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All eyes will be focused on the giant cedar deodora tree at Los Gatos Town Plaza Park on Dec. 6 for the town’s annual tree lighting ceremony that kicks off the holiday season. Activities begin at 5 p.m., when members of the Los Gatos High School band perform holiday tunes.
The Friday night tree lighting really is for all ages, notes Los Gatos Community Foundation executive director Sharon Childs. “It’s a great family tradition, and it’s the beginning of my most favorite weekend of the year,” she said.
The community foundation sponsors the tree lighting activities along with the town. “We’ll be selling hot chocolate, coffee and popcorn,” Childs said. “We’ll also be selling ‘glow’ necklaces in red and green.”
All sales proceeds benefit the foundation’s grant, charitable giving and scholarship programs.
As the band plays on, a clown and balloon artist will mingle with the crowd and entertain children.
Yes, Virginia, there will be some introductions of dignitaries, but at 5:45 p.m. former mayor John Lochner assumes the role of “warm-up actor” and will lead onlookers in a rousing rendition of “Here Comes Santa Claus.”
It falls to current Mayor Steve Leonardis to pick a child from the audience who will help him flip the switch that lights the tree. That happens at precisely 6 p.m., complete with countdown.
Immediately after that, Santa Claus will be escorted through the raucous crowd of excited children. He will hear children’s holiday wishes until 7 p.m.
“After the tree lighting, the Fisher Middle School band takes the stage,” Childs said. “We also have carolers coming in, so there will be continuous music until 7 p.m.”
Plenty of parents will go home with sore shoulders that night after hoisting their kids up to see all the action.
And there’s plenty to see: Horse-drawn carriage rides depart from Town Plaza Park, so they’ll be there Friday night, too. Visit losga toschamber.com for pricing and reservations.
Downtown parking can be made simpler by using the free valet service that’s available at the public lot between Elm Street and Grays Lane, behind N. Santa Cruz Avenue. The service will be available Dec. 5-7, Dec. 10-14 and Dec. 16-24 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Also this week, Dec. 5 will be the first Thursday night that more than 50 downtown shops stay open until 9 p.m. to encourage Los Gatans to shop local. Many merchants are gearing up for the holiday shopping stroll by offering special deals or hosting trunk shows. The strolls are organized by the visitors bureau that’s affiliated with the Chamber of Commerce.
“People who make a purchase at one of our participating retailers will automatically be entered into a weekly drawing for great prizes such as gift certificates, merchandise and Wine Walk tickets,” the Chamber’s Ronee Nassi said. “There will also be five ‘very special’ grand prizes.”
Holiday shopping strolls will also be held on Dec. 12 and 19 until 9 p.m.
Visit losgatoschamber.com and click on the “Holiday Shopping Stroll” icon for a list of participating downtown merchants.


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Loveland Van Oranje
Kingsday – April 27th
Pre-registration for Loveland van Oranje 2020 is officially closed.
All pre-registers will receive an info mail on Wednesday February 5th, so all will go smoothly when ticket sales start.
Didn’t get a chance to pre-register?
Shops with limited Early Birds will open Thursday February 6th at 12pm CET (noon).

domain: news


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India's top carmaker sees hydrogen as 'interesting alternative'
NEW DELHI, Aug 2 (Reuters) - The use of hydrogen power for mobility is an "interesting alternative" for India, especially as it would reduce dependence on lithium imports, the chairman of Maruti Suzuki (MRTI.NS), India's top-selling carmaker, said on Monday.
Demand for lithium for batteries is soaring as governments across the world push automakers to meet stringent targets for cutting carbon emissions, partly by phasing out internal combustion engines.
In India, however, the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) by carmakers has been slow due to the high cost of batteries, as well as insufficient charging infrastructure. India also does not have lithium reserves, the majority of which are controlled by China globally.
This makes EVs a hard sell in a country like India where per capita income is around $2,000, or about 5% of that in Europe and Japan, and 95% of cars sold are priced below $20,000, Maruti Chairman R.C. Bhargava told shareholders in the company's annual report.
"We need to recognise that our strategy for moving towards net zero emission has to be consistent with the economic and infrastructure conditions prevailing in the country," Bhargava said.
To reduce fuel consumption and emissions, Maruti is pushing sales of cars that operate on compressed natural gas (CNG), and is also investing in hybrid technology, he said, adding that "the use of hydrogen is also an interesting alternative".
Suzuki Motor Corp (7269.T), which controls Maruti, is also prioritising development of clean technologies suitable for the Indian market, Bhargava said, adding that Suzuki's alliance with Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) in Japan would prove valuable for this effort.
Read More at https://www.reuters.com/business/sustainable-business/indias-top-carmaker-sees-hydrogen-interesting-alternative-2021-08-02/


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What began with a $1 payment to her credit card company turned into a loss of $1,000 and months of hassle for Ana Warner, 80.
In November 2021, the retired teacher and Illinois resident mailed a check made out for “$1.00” to “ALL Rewards” for a Loft store charge using the company’s ALL Rewards credit card. Somewhere en route from her former apartment complex’s mailbox in Missouri to the credit card company in San Antonio, the check was stolen. The interceptor added a few more zeros to the amount, changed the recipient to “Autumn Dicks” and deposited the check at a Wells Fargo bank in San Francisco.
Still a few days away from receiving her next Social Security check, Warner lost $1,000 from her checking account, which was overdrawn. “I was cleaned out,” she says. Though the vast majority of mail sent through the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) — which handles about 129 billion pieces a year — arrives without incident, mail theft and mail carrier robberies are a growing problem around the U.S. It’s causing alarm and drawing more intense scrutiny from law enforcement and particularly the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS).
The agency sent out an alert about the increased threat of mail theft, noting that in 2022, 412 USPS letter carriers were robbed on the job, and 305 have been robbed in 2023. In 2022, there were 38,500 reports of incidents involving mail carrier robberies and mail theft, and more than 25,000 in the first half of this year. The uptick isn’t fueled by lone thieves and random porch pirates, explains Brendan T. Donahue, assistant inspector in charge at the USPIS Criminal Investigations Service Center. The most pernicious perpetrators work for “organized criminal groups that are extremely tech savvy and adept at countering law enforcement techniques,” he says.


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In October 2013, Hong Kong officials seized large shipments of elephant tusks from West Africa. The city’s border control found 189 tusks, weighing over 1,600 pounds and with a black market value of more than one million dollars. The seizure came about two months after the last major haul of 1,000 elephant tusks from Nigeria, which also contained rhino horns and leopard skins worth more than $5 million.
In China, ivory is a popular luxury investment along with leopard skins, which are desired as fashion items and decoration. According to custom officials, the large containers arrived at the city’s maritime port from Cote d’Ivoire in separate shipments.
With rare exceptions, international trade in elephant ivory has been outlawed since 1989. Vincent Wong, Hong Kong customs head of ports and maritime command stated that Hong Kong is committed to prevent any more trafficking of endangered wildlife.
Source: Agence France-Presse, “Hong Kong Seizes Elephant Tusks Worth $1 Million,” Agence France-Presse/The Raw Story, October 3, 2013, http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/03/hong-kong-seizes-elephant-tusks-worth-1-million/.
Student Researcher: Ali Palermo (Sonoma State University)
Community Evaluator: Maryanne Mace (journalist/travel agent, Safari Safari)


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Intematix Corporation, a maker of phosphor solutions for LED lighting, has
collaborated with SABIC’s Innovative Plastics business to create the
ChromaLit Linear. The ChromaLit Linear uses Intematix’s remote phosphor
technology and SABIC’s LEXAN™ LUX resins. According to Intematix,
the ChromaLit Linear has increased optical efficiency and better light
uniformity than conventional LED luminaires.
“SABIC is excited …
via Solid State Lighting Net: http://ift.tt/1rPwKXp


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Mooresville man charged with selling cars without dealer license
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Investigators with the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office and an inspector with the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles say they caught a man selling vehicles without an authorized dealer license. Authorities say legally he could only sell or buy four cars within a calendar year, but he’s sold more.
Rowan detectives made undercover inquiries through an ad via Craigslist for cars that Ricky Leo Frenette was trying to sell.
He was charged with three counts buying or selling a vehicle with no license and four counts failing to apply for new title, also one count delivering or accepting a blank open title.
It’s not the first time Frenette, 49, of the 100 block of Wild Rose Loop, Mooresville, has been charged with selling cars with no license. He is expected in court for 2013 charges regarding 10 counts for buying or selling a vehicle with no license and nine counts failing to apply for new title.
A week ago Rowan investigators were contacted by a DMV inspector for assistance. A Rowan detective made several phone calls to Frenette inquiring about a car, a statement said. Two detectives went to meet Frenette in the 200 block of East Harrison Street, at a shop.
He also has charges for failing to appear in court on a previous incident. He remains in the Rowan County Detention Center under a $9,000 secured bond.


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As a budding automobile company, Sinotruk West Africa Limited entered into another phase in its expansion drive, the company has said it was increasing its local input into the assembling plant to 60 per cent, even to roll out commercial vehicles soon.
The expansion drive, which is part of the backward integration plan, is meant to enhance value addition and local content. Group General Manager of the company, Hikmat Thapa, made this known during a facility tour of Ikeja plant by Lagos State Commissioner of Commerce, Industry and Cooperatives, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye. He said having done with phase one of the project, the company has embarked on phase two which has to do with adding of the facility for cab welding, painting & trimming. Thapa stated that the third phase of the project expansion would be to add the facility that would be used to fabricate, paint & assemble different types of trailer bodies, load bodies with dual & triple axles, tipper bodies & tankers and so on.
He explained that Dangote Sinotruck has installed capacity to assemble and produce 15 –16 trucks per shift or 10,000 trucks annually and will create over 3000 different jobs across Nigeria. He said: ”The company has the plan to have welding & painting shops to fabricate & paint truck cabin & Trailers of different type so as to enhance the local content of Completely Knocked Down (CKD) operation of commercial vehicle Manufacturing.
“In the next one year, we have on our agenda to assemble and fabricate Truck Cabins, different types of trailers, Tipper bodies and Tankers etc. in our plant to increase value additions up 40 – 60 per cent.” The automobile firm said it hopes to expand sales to all the neighbouring West African states.
The automobile firm said it hopes to expand sales to all the neighbouring West African states.


