets, which
requires power management ICs that drive in excess of 21 amps in
microseconds. The company is set to introduce products to support this
market that will include discrete devices, which will garner ASPs in the
“That plays nicely into our high-voltage capabilities and power developments,” he said.
support the capacity ramp, ams is expanding its wafer fab production
with foundry partners TSMC and UMC in Taiwan along with IBM for its
high-voltage capabilities. It also has an in-house 200-mm fab in
The company claims an 80 percent share of the MEMS
microphone interface market as well as 40 percent of the light sensor
sector. By combining intelligent light sensors from TOAS with its LED
drivers for LCD TV backlighting, ams claims to have developed a solution
that achieves up to 50 percent power savings.
With the TAOS
acquisition, sensors and sensor interface ICs now account for as much as
70 percent of ams’ revenues, which jumped 66 percent year-over-year in
the second quarter of 2012, to $161.7 million on earnings of $24
Heugle is not adverse on making strategic investments
to boost the company’s revenue base, as well as its product portfolio in
the future. “We are not out on the prowl for acquisition,” he said “But
if there are the right tuck-in opportunities, we will certainly take
advantage of them.”
Sensors do account for a large portion of ams’ revenue, especially after the TAOS acquisition last year. However, even before the deal, ams’ product portfolio included sensors for the industrial and medical markets. The deal not only rounded out its sensor offerings, but gave it a bigger presence in smart phones and tablets. It is precisely this area, too, that ams expects to garner higher sales growth with its wireless products, including its NFC-based chips for mobile payment and UHF RFID reader solutions for authentication.
"With the TAOS acquisition, sensors and sensor interface ICs now account for as much as 70 percent of ams’ revenues". Is it a bit strange that revenue is so dominated by a newly acquired company? Can I say the original AMS guys are not doing well in their original work?
David Patterson, known for his pioneering research that led to RAID, clusters and more, is part of a team at UC Berkeley that recently made its RISC-V processor architecture an open source hardware offering. We talk with Patterson and one of his colleagues behind the effort about the opportunities they see, what new kinds of designs they hope to enable and what it means for today’s commercial processor giants such as Intel, ARM and Imagination Technologies.


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Google has announced that it will bring a variety of new looks to Google Maps, it includes a new Immersive View feature.
The new Immersive View feature combines Google’s Street View with aerial shots of some cities, you can find more information on it below.
Google Maps was first launched to help people navigate their destinations. Since then, it has evolved to be even more so – it’s a handy companion if you need to find the perfect restaurant or get information about a local business. Now-thanks to advances in computer vision and AI that have allowed us to combine billions of Street View and aerial imagery to create a rich, digital model of the world-we introduce a new way to explore with Maps. With our new immersive scene, you can experience what a neighborhood, landmark, restaurant or famous place looks like-and even feel like you’re there before you enter. So whether you’re traveling to a new area or scoping for hidden local gems, immersive viewing can help you make the most informed decisions before you go.
This new feature will be available in Los Angeles, London, New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo later this year. You can find more details about the new features of Google Maps at the link below.
Source by Google
Filed Under: Technology News


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Studer Community Institute is accepting applications for the 2021 EntreCon® Awards NOW through Oct.
The 2021 EntreCon® Awards presented by Cox Business will recognize the achievements and economic impact that leaders and businesses have on the community.
The categories aim to honor businesses at every stage in their life cycle, from start-ups to large corporations.
Winners will receive their award at an in-person reception, they will be honored at a virtual awards ceremony, and they will be featured in InWeekly Magazine!
Awards are open to previous winners, runners up and applicants alike!
Learn more and apply today: https://entreconpensacola.com/awards/


