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The word on the street was that Google was pursuing an ad blocker for its Chrome browser. While even rivals were glad to give Google some credit for wanting to clean up the web, conspiracy theories abounded about Google’s other, hidden motives. Remember: It’s not being paranoid if the platforms are really out to get you. Here’s a guide:
Google wants to solidify its ad business. The most obvious theory is that Google’s ad block move is ultimately about steering more dollars to its ad business, primarily driven by its (ad block-safe) text-based search ads.
“The long game here is for them is move more dollars into search and AdWords,” said Jonathan Mendez, CEO of Yieldbot, a Google competitor for keyword-based advertising. “I understand they want to be a good citizen on the web. But at the end of the day, they’re a public company. If they’re reducing the types of ads that can be shown, the type they want to block is the stuff they don’t do anyway.”
Google already pays the popular ad blocking software AdblockPlus to whitelist Google’s sites as part of ABP’s “Acceptable Ads” program. Another theory is that Google will — not at first but down the road — charge to let blocked ads through, like AdBlock Plus does, or maybe charge a premium service to expedite the ad-approval process.
Clear the competition for video advertising. Relatedly, Google wants to kill competition for video ads, goes another theory. The Wall Street Journal reported that the ad formats that would be blocked would be the ones identified by the (Google-supported) Coalition for Better Ads, which identified autoplay videos with sound on as one of the ones most likely to trigger ad blocking. Critics think that publishers and advertisers, worried that other video ads will eventually be blocked, will default to Google-owned YouTube’s player and advertising, which naturally Google won’t block.
It’s a false flag operation. Google may have a giant ad business, but it also serves Google to position itself as being on the side of the publishers and users that depend on Google to distribute their content and to access said content, respectively. Google could choke off ad formats it doesn’t like by deprioritizing them in search results or just not serving them in the first place, but this way positions them as good guys. It also preserves the status quo. The ulterior motive here for Google to preserve its dominance, via the Coalition for Better Ads, which it dominates along with big agencies and ad tech, said David Carroll, an ad tech expert at The New School. It also serves Google by avoiding privacy and ad fraud issues — concerns that consumers and advertisers have about the integrity of the system.
Follow the browser. Chrome is already the dominant browser, with nearly 60 percent of the browser market, with next-biggest Internet Explorer trailing at 19 percent, according to Net Market Share, and Google would like it to stay that way. Weeding out annoying ad formats will help make Chrome a good experience for users and keep them coming back. “The browser’s the holy grail of the web,” Mendez said.
Get the content-recommendation guys. Some said another consequence of Google blocking bad ads, unintended or not, could be to cut off the revenue of shady websites that help fund the content-recommendation engines like Outbrain and Taboola (which also happen to be a big source of revenue for many publishers). And let’s not forget that Google has wanted in on the content-recommendation business. What’s more, Outbrain and Taboola are ultimately taking up real estate on publisher sites that might otherwise go to AdSense or Google Ad Network.
It positions AMP to dominate. Google last year launched Accelerated Mobile Pages, its major initiative to quicken mobile articles’ load time. While publishers have been largely positive about the speed advantage it’s brought, they’ve had mixed results in trying to monetize their AMP pages. AMP pages load fast by getting rid of clunky ads. An ad blocker in Chrome would do some of the same thing, which would diminish the difference between developing for Chrome and AMP. One outcome could be that publishers who are AMP holdouts could decide they might as well just develop for AMP — which benefits Google because more ads get seen, generating more revenue for Google.
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Mar 11, 2014
What’s Up Interactive, an Atlanta-area marketing agency, has been nominated for an Atlanta Marketer of the Year (AMY) Award for its work with the Georgia Aquarium.
Nov 25, 2013
What's Up Interactive today announced its participation in this year’s Small Business Saturday, taking place on Nov. 30, 2013. Small Business Saturday is a day dedicated to strengthening the community by supporting local small businesses.
Nov 22, 2013
Inspired by Atlanta’s growing entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to technology and innovation, What’s Up Interactive is offering its award-winning services to select local start-ups, free of charge, through its new program Elevate.
Oct 28, 2013
Atlanta interactive marketing agency What’s Up Interactive has launched a new microsite to enable the Georgia Lottery to give more back to Georgia students, this time through collegiate sporting events.
Oct 14, 2013
Taste of Atlanta, the city’s premier food festival, has named Atlanta-based interactive marketing agency What’s Up Interactive an official partner. Taste of Atlanta officials chose What’s Up Interactive to help increase awareness of the Oct.
Feb 25, 2011
Atlanta interactive agency What's Up Interactive has launched a multi-platform online experience for the 84,000-square-foot expansion to the Georgia Aquarium: AT&T Dolphin Tales.
Jan 13, 2011
Atlanta interactive marketing agency What's Up Interactive has launched a new website for Progility Partners. The consulting firm has announced it achieved its growth objectives for 2010 and expects growth to accelerate in 2011.
Aug 17, 2010
Local newswire Atlanta Daybook will roll out changes this fall to the current website that will greatly improve the user experience and provide users with significantly improved analytics.
Jul 29, 2010
Atlanta Agency welcomes new VP for Delivery.
May 25, 2010
Dave Santucci is former Georgia Aquarium Marketing VP and CNN Space Producer

domain: news


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Freddie Stollmack, the cofounder and president of Weatherproof Garment Co., and a pervasive industry figure, will retire at the end of this month. He’ll remain as a consultant to the outerwear firm until the end of the year.
Calling Stollmack “a personal mentor and friend over the years,” Eliot Peyser, cofounder and chief executive officer of Weatherproof, said: “We salute Freddie on a stellar career and miss his creative intensity, attention to detail and friendship already. Freddie’s legacy will no doubt continue to help our company as it enters its third decade. Freddie is leaving at a time when the brand has never been bigger or stronger.”
Hermès is launching a Laundromat pop-up shop in NYC - dubbed Hermèsmatic - where customers can bring their old scarves to be dip-dyed by an expert. Get all the details on WWD.com. #wwdnews (📷: @donstahl)


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Google is set to change TV
Tom Dougherty, CEO – Stealing Share
20 May 2010
Google takes a game-changing step. Is Apple listening?
I know you’re not supposed to say I told you so, but we did.
The news today that Google is setting out to revolutionize television is unsurprising to those who understand what brands have permission and which don’t to innovate in the minds of consumers.
But there are two other thoughts I’ve had about this announcement. The first is what we’ve said before: The cable and satellite TV companies have to be very nervous, because now the content providers have a way to cut out the middleman that charges too much and wants too much.
Think of the NFL Network, certainly a niche channel but one that’s growing and feeds into a viewership that’s attractive to advertisers. The network has been battling with Time Warner Cable for years on fees, which is why the two parties have yet to come to an agreement.
Now, with this Google announcement, networks like those can see the future. They can just ride past the Time Warners and Comcasts of the world.
Another thought popped into my head, along with the announcement of the Google-enhanced Android phone. The only brand in position to challenge Google on both fronts is Apple.
If that happens, then you are talking about a fascinating clash of brand titans.
TV ads Tom Dougherty, CEO - Stealing Share 17 September 2018 TV ads using the same exact song Watching TV over the weekend (while ignoring Florence), the following two TV ads played back to back. Notice the similarities? (Hint: Turn up your volume.) ...
September 11 Tom Dougherty, CEO - Stealing Share 11 September 2018 It’s September 11. And I forgot. Shame on me. It’s easy to get caught up in the mundanity of life. If you’re anything like me, the constant hubbub of the daily grind keeps a hold of you. Work,...
Twitter brand Tom Dougherty, CEO - Stealing Share 10 September 2018 The Twitter brand only succeeds by banning abusers I have to admit that, originally, the thought of Twitter banning anyone seemed ridiculous. Even Alex Jones. The Twitter brand lives on banter, no...


