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Investor Pressure For ESG Compliance To Drive Corporates Towards Renewables In 2022
A New Report from Wood Mackenzie presumes that there is a genuine close to term threat for corporates as well as sustainable firms as they invest to decarbonise the power system.
Jan 18, 2022 // Markets & Finance News, Wood Mackenzie, Market research, esg, akif chaudhry, Investor pressure, norman valentine
'Global storage readied to triple in 2021'
Decarbonisation efforts by United States and China are driving demand for front-of-meter implementations, states WoodMac
Oct 7, 2021 // Storage, USA, Wood Mackenzie, China, Asia, North America, Xu Le
US solar market keeps growth regardless of supply chain restrictions creating cost walks
The US solar industry is readied to continue damaging yearly setup records in the coming years in spite of supply chain restrictions that have caused greater prices as well as interruptions caused by the federal government's withhold launch order (WRO), according to brand-new research.
Sep 14, 2021 // Markets & Finance News, USA, SEIA, UTILITY-SCALE SOLAR, Wood Mackenzie, rooftop PV, North America
Asia Pacific PV ability to triple by 2030 as China leads development, claims Wood Mackenzie
Solar PV capacity in Asia Pacific might triple to 1,500 GW by 2030, with China driving deployment and Indonesia readied to be the area's fastest-growing market, according to Wood Mackenzie.
Jul 14, 2021 // Plants, Markets & Finance News, Japan, India, Wood Mackenzie, China, Australia, Asia, Oceania, Indonesia, Vietnam, Asia Pacific
Asia Pacific solar and also wind financial investments to double by 2030-- Wood Mackenzie
Yearly financial investment in solar and also wind generation in the Asia Pacific region could double to US$ 1.3 trillion by 2030 compared to the previous decade, with plan targets and also price decreases improving growth, according to study company Wood Mackenzie.
Jun 24, 2021 // Markets & Finance News, Wood Mackenzie, China, Asia, Xiaojing Sun, Rishab Shrestha, Asia Pacific
Australia's H2 Trade May be Worth US$ 90 billion in 2050: WoodMac
Low-carbon hydrogen can end up being a US$ 50 billion to US$ 90 billion export industry for Australia in 2050, states Wood Mackenzie.
Jun 17, 2021 // Markets & Finance News, Storage, Solar to Fuel, Wood Mackenzie, Australia, Oceania, Low Carbon Hydrogen Trade, Net-Zero Emissions, Prakash Sharma
US solar hits 100GW turning point yet supply problems can prevent development leads
The US installed greater than 5GWdc of solar ability in Q1 2021, taking its collective ability past the 100GW barrier, yet supply chain restraints could position a major barrier to additional growth.
Jun 15, 2021 // Commercial, Residential, Markets & Finance News, Grids, USA, SEIA, Texas, Wood Mackenzie, North America, utility
United States Q1 storage additions nudge 1GWh
New ability notes a boost of 252% over the first quarter of last year, says Wood Mackenzie
Jun 8, 2021 // Storage, USA, Wood Mackenzie, Energy Storage Association, North America, ESA
SEIA types energy storage space advocacy branch
United States trade body the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) has started a brand-new advocacy programme for the fast-growing power storage sector.
May 27, 2021 // Storage, USA, SEIA, Wood Mackenzie, solar-plus-storage, BESS, North America, 8minute Solar Energy, Tom Buttgenbach
Americas to 'lead worldwide storage by 2025'
US will be accountable for the most development and also will certainly be complied with by China and afterwards Japan, says Wood Mackenzie
Apr 20, 2021 // Markets & Finance News, Storage, USA, Japan, Wood Mackenzie, China, Asia, North America, Dan Finn-Foley
United States household solar installer Kuubix bags US$ 104m financing to seek 'hostile' growth
Israeli developer Solegreen has actually invested US$ 104 million in solar installer Kuubix to aid it seek an "hostile" growth approach across its core markets in the US.
Apr 15, 2021 // Residential, Markets & Finance News, USA, TESLA, Wood Mackenzie, Sunnova, residential solar, vivint solar, North America, Sunworks, Soltage, sunpower corporation, kuubix, solegreen
Solar Market Insight Report 2020 Year in Review
The quarterly SEIA/Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables U.S. Solar Market InsightTM report shows the major patterns in the UNITED STATE solar market. Find out more regarding the UNITED STATE Solar Market Insight Report.
Mar 23, 2021 // Market Research, USA, SEIA, Wood Mackenzie, North America
Solar Sector Establishes Records in 2020, On Course to Quadruple by 2030
The UNITED STATE solar industry expanded 43% and also set up a record 19.2 gigawatts (GWdc) of ability in 2020, according to the UNITED STATE Solar Market Insight 2020 Year-in-Review report, released today by the Solar power Industries Association (SEIA) as well as Wood Mackenzie.
Mar 23, 2021 // Market Research, USA, SEIA, Wood Mackenzie, North America, Abigail Ross Hopper, Michelle Davis
Solar Sector Sets Records in 2020, On Course to Quadruple by 2030
The UNITED STATE solar market expanded 43% and also mounted a record 19.2 gigawatts (GWdc) of capacity in 2020, according to the UNITED STATE Solar Market Understanding 2020 Year-in-Review report, released today by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and also Wood Mackenzie.
Mar 16, 2021 // Market Research, USA, SEIA, Wood Mackenzie, North America, Abigail Ross Hopper, Michelle Davis
Analysts predict 30% reduction in Asia-Pacific region's grid battery storage prices over 5 years
The Asia-Pacific region will certainly remain to be the globe's leading centre of lithium-ion cell production for the following decade, yet it won't just be cost decreases in batteries that will certainly drive a 30% decrease in front-of-meter battery storage in key markets China, Australia as well as South Korea.
Jan 19, 2021 // Storage, Market Research, Wood Mackenzie, South Korea, China, Australia, Asia, Oceania, Mitalee Gupta, Asia-Pacific region
Top SoftwaresSolar Design Software
Solar Monitoring Applications
Asset Management Software
Solar Proposal Software
Solar Project Management Software
Solar Lead Generation Software
Solar Consumer-Facing Platforms
Top StocksSolar Stocks
Renewable Energy Stocks
Energy Storage Stocks
Hydrogen Fuel Cell Stocks


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Must-have Information for IT & IT Security Pros
Enterprise operations totally depend on automation made possible by SSH keys. But are SSH keys also an Achilles’ heel in your organization’s security?read more
How big of an impact will the Dell/EMC merger have on how businesses choose, deploy, and manage the key engines of their business technology?
Application layer, or ‘Layer 7’ DDoS attacks, are difficult to spot and even more difficult to defend against. Here’s some tips on mitigating these threats.
In this new Stat of the Week, leading organizations give the Identity and Access Management power not only to IT, but to the average business user, as well.
When Microsoft announced their new lineup of hardware, it turned a lot of people’s heads. Is this enough to return it to the top of the tech world?
With the recent hack of T-Mobile customer data, companies need to invest more than ever in whatever it takes to secure personal info on their servers.
The Internet of Things has introduced a whole slew of new security flaws. Here’s four examples of IoT tech gone bad.

domain: news


text: The Pixel Project Comic: Livin' La Vida Beta I never, ever learn. Rich Stevens 18 Jun 2019 3 Read more comics from The Pixel Project. Wut? UK woman orders an iPhone 12 Pro Max, gets a broken tile instead New iPhone day should be exciting. But not if you get a broken tile instead. sitting pretty Apple says Epic helping its case with witnesses and irrelevant issues A new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman includes information from an Apple representative that says Epic Games has spent its time during its trial with Apple discussing "irrelevant issues" and that it is calling witnesses helpful to Apple's case. true colors Prosser: New MacBook could feature colors like iMac A new report from serial Apple Leaker Jon Prosser says Apple may adopt colors for its new MacBook models just like it did with the iMac. Not an Airtag What are the best alternatives to Apple AirTag? Apple AirTag was introduced in April 2020, but there are other trackers that are available and may better fit your needs. Let's learn about alternatives to Apple AirTag. Rich Stevens Pixel lover and cartoonist. Still have my original Apple IIgs. See more at clango.org or follow him on Twitter @rstevens.


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Enterprise Ireland encourages companies to start planning for a green future
Enterprise Ireland is putting a range of supports in place to help small businesses on their sustainability journey. The Climate Enterprise Action Fund, supported by Enterprise Ireland, consists of three measures: the €1,800 Climate Action Voucher; the GreenStart grant worth up to €5,000; and GreenPlus which provides funding of up to 50% to cover the development of a multi-annual climate change plan.
Enterprise Ireland is also holding a series of webinars to outline the benefits of making sustainability central to business strategy and how to avail of Enterprise Ireland green supports.
The first webinar, which will focus on the food and beverage sector, will take place 1 June and feature speakers Rosaleen Hyde of Ballymaloe Foods, Louise Brennan of O’Brien Fine Foods; Padraig Mallon of Kerry Group; Owen Keogh of Lidl Ireland; and Deirdre Ryan, director of Origin Green at Bord Bia.
Other webinars taking place during the month of June will focus on the manufacturing and construction sectors, and digital technologies, fintech, BPO and consumer services.
“Ireland has an ambitious target to reduce emissions by more than 51% by the end of the decade,” said Enterprise Ireland’s Aidan McKenna. “The enterprise sector accounts for 13% of Ireland’s emissions so it has an important role to play in this national strategy.
“Reducing emissions and adopting more sustainable production practices is a smart business strategy. Increasingly consumers are placing a premium on environmentally sustainable products and services. Responding positively to this growing consumer demand is important for consumer-facing businesses.
“Likewise, businesses that provide products or services to larger companies are now being required to show transparent environmental credentials and alignment with international standards. Inclusion in this supply chain will increasingly rely on a commitment to our emerging low-carbon, sustainable economy.”
Applications to the Climate Enterprise Action Fund will close on 31 August 2021. Visit www.globalambition.ie/climateaction for more information. To register for the webinar focused on the food and beverage sector, visit www.globalambition.ie/webinar-climate-enterprise-action-fund-food/