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Malta headquartered online casino software developer Playson has unveiled a further expansion of its igaming suite, after signing a partnership with Lucky Days Casino.
The operator’s strong presence in German-speaking markets allows Playson to continue its expansion across Europe, following the acquisition of its Romanian licence from the country’s regulator, ONJN.
Under the terms of the agreement Playson has seen its entire portfolio of slots go live on the operator’s online casino site.
Andre Swedberg, CPO at Lucky Days Casino, said of the partnership: “Our platform has become synonymous with high-performing and immersive titles and Playson has a track-record of producing exciting content.
“We are confident its collection will be a hit with our players, and we look forward to seeing the results now its suite of games are all live.”
Founded earlier this year, Playson’s portfolio joins a variety of jackpot, live casino, video slots and table games from a number of global providers.
Lucky Days Casino customers can now access a variety of high-performing titles that it states are “suited to both new and experienced players,” including Solar Queen, Book of Gold: Symbol choice, Super Burning Wins: Respins and the ‘Timeless Fruit Slots’ series.
Lars Kollind, business development manager at Playson, commented: “Going live with a highly respected operator such as Lucky Days Casino is an important step for Playson, and we feel confident that our offering will prove popular among its players.
“The company’s strong presence in German-speaking regions is a real plus, as we are always looking to strengthen our presence in regulated markets.”
Playson was a premium sponsor of September’s CasinoBeats Summit, with Kollind recently taking time out look back at the event in our ‘takeaways’ series.
Addressing his post show thoughts it was stated: “This year’s CasinoBeats Summit was the first major sponsorship for us at Playson, so the experience felt rather special for the company, and understandably we were delighted to be attending the conference. The programme had something for everyone, with a diverse selection of visionary and influential speakers discussing a fascinating array of topics.
“Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed sharing the stage with such well-respected industry peers for the discussion on ‘The Search for Innovation in Gaming’. It was a very interesting debate, not everyone agreeing on where the industry lies in relation to innovation, but all reaching a consensus as to how profoundly it affects the industry.”


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Together we can end domestic abuse.
Security, speed and convenience at the heart of TSB’s new customer onboarding journey
To meet rising demand for digital services, TSB launches cutting-edge, streamlined onboarding journey for new customers
Biometric technology from Onfido provides a secure and seamless verification process
Customers can now open accounts and access mobile banking in just 10 minutes
As demand for digital services continues to surge, TSB has launched a new customer onboarding journey through the TSB Mobile Banking App, which will enable people to access a Spend & Save current account in just 10 minutes.
At the heart of the new onboarding journey are security, speed and convenience for customers. The launch follows a dramatic shift towards digital banking – as customer behaviour continues to evolve.
Currently, 90 percent of TSB’s servicing transactions and 75 percent of its sales are conducted digitally. Additionally, 80 per cent of new customer sign ups at TSB happen via a mobile device as increasing numbers of customers bank digitally.
Most secure and seamless journey to date
TSB has partnered with Onfido, a global identity verification and authentication provider so TSB customers can sign up for a Spend and Save account simply by taking a photo of their identity document (ID) and a short video of their face.
Onfido’s award-winning technology first checks that the ID is genuine and then matches it to the user’s face using biometric technology. This ensures the ID is not fraudulent and that the person presenting the identity is its legitimate owner and is physically present – making it the most secure journey to date.
Customers can then start their digital journey anywhere, anytime, and gain access to all the benefits of the Spend & Save account.
The account is underpinned by TSB’s award-winning Fraud Refund Guarantee offering customers market-leading fraud protections.
New customers also benefit from a branch network with 220 TSB branches across the UK – as TSB combines cutting-edge technology and a digital focus with its high-street presence.
New features include:
A 10-minute sign-up process
Just eight scrolls on a mobile device, compared to the web journey of more than 60.
22 questions to open an account (down from 49)
Email and device verification for increased fraud protection
Digital identity verification including biometric and document verification technology provided by Onfido
Following sign-up, customers will have instant access to the TSB mobile banking app and their account details
TSB worked with the Royal National Institute for the Blind to ensure greater accessibility features are at the heart of the design. As such, the new digital journey meets AA standards.
Kavin Mistry, Head of Digital, TSB, said:
“Demand for digital services is soaring, and we are proud to meet new customers’ needs with a convenient, secure and streamlined onboarding journey – with sign-up in just 10 minutes.“
“Today's launch demonstrates our customer-focused digital offer that complements a modern branch network; offering customers the best in both digital and traditional banking.“
Dimitrie Dorgan, Senior Fraud Risk Manager, Onfido, said:
“Security and a smooth user experience are paramount for banks when it comes to building trust with their customers.“
“With Onfido’s AI-powered technology, identity verification is streamlined for a user-friendly onboarding process while conducting strong fraud detection and mitigation in the background.“
“We’re excited to be working with leading UK banks such as TSB to help them rapidly and securely evolve to meet their customers’ changing digital needs.“
Matthew Hepburn | Media Relations Manager, TSB
T: 07483 431 309 | email@example.com
Laura Noye | Onfido
Follow us on twitter: @TSB_News
Notes to editors
Onfido is simplifying digital identity for everyone. The company makes it easy for people to access services by digitally proving a person’s real identity by verifying a photo ID and facial biometrics with award-winning artificial intelligence (AI). That’s how it powers secure and inclusive relationships between businesses and their customers without compromising experience, conversion, or security.
Recognized as a global leader in AI for identity verification and authentication, Onfido is backed by TPG Growth, Idinvest Partners, Crane Venture Partners, Salesforce Ventures, M12 (Microsoft) and others. In 2021 they were awarded ‘Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Hot Company’ by CyberDefense Global Infosec Awards, ‘Fraud Prevention Innovation of the Year’ at the CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards, and named to the CB Insights Fintech 250 for the fourth year running. They partner with over 800 businesses globally to help millions access services every week – from billion dollar institutions to hypergrowth start-ups. Onfido supports checks in 195 countries, and 2,500+ document types.
Click onfido.com to read more about Onfido.