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In a press conference almost as packed with product announcements as it was filled with weary members of the press, Samsung took the cover off of dozens products, including super-slim LED TVs, new e-book readers and capped it with content partnership...
3D is the big buzz here at CES, and the company started its press event by exhibiting its commitment to 3D with a live demo of 3D capture and display technology. Sony also introduced its lineup of 3D-capable HDTVs and Blu-ray players for 2010.
As expected, Panasonic's CES press conference dwelt heavily on the company's plans to bring 3D HDTVs mainstream, including model info on five plasma sets slated to ship by midyear, and a Blu-Ray Disc player. Panasonic also became the second CE vendor...
Samsung Electronics unveiled a strong line-up for the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on Wednesday, including a complete 3D home entertainment system and LED TVs with screens as thin as a pencil.
At a splashy press event at CES in Las Vegas, Toshiba trotted out its latest and greatest HDTV, the Cell TV, with its companion media center set-top box.
Discovery Communications and ESPN both are launching 3D television networks in the U.S., hoping to move the technology out of theaters and into the living room.
LG Display has developed a prototype LCD panel for television sets that's less than a quarter the thickness of the company's current production panels. The new screen could enable TV set makers to produce even thinner flat-panel sets but there are no...
Panasonic has unveiled a prototype 50-inch television and companion glasses that together give the viewer the illusion of three dimensions. The TV is being unveiled less than a month after Panasonic said it plans to commercialize 3D home entertainmen...
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Burberry fashions ‘excellent’ results
Fashion group Burberry has reported a rise in profits and said it should meet market forecasts next year despite tough trading conditions.
In its first set of results since it floated on the London stock market, it unveiled pre tax profits of 109.4m, up from 84.8m the previous year.
Burberry made its debut on the stock market last July after the retail to business services group GUS which remains Burberry’s majority shareholder floated a minority stake in the firm.
The firm has come up against challenging conditions with global demand for luxury goods hit by the economic slowdown, while the war in Iraq and Sars virus have hit the Asian tourist market.
However, the Sars virus has had a limited impact on Burberry as much of its Asian revenue comes from Japan, which has not been hit by the bug.
Underlying retail sales at the group grew by 25% over the year to the end of March, with sales of accessories such as handbags and luggage particularly strong.
“This has been a remarkable year for Burberry,” said chairman John Peace.
“We began life as a public company in July 2002 with the successful completion of our IPO [flotation] during very difficult stock market conditions.
“And we have ended the year with an excellent set of financial results, well ahead of market expectations at the time of the IPO.”
After allowing for one off costs relating to its flotation, Burberry’s profits were 85.1m.
Burberry said that since March its retail results had been “impacted by external events” and although underlying revenue was still growing, “comparable store performance has been modestly negative”.
Despite what it described as “exceptional short term uncertainty” it said it still expected to meet analysts’ expectations for the current financial year.


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The man who claimed he was unable to find a replacement bike on eBay because of his lack of insurance claims he was a thief.
He was busted by a Perth police team after allegedly trying to buy an ‘unsecured’ bike that had insurance.
The 29-year-old man is now facing a court appearance and is now awaiting his chance to defend himself.
The man bought the bike for $10,000 on the online bike store BikeBiz on Tuesday and paid for it in cash.
“I’ve been riding this bike for over three years,” the man told the ABC.
After receiving a warning letter about the bike, he contacted BikeBizz to claim the bike as his own.
On Wednesday, he appeared before Perth Magistrates’ Court to face charges of buying a stolen bike and using a stolen credit card.
Police believe the bike was stolen on July 6, 2018 and the man is believed to have been riding it for two weeks.
It is unclear how many people were on the bike when it was stolen.
Topics:police,offences,police-sieges,offence,cycling,offbeat,dubbo-3380,wollongong-2500,perth-6000,pertha-6712,waMore stories from Western Australia


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The sale of ivory products is booming in Bangkok, according to a new study.
The number of items in shops in the Thai capital has nearly tripled in the past year-and-a-half. And the number of outlets – primarily targeting Chinese tourists – has steeply risen.
According to the study conducted by the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC, the quantity exceeds the supply legally available under a 75-year-old Thai law allowing sales of tusks from domesticated Asian elephants.
“It’s not illegal to sell ivory in Thailand so it is quite open,” said Naomi Doak, TRAFFIC’s coordinator for the Greater Mekong region who authored the report. “We just went around to each of the identified retail outlets and identified the type of products they were selling. Sometimes it’s chopsticks. Sometimes small carvings of animals. Sometimes quite large carvings of animals, lots of bangles, and beads and bracelets. We counted and estimated the number of each of those different products.”
No ivory registration system
Because Thailand has no ivory registration system in place, it is not possible to trace the lucrative product. And that, according to the TRAFFIC monitoring networks, allows a loophole for laundering illegal ivory from African elephants into the Thai marketplace.
Previous Thai civilian governments have pledged to end the country’s domestic ivory trade but it’s unclear how those pledges will be honored following the May 22 military coup.
In the meantime, Doak says the illegal trade continues.
“You can’t discount the political situation as affecting the speed of their action on this issue,” she said. “But, unfortunately, the poachers aren’t slowing down because of political situations. They’re marching on and elephants are still being killed at unsustainable levels.”
Royal Thai Police deputy spokesman, Col. Krisana Pattanachareon, says Thai authorities will eventually make good on their pledge.
“I’m a bit optimistic because if we really get on to it, although it will take a long time to solve the problem, but surely we will get there one day,” he said.
Lucrative illicit trade
The police colonel says Thailand is caught in the middle of a lucrative illicit global trade.
Ivory objects for sale on display in a Thailand shop. (Courtesy TRAFFIC)Ivory objects for sale on display in a Thailand shop. (Courtesy TRAFFIC)
“We are talking about a very complicated issue here as Thailand is not the originating country and it is not the destination country either,” Krisana said. “It’s only the traffic country.”
TRAFFIC’s Doak is calling on Thai authorities to acknowledge their nation’s ivory trade is now out of control and fueling the African Elephant poaching crisis.
“We want them to do what they’ve been saying they’ll do for at least ten years now, which is to close or to adjust and change the current legislations that would make the sale of African ivory in Thailand illegal,” she said.
The new data asserting a significant increase in ivory objects on sale in Bangkok means Thailand is certain to face increased scrutiny at next week’s meeting of the Convention on Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Geneva.
Environmentalists say 20,000 of the remaining 500,000 African elephants were killed last year, primarily poached for their ivory to meet the Asian demand.
Ideal marketing spot
Thailand is an ideal spot for marketing to buyers.
More than 25 million people visit the country annually. And the number of Chinese tourists is rapidly escalating. Last year 4.7 million Chinese took trips to Thailand, a jump of nearly 70 percent from 2012.
Elephant tusks and teeth are carved into a variety of objects and shapes from ivory that sells for up to $2,000 a kilogram on the black market.
The trade in ivory goes back to ancient history. But prices have soared 50-fold in the last decade as legitimate sources grew scarcer.
Ivory was once made into numerous practical products, such as buttons, combs, hairpins and utensils and in modern times, such items as billiard balls and piano keys.
China is estimated to be the destination for as much as 70 percent of the illegal ivory market. For many modern middle class and upper class Chinese, ivory objects are believed to bring good luck or are a way to display status.
Most at risk to fuel this growing demand are the African elephants.
Their Asian cousins are smaller and none of the females and only some of the males have tusks.
Most of the remaining 30,000 Asian elephants taken from the wild are not killed but put to work or end up at zoos or as tourist attractions. Their trimmed tusks are the source of the legitimate domestic ivory.
Elephants are revered in Thailand as a component of national identity, beliefs and culture.
Those trying to preserve the pachyderms are hoping those deep emotional ties among the Thai population will help spur greater efforts here to save the largest land mammal.