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Xiaomi's phones have long been known for their exceptional value proposition. You can always find the latest specs and features in a Xiaomi flagship phone, and it won't cost you an arm and a leg. It's something you don't often see these days when $1,000 has become the standard price for high-end hardware. That's not how Xiaomi rolls, though. With the Mi 11, Xiaomi has one of the best flagship phones on the market, offering killer specs and a great value, unless you happen to be in the US.
For the last few years, the Android Beta Program has been one of the biggest highlights of Google I/O, which continues to be the case this year. Now that Google has announced the exciting changes coming to Android 12, many of us will be eager to try it for ourselves. Naturally, the Beta will only be available on select devices, so find out if your phone is eligible below:
Xiaomi is known for making some of the most popular affordable phones worldwide, but recently, it's been making some eye-catching flagships too. The Chinese smartphone company has already announced its Snapdragon 888-powered Mi 11, but its true flagship, the Mi 11 Ultra, is yet to come. However, we won't have to wait to get a glimpse of the phone. It has already been leaked in a hands-on video, and let me tell you one thing — IT IS CHONK.
Zack Nelson of JerryRigEverything is renowned for his gadget durability tests and teardowns, so it's not surprising to hear that he has a track record of trying to bust up Xiaomi phones. Said record brings up the obvious trends: cheaper phones aren't as durable as those towards the mid- to high-end. So, how will the Mi 11 fare? Not too bad, for the sake of brevity.
As part of the Mi 11 international launch event, Xiaomi has also announced the forthcoming MIUI 12.5 rollout. The new version might only be a point release, but it adds some thoughtful touches to the Xiaomi ROM, such as CPU usage improvements and uninstallable system apps. It's rolling out to the Mi 11 and a few other new phones first.
Historically, Xiaomi has been a consistent contender to launch the first phones with next-generation Qualcomm silicon. It took the lead again by announcing its Mi 11 series of phones complete with the Snapdragon 888 in China last year. With that new engine comes a cavalry of other upgrades, and now, the phone is also available in international markets.


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Dallas Mavericks owner and a ‘shark’ on SharkTank, Mark Cuban has asserted that NFTs (Non-fungible tokens) may have the means to transform industries dealing with digital identity verification and electronic signatures.
Speaking on an episode of Unchained Podcast, Cuban said “anything documentation driven” could potentially be transformed by NFTs. The billionaire believed that smart contracts could destabilize companies like electronic signature technology firm DocuSign.
“Right now we see quite a bit of utilization of smart contracts for NFTs but those are really just proof of concepts for what can happen in the business world applications like insurance, legal documents.”
He also proposed the involvement of NFTs with real-world data at basketball games, saying that Mavericks Fans could hold tokens having “highlights from the first quarter” or events with the time minted on the blockchain. This space has seen several use cases in the past like geotagging street art, technology capable of recording and encrypting data including temperature, air quality and motion to NFTs.
This statement portrays a change in the billionaire’s stance towards NFTs since previously he found them to be inflated and implied his involvement as more of an experiment. The market has clearly evolved since then for him to see the more practical aspects of NFT’s that could disrupt whole industries now.


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So the news today that a new Resident Evil game, along with some classic Resident Evil games, is set to be released for Wii later this year definitely made me one happy camper.
Capcom announced today its plans for a big comeback of its Resident Evil franchise with the release of Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. This is a sequel to Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles and will be available exclusively for the Wii this winter.
There are also plans in the works for a new Resident Evil “Classics” line, which gives Wii owners the chance to play the GameCube classics Resident Evil and Resident Evil Zero. No word on the official release date for those, but we’ll keep you updated!
Got news? Click here to submit it!
Talk to other zombie slayers in the Dread Central forums!


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Advertising revenue in the United States is expected to increase by 22% to $279 billion in 2021, a sign that the industry has turned a corner following the uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to GroupM’s mid-year forecast released Thursday.
Digital advertising revenue will grow even faster, by 33%, in 2021 – building on last year’s 10% rate of expansion – and account for 57% of all advertising in the United States.
Total ad revenue will increase to $388 billion by 2026.
The forecast marks an improved outlook from GroupM’s year-end US forecast in December, when it expected a smaller 12% increase in advertising growth in 2021.
“By the end of the year, you could see that this [turnaround] was happening – we had more confidence,” said Brian Wieser, GroupM’s global president of business intelligence. He titled his report “Welcome to the Roaring ’20s.”
This year’s turnaround was driven by an economy and advertising market that rebounded more strongly than had been anticipated. The report excluded the impact of political advertising.
Much of the turnaround was attributed to digital media and walled gardens. Amazon, Facebook, Google had soaring revenue the first quarter of 2021, and emerging mobile tech and gaming companies also performed strongly. Performance-based marketers who build their businesses around apps or mobile gaming have massively increased their spending on digital media.
“This is more than just recovery from a weak year and more than just strong markets,” Wieser said.
There is more visibility now into the total advertising market because of the surge of advertising and mobile companies going public.
“Many of these companies went public only recently,” he added. “There are many other gaming companies that we don’t know about where we don’t have public data, and all sorts of Amazon roll-up of companies that we don’t have data on. These companies are, in some cases, doubling their spending on advertising year-over-year, and they’re already at nine figures.”
Mobile gaming companies like Skillz – which went public last year and spent $250 million globally on advertising – and mobile technology company AppLovin, a billion-dollar advertiser which went public in April, are “important sources of growth” in advertising, Wieser said.
There has also been increased spending from China directed into markets around the world, including the United States.
Audio-based advertising is expected to be strong as well, growing 25% this year (although that’s coming off a 27% decline last year), especially with the rapid growth of podcasting, which will likely draw incremental dollars from digital media. Out-of-home advertising, meanwhile, is expected to experience solid growth at 21%.
Television advertising, which includes both linear and connected TV (CTV), is expected to grow by 8.7%, marking a full recovery from 2020’s 6.9% decline. But beyond 2021, growth is expected to remain flat, with incremental shifts out of television by large traditional brands offset by incremental spending by newer ones.
That’s not to say advertisers aren’t leaning into CTV. About $9 billion in ad spend will flow to CTV in 2021, accounting for more than 15% of total television advertising.
As traditional linear TV viewing drops, GroupM said marketers will turn to CTV for reach and frequency reasons, addressability and the ability to buy more inventory programmatically.
Still, despite the launch of a slew of ad-supported streaming services in the past year, the industry’s continuing focus on ad-free or “ad-lite” streaming will continue to reduce the availability of advertising inventory, potentially at an accelerating pace.
Many media owners who are investing in streaming content are also cutting spending in linear, Wieser said.
“The availability of new types of inventory does not necessarily lead to new advertisers,” Wieser said. “If you invest more heavily in your streaming service and at the same time you have your investment in your non-streaming service, you don’t get to keep all the money from both. The pie is relatively fixed, it just gets divided up differently.”
GroupM’s report also considered the possibility that the Tokyo Olympic Games could be canceled, which could impact US advertisers, who are expected to spend more than $1 billion.
“There might be some negative impacts, but they’d pretty minor in terms of the actual flow of money out,” Wieser said. “Advertisers would look for inventory in other media.”


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The state-legal cannabis industry has had a fantastic run over the past decade. More than 30 states have passed either recreational or medical cannabis legislation so far, and the sector has created thousands of new jobs and brought in billions of dollars in revenue. As several states consider passing cannabis legislation this year and lawmakers mull over federally decriminalizing cannabis, the industry is poised to grow even more.
Niche cannabis products especially are a space that is going to explode as the industry becomes older and more mature. The following are four trends that may gain more steam as…
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Grapefruit USA Inc. (OTCQB: GPFT) are available in the company’s newsroom at http://cnw.fm/GPFT
CNW420 spotlights the latest developments in the rapidly evolving cannabis industry through the release of two informative articles each business day. Our concise, informative content serves as a gateway for investors interested in the legalized cannabis sector and provides updates on how regulatory developments may impact financial markets. Articles are released each business day at 4:20 a.m. and 4:20 p.m. Eastern – our tribute to the time synonymous with cannabis culture. If marijuana and the burgeoning industry surrounding it are on your radar, CNW420 is for you! Check back daily to stay up-to-date on the latest milestones in the fast -changing world of cannabis.
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For more information please visit https://www.CNW420.com
Do you have questions or are you interested in working with CNW420? Ask our Editor
CNW420 is part of the InvestorBrandNetwork.