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, which last month cut its third-quarter guidance, posted earnings Thursday that topped Wall Street's lowered estimates for the period.
The Overland Park, Kan., transportation outfit had no trouble surpassing analysts' diminished view, but the company offered a fourth-quarter projection that would be essentially in line with or lower than the consensus.
Investors appear to have wanted more, and the company's shares fell 35 cents, or 0.8%, to $41.90 in extended trading after finishing Thursday's regular session down $1.21 at $42.25.
Yellow Roadway said it earned $85.3 million, or $1.42 a share, in the third quarter, up from $55.9 million, or $1.15 a share, a year before. Excluding special items, the company reported an adjusted profit of $1.53 a share, compared with $1.38 in the third quarter of 2004. On average, analysts were expecting EPS of $1.43, according to Thomson First Call.
Revenue jumped 41% to $2.49 billion from $1.77 billion a year before and beat the $2.42 billion consensus estimate.
Fuel surcharges, designed to offset the impact of high gasoline prices, helped boost revenue.
Looking ahead, Yellow Roadway expects fourth-quarter earnings between $1.30 and $1.35 a share, including a penny of dilution from its contingent convertible securities. On average, analysts are forecasting earnings of $1.34.


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BA slashes 2m seat prices
BRITISH AIRWAYS starts selling 2 millio
They are being sold on a first-come, first-served basis and only to passengers booking online. The airline will still offer passengers the usual range of 'frills' such as free food and drink.
The move comes as BA takes on budget rivals and could spark a new round of price-cutting from other airlines.
The destinations include Amsterdam (£29), Barcelona (£29), Toulouse (£29), Venice (£34), Reykjavik (£39) and Dubrovnik (£44). Passengers will also be offered the chance to upgrade to club class for £50 except to Naples, Pisa, Venice and Rome.
Of the 2m cheap BA flights on sale each year, 900,000 will be priced at £29, which is a saving of more than 50% on the previous best prices. Another 700,000 are priced £34 with the rest £39 and £44.
BA hopes the lower fares will help it win back the m
In 1996 BA's cheapest one-way flight to Naples cost £286, now it is £39. The discounted fares will account for about a quarter of all BA's capacity on its European departures from Gatwick.
Today's move follows a similar initiative in April when the new £29 lowest fare was first introduced, although that was mainly for flights from Heathrow.
It has already seen a big cut in the number of empty seats on BA short-haul flights since then. BA's leadership, under chief executive Willie Walsh, had been increasingly concerned that the airline was perceived as an inflexible 'high cost' operator that could not compete on price
Save money on travel and holidays
BA, still reeling from the suspension of two senior executives over price- fixing allegations, said it had received a huge response after the launch of the £29 fare.
Head of sales Andrew Crawley added: 'It has prompted us to make this substantial increase in the number of seats available at these new low prices all year round.
'As well as low fares, customers will benefit from our full-service ethos including seat selection, online check-in for families, free baggage allowance, free carriage of sporting equipment and excellent customer service.'
BA announces its first quarter financial results next month and the City is expecting strong growth in sales and profits, partly because of the revival in its European operations.
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Energy suppliers may have begun cutting their gas and electricity charges - but some are still a lot cheaper than others. These links should help... special report 'Is it worth switching?' and try our fuel bills calculator
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Many investors have flocked to pot stocks the last few years, and with the lofty forecasts for the legal cannabis market promising double-digit annual growth over the next several years, major Wall Street players have also jumped on the bandwagon.
After global sales rose to just under US$11 billion in 2018, cannabis research firm BDS Analytics predicts annual sales will reach almost US$41 billion in five years. Various Wall Street firms are calling for anywhere between US$50 billion to US$200 billion in worldwide annual sales in roughly a decade’s time.
But much of those sky-high forecasts are hinged upon more consumers turning their back to the black market and buying weed from licensed sources.
In the early days of legal pot, however, in Canada, California and elsewhere the illicit market has flourished.
A recent Statistics Canada report shows a gram of pot from the underground cost $5.93, and a gram of legal weed in the country was sold at $10.65. While licensed cannabis is roughly 80 per cent higher in price, as much as 80 per cent of consumers continue to buy from the black market in the Great White North.
In California, the problem is much the same. High taxes have caused the legal market in the state, widely considered the largest pot market in the world, to suffer. Sales fell to US$2.5 billion in 2018 from US$3 billion the year before due to the burden of steep tax rates, heavy regulations and a prolific illicit market.
But in July, there has been a wave of police busts on illegal pot shops and operations in major Canadian cities and the state of California as authorities in both countries aim to clamp down on the black market to help the legal industry continue to grow.
Toronto’s illegal pot shops drop below 10 from over 90
One of the stated goals from the Canadian government with being the first G7 country in the world to legalize recreational cannabis was to stamp out the black market.
And in the country’s biggest city, Toronto police made headlines in July for raiding one location and barricading four in total with concrete slabs of a prominent illegal pot retail chain operating in the city.
After the police raids and barricades, staff at one of the CAFE locations continued to sell illicit pot on the street outside the store prompting 18 arrests amid protests. Nine people were charged federally under the Cannabis Act, most for trafficking.
Toronto cops now arresting folks at the illegal cannabis cafe in Fort York. Earlier this week police placed cement blocks to shut down illegal pot stores, including this one. pic.twitter.com/btAASgPc5B
— Sandra Mergulhão (@sandramergulhao) July 21, 2019
“We have upped it in the sense that the penalty is more severe,” Const. Jeniffer Sidhu told The Canadian Press.
It’s been a game of whack-a-mole for Toronto police and city bylaw officers trying to shutter illegal cannabis shops. But the uphill battle is making headway. There were more than 90 shops in the city prior to cannabis legalization last October, but now only about 10 remain.
A spokesman for CAFE, David Shuang, said “Torontonians cannot find reasonable dignified access to cannabis and cannabis derivative products, even though it has been made legal.”
So far in Canada’s most populated province, the Ontario government has only made way for 23 physical stores to open. The province said it will grant an additional 50 retail licences by October.
National legal sales jumped 15 per cent in May, propelled by more store openings in Ontario and other jurisdictions. If the provinces and Ottawa want to cut further into the black market, its apparent more store locations will be needed, especially in Ontario, to replace the dwindling black market locations.
Vancouver police bust ‘multimillion-dollar’ extraction labs
On Canada’s West Coast, Vancouver has also seen a crackdown on illegal pot shops. Back in late May, nine black market dispensaries lost an appeal with a B.C. Court of Appeals judge to stay open. Today, only a dozen or less unlicensed shops remain from more than 100 that proliferated the city since legalization began last fall.
But police crackdown on the black market comes in more ways than one. On July 22, Vancouver police said they busted a couple of cannabis oil extraction labs, “seizing thousands of pounds of drugs and shutting down a multi-million dollar drug operation.”
The two facilities were located in the industrial area of Vancouver and police called the butane honey oil labs “very large and sophisticated illegal operations,” that produced high-potency cannabis oils and concentrates for sale in unlicensed cannabis stores and on the illicit market.
“Although cannabis can now be legally purchased from government regulated and approved retailers, we will not tolerate anyone who tries to cash in by breaking the law and putting the public at risk,” VPD Const. Steve Addison said in a release.
Under the Cannabis Act the use of organic solvents, like butane, in the extraction of oils from cannabis plants is prohibited. Police warn butane oil extraction labs are extremely dangerous.
Cannabis extracts, concentrates, also known as shatter, are all part of a wildly lucrative sub-sector in the pot trade. Illegal operations have been popping up across the U.S. and the Drug Enforcement Agency has reported at least 19 deaths as a result of hash-oil fires since 2014. But experts say that number is even higher with more illicit operations going unreported.
California seizes US$30 million worth of black market cannabis
In California, police are also clamping down on the illicit sale of weed. The L.A. Times reports authorities in the Golden State have tripled the number of raids on illegal pot shops over the last year snatching up US$30 million worth of black market cannabis in the process.
— Nick Kovacevich (@nickkovacevich) July 29, 2019
To further bolster enforcement, Gov. Gavin Newsom in July authorized daily fines up to US$30,000 against illicit cannabis sellers, distributors and growers.
But Lindsay Robinson, with the California Cannabis Industry Association, told the Times thousands of illegal marijuana growers and sellers remain operating without seeing enforcement action such as the new hefty fine.
According to research from the firm New Frontier Data, California’s black market was worth US$3.7 billion last year. Not only are consumers turned off by the high state and local taxes that make up 45 per cent of the cost of legal weed, but many municipal governments have refused licences to allow legal stores to open.
If governments from major jurisdictions such as California or Canada wish to curb the black market, experts say not only do authorities need to step up enforcement action, but policymakers need to pave the way for the legal market to thrive by reducing taxes and dismantling some of the onerous regulations in place.


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An opal so fine it has been valued at over $1 million is about to go on public display for the first time.
There are a ton of new movies and TV shows hitting Netflix in October. Also, the beginning of October sees lots of titles going offline.
The two prepaid wireless carriers are offering a 1-gigabyte option for $5, and 2GB for $10.
The shared data plan, initially available to only four smartphones in Virgin's lineup, will allow individuals to customize on the fly how much data each member users.
Sprint Prepaid and Virgin Mobile are now offering an entry-level LG smartphone that runs the latest version of Android.
As the National Transportation Safety Board takes the lead role in investigating the crash of SpaceShipTwo, Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson says the space-tourism venture would still "love to finish what we started."
The space plane, designed for space tourism, crashed in California's Mojave Desert. One fatality and one major injury have been confirmed by Virgin Galactic.
Virgin's commercial passenger space flight venture is soon to begin a new round of test flights for spaceliner SpaceShipTwo.
In addition to launching a new Android smartphone, the no-contract carrier also gives customers a wider array of rate plan choices.
Sprint and its prepaid brands will soon carry the low-cost HTC smartphone.


