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Statistically speaking, the month of February isn’t the greatest time for stocks to buy. Based on historical records extending back several decades, the average gain in the S&P 500 for the second month of the year is a loss of 0.02%. That’s hardly inspiring, which is perhaps why some folks avoid equities in February. However, adventurous investors may want to reconsider this narrative.
For one thing, history isn’t always an accurate predictor of future events. And that statement cuts both ways. While you shouldn’t base your choice of stocks to buy exclusively on prior strong returns, you also shouldn’t ignore downtrodden names on the assumption that they’ll continue stinking. Some of the most profitable turnarounds occur when no one is expecting it.
Another factor to consider is the changing nature of our economy. Back in the middle of last century, the U.S. economy was getting its peak usage of “analog” technologies. But as we approached the 1990s and through the contemporary era, the economy has steadily shifted toward digitalization. Since this dynamic is still occurring, some of the best stocks to buy are levered toward the many tech subsegments.
It also doesn’t always make sense to draw comparisons to past market eras, which did not feature the transformation we’re seeing now.
Finally, many events in both business and the geopolitical sector offer ample upside potential for certain stocks to buy. In this case, focusing excessively on past volatility might impose an opportunity cost.
So, if you’re ready to go against the grain, here are seven stocks to buy in February.
One of the breaking news developments, which wasn’t all that surprising, to be frank, was Pier 1 Imports’ (NYSE:PIR) meltdown. Following years of struggling to keep pace with rising competition, Pier 1 announced that it was closing 450 stores. That’s roughly half its physical footprint.
Although it’s terrible news for those speculating on Pier 1’s longshot recovery, it’s great news for Target (NYSE:TGT). And I specifically mention Target and not rival Walmart (NYSE:WMT) for the reason that Pier 1’s vibe represents classy discounts. In contrast, Walmart has the desperate vibe of a Las Vegas pawn shop. That’s one big plus for TGT stock.
The other factor benefiting the bullseye-logo organization is consumer preferences. Back when Pier 1 was relevant, the home furnishings retailer featured uniquely designed or artsy products. But the current retail landscape doesn’t favor Pier 1’s traditional business. For instance, an NPD Group survey discovered that for dinnerware products, most consumers favored solid/single colored products, followed by modern/contemporary designs.
Again, this penchant for sameness doesn’t benefit Pier 1. However, it almost certainly benefits big-box retailer Target. Therefore, TGT stock appears a solid bet among the stocks to buy in February.
Back a few months during the holidays, the overwhelming emphasis was on spending money. After all, some of the most culturally significant events occur during the winter. Simply put, the atmosphere brings out a spirit of generosity.
In February, though, it’s a month of sobering up from those celebrations. With that sentiment in mind, investors should consider adding NortonLifeLock (NASDAQ:NLOK) and NLOK stock to their watch list.
As I mentioned up top, the economy is undergoing massive changes. One of the most remarkable shifts is in commerce; specifically, more of our transactions are occurring in the digital and mobile space. According to a Reuters’ report, 2019 holiday sales, excluding autos, increased 3.4%. A major catalyst for this jump was online sales, which hit record levels.
With ecommerce taking an increasing share of all retail transactions in the U.S., the convenience factor is obvious. But so is the need to protect the data that we transmit daily. NortonLifeLock is among the most trusted names in personal cybersecurity solutions. Therefore, I see necessarily increasing relevance for NLOK stock.
Speaking of digital transactions, I think it’s fair to consider the other side of the deal. The advancement of technology didn’t just sprout completely new business sectors. Instead, it also evened the playing field, allowing smaller businesses to compete with their larger rivals. Because of this powerful dynamic, I have consistently suggested adding Square (NYSE:SQ) to your list of stocks to buy.
Understandably, SQ stock has incurred a wild ride over the last year and a half. At one point, Square’s equity appeared poised to take out the triple-digit barrier for good. Instead, that key psychological level has acted as resistance. Further, you have CEO Jack Dorsey, who doubles as the chief executive of social media firm Twitter (NYSE:TWTR).
Ideally, you’d like to see the man focus on one company. That’s especially the case because Square is turning out to be a very significant player in fintech. However, Dorsey is such a genius that many shareholders would rather have half of him than none at all.
For me, what really separates SQ stock from the competition is its underlying comprehensive ecosystem. With today’s Square, we’re not just talking about merchants being able to accept credit card payments through their phone. Rather, Square has evolved into a complete business and accounting network.
Exxon Mobil (XOM)
Oil giant Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) has taken a hit alongside the rest of the crude oil market. Given the headlines, I’m not entirely surprised by this volatility. Early this year, XOM stock showed signs of life as a brewing crisis in the Middle East threatened to escalate. However, cooler heads prevailed. As a result, investors quickly dumped out of the oil sector.
Nevertheless, I’m long-term bullish on XOM stock. Furthermore, the bloodshed in January may represent a tremendous discount. Primarily, I don’t buy into this regional calm. Call me cynical, but I view it as the calm before the storm.
In this case, I genuinely believe you can look at history for an accurate forecast. The Middle East has been rife with conflict and this will probably never end.
Want a convincing example? In an attempt to isolate hated rival Iran, Israel has been making overtures to Saudi Arabia. Recently, the Jewish state allowed its citizens to travel to Saudi Arabia under certain conditions. The problem? Saudi Arabia doesn’t allow holders of Israeli passports to enter its borders.
That’s just plain anachronistic and harkens back to centuries-old rivalries. At some point, the Middle East will again explode in conflict, and that’s when XOM stock will fly.
In my opinion, IBM (NYSE:IBM) is a classic example of contrarian blue-chip stocks to buy. Like other industry stalwarts, investors have a tendency of taking IBM for granted. Generally speaking, it has stable fundamentals but lacks a sexy growth narrative. Moreover, “Big Blue” underwent massive changes as the tech industry shifted from hardware-centric platforms to the cloud.
Still, IBM stock has the appearance of a sleeping giant ready to wake. Yes, the iconic organization unfortunately lost some ground in the early phase of the cloud ramp up. However, this phase is what I would peg as “exploratory.” Put another way, it features low-hanging fruit.
Moving forward, cloud clients will no longer be impressed with the rudimentary functions of the cloud, such as data storage. Instead, they’ll likely look for comprehensive solutions, such as big data analytics and artificial intelligence. They’ll also see companies that have robust network security protocols.
The beauty of IBM stock is that the underlying organization has these core elements under one roof. Therefore, it can offer efficiencies and cost savings for the enterprise-level clients that IBM is targeting. Given this dynamic, it’s well worth considering it among the stocks to buy in February.
Under Armour (UA, UAA)
For quite some time, I’ve had my reservations about embattled sports apparel firm Under Armour (NYSE:UA, NYSE:UAA). With such a crowded sector and the dominance of Nike (NYSE:NKE) and Adidas (OTCMKTS:ADDYY), there just wasn’t much room for a third wheel. Plus, sports endorsements went bonkers in terms of cost. Investors couldn’t handle it anymore and UA stock took a beating over the years.
Another headwind that clouded UA stock is the company’s “Wolf of Wall Street”-like culture. Additionally, investigations into accounting practices don’t bode well for Under Armour’s image. Still, some changes in the leadership ranks may help get the company out of the doldrums. Also, Under Armour may have saved itself by securing star basketball player Stephen Curry’s endorsement deal.
As a New York Times article revealed, Curry was about to walk due to his frustrations with the company. But current indications suggest that the athlete is now happy with Under Armour. Combine that with relative stability during its dark days and UA stock might have a chance at a recovery.
F5 Networks (FFIV)
F5 Networks (NASDAQ:FFIV) is a name I picked out using Stockrover.com’s comprehensive investment analytics platform. As a web applications and networking solutions provider, F5 Networks’ business is incredibly relevant. But the reason I picked out FFIV stock is that it could be an underappreciated contrarian pick.
Based on traditional valuation metrics such as price-to-earnings ratio and earnings-per-share predictability, FFIV stock ranks as a highly undervalued equity. Yet sentiment surrounding the company is very poor. That’s despite F5 Networks beating EPS consensus estimates in its most recent quarter. However, disappointing guidance ultimately sank shares.
In the bigger picture, though, its earnings performance has been mostly positive. Given the applicable nature of F5 Networks’ business and the excessive bearishness, FFIV stock could surprise investors in February.
As of this writing, Josh Enomoto did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.


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By: Press Release | Exponent Media Group
Orlando — Exponent Media Group, Inc., a Florida based media consulting and technology company, dedicated exclusively to the newspaper industry, announced their newest partnership with Lakeway Publishers, Inc.. All 21 newspaper properties within Lakeway Publishers, Inc. will begin utilizing CLOUD PAGINATION to support their print and online automotive initiatives. Exponent Media Group produces print automotive buyers guides and online automotive portals using it’s proprietary Cloud Pagination application to assist newspapers with growing their automotive revenues while reducing costs.
Chris Maikisch, President of Exponent Media Group said, “We are very excited to be working Jack and Mike Fishman to support all their local efforts to provide their readers and online visitors with substantial automotive content. For years we have seen classified advertisers migrate away from newspapers to the internet. Cloud Pagination reverses the migration and aims to change the trends. Utilizing this new technology, Lakeway Publishers will be able to give their automotive advertisers the ability to feature all of their used car inventory in the core newspaper as well as online via our Autochooser.net platform. We want our clients like Lakeway Publishers to focus on what they do best which is sell to local advertisers that is why we take care of assigning call tracking numbers and manage the ROI. Our technology and support allows our clients limitless opportunities to launch new products and form new partnerships that increase revenues and efficiencies making them formidable competitors in their local markets”.

domain: news


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Aussie Butcher Posted Sign Saying Bacon 'Reduces Your Chance of Being a Suicide Bomber'
A butcher has denied a sign in his shop window claiming his bacon 'reduces your risk of being a suicide bomber' is racist.
The sign was displayed in the front window of Rapley's Midtown Quality Meats in Narooma, New South Wales, Australia.
The sign, which reads 'Eating two strips of Rapley's award-winning bacon for breakfast reduces your chance of being a suicide bomber by 100 per cent' has sparked controversy but owner Jeff Rapley denied it is racist.
The butcher also claimed his bacon sales have gone up since the promotion.
He told Narooma News : "I’m definitely not a racist and didn’t mean for it to cause offence."
He said he removed the sign the next day following a backlash which got "way out of hand".
A number of religions, including Islam and Judaism, forbid their followers from eating pork.
A picture of the sign was widely shared on social media, sparking mixed reaction.
One Twitter user said: "It's great that the stores name is in the picture. Business is only going to go down hill for them if it hasn't already."
But another added: "It is rather funny. People get so upset and fearful of jokes like this. Don't live in fear."