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“Imagine a virtual wall,” Veysel Berk suggested in a coffee shop the other day. “It’s like a physical wall that you can write on or post a picture to if you are at that location. Others can see it in real time and as long as they are nearby, they can post to the wall too.”
Berk is the founder and CEO of Wallit, a geo-social app that connects people to places through multi-media messages on these augmented reality (AR) walls.
Check this out: Sixty hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, which translates to an hour of video every second.
Think about that. No single human being is ever going to watch all of these clips of "Charlie Bit My Finger," not to mention kittens, music performances and product demos. We need curators.
Many of us have grown so accustomed to using social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter to connect with each other, that we may have overlooked what research shows is a growing gap in our social lives, which is connecting with our neighbors.
It all started with a tweet. Or actually, two tweets.
On Wednesday night, Mike Monteiro (@Mike_FTW) tweeted “Dear SF Mayoral candidates, none of you has managed to convince me you don’t have your head up your ass. And you’re running out of time.” A few hours later, he had something new to add: “I am urging all San Franciscans to write-in “Mat Honan” for mayor. He’s passionate and he loves the city. Who’s with me?”
And like that, an Internet meme was born.
Back in the early days of the web, there were some who predicted that online shopping would never take off, because, in addition to other hesitations, most people would never entrust their credit card information to a website.
Amazon started proving the critics wrong soon after it launched in 1995, and when eBay joined the party the following year, it quickly became apparent that ecommerce represented a massive new business opportunity where a lot of players were going to make (and/or lose) a lot of money.
Cut to the present tense, and ecommerce generated some $165.4 billion in sales last year, or roughly eight percent of the retail product sales in the U.S. According to Forrester Research, that figure will reach the neighborhood of $279 billion by 2015.
Meanwhile, with Groupon and Living Social, daily deals and flash sales, the sheer volume of marketing and shopping information coursing over the Internet has become deafening. Email, Facebook, Twitter are all bursting at the seams with the stuff.
By any measure, Dropbox, the startup that lets you easily sync files between your computers, phones and tablets, is one of the hottest young companies in San Francisco.
It's well funded, and reportedly about to get a massive new infusion of cash that would translate into a $5 billion valuation.
It's getting ready to move its 65 employees from a cozy office in the old Phelan Building on Market Street to a new 85,000 square-foot headquarters near the baseball stadium, in what Mayor Ed Lee says is the second largest (behind Twitter's) new tech-sector lease in San Francisco so far this year.
And co-founder and CEO Drew Houston told 7x7 that he hopes to hire enough engineers and designers and others to grow the company to over 400 employees over the next few years.
Fellow geeks, get ready to tweet. Paramount Pictures and Twitter announced today that sneak-preview screenings of J.J. Abrams' eagerly anticipated sci-fi fantasy Super 8 will take place all day Thursday at theaters across the country – including the AMC Metreon here in San Francisco – a day before the movie opens nationwide.
To promote the sneak previews, the companies have designated the hashtag #Super8Secret, which Paramount has also sponsored as a promoted trend, giving Twitter’s global users a direct link to buy tickets. Participating theaters will be treat those in attendance to a free popcorn (with a concession purchase) at each showing. Hosting movie sneak previews marks a first for Twitter.
Jeannie Choe met Bryan Haggerty in 2006. She was supposed to be interviewing him for a design article she was writing, but they ended up chatting about everything else. “Needless to say, we didn’t talk much business that day,” she remembers. “And the rest is history!”
You may have read about their engagement on other blogs, but if not, check out the story here. The short version: Bryan designed a custom iPhone app that sent Jeannie around the city on a scavenger hunt ending in the big question.
In every neighborhood where tech startups are located, you’ll see them – small groups of bright young men, mainly engineers, going out to lunch together. Very occasionally, there will be a woman who is part of the group, but that’s an exception that proves the rule.
It’s an odd phenomenon, this gender segregation, especially because virtually none of these young men fit the old-fashioned stereotype of sexists; by contrast, their generation supports equality between men and women more than any in the past.
And as these companies grow, they hire plenty of women. At Twitter, for example, a recent estimate has women accounting for around a quarter of the workforce.
But where the paucity of women is most striking is on the boards of directors of Web 2.0 companies. In a piece last December for the Wall Street Journal, Kara Swisher documented that none of the leading companies in this sector – Twitter (9 members), Facebook (5), Zynga (5), Groupon (9) and Foursquare (3)-- had a single woman on their board!


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Women’s Day Special
Decoding the menstruation stigma: Blood is the new normal
The release of the Bollywood hit Pad Man triggered an online campaign, where a huge number of people, celebrities and fans alike, posted photos of them holding sanitary pads on social media. Consequentially, the viral campaign put #PadManChallenge as one of the top trends in social media for quite some time now.
The film depicted the life and work of Arunachalam Muruganantham, a man known as India's Menstrual Man. In 1998, soon after marrying his wife, he realized she was using soiled clothes to manage her period. When she explained that she couldn't afford to buy both sanitary pads and milk for their family, he decided to take the matter into his hand. He experimented with different materials which his wife and local medical students refused to try and test. In the end, he tested the sanitary pads himself and continued the research until he built a machine that makes sterilized sanitary napkins at a far cheaper cost. Today he has 2,500 machines in India and a few hundred across 17 other countries, providing sanitary napkins for women at a cheaper cost. In 2014, Muruganantham was named one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world.
The constant toiling and stigmatization he had to undertake socially (as portrayed by Akshay Kumar in the film) is basically the regular story of the majority of the women around, especially in the conservative social structure of South Asia.
Legal development on menstrual hygiene: the changing landscape
One of the commonly practised issues in many societies was to seclude the women during menstruation. 'Chhaupadi' was an ancient Hindu practice of 'menstrual exile', still prevalent in Nepal, which forced women to stay out of their homes during menstruation and after childbirth. In 2005, the Supreme Court of Nepal declared the custom illegal and directed the Nepalese government to criminalise such practice. Despite the verdict and efforts of the activists, it took about a decade to enact a law that criminalized "Chhaupadi" and it was finally passed in August 2017.
A worldwide trend of treating menstrual hygiene as luxury products for tax treatment is ensuing, and being challenged at the same time. This clearly marks a paradigm shift, where the rigid traditional outlook towards menstruation seems to fade away. Recently, India is witnessing a wave of protests as the central government imposed a general service tax ("GST") on a number of products including menstrual hygiene products. In November 2017, in response to a writ petition by a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University, a division bench of Delhi High Court questioned why GST on menstrual products should not be waived. Critics also observed the absence of any woman in the 31-member council which determines the GST on consumer products. As an intriguing mode of protest, packets of sanitary products were sent to Mr Arun Jetley(finance minister) and to Mr Narendra Modi as well.
The similar situation occurred in the UK in 2015 when the tax on menstrual products (which was implemented in 1973) was made a factor in the election. Upon strong protests from concerned activists, an amendment was proposed by a member of the UK parliament, Paula Sherriff, to waive the tax popularly termed as 'tampon-tax'. However, the implementation of the amendment might take a while (probably up till 2022) due to the Brexit complexities.
Canada also waived taxes on menstrual products in 2015. However, in the U.S., this issue came into the spotlight on January 2016, when an activist asked President Obama about whether he is aware of the fact that in 40 states, feminine sanitary products are treated as luxury goods.
His response was: "I have to tell you, I have no idea why states would tax these as luxury items". This pretty much sums up the secrecy constructed around the issue in mainstream discussion.
Bangladesh however, reduced the supplementary duty on sanitary products in 2015. By an amendment brought in the Value Added Tax Act, 1991 by the Finance Act, 2015, the tax slab came down to 45% from a staggering 60%.
Bangladesh, as a Muslim-majority country is still taking baby steps for ensuring menstrual hygiene for half of its population. Some activists assert conservative religious traditions as a major catalyst behind this secrecy/taboo around menstruation. However, Islamic fiqh did not hold back at all in discussing the issue in detail, and the prophet (PBUH) and his companions were also very open about it.
Nevertheless, the situation vividly portrays how the world uncomfortably moves around a biological process which, quite literally, runs the human race on this planet. It is high time we stop condemning women for a physical phenomenon that takes a massive toll on their bodies. Let's start a dialogue or maybe just a conversation with our mothers, our sisters, our friends. Every tiny step we take will keep our girls better.
Shyikh Mahdi is the Founder and CEO of Future Law Initiative. He can be reached at [email protected]


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From a fundraiser sponsored by The Daily and WWD, attended by movers and shakers in the fashion world, to a guest spot on The View the next morning, Michelle Obama's newfound sense of style has caught the eyes of top designers in New York. They are all up for the challenge of convincing the very possible, future First-Lady to give them the opportunity to fashion her from head to toe.
Even a presidential election creates opportunity for fashion designers. If Barack Obama wins the bid for President and moves into the White House, what better opportunity could there be for a designer to be able to take credit for all of the compliments that Michelle Obama receives for her impeccable taste of style and fashion sense? Not to mention all of the dollars pouring in from sales of dresses and gown orders from women who want to be just like her.
Sometimes a little nostalgia is good-- those Jackie Kennedy days feel like they're coming back again...
When opportunity knocks, you'd better be ready to answer!
(photo courtesy of New York Magazine)