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He’s a one-man stimulus package!
Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is spending so much money on television spots across the country that it’s causing ad rates to soar, a new analysis shows.
“The typical [TV] market increased their rates by 22 percent as the political spending poured in,” an Advertising Analytics analysis found.
“Houston was among the markets that responded most actively to the new advertiser,” it added. “This is partially attributable to Bloomberg’s $1 [million] buy increasing the political spending in the market tenfold. This shock spending increase was matched by a 45% increase in rates, which is among the highest of any market.”
That means the massive spending is driving up advertising costs for Bloomberg’s competitors and other advertisers, an Advertising Analytics’ analysis of the billionaire’s first week of ad spending found.
The Houston ad buy is one of dozens made by the billionaire media mogul’s campaign, which is shelling out an average of $25.5 million a week on campaign ads to woo Democrats since he joined the Democratic primary race in late November, records reviewed by The Post show.
Since announcing his candidacy a month ago, billionaire Bloomberg has booked $119 million in TV ads in markets throughout the country through Dec. 31 and another $15.2 million in digital ads, according to Advertising Analytics.
That comes to nearly $135 million.
If the pace continues, New York’s last mayor will blow through $357 million on TV ads by the March 3 primaries and $561 million by the time New Yorkers finally head to the polls on April 28.
And that extraordinary total doesn’t count the campaign’s staff hiring spree to put boots on the ground in states across the country.
Experts say Bloomberg’s will likely spending totals will easily cross the $1 billion if he wins the nomination to challenge President Trump in November.
There’s no historical comparison to Bloomberg’s early ad spending, said John Link, Advertising Analytics vice president of sales and marketing.
“With no end in sight for his ad blitz, we will continue to collect data on the way Bloomberg’s spending affects rates in markets across the country,” the analysis said.
According to the analysis, Bloomberg has spent $20.7 million on national TV ads, nearly $6 million in both the Los Angeles and New York City markets, $4 million in Houston, $3.8 million in Dallas/Ft. Worth, $3.6 million in San Francisco, $3.5 million in Miami, more than $2.6 million in Chicago and Orlando, $2.4 million in Seattle/Tacoma, $2.2 million in District of Columbia and about $2 million each in Philadelphia, Boston and Tampa.
The Bloomberg camp repeated its pledge Friday to spend “whatever it takes” to beat President Trump in 2020.
“Another four years of Trump would be devastating for our country,” said campaign spokesman Michael Frazier.


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Here’s the Microsoft news we’ve been seeing around the Web….
The big headliners this week were release dates for two Windows OSs from Microsoft, both betas. The first, Vista SP2, came out yesterday; even before it came out, sites were writing about Vista SP2 beta’s new features. The release is expected to go RTM in April 2009.
Separately, the first beta release for Windows 7, the operating system’s major release, was rumored to be set for January 13. That came from a blog comment by Microsoft employee Keith Combs.
But those two news items came with a damper: market share for Windows dropped below 90% for the first time, and Internet Explorer’s market share dropped below 70% as Firefox grabbed a record high of over 20%, according to Net Applications.
And in the latest step toward Microsoft’s non-aquisition of Yahoo, the company named Qi Lu, a former Yahoo executive, the new president of Microsoft’s online services group.


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FireWire 800 Connectivity Speed Will Quadruple In 2008
FireWire connectivity is set to quadruple next year after the 1394 Trade Association announced a new specification for the networking interface.
The trade group announced the S3200 electrical specification for FireWire, which builds upon the existing IEEE 1394b standard by boosting the maximum speed from 800 megabits per second to 3.2Gbps. The good news for current FireWire800 consumers, and manufacturers is that the new S3200 spec can utilize the same 800 cables and connectors currently in use.
“The S3200 standard will sustain the position of IEEE 1394 as the absolute performance leader in multipurpose I/O ports for consumer applications in computer and CE devices,” the 1394 Trade Association’s executive director, James Snider, said in a statement. “There is a very clear migration path from 800Mbps to 3.2Gbps, with no need for modifications to the standard and no requirement for new cables or connectors.”
The association hopes to have the S3200 specification ratified by early February, and has used the speed boost to position FireWire as an alternative to other recent interfacing technologies. The association’s statement claimed the development of S3200 meant users would see no advantage from eSATA, a competing connectivity standard. In addition, S3200 can provide more power to devices than USB 2.0.
The association also said that FireWire would soon be able to operate over cable television coaxial cables, and said S3200 would make the standard fast enough to move uncompressed high-definition television signals over long distances at a lower cost than HDMI, the current standard for HD connections.
The increase in speed will have a significant impact on computer music, which will greatly benefit from the boosted throughput.


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Late yesterday afternoon, The Wall Street Journal reported that Hearst had finally struck a deal with Apple for subscriptions on the iPad. Starting with the July issues of Esquire, Popular Mechanics and O, The Oprah Magazine, consumers can begin to subscribe with the Apple system for for $1.99 per month, or $19.99 a year.
Getting Hearst to cave was obviously a big win for Apple, so Steve Jobs was surely smiling somewhere.
Then, not long after this news broke, rumors started to swirl that Conde Nast was going to beat Hearst to the punch by releasing its titles via Apple’s subscription system before Hearst could.
According to Ad Age, a Conde Nast staffer suggested that getting its subscriptions out before Hearst would be important, but “A year from now whoever has the most amount of subs wins.”
Getting Hearst and Conde Nast to fight over a subscription system that they both insisted they didn’t want at first? The biggest win of all for Apple. Somewhere, Jobs is laughing his ass off.


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A content creator shared why she rewore her wedding dress at a Beyoncé concert to celebrate her one-year anniversary.
In an exclusive interview with People, Anja Dang, 36, attended Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour birthday concert on Sept. 4 with her husband, renowned photographer Brian Puspos, 37, in Los Angeles. She explained the significance behind her fashion choice.
“I just felt like it was the right opportunity,” she shared. “For us as a couple specifically, Sept. 4 means a lot.”
Dang revealed the date was not only Beyoncé’s birthday but the couple’s first wedding anniversary.
“And we also went viral for our Beyoncé wedding dance, so I just thought it was a full-circle opportunity for me to finally rewear my wedding dress for the first time since my wedding,” she added.
View this post on Instagram
Dang also revealed how she re-styled her white wedding dress decorated with chiffon, pearls, and drapery from Sarah Seven. She explained she wanted to find a way to be “dripped in pearls” in homage to the lyrics of the superstar’s song “Heated.”
“Honestly, it was really difficult and I was freaking out because I just did not know what to do,” she said.
Dang said she “didn’t want to completely ruin the original dress.”
“I was just searching on Pinterest for ideas and I found this beautiful gown. I don’t even know who it was from or where the pin was from but it was only the bodice and it was draped in pearls and these brooches and that’s exactly what my friends and I tried to do with the dress,” she continued.
However, the look came together the night before the concert with the help of Dang’s friends Erick Orzo and Devin & Athena, who are stylists in Los Angeles, according to People. Dang’s friends spent about three hours doing Dang’s makeup and pinning the beads onto her dress.
After already attending the Renaissance concert four times, Dang said she and her husband weren’t initially planning on going again.
“We weren’t planning to go originally but after Brian and I went the first time in Barcelona we just decided it was really important for us to go on her birthday. We knew it would be a great concert and for us it would also be an anniversary present,” she said.
Dang also gave advice to other brides on how to make use of their wedding dresses.
“Wedding dresses are such a huge expense and if you can find a way to rewear them, you definitely should,” she shared.
Dang said she plans on rewearing her wedding dress again.
“Somehow, I don’t think this will be my last time,” she concluded.


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A German court has temporarily suspended building works to prepare ground for Tesla's new European factory while environmental concerns are examined.
The Higher Administrative Court for Berlin-Brandenburg has ruled that the clearance of a forest near Berlin, of which a judge gave the green light for 227 acres to be felled last week, needs to be examined on the basis of an environmental group's complaint.
See also: Tesla aims for 'designed in China' vehicles
As reported by the Associated Press, the Green League Brandenburg group has raised concerns that removing such a large swathe of the forest may impact the purity of existing drinking water, as well as local wildlife populations.
Planning permission for a new Gigafactory dedicated to producing electric vehicles and batteries, Tesla's first in Germany, has yet to be granted. However, site preparation is in full swing.
The temporary injunction was made on Sunday. According to the court, it was possible for Tesla to finish the work within only three days.
Tesla is clearing the ground at its own risk, and in the meantime, the court has said, "It should not be assumed that the motion seeking legal protection brought by the Green League lacks any chance of succeeding," as noted by The Guardian.
CNET: Nikola's Badger electric truck has Tesla, Hummer and Rivian in its sights
The automaker operates two Gigafactories in the United States and one in China, of which the latter has recently resumed operations following closure due to the coronavirus outbreak. Another, an assembly facility, is located in the Netherlands.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the creation of the German site in November. Rumors had surfaced suggesting that the United Kingdom could become the next Gigafactory base, but the chief executive said Brexit made the prospect "too risky."
"Some of the best cars in the world are made in Germany, everyone knows that German engineering is outstanding," Musk said at the time. "That's part of the reason why we're locating our Gigafactory Europe in Germany."
TechRepublic: Major labor union aiming to help organize tech and gaming industry workers
In related news earlier this month, an owner of a used 2017 Tesla Model S, purchased with Enhanced Autopilot and Full Self Driving functionality, found that a software update disabled Full Self Driving which furthermore caused the Summon feature to fall.
The previous owner had not paid for Autopilot, and therefore the features were stripped and a complaint filed. As the issue gained traction publicly, Tesla apologized and restored full access.
ZDNet has reached out to Tesla and will update when we hear back.
Have a tip? Get in touch securely via WhatsApp | Signal at +447713 025 499, or over at Keybase: charlie0