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Copyright 2019 Hubbard Radio Washington DC, LLC. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
BEIJING (AP) — China’s Commerce Ministry said Thursday it has extended punitive tariffs on Indian optical fiber products for five years.
The announcement follows a yearlong review after a previous tariff expired in 2019. It takes effect Aug. 14.
It is unclear if the move is in any way related to a recent bout of antagonisms between the Asian giants linked to a border clash in which 20 Indian soldiers died.
The tariffs on single-mode optical fiber range from 7.4% to 30.6% and were first imposed in August 2014.
Optical fiber is used in telecommunications networks.
Insight by Tanium: A new Federal News Network survey reports that IT and cyber executives say technology risk management is a balancing act of cybersecurity, mission and personnel.
Earlier this month, India kept in place tariffs on Chinese-made solar power products that were imposed to protect its own manufacturers.
Copyright © 2020 . All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.


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GDS news from Travelport, Amadeus, Sabre, Abacus – August 2012
Product news, releases, projects and more from the global distribution systems during August 2012 – all here, in one easy read.
Wednesday 29 August 2012:
• eNett and Mastercard sign technology partnership. The Travelport co-owned business, which provide payment and fulfilment services to the travel industry, has agreed to work with Mastercard for the next five years so the credit card giant becomes the exclusive payment partner for all eNett virtual account numbers in Europe.
• United suffers major network outage, passengers hit as systems collapse
Read full story at: http://www.tnooz.com/GDS-news-august-2012


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Now that Nokia Devices and Services have officially become owned by Microsoft, Microsoft have celebrated the new acquisition by releasing their first advert since the acquisition called “Not Like Everybody Else”.
As of April 25th 2014 the Microsoft and Nokia Devices & Services deal was sealed and includes the Lumia brand for Windows Phone smartphones. Together with a number of patent license agreements which have been setup between the two companies.
Over the coming months and years it will be interesting to see how Microsoft uses their new acquisition to push forward their windows Phone mobile operating system as well as developing new smartphone technology to compete with the likes of Apple, Samsung and Google who are dominating the markets at the present time.
“Today, everything just became a lot more colorful. You can read more about Nokia Devices and Services coming together with Microsoft”
Latest Geeky Gadgets Deals
Disclosure: Some of our articles include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, Geeky Gadgets may earn an affiliate commission. Learn about our Disclosure Policy.


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The sale includes the sunflower processing plant in Voronezh. Other financial details about the deal were not disclosed.
The Voronezh plant, which opened in 2008, has an annual capacity to process 540,000 tonnes of raw material which makes it possible to produce more than 200 million bottles of sunflower oil.
“We are grateful to the team for continuing to deliver essential food and feed in this challenging environment," said Greg Heckman, Bunge’s CEO.
"With Karen Vanetsyan's more than 25 years of experience in agricultural processing, we are confident the team will continue to successfully serve customers.”
Grain giants scale back Russian operations because of war
At the time, Cargill said the company employed about 2,500 people in Russia, with investments of more than $1.1 billion in agroprocessing.
ADM said its footprint in Russia was very limited and it would "scale down operations in Russia not related to the production and transport of essential food commodities and ingredients."
In March, Bunge had suspended any new export business from Russia, but its oilseed crush plant was still operating and serving the domestic market. Bunge had $121 million in total assets in the country at that point.
On March 4, Louis Dreyfus Co. (LDC) said it suspended Russian operations.
Today, LDC says on its website that grains remain a core business in Russia, where it exports between 1.5 and 3 million metric tons of grains annually.


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“He gave me the shoes he wore in the game. I actually smelled them and they didn’t stink.”
-Brian Urlacher talking about a pair of shoes he received from the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James.
Just had to share this quote, even though it didn’t pertain to football. Urlacher’s a weird guy.
- Would Jahri Evans make sense for the Bears?
- Super Bowl 50: Peyton Manning, Cam Newton differences plentiful
- Super Bowl 50: Pass rush still most valuable NFL asset
- NFL Predictions: 2015 Week 21 Picks — Super Bowl 50
- Super Bowl Odds: Analyzing the lines for 2016 season
- Bears' Zach Miller seeking big free agent contract
- Cam Newton’s race comments off base, miss the point
- Dave Wannstedt offers solution to defending Carolina Panthers
- Phil Emery joining Atlanta Falcons scouting department
- NFL Power Rankings: 2015 Week 21 -- Super Bowl 50


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A new repo qtum-electrum-new was built to add qtum-related features to the latest code for Bitcoin electrum.
gold to electrum piece conversion
Bitcoin Gold has released the official Light Wallet ElectrumG 3.2.1, which supports Windows, Mac, and Linux desktop systems. ElectrumG is the most widely used bitcoin light wallet, the bit gold version of Electrum, without losing security or downloading all 170G block data.
Users of Bitcoin wallet Electrum are currently facing a phishing attack, according to the Devi Security Lab. Hackers broadcast messages to electrum clients through a malicious server, prompting the user to update to v4.0.0, and if the user follows the prompt to install the backdoor-carrying client, the private key is stolen and all digital assets are stolen. At the time of writing, at least 1,450 BTCs worth approximately $11.6 million had been stolen from phishing attacks that forged Electrum upgrade alerts. Devi Security Labs hereby suggests that versions of Electrum below 3.3.4 are vulnerable to such phishing attacks, and users using Electrum Wallet are requested to update to the latest version of Electrum3.3.8 via the official website (electrum.org), which has not yet been officially released v4.0.0, and do not use the link in the prompt message to avoid asset losses.
Gold 1479 top bottom conversion position more, loss in 1474, the target looked to 1490.
All in all, Electrum has a good reputation in the market. The wallet's UI may not be pretty enough, but it's worth using. That's it, we're at the end of the Electrum wallet review. I hope you find it useful.
Electrum-LTC is Electrum's community maintenance port, Litecoin's Bitcoin wallet. It is not the official product of Electrum Technologies GmbH, and it is not supported.
This isn't the first time electrum has appeared in a fake version. In December, nearly $1 million of BTC was stolen when hackers developed a fake encrypted wallet, Electrum. 1 this year.
One of electrum Bitcoin's most popular wallets first appeared around 2011.
Star Daily News Bitcoin Wallet Electrum official Twitter announced that the next version of Electrum will support Lightning online payments. Its lightning node implementation has been consolidated into the main branch of Electrum. Electrum also confirmed that the wallet will adopt a new implementation of in-house development written using Python. (Cointelegraph)
If you have vt download permissions, you can download the powershell script back from hash.