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The Natural Advisory Council (NAC) launched in October 2016 to form a strong coalition of natural, organic and “green” product manufacturers, retailers, and non-profit consumer protection organizations to advocate, collaborate and educate (ACE) on the definition and use of the term, “natural” in all consumer products.
The NAC mission goals (ACE) include:
- Advocate consumer protection legislation to define “natural”
- Industry collaboration to create a meaningful standard for natural products
- Creating a university-level curriculum covering the natural industry from science marketing and legal perspectives
- Public education and engagement plays an important part of our advocacy efforts
As the popularity of natural and “green” products has skyrocketed, so has the proliferation of green washing marketers. Unfortunately, many of these companies are appealing to consumers via clever labeling and misleading brand names, in the end raising questions about the true quality and integrity of the ingredients.
A recent WSJ article noted, “These so-called natural household and personal-care products have proliferated over the past few years as more consumers—especially parents of young children—are looking for safer products and are often willing to pay more for them. U.S. sales of beauty, household and personal care products that make natural claims have grown 35% since 2012, versus 4% growth for the broader industry, according to Bernstein Research analyst Ali Dibadj, who analyzed Nielsen data.”1
Because no current FDA definition for “natural” currently exists in the natural products industry, the NAC believes that it’s important all natural products be subjected to a rigorous set of standards as to what is considered natural. Although there are currently different “natural” certification seals available, their standards differ substantially because of the lack of a definition from the FDA.
The Federal Status of “Natural”:
At this time, the only definition of “natural” is included in the US Department of Agriculture’s Meat and Poultry Labeling Terms and is limited to:
A product containing no artificial ingredient or added color and is only minimally processed. Minimal processing means that the product was processed in a manner that does not fundamentally alter the product. The label must include a statement explaining the meaning of the term natural (such as "no artificial ingredients; minimally processed").2
The FDA has requested comments on the use of the term “natural” on food labeling which has been extended to May 20, 2016.
Although the FDA has not engaged in rulemaking to establish a formal definition for the term “natural,” we do have a longstanding policy concerning the use of “natural” in human food labeling. The FDA has considered the term “natural” to mean that nothing artificial or synthetic (including all color additives regardless of source) has been included in, or has been added to, a food that would not normally be expected to be in that food. However, this policy was not intended to address food production methods, such as the use of pesticides, nor did it explicitly address food processing or manufacturing methods, such as thermal technologies, pasteurization, or irradiation. The FDA also did not consider whether the term “natural” should describe any nutritional or other health benefit.
Specifically, the FDA asks for information and public comment on questions such as:
- Whether it is appropriate to define the term “natural,”
- If so, how the agency should define “natural,” and
- How the agency should determine appropriate use of the term on food labels.
The FDA is accepting public comments from November 12, 2015 through February 10, 2016.3
The Federal Trade Commission, which enforces federal truth-in-advertising laws, has a set of “green guides” to help marketers avoid making deceptive environmental claims. James Kohm, head of enforcement for the agency’s consumer protection bureau, said the FTC hasn’t provided specific guidance on marketing natural products, but companies aren’t allowed to deceive consumers.
“The natural industry is still a bit like the wild, wild west. There aren't determined regulatory protocols to provide guidance to natural product manufacturers in terms of best manufacturing practices or ingredient safety.” —Jessica Iclisoy, Founder, California Baby®
In October 2016, Jessica launched the NAC to share her wealth of knowledge with the industry and consumers alike. In fact, she hasn’t stopped fighting for ingredient integrity since day one. For over 20 years, Jessica has been a true pioneer in the natural skincare industry. While other companies take shortcuts, Jessica has done the opposite, consistently maintaining a level of control over her products, from farm to bottle, to shelf. She wants honesty to prevail in this world of “natural” wannabes in order for consumers to finally trust companies to do the right thing and claim the real truth about their products and practices.
1 Wall Street Journal, ‘Natural’ Product Claims Can Be Murky, Serena NG, March 29th 2016
2 http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact- sheets/food-labeling/meat-and-poultry-labeling-terms/meat-and-poultry-labeling-terms.
3 http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/ LabelingNutrition/ucm456090.htm