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In its relentless pursuit to cater to diverse tablet users, Samsung is gearing up for yet another addition to its extensive lineup. Positioned strategically between the Galaxy Tab A9 series and the Galaxy Tab S9 FE series, an unannounced tablet with the model number SM-P620 has surfaced on Geekbench’s database, unveiling a glimpse of its capabilities.
Key Specifications: Unveiling the Mystery Tablet
Processor Prowess: Powered by the Exynos 1280 processor, a cutting-edge 5nm chip housing two high-performance CPU cores and six power-efficient CPU cores, the tablet promises a balance between speed and efficiency.
Performance Metrics: Scoring 930 points in the single-core CPU performance test and 1,843 points in the multi-core CPU performance test on Geekbench, the tablet showcases commendable performance potential.
Ample Memory: Boasting 4GB RAM, the tablet ensures smooth multitasking and responsive user experience.
Software Sophistication: Running on the Android 14 operating system, the tablet aligns with the latest software advancements.
Positioning in Samsung’s Tablet Portfolio
While its official name remains shrouded in mystery, speculation surrounds whether it will be dubbed the Galaxy Tab S9 Lite or Galaxy Tab S8 Lite. Positioned between the Galaxy Tab A9+ and the Galaxy Tab S9 FE in terms of specifications, this tablet aims to strike a delicate balance between affordability and performance.
Launch Anticipation: What to Expect
With a Geekbench appearance igniting curiosity, the tablet is expected to make its debut before the year concludes. As Samsung enthusiasts await further details, the prospect of a budget-friendly yet powerful tablet is undeniably intriguing.
Stay tuned for updates on Samsung’s latest tablet offering, set to redefine the affordable tablet landscape!


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Megadeth’s ‘Super Collider’ Outsold by Metallica’s ‘Black Album’ this Week on Billboard Charts
Here's some news that may or may not surprise you. Since Megadeth's released 'Super Collider,' two months ago, album sales have been somewhat disappointing. In fact, 'Super Collider' was outsold this week by Metallica's 'Black Album,' which is 22 years old.
Metallica's self-titled 'Black Album' is not only one of metal's most successful albums, it's the highest-selling record of the last 22 years in the U.S., period. With approximately 16 million copies of the 'Black Album' sold, the full-length classic is the most popular album of the Soundscan era, which began in 1991. As pointed out by Metal Injection, the 'Black Album' routinely sells around 1500 copies each week, and as Megadeth's 'Super Collider' has dropped in sales, the 2013 disc sold less copies than the 'Black Album' did this week.
Megadeth's 'Super Collider' has been panned by both critics and fans, although there are many who stand behind the latest Megadeth release. 'Super Collider' has sold just over 60,000 copies since it dropped early in June -- 1,713 of which were scanned this week. How many copies did the 'Black Album' sell this week? The official count is 1,737. As you can see, Metallica's 22-year-old 'Black Album' charted higher than Megadeth's two-month-old 'Super Collider.'
Megadeth's 2011 full-length, 'TH1RT3EN,' debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, selling 42,000 copies its first week. The album has since sold around 120,000 in the U.S. as of December 2012. Although 'Super Collider' debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 chart, only 29,000 copies were scanned its first week.