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Whole Foods is predicting the future — well, the future of our shopping carts, that is. In the grocery chain’s latest report, they shared the top ten food trends that shoppers will be buying into in 2019, as determined by a team of buyers and experts who study consumer preferences and industry exhibitions. Those trends: Pacific Rim flavors, shelf-stable probiotics, “phat” fats, next-level hemp, faux meat snacks, eco-conscious packaging, unusual frozen treats, marine “munchies,” upgraded snacks and purchases that “empower.” Wellness seems to be a big focus, as well as unusual uses for ingredients sourced from farther afield. (Think: tahini-based soft serve, dried shrimp snacks and kelp noodles.) Here are five of the food trends that might be most surprising to shoppers.
Pacific Rim flavors
These are foods and flavors native to Asia, Oceania and the western coasts of the Americas. On the savory side, that will include items like Filipino pork sausage (called longganisa), dried shrimp and shrimp paste, while on the sweet side, tropical fruits like guava, passionfruit and dragonfruit will loom large.
While cannabis and CBD products are becoming popular, they’re still prohibited in food and body care on the federal level. But other hemp-based products are finding ways into the supermarket aisle in the form of hemp plant stem cells and phytocannabinoids, which are not actually derived from cannabis. And then there are hemp hearts, seeds and oils.
Faux meat snacks
The Impossible Burger has been popping up on hip restaurant menus, so it’s no surprise that non-meat products are also bound to be gaining ground in stores, and not just for vegans and vegetarians. Mushrooms — in particular the king trumpet variety — are a Whole Foods highlight as a pork and bacon alternative.
New frozen treats
Tahini, avocado, hummus and coconut water are getting new exposure as the bases for frozen desserts, like savory soft serves and ice creams. Meanwhile, Asian delicacies like Thai rolled ice cream and mochi and chewy Turkish ice cream are also poised for popularity.
Marine munchies, beyond seaweed
Seaweed snacks are so 2018, apparently. Whole Foods predicts that items like seaweed butter, kelp noodles, salmon skins and kelp jerkies will become more mainstream, while ingredients including water lily seeds, algae, sea fennel and kelp will appear in a number of other snacks, too.
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Canada Post parcel volumes plunge
Canada Post saw parcel volumes drop by 20 million pieces in the third quarter of the year, representing a $31 million decline in the business.
“The reopening of stores for in-person shopping negatively impacted demand for parcels. Global supply chain issues also began to affect inbound volumes, particularly from China,” it noted in a related release.
But related revenue was still up $307 million for the first nine months of the year, representing an 11.4% increase over last year, while parcel volumes declined 2.3% or 2 million pieces when compared to the same period in 2020.
The loss in parcel revenue was offset by proactively managing capacity and the mix of commercial customers and products, Canada Post says. It also continues to invest in processing capacity and efficiencies.
The corporation’s Purolator courier business recorded a $65 million profit in the third quarter, while the SCI third party logistics business gained $7 million.
Have your say
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Microsoft is hoping that the blogosphere buzz around Windows 7 will translate into a hit. It desperately needs one. Amid big competitors like Google, Apple, and IBM posting modest growth despite the slowing economy, Microsoft shows serious signs of trouble.
Windows market share has dipped beneath 90 percent for the first time in years. Internet Explorer is down into the 60s in world browser market share, falling from the high 80s in 2004. And Windows Vista, while overall a solid product, has been the blunt of much public apathy, business scorn, and press lashings. To top it off, it’s facing a fresh round of antitrust charges from the European Union.
Even arguably Microsoft's biggest success -- the Xbox 360 -- despite boasting an excellent attach rate has fallen behind in the console war to the bestselling Nintendo Wii. And other Microsoft business sectors like its internet offerings, and Zune player have yet to achieve enough of a foothold to become a serious contender for dominant market share. In short, Microsoft, always a terrific innovator, is arguably without a killer app or product for the first time in years.
This was evidenced in Microsoft's earnings report, just released. Microsoft announced that its Q2 2009 profit sank from $4.71B USD a year ago to $4.17B USD, a loss of 12 percent. Total revenue was $16.63B USD, but this was only possible thanks to higher server, tools and entertainment sales. Client sales revenue, which includes Windows products, fell 8 percent.
Wall Street analysts predicted revenue of $17.08B USD, which Microsoft missed by a fair margin. Worse, it says more decreases in revenue and earnings are expected to come in the following quarters this year.
Heather Bellini an analyst at UBS AG in New York, comments, "If they don’t have big operating-expense reductions, they are going to get a very bad reaction from shareholders. I don’t care if they get rid of contractors, full-time employees, facilities, health benefits --just get the costs out."
Indeed, Microsoft announced that it's cutting jobs, as Ms. Bellini and other analysts predicted. It will be cutting 5,000 employees out of its workforce of 94,286 (with 20,000 to 30,000 contractors). It will also reduce its operating budget by $1.5B USD, to try to avoid angering its shareholders. It is declining to give revenue and earnings targets for the remainder of the year saying the market is "too volatile" to estimate these metrics.
Ultimately, Microsoft is still posting big profits -- $4.17B USD in profit is enough to make even some of the biggest companies drool. It’s also sitting on a big cash pile, though it may have burned through some of it. So why the concern?
The real problem isn't so much that Microsoft missed a target or that its revenue fell, it’s that Microsoft’s shares in its most important markets, its underlying sources of income, are slipping.
However, it won't go down without a fight, and with Windows 7 coming later this year, Microsoft may finally have a new hit on its hands. Meanwhile, it will have to wait and try to come up with new strategies to try to generate bigger sales its existing products.
quote: I hate to say it but the latest version of Firefox _is_ pretty darned spiffy.
quote: Firefox is good, darned good.
quote: The problem is its still just a browser. There are plenty better calculator programs out there too, but if you're not working in engineering or something, how many people actually go download a better one?
quote: you don't make changes when the ship is sinking... you make PROACTIVE changes before severe damage is done. and the net headcount reduction over 18 months is only 3,000 or so since they'll be HIRING new people for their refocused efforts.
quote: if your income is reduced don't you start mowing your own grass and cut down eating out? probably so even though that affects your lawn guy and your local restaurant staff. so what the hell is the difference between microsoft realizing they're bloated in areas and chosing to cut the bloat.
quote: so, if your household income dropped 8.5% you wouldn't reduce your spending? most families would as would most companies.
quote: "Since this is my first CES a lot of people sent me email message. Bill Gates said, 'Be sure you're at CES and not that OTHER meeting.' And here's one from Jerry Yang... he wants to know why I'm not answering his Facebook friend requests."
quote: I don’t care if they get rid of contractors, full-time employees, facilities, health benefits --just get the costs out."
quote: From my personal experience, the reduced memory utilization is appreciated
quote: Microsoft is hoping that the blogosphere buzz around Windows 7 will translate into a hit. It desperately needs one. Amid big competitors like Google, Apple, and IBM posting modest growth despite the slowing economy, Microsoft shows serious signs of trouble.
quote: Microsoft shows serious signs of trouble.
quote: Apple earning a record profit of $1.61B and Microsoft only earning $4.17B is supposed to show the MS Zombies what exactly? That Microsoft is still 2.6 times more profitable?


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(adds company comment)
MELBOURNE (MarketWatch) -- Australia's competition watchdog said on its Web site Monday it is looking into Google Inc.'s
In a letter to industry participants posted on its Web site, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission called for feedback on how the deal may affect competition in the Australian online advertising market.
"Given both parties provide Internet advertising-related services to advertisers and Web publishers, the ACCC's inquiries into this matter are likely to focus on the effects that the proposed acquisition is likely to have, if any, on the Australian advertising industry," the ACCC said.
The regulator will look at several issues, including if online advertising forms a separate market and whether the deal will lead to higher prices for advertisers or lower rates for Web publishers.
The action is not unusual, as the competition regulator regularly seeks comment from industry players on most deals that may impact the Australian market.
Google agreed to buy DoubleClick earlier this year after a bidding war with other Internet companies also seeking to expand their advertising reach. The deal immediately drew calls for antitrust scrutiny in the U.S.
The Internet heavyweight said Monday it does not believe the acquisition raises competition issues.
"DoubleClick and Google provide very different services to each other and we've provided information to the ACCC in the normal course," a Google spokesman said.
Google said online advertising is a highly competitive and fast-growing sector and that the large numbers of participants ensure consumers benefit from competition.
Google is among the largest platforms for text-based online advertising, while DoubleClick is one of the largest brokers for online advertising.
DoubleClick doesn't actually sell ads. Instead, it serves as a broker between platforms like Google and companies that want to advertise their products and services. Once it places an ad on a Web site, it then maintains it as well as tracking hits and click-throughs for the client.
The ACCC said on its Web site it expects to announce its findings on the planned transaction on Oct. 16.
Earlier Monday, the Australian Federal Court adjourned a separate case against Google bought by the ACCC, which claims the online search giant and client Trading Post Australia - a unit of Telstra Corp. - engaged in misleading conduct.
The ACCC is alleging misleading and deceptive conduct in relation to sponsored links that appeared on Google's Web site in 2005 and that the two contravened advertising regulations.
Google has said the allegations are baseless.


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Oracle appears to be the victor in the bidding war for U.S. operations of TikTok, edging out Microsoft and Walmart just two days before an impending ban.
The United States government gave Chinese company ByteDance an ultimatum, sell its stateside operations to an American company or be banned on September 15. Multiple companies, including Apple, were in question for the purchase, but ultimately Oracle won out.
On Sunday night, The Wall Street Journal received a report that Oracle had closed the deal only moments after Microsoft announced it had been rejected. The deal does not seem to be an outright purchase of all assets and intellectual property, however. Reportedly, TikTok will consider Oracle a "trusted tech partner."
The sale of TikTok has seen a lot of drama over recent weeks, as TikTok and the U.S. government seemed unable to budge or compromise on negotiations. TikTok sued against the ban order in late August, but due to the time sensitive nature of the event, the action did nothing for their case.
Microsoft and Walmart were discussing a partnership to purchase the company as well. The purchase would have acted as direct competition to Instagram's own shopping network and ad placement.
Ultimately the final deal went to Oracle— the company known for Java and cloud computing platforms. The details of the deal remain unknown until an official announcement is made by one of the companies.


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Silvergate brand on track to become ‘super IP’ in China; launch success in Taiwan.
Silvergate Media’s Octonauts property is continuing to gather momentum in Asia – and is on track to becoming a ‘super IP’ in China.
The preschool brand has successfully launched in Taiwan, debuting on Taiwan’s Eastern Broadcasting’s cable EBC Yoyo Channel last month, in addition to EBC Variety Channel in a primetime morning slot.
Now, with consumer demand building, master global toy partner Fisher-Price is gearing up to introduce its range of toys into the market this autumn. It will support the launch with a series of nationwide retail events and meet and greets.
Publishing and secondary categories will then follow in 2018.
The recent developments build upon Octonauts accelerating popularity with families and children in Asia.
Since its launch on CCTV in 2014, millions of fans in China have taken the show to their hearts and it is now on track to becoming a ‘super IP’. Octonauts has proved so successful in the region that season five of the show will be co-produced by CCTV, which will boost broadcast exposure on the channel. The new series will begin rolling out around the world from autumn 2018.
Alongside the strong broadcast viewing figures, total web TV views in China have also recently hit ten billion. Silvergate has also invested in experiential retail events and sales of consumer products have been performing well.
Meanwhile, in Korea, in partnership with licensing agent Earlybird, Silvergate Media has established a strong licensing programme in the market that boasts 29 licensees and covers an impressive 86 product categories.
The fourth season of Octonauts debuted over the summer on Disney Korea and in the past year, Silvergate has activated a successful nationwide theatrical tour at Lotte cinemas and a live show tour is currently underway. Toy sales also continue to increase after three years of growth.
“Octonauts is a show filled with compelling characters, lots of adventure and real life science; and it’s this unique combination that’s resonating with fans across Asia and enabling the brand to reach such great heights,” said Ron Allen, svp commercial at Silvergate Media.
“We are extremely proud of the brand’s success across Asia – particularly in Korea where it is an exceptional achievement for a foreign IP to experience such popularity – and are delighted to introduce even more families to this fantastic show.”