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(You're reading all posts by Leander Kahney) Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac. He is the NYT bestselling author of Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products; Inside Steve’s Brain; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.
About Leander Kahney
The big intrigue in the tech world today is why Google bought Nest Labs for $3.2 billion and Apple didn’t.
A lot of the speculation is paranoid: Google wants to track everyone offline as well as online, and Nest’s thermostat and smoke alarms give the Googleplex motion sensors right in peoples’ homes.
But wouldn’t Apple be a more natural fit for the home-automation startup? Nest was co-founded by two former Apple staffers, Tony Fadell and Matt Rogers. Fadell was one the fathers of the iPod — a key hardware engineer who led the music player’s development over 17 generations. Rogers was one of Fadell’s top lieutenants.
With great design and easy interfaces, Nest’s combination of hardware and internet software services makes its products very Apple-like. And as home automation is poised to take off (thanks largely to the iPhone and iPad), Apple is surely interested in this potentially huge market.
So why didn’t Apple didn’t pick up the company? Maybe it’s because Jony Ive, Apple’s head designer, was responsible for getting Tony Fadell pushed out of Cupertino.
Thanks To iPhone, The Revolution In Home Automation Is Nigh! (No Really, This Time It is) [CES 2014]
LAS VEGAS — We’ve heard the same story for years: the revolution in home automation is just around the corner! And yet, despite the hype, it still hasn’t arrived. But talk to vendors at CES, and they say it finally is just around the corner — thanks to the iPhone.
The iPhone finally gives ordinary consumers a bunch of good reasons to automate their homes, beyond the geeky thrill of turning on the sprinklers from the couch. For example, it can alleviate the universal anxiety of worrying about the stove when away on vacation. Paired with a connected-range (there are several on show here at CES), your iPhone can you tell you if the oven is on, and then let you switch it off.
The best evidence that home automation has arrived is that the nation’s home builders are finally including home automation technology in many new homes as standard. Lennar Homes, the third biggest home builder in the US, is making home automation standard in more than 20,0000 new homes this year, said Matt McGroven, marketing leader of Nexia, a San Francisco-based home automation company.
Nexia makes an app that works in conjunction with a Home Bridge ($60 on Amazon) and service ($9 a month). With 70% of users on iOS, Nexia controls a wide range of automated products, from nannycams to lighting, locks, thermostats, and dozens of others.
“You can do a bunch of cool and genuinely useful things,” he said.
LAS VEGAS — The simplest solution is always the best. Take external battery packs for your iPhone, which are sometimes hard to use when you’re actually talking on the phone. Either you have to remove your case to snap in a battery case, or you have a long cord dangling to an external pack in your pocket.
MyCharge’s clever Talk & Charge ($100) is a slim external battery pack that works with any and every iPhone case on the market because it doesn’t physically attach to your iPhone; you just hold it against the back of your iPhone while talking, like an electronics sandwich. Simple.
It’s almost the same size and shape as an iPhone 5s or 5c. It boasts a 3000mAh battery (good for more than two full iPhone 5 charges) and a Lightning cable built right in, so you’ll never forget your charging cable again. It’s a nice touch.
In fact, I think all of MyCharge’s wares are thoughtfully designed. The tech is pretty good too. According to the company, they are the fastest chargers on the market. Check out their well-designed charging bricks:
LAS VEGAS, CES 2014 – At the big “CES Unveiled” press event on Sunday night, one of the biggest draws was the TrewGrip keyboard; a funky Bluetooth keyboard for smartphones and tablets with the keys on the back of the device.
The company’s reps were mobbed by curious journalists, jockeying each other to get a better a look at the keyboard that claims to be “the evolution of typing.”
Designed for typists on the go, like healthcare professionals making hospital rounds, the TrewGrip is a unique reverse keyboard with a full set of QWERTY keys on the back.
Using it requires retraining and takes a week or more to master, but at the booth, company reps were tapping out 60-80 words a minute. Not as fast as many touch-typists on a regular keyboard, but a lot faster than pecking away on a glass screen.
After 22 years at the Wall Street Journal reviewing technology, columnist Walt Mossberg is moving on. In his final column, Mossberg picks the 12 devices that had the most impact over the years.
“I chose these 12 because each changed the course of digital history by influencing the products and services that followed, or by changing the way people lived and worked,” Mossberg writes.
One company completely dominates the list. Guess which one it is (and what devices he chose)?
UPDATE: There’s no glass on the front of the Stonestown store. Earlier reports indicated the store was fronted by glass, but it’s actually wide open. It has a big metal gate that is closed at night. “Comes right out of the walls. Pretty nifty,” says one shopper who visited the store.
Apple just reopened its retail store at San Francisco’s Stonestown mall, and just check it out. It’s
one long piece of curved glass. spectacular!
Here’s another shot:
While accepting a lifetime achievement award from Auburn University, his alma mater, Apple CEO Tim Cook told of how The Ku Klux Klan, Martin Luther King and Senator Robert Kennedy shaped his passion for human rights and equality. “Growing up in Alabama in the 1960s, I saw the devastating impacts of discrimination,” Cook said in New York on December 10th. “Remarkable people were denied opportunities and treated without basic human dignity solely because of the color of their skin.”
He recalled childhood memories of watching crosses burn on neighbors’ lawns in Alabama. “This image was permanently imprinted in my brain and it would change my life forever,” Cook said. “For me the cross burning was a symbol of ignorance, of hatred, and a fear of anyone different than the majority. I could never understand it, and I knew then that America’s and Alabama’s history would always be scarred by the hatred that it represented.”
You can watch the full speech below the fold:
Ever wanted to take a tour of Apple’s secret Industrial Design studio in Cupertino? Now you can — a virtual one, anyway — just for writing a review of my new book about Jony Ive. It doesn’t even have to be a good review!
Located on the ground floor of Infinite Loop II behind frosted glass windows, the industrial design studio is where Ive and his team of design elves cook up Apple’s awesome products.
Few have been inside — even some of Apple’s own executives haven’t seen it. Rumor has it that the former head of iOS, Scott Forstall, wasn’t allowed inside, even when he was developing the iPhone’s operating system. Only one published photograph has ever been taken inside the studio. And no, Blue Peter and the Objectified documentary weren’t filmed there, contrary to popular opinion.
Now you can take a tour. I had a 3-D model of the studio created, based on detailed descriptions and diagrams by former designers who worked inside. I used it to create a video tour of the studio, showing the layout and explaining how everything works. I think the video turned out great, and here’s how you get a sneak peek.
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple is blocking the donation of 30-year-old documents to a museum, claiming they contain valuable trade secrets.
“It’s silly,” said Hartmut Esslinger, the design guru recruited to help Apple become a leader in design in the early 1980s.
Speaking at a Jony Ive book launch party on Thursday night, Esslinger explained that Apple has prevented him from donating some historical old documents to a museum.
Esslinger’s design firm, Frog Design, was hired by Steve Jobs to bring world-class design to Apple. Esslinger’s “Snow White” design language, characterized by elegant off-white plastic cases, influenced the entire computer industry for more than a decade.
Steve Jobs was a genius — no doubt about that. Apple was six months from bankruptcy when he took over as CEO in 1997. Under his leadership, Apple became one of the world’s most powerful companies, the most trusted brand, and disrupted entire industries. He didn’t have an easy career. He spent many years in the wilderness, and even when Apple was bouncing back, he didn’t get the credit he deserved. It was only late in his career, after the iPhone became a smash hit, that he started to be lionized as a business genius. And after his death, he was deified.
But was it all Steve Jobs? Is the company doomed without him? What happens when one man gets all the credit? The truth is more complex. Apple wouldn’t be Apple without Steve Jobs, but it wasn’t just him. Jobs didn’t design anything, and he didn’t write any code. The creative work was done by others, though he had a hand in guiding it.


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Honda Shows Off 73 Years of Legendary Machines in New Video
From kei trucks to motorcycles, F1 cars and even jets—can you name all the Hondas?
The "Origin of Determination" video just released by Honda takes a look back at the Japanese automaker's 73-year history and puts some of its coolest products in the limelight—some for the first time in decades. From two wheels to four, it aims to show the world that it continues to live up to founder Soichiro Honda's vision of helping people through the use of technology.
Honda has been all about nostalgia lately. Even its latest teaser for the upcoming 2023 Acura Integra, coined "Generational Shift," shows off the interior of several previous generations rowing through the gears. That sentimental feeling is being explored on an even broader scale, as the world gets a peek at classic and lesser-known vehicles from the automaker's lineup—from motorcycles to cars, motorsports, aviation, and more.
Honda says that it features over 100 of its historic products in its 60-second ad spot. Specifically, it calls out the first motorcycle ever built by Soichiro Honda, the 1949 Honda Dream, its first passenger car, the S600, and even the first-generation of its iconic Civic. There are also some more modern vehicles, like the 2022 Honda Civic and Honda Ridgeline.
If you're a racing buff, you'll recognize the RA262 Formula 1 car, which was Honda's first winning F1 car in 1965. Or some other lesser-known products like the Honda Talon and HondaJet Elite S.
We spotted some cool cars that Honda happened to leave out of its press release, like the Honda T360 kei truck (which technically beat the S600 as Honda's first four-wheeled vehicle), S2000, CRX, Element, Insight, plus the first and second-gen NSX.
Can you name them all?
Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: email@example.com


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PoSeidon Malware Program Attacks Point of Sale Terminals
Many of the data breaches that wreaked havoc on major retailers during the past 18 months were caused by malware in the point of sale systems. Now, a stronger and more damaging malware program has been uncovered.
The network company Cisco claimed it has found the PoSeidon malware circulating. It could incorporate some of the features of the Zeus and BlackPOS malware programs used in the cyberattacks of Target and Home Depot, but PoSeidon could be capable of inflicting even more damage.
Once it has infected a point of sale terminal, PoSeidon downloads a program named FindStr that puts a keylogger on the machine. That keylogger scans the point of sale memory looking for credit card numbers. Since the data is jumbled together on a POS, the malware uses an equation called the Lund algorithm to search through the jumbled data for valid credit card numbers. It then does its best to hide the data, and send it to computers in Russia which are waiting for the stolen data. No one is sure what happens after that, but it is likely the credit card numbers are immediately sold on the black market.
PoSeidon has also shown it can resist reboots to clear it from the POS memory.
Cisco indicated it was working behind the scenes on helping combat the program, but did not want to disclose technical details.
The United States is especially vulnerable to these POS malware programs because of the magnetic strip on the back of the credit card. When the card is swiped, it gives the credit card number to the POS terminal in an unencoded form. If malware is present, it can capture the credit card number without a problem.
The credit card issuers in the United States are rolling out EMV cards later this year that will have a chip that helps scramble the card number from the beginning. When that takes place, programs like PoSeidon will be relatively useless since they would just be capturing scrambled credit card numbers.