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Apple today launched its Research app, kicking things off with three new studies that users can opt to participate in.The company says that all three are “landmark” multi-year longitudinal studies that dive into things like women’s health, heart health, and hearing.So, if you want to help Apple and scientists conduct health research, you can download the app from the iOS App Store and participate in any of these three studies.All three studies seem to be aimed at people using both an iPhone and an Apple Watch, though it sounds like the latter device is only required for one study.In order to download the Research app, you’ll need to be using an iPhone 6s with iOS 13.2 or later, so Apple is casting a fairly wide net here.The first study Apple previewed today is centered around women’s health, which the company says is the “first long-term study of this scale and scope.” The goals of the study are to better understand menstrual cycles and how they relate to health conditions like polycystic ovary syndrome, infertility, osteoporosis, and menopausal transition.
There could be a million different structures with the ability to store genetic information, according to a recent paper.DNA stores the genetic information that describes all of Earth’s life, in the form of a twisted scaffold lined with a sequence composed of four data-encoding molecules.What if there are better molecules for other purposes?The new research points “toward there being large spaces of unexplored chemistry relevant to pharmacology and biochemistry and efforts to understand the origins of life,” according to the paper published in the Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling.The researchers uncovered the rich variety of possible data storage molecules using a program called MOLGEN 5.0.Then, they used another program called Pipeline Pilot to generate new structures with the same chemical formulas to see what they might have missed.
It spurred the state's greatest debris cleanup since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.It’s still going on today, contractor pickups plastered with various acronyms prowling the town; crews still restoring power and cable, ensuring there’s clean water, hauling debris, and otherwise trying to lay the foundation for a future Paradise that may bear little resemblance to the one that vanished a year ago.The landscape has become more flammable due to climate change and human development, and now we bear the burden of the consequences.For other towns, for millions of people, it’s meant rolling blackouts to stave off power grid-sparked fires.And for California’s government, it’s meant turning to prison labour to battle increasingly intense blazes.There are still people living here.
Disney Plus already has 1.9 million US subscribers ahead of its launch on Tuesday, according to data from analytics company Jumpshot.34% of those subscribers use at least one other streaming service, according to Jumpshot.For instance, Verizon is offering a free year to Verizon Wireless Unlimited customers, new Fios Home Internet customers, and new 5G Home Internet customers.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.The data is based on desktop and mobile web subscriptions in the US.Disney did not immediately return a request for comment.
But for a pure electric vehicle in its range, Toyota has maintained that hybrids are a better solution.However, now that they have entered into an agreement with the chinese BYD to develop electric cars in a new, jointly owned company.In the automotive industry, my interest is shifting from hybrids and plug-in hybrids, to rural electrification, but the internal combustion engines, but Toyota is going against the grain.the Company is the only one of the largest manufacturers of the day, the lack of a pure electric vehicle in the world.In an interview with the New Technology, " explained Toyota's chief technology officer Shigeki Terashi, that pure electric cars can't stand on its own two feet, without subsidies.long-term bet on the hybrid technology, and his company, therefore it is a manufacturer that has been making the right choice, he said.
Beleaguered ride-sharing giant Uber continued to torch cash like an outdated Joker reference in Q3 2019, but it claims that the news is positive because parts of its business would technically be profitable if one looked past all the ways it’s losing money.In quarterly results posted on Monday, Uber reported a net loss of roughly $1.2 billion – which the Wall Street Journal reported beat many analysts’ expectations, but still stood as the third-largest since it began issuing reports in 2017.That’s significantly better than its last quarter, in which it cast $5.2 billion into the flames, though it’s not much of an improvement when considering that quarter’s one-time charge of $3.9 billion for stock compensation.Uber reported that its core ride-sharing business is now profitable to the tune of $631 million on revenue of $2.9 billion, but only when excluding major categories of non-operating expenditures such as interest, depreciation, and stock-based compensation.That $631 million number, which again exists only in theory, is higher than its Q3 2018 total of $416 million.As Ars Technica noted, these are real costs that can’t be discounted and will continue to dog Uber’s business.
Now, researchers have demonstrated a potential new security risk: it’s possible to issue commands to smart speakers with lasers instead of spoken words, as Wired reports.The researchers found that by changing a laser’s intensity to a specific frequency and pointing the laser directly at a smart speaker’s microphone, they could make the microphone interpret the laser as if it were sound, letting them issue a command to the voice assistant powering the device.And it seems like practically every voice assistant may be vulnerable to this vector of attack, as the researchers say they have tested this on Google Home devices, Amazon Alexa devices, and Facebook’s Portal Mini, as well as some smartphones including an iPhone XR, a sixth-generation iPad, a Samsung Galaxy S9, and a Google Pixel 2.There’s also a video of a laser asking Google Home to tell the time and a video of a laser issuing a command across buildings:This is wild stuff — but it’s not probably not easy for a potential attacker to pull off.For one, the attacker needs line of sight to the device they’re pointing a laser at — through a window, most likely.
BlizzCon is set to kick off tomorrow, and Blizzard is widely expected to reveal Diablo 4 during the show.As with many expected big-name reveals, there have been a number of leaks surrounding the game, and the latest one paints an encouraging picture for those who have a soft spot for Diablo 2.It seems that Blizzard has looked to Diablo 2 for a lot of inspiration for Diablo 4, which should make a lot of franchise fans happy.It isn’t very surprising to hear that Blizzard is tapping its work with Diablo 2 when it comes to developing Diablo 4.While a lot of folks will tell you that Diablo 3 in its current state is a pretty solid game, it didn’t get the warmest reception on release.A lot of that had to do with Blizzard’s ill-advised real money auction house, but fans also lamented the shifting tone of the series as a whole.
You can turn off your PS4 without a controller by using the power button on the front of the console.You can put the PS4 in rest mode by pressing the power button on the front of the PS4 until it beeps once.To turn off the PS4 completely, press and hold the power button for about seven seconds, until it beeps twice.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.Normally, the best way to turn off a PlayStation 4 is via its controller.However, if your controller dies while the console is on, you're not out of luck.
Walmart announced today an expansion of its existing relationship with financial services provider Green Dot, which will continue to serve as the issuing bank and program manager for the Walmart MoneyCard program for another seven years.The two companies also agreed to partner on the creation of a new accelerator that focuses on the intersection of retail and consumer financial services.The accelerator, called Tailfin Labs, will help startups develop solutions that integrate omni-channel shopping and financial tech, which can be aimed either at consumers or businesses.These may involve products built on top of Green Dot’s “Banking-as-a-Service” (BaaS) platform.“Green Dot is extremely proud and honored to both extend our MoneyCard partnership for many years and to additionally enter into an entirely new equity partnership with Walmart in the creation of a fintech accelerator,” said Steve Streit, founder and CEO, Green Dot, in a statement.“We believe the combination of Walmart’s unmatched retail ecosystem with Green Dot’s innovative and highly flexible BaaS platform, which enables the world’s largest technology and consumer brands to address their consumers with bespoke financial products and services, has the opportunity to create and bring to market many new and exciting innovations over the years to come.”
T-Mobile continued its recent run of strong wireless growth, bolstering the nation's third-largest carrier even while it awaits the status of its pending merger with Sprint and prepares to launch its nationwide low-band 5G network.In its third-quarter earnings posted Monday afternoon, the self-proclaimed "Un-carrier" added 1.7 million subscribers, 754,000 of which were postpaid phone additions, to bring its total count to 84.2 million subscribers.The postpaid subscriber, who pays at the end of the month and is valued more highly by financial analysts, saw a 3% year-over-year increase.Revenue for the quarter came in at $11.1 billion, lower than the $11.33 billion analysts polled by Yahoo Finance estimated.The earnings come as T-Mobile prepares for what is shaping up to be a busy end of the year.After launching higher-frequency millimeter-wave 5G in a handful of cities earlier this year, the carrier is planning to launch its nationwide, low-band 5G network that it says will cover 200 million people before the end of 2019 including indoors and over wider areas.
These Google Pixel deals slash up to $265 off the best 2-in-1 Chromebook complete with the keyboard and Pixel Pen attachments.Walmart’s and Amazon’s Google Pixel Slate bundles, you get the base tablet, keyboard attachment, and Pixelbook Pen all in one package.You can buy the $1,100 Core m3 model for $894 or the $1,413 Core i5 128GB variant for $1,149.You can save an additional $50 when you apply and are approved for an Amazon Rewards Visa card.Stocks for these 2-in-1 deals are very limited, so hurry and place your order now.Google Pixel Slate (Core m3, 8GB RAM, 64GB Storage) — $206 off
Instagram is forcing you to make do with the face you were born with, so if you want to indulge in filters, go elsewhere.The platform has announced its intention to remove filters that make your face look less like you and more like you if you dedicated some serious time and money to restructuring you entire head and body, and frankly, I feel personally attacked.If I wanted to post unfiltered pics of my giant moon face - well, I wouldn't.I prefer to fool the world into thinking I don't look like a troll that just walked headfirst into a spiky wall."We're re-evaluating our policies - we want our filters to be a positive experience for people," a spokesman said, who probably has the face of Adonis, and doesn't understand the struggles of taking a half decent selfie."While we're re-evaluating our policies, we will remove all effects from the [effects] gallery associated with plastic surgery, stop further approval of new effects like this and remove current effects if they're reported to us."
With the launch of the Disney Plus streaming service this November, though, those Star Wars TV shows and movies will finally all be in one place.Previously scattered across Disney Life, Netflix, and other rental and purchase services, Star Wars on Disney Plus looks set to give fans of Star Wars a centralized way to access a whole lot of content, not to mention the exclusive shows like The Mandalorian coming to the platform.With 4K / HDR support for all Disney Plus subscribers, the only thing stopping you from enjoying Star Wars movies and shows to the fullest will be whether you have a 4K TV capable of pushing those pixels to the max.There have been 11 live-action Star Wars movies to hit cinemas, including the prequel trilogy and latest films featuring Adam Driver, John Boyega, and Daisy Ridley.We expect every Star Wars movie to hit the service at some point, though not all of them will be on the service at launch – and there will no doubt be a few months between the theatrical release and new film landing on the service.Release schedule: Star Wars Disney Plus movies
Ford is launching a fleet of new electric cars, including a “Mustang-inspired” crossover with 300 miles of range.Those cars will need charging stations, so like other automakers before it, Ford will have to invest in infrastructure as well as in the vehicles themselves.The Blue Oval will use Volkswagen’s Electrify America network for public charging and provide assistance to customers setting up home charging.The entity was always intended to be brand agnostic, but Ford is the first major automaker to commit to using it.Lucid Motors has also said it will use Electrify America, but it’s a small startup that hasn’t delivered any cars to customers yet.Customers will be able to access Electrify America charging stations using the FordPass app, and will be able to take advantage of high-power DC fast-charging stations.
Alibaba’s fintech affiliate Ant Financial is in talks with lenders for a syndicated loan of up to $3.5 billion, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.Why it matters: Ant Financial’s latest funding move follows a raft of Chinese tech firms seeking to lower debt costs.Some big borrowers in the region have been taking advantage of abundant liquidity in the loan market amid a slump in deal volume.Details: Ant Financial is in discussions for $2.5 billion in financing that comes with a $1 billion greenshoe option, according to Bloomberg citing people familiar with the matter.An Ant Financial spokesperson told TechNode that the company does not comment on market rumors.The price for the three-year loan in question is less than 100 basis points over the London interbank offered rate known as Libor, or 1%, according to unnamed sources.
That's because bananas have potassium.Potassium is an important nutrient for humans, and an even more important nutrient when it comes to alfalfa.With an economic value of $9 billion annually in the United States, alfalfa is the most valuable crop behind corn and soybeans."For example, it's important for converting sunlight to energy, transporting molecules and growing new cells.""In addition to being costly for growers, over-fertilization can put dairy cows at risk of milk fever," says Jungers.So, Jungers and his team wanted to identify potassium fertilization rates that increase yield and nutritive value, while reducing potassium concentration in the tissue.
Databricks, the big data analytics service founded by the original developers of Apache Spark, today announced that it is bringing its Delta Lake open-source project for building data lakes to the Linux Foundation and under an open governance model.The company announced the launch of Delta Lake earlier this year and even though it’s still a relatively new project, it has already been adopted by many organizations and has found backing from companies like Intel, Alibaba and Booz Allen Hamilton.“In 2013, we had a small project where we added SQL to Spark at Databricks […] and donated it to the Apache Foundation,” Databricks CEO and co-founder Ali Ghodsi told me.“Over the years, slowly people have changed how they actually leverage Spark and only in the last year or so it really started to dawn upon us that there’s a new pattern that’s emerging and Spark is being used in a completely different way than maybe we had planned initially.”This pattern, he said, is that companies are taking all of their data and putting it into data lakes and then do a couple of things with this data, machine learning and data science being the obvious ones.But they are also doing things that are more traditionally associated with data warehouses, like business intelligence and reporting.
Men betydligt fler nyttjar sjukvårdens e-tjänster än vårdappar som Kry och Min Doktor, enligt undersökningen Svenskarna och internet.Digital vård är ett växande fenomen i samhället.Mer än häften, hela 53 procent av alla svenskar använder sjukvårdens digitala tjänster för att boka ett fysiskt läkarbesök.Detta innebär att vård ligger trea på listan över tjänsterna svenskar använder mest, efter Skatteverkets e-tjänster och e-betalningar i kollektivtrafiken.Just tidsbokning online har ökat med närmare 400 procent under de senaste två åren i Stockholm, enligt rapporten.Att en av tio svenskar använder digital vård som alternativ till fysiska besök visar att invånarna vill möta vården på nya sätt.
En social bokapp som knyter samman läsare med varandra och med författare.Sweet Studio investerar i bolag i idéstadiet och vi tittade mycket på kinesiska konsumentappar”, säger Miles Scherrer som är vd för BookselfHan sökte sig sedan till startupgeneratorn Antler där han träffade han Jessica Mansourati.Redan efter nio månader lanserade de första versionen av sin app.Ambitionen är att användarna ska börja med att leta i den och bygga en ”bokhylla” med titlar på böcker de läst, eller vill läsa.Efter det kan de börja följa författare och kolla in Bookselfs egna listor över vad förebilder som Bill Gates läser.
Google's October 15 hardware event is fast approaching, and in addition to the launch of the Pixel 4, Google Home Mini 2, Google WI-Fi 2, and a new pair of Pixel Buds, the show should usher in a new Pixelbook.We've known the new Pixelbook would be called the "Pixelbook Go," but other than a few details from Chrome OS commits, the device has mostly been a mystery.Google takes its title as "least secretive device manufacturer" very seriously, though, and recently 9to5Google managed to just get a Pixelbook Go ahead of the event.They took a bunch of pictures and video.Unlike the fairly unique design of the original Pixelbook and the Pixel Slate, the Pixelbook Go mostly just looks like a MacBook.9to5Google got that vibe from the device in person, too, writing: "We can’t fathom that this laptop won’t immediately be labeled 'Google’s MacBook.'"
US Senator Marco Rubio on Wednesday requested that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review Bytedance’s 2017 acquisition of short video app Musical.ly, citing concerns that Bytedance apps are increasingly used to censor content, Reuters reported.Why it matters: As trade tensions between China and the US intensify, an increasingly wider swath of Chinese companies are facing scrutiny by US regulators.“TikTok US is localized, adheres to US laws, and stores all US user data in the US.Our content and moderation policies are led by our US-based team and are not influenced by any foreign government.The Chinese government does not request that TikTok censor content, and would not have jurisdiction regardless, as TikTok does not operate there.”Details: In a letter to the CFIUS chair, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Rubio said that Chinese apps are more frequently being used to silence open discussion of topics considered sensitive by the its government.
The competition for headphones sure got stiffer as more and more people seek an immersive listening experience but if you simply want to let go of the bulk and tune into good sound, then you might just find yourself at home with the Sennheiser CX 7.00BT Wireless in-ear headphones .These are perfectly ideal for those looking for wireless options but aren’t quite comfortable sporting true wireless earbuds.Needless to say, you won’t be able to roll this up, it is, however, convenient in other ways as it saves you the hassle of constantly having to reposition it around your neck or the trouble of digging them out of your bag.Portability is no less guaranteed with the included soft carry pouch that makes for easy storage as well as protect your headset from incurring any damages, and at only 48g, it’s unlikely to weigh you down.Wireless freedom, in this case, means not being tethered to your device and so most of the controls for playback, volume, calls, and power/pairing can be found on the left of the band.You’ll also find the integrated high-quality microphone here for clear and crisp calls, and when you need to talk to more than one person at a time, you’ll appreciate that the CX 7.00BT supports three-way calling.
Attackers are exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Google’s Android mobile operating system that can give them full control of at least 18 different phone models, including four different Pixel models, a member of Google’s Project Zero research group said on Thursday night.There’s evidence the vulnerability is being actively exploited, either by exploit developer NSO Group or one of its customers, Project Zero member Maddie Stone said in a post.Exploits require little or no customization to fully root vulnerable phones.The vulnerability can be exploited two ways: (1) when a target installs an untrusted app or (2) for online attacks, by combining the exploit with a second exploit targeting a vulnerability in code the Chrome browser uses to render content.“If the exploit is delivered via the Web, it only needs to be paired with a renderer exploit, as this vulnerability is accessible through the sandbox.”A “non-exhaustive list” of vulnerable phones include:
A former Yahoo software engineer has pleaded guilty in a US federal court of hacking into 6,000 personal Yahoo accounts, including his friends and workmates.Reyes Daniel Ruiz, 34, entered the guilty plea in San Jose this week, after he had been accused of hacking into thousands of Yahoo accounts through his work at the company, in an attempt to find sexual images and videos from the account holders.According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, these were accounts primarily belonging to younger women.Ruiz used his role as a software engineer at the firm to crack user passwords, which allowed him to access internal Yahoo systems to compromise the Yahoo accounts.Ruiz admitted to making copies of images and videos that he found in the personal accounts without permission, and stored the data at his home.And to make matters worse, once he had access to the Yahoo accounts, Ruiz admitted to compromising the iCloud, Facebook, Gmail, DropBox, and other online accounts of the Yahoo users in search of more private images and videos.
Already under fire for advancing Chinese foreign policy by censoring topics like Hong Kong’s protests and pro-LGBT content, the Beijing-based video app TikTok is now further distancing itself from U.S. social media platforms, like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, with a ban on political ads on its app.The company today says it will not allow political ads on TikTok, noting they don’t fit in with the experience the short-form video app aims to offer.“Any paid ads that come into the community need to fit the standards for our platform, and the nature of paid political ads is not something we believe fits the TikTok platform experience,” says Blake Chandlee, TikTok’s VP of Global Business Solutions, who recently joined the company from Facebook.“To that end, we will not allow paid ads that promote or oppose a candidate, current leader, political party or group, or issue at the federal, state, or local level – including election-related ads, advocacy ads, or issue ads,” he says.TikTok further explains that it wants to be known as a place for creative expression, and one that creates a “positive, refreshing environment” that inspires that creativity.It will further encourage these goals through its products like its fun filters and effects as well as its brand partnerships.
À l’heure actuelle, le département IT doit accroître l’efficacité opérationnelle, tout en équipant les collaborateurs des bons outils, produits et services pour faire au mieux leur travail.Les entreprises ont besoin de la puissance des technologies les plus récentes pour faire face à l’évolution constante des environnements numériques, ainsi qu’à des collaborateurs hautement mobiles et très exigeants.Même si les contrôleurs (linéaires, axés sur l’informatique et isolés) et les transformateurs (agiles, axés sur les employés et flexibles) ont deux approches différentes, ils sont confrontés à des défis similaires et doivent faire appel à des partenaires afin de pouvoir se concentrer sur les tâches les plus stratégiques et répondre aux besoins des collaborateurs.Bien que leurs objectifs diffèrent, ces deux types d’IT font appel aux mêmes outils et sont bien conscients de la nécessité d’améliorer l’autonomie et la productivité de leurs collaborateurs.Pourtant, la divergence des objectifs a entraîné une divergence des approches en matière de cycle de vie des PC.
Blooper reels have long been adored by fans who cherish the behind-the-scenes goofiness from their favorite shows.There's just something a little unsettling when it's puppets doing the blooping.But please enjoy Netflix's The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance blooper video released on Wednesday, complete with a crooning Skeksis, an interloping pigeon and lots and lots of screaming.The video covers a series of comedic on-set errors, from fallen wigs to twitching puppet eyes to skeZok, the Skeksis ritual master, singing the smarmy pop hit All By Myself.Age of Resistance debuted on Netflix in late August as a prequel series taking place long before the events of Jim Henson's 1982 movie The Dark Crystal.Both installments have walked an uneasy-yet-compelling line between children's entertainment and fantasy-horror.
Earlier this year, Japanese manufacturer Sharp had released the Sharp Aquos Zero – its most ambitious and its first foray into the OLED phone market.The Aquos Zero at the time was marketed as the world’s lightest smartphone with a 6-inch display.Its been 9 months down the line, and the Japanese Electronics major is out again with an update to the Zero – the Sharp Aquos Zero2.Again, the firm is touting the Aquos Zero2 as the lightest 6-inch phone, tipping the scales at just 143 grams.While that only means less strain on your hands, the Sharp Aquos Zero2 offers pretty much more than that.The device is Sharp’s first with an in-display fingerprint scanner, and what is more, it features an OLED display with an insane 240Hz refresh rate.
The chinese videoappen Tiktok has reached about 600 million users around the world since its inception in the year 2014.the App, which you can create 15-second videos, and sync those to your music, is very popular among teenagers in Sweden, according to the annual reports of the Swedes, and the internet.In line with the fact videotjänsten also be called into question.Among other things, the company behind the app, is being accused of sending user data to China, which has led to the imposition of fines in the united states.In a review conducted by The Guardian, comes to light now that the Tiktok and instruct their innehållsmoderatorer to censor the content, which may be displeasing to the chinese government.According to the leaked document, which the newspaper has taken to including the videos that mention the forbidden city and tiananmen square, the independence of Tibet, or the Falun Gong, and be subject to self-censorship.