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Advancing age doesn't mean your times need to fall off a cliff.
Glenda Kwek is a business reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald. Email or tweet her with your news tips.
Glenda Kwek Australian consumers are increasingly worried about their jobs and the economic outlook, with the growing gloom expected to hurt their spending decisions.
Glenda Kwek Clock ticking to secure more cash funding, as shares slump to an almost five-year low.
Glenda Kwek Shares in Lynas slump following a larger first-half loss that triggered a warning from its auditor about its ability to continue trading.
Glenda Kwek Australian business conditions slumped in February after rising to almost three-year highs at the start of the year, as sales and employment indicators weakened amid the soft jobs market.
Glenda Kwek Australia has to leave behind traditional industries that are going nowhere and get behind agriculture if it wants to tap into Asia's growing demand for food and unlock billions of dollars in...
Glenda Kwek The Australian dollar has shrugged off the sharp fall in the iron ore price, prompting analysts to predict it could lose its tag as a commodity currency.
Glenda Kwek The Australian dollar has started the week on a softer note, after a stronger-than-expected US jobs report and weaker Chinese trade data pushed the currency lower by almost one cent.
Glenda Kwek Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens passed over the opportunity to talk down the Australian dollar even as the currency soared to a three-month high, stoking suggestions the central bank could be...
Glenda Kwek RBA governor Glenn Stevens says while there has been plenty of pain in manufacturing, we shouldn’t forget the success stories.
Glenda Kwek Interest rates look set to remain at the same levels for a period of time, even as the jobless rate continues to rise.
Glenda Kwek The Australian dollar has surged to a three-month high after a string of strong economic figures drove up confidence about the economic outlook.
Glenda Kwek Consumers spending more and saving less has helped the Australian economy grow by a stronger than expected rate in the last three months of the year.
Glenda Kwek The Australian dollar rose higher on the back of better-than-expected fourth-quarter growth figures, shrugging off the Reserve Bank of Australia's latest attempt to talk it down.
Glenda Kwek The Reserve Bank has resumed its talks on the need for a weaker dollar as it kept the cash rate on hold, and amid further signs of growth in the housing market.
Glenda Kwek The Reserve Bank has resumed its jawboning on the need for a weaker Australian dollar as it kept the cash rate on hold amid further signs of growth in the housing market.
Glenda Kwek The Reserve Bank of Australia has kept the cash rate on hold at a record low of 2.5 per cent, but indicated it wants the Australian dollar to keep falling.
Glenda Kwek Building approvals have jumped to their highest monthly growth in more than a decade, with strong rises for both detached houses and apartments, as Australians continue to take advantage of record...
Glenda Kwek The Reserve Bank is keeping a watchful eye on a series of economic indicators even as it signals a "period of stability" for interest rates.
Glenda Kwek Amid another round of very mixed economic data, it's a the rise in consumer prices, including fruits and vegetables, that is set to keep the Reserve Bank sitting on the sidelines.
Glenda Kwek Job advertisements have risen strongly in February after a flat start to the year.


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The municipality of Rotterdam is working on a Rotterdam Prevention Agreement to encourage Rotterdam residents to live healthier lives. Part of that is discouraging unhealthy diets by countering the opening of more fast food chains, and promoting a more responsible and healthier product range in supermarkets, the office of mayor and aldermen said in response to questions by Leefbaar Rotterdam city councilor Michel van Elck, the Telegraaf reports.
Organic products in the Netherlands are becoming more affordable, according to a price comparison by consumers' association Consumentenbond. Five years ago organic products were on average twice as expensive as regular ones. Now buying organic is 63 percent more expensive, AD reports.
The association compared 115 products from 13 regular supermarkets and four organic stores.
Two Amsterdam restaurants made it into the Europe's Top 50 Burgers ranking by global travel site Big 7 Travel. Not only did Burger Bar and The Beef Chief's burgers get into the top 50, but they made it into the top 10.
Burger Bar serves the 8th best burger in Europe. The company has three locations in Amsterdam and is easily one of Amsterdam's most popular burger joints, according to the site. "Perfect after a few beers", the site says about the burgers.
Thousands of kids and teenagers in the Netherlands skipped school on Thursday to protest in The Hague for more action to be taken against climate change. They carried banners and signs with slogans like "If the climate were a bank, it would already have been saved". The protest happened peacefully and without incident, NU.nl reports.
Food waste is still a massive problem in the Netherlands. About a third of the total produced food ends up in the trash can. Consumers are the biggest culprit, accounting for 42 percent of the waste. Each consumer throws away 41 kilograms of food per year. Bread is the most wasted product in the Netherlands. Every day 800 thousand loaves find their way into the trash, Nieuwsuur reports.
McDonald's world-famous Chicken McNuggets will be unavailable at many of the fast food chain's Dutch branches in the coming days. Due to an error in the production process, many McDonald's in the Netherlands are running out of stock, NOS reports.
Butchery Van Hattem from Dodewaard and its director will be prosecuted for their role in a horse meat scandal of five years ago. They are suspected of forgery because they sold meat as "horse-free" while it wasn't, and as halal while it wasn't. The butchery is accused of incorporating horse meat into its products and selling it as beef, making 250 thousand euros in illegal profit, Omroep Gelderland reports.
Supermarket chain Albert Heijn will start offering hot meal delivery from Friday - the first Dutch supermarket to do so. Initially Albert Heijn will only deliver freshly made meals in a certain area in Amsterdam. Deliveries will be handled by Thuisbezorgd.nl and Deliveroo, NU.nl reports.
"We see an increasing demand among our customers for good meals, like you would make yourself, without having to go into the kitchen", said Marit van Egmond, Albert Heijn's director of commerce. The company described this as the next step in food service.
Hundreds of Dutch Protestant pastors, prominent people in the church, as well as the party leader and a senator of Christian party SGP, signed a manifesto against LGBTQ people. The manifesto argues that marriage is meant to only be a covenant between one man and one woman, and that good Christians should always reject homosexuality. It also suggests that your sexual identity is something you can be healed of.
Twelve Dutch restaurants were awarded their first Michelin stars at the presentation in Amsterdam on Monday. Two others were awarded a second star. Inter Scaldes in Kruiningen, De Leest in Vaassen and De Librije in Zwolle all kept the three stars they already had, according to Misset Horeca.
Restaurants Sabero in Roermond and Pure C in Catzand were each awarded two stars..
The following restaurants were awarded their first Michelin star:
A new Amsterdam-based platform and app aims to connect people across the Netherlands face-to-face through meal sharing. Through Meals Unite you can host a dinner for people in your neighborhood, or be a guest at someone else's dinner anywhere in the Netherlands, simply by signing up for it.
Looking for a unique Christmas gift this year? Why not spoil a loved one with a delicious, chocolatey treat from The Traveling Frenchman.
The Amsterdam based company sells single-origin chocolate and hot chocolate flakes. This means the chocolate is made using cocoa beans from one specific place of origin. The beans take on the characteristics of the region where it is grown, and can take on floral, herbal, earthy or berry tones depending on region.
Tony's Chocolonely is opening its own chocolate factory in former flour mill Pakhuis de Vrede in Zaandam. "There will also be a roller coaster", CEO Henk Jan Beltman said to RTL Nieuws.
Over the past 12 years Tony's Chocolonely has grown to become one of the most popular chocolate brands in the Netherlands. The company only uses responsibly sourced cocoa, for which farmers in Africa received acceptable payment and no children were used during harvest, according to the broadcaster. Its chocolate bars are currently made in factories in Belgium.
Minister Carola Schouten of Agriculture wants to use a "light form" of genetic modification as part of her efforts to make agriculture in the Netherlands more sustainable. She is currently working with companies, farmers and Wageningen University to investigate the possibilities for experimenting with the so-called CRISPR-Cas method. She will send parliament a letter about their progress in the coming weeks, she said to the Volkskrant.
Inter Scaldes in Kruiningen was named the best restaurant in the Netherlands by restaurant guide Lekker. The Zeeland restaurant came in second place last year, RTL Nieuws reports.
Last year's first place, Jonnie Boer's De Librije, came in second place this year. De Leest in Vaassen came in third.
A decreasing number of Dutch consume alcohol, but those who do are drinking more and more, according to figures from the World Health Organization. According the the Dutch institution for alcohol policy STAP, the increase in alcohol consumption is especially significant among Dutch men, RTL Nieuws reports.
Jumbo supermarkets will stop selling live lobsters, after years of protest by animal rights activists. A large Jumbo branch in Utrecht will get no tank for live lobsters, and branches in Amsterdam, Breda and Veghel will stop selling them, RTL Nieuws reports.
The police confiscated 50 kilograms of chocolate from a foreign car on the A2 highway near Geleen on Saturday. The three people in the car were arrested, the police said on Twitter.
The chocolate was packed into cooler-bags. The three people in the car could not give the police a believable explanation of where the chocolate came from or where they were going with it.
Vegetable giant Greenco is giving away some 6 million cherry tomatoes for free. Due to the hot weather, the tomatoes saw too much sun, causing their skin to become wrinkled. They can therefore no longer be sold because their quality is too low for supermarkets.
Dutch startup Mosa Meat, that makes meat in a laboratory, received a 7.5 million euros investment from Swiss meat processing company Bell Food Group and M Ventures, the investment branch of German pharmaceutical Merck, a spokesperson for Mosa Meat confirmed to NU.nl.
Frozen vegetables that may be contaminated by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes are in circulation in the Netherlands, Dutch food and consumer product safety authority NVWA warns The contaminated vegetables already led to several deaths elsewhere in Europe, RTL Nieuws reports.
This involves frozen vegetables from producer Greenyard's factory in Hungary. According to the NVWA, companies who sell these products must remove them from the shelves and send out warnings if they have already been sold.
Amsterdam's food walls will soon offer an alternative for people who want to make healthier choices with their meals. In August croquette king Febo will be joined by a Health Food Wall, which is opening on Kinkerstraat. The Health Food Wall will serve healthy vegetarian, or even vegan, meals as well as some gluten-free options, Het Parool reports.
A video surfaced showing serious abuses at duck breeding companies in the Netherlands, specifically when the animals are being caught and transported. Animal rights organizations are horrified, RTL Nieuws, who published the video, reports.
The video, made by Animal Rights last winter, shows a young duck being stomped to death, ducks being brutally crammed into crates, and being grabbed by their wings and legs. It also shows two employees throwing a young duck between each other in what seems to be a game.
Some 19 thousand Dutch teenagers drink too many energy drinks and therefore run health risks, public health institute RIVM concluded after a study. State Secretary Paul Blokhuis of Public Health is talking with various organizations about measures, NOS reports.
According to the RIVM, the consumption of energy drinks among teenagers declined over the past years. But about 1 to 2 percent of teens between the ages of 13 and 18 years drink three cans or more per day. They therefore run an increased risk of cardiac arrhythmia and their central nervous system being affected.