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How important is Japan to Apple's iPhone growth?
News On Japan via Motley Fool -- Jan 12
Apple investors focus heavily on growth opportunities in China; but what about another neighboring Asian country? Is Apple overlooking iPhone growth potential in Japan?
Japan's largest wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo has now expressed interest in carrying the iPhone, after the company has been losing subscribers to rivals that do offer Apple's device. President Katoru Kato said that carrying the iPhone is a possibility if the two companies can arrive at mutually-beneficial terms. That sounds pretty similar to what China Mobile, the largest carrier in China, has been saying.
Both carriers are top dogs in their respective countries, but there's one enormous difference: their subscriber bases. China Mobile's subscriber base is nearly twelve times as large at 707 million, compared to NTT DoCoMo's 60 million.
|| Japan's child kidnapping problem |
| || Dozens of American children are abducted to Japan every year-not by strangers, but by parents after messy divorces. (thedailybeast.com ) |
|| China cracks down on over-the-top anti-Japan dramas |
| || China's television regulator has ordered a crackdown on dramas about the country's battles with Japan during and before World War Two and demanded they be more serious, state media said on Friday, following viewer complaints about ludicrous storylines. (Reuters ) |
|| Man kills 3 family members, then himself |
| || Police said Friday they have found four dead bodies in an apartment in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, in what is believed to have been a family murder-suicide. (Japan Today ) |


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Brazil’s Fire Ban Correlates a Reduction in Amazon Wildfires. The Ban Lifts Today.
Fires across Brazil caught the world’s attention this August, with fears that burning — and subsequent damage to the Amazon rainforest — would only intensify when peak fire season hit in September. However, Global Forest Watch (GFW) analysis of NASA data shows that fire alerts in the Amazon decreased by 34% between August and September. […]


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Only just now we reported that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 may be going on sale in Australia come 1st September, or that’s what a flyer from Australian retailer Myer is claiming. Now it seems that the ban has been lifted in Europe with the exception of Germany.
This injunction has been lifted temporarily and is in effect until the 25th of August, which is when Apple and Samsung would meet again in court to further discuss the future of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales in Europe. This means that if you’re living in Europe and not in Germany, you have about 9 days left to get the Galaxy Tab 10.1, assuming the case does not end in the favor of Samsung.
The reason why the injunction has been lifted is not because of the questionable evidence that Apple presented to the German courts, but it was because it seems the courts in Germany have no legal right to ban the sales of the device in other EU member countries apart from its own.
- 2013-09-06: Samsung Reportedly Pessimistic About Galaxy Tab 10.1 2014 Edition Sales
- 2012-09-18: Preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will still stand
- 2012-09-14: Verizon approves Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
- 2012-09-12: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 gets voice calling capability
- 2012-08-14: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 WiFi finally receives Android 4.0 ICS update
- 2011-11-16: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N surfaces in Germany, skirts around court's injunction
- 2011-11-08: Australian retailer takes a stand against Apple's injunction of the Galaxy Tab 10.1
- 2011-09-12: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 still being sold in Germany due to legal loophole
- 2011-09-09: Apple gets Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 permanently banned in Germany
- 2011-08-24: Courts in Netherlands grants Apple temporary injunction for Samsung Galaxy phones


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Intel has warned the workers at its Fab 11 plant in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, that it could lay off as many as 1,000 of the 1,500 employees when it stops producing flash memory chips...
A week of Google porn, Net Neutrality, Lollipop updates, Xbox burgers and a Wankband
The YotaPhone 2 is probably the most interesting phone since the iPhone 3G - Review
Hands On with Microsoft's wireless charging pad, the DT-903
Windows 10 for phones news
Windows 10 for phones
Hands On with Microsoft's new Comfort Headset
microsoft comfort headset
All the latest on Windows 10
Windows 10 promo
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has confirmed a reduction in the price of the PlayStation2 across the territory to 129.99 Euros or Â£94.99 in the UK with immediate effect. Over forty million units have been shipped...
The BBC have published an article showcasing some original new products from around the globe. Inventions include robots, touch screen coffee tables, electronic paper and the wackiest remote control ever. Speaking from a...
AS WE'VE NOTED, Intel is readying a widespread cut in prices. It told its OEM partners about those details in a July roadmap we saw at the time, and now it has notified its resellers...
Thanks stevie. ps- BT's a great, sound choice. In another shocking move from BT they seem to have cut prices to business users, on their broadband subscription. They've reduced their price from Â£40...


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Milan, Italy-based Cannon SpA is looking for more synergies between Sandretto Industrie SpA, its injection molding machine subsidiary, and its other businesses that make polyurethane processing equipment and industrial thermoformers.
``We have to find new markets, and products that are better-accepted in our core markets,'' Cannon Managing Director Marco Volpato said in an interview at K 2004 in Dusseldorf. ``There will be a complete reshaping.''
Sandretto unveiled at the show its first electric injection machine, as well as an entry-level press, the Logica, made by its Brazilian subsidiary, and a new version of its Mega H large two-platen machine.
After doubling as Sandretto's managing director for several years, Volpato appointed Georgio Migliari to the job in August. An engineer, Migliari was most recently with tire and cable company Pirelli SpA. Sandretto's sales and marketing effort is still headed by a Cannon man, group marketing Vice President Marco de' Guidi.
Volpato said Sandretto has been experiencing strong growth in South America. It has production capacity for 300 Logica machines in Sao Paulo, following a doubling of capacity in early 2003.
The Logica was designed and engineered by Brazilians, networking with colleagues from Sandretto in Italy and from Windsor Kunststofftechnologie GmbH in Hanau, Germany. The company said it is more than 30 percent cheaper than Sandrettos built in Turin, Italy.
Sandretto will offer electric machines with clamping forces of 440, 660 and 935 tons. They will go on sale in 2005, but no date has been fixed. During the K show, the company held a competition for visitors to choose a name for the line, but a winner had not been chosen as of press time.
``Being one of the last to market [with an electric machine], we have tried for a good compromise between performance and price,'' Volpato said.
Most electric machines have toggle clamping, but this machine uses a novel form of ``lock and block'' direct clamping that is applied via the four tie bars. These have deep saw-tooth threads cut into them, around which nuts inside the moving platen freely rotate during the long stroke.
A small amount of oil separates the threads on the nuts and the tie bars, so there is no wear. The long stroke is directly driven by ball screws. When the oil is evacuated, the threads come together to apply full clamp. To save time, clamping can start before the long stroke has finished.
Sandretto has been prototyping various designs of electric machines for several years, but a company spokesman said this machine is a brand-new project, whose control software was developed in six months. Cannon has its own in-house software company, Automata.
Volpato said industrial thermoforming equipment is strategic for the company.
The company's thermoforming division, called CannonForma, scored a recent coup with the supply of several twin-sheet thermoforming lines to Visteon Corp. for production in Europe of high-barrier fuel tanks.
Sources indicate the tanks will be used on the next version of the Volkswagen Passat.


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Festive demand has pushed up airfares by 20 per cent to 30 per cent on key routes across the country.
According to ixigo’s data, average airfares have risen by 20-30 per cent this year on popular routes due to the rise in ATF. EaseMyTrip has recorded a rise in airfares on metro routes around Durga Puja and Diwali.
“With Dussehra and Durga Puja just around the corner, excitement for the festival season is at its peak. Flight searches have risen 25-30 per cent for leisure travel for Dussehra week compared to last year,” explained Aloke Bajpai, Group CEO & Co-founder of the IPO-bound OTA ixigo. Cleartrip’s data, too, showed that there has been an September has seen 23 per cent higher bookings than August.
ixigo’s data showed that Patna, Mumbai, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Hyderabad, Pune, Goa, Bagdogra and Dehradun are among the top 10 leisure destinations for tavel between October 01 and October 24.
The festival season, which usually starts around mid-September, including festivals like Durga Puja, Diwali and Christmas usually is the peak season for travellers in India. This travel includes both leisure travel as well as going-home travel.
Over the past two years, the festive cheer had vanished due to the looming fear of covid-19. Given that most of the eligible Indians have now taken their booster shots, and the impact of the virus is reducing, the customer confidence has gone up as well.
This, backed by the uplifting of the airfare cap on August 31, has motivated airlines to make up for the lost profits over the past two years.
Indians are known to book their travel plans way in advance, however, post-Covid, this trend has changed. This has also made way for airlines to bump up the last minute airfare prices. Ixigo has forecasted that last-minute fares for popular routes will see a steep jump in airfares due to high travel demand. For example, one-way fares for routes like New Delhi to Patna which are normally around ₹5,000 are going as high as ₹8,000-13,000 on travel dates just before Diwali.
However, in order to not burn a deeper hole in its customers’ pockets, airfares between Durga Puja and after Diwali are seeing a dip. Along with this, airlines and OTAs are also offering flash sales and offers for its customers.
“There are sectors where prices have dropped and there are expensive fares too. Some softening in airfares for pre-Oct travel has been observed. The fares for the festive period esp Dussehra, Diwali, etc are continuing at elevated levels. This simply means that airlines are executing their pricing strategy very well which enables people to travel,” a Cleartrip spokesperson said.
On the other hand, the customers too are becoming smarter, and the trend of booking in advance seems to be gradually coming back.
“In the first 15 days of September, we have observed that an additional 10 per cent of people have booked 30 days in advance in September (for the first 15 days). This seems to be continuing as a trend since we have observed that there is a 2x spike in bookings for the December travel period. People booking in advance for 2023 has already increased by 140 per cent,” Cleartrip’s spokesperson added.