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We often come across articles where it is stated that a CEO of a big company received X amount of dollars as a bonus, which is usually more money than most of us will see in a lifetime. Lenovo’s CEO, Yang Yuanqing, was recently handed that bonus, $5.2 million to be exact, but what makes this particular story different from the rest is that instead of keeping it all for himself, the CEO decided to hand out $3 million from his bonus to 10,000 junior-level employees. So what constitutes as a junior employee? Well according to reports, this includes receptionists, production-line workers and assistants to name a few – basically employees who might have to work long hours and who might not be making as much as their managers or higher level executives. In an environment where you read about execs who might not deserve their huge bonuses and who are arrested for financial fraud and the likes, it is pretty heartwarming to read about a CEO put his bonus to good use!
Filed in Lenovo.. Read more about


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The World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers of 2019 include six cybersecurity companies tackling global data protection issues.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) has selected 56 emerging tech firms from around the world for its 2019 Technology Pioneers, six of which are cybersecurity start-ups promising to transform international data privacy and digital protection for the better.
WEF Technology Pioneers are selected annually by a committee of technology experts, investors and entrepreneurs.
All chosen pioneers, celebrated at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in July, will participate in a two-year programme with the WEF. The prestigious initiative facilitates their collaboration with emerging tech peers, engagement with industry figures and exposure to global experts.
BigID helps organisations get to know their customers through data, but enhances protection of it through accelerating detection of, and response to, breaches.
Its main office is in New York, where it was founded in 2016 by security industry veterans Dimitri Sirota and Nimrod Vax, but BigID also has offices in Israel.
The company has won a suite of awards including the 2017 CyberSecurity Breakthrough prize for compliance software solution of the year and Business Insider’s 2019 Business to Watch. According to Crunchbase, the start-up has raised funding of $96.1m.
London-based Callsign aims to revolutionise how people digitally identify themselves.
Zia Hayat, the company’s co-founder and CEO, previously designed military and financial information systems with Accenture, BAE Systems and Lloyds.
Applying AI technology to such data collection points as typing or swiping techniques, location, online habits, face recognition, devices and even passwords, Callsign can determine if someone is who they say they are in a user-friendly way.
Callsign has raised a total funding amount of $38.8m, according to Crunchbase, to deploy its software to millions of users globally, including some of the world’s largest banks.
CyberCube’s mission is to deliver world-leading cyber risk analytics. Led by CEO Pascal Millaire, the team helps the insurance sector to share more risk with businesses.
Based in San Francisco, CyberCube combines big data AI with actuarial science in a software platform that aims to help insurers make better decisions when managing catastrophic cybersecurity events. It has collaborated with such companies as global professional services firm Aon.
CyberCube won the Insurtech Team of the Year 2019 award from Business Insurance US and was named Advisen’s 2019 Cyber Risk Model of the Year.
Promising to challenge traditional detection-based security techniques is Garrison, a technology for ensuring secure internet access. This London-based company, founded in 2014 by CEO David Garfield, is looking to redesign how people click links and browse the web.
In an age of unprecedented cyberattacks that are sophisticated and targeted, Garrison allows people to click on even the most dangerous links without putting data or systems at risk – a major obstacle for mainstream commercial organisations. Crunchbase cites its total funding amount to date as £34.9m.
The vision of Tel Aviv-headquartered Qedit is to enable secure collaboration between companies using sensitive data.
Co-founded by Jonathan Rouach, Qedit allows for collaboration based on confidential information without exposing the underlying data through employing zero-knowledge blockchain, which generates proofs for all, but data for nobody.
This technology acts as a trust accelerator among companies that wish to collaborate based on data that cannot be shared. For example, Qedit helps banks have confidentiality when transferring assets and helps companies set up supply chain management systems with their whole ecosystem while preserving confidentiality. This means that competitors can work together without risk.
According to Crunchbase, Qedit’s total funding amount is $10m.
Based in Mountain View, California, Shape Security’s mission is to stop online credentials attacks and eliminate fraud.
The company was co-founded in 2011 by CEO Derek Smith, previously the senior adviser for cyber policy at the Pentagon.
Shape Security aims to make it too expensive for attackers to understand and penetrate customer applications. In doing this, the company injects enhanced cybersecurity between consumers and major online brands, protecting against bots imitating real customers.
Today, Shape defends 1.7bn user accounts. The start-up was recognised as the fastest growing company in Silicon Valley and the third-fastest growing company in the US by Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500. According to Crunchbase, its total funding amount stands at $132m.
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One usually associates Manuka honey with New Zealand but you may be surprised to know Australia has their own anti-bacterial MGO honey too.
New Zealand has marketed this highly medicinal product well and taken ownership in a bid to have the name trademarked as theirs. I posted about it a few months ago when it was in the news to find out what makes this honey so special. True to Taste But is Your Manuka the Real Deal?
Its high healing properties have made manuka a big commodity. We know raw honey (unadulterated and unpasteurised) is good for us, but the science and testing behind manuka shows it is particularly beneficial for topical wounds and skin care as well as good for the gut and overall health.
So stepping out of the shadows is Australia with over 80 varieties of the leptospurmum plant, or jelly bush as the ‘Aussie’s’ call it. A growing number of environmentalists, health practitioners and honey enthusiasts are ready to change people’s awareness. Matt Blomfield, founder of Gatherby a food security and agri-business brought this to my attention after visiting Dubai and seeing Balqees in the malls. He invited me to visit Sydney so he could show me the work he and his team are doing. For me, looking to build a medicine cabinet of honeys from around the world, like a honey bee foraging for nectar, I jumped on the first available A380 and headed to Australia to meet the team and the producers behind Gatherby’s mission.
With the tag line, ‘community, environment, healing’ Matt and co-founder Jenna Ford setup Gatherby four years ago with a mission to build a sustainable Australian Medicinal Honey, an ethical business and product.
With dwindling numbers of bees around the world and with one in three mouthfuls of our food being linked to the honey bee they wanted to do something to protect the bees. Interestingly, Australia is one of the few places in the world that doesn’t have the disease varroa threatening the colonies and so another feather in the cap for pushing their honey forward as a healthy sustainable choice.
The business of beekeeping has been tough in recent years in Australia with large corporations driving the prices down and forcing many family run businesses out as they are struggling to make a living or compete with large commercial farmers.
With all this in mind Gatherby was born with an end to end agri-business solution, connecting like minded people in Australia and around the world with a common goal to preserve the environment, the honey bee and the food chain in producing and supplying high quality honey.
Matt and I and the Gatherby team headed out to the bush and the rural areas of New South Wales and Queensland covering over 2000 km to meet some of the landowners and beekeepers who are working with Gatherby.
Medicinal Honey Forest
Manuka is a Maori term yet some of the beekeepers I met in Australia claim they had the plant and plenty of it before New Zealand. I was told many an Australian farmer cleared this spiny, hardy plant thinking it a nuisance to their land and not realising the value. Some might say Australia has been late coming to the table and their New Zealand counterparts way ahead in the game of manuka. The team and stakeholders at Gatherby are aiming to change that collaborating with landowners, beekeepers and with indigenous groups as part of reconciliation (as the leptospurmum is an Australian native bush) as well as working with nurseries to propagate more of the plants.
So lets just clarify the science on this. The leptospurmum is the plant that gives us this highly medicinal honey with tests showing that 15 species in Australia carry the high DHA (molecule) that cause the antibacterial healing qualities. Bees forage on these plants for nectar carrying the DHA to the hive where excreted from their mouths is converted to MGO (methylglyoxal). This is what gives the potency. As explained in my previous post understanding the UMF stamp on jars and labels with any number over 10 gives you the potency value.
The landowners sign up to regenerate their land with planting programmes and the support of Gatherby putting in place pollinator havens to produce medicinal honey. They currently have 30,000 licensed plants from the nurseries going to landowners with a view to having 12.5 million plants in the next five years. After year one or two of the planting the hives are placed on the land and the honey making process begins. Gatherby then buys the honey at a fair price from the landowners/beekeepers and sell it on currently within Australia and aiming to take it to the world market.
For me high potency medicinal honey doesnt always have the best taste profile but it does have the health benefits. I loved the Walkers Red Stringy Bark which reminded me of Balqees Sidr. This honey is highly medicinal and can be used as a natural remedy for all manner of ailments. Marie’s honey was amazing too, we tried one that had a MGO of 11.71 and a UMF of 25. You can taste natures magic, the medicinal qualities and herbs. Gatherby is making all the right connections as they are on their way to building a successful business where all the stakeholders are paid fairly and producing a raw, potent, medicinal product to help treat humans and animals in a natural way.
Look out for more posts from both Australia and New Zealand as i’ve got plenty more stories from beekeepers to share. Coming your way!


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Business Travel Show Europe Kick Off, 23 February,
Global Travel Risk Summit Europe, April 2023,
3rd Annual Sustainable Business Travel Summit
Rio Tinto travel buyer Kurt Knackstedt (pictured) will become the new president of ACTE from January 1.
Singapore-based Knackstedt will take over from the association’s current president Suzanne Neufang who steps down after two years in the post.
Knackstedt, who is currently Rio Tinto’s global category lead for travel and expense, previously worked for American Express Business Travel and Travelport after starting his career in corporate travel with Rosenbluth International in Philadelphia.
He joined ACTE’s board of directors in January 2012 as the regional representative for Asia.
Outgoing ACTE president Neufang said: “It has been a tremendous honour to serve as this association’s president these past two years.
“I have had the satisfaction of seeing how a professional association like ours can advance careers and effect change across an entire industry.
“The past year has shown what comes from the joint efforts of a dedicated board of directors, a driven volunteer-oriented membership, and a focused professional staff.
“Our educational programs are well-recognised and well-attended. Our industry positions are well-defined and well-respected. Our view of the future is well grounded in the anticipated needs of our members.”


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Construction of a Target store in Hollywood halted
LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A court order halting construction of a Target store in Hollywood could endanger efforts to revitalize a “forlorn” intersection at Sunset Boulevard and Western Avenue, the councilman who represents the area warned today.
The intersection “is one of the most heavily traveled (in) Hollywood, and with the completion of the Target complex it will have the vibrant and quality retail that it deserves,” Councilman Mitch O’Farrell said in a statement. “Everyone should support that.”
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard L. Fruin Jr. ordered the halt of all construction after finding that the city improperly granted several exceptions to the project, including one that allows it to be built as high as 74 feet — more than twice the existing 35-foot limit.
Two groups opposing the project had sued for an injunction on the project, which is already under construction and slated to be completed by early 2015.
O’Farrell said the judge’s decision was “not good for Hollywood.” The project would revitalize a “forlorn” corner in Hollywood, he said.
His office is working with the city attorney, the Building and Safety Department and the office of Mayor Eric Garcetti — who was the councilman for the area when the project was approved — to “respond to the court’s orders while balancing the need to keep the project going,” O’Farrell said in his statement.
An attorney who represents one of the project opponents said the Target project reflects “City Hall’s contempt for the law.”
“The Target store fiasco is symptomatic of L.A. City Hall’s culture of backroom deal-making, secrecy and law-breaking” that has led to a “pattern” of violations in the Hollywood area, Robert Silverstein said in a statement, citing “the recently overturned Hollywood Community Plan, “the Millennium Hollywood skyscraper-earthquake scandal” and “the illegal demolition of the historic Sunset Blvd. facade of the Old Spaghetti factory.”
A Target spokeswoman, Kristen Emmons, said the retailer plans to open the store next year as scheduled and will take “steps to continue construction at the store site.”
She declined to discuss whether Target will appeal the court ruling, but noted that the planned store would “bring approximately 200 new jobs to the area, in addition to an estimated 75 construction jobs as the store is built.”