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Mitsubishi is the latest automaker to experiment with ways for owners of its cars to receive a discount on their insurance policies. So far only one insurance company is on board, but Mitsubishi hopes that will grow.
The insurance-tracking system works with a new version of Mitsubishi’s smartphone telematics app called Road Assist+. It keeps track of how, when and where owners drive their cars, using technology from LexisNexis Risk Solutions. If owners allow it, the data can then be transmitted to the Mitsubishi owner’s insurance company for a potential discount. State Auto Insurance Companies is the first and only insurer signed up with the plan.
Because Mitsubishi’s tracking system is a smartphone app, it’s independent of vehicle hardware. It doesn’t require an owner to install an OBD-II device, for instance, like, or that they own a modern vehicle with built-in connected-car features. Specifically, Mitsubishi will offer the usage-based insurance tracking for any new car still within its five-year warranty period. A Mitsubishi spokesperson said that the information collected will include GPS and accelerometer data from the smartphone on which the app is installed.
It’s not just a discount on insurance premiums, however. Mitsubishi will also offer a reward system that lets owners “level up” and receive additional perks. A Mitsubishi spokesperson said that those rewards could include a $10 discount on oil changes or a 10-percent discount on a car accessory. By the fourth quarter of this year, Mitsubishi also hopes to expand the rewards program to include third-party “digital rewards,” though no specifics on those perks have been confirmed just yet.
Mitsubishi Road Assist+ is available now in the Apple App Store and will be made available for Android devices soon. Other companies experimenting with usage-based car insurance systems include Hyundai, which partnered with Verisk to.


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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a visit to Canada’s West Coast yesterday to promote the nations technology sector. Trudeau had been meeting with officials in Washington State before hand and afterwards enjoyed time demonstrating a new virtual reality camera used for gaming at Entertainment Arts Canada. The technology was developed at EA in Burnaby where the Prime Minister also attended a roundtable with business leaders from different sectors.
Photo from EA: https://twitter.com/EA
He said the visit was to identify how the government can better assist the technology sector.


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Hear about the USPS plan to cut First Class service?
By Associated Press - Monday, December 5
WASHINGTON — Unprecedented cuts by the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service will slow first-class delivery next spring and, for the first time in 40 years, eliminate the chance for stamped letters to arrive the next day.
The cuts would close roughly 250 of the nearly 500 mail processing centers across the country as early as next March. Because the consolidations would typically lengthen the distance mail travels from post office to processing center, the agency would also lower delivery standards for first-class mail that have been in place since 1971.
Currently, first-class mail is supposed to be delivered to homes and businesses within the continental U.S. in one to three days; that will be lengthened to two to three days, meaning mailers could no longer expect next-day delivery in surrounding communities. Periodicals could take between two and nine days.
Currently, about 42 percent of first-class mail is now delivered the following day.


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Brian Hoekstra will report to President and CEO Michael DeCata.
The business will continue operating under the Shipyard Supply name.
MDM readers end the summer with a look toward the future
Enclosure business purchased for $128 million.
Quality Electrical Distribution, a Sonepar company, will open a new branch in Littleton, Colorado, this fall. The location will have an increased focus on digital planning and solutions, according to the company. Additionally, QED’s Broomfield, Colorado, branch in March re-opened in a brand-new 31,500 square-foot facility. With more than $1.4 million in inventory, services offered …


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Piaggio has launched a new variant of their retro scooter, the Vespa. The new Vespa Notte 125 has been launched in India for INR 68,845 ex-showroom Pune. This makes the Piaggio Vespa Notte 125 the most affordable Vespa scooter in the country. However, this pricing is introductory.
This new Piaggio Vespa Notte 125 is painted in all-black. Notte means night in Italian, hence the all black colour theme. This variant also comes with black mirrors, black grab rails and black alloy wheels. However, do note, that with this cheaper price tag you don’t get a front disc brake, but just a drum brake setup at the front and back.
Powering the Piaggio Vespa Notte 125 is the same air-cooled motor producing 10.1 HP of power and 10.6 Nm of torque matched to a CVT automatic gearbox.


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You and I watched an average of 16.8 hours of video content per week last year, according to a new Consumer Technology Association study — that’s up a whopping 32 percent in just five years.
Working backwards, in 2011, consumers caught about 12.7 hours of video content each week. So what’s changed? Well, the number of content creators and availability video-enabled devices have skyrocketed in the relatively short amount of time dissected by the CTA.
Half-a-decade ago, 62 percent of video viewing was done on a traditional television. These days, we’re at 51 percent, and likely declining.
The biggest shifts have been to smartphones and tablets, of course. While laptop viewing is way up, desktop tune-in is predictably down heavy — those two personal computer options pretty much offset each other.
Today’s non-TV half of the all-in consumption leaves 21 percent for smartphones, 12 percent for laptops, 8 percent for desktops, 7 percent for tablets and 2 percent under the “other” catch-all.
“More and more consumers are embracing the freedom of connectivity – in this case, the anytime/anywhere access to video content,” explained Steve Koenig, senior director of market research, CTA. “This is one of the driving trends of our time. Today’s advancement of technology delivers ‘content convenience’ that results in cultural changes such as binge watching, second screen behavior, content recommendations and the screens consumers use to consume video. And we expect streaming subscribers to surpass paid TV services – and by a fair margin – in the next year or so.”
Here’s another interesting stat uncovered by Koenig’s group: In 2016, 68 percent of consumers received paid or unpaid streaming content. While it doesn’t compare directly due of the unpaid inclusion, 67 percent of people got pay-TV content. That’s the first time the streaming subs have caught up to the regular small-screen ones.
Clearly, the cord-cutters and cord-nevers are continuing to disrupt the traditional television business. But don’t fret, Samsung, Sony, Vizio and the like — 96 percent of American households still own televisions, and at a rate of about 2.8 TVs per household.
Read more from the CTA study here.


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Last week, Posti announced that it will cut the salaries of its about 700 employees and officials by 30 to 50 percent in a move to transfer the work from an agreement of the Finnish Post and Logistics Union PAU to the Collective Agreement Concerning Delivery Personnel of the Industry Union.
This inspired PAU to go on strike, which has caused some mail delivery delays across the country. The strike is scheduled to end on Wednesday at midnight.
Today, Sirpa Paatero, the minister of local government and ownership steering, said in a press conference that there will be a timeout in the transfer of the agreement.
Negotiations on the terms and agreements will be conducted with all parties present.
The results of the negotiations will be seen in the autumn.


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Police in Indonesia, working alongside Interpol, have arrested three men suspected of being part of a gang engaged in Magecart attacks that stole payment card information from online shoppers.
The three men, from the regions of Jakarta and Yogyakarta, were arrested on December 20th as part of an operation called “Night Fury”, but details were only made public at the end of last week at a press conference.
Indonesian police say that the trio, believed to have been active since 2017, made money from attacks against 12 (mostly European) online stores.
However, Security researchers at Sanguine Security say that it has linked the malicious code to attacks found on over 571 websites, 27 of which remain infected to this day despite warnings.
The researchers believe that one or more other suspects remain at large, and report that servers used by gang members to collect credit card data – including one which uses the brazen domain name of magecart.net – have been active and modified since the arrests.
If the arrested men are indeed responsible for some of the attacks that have been blighting online stores in recent years it will be the first time that police anywhere in the world have successfully apprehended an active Magecart gang.
What makes a Magecart attack often much more serious than a conventional data breach, is that most companies do not store your full credit card details, such as your CVV security code. But those details are entered on online checkout forms by consumers, and can be stolen by a malicious script hidden in the website’s code.
It’s worth bearing in mind that these arrests are unlikely to herald the end of Magecart and similar attacks, as there are other hacking gangs who are potentially making much more money from their cybercriminal activities and who might have done a better job of covering their tracks.