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After a one-year hiatus from wearing them, the Packers are slated to bring back the re-creation of their 1929 uniforms in Week 7 of the 2013 season, for a home game against Cleveland on Sunday, Oct. 20 (3:25 p.m. CT).
|View photos of the Packers’ third jersey in game action from 2010 and 2011|
The Packers have worn the third jersey twice previously, in Week 13 of 2010 against San Francisco and in Week 6 of 2011 against St. Louis, both at Lambeau Field. The Packers beat the 49ers, 34-16, and the Rams, 24-3. The Packers did not wear the alternate uniforms during the 2012 season.
The third jersey is based on the Packers’ 1929 jerseys, which were blue with the jersey number in a gold circle on the front. The modern re-creation uses a larger gold circle and also includes a full-sized number on the back along with the player’s last name, to conform with NFL uniform regulations.
The alternate uniforms also feature tan pants and a solid brown helmet, representing the leather helmets that players of that era wore. The Packers won the first of their 13 NFL championships in 1929.
Tags: 1929 uniforms, cleveland browns, third jersey
Posted in Packers.com Blog


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As is the case every year, leaks for Samsung's Galaxy 'S' flagships have picked up the pace as we head towards their launch. This year the Korean tech giant will launch the S lineup's upgrades in San Francisco, as it looks to provide Apple with some competition in the ultra high-end smartphone segment. To that end, the Galaxy S10 smartphones will feature upgrades that will distinguish them from their predecessors. If you're wondering how the smartphones will look like, we've got just the image for you. Take a look below for more details.
Samsung's 5G Galaxy S10 Prototype Matches Leaked Details And Images
Just in case you weren't paying attention, Samsung showcased a 5G smartphone prototype at Qualcomm's Tech Summit which took place in Hawaii this December. Prior to the summit, this prototype also made an appearance in South Korea, when Samsung showcased 5G video calls in an event.
However, that smartphone appeared as an early stage prototype, as evidenced by its design. Nevertheless, the gadget featured a front camera located at the top right, an aesthetic that will define the Galaxy S10 smartphones. Now, we've discovered another live image of a Samsung 5G prototype, and this device might very well be the Galaxy S10.
The first image above is what we believe to be a Galaxy S10 prototype that Samsung displayed at Qualcomm's Tech Summit (Courtesy: CNET). The second image is of the device showcased by the company in South Korea as a part of its 5G event. Take a close look at both images and you'll notice that a camera sensor is clearly present on the top right. Additionally, the device in CNET's image matches our estimation of the upcoming Galaxy S10 smartphones' form factor. If you're still unsure, here's a live image of the Galaxy S10 taking a ride on a South Korean subway.
Unfortunately, as reporters were not allowed to touch the phone or turn it on, and as it was displayed in a dimly lit room, we can't discern any further details from the image. However, live image leaks for the Galaxy S10 lineup haven't disappointed this season. Let's just hope the smartphones' ultrasonic sensor doesn't develop problems, as this would mar an otherwise stellar lineup. Take a look at the leaks and let us know what you think in the comments section below. We'll keep you updated on the latest.


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Facebook Inc. FB, +0.43% came out with new Instagram features on Tuesday, a day after announcing a messaging service for kids. The social-networking giant announced that users of Instagram Stories will now have their posts automatically saved to a private archive after 24 hours. Previously, messages posted to Stories disappeared forever after a day. Users will also be able to pin "Stories" content to the top of their profiles for an extended period of time, through a new feature called Stories Highlights. Facebook is looking for new ways to compete with Snap Inc.'s SNAP, +1.05% Snapchat. Shares of Facebook are up 1.5% in Tuesday afternoon trading, compared with a 0.1% gain for the S&P 500 Index SPX, -0.15%
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Northern Ireland economy expected to grow 6.2% in 2021 – Danske Bank
Northern Ireland’s economy is expected to grow by 6.2% in 2021, according to Danske Bank.
The northern biggest lender said the economy was likely to return to growth in the second quarter of this year after an expected contraction in the first quarter.
In its previous quarterly forecast, Danske Bank predicted the northern economy would grow 4.8% this year before accelerating to 5.8% in 2022.
But in a revised outlook released today, the lender’s Conor Lambe said economic growth in 2021 is likely to outperform next year.
As a result, the growth forecast for 2022 has been revised downwards from 5.8 to 4.5%.
“After an expected contraction in the first quarter of the year, the gradual easing of coronavirus restrictions throughout the second quarter has likely allowed Northern Ireland’s economy to return to growth,” said Mr. Lambe.
“Early UK-level indicators show a strong rebound in activity in April and May, and we expect something similar to have happened in Northern Ireland.”
The economist said the reopening of non-essential retail and hospitality businesses provided an outlet for pent-up consumer demand in the second quarter, prompting a recovery in spending.
Danske Bank forecasts growth of 19% for the accommodation and food services sector in 2021, with the hard-hit arts, entertainment and recreation sector growing by 15%.
“Assuming there is no further lockdown and the vaccine program rollout continues as planned, we expect the economy to continue to expand in the third and fourth quarters of the year,” added the economist.
Danske Bank also expects fewer job losses this year than expected.
It predicts an unemployment rate of 4.2% for 2021, down from its previous forecast of 5%.
“It is important to note that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme continues to support the labor market,” said Conor Lambe. “We expect to see a decline in employment numbers as the program unfolds and ends in September, but we hope that stronger economic growth and labor demand can limit the upside. unemployment.”
But the economist warned that uncertainty around new coronavirus variants and the potential for further shutdowns or periods of tighter restrictions remain a risk, which could lead to a revision of the stance later in the year.


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75 articles in this category
Dates back to 2010
The wrath of Sergio
Might be revealed at FCA's latest four-year plan announcement
Maybe we shouldn't let automakers develop infotainment technologies
Might we be coming to the end of the EcoDiesel mess?
There's progress on cleaning up the EcoDiesel mess
FCA and GAC, sitting in the tree
Though Australia's FCA office says they'll continue to sell RHD versions of the 300
Volkswagen and FCA possibly partnering up?!
The rumored suitors for FCA are dropping like flies
It seems there are some possible suitors for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
The EPA has had its eyes on FCA's EcoDiesel for a while
It might be awhile before FCA can install an update on their EcoDiesel models
More headaches pop up for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles
More diesel problems for FCA
FCA has an update for their diesel models to hopefully get them passed by the EPA
There could more trouble on the horizon for FCA
Losing market share and a thin lineup is a perfect time to expand your dealer network.. Wait what?!


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The state government is encouraging Queensland startup businesses to exchange their technology and ideas.
It wants them to use what’s called co-space to foster creativity.
Lexi Kehl reports.
It’s innovation of all kinds under one roof.
Hidden away in Brisbane’s busy Fortitude Valley, the precinct is home to a new way of business called co-working.
River City Labs is one of 16 tennants who take on digital entrepreneurs who want to expand and reach a global market.
Peta Ellis, CEO River City Labs: “One there’s people that are sitting right next to them who are like minded founders, who are running their own business as well, but there’s also a group of mentors that they can tap into and it’s experienced people.”
She says it’s tough for entrepreneurs starting out, they not only need the space but the vital support that comes with it.
Alex Brown runs 2nd Lease, an online business designed to rent out household white goods, ideal for uni students moving out of home.
He says he struggled as a sole entrepreneur but joining the co-work space changed everything.
Alex Brown, Online Entrepreneur: “Had I not joined the startup community at River City Labs, you know, the team at 2nd Lease wouldn’t be where we are today.”
In a tech-reliant society, business really can grow from anywhere and it’s innovative spaces like these that are helping shape the future of entrepreneurial business models.
The Precinct launched in March and is already fully tenanted and includes executive parking.
Lexi Kehl, QUT News.


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NPCI recorded almost 6 Bn UPI transactions worth over INR 10 Lakh Cr in May and June
France, the UAE and Singapore have already adopted the open digital platform, while Nepal, Japan and China are in different stages of conversation
NPCI will also be working on establishing UPI as a channel for making cross-border remittances
As UPI gets hold of the Indian payments market, the technology is now set to make ripples across the world, too. Addressing Digital India Week, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has stated that India is in talks with 30 countries for UPI and three countries have already signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) in this regard.
During the summit, Vaishnaw shared an overview of the UPI numbers – almost 6 Bn transactions worth over INR 10 Lakh Cr in May and June – stating that the efficiency of the tech has enabled France, the UAE and Singapore to adopt the open digital platform.
He added that the platform has avoided the creation of monopolies in the digital services sector, the kind that is present in developed countries.
It is to be noted that in June 2022, NPCI International signed an MoU with Lyra Network of France to accept UPI and RuPay Cards in the country.
NPCI International has previously also tied up with several institutions in Nepal, the UAE, Singapore, Japan and China. Now, NPCI will also be working on establishing UPI as a channel for making cross-border remittances.
UPI Going Beyond Indian Borders: PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who inaugurated the session, in his concluding remarks stated, “UPI has transgressed the economic barriers and has empowered every citizen equally, demonstrating that the digital solutions produced by Digital India are scalable, secure and democratic.”
He added that the entire world was attracted by UPI and in fact, it has been appreciated by everyone, including the World Bank. PM Modi further emphasised that 130K UPI transactions are recorded every minute, with 40% of the world’s digital transactions happening in India.
UPI is currently the most popular digital payment system in India. It has 330 banks linked to it, with an average ticket size of UPI around INR 1,730 per transaction.
Beyond praising the efforts of NPCI in scaling India’s payments ecosystem, the Prime Minister also launched IndiaStack.Global – a platform where open and interoperable digital solutions from the country can be accessed by other countries.