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Brand Strategies to Promote Empathy and Stay on Consumer Radar
The spread of the COVID-19 that happened almost simultaneously in every country in the world today has suddenly put many industries in a devastated condition. In order to survive on the surface, several companies from various industry backgrounds decided to turn the boat around from making marketing approach, restructuring asset investment to collaborating with competitors.
Rahul Sachitanand from Campaign Asia suggested that under normal circumstances, these three things usually have to go through a very long weighing process to come to an agreement. However, to keep the business alive, changes need to be made in a very short period of time. Some brands that have implemented this change of strategy include players in the smartphone industry, sportswear, insurance to consumer goods.
Each brand owned by several companies shows that amid a crisis, the formation of the strategy must have two important elements, namely the need to make a strong presence in giving a social contribution and the effort to maintain the long-term goal of the business, which is to gain profits.
These two elements are well adapted by some companies in their short and medium-term brand strategies such as the smartphone manufacturer Oppo. Oppo changed the launch scheme of the OPPO Find X2 flagship mobile phone into a live broadcast simultaneously in China and Barcelona. This digital-based launch was watched by at least 160 million people. Other brands like the insurance companies, Manulife and AIA, managed to promote their products wrapped in social messages and calls for optimism and respect for the health workers.
A strong successful message to encourage people to look after each other was also well delivered by the sanitation product brand Dettol in India. They created a challenge of washing hands on one of the most popular social media platforms at the moment, TikTok. This campaign received 18 billion views and got more than 123,000 user-generated videos.
In fact, there was an unusual step taken by Hindustan Unilever that created a campaign on printed media to invite 1.3 billion residents in the quarantine area (lockdown) to diligently wash their hands. In the campaign, the company also deliberately mentioned some of the competing brands such as Lux, Dettol and Santoor, and invited local residents to wash their hands often using sanitation products from any brands to avoid virus contagion.
Each of the company's actions above shows that when going through a crisis, a company must be responsive in catching the slightest opportunity. When brand strategies collaborate with other brands or parties, that does not necessarily make the brand losing a group of customers. On the contrary, this strategy is seen as tactical steps to keep the consumers engaged with the brand image even though the decision to make a purchase is still within measures.
The companies also need to show responsiveness to the real conditions of their target markets. The real impact of the economic slowdown, the decline in purchasing power, and the reduction in labor force have encouraged the companies to set more reasonable standards using a marketing strategy that involves a sense of empathy and motivation for mutual care.
As a result, these companies will still be able to keep their businesses open within a minimum standard. They don’t have to lose one hundred percent of their initial achievement targets or stop their operational activities.
It is difficult to neglect the fact that even to reach this stage, companies have to make a number of adjustments here and there. These include trimming expenditure items, tightening budgets, and even pivoting the business model might be the most rational option at this time.
Specifically, companies tend to hold too much information out to the public in difficult situations. The brands above tend to carefully keep the information before sending it to public to serve the right purpose of delivering the message and good communication.
Communication to the public needs to be well thought and arranged. As simple business activitity such as selling smartphones needs to be seen as a form of appreciation for the community's commitment to protect themselves by staying at home. In conclusion, communication plays a great essential role for the companies to deliver the brands’ goals and to stay on top of the radar of their market.
Written by: Neily Cholida
Every business owner surely has a rule-of-thumb when doing their daily operational business. Yet, having a go-to plan is not always work, especially when you are facing a great storm. As public relations agency, we are keen to promote flexibility partnership with our clients as we are for sure understand how tough it is to build and sustain the ship. While you are enjoying our write-up, do let us know should you need further discussion on how to rejuvenate the communications strategy when the rainbow comes at last.
Access here to Reverberate your Rebound!