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(Adds details, share price)
Oct 25 (Reuters) - Expedia Group Inc's quarterly profit beat Wall Street estimates on Thursday, as an improving global economy boosts travel demand and drives more customers to its holiday-booking websites.
Expedia shares rose 8.5 percent in extended trading following the news.
The Bellevue, Washington-based company, which runs an eponymous website as well as brands including Hotels.com and Hotwire, said the value of bookings on its platforms rose 11 percent during the third quarter ended September.
HomeAway, Expedia's vacation rental business that competes with Airbnb, saw the dollar value of its bookings jump 24 percent.
Expedia, which has grown through a string of acquisitions, is spending millions of dollars to migrate to cloud computing systems to cut costs and better compete with rivals such as Booking Holdings.
Net income attributable to Expedia rose to $525 million or $3.43 per share in the quarter ended Sept. 30, from $352 million or $2.23 per share a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items, the company earned $3.65 per share, topping Wall Street expectations of $3.12, according to Refinitiv data. (https://bit.ly/2z7ybNI)
Revenue climbed to $3.28 billion, above estimates of $3.30 billion. (Reporting by Arunima Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Sai Sachin Ravikumar)


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By Charlie Bermant
Peninsula Daily News
Want more top stories? Sign up here for daily or weekly newsletters with our top news.
James Loe, who opened the first medical pot facility in Port Townsend in August 2013 and was unable to acquire a recreational license, is expanding his offerings for those who have state authorizations for medical use.
His facility, which opened as the Townsend Herbal Collective in August 2013 at 1139 Water St., reopened under a new name, Cannabis Hemporium, on Monday.
Earlier this year, the dispensary was acquired by MedCannabis Pharma, a Carrollton, Texas-based company that owns medical marijuana outlets in several states.
Under these auspices, Loe will open a second facility today at 21 Shine Road in Port Ludlow under the Cannabis Hemporium name, with a third location planned in Kingston.
Medical marijuana facilities cannot sell to anyone without medical authorization, but many don’t know the distinction and are disappointed when Loe won’t serve them, he said.
Loe said about 15 or 20 people a day visit the store and walk away disappointed.
“We tell them where they can get a medical authorization, or we send them down to Sea Change Cannabis in Discovery Bay on weekends,” Loe said.
As far as recreational marijuana goes, only two Peninsula retailers have acquired state licenses, only one is in business, and that one is finding it hard to get enough to stay open longer than one day a week.
The state Liquor Control Board’s licensing of growers has lagged behind demand, and there is a statewide shortage of legal marijuana for sale.
Sea Change Cannabis, 282332 U.S. Highway 101 in Discovery Bay, the Peninsula’s first retail marijuana store, opened its doors July 25 with the intention of operating on weekends until enough marijuana was available to open five days a week.
But during its four weekend of operation, supply has been so low — and demand so high — that the store has always sold out early, according to owner Greg Brotherton.
Brotherton has been selling one-eighth of an ounce for about $60 and grams for $20, which is about double what is charged at medical outlets.
Forrest Thomsen, who has closed a medical marijuana dispensary in Port Hadlock, is the second entrepreneur on the Peninsula to get a state recreational marijuana license.
He is waiting to open until he can get a steady supply.
“We initially intended to open at the beginning of July, but we haven’t found enough product,” Thomsen said.
“We have a lot of vendors lined up, but it’s going to take a little longer to get enough to stay open more than a few days a week.”
Thomsen won’t commit to a date but said he could open in Port Hadlock in September.
Gracen Hook, owner of Peninsula Herbal at 1433 Sims Way, who was first in a state lottery to be considered for a license in Port Townsend, is eyeing a November opening. He does not have a license now.
The location has operated as a medical pot facility for a year. Hook said he won’t close a successful facility in favor of one that can open only a few days a week.
Hook said he could sell 3 to 5 pounds a day, but this depends on how many other retail shops are open in its proximity.
Hook has operated two medical facilities for the past year, one on Sims Way and another at 216 W. Patison St. in Port Hadlock, which he does not plan to convert to a recreational outlet.
Also operating a medical marijuana facility is Herbal Access at 2427 Sims Way.
Jefferson County is allowed to have four retail cannabis outlets: one in Port Townsend and three in the unincorporated areas, which includes Discovery Bay.
None of the others who won top spots in the state’s lottery for consideration of licenses — Chimacum Cannabis in Chimacum, What Now! in Brinnon or Sol Good Cannabis in Port Hadlock — has announced plans to open a store.
A lack of reliable supply and a last-minute rejection of a store site have held up Clallam County’s retail marijuana outlets.
“We’re shooting for not later than Oct. 1, but in reality, it’s probably going to be more like the 15th of September,” said Anthony Owen, owner of The Hidden Bush.
Owen expected to open his shop at 2840 E. U.S. Highway 101, but State Liquor Control Board officials denied that location after county officials said it was too close to a gymnastics studio frequented by young people.
That location was ready for a final inspection from the state, but Owen said he is making progress on another location on the highway outside of city limits.
“We got set back, but we’re back on the horse and getting our new space finished and ready to go,” he said. “There shouldn’t be a problem at this point.”
Malik Atwater is waiting for a steadier supply of marijuana before opening his Mr. Buds store on Marine Drive in Port Angeles.
Rodney Caldwell said earlier this month he too will wait for more marijuana to hit the market before opening Weed-R-Us on U.S. Highway 101 outside Port Angeles.
David Halpern’s Sequim shop is held up by the city’s ban on pot businesses. Last week, the council extended a moratorium on marijuana businesses in city limits for another six months.
Jennifer Brassfield of High Grade Organics shop in Forks did not return calls seeking an opening date.
Clallam County can have six retail stores: two in Port Angeles, one in Sequim and three anywhere else.
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or email@example.com.
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie contributed to this report.


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Original Penguin is taking an extra 40% off Sitewide during the Black Friday Sale (qualifying items marked, discount applies in cart). Free Shipping on ALL orders. Tax in many states.
Combined, this is the strongest sitewide general sale we've seen from Original Penguin this year. We recommend checking out some of their popular polos and shorts for some great options for fall. Take advantage of their flat-rate shipping to stock up on some Fall wardrobe essentials.
Disclaimer: The Black Friday deal information given above is without warranties on accuracy and availability. Black Friday deals tend to sell out very quickly and as retailer only keep low inventories for doorbuster deals.
Original Penguin Black Friday Sale - Extra 40% off Sitewide
Black Friday 2015 is here. The early Black Friday 2015 Sales launched. I4U News is features in-depth coverage of Black Friday 2015 ads, deals, and sales. We have more Black Friday services and content than ever before. Find below the highlights.
Black Friday 2015 on I4U News
Find the latest Black Friday 2015 Deals
I4U News is daily News site for the Geek Mind. Expect the latest technology news including the juiciest rumors. Stay up to date with the biggest discoveries in science. Other featured news topics include cars, celebrities, movies and more.Read more.


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Family-controlled French department store group Galeries Lafayette is reportedly considering a purchase of British counterpart House of Fraser, in an effort to expand its operations across the Channel.
The 164-year-old House of Fraser had been mulling an IPO in 2014, as previous attempts over the past two years at a trade sale have failed.
But according to Reuters, two industry sources have confirmed the department store groups are currently in talks, meaning the planned public
listing wouldn’t go ahead.
House of Fraser has 61 stores in Britain and Ireland and annual sales of around £1.2 billion (€1.4 billion).
The company was founded in 1849 by Hugh Fraser and James Arthur, and remained in Fraser family control over four generations.
It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1948, but is today under private ownership, with Highland Group Holdings owning 49% and the rest split between various individuals as well as Lloyds Banking Group.
Galeries Lafayette was founded in 1893 by Theophile Bader and is today chaired by his granddaughter Ginette Moulin. It is still fully owned by the Moulin family, and her son-in-law Philippe Houze is chairman of the executive board.
The company, headquartered in Paris, operates 65 outlets under its name, and has recently opened a number of new stores in emerging market capitals, such as Jakarta and Beijing.
Last year it had revenues of €2.3 billion.
Both Galeries Lafayette and the House of Fraser have been unwilling to comment on the rumoured talks.


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Phoenix-based Diamond Age wants to 3D print bunkers for Ukraine and thinks it will take six to nine months to test and make the bunkers. It hopes to test them at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground. We’re not sure if this will happen but there is significant potential in 3D printing structures for the military and in austere conditions.
Design studio Krill makes ReKrill, a material derived from coffee grounds, lemon peels and orange peels. The company hopes to make circular furniture and other products. This could be a lovely business for the firm if it targets enough eco-conscious companies.
Signify 3D prints luminaires for McDonalds. McDonalds wanted a recyclable product that was durable and environmentally friendly, and a product where they owned the design rights to it.
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Electronic manufacturer Samsung Electronics continues to seriously working on portable computer market (notebook).
Despite playing for two years, Samsung has dared to issue a premium grade products at affordable prices.
Samsung Notebook Series 5 AMD [...]
Have you ever imagined playing your favorite PC games with an XBOX controller? If so, your dream might come true with the release of some updates from XBOX. As confirmed by XBOX official website, now it is possible to use an XBOX controller on our PC [...]
Research In Motion (RIM) has finally officially announced the event dates for BlackBerry 10.
Quoted from IntoMobile, Tuesday (11/13), January 30, 2013 will be a historic day for the latest platform’s launch.
In this event, the Canadian manufacturer [...]
Results showed children control their emotions after playing this game.
If you are not able to help children who have problems with anger emotions through psychotherapy alone, try video games. But not indiscriminate video game. But RAGE Control, a video [...]
One of the most popular mobile game, Fruit Ninja, in the foreseeable future can be downloaded for free for iOS devices.
Quoted from Slashgear, Friday (12/4), it also makes Fruit Ninja as ‘App of the Week’ in the iTunes App Store.
The owners [...]
Microsoft said it will display the Xbox 720 or Durango on 21 May. Durango is the next generation of the Xbox 360.
As written on the website Xbox Live Arcade, Xbox Campus in Redmond, Washington, United States (U.S.), will be the location of the emergence [...]
Yahoo ranked third under Hotmail.
Based on data released by comScore (a website traffic monitoring agency world) in October 2012, which is a Gmail email service owned by internet giant Google, is expressed as the number one email service in the world.
Casio introduces intensified digital camera products. Vendors who are familiar with the calculator’s current product offering premium grade camera at a price of Rp 3.9 million or about $390 U.S. dollars, is kind Exilim, the ZR 700 and ZR 1000.
This week, modifier application to be like a cartoon face or an application iMadeFace in the 4th position popular iPhone apps in iTunes. IPhone users is being fond iMadeFace. So what’s so special?
On the iTunes page, iMadeFace claimed as the number [...]
BlackBerry seems very serious enrich the application ecosystem. This is evidenced by the achievement of 100 thousand apps in the app store BlackBerry World.
Quoted from Slashgear, Friday (22/3), this means that BlackBerry has added about 30 thousand [...]
Raise money for children with cleft lip.
Today many people are using Google Maps to find directions to a mall, offices, and other locations in the city, a man wearing this app to walk 5.000 miles or 8046.7 kilometers.
Armed with the Google Maps application [...]