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A row over customers is shimmering at the border in Busia between Ugandan traders, along the custom road and the Kenyan women brokers. Traders accuse Kenyan women brokers of sabotaging their businesses by standing at near their shops and divert customers to shops where they have been promised commission.
Recently six Kenyan women brokers were arrested and remanded to Masafu prison after several traders accused them of failing their businesses. The arrest and dentation of Kenyan brokers did not go well with the Kenyan authorities who protested against the action by Ugandan police.
The Kenyans brokers acknowledged working for commission, but only from traders where they take customers, they have lured from Kenya to buy goods across the border. They denied allegations of hijacking customers from one shop to another.
The situation nearly escalated into insecurity over the weekend when two parties almost clashed forcing the authorities from the two countries to intervene. Speaking at the harmonization meeting held at Busia social hall, Mike Okiria the resident district commissioner Busia appealed to the two parties forge proper procedures of conducting business by working in a friendly way.
Elijah Nyachae the assistant county commissioner in Busia Kenya condemned the mistreatment of Kenyan women brokers by the t in Busia Uganda. Nyachae said, if the situation continues, Kenya will ask brokers to go back and work at but Ugandan traders operating in Kenya will also be sent back to Busia Uganda. Wanume Kibedi the chairman Busia customs traders association vowed that Kenyan brokers should leave the area if they don’t accept to operate in the place identified for them.
Mary Anyango the chairperson Kenyan women brokers said, they are assaulted, abused and not given the commission they work for. She appealed to her government to come up with a program will enable them to work and earn a living and stop working as brokers.


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MANILA - The Bank of the Philippine Islands on Wednesday said clients should be extra careful as the number of "money-mule" scams increases.
Money mule is a form of money laundering that facilitates the transfer of illegally obtained money on behalf of someone else and is punishable by law, BPI chief digital officer Noel Santiago said.
Santiago said unbanked Filipinos are at greater risk of being exploited as money mules. Based on Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' 2019 record, over 51 million adult Filipinos remain unbanked.
“In the last couple of years, as we shifted to a more digital lifestyle, we made it more convenient for legitimate clients to be onboarded, to be accepted in the financial industry," Santiago said.
"Now this is where those criminal minds saw an opportunity and say, ‘Maybe I can create digital accounts that can be used as a mule account’,” he added.
This is prohibited under the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2021, punishable with jail time, hefty fines and account closure.
Criminals also recruit people with existing accounts in exchange of money. Fraudsters "borrow" the account of the victims to receive a remittance from another person, Santiago said, adding that they use social media to advertise.
BPI said it has been working with the Bankers Association of the Philippines to strengthen the country's cybercrime law. The mobile number registration will help to curb the scheme, Santiago said.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas earlier said online fraud cost consumers around P540 million in 2021 alone.
Some of the country's big banks were hit by other types of cybercrimes in 2021.


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Nike said Wednesday it expects to cut jobs as it announced a slew of new executive appointments to accelerate direct-to-consumer initiatives amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The sports giant did not estimate the headcount hit, but said it expects “a net loss of jobs across the company,” resulting in one-time expenses of $250-$300 million.
“We are announcing changes today to transform Nike faster, accelerate against our biggest growth opportunities and extend our leadership position,” said Chief Executive John Donahoe.
“Now is the right time to build on Nike’s strengths and elevate a group of experienced, talented leaders who can help drive the next phase of our growth.”
Before COVID-19, Nike had invested heavily in recent years in upgrading smartphone applications and other tech-focused programs amid the decline in brick-and-mortar retail and surging activity in e-commerce channels.
But the upheaval of the coronavirus has sped up those trends. Nike said the new structure would be “nimbler” and “flatter” and lead to a streamlining of its corporate leadership team.


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Burglars 'laughing' at court, police: Mackay business owner
A SMALL business owner has no sympathy to what comes of the burglars who targeted his store on Wednesday night.
Fiesta Rentals owner Scott Cronin woke up to a phone call on Thursday morning from one of his staff letting him know two of his company trucks and a swag of equipment had been stolen from the Victoria St business.
He believes the crooks wedged their way through the barbed wire, before heading towards the register, trashing the counter and making off with the keys.
Mr Cronin said the burglars were definitely not amateurs as they also left with the stores' security system, making it near impossible to identify those responsible.
Once the burglars were ready to go, they got in the truck and slammed straight into the fence, leaving it damaged and mangled.
Mr Cronin said the break-in was a set back.
"We put our heart and soul into business,” he said.
"You are not in business because you're doing it for the money because nobody in small business makes a lot money, but it's because your proud of what you do.
"To have someone come in and think that they can just do it (break-in) and then laugh about it - the people who are, are just laughing court system and laughing at the cops.”
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T-Mobile UK Readying G1Touch, as Their Next Android Phone; Huawei U8230 Also En Route for Launch
Just as T-Mobile USA confirmed that they’ll be announcing a new Android smartphone new week, we learn that Huawei U8230 is also going to be launched by T-Mobile, this time in Europe, late in Q3 2009. Huawei U8230 is an Android smartphone as well, packing a 3.5 inch touchscreen display, a 3.2 megapixel camera and a Qualcomm chipset.
U8230 might be the phone called G1Touch and we found out that it also features a 1,500 mAh battery, that will last longer than those on other Android devices. G1Touch is the T-Mobile version of HTC Magic, as far as we know and the handset is already available in the UK, as Vodafone Magic and it should hit T-Mobile USA as myTouch 3G.


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Cheetos Sometimes Prosper
Here are two words you never thought you’d see next to each other: organic Cheetos. Yep, it’s true — snack-food maker Frito Lay is entering the organic food market, along with dozens of other huge food companies. Heinz now makes organic ketchup, and General Mills owns Cascadian Farms, an organic brand started in the Northwest in the 1970s. Such companies hope to make a buck off a new USDA logo that, as of next week, will indicate that food has been grown without genetically modified material or irradiation, and with little or no chemicals or antibiotics. Many long-time organics advocates are dismayed that mega-corporations have entered what had been a niche market; they imagine massive mono-cropped fields with their own environmental problems, and fear being driven out of business because larger producers will be able to offer organic food at lower prices. Others believe agribusiness simply isn’t compatible with the organic vision of food grown in a local and sustainable fashion. However, Warren Weber, a pioneer of organic farming in California, says the latest developments are a sign that the movement has succeeded “beyond its wildest dreams.”
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ZAGREB, December 20, 2019 – Croatia’s leading food and beverages producer, Atlantic Grupa, has decided to enter into a strategic partnership with the Vivas cafes chain which includes almost 300 coffee shops and bars, the Zagreb-headquartered group said in a press release on Friday.
“The collaboration is a part of Atlantic’s well-defined strategy to take a leading position in the Croatian coffee market and achieve expansion in the growing segment of out of home consumption,” reads the press release.
In this way, Atlantic significantly strengthened the espresso segment, which is expected to generate an additional eight million kuna in sales revenue thanks to the newly-established cooperation with Vivas led by former national football player, Dario Šimić.
Atlantic produces 24,000 tonnes of cofffee a year.
“With approximately 24 thousand tonnes of coffee produced annually, the Atlantic Group is the leading coffee producer in the region,” said Mate Štetić, the new General Manager of the SBU Coffee in Atlantic Group.
“We are the leading company in the Serbian market with our brand Grand kafa, the undisputed leader in Slovenia with the brand Barcaffe and an ambitious contender for the leading position in the Croatian market, where our market share has increased from 4 to the current 15.5 percent since the Atlantic’s acquisition of Droga Kolinska in 2010. With a share of almost 21 percent in total revenue, coffee is the largest individual business unit in Atlantic Grupa and certainly one of the strategically most important units for future business development,” Štetić was quoted as saying.
More news about Atlantic Group can be found in the Business section.


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We’ve been hearing talks about a Baidu Phone for a while now, almost two years now, but nothing palpable came up till now. This year we found out that the mobile was going to be based on Android, or better said a modified version of the OS. So, here we go, this is what the smartphone looks like:
It’s supposed to debut soon, through a cooperation with China Telecom, a local Chinese carrier. It will come with a bunch of Baidu-specific applications and it will serve to push the Baidu Cloud service. Baidu is dubbed “the Google of China”, since it’s a search engine giant and it offers its own apps and services. As far as specs go, the Baidu Cloud Phone packs a 4.5 inch 540 x 960 pixel display, a 1.2 GHz dual core CPU and a 5 megapixel camera. There’s also support for dual mode dual standby CDMA/GSM connectivity.
Sadly we don’t have a specific release date for this model, or any pricing details. This sounds like a midrange product, rather than a high end device, so I guess we’ll be sticking with our love for the Meizu MX2 or the Xiaomi MI-2, two fantastic handsets from China, with very good specs and designs.