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Kodansha USA Adds Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Let's Dance a Waltz Manga
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Kodansha USA announced at its Comic-Con panel on Saturday that it licensed Miki Yoshikawa's Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches (Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo) and Natsumi Ando's Let's Dance a Waltz (Waltz no Ojikan) manga.
The story of Miki Yoshikawa's original "love x kiss x comedy" manga begins when Yamada, the high school's worst problem child, bumps into the beautiful honor student Shiraishi on the stairs, and their lips touch as they fall. When they regain their wits, they realize that they have swapped bodies. As time progresses, the two realize that this is not the only mysterious happening in the school.
Crunchyroll is publishing the manga online as it is released in Japan. The manga had over two million copies in print last year and is inspiring a series of original anime DVDs. Yoshikawa launched the manga in 2012, and the series is currently running in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine magazine. Kodansha will publish the 13th volume of the manga on July 17 with the pre-order form for the first original anime DVD.
Ando launched Let's Dance a Waltz in Kodansha's Nakayoshi shōjo manga magazine last year. The manga revolves around a boy who has lost interest in ballroom dancing for a certain reason and is instead distracted by the latest dancing fad, and a plain girl who has a hidden desire to change herself. The two youths who were destined to meet grow into adulthood together through ballroom dancing. Kodansha released the third compiled volume in March.
Kodansha USA released Ando's Arisa manga after taking over several of publisher Del Rey's titles, as well as her Kitchen Princess manga. Del Rey also partially released Ando's Wild @ Heart manga, and Tokyopop released her Zodiac P.I. manga.


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2020 Litigation Forecast - Commerce Commission: Raring to go in 2020
A growing regulator is one to watch and the Commerce Commission is no exception. The Commerce Commission has recently grown significantly both in size as well as functions, powers and duties. This well-resourced and powerful regulator is also looking at changes in nearly all the legislation that it administers. This is set to make a busy 2020.
In addition to the Commission’s enduring priorities that include credit issues, product safety, cartel and anti-competitive conduct and mergers, our predictions are that the Commission will be focused on five hot topics of general application:
- Substantiation claims: in late 2019 we saw the Commerce Commission requiring businesses to demonstrate the basis on which they have made claims in advertising and whether they are able to substantiate this at the time the representations were made. Our pick is that off the back of the first few substantiation cases, the Commission will want to continue to build up a book of case law in this new area.
- Environmental claims: this will be a red button issue for 2020. We predict that we will see greater focus on claims such as ‘biodegradable’ or ‘compostable’ and ‘flushable’. This focus comes after the ACCC, Australia’s competition and consumer regulator, was recently unsuccessful in actions it brought against Kimberly-Clark for claims that its wipes were ‘flushable’ and Woolworths for claims that its ‘W Select eco’ products were ‘Biodegradable and Compostable’. The NZ Commerce Commission has said it will be educating businesses to ensure that claims about the environmental impact of products are accurate and can be relied on by consumers.
- Privacy concerns: 2020 may see the Commission’s focus widening to include privacy issues particularly where agencies do not follow their own privacy policies or where their policies are onerous or unclear. Unfair contract terms are likely to have a key role to play here.
- Consumer credit and responsible lending: the amendments to the CCCFA have now been passed and we expect to see the Commission focusing on making an example out of those directors and senior officers who do not meet the new duties.
- Greater level of co-operation with other regulators: this co-operation will need to be stronger than previously seen given the legislative changes. For instance, the new financial conduct regime will overlap with the CCCFA which will require more significant enforcement co-ordination.


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I was surprised to find many young people enthusiastic about the prospect of paying $5 for a CD.
I'm sure the record business is not.
I can hear them right now: "We can't make money on $5 CDs" -- like they can make money on free downloading, right?
I put the question to students in my USC class "Music, Broadcasting & the Mobile Future". About 75% of them -- a surprising number -- said they would buy CDs or multiple CDs -- a significant increase over their current spending -- if the labels charged a flat $5 for the CD.
Only one condition: they also want a high fidelity digital version for purchasing the&hellip
- Audacy’s Troubled Bankruptcy Talks
- The Fix is in for Radio Boards of Directors
- A Surprising Winner in Post-Pandemic Radio Revenue
- Radio’s Cash Infusion Secrets
- One Side Ready to Blink in Audacy Bankruptcy
- What if Audacy Employees Threaten to Leave Unless Board Quits
- Unraveling at Urban One
- iHeart Trade/Barter Secrets
- New Cash Crisis at Audacy
- What iHeart Is Covering Up


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Uber and Hyundai partner in aerial ride-sharing
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Posted: 7 January 2020 | Sam Mehmet (Intelligent Transport)
The partnership has released a full-scale aircraft concept, which is part of an open design process, a NASA-inspired approach that is said to jump-start innovation by publicly releasing vehicle design concepts so any company can use them to innovate their air taxi models.
Uber and Hyundai Motor Company have announced a new partnership to develop Uber Air Taxis for a future aerial ride-share network and unveiled a new full-scale aircraft concept.
Hyundai is the first automotive company to join the Uber Elevate initiative, reportedly bringing automotive-scale manufacturing capability and a track record of mass-producing electric vehicles.
In this partnership, Hyundai plans to produce and deploy the air vehicles, while Uber will provide airspace support services, connections to ground transportation, and customer interfaces through an aerial ride share network. Both parties are said to be collaborating on infrastructure concepts to support take-off and landing for this new class of vehicles.
“Our vision of Urban Air Mobility will transform the concept of urban transportation. We expect Urban Air Mobility (UAM) to vitalise urban communities and provide more quality time to people. We are confident that Uber Elevate is the right partner to make this innovative product readily available to as many customers as possible,” said Jaiwon Shin, Executive Vice President and Head of Hyundai’s UAM Division.
Eric Allison, Head of Uber Elevate, added: “Hyundai is our first vehicle partner with experience of manufacturing passenger cars on a global scale. We believe Hyundai has the potential to build Uber Air vehicles at rates unseen in the current aerospace industry, producing high quality, reliable aircraft at high volumes to drive down passenger costs per trip. Combining Hyundai’s manufacturing muscle with Uber’s technology platform represents a giant leap forward for launching a vibrant air taxi network in the coming years.”
Hyundai and Uber Elevate have developed a PAV (Personal Air Vehicle) model, S-A1, that is said to utilise innovative design processes to optimise electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for aerial ride-sharing purposes. The Elevate initiative allegedly based this process on NASA’s historical approach of putting design concepts out publicly to inspire innovation amongst multiple companies, spurring the development of common research models to investigate novel aerodynamic concepts and catalysing industry progress in wing design, noise, aerodynamics and simulation verification.
The PAV model, S-A1, will reportedly include the following features:
- A cruising speed up to 180 miles/hr (290 km/hr), a cruising altitude of around 1,000-2,000 feet (300 – 600m) above ground, and to fly trips up to 60 miles (100km)
- The Hyundai vehicle will be 100 per cent electric, utilising distributed electric propulsion and during peak hours will require about five to seven minutes for recharging
- Hyundai’s electric aircraft utilises distributed electric propulsion, powering multiple rotors and propellers around the airframe to increase safety by decreasing any single point of failure. Having several, smaller rotors also reduces noise relative to large rotor helicopters with combustion engines, which is very important to cities
- The model is designed to take off vertically, transition to wing-borne lift in cruise, and then transition back to vertical flight to land
- The Hyundai vehicle will be piloted initially, but over time they will become autonomous
- The cabin is designed with four passenger seats, allowing riders to board/disembark easily and avoid the dreaded middle seat with enough space for a personal bag or backpack/rider.
Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), Mobility Services, Passenger Experience, Traffic Management
Hyundai Motor Company, Uber
Eric Allison, Jaiwon Shin


text: At the Tokyo Game Show 2015 Sony Entertainment will reveal Project Morpheus. The VR headset that will take gaming on a PS4 to a whole new level. The Tokyo Game Show will be helt in… duh Tokyo on 17, 18, 19 and 20 of September. Woohoo. It’s almost here. Excited.