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Cellular launched 4G services in Orissa on Tuesday, expanding its LTE services to eight circles and plans to launch Maharashtra & Goa and North East by March this year.
India’s third largest telecom service provider said in a statement that by June 2016, Idea’s 4G footprint will cover 750 cities across 10 circles. The number would rise to 12 circles after spectrum trading transaction with Videocon gets completed.
“With revised capex guidance for FY16 at Rs. 75 billion we are accelerating our 4G rollout to cover the length and breadth in the 10 telecom circles, including Maharashtra & Goa and North East that are slated for launch before March ’16,” said Ambrish Jain, Deputy Managing Director, Idea Cellular.
Idea Cellular has launched 4G services in four circles of South India - Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu & Chennai – and three in North India - Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab.
In Orissa, 12 major cities including Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Baleswar, Jharsuguda and Jatni will be covered besides 18 major towns such as Sambalpur, Brahmapur and Raurkela by March.
Idea Cellular currently holds 1800 MHz 4G spectrum in these 10 circles which cover 50% of telecom market but over 60% of Idea’s gross revenue.
Additionally, the company signed an agreement with Videocon Telecommunications Limited for acquiring ‘Right to Use’ 1800 MHz spectrum through spectrum trading agreement in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh (West).
“Post completion of this transaction, 4G services will be extended to 12 service areas, covering 75% of Idea’s revenue base in the country,” the company added. Sashi Shankar
, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular said that customers with 4G devices in the towns across these eight circles can upgrade their SIM cards to new 4G SIM cards to experience 4G services. Idea is offering attractive subscription plans to digital content and has also partnered with leading handset manufacturers and e-commerce retailers for special data bundling offers on new 4G smartphones.