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CES had its own startup alley, called Eureka Park, and for some that was a problem.
LAS VEGAS--The startup scene at CES this year was vibrant--although it was sometimes hard to tell.
The Consumer Electronics Association gave startups their own area this time around, called Eureka Park. It spanned two big rooms in The Venetian, far away from the main convention center and from most of the exhibitors. The goal was to let fledgling businesses participate in the massive show without getting lost amid the big boys.
In that sense, Eureka Park was a success. The booths, 10 feet by 10 feet, cost $1,000, a quarter the price for the same space in the main halls. And the CEA said it sold 94 spots, about three times what it had expected.
But the hodgepodge of startups made for an odd mix, with impressive technology plays alongside trinket makers or others that, frankly, devalued the neighborhood. (Example: a guy who developed a gadget to help you text more easily while driving).
Some exhibitors said that being apart from the main convention center was a drag.
"This is what they gave us," said Tim Abbott, whose one-year-old Hong Kong-based company, Flotsam, makes beanbag-like stands for iPads and other tablets. "They said, 'Are you selling in America?' I said no, and they said, 'Then you can go to Eureka Park.' I wanted to pay more not to be here. We're used to conferences where people place orders. This has been a lot of talk."
Ben Forman and Geoff Larson came here from Los Angeles to show off their weight-sensing electric skateboard called the Zboard, which grew out of a project at the University of Southern California. I sought the duo out after spotting someone zooming around the conference on the board. They were tucked in the last aisle of Eureka Park, as far from the flow of traffic as possible.
"We're in the ugly-stepchild room," said a frustated Forman. "It's been dead for us."
The CEO of Dropcam, a San-Francisco startup that makes a cloud-based home monitoring camera, told me that he rebuffed the CEA's suggestion that his company set up in Eureka Park, specifically because he was concerned about being out of sight.
"I just didn't think it was a good idea," said Greg Duffy, who released a new HD camera at the show that you can see on this CNET video.
Griping aside, plenty of cool startups populated Eureka Park. And as the week went on, some ended up getting lots of attention--not just from the press, but from potential distributors, business partners, and investors that were scouting the show.
"We had an investor offer us $10 million," said Mark Gross, who is with Modular Robotics, which makes a robot-toy construction kit that was a popular attraction at Eureka Park. Such a high offer sounds like tall talk designed to get Gross' attention more than anything else. But he and his partner, Eric Schweikardt, weren't interested because they're not now looking for investors.
The idea of a startup alley is a good one, but the reality is that much of the activity with emerging companies didn't take place at the booths. Some of the hottest startups, such as the one behind the video editing app Magisto, which won the CES Mobile Apps Showdown, and the one behind Swivl, which turns your smartphone into a personal cameraman, chose to show their wares at separate evening events--Pepcom's Digital Experience and ShowStoppers.
Ultimately, CES is for deal making and getting attention, which is hard when you're competing against LG's spectacular 55-inch OLED TV and Razer's Fiona gaming tablet.
Yet CES--and, more specifically, the restaurants, bars, and late-night parties--were teeming with entrepreneurs and others who represent the startup world.
Josh Stein, a managing director with venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, was one of dozens of powerful Silicon Valley investors at CES. Stein said he goes every year, not so much to prowl for startups as to schmooze with the big companies that his portfolio companies might need for business opportunities.
"If you're a three person startup, you don't know who to talk to at Microsoft," said Stein. "That's my job--to be in the middle. You get people here in a less guarded state."
Stein said he has never invested in a startup that he's found at CES, although there was one he wish he had.
Which? Watch CNET's Reporters' Roundtable, which we recorded live at CES. Rafe Needleman is the host, and I was a guest along with Stein.


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BY CAVAN SIECZKOWSKI
Huffington Post Gay Voices
Conservative media watchdog group One Million Moms is angry about Ellen DeGeneres’ new Christmas ad for J.C. Penney, NBC’s “Today Show” reports.
DeGeneres, a spokeswoman for the department store, is featured in a holiday ad in which she asks a group of Santa’s elves to make more toys for a giveaway contest but winds up making a bunch of clumsy “small” jokes in the process.
Read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices


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Windows Phone 7.8 finally arrives for older Lumia devices, adding apps and Start screen functionality
Nokia has announced that Windows Phone 7.8 has arrived and is encouraging people to update their Lumia devices. In a video uploaded to YouTube, the phone manufacturer highlights what’s new with the updated Windows Phone operating system, and how users can do so through their Zune software. Promised by Microsoft in...
Still completely absent from Android, the Google-made iOS only YouTube Capture video sharing app has received a minor update. Version 1.3 introduces a smorgasbord of colorless enhancements like a faster startup, an upload timer and HD previews of image enhancements. The real showstopper here is the addition of a...
× Just a test of the new info bar. What do you think?


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The DEA has also implied it’s not looking for candidates with “previous experience handling controlled substances,” regardless of marijuana’s legal status in the state where they reside. The disclaimer is enough to scare away applicants who have dabbled in cultivating pot.
STAT’s Andrew Joseph learned from speaking with researchers that many are wary of the costs associated with opening a cultivation facility. Construction alone could set growers back millions of dollars, according to an attorney who formerly coordinated Illinois’ medical marijuana program.
Until now, the University of Mississippi has cornered the market on marijuana manufacturing.
The agency is reportedly recruiting people to grow marijuana for federally sanctioned research in the US.
Health news site STAT contacted almost a dozen agriculture schools last month and found that not one was interested or planned to apply for registration with the DEA.
Growers must also show evidence they have security measures in place to keep the marijuana safe from prying hands, which adds to the expenditures.
Over four decades ago, the DEA teamed up with the University of Mississippi to grow weed legally and distribute it for federally authorized studies. Because of this monopoly, scientists had to wait years to get their hands on research-grade drugs that meet their specifications. Allowing more universities to grow means there will be more strains available for study.
STAT put in calls to universities from coast to coast, including schools in pot-friendly states, such as the University of California – Davis, Colorado State University, and Oregon State University, which offers a sociology class on “marijuana policy in the 21st century.”
Saying you grow marijuana “for research” sounds like an excuse an 18-year-old college student would give to campus security. But the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is looking for candidates to do just that.
Besides the challenges of growing a sufficient amount of high-quality cannabis for a rapidly growing market, cannabis companies have to deal with something that illegal growers do not — government regulation.
A commercial medical-cannabis cultivation facility in Moncton, Canada. Credit: Organigram Inc.
Although small-scale growers of illicit cannabis can get away with vague descriptions of strains and considerable variation between batches, commercial producers have to meet the same standards as they would for other consumer products. They need to produce a reliable product and follow the stringent rules and regulations that apply to product labelling and safety in their country.
Brian Owens is a freelance journalist in St Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada.
Such labs are beginning to adopt standardized tests for potency and purity using gas chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography. They are also developing methods to identify and measure levels of THC and other cannabinoids, as well as contaminants such as heavy metals and pesticide residues. “These aren’t necessarily new tests that have been created for this industry, but the type that had to be applied for this product,” says Brauninger.
Cannabis analytical labs are becoming more professional. “I’ve seen an evolution in the sophistication of the industry,” Brauninger says. “Most of the people running labs now have PhDs and experience in the pharmaceutical industry. It’s light years more sophisticated than five or six years ago.”
Many of the challenges of large-scale cannabis production can be solved by drawing on the experience of the commercial greenhouse industry, says Zheng. Growing crops commercially requires a homogenous soil and consistent irrigation. Small variations can mean that parts of the crop dry out at different rates, which leads to the spread of pathogenic agents and root rot, and to an inconsistent product. But the tomato industry, for example, has experience of growing tens to hundreds of hectares of produce at a time, and that expertise can be transferred easily to cannabis growers, says Zheng.


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The NHTSA originally launched the investigation in February as they were looking to see if the 2007 model year Toyota Camry and Toyota RAV4 had a chance of catching fire.
Over 370 customers were just granted a $635,860 refund after being overcharged premiums on their consumer credit insurance (CCI) when purchasing a vehicle from several different Australian Toyota d
Consumer Reports review of the all-new Toyota Prius C generated quite a stir when it hit the web late last month.
With the Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb approaching, Toyota has announced they will be bringing two very different cars to the race this year, a record-setting electric car, and the Lexus IS
The last few years at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb has seen a growing presence of electric racing vehicles at this 90 year old racing event.
Toyota has just reached the one-millionth-fan mark today on its Toyota USA Facebook page and is rewarding fans with an interactive gift.
Toyota is developing a new event recorder for the GT86, Scion FR-S and the Subaru BRZ that will allow drivers to upload data from track days directly to their PS3s.
Generally speaking, if a review contains the phrase “That’s where the good news ends,” it does not bode well for the product being critiqued.
Of course, the only things more volatile than gasoline prices are usually sports records, military secrets and perhaps nitroglycerin in liquid form.
Through the first quarter (January, February, March) of 2012, the Toyota Prius nameplate has moved 247,230 units in the various markets around the world.


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The newest James Bond film, Spectre, is coming out this November - and apparently it's more of a direct follow-up to Skyfall than we realized (with Skyfall even getting name-dropped in the trailer). That's a pretty good thing, given Skyfall was the best Bond film since...well, in a while. Plus, this one has Quentin Tarantino's bromantic partner, Christoph Waltz.
But what is James Bond's terrrrrrrrrrrible secret? If you read anything about the Sony email leaks back in December, you can probably hazard a guess. Until November though, we'll have to just wait and twiddle our thumbs.


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Join gaming leaders, alongside GamesBeat and Facebook Gaming, for their 2nd Annual GamesBeat & Facebook Gaming Summit | GamesBeat: Into the Metaverse 2 this upcoming January 25-27, 2022. Learn more about the event.
Update: The latest rumors now point to a late January release for the Verizon iPhone. Earlier story below.
All signs are pointing to an imminent launch of a version of Apple’s iPhone that can run on Verizon’s network, according to multiple reports.
Apple has apparently blacked out employee vacation requests between February 3 and 6, a sign that it may be gearing up to launch the Verizon-compatible version of the iPhone during that time period, sources close to Apple told the mobile site Boy Genius Report.
Previous reports placed the announcement of the Verizon iPhone some time in the coming weeks, so this latest news fits well into that timeline. We also previously heard that Apple may black out employee vacations for several weeks in late January and early February.
BGR points out that Verizon typically launches new phones on Thursdays, and Apple doesn’t have any other rumored new products for this time period, so it’s likely we’ll see the Verizon iPhone on February 3rd. We’re expecting news on the iPad 2 in the coming months as well, but a February 3 launch seems unlikely for the tablet.
Update: It looks like Verizon is holding a big announcement next Tuesday in New York, where its iPhone will likely be announced, according to All Things Digital. This makes it even more likely that Apple will be ready to ship the iPhone to Verizon users in February.
Update 2: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Verizon’s event is definitely for the iPhone, citing the usual “sources familiar with the matter.” Apple CEO Steve Jobs may also make an appearance at the event, according to All Things Digital.
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