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The "Deliciously Dark Escape” game can be accessed through QR codes on Trolli’s sweet packaging
Spotted: Confectionary brand Trolli, part of the Ferrara brand, has debuted a video game, the “Deliciously Dark Escape”, where players protect their gummy avatars from various obstacles.
The game comes in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the confectionary industry hasn’t been hit as hard as others, fewer celebrations around Easter and Halloween ensured fewer sweets were bought, a fact which did take its toll.
The game can only be accessed by buying the Trolli gummy worms, contained in which is a QR code, which unlocks a secret website. Users can then access a 14-day PlayStation Plus trial, a Trolli Dynamic Theme for PS4 and the Trolli game.
Gamifying the sweets is a strategic move: Dave Foldes, senior brand manager for Trolli, cites an Entertainment Software Association report that three-fourths of American households have at least one gamer, 21% of whom are younger than 18 years old. Leveraging the desires of this younger market is a sure way of guaranteeing sales in a year that hasn’t been advantageous for any retailer.
Their use of QR codes is also strategic: as their use on smartphones become more and more standard, the easy-to-access nature of the codes makes the game even more appealing to a consumer.
The Trolli gummy sweets, complete with QR codes, are available across the US.
Written By: Holly Hamilton


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Activision's nonchalance towards the recent Modern Warfare 3 leaks appears to have been well-judged. Already, pre-order numbers for the eighth entry in the blockbuster franchise has exceeded figures recorded by Black Ops at a similar time. The latter shattered sales records when it released in November of last year, and it appears Infinity Ward - and Sledgehammer's - follow-up is set to continue the record-breaking tradition.
"Last year, Call of Duty: Black Ops became the most pre-ordered title in our history," reveals Bob McKenzie, senior vice-president of marketing at US retailer, Gamestop. "Already, this year, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is significantly ahead of that pace. Our customers’ response to the reveal of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 has been amazing".
You often hear publishers bigging up their pre-order figures; so it's far more impressive when you hear it come straight from the mouth of an actual retailer. That said, while Gamestop might be reporting record figures, whether that applies to other outlets, let alone the rest of the global market, remains to be seen.
Regardless, Modern Warfare 3 will almost certainly shift millions, if not a record amount. It'll probably pop up at this week's E3 2011 conference, too. [Gamestop]


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November 1, 2013
Kentuckians seeking legitimate work-from-home jobs they can do online will soon have new employment opportunities thanks to a partnership between Kentucky Teleworks and a global call-center consumer products service protection company.
And they won’t even have to leave their homes to be considered and possibly hired for those jobs.
On three consecutive Thursdays in November—Nov. 7, Nov. 14, and Nov. 21—Kentucky Teleworks will host “virtual job fairs” to fill Home-Based Customer Care Representative positions with N.E.W. Corp., a national company that has been the industry’s leading provider of extended service plans and product protection programs for consumer products since 1983.
The sessions, all of which will be begin at 12 p.m. EST, will allow people to access a special website through their home computer to learn about N.E.W. Corp. and to apply for jobs with the company.
To register and obtain the web address for the virtual job fairs, people should contact Theresa Noble with Kentucky Teleworks via email at firstname.lastname@example.org, and provide full name, city and state of residence, and phone number.
N.E.W. Corp. seeks to hire about 400 full-time, permanent Home-Based Customer Care Representatives through these virtual job fairs. These positions provide customer service, sales, and technical support.
The positions pay $9.50 per hour, and all new hires will also be eligible for a new benefits package starting in 2014, according to company officials.
An Internet connectivity speed of 6MB or faster is required for all positions.
Staff with N.E.W. Corp. will lead the virtual job fairs and give applicants a detailed overview of the jobs, benefits, and computer and Internet access requirements.
For more information about Kentucky Teleworks, visit www.kentuckyteleworks.com; call Theresa Noble at (606) 435-8494, or email email@example.com. Find Kentucky Teleworks on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kentuckyteleworks.


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Over the past year, many online retailers have looked to tap
into global online shoppers by adding international shipping options. International shipping presents a relatively low-cost first step into
global markets - it also allows retailers to tap into the increasingly international
consideration set of consumers around the globe. This topic has been key within
our research this year: our international shipping report addresses this issue from the US
perspective and we’ll soon be posting a report on cross-border shopping within Europe.
BTM (Business Transaction Management) is starting to appear on the radar screen of many clients and vendors. BTM is based on the ability to trace a transaction path through n-tiers of infrastructure components in order to provide 1) visibility into the transaction, 2) a template that could be used to understand how the infrastructure supports the transaction and 3) a basis to define whether a transaction behavior in normal, that is within the resource usage bracket observed historically or abnormal, signaling a performance or availability issue. Many products have appeared on the market over time to support this transaction tracing or transaction tracking ability. Bristol Technology (now HP), MQ Software Q!Nami (now BMC) supported MQ Series and Websphere MQ. ClearApp (now Oracle) and dynaTrace have this capability built in their SOA-APM monitoring solution, Optier and Correlsense provide visibility into transaction paths. Now we find this capability as one of the requirements for Application Performance Management: IBM ITCAM has looked into this issue from the get go, CA is developing the capability for Wily, HP is working on expanding Bristol, Compuware and Opnet can take advantage of their network analysis solutions to provide this information, Quest Software has added this feature in their APM solution and Precise is also walking the same path . Why?
After two weeks of holiday, I found the following interesting article in my inbox from Edward Keehnen, a Dutch researcher who did a PhD. on the decision behavior of young and older Dutch consumers.
His results show that both young and older consumers regard themselves as quite experienced buyers (61% and 67% respectively). For older consumers the level of experience has increased in the past ten years, and they also feel they are more experienced than their kids. But despite this level of confidence, when they are buying goods or services they tend to feel lost in the richness of choices: About 40% of Dutch consumers over 50 feel lost when shopping for insurances, and this goes up to a high 51% for consumers between 20 and 26 years old.
It's discussion time, folks. I want to hear what you think about the potential for Facebook and Twitter on the TV screen. No, stop laughing, I'm serious.
I ask because I published a report for Forrester earlier this month called Five Things We Want From Social TV (click here to read). It was partly in response to Verizon FiOS's new Facebook and Twitter TV widgets which were released in early July. (Look at a demo on YouTube here). Here's the summary so you know what I wrote about:
Thanks to Verizon, the first meaningful Facebook widget in the US has come to the TV. Some question whether the active Social Computing experience has any place in the so-called "lean back" living room experience. Those people are wrong. Once Facebook, Twitter, and other Social Computing platforms are properly ported to the TV screen, a new explosion of media and technology convergence will occur, affecting the product strategies of device makers, content providers, and pay TV providers. In this report, we propose the five things that Social TV providers should prioritize — steps that will lead to a converged future of Social Computing and TV viewing.
All my cards are on the table: I obviously believe in this because I said it would be a new explosion of media and technology convergence and them's fightin words.
I recently completed a report comparing the movements and trends in IT budgets across different countries across the Asia Pacific region. The general finding of the report was that although IT budgets are down on average, there is a chasm appearing between the "haves and have nots" for IT spend. In summary, while the average decrease in IT budget decrease is around 5%, of those companies getting an increased IT budget, their spend increased by between 15-20% on average, and for those receiving an IT budget cut, the decrease was often around 20%. The decisive factor on the direction of the IT budget was often the level of exposure to the global financial crisis. Those with a high level have seen the highest budget cuts, those with low levels of exposure (or those profiting from the crisis) are seeing increases or flat IT budgets.
But as is often the case with statistics, they do not tell the entire story. What is becoming clear is that even those companies with increased IT budgets are looking to decrease their IT spend in as many areas as possible. Much of the interest in the region in cloud computing has actually come from the public sector - one of the sectors that has been relatively sheltered from the slowdown in IT spend. Virtualisation is on the agenda for nearly all companies, as they look to make better use of the hardware that they already have.
I published my first report on mobile social networks 2 years ago (see here) at a time when Facebook audience was "only" around 50 million unique monthly visitors. At that time MySpace was a paid-for and exclusive experience on Vodafone-Live and Bebo was about to launching a mobile version. Needless to say lots has happened in the last 2 years.
Numerous acquisitions and parternships took place between the likes of Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Twitter, Hyves and with handset manufacturers / mobile operators. Several mobile-only communities (AirG, peperonity, itsmy.com, buzzcity...) have gained traction and there is plenty of innovation in that space. INQ generated lots of media coverage and interest by lauching its so-called "Facebook phone" and plans to launch new devices. I am not sure what the latest Facebook mobile stats are but not that long ago rougly 10% of the worldwide installed base of FB users had registered to the mobile version. Even more significantly, the GSMA announced a few months ago that UK mobile consumers who access Facebook via their mobile phone spend, on average, 24 minutes on the site daily, just shy of the 27.5 minutes that PC-based Internet users spend daily on Facebook; mobile users of Facebook average 3.3 visits per day versus 2.3 visits per day from PC users.
Mike Gualtieri and I had a surprising argument about developer downloads with several vendors as we compiled our Forrester Wave: Complex Event Processing (CEP) Platforms, Q3 2009. Developers consistently tell us they want unrestricted platform downloads -- no time bombs, no forced contacts with the vendor's sales staff, no limited-function versions. The vendors in question disputed our insistence on valuing download policies that had no such limits.
We thought in this era of open source, everyone understood this point about developer downloads. Downloads are a great way to encourage developers to learn your product's ins, outs, values, and issues. But developers learn at their own pace, not on your schedule. Developers need your whole product because they will follow a variety of paths to knowledge, not just the paths that make sense to you. And developers don't want to listen to a sales rep's pitch on the wonders of your software.
The First Case Study in the Series About How to Deploy Customer Service Social Media!
When I published the ROI of customer service social media, everyone had asked me - who is doing social media and what are they doing. To help those who haven't started down the social media path, I put together the 5 Best Practices of customer service social media. That doc is chocked full of ideas you can use today. And to provide more details on how companies have accomplished their goals for social media, I also decided to publish a bunch of case studies! ACT! is the first of many! I hope it helps you to get a better idea of how valuable social media is and its bottom-line affects!
Who is Sage and What Did They Want to Accomplish With Social Media?


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Sega has announced that a new version of the fighting game Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax will be released in Japanese arcades sometime this summer. The name for the sequel is currently unknown but will feature a number of new systems, balance updates to pre-existing characters, and a number of new roster additions. At the time of the announcement the only character revealed for the game so far is The Devil is a Part Timer‘s Emi Yusa as a playable fighter.
Currently more details are set to be revealed in next issue of Dengeki PlayStation but for now, gamers in the West can keep an eye out for the original Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax‘s release in the West sometime this summer as well.
Related Articles for this post below:


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"A new model for sustainably implementing computer laboratories
in underprivileged schools is being piloted by Tuxlabs, a division
of the Shuttleworth Foundation. Tuxlabs has partnered with a
Sowetan entrepreneur, who will sell services in a school's open
source laboratory to the community once the school day ends.
"St Martin's High School in Orlando West, Soweto, is expected to
get its 30-PC lab next Tuesday 23 May. Running Edubuntu--an
education-specific port of Ubuntu--the lab sports brand new
equipment from Acer..."