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The Association – Bringing Together Street Culture, Football & Creatives
We caught up with the founders and organisers of a new 5-a-side football league in Los Angeles with a twist, The Association.
Every Thursday, a few local influencers, athletes, and others meet at a dark venue in Los Angeles, California. Tacos and drinks are served, music is played, but the neither of these are the main event. Everyone is here for The Association – a 5-a-side football league of creatives, influencers, and athletes.
The United States has never been synonymous with football culture. Whereas football pitches, kits, and club memorabilia is ubiquitous around much of the world, football culture in the US is still largely a subculture.
The fact that creative football fans are still not in the mainstream though means there’s been a coming together of those in this community. That’s how the Association came to be.
“We wanted to help LA become a real talking point of culture and soccer,” Ben Hooper, co-founder of the Association, told me. “(We asked) how can we bring different culture parts of the sport and bring great people and teams and artists and people from the fashion world and sneaker world into same room at the same time and get people talking about the sport and things around it.”
And that’s been the biggest benefit of this league. Creatives of all stripes and colors have a physical space to make connections and talk about creative projects related to football.
“A lot of great people are showing up to watch and tell their friends and a lot of connections have already been made,” Hooper said. “I’ve been told ‘I met so and so’ or that people connected at the event in real life and there’s a lot of that going on. That’s important for sport and if someone can come through and connect with other people it spawns new ideas or opportunities and creative output.”
The organizers are also hoping the league can last and evolve into the future. Many football events in the US are focused on one off events. They are often centered around an event like this summer’s World Cup. The organizers behind the Association worked on the project for more than a year to bring in the right brands and organizers so that it could be instilled with a sense of sustainability.
The Association is sponsored at least partially by adidas. The teams involved are cultural focal points that come from sports, music, fashion, and tech. In fact, when I first looked at the teams involved in the Association I felt uneasy. While it’s interesting to see a streetwear brand like 424 represent their brand in the league, a corporate company like Redbull – who has a controversial presence in global football these days – and SpaceX – the brainchild company of tech mogul Elon Musk that sends rockets into space – are also in the league.
Musk, who has a revered place among some circles in our culture due to his innovative successes, has always reminded me more of a bond villain than our societal savior. I wondered why brands like SpaceX would be involved in a football project focused on growing the culture.
Hooper said the Association tried to find brands that already fielded teams. SpaceX, it turns out, played in leagues and would be putting that team into the newly-formed 5-a-side league. He also said that the brands selected truly represent local Los Angeles culture. All the brands have bases there or originated in Los Angeles. The locality of the league means a community is building in Los Angeles and that community is centered around football.
And community is where football has grown from in the United States. It’s these communities that have made the general culture sit up and take notice that football can be a force. But brands in the US are still catching up.
“Soccer doesn’t resonate with a lot of brands late,” Mario Flores, the media liaison for the Association, told me. “One of things I’m trying to do is get people out and show them the imagery so they fully understand what this is. People who don’t follow soccer can say shit this is fricking cool! I’m talking to my friends because the vibe is cool and soccer happens to be playing. I tell people and brands to come see this because you need to experience it.”


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Nintendo has brought its traditional “try anything once” attitude to the Switch with accessories like the cardboard-based Labo. Now, Labo is evolving into a VR headset. It’s like Google Cardboard for your Switch.
A report from Japan’s Nikkei claims Nintendo is looking to boost sales with a new version of the Switch. However, it won’t be an improved console. Instead, Nintendo wants to make a Switch variant that’s smaller, more portable, and less expensive.
Nintendo is ending 2018 strong with the release of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. This fifth installment in the cherished crossover fighting series brings back every playable character to date and gives Switch owners something to crow about during game-of-the-year discussions.
The owners of LoveROMS.com and LoveRETRO.co have agreed to pay Nintendo a whopping $12.23 million.
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Bud’s Ed Maslaveckas hails ‘true breakthrough’ with launch of Bud.ai
Data intelligence platform Bud has launched Bud.ai, a generative AI core platform designed to enable banks and financial institutions to create highly personalised banking solutions.
The Bud.ai platform takes financial services organisations’ transaction data and generates new customer insights in real time.
Through a single integration, those same financial institutions can integrate Bud’s large language model (LLM) technology, which can be combined with the transactional data models that Bud has been refining for more than five years.
This “no-code solution” allows banks, lenders and other financial services businesses to turn “unstructured” data into a clearer picture of an individual’s financial position, or a detailed view of the bank’s wider portfolio, Bud said.
Bud’s new AI core underpins and powers two of its products – lending and affordability solution ‘Assess’, and ‘Engage’, which is its money management and personalisation solution.
Bud also unveiled a personal generative chat interface, called ‘Jas’, which is the first flagship product built upon the Bud.ai core.
Jas allows consumers to engage with a “fully-trained” Al assistant, which can support them to choose a credit product, for example, or help with financial planning.
The generative Al chat interface uses Google’s PaLM 2 LLM to “feed on enrichment and analysis driven by Bud’s transactional data intelligence platform”, and then presents these insights directly to consumers.
Toby Brown, managing director, global banking solutions at Google Cloud, said: “By tapping into Google Cloud’s generative AI capabilities, Bud is optimizing internal workflows and external user experiences in a safe and efficient way.”
Eventually, ‘Jas’ will evolve to become an “action bot” that will be capable of providing tailored recommendations and executing tasks on behalf of customers and clients.
“Since 2018, Bud has been diligently developing foundational language models that leverage bank data,” said Ed Maslaveckas, founder and chief executive officer of Bud.
“These years of tireless product and technical work have brought us to this point, where we can deliver reliable, secure and personalized generative Al capabilities to our financial services customers, without compromising on data ethics.”
He added: “We can unlock an endless array of insights for our clients, who can supercharge marketing efforts, refine customer segmentation, and optimize various aspects of their business operations.
“This is a true breakthrough, as we unveil a logic core capable of delivering real-time, limitless insights for both individual customers and corporate users.”
Earlier this year, Bud launched in the US and subsequently joined Google Cloud Marketplace in the US to “reach a broader base of customers”.


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Texas meets Vancouver at Smokin’ Oak, and the result is a culinary combustion that can’t be beat.
The downtown Vancouver barbecue restaurant opened in November 2017 and the menu is drawing people from all over Clark County. Erick Gill, co-owner of the restaurant, shares that he and his partners, Kimba Gill and Bryan Rogers, had a long-time dream to open this business.
“While this business has been a dream on the back burner for about 15 years, we found ourselves at a place in our professional lives where we couldn’t go much further without branching out on our own,” Gill said. “We figured we were still young enough to take a shot and recover from a miss, and old enough now to actually have a chance at doing this thing right.”
Today, Smokin’ Oak employs 41 people and after initially selling out nightly, they couldn’t cook enough food to support the service. They have worked hard to get the restaurant to where it is now, and they recently expanded to include lunch service. Everything on the menu includes items that are made-from-scratch fresh each day, including brisket, pulled pork, spare ribs, smoked sausage and much more. The recipes and techniques come from Rogers’ family that date back to central and east Texas for nearly four generations. No charcoal, gas or electric assistance is used to craft their menu items.
“We don’t serve yesterday’s smoke,” Gill said. “We cook outside on two custom offset barrel cookers that we designed and built ourselves. That allows us to create clean smoke from burning wood as opposed to smoldering wood. When the wood is combusting fully, the smoke produced carries much less soot. This results in a light, clean smoke profile rather than an acrid, sometimes sour, flavor associated with pellet and gas fired smokers. So, basically we take painstaking measures to create the best possible barbecue that we can.”
Gill goes on to share that though they haven’t invented anything new in the world of barbecue, their recipes are what makes them stand apart, in addition to the ownership team’s more than 50 years of cumulative restaurant experience. He explains that it was important for them to create a space that they wanted to hang out in.
“It’s the food we like, the drinks we like, the music we like, the atmosphere we like … all put together with hopes that other people might like it as well,” he said.
The future looks promising for Smokin’ Oak, and Gill explains that they’re now starting to put an emphasis on a catering program. They’re also working on developing some daily special items and hope to roll those out by summertime.
“We love Vancouver, we love living here and we love eating here,” Gill said. “We believe that we have fit into a niche downtown that wasn’t filled before, and we are extremely proud to be a part of building Vancouver’s food scene and giving people more quality options without needing to head south across the bridge.”
Smokin’ Oak is located at 501 Columbia St., in Vancouver.