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SABIC today announced it is undertaking a global transformation aimed at creating a more agile,cost-efficient, and customer-focused organization that meets their needs more effectively. The company’s new organizational structure is expected to be in place by January 1, 2016.
The reorganization follows a comprehensive review addressing the challenges SABIC faces in the context of the company’s 2025 strategy — including changes in the market landscape as well as the need to drive technology and innovation. To meet these challenges, the company is optimizing its existing portfolio while at the same time investing in the innovations that are required for future growth.
As a result of this optimization, the commodity products of the Innovative Plastics Strategic Business Unit (SBU) will now be housed in the Chemicals and Polymers SBUs. The remaining Plastics’ solutions will fall under a newly created SBU called Specialties. This business will serve as the exclusive home for SABIC specialty solutions. Along with the Performance Chemicals SBU, the portfolio of which was reallocated earlier, the Innovative Plastics SBU will cease to exist.
“This reorganization will focus resources more intensively on the needs of each line, enhancing customer intimacy with more focused solutions provision and helping move SABIC to the next level of portfolio product management”, said Yousef Abdullah Al-Benyan, Acting Vice Chairman and CEO of SABIC. “The changes will enhance our global footprint to serve our customers locally while providing solutions globally.”
One of the drivers of this change is the differing technology priorities of commodity and specialty businesses. The future of the commodity line will depend heavily on innovations around advancing feedstock technology. Specialty products face separate technology challenges, including the need to seek out technology acquisitions and partnerships or joint ventures that can enrich SABIC’s existing portfolio.
“This initiative will build a stronger, better SABIC one capable of global leadership in meeting customer needs, developing employees and contributing to the communities where we live and work,” said Yousef Abdullah Al-Benyan, Acting Vice Chairman and CEO of SABIC. “We are committed to building a company that provides our employees with the opportunity to grow and develop.”
“We have strong ambitions in terms of growth, market position and innovation,” Al-Benyan added. “Our global 2025 strategy is to be the preferred world leader in chemicals by delivering ‘Chemistry that Matters™’. This includes striving for excellence in areas, such as customer value, environmental protection, health and safety, cost competitiveness and sustainable profit.”


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At this year’s World of Concrete, you couldn’t help but notice an ongoing trend: cordless tools performing tasks that a few years ago would have been near impossible without a great deal of sacrifice in performance and ergonomics.
At Bosch’s outdoor exhibit, the manufacturer engaged attendees in a head-to-head battle of corded versus cordless. The two attendees each tried their hand with the cordless model, the Pro Factor GBH18V-45 1-7/8” SDS-max cordless rotary hammer; in the first face-off, the cordless model beat the corded model, and in the second face-off, they finished at the same time.
Husqvarna featured two technologies. It says the new PACE battery system, starting with the K1 PACE high-power battery cutter offers power and performance equivalent to gas-powered options. To its i-Series 36-volt platform, Husqvarna added the WT 15i water tank, the BV 30i screed, the DM 540i drill, and the DE 110i dust extractor.
One of the biggest roadblocks to cordless tools for intensive applications like concrete cutting has always been power-to-weight ratio. In order for batteries to pack enough power, they have to be larger, and there is only so much size and weight an operator can use. Using that much power could also drain the battery much faster, eliminating work efficiencies.
According to Lloyd von Scheliha, Husqvarna’s product market manager for power cutters, the advancements in cordless technology stem from both the batteries and the tools themselves. Battery cell developers have continued to refine and innovate to pack more power into smaller cells, just as we’ve seen with computers and smartphones. The result is more power without adding weight.
Simultaneously, tool manufacturers have been refining designs and motors to interact with the battery and to perform more efficiently. For example, Husqvarna designed its PACE cutter with a thinner core blade that reduces friction and puts less strain on the motor while using watts more productively, improving run time and performance.
“It’s about maximizing the efficiency of the battery platform and maximizing the productivity of the tool,” von Scheliha says. “That is the real balance manufacturers and designers are going for.”
Indeed, for Bosch one of the features that has advanced its cordless platform is the combination of its BITURBO brushless motors and its core 18-volt batteries, optimizing wattage so that the battery can support high-performance motors with power comparable to corded tools.
“As battery tech has progressed so much, so has the motor technology,” says Bosch product manager Mike Tsiolis. “Now users are able to have the corded performance they had previously coming off of a cordless tool.”
There also was a lot of buzz at WOC around Hilti’s announcement of “Nuron,” its new 22-volt platform that Senior Vice President of Marketing Erik Mikysa says addresses another piece of the cordless puzzle by creating a single platform for all tools, from light-duty drilling to heavy-duty concrete breaking. The line launched with more than 60 available tools.
“It’s a completely new platform we designed from the ground up using leading-edge technology with a goal of improving contractor productivity and safety,” he says. "Knowing how contractors work, the ability to simplify and standardize brings big efficiencies and eliminates inefficiencies."
Incorporating intelligence into the tools was a critical part of this goal, leveraging data from the tools to help construction owners and supervisors better manage and track their tool cribs. “We want the tools to be able to tell contractors what contractors have told us they want tools to say," says Mikysa. "Are they being used enough? Are there enough of them? Where are they?”
And Nuron does this in a way that doesn't rely on the tool user to share or download. As the tool is being used, it's writing data to the battery; when the battery is being charged, the data is uploaded to the cloud for use by owners and supervisors.
Similar technologies are being leveraged by other manufacturers, as well. It's another logical step in the ongoing evolution of cordless tools and one that can only serve to further productivity and maximize efficiencies.
See these products and more by clicking through the slide show.


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SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- Xilinx boosted its revenue goal and held its gross margin target steady for the current quarter, the programmable-chip maker announced late Tuesday.
Xilinx XLNX said it is experiencing "broad-based strength in all end markets and geographies," according to a statement.
The San Jose, Calif.-based company updated investors on its current business conditions via a scheduled press release. Executives did not hold a conference call, as usual.
Xilinx now expects sales between $334.4 million and $343.9 million, or sequential growth between 6 and 9 percent, compared with a previous sales goal of $328.1 million, or growth of 4 percent.
The company does not provide an expected target for its earnings per share, but Xilinx said it still expects gross margins of 62 percent.
Prior to the update, analysts expected sales of $329 million and earnings of 16 cents a share, on average, according to Reuters Research.
Actual results will be reported on Jan. 21.