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted unanimously Thursday to increase scrutiny of pharmacy benefit managers that act as middlemen between drug companies and consumers in a renewed effort to combat soaring healthcare costs and drug prices.
The five-member commission, including two Republican commissioners, voted to increase scrutiny of discounts that pharmaceutical middlemen seek from drug companies to ensure their products are covered by the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM).
FTC Chair Lina Khan said in an open meeting the FTC would study to see if rebates sought by middlemen reduced competition, ultimately leading to higher drug prices.
"The FTC has also determined that commercial bribery practices, commonly referred to as kickbacks, constitute an unfair method of competition," she added.
The three biggest PBMs are UnitedHealth Group Inc's Optum unit, CVS Health Corp's CVS Caremark and Cigna Corp's Express Scripts. PBMs decide what drugs will be covered by health insurance plans and negotiate prices with manufacturers.
An official with the PBM industry said the goal of the companies was to "control costs and lower costs," and pointed to the drug companies as the cause of sometimes spectacular price rises for insulin and other medicines.
The FTC expressed particular concern about insulin, which was first produced synthetically in the 1970s and which some 8 million American diabetics rely on. The price of insulin had risen 300% in the past two decades, with the list price of a one-year supply now costing nearly $6,000.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz; editing by Richard Pullin)


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Luxembourg has granted a license to bitcoin exchange Bitstamp making it Europe's first fully regulated payment institution for the cryptocurrency with expectations high that an extra layer of legitimacy could lead more people to trade bitcoin.
Bitstamp received the license, which goes into effect on July 1st, as part of a two-year application process that tested its security and customer protection systems.
"We have put a lot of time and resources into the regulatory process with the goal of ensuring customers feel more confident in using Bitstamp's exchange and products across the European Union," said Nejc Kodric, co-founder and CEO of Bitstamp, in a press release.
"We are proud to have taken this important step for our customers and the digital currency/blockchain industry globally."
The decision may go some way to make a bitcoin exchange safer and more secure. According to Vijay Michalik, research analyst for consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan, bitcoin exchanges had been fraught with danger.
"There have been lots of people trying to start exchanges and sometimes getting a serious amount of volume before people realise that, while they had that beautiful front end, they didn't have the background security that people really should expect from a financial institution," he told CNBC during a phone interview.
"What [the Bitstamp decision] signals is that this is an exchange, at least within Europe, that has been inspected by the regulator and actually meets some of those requirements."
Michalik also thought the decision would encourage some new customers to buy and trade bitcoin.
James Lynn, U.K. managing director of blockchain company Billon Group, agreed that the decision might increase confidence in bitcoin exchanges, but would have little impact on the value of bitcoins.
"A degree of additional confidence in bitcoin firms could arise based on this license, but will it impact the day to day flows of bitcoin based on supply and demand? I think that unlikely, and hence also unlikely that the price of bitcoin itself will be impacted directly by the news," he told CNBC via email.
And while the decision might make bitcoin trading safer, many European may still question the legitimacy of the cryptocurrency.
"The addition of Bitstamp to the ranks of regulated firms, is more of a comment on the security and setup of the firm, rather than the underlying instrument that its dealing with," he said. "I remain unconvinced that this event will drive systemic change in the acceptance of Bitcoin as a legitimate currency."
In U.S. trade, bitcoin closed at a four-month high on Monday night at $462.33. Over a year, the cryptocurrency was up 104.46 percent.


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Register here for DM News' Webcast with USPS and Pitney Bowes on navigating the postal rate increase
The recent postal rate increase has affected mailers of all classes. Many have already adapted to this new environment. But questions linger about the overall effects of the rate case hike on marketers who use the U.S. Postal Service for their direct mail campaign and catalog efforts.
DM News' free Webcast, "Navigating the postal rate increase," will offer valuable information and tips to mitigate the postal rate hike. It will run on Tuesday, June 12, between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. EST. Mike Plunkett, acting vice president of pricing and classification at the USPS, will discuss the new rates and ways to reduce the burden on mailers. Elizabeth Lombard, USPS rate specialist at the Webcast's sponsor, Pitney Bowes, will offer key tips as well. DM News deputy editor Melissa Campanelli will moderate. Please register here for this Webcast or visit dmnews.webex.com.


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You don’t hear this often: Kudos to the IRS. They’ve stopped plans that would have been a nightmare for small business recordkeeping. The Phoenix Business Journal reports:
The Internal Revenue Service has dropped plans to require businesses to reconcile their receipts from credit card transactions with reports filed with the IRS by third-party payment entities.
Legislation enacted in 2008 requires these third parties to report how much every merchant is paid each year through credit cards, debit cards or services like PayPal. For the 2012 tax year, the IRS planned to require businesses to reconcile their records with these third-party reports when they file their tax returns.
The IRS decided to drop this requirement after complaints from small-business owners, who said it would pose a significant burden on them. They noted that the amount recorded on credit or debit card purchases often does not equal the revenue a business receives from the transaction. For example, customers often get cash back on debit card purchases or receive cash when they return merchandise purchased with credit cards.
Legislation to overturn the requirement recently was introduced in the House. On Feb. 9, however, the IRS told small-business groups it would not impose the reconciliation requirement for 2012 tax returns, “nor do we intend to require reconciliation going forward.”
“We appreciate your work with us in this and other areas as we continually seek to improve our processes and to minimize compliance burden on taxpayers,” wrote Steven Miller, the IRS’ deputy commissioner for services and enforcement.
Business groups praised the agency’s decision.
“The IRS did the right thing, and they should be applauded for listening to the concerns of the small-business community,” said Giovanni Coratolo, vice president of small-business policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“We were very pleased that the IRS took time to listen and work with us to resolve this matter in a satisfactory manner,” said Bill Hughes, senior vice president for government affairs at the Retail Industry Leaders Association. “This will relieve retailers of an unnecessary burden while still providing the IRS with the tools it needs to ensure tax compliance.”
Dan Danner, CEO of the National Federation of Independent Business, called the IRS reversal on the reconciliation requirement “a small, but important victory for small business."


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Topic: Apple Retail
06/02/2009, 06:06 pm
Apple's two largest New York City retail stores are now known to be some of the town's largest retail cash cows, with the 5th Avenue flagship alone having drawn in $440 million in one year.
06/02/2009, 10:06 am
Apple on Tuesday detailed changes to its unparalleled retail-based personal training service designed to help customers get set up, get trained, and get going with new Macs purchased from the company's direct sales channels.
06/01/2009, 07:06 pm
A series of changes to Apple's retail-based One-to-One training service slated to go into effect on Tuesday may have been driven in part by the popularity of the program, which is rapidly swelling to complex proportions.
05/28/2009, 10:05 am
While the tough economy is prompting many retailers to cut back on their spending, Apple plans to pour millions into remodeling roughly 40% of its stores and will soon introduce new One-to-One services and other changes geared towards better customer service.
05/05/2009, 06:05 pm
Careless iPhone owners who've submerged their handsets in some form of liquid can now take Apple up on an unadvertised policy that offers replacements for a flat fee of $199.
05/04/2009, 03:05 pm
(ifoAppleStore) While Apple's first planned retail out in Paris was recently revealed as a window-less underground cavern, a second location under construction near the city’s Opera House is shaping up to be amongst the company's most impressive shops yet.
04/29/2009, 09:04 am
Apple has undoubtedly taken its foot off the accelerator when it comes to expanding its chain of 252 retail stores, but the move doesn't signal any weakness in customer interest or a pull-back from expanding the brand to new international locations.
04/28/2009, 06:04 pm
One of Apple's most important, upcoming foreign retail stores has been given an early glimpse months ahead of its completion. We take an early look through photos.
04/15/2009, 09:04 am
Observations made at more than two dozen Apple retail stores over the last few weeks show Apple to be maintaining healthy sales of Macs and iPhones that aren't far off from rates seen during the lead-in to last year's holiday shopping season.
04/13/2009, 09:04 am
Following 18 months of indecision, Apple has finalized plans to build another high-profile retail store in Chicago, agreeing on the site of an old gas station in the city's Clybourn Corridor shopping district.
04/10/2009, 02:04 pm
Apple retail stores are looking to move away from Windows Mobile-based handheld checkout devices in favor of iPod touches with custom accessory add-ons, with a transition expected to follow the release of iPhone 3.0 later this year.
04/03/2009, 06:04 pm
Accusations are flying within the blogosphere that Microsoft simply faked its latest ad portraying a real buyer named Lauren shopping for a 17" notebook under $1000, who supposedly couldn't find what she was looking for in the Apple Store.
03/26/2009, 10:03 pm
Apple retail stores as of Thursday are selling unrestricted quantities of the iPhone 3G at the full, non-subsidized price of $599 for the 8GB version and $699 for the 16GB models.
03/09/2009, 07:03 pm
After making itself appear impervious to economic conditions, Apple has reportedly shown 50 enterprise sales workers the exit in a low-key move that refocuses the company.
03/07/2009, 09:03 am
In its latest effort to positively impact the environment, Apple's retail stores have initiated a new "no plastic bags" policy to cut back on the amount of unnecessary packaging it dumps in the hands of shoppers. [Updated 3/9 with image of poster card]
03/05/2009, 05:03 pm
After five sets of plans for a proposed Apple retail store in Washington D.C. were shot down, the Old Georgetown Board has finally given Apple its stamp of approval on a design that it feels will best fit into the surrounding neighborhood.
02/24/2009, 09:02 pm
Apple is just short of the top spot for US phone sales in stores. Also, China Unicom may be close to a long-awaited deal for the iPhone in its country, the Boston area is slated for another Apple store, and iFixit has broken with tradition to tear down an Amazon Kindle 2.
02/17/2009, 04:02 pm
Apple has agreed to make changes to its San Francisco store and retrain its entire retail workforce as part of a settlement in a long-running disability lawsuit filed by two wheelchair-bound customers.
02/12/2009, 04:02 pm
As part of a software-oriented reorganization of its worldwide retail chain, Apple plans to start highlighting some of the App Store's most popular offerings by equipping demo units with the shop's most downloaded games and applications on a regular basis.
02/12/2009, 10:02 am
Apple plans to rearrange the layout of its retail stores to place a greater emphasis on its consumer software offerings in an effort to convert even more customers to the Mac.