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Apr 15, 2018
Starbucks apologises amid backlash over arrest of black men
Coffee chain Starbucks has apologised after two black men were arrested while waiting for a friend at one of their shops in the US city of Philadelphia. Starbucks chief executive Kevin Johnson said the video was "Hard to watch" and that the actions taken were "Wrong". In a statement released on Saturday, Mr Johnson expressed "Our deepest apologies" to the two men involved in the incident and said Starbucks would do "Whatever we can to make things right". "The video shot by customers is very hard to watch and the actions in it are not representative of our Starbucks mission and values," Mr Johnson said. The footage of the incident, which has received nearly nine million views so far, sparked criticism and calls for a boycott of the Starbucks coffee store.
Make a complaint about Starbucks by viewing their customer service contacts.


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Kenya’s tourism sector is expected to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic this year, a senior government official said.
Najib Balala, the cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, said in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, that the removal of international travel restrictions is expected to increase foreign arrivals from less than 900,000 recorded in 2021 to more than 1 million this year.
“We believe international visitors will surpass last year due to the reopening of airspace,” Balala said Tuesday during the launch of Nairobi’s different culinary experiences, noting that the government is encouraging more foreign airlines to come into Kenya in order to boost the number of visitors.
According to the ministry of tourism, domestic tourists are expected to account for 60 percent of the sector’s revenues in 2022.
Government data indicate that the East African nation earned 146 billion shillings (about 1.27 billion U.S. dollars) from tourism in 2021.
Balala observed that the local tourism industry is also introducing new products such as cultural and sports tourism in order to diversify away from beach and wildlife products. Enditem


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Burberry is now the first brand to get its very own channel on Apple Music. Fans can now follow the high-end fashion brand on Apple’s music streaming service, and enjoy exclusive content like live performances from British artists to be filmed at the Burberry Womenswear show in London on 21 September 2015.
This is not the first time Apple is working with Burberry. Two years ago when Apple launched the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, Burberry was the first to get their hands on the devices. The company used the iPhone 5s to capture pictures and videos of its runway show in London back in 2013, which was held before the consumer launch of both devices. This is however, the first collaboration between the two companies since Apple hired Angela Ahrendts, the former CEO of Burberry, as the Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores. Of course, it is unclear whether Ahrendts has anything to do with the new Apple Music channel for Burberry.
For those who signed up for Apple Music when it was first launched back in July 2015, the trial is almost up so you might want to manage your subscription if you do not wish to continue. Apple charges Malaysian users in USD, which means that monthly subscription for single user is now RM17.20 (US$3.99 a month).
Meanwhile, check out these new commercials from Apple Music featuring new artists.


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Sony suggests that a UK PlayStation Now release date "isn't a million miles away".
march 2015 the rumour was i think
I'm pretty sure it was around that on that presentation to the press that someone took a photo of.
Wrong that was the eu release they seem to be treating central europe and the uk differently like we got the video store months ahead of most of the rest of europe. Yeah he even says in the article that he's trying to get uk to be more of a priority over the rest of eu. Sorry for people in central eu but it kinda makes sense as most of what they do for usa is transferable-same language and less dofference in laws etc and ofc the government here has been pushing fibreoptic rollout for awhile now and its just coming to frutition it appears all of which mean not waiting to launch the service in the uk makes sense.
March 2015 sound about right with a GDC announcement
I just want to play resistance 3. Make it happen Sony!
I like how someone is disagree with you. Its either he hate the game or hate you lol
It would be good if the disagree-er explained him/her self! We can only live in hope LoL
is this basically the gaikai service ..ability to play last gen games ??
I think it's essential Sony start to look at rolling this out in as many countries as possible. Playing favourites with countries is never a good idea and not even the infallible Sony will escape a backlash.
Personally I find this not to be exciting at all simply because Sony is good at dangling the carrot.
Urgh, This *could* kill off pre-owned game sales.
What about beloved Canada!?
N4G is a community of gamers posting and discussing the latest game news. It’s part of NewsBoiler, a network of social news sites covering today’s pop culture.


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From 14 to 16 May 2023, the European's biggest vaping event and also the most influential exhibition of the global e-cigarette industry, the Vaper Expo UK 2023 will take place in NEC Birmingham. It will host over 500 global vape brands and more than 20 million professional visitors to enjoy the sensory impact and cultural charm brought by e-cigarettes.
As the world’s leading compliant disposable e-cigarette brand, ZOVOO is thrilled to participate in the Vaper Expo UK 2023. Come and have fun with us at our super large 120sqm booth E10!
This is not the first time that ZOVOO has participated in the Vaper Expo UK event. In the past 2022, ZOVOO unveiled its new achievement in technological development and breakthrough -- GENE TREE Ceramic core. We brought a variety of disposable products to the exhibition and stood out among many domestic and international brands.
Recently ZOVOO has had a lot of good news: The brand has become an official member of the UK Vaping Industry Association (UKVIA), which is the largest UK e-cigarette association. In addition, its product DRAGBAR Z700 GT Ultra-Thin Disposable Vape has been honored with Red Dot Award 2023.
The main exhibit at the show is an upgraded version of the Red Dot Award winner, DRAGBAR Z700 SE, which has shocked the entire UK market with 2 million pieces sales within a week and has won the ecigclick award, which is issued by one of the most authoritative and influential e-cigarette websites in the UK.
DRAGBAR Z700 SE, a star product of ZOVOO, is the first fully visible oil tank disposable, which is equiped with Gene Tree Ceramic Coil solution offering the technical advantage of ultra-high performance conversion, while achieving the largest puff(700) among those TRPR&TPD- Compliant vapes. Its consistent flavour provides a more enjoyable vaping experience and surely it’s loved by vapers all over the world.
ZOVOO places great importance on the UK, one of the world's largest e-cigarette markets, and is keenly aware of the demand for disposable vapes in the UK market. Therefore, ZOVOO strives to bring better quality products and excellent vaping experience to its users.
At the show, ZOVOO will be partnering with One Motorsport, one of Britain's most prominent motorsport organizations, with an eye-catching racing car being placed at the centre of the stand.
There are also ZOVOO business consultants on site who will introduce the policy in detail for partners who are interested in cooperation and we look forward to cooperating with you. Enjoy vaping with ZOVOO at booth E10!
For more information, please visit https://www.izovoo.com/ and follow ZOVOO on Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok.
*During internal testing, DRAGBAR Z700 GT and Dragbar Z700 SE can support 700 puffs at maximum. (The actual number of puffs will be affected by personal vaping habits)
WARNING: This product may be used with e-liquid products containing nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.


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Playing with toys isn’t just for small children.
Cats and dogs love toys as well, and UPAWS has partnered with PetSmart to help bring new toys to homeless animals. Throughout the month of February, PetSmart is holding a toy drive. All of the toys collected will be donated to UPAWS.
“The toy drive is great to benefit our animals because it provides new enrichment items for our pets to play with,” UPAWS community outreach coordinator Melanie Bell said. “It keeps them busy during their stay here at the shelter.”
Toys and playtime also make pets more social and allow them to release pent up energy. Toy drives are just a small part of PetSmart’s mission, though. Due to the large number of homeless pets in the country, PetSmart has always adopted pets rather than sold them. More than 21,000 animals’ lives were saved in the last year thanks to adoption efforts. The pet store and UPAWS have also partnered up to help get pets adopted.
“They’re actually our in-store partner as well, so any of the cats you see in the store are UPAWS cats,” acting PetSmart Marquette Township store manager Alana Carrott said. “Most of our charities programs work with UPAWS directly.”
The toy drive runs through the end of February.


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Biofuel Stations Reach 1,900 Locations
The Stop In Food Store No. 67 at 1220 Seminole Trail in Charlottesville, VA is the 1,900th E85 station in the U.S.
The National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition member facility held its ribbon cutting ceremony the week of Jan. 7. “We are pleased to own the first public E85 retail location in Virginia and proud to offer a clean alternative transportation fuel,” noted Tom Turner of Stop In Food Stores. The facility was assisted with funds granted through the Virginia Clean Cities Coalition.
The location has 12 gasoline, two E85, and two biodiesel fueling nozzles. A 10,000-gallon compartment tank is used and holds 4,000 gallons of biodiesel and 6,000 gallons of E85. The station is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and offers a 2,400-square-foot convenience store which includes a Subway restaurant.
At this time last year, there were a total of 1,430 E85 stations across the U.S. For a complete listing of E85 fueling locations, visit www.E85Refueling.com.
(Source: National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition)


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CES 2007: Blu-ray Association declares premature victory
The Blu-ray Disc Association announced at its CES press conference that it is already victorious in the high-definition format war.
Lining up Hollywood film executives from Sony, Warner and Fox Pictures, chair of the US Promotions committee, Andy Parsons, cited the format’s alleged “content advantage”.
With 25 companies now having released Blu-ray products and around 170 film and audio titles announced, Blu-ray media sales outstripped rival HD DVD discs for the first time in December. That’s in subtle contrast to Microsoft’s assertion on Sunday that HD DVD was the best-selling high definition format of 2006 as a whole.
Parsons also called the inclusion of Blu-ray in Sony’s PlayStation 3 a “killer blow” for its rival, with over a million units of the games console now sold – a slap in the face for Microsoft’s recently announced HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360 gaming console. The panel stopped just short of saying that HD DVD would disappear altogether by 2010.
This comes in the context of two more significant announcements at this year’s show – LG’s dual-format drive and Warner’s hybrid disc format, which combines both HD DVD and Blu-ray content on a single disc.
The panel played down the idea that either of these was a threat to Blu-ray’s continued sales, but pulled back from dismissing them entirely – both LG and Warner are fully paid-up members of the association.