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When Dr. Rod Casey, director of the Theological Education Initiative (TEI), first came to Columbia, he quickly fell in love with the trail systems,...
Four Columbia startups took the stage at The Blue Note on Wednesday night, stepping into Columbia’s very own entrepreneurial “Shark Tank.”
The businesses were inaugural competitors in the Missouri Tech Challenge, a pitch competition loosely based on the ABC reality show “Shark Tank.” The startups — Ukatsu, AdSwapper, Testery, and Stor — pitched their businesses to a panel of three “shark” investors from the investment committee of the Missouri Innovation Center’s Mid-MO Tech Accelerator fund: Bill Turpin, director of MIC; Brant Bukowsky, of Veterans United Home Loans; and Jack Miller, of True Media. (The committee’s other two members, Newsy’s Jim Spencer and Carfax’s Ewin Barnett, were unable to attend.) The event was part of Bringing Up Business week, Columbia’s network of events promoting and supporting entrepreneurship in Mid-Missouri.
All the businesses were pitching for the accelerator’s standard investment package, which includes $50,000 in seed money, but, as Turpin noted in his opening remarks, nothing was guaranteed. “All of these companies could get an investment. None of these companies could get an investment,” Turpin said. “I hope this is educational. I hope everyone can see what an investment-grade presentation looks like.”
In the end, all four startups received at least some measure of support: AdSwapper and Testery received $50,000 each; Stor received $25,000; and Ukatsu got invited back to pitch to the committee again in December.
Ukatsu founders Joe Chee and Ben Brooks, the first contestants to enter the tank, are working to build a supportive community for young video gamers and promote healthy social and physical development for their members (families buy tiered membership packages for their kids). In their pitch, Ukatsu highlighted their recent contract to organize eSports competitions — competitive gaming events — for Columbia Public Schools.
AdSwapper, founded by MU’s entrepreneur-in-residence Amos Angelovici, allows users to choose which mobile ads they see on their phones and collect “points” for viewing those ads — users can then redeem those points for gift cards or other prizes. Angelovici pitched his business as “the consumer’s agent” in the digital advertising revenue chain, providing value to both consumers, who are otherwise unrewarded for their online ad-viewing, and advertisers, who can reach a more interested audience and avoid being shut out by traditional ad-blocking software.
Founder and Jefferson City resident Chris Harbert spoke for Testery, which he calls “a website that tests websites.” Using Testery, businesses can cheaply and quickly test their websites for bugs or errors. As part of the presentation, Harbert live-tested MU’s website (it passed) and recounted his decision at the beginning of August to turn down a full-time job at a Fortune 1000 company to start Testery.
MU MBA students Eric Laurent and Jake Hurrell pitched on behalf of their company Stor, a peer-to-peer platform for finding or renting storage space. They outlined Stor’s plan to launch in college towns across America, starting in Columbia in spring 2018. (Their $25,000 investment came on the condition of a verbal promise they would keep the business based in Columbia after graduating.)
The night also featured short pitches from the winners of this year’s Startup Weekend, which kicked off Bringing Up Business week last weekend. The businesses Tiki Technologies, which helps automate parking ticket appeals; Wait Time Wonder, which gives users exact wait times at restaurants; and Home Callers, which facilitates home visits by veterinary technicians, all gave one-minute pitches to the audience.
About 170 people attended the first-annual Tech Challenge event. Bringing Up Business Week continues today and Friday with more events for entrepreneurs or any other startup-minded Columbians.


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By Ollie Irish
Edin Dzeko rocked up at the Walkers Stadium to watch his new club Man City scramble to a 2-2 draw against Leicester in the FA Cup. Nice scarf fella, shame about the designer jacket though…
Whatever his fashion sense (we all know Eastern Europeans love a bit of stonewashed denim), Dzeko’s a brilliant signing for City and a significant upgrade on the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor and Jo. He could strike up a formidable partnership with Carlos Tevez.


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Gearbox’s publishing arm is ending its relationship with key reseller G2A, after the company failed to meet their demands and change business practices. The two were to partner around the release of Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition.
“As there has been no public movement from G2A by the time Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition launched now on PC,” said Gearbox’s head of publishing Steve Gibson in a statement. “Gearbox Publishing will be doing their part to not directly support a marketplace that did not make the new public commitment to protecting customers and developers requested by Gearbox Publishing. We do not control G2A’s marketplace or where they may obtain keys from parties outside of Gearbox Publishing, but we can confirm that today we have begun executing on our extraction process.”
Public outcry prompted Gearbox to reassess their partnership with G2A. The key reseller has in the past been accused of fraud, acquiring $450,000 worth of keys from stolen credit cards – meaning developers never received payment for their product.
G2A issued the following response to Polygon: “We are in the process of talking with Gearbox, and will get back to you with an official statement after the weekend.”
We’ll keep you updated as this story develops.