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Dairy giant, Fonterra, has acquired a six percent share of Bega Cheese Limited – one of the three companies in a bidding war for another dairy company, Warrnambool Cheese and Butter.
The 9.3 million shares were purchased at $4.95 per share for a total $46 million.
Fonterra chief executive, Theo Spierings said, "Australia is an important market for Fonterra, and we are committed to growing our already strong presence.
"There has recently been a lot of consolidation activity in the Australian dairy industry. It is important that Fonterra participates, and we have confidence in Bega and the strategy it is pursuing."
Judith Swales, managing director, Fonterra Australia said, "We have a longstanding partnership with Bega, and we look forward to continuing to build on that relationship into the future.” Fonterra currently licenses the Bega brand from Bega and has a substantial supply contract for cheese."
There has been a lot of activity in Australia's dairy industry in recent times, with Bega, Murray Goulburn and Canadian processor Saputo all in the running to acquire Warrnambool Cheese and Butter, and earlier this week a 9.99 percent stake of Warrnambool was bought by the Australian subsidiary of Japanese food giant, Kirin.
Yesterday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced that it won't oppose Bega's proposed acquisition of Warnambool.
"The ACCC considered that there was limited overlap between Bega and Warrnambool Cheese and Butter in relation to the acquisition of raw milk in the dairy region in south west Victoria (and areas of northern Victoria)," ACCC chairman Rod Sims said.
"The ACCC concluded that a merged Bega and Warrnambool Cheese and Butter would continue to be constrained by other dairy manufacturers that they compete more closely with in the acquisition of raw milk, including Murray Goulburn and Fonterra."


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MYOB CEO Tim Reed took the opportunity to praise the brand’s community of accountants and bookkeepers for their unwavering support of small business at the keynote opening address at MYOB Partner Connect in Melbourne.
Part of the reason why SMB owners are choosing to forgo a business loan is the amount of documentation required, with 80 percent stating it was onerous.
TJ Swim is one of the most popular Brazilian-style swimwear companies in the market, boasting hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers and a slew of celebrity endorsers.
According to the Norton SMB Cyber Security Survey 2017, one in four Australian SMBs experienced a cyber attack in 2017.
Square and Bank of Queensland (BOQ) have joined forces to deliver small business more flexible payment options.
Optus has become the newest resident of the Sydney Startup Hub, today opening its Optus Innovation Hub as it looks to boost collaboration with startups.
Small business lending startup Prospa has delayed its ASX listing as it seeks to clarify questions raised by ASIC yesterday around its loan terms.
“Small businesses don’t have the revenue to engage a developer, so the solutions have to be generic enough so most small businesses can use them but specific enough to solve a particular problem.”
According to a survey from IDC, the key tech priorities for SMBs are IT security, improving IT skillsets and productivity, better decision making, and cost savings.
Small Business Digital Taskforce recommends establishment of central point of advice on digital for SMBs
The Small Business Digital Taskforce has delivered its recommendations to the Federal Government, with the establishment of an independent body to be a central point for information and advice on digital options for small businesses (SMBs) its key proposition.
Australia’s small businesses may see some relief this financial year with Treasurer Scott Morrison announcing the extension of the $20,000 instant asset write-off in the 2018-19 Federal Budget.
Kara Goldin on tackling the “pick and shovel work” of the food and beverage industry to grow Hint Water
Plain water just didn’t do it for Kara Goldin, so she started experimenting with taste by adding fruit slices, and eventually creating Hint Water.
After spending its first few years in the Australian market getting a lay of the land, the local arm of global web domain registrar GoDaddy has launched a big marketing push taking aim at the 60 percent of small businesses that don’t have a website.
Small businesses not doing enough to leverage tech to keep up with consumer expectations, report finds
Only 50 percent of Australian SMBs have a website, while 48 percent of consumers stated they will stop considering a business if it doesn’t have a website.


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According to a recent Consumer Reports survey of mobile carriers, AT&T ranked worst of the top 4 US carriers. Over half of iPhone owners in the survey’s 58,000 respondents were “much less satisfied” with their service.
Another big finding from the survey was that 26-state provider U.S. Cellular beat out Verizon in satisfaction and Sprint pulled even against them. In some areas (such as customer service) Sprint even ranked higher than Verizon marking a significant turnaround from earlier years.
- Consumers Reports pans AT&T (news.cnet.com)
- No Surprise to iPhone Users, as Consumer Reports Calls AT&T Worst Carrier (readwriteweb.com)


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AMD has announced new pricing now that Nvidia's Super cards have been out in the market.
The price drop comes just a few hours before launch and is certainly a departure from their price when it was first unveiled at E3 last month. The Radeon RX5700 7nm chips will be available for $50 cheaper than the initial price it announced in a tweet.
"AMD embraces competition, which drives innovation to the benefit of gamers. In that spirit, we’re updating the pricing for Radeon RX 5700 Series graphics cards." the company said.
The price adjustments are as follows, the base Radeon RX 5700 1.7 Ghz announced at $379 is now at $349 this is now priced in line with Nvidia's RTX 2060. the 5700XT 1.9 Ghz is launching at $399, a $50 reduction and the 50th anniversarry editon card with higher boost speeds is now $449 down from $499 cheaper than the RTX 2070 Super.
On paper, Nvidia looks to be winning on performance but this price drop from AMD will certainly change perspectives and AMD as they've rightly said, "Competition is heating up in the GPU market."
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1. The Bissell Pet Foundation has hosted many Empty the Shelter events but there's one coming up that's the largest one yet!
Bissell Pet Foundation says they've partnered with 200 shelters and rescues in 36 states for Empty the Shelters, which will run from May 5-9. 42 of those organizations are in Michigan.
During those days, adoption fees for animals will be $25 or less.
To learn more, visit bissellpetfoundation.org.
2. National Drug Takeback Day is coming up this weekend.
All unwanted prescription pills or over-the-counter medications can be rid of on Saturday at a collection site near you.
These substances must never be flushed or poured down a drain.
To find a drop-off location, visit takebackday.dea.gov.
3. Ford International Airport is being recognized for helping to curb the spread of COVID-19 in West Michigan.
the Grand Rapids airport recently received the GBAC Star Facility Accreditation from ISSA, The Worldwide Cleaning Industry Association, for their outbreak prevention campaign,
"Fly Safe, Fly Ford."
The campaign launched last summer to keep travelers and airport employees safe and healthy when flying.
Ford International is the first airport in Michigan to receive this accreditation.
4. Hot Diggity Dog! The Oscar Meyer Wienermobile is coming to West Michigan.
It'll be making its way to Rockford on Thursday, May 6, and will be pulling into the "Rock 'n Rockford Car Show" to kick off the 2021 season.
The Rock 'n Rockford Car Show is a weekly event that takes place in the Flo's Wood Fired Pizzeria parking lot. There are a total of six Wienermobiles on the road and the very first vehicle was created in 1936 by Carl Mayer.
5. Apple is announcing some new products during an event from their headquarters in California.
The new product lineup includes "airtags," a tile-like Bluetooth locator that attaches to and helps you find items like keys, wallets, laptops, or even your car.
Apple also introduces a new color for their iPhone 12 line-up and an update to the iMac line. The new products will be available in the coming weeks.


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- CBD market estimated to grow by 700% by 2020
- POTN has scientific focus on quality and therapeutic consistency
- POTN has multiple product lines and global distribution
- Positioned for outsized share of the growth
It’s no wonder that medicinal marijuana, specifically cannabidiol, has become a veritable gold rush, given the 700% market upsurge projected over the next three years (http://cnw.fm/A4otO). Millions of people currently use cannabis, including cannabidiol (CBD) products, for medical therapies to treat pain, epilepsy, depression and multiple other maladies. There’s an abundance of scientific evidence proving the medical efficacy of CBD, and investors are flooding the space seeking a share of this colossal 700% growth.
With such enormous upside in this space there are many pretenders to the throne, and investors should be careful to look for companies that already have product lines, plus revenues and earnings, instead of just hyped up pipe dreams. PotNetwork Holding Inc. (OTC: POTN) meets these criteria with an established product line and a successful business model. The company was recently mentioned in a NetworkNewsWire article, “Cannabis Companies Cater to an Increasingly Large and Diverse Industry” (http://cnw.fm/9M4tn).
Read the full article


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Ever wonder how Procter & Gamble – the makers 50+ top consumer brands like Tide, Charmin, Pantene, Dawn Gillette, and Old Spice –drive innovation?
Here’s an insightful video featuring Melanie Healey, the president of P&G's North America group, shot by the University of Richmond’s Robins School of Business as part of its executive speaker series. Healey, a Brazilian by birth, returned to UR’s campus on Wednesday, Feb. 15 to share her insights in an informative chat with students and professors.
As a 1983 graduate of the UR and a board of trustee member, Healey spoke for about an hour on innovation and her international career with the global consumer products giant.
Did you know?
Fortune Magazine has recognized Healey as a"Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Business."
Insights from P&G's top marketer
“We love innovation,” she said. “At P&G, we’ve been in business for almost 175 years. We believe innovation plays a key role in everything we do. Innovation is the primary way that we touch and improve consumers’ lives.”
Healey said “virtually all of our sales growth over the last decade has come from new brands or new and improved products and innovation,” and later she reminded the audience that P&G has been responsible for many product firsts in its respective categories.
"We try to uncover critical insights about how to improve their [consumers'] day-to-day lives. Our goal is to take their satisfaction to the next level.”
–Melanie Healey, the president of P&G's North America group
“First and foremost, it [innovation] starts with the consumer,” said Healey. “And we work very hard and dig very deep to understand their needs, their wants and their aspirations. We try to uncover critical insights about how to improve their day-to-day lives. Our goal is to take their satisfaction to the next level.”
In his domestic role as the family orderly, Jonathan Rhudy loves his Swiffer SweeperVac. In fact, he consider it one of the greatest consumer innovations since the cordless remote.
What do you think is the most innovative P&G product? Share your thoughts on the Rhudy & Co. Facebook page.
Follow @UR_RobinsSchool on Twitter for more on its executive speaker series.


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Our good friends over at Mynintendonews reported the following news regarding Xenoblade Chronicles X:
During the Japanese Nintendo Direct which took place on Wednesday April 1st, it was announced that Xenoblade Chronicles X’s next livestream will take place on April 10th. The event will focus on mecha weapons called Dolls and will also provide details about the game’s network features. The Xenoblade Chronicles X stream will go live on April 10th, at 10pm JPT.
We couldn’t be more excited about this Wii U exclusive and we hope to get some solid release info regarding the game for the US.


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So far this year, Walker Emissions Control has added 236 part numbers. That represents 130 million potential service opportunities through the first 10 months of 2018.
Going forward, Tenneco expects to introduce dozens of additional Walker part numbers in November and more than 200 new catalytic converter, muffler and related part numbers in 2019.
The Walker brand’s year-to-date coverage expansion has included 43 new Walker Ultra EPA-compliant direct-fit catalytic converters, 71 Walker CalCat CARB-compliant converters, 47 Walker Quiet-Flow SS stainless steel mufflers and assemblies and 75 new resonator, pipe and hardware part numbers.
“In addition to our aggressive, ongoing expansion of application coverage, we have invested in new equipment and additional production capacity in our Harrisonburg, Virginia, manufacturing facility,” said Adam Richardson, senior product manager for the Tenneco North America Aftermarket business. “
Have your say:


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Enterprises grappling with mobility will need to master 10 mobile technologies and capabilities over the next three years, according to Nick Jones, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.
Increasing use of smartphones and tablets is fueling growth of global outdoor Wi-Fi gear market, which TechNavio estimates will increase at a 15 percent compound annual growth rate through 2018.
Quick takes on the latest mobile IT news for Friday, 1/3 including: BYOD in the trucking industry, Nokia's pull of the plug from MeeGo and Symbian app support, an article on the staleness of BYOD, what some think about biometrics amping up security of BYOD devices and the latest on this year's Wi-Fi trends.
The good news is that Gigabit Wi-Fi equipment hits shelves in 2014. The bad news is that the actual performance varies wildly.
Upgrades to the faster 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard and convergence between Wi-Fi and switching are prompting vendors of enterprise Wi-Fi and campus Ethernet to readjust product lines and pricing strategies, according to research firm Dell'Oro Group.
A majority of employees who work at companies that have BYOD policies primarily use their personal device as their work device, according to an online survey of 2,000 U.S. adults by Deloitte.
IT behemoth Cisco and automaker giant Toyota are locked in a struggle over a chunk of radio spectrum in the 5 GHz band. Cisco wants it for Wi-Fi, Toyota for auto safety technology. While there are strong arguments on both sides, it seems to me that the interference issue has to be studied by the FCC very closely because lives would be at stake.
Two-thirds of IT executives say they are either very or extremely concerned about mobile malware, viruses and spyware infecting their networks, and a similar percentage is at least very concerned about corporate data leakage from mobile devices, according to a survey of 213 U.S. IT managers conducted by Forrester Research on behalf of security firm Lookout.
Quick takes on Tuesday, 10/29 news including: Li-Fi vs Wi-Fi, BYOD policies dealing with rogue devices, Asian desire for touch screens, mobile ad spending in the UK and Verizon's plans for new BlackBerry release in November.
Enterasys Networks and PCM Inc. joined forces in providing a joint cloud-based wireless offering called PCM Cloud Wireless Service.


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feel bad for Sony yet? No? Maybe this will change your mind. Sony Online Entertainment has, apparently, been the victim of another breach that has, according to Nikkei.com, resulted in the release of 12,700 credit card numbers -- and presumably some other information as well. 4,300 of those credit card numbers are said to be Japanese, but no saying how many are American. Thankfully, data is said to be from 2007, minimizing the number of still-valid credit cards exposed making us wonder if perhaps this wasn't some sort of backup that was exposed. Regardless, SOE's online services were taken offline earlier today and, well, now we know why. We're presently expecting further information from the company but, until then, feel free to continue cowering in the corner and quietly sobbing onto your compromised credit cards.
[Warning: subscription required]
Update: According to the Wall Street Journal, Sony has also confirmed that the latest attack accessed personal information for a staggering 24.6 million accounts. Such info includes names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, gender, date of birth, login ID, and hashed passwords. Ruh roh. Full press release after the break.


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However, the spike in users also showed the weaknesses in the platform, particularly with “Zoombombing,” when a hacker hijacks a video call.
In response, Zoom created a 90-day plan to strengthen its privacy, which included the acquisition of encryption startup Keybase on Thursday.
Here’s what else you need to know about Zoom.
What is Zoom?
Zoom is a video-conferencing app that allows people to collaborate across devices with audio and video.
Yuan was inspired to create Zoom because he hated traveling, he told Thrive Global in 2017.
“I first envisioned Zoom when I was a freshman in college in China and regularly took a 10-hour train ride to visit my girlfriend (who is now my wife),” he told the technology company. “I detested those rides and used to imagine other ways I could visit my girlfriend without traveling — those daydreams eventually became the basis for Zoom.”
How many people use Zoom?
Last week, Zoom announced it had reached 300 million active daily participants during the coronavirus -- up from 10 million daily participants a few months prior.
However, the announcement was a correction. Zoom had previously said it reached 300 million active daily users but corrected the “genuine oversight” a week later.
"We are humbled and proud to help over 300 million daily meeting participants stay connected during this pandemic,” the company said in a statement. “We want to be clear: this was first announced in our April 22 webinar as 300 million daily participants by our CEO Eric Yuan.”
How much does Zoom cost?
Zoom has several plans that users can purchase, but there is also a free basic version that limits calls to 40 minutes.
For longer calls and other improved features, plans cost $15 a month per host or $20 a month per host, according to the website.
How much money does Zoom make?
|ZM||ZOOM VIDEO COMMUNICATIONS INC.||90.94||+2.02||+2.27%|


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Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud occurs where an account holder authorises an electronic payment from their account, but under false pretences – often where they have been the victim of a scam. It’s a widespread and increasingly well-publicised problem. In 2017, there were almost 44,000 instances of APP fraud, causing losses of £236m.
These frauds can have a devastating effect on people. Until now, banks often refused to reimburse lost funds on the basis that customer had authorised the movement of money. The general exception was where a bank had been able to freeze the money before it was withdrawn from the banking system by the fraudsters, allowing the money to be refunded.
This approach was criticised by consumer groups such as Which, who argued that consumers and small businesses should have similar protections to those which already exist for card payments and direct debits.
Things are about to change however. From May 2019, the banking industry are launching a voluntary code of conduct to address this issue. You may already be aware that bank’s efforts to educate their customers about APP has increased. The Code will provide particular protection to those considered vulnerable to APP fraud. Over time, you may see changes when making electronic payments. One significant change will be a “confirmation of payee” screen. At present, banks match only sort code and account numbers, but crucially not account names. Changes as a result of the Code mean that when an account number and sort code are entered, a “pop up” will tell you the name of the account holder, so you can be sure that payment is going to the correct person’s account. The Code also provides for more effective, immediate warnings to be given if a transaction is “flagged up” as one that is likely to have a fraudster behind it – allowing you time to consider whether you might be being scammed.
The most significant change however is the presumption that where a consumer, small business or charity has been the victim of an APP fraud, the bank will reimburse losses (and do so quickly, usually within 3 weeks). There are exceptions to this general rule – for example where a warning or confirmation of the payee has been ignored or where the account holder has been grossly negligent.It is clear however that the voluntary code should provide consumers with much greater protection that has existed to date. Unfortunately, the Code is not retrospective, so claims cannot be made for losses that have already occurred.
It has not yet been announced which banks will sign up to the scheme, but the majority of the big banks are expected to join.


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iPad Pro 2018 Will Come In October And Packed With An Apple A12X Bionic Processor
With the iPad Pro 2018 (aka iPad Pro 3) highly expected to come this year, there have been a number of reports regarding its specs, features and release dates in the past few months. This time around, reports are suggesting that it could be launched next month and it could be armed with an Apple A12X Bionic processor.
Coming Next Month?
Initially, the iPad Pro 2018 was expected to be released in June as its predecessor was announced and released on June of 2017. It was then expected to be released in September, but so far there hasn’t been any release.
As of now, reports are suggesting that it could be next month as Apple has held events in October in the past – 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016. But if October comes and there’s still no sign of the tablet, then perhaps it could be in November or December. Or worse, it could be next year.
Based on initial reports, it was widely speculated that the iPad Pro 2018 (iPad Pro 3) will be packed with A11X Fusion chip. Why? Well, this is because the 2017 models were packed with an A10X Fusion chip which is an upgraded variant of the A10 Fusion found on the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus which were launched in 2016. So with this in mind, the 2018 Apple tablet was expected to be armed with the A11X Fusion chip which is an upgraded version of the A11 Bionic featured on the iPhone X released in 2017.
However, according to a recent report, a notable leaker who goes by the name “Longhorn” has reportedly leaked the internal name of the processor for the iPad Pro 2018 which is T8027. What’s quite interesting about this T8027 is that it is the internal name of the A12X Bionic processor.
When do you think the iPad Pro 2018 (iPad Pro 3) will be released? Also, what can you say about it featuring the A12X Bionic instead of the A11X Fusion? Tell us in the comment section below.