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Verizon is selling Tumblr, just two years after buying the social network as part of its tumultuous $4.48bn Yahoo acquisition.
Founded in 2007 as one of the first “microblogging” services, Tumblr has been acquired by Automattic, the web services company best known for running blogging platform WordPress.com, for an undisclosed price tag.
The Automattic chief executive, Matt Mullenweg, confirmed the acquisition in a post on his personal Tumblr account. “When the possibility to join forces became concrete,” he said, “it felt like a once-in-a-generation opportunity to have two beloved platforms work alongside each other to build a better, more open, more inclusive – and, frankly, more fun web. I knew we had to do it.”
Tumblr’s chief executive, Jeff D’Onofrio, welcomed the acquisition, tweeting that he was “most excited for what this means for the entire Tumblr community…


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Oct 21, 2014
Etam records a decline in its sales in the third quarter
Oct 21, 2014
The French clothing retail store announced on Thursday a 2.1% drop in its sales in the third quarter due to "disappointing" summer sales and a September that was too mild in Europe, while China remained a difficult market.
The group has not given any forecasts for the end of its financial year.
Between July and the end of September, Etam recorded 284 million euros in sales, down by 2.1%.
This number includes a negative exchange rate of 0.2 million euros due to the depreciation of the Chinese yuan faced with the euro. The group saw its sales drop 7.4% in China (-4.1% constant exchange rate) in a context of half-mast consumption.
Etam has for several months now been reorganising its activities in France, with a repositioning of its offer and fleet of stores.
In Europe, the retailer remains stable (+0.3%) at 200.3 million euros. France is experiencing a slight decline (-0.1%) while the rest of Europe is on the rise (+2.7%).
In France, "the summer sales were disappointing. Growth compared with the fall/winter sales was slowed down by the exceptionally mild weather in September," the group pointed out in a press release.
Per brand, Etam (ready-to-wear, lingerie and the Undiz label) remains in the black at +0.9% but with a decline in growth compared to the previous quarter (+8.1%). The group's other brand 1.2.3 saw a 2.7% drop in its activity.
Over nine months, the group's turnover stands at 882.4 million euros, slightly down (-0.5%) as reported (+0.4% excluding exchanges). Europe remains positive (+4.7%) while China is still in a marked dip (-10.6%) since the beginning of the year.
On 30 September, Etam had 4,141 retail stores, including 944 in Europe, 2,966 in China and 231 in international franchises.
In the first nine months of 2014, the group continued with the development of its network of lingerie activities in Europe and for export, with 28 store openings.
In France, a portion of the Etam ready-to-wear stores were transformed into expanded lingerie retail stores to welcome the new range of cosmetics (600 items) launched by the group at the beginning of October.
In China, the "fleet of concessions was reduced by 213 unprofitable units and the group opened 8 shopping centre stores," said Etam.
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Over the summer Ofgem launched a consultation looking at the benefits and risks associated with the use of UK Link as a Central Switching Service(CSS) provider under the Faster Switching Programme.
Currently Xoserve's governance arrangements pose a potential barrier to them competing in a competative procurement for CSS provision. iTeh cconsiltation sought to understand any benefits and risks associated with the use of UK Link and whether there are regulatory changes required to remove barriers to Xoserve bidding for the CSS procurement to allow the opportunity for benefits to be realised.
Faster switching offers numerous benefits to the UK. It not only enhances customer experience, building confidence and better engagement in the market; but it also improves industry processes with the potential to unlock new business models.
techUK firmly believes that maintaining an open and fair procurement process, where all viable solutions can be assessed equally, will deliver the best outcomes for both consumers and industry. We feel that Ofgem should look to remove any barriers which prevent viable solutions, such as UK Link, competing.
There are several options for how the Central Switching Service could be delivered. These range from systems which resemble those already in use today, to a new type of system which makes use of innovations such as blockchain. There is no doubt that delivering Faster Switching will incur a cost to consumers. It is therefore important that the option selected maximises value both in terms of real costs today but also in enabling new and future business models in digital energy. Whilst we need to procure for the present, but we need to prepare for the future. Allowing Xoserve to compete as incumbent provider is a part of this.
There is however an ongoing need for Ofgem and the DCC to reassure companies that faster switching is a space within which they can innovate. Making it clear that there is no preference for incumbent processes.
Members can download a copy of our response below.


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The House Ways and Means Committee has just approved a bill that would attempt, albeit modestly, to crack down on Chinese currency manipulation, a key cause of America’s trade deficit. The Ryan-Murphy currency bill (HR 2378) would allow the Commerce Department to treat currency manipulation as an illegal subsidy for the purpose of calculating countervailing duties intended as retaliation. This bill has to be passed by the full House of Representatives and then the Senate before becoming law, but already the prophets of doom are squealing about the dangers of starting a trade war with China. They are wrong.
How does China manipulate its currency? Mainly by preventing its exporters from using the dollars they earn as they wish. Instead, they are required to swap them for domestic currency at China’s central bank, which then “sterilizes” them by spending them on U.S. Treasury securities (and increasingly other, higher-yielding investments) rather than U.S. goods. As a result, the price of dollars is propped up — which means the price of yuan is pushed down — by a demand for dollars which doesn’t involve buying American exports.
The amounts involved are astronomical: China’s accumulated dollar-denominated holdings amount to $2.4 trillion, an astonishing 40 percent of China’s GDP. The China Currency Coalition estimated in 2005 that the yuan was undervalued by 40 percent; past scholarly estimates have ranged from 10 to 75 percent. China has in the past allowed token appreciation of the yuan, but nothing serious. As a result, China is now responsible for 83 percent of America’s non-oil trade deficit.
Doomsayers argue that American retaliatory tariffs on Chinese exports would be met by Chinese tariffs on our own exports, producing a cycle of retaliation that would choke off trade between the two nations. It is an easy disaster scenario to imagine, especially if one believes the utter myth that such a cycle is what happened during the Great Depression due to the Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930. But this is actually unlikely, for a number of reasons.
For a start, there is the fundamental fact that China is unlikely to engage in catastrophic escalation because they, not we, are running the surplus, so they are the ones with something to lose. (China’s exports to the U.S. are more than four times America’s exports to China.) The only way a deficit nation can “lose” a trade war is by having its trade balance get even worse. Given that the U.S. trade balance is already outlandish, it is hard to see how this could happen.
Of course, China has other cards up its sleeve, like threatening to dump its massive dollar reserves. But doing so would carry enormous costs for Beijing. For a start, beginning to sell these reserves would reduce the value of the large reserves they would still be holding. Furthermore, this would depress the value of the dollar — exactly the opposite of their currency manipulation strategy. Then there is the awkward problem of what China would do with all the money it would get by selling off its dollars. There just aren’t that many good alternatives for parking that much money. The Japanese don’t want their currency used as an international reserve currency (and will stymie anyone who tries), and the euro has huge problems of its own right now. Assets like gold and minor currencies are volatile or in limited supply. Other assets, like American or European real estate or corporate stocks, are, by definition, denominated in dollars or euros, so this wouldn’t get around the currency problem.


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NetJets Inc, a business-jet operator owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRKB), said it is forming a joint venture in China to tap into the rapidly growing popularity of private air travel in the country.
NetJets, which is based in Columbus, Ohio, said it will partner with Hony Jinsi Investment Management (Beijing) Ltd. and Fung Investments to create the joint venture, which is named NetJets China Business Aviation Ltd.
The Chinese aviation market has phenomenal growth potential and we believe that introducing the NetJets service in China will enhance our brand's global offering for customers around the globe, NetJets chairman and CEO Jordan Hansell said in a statement.
“Our aim is to introduce NetJets brand of unmatched standards for managing private aircraft and provide aircraft owners in China with the ultimate in safety, security and reliability,” he added.
Private air traveling has become increasingly popular in China as the number of wealthy people in the country grows. The Jing Daily reported recently that having private jets and pilot licenses have become status symbols for the wealthy in China.
It has been reported that private flights in China will have to undergo a long approval procedure, which involves extremely stringent regulations. However, in order to support the aviation industry, the authorities have announced that regulation will be relaxed in certain regions.


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A federal judge in Colorado struck down March 30 as unconstitutional a reporting requirement imposed on out-of-state vendors that do not collect and remit state sales and use taxes (Direct Marketing Association v. Huber, D. Colo., No.1:10-CV-01546-REB-CBS, order 3/30/12).
Judge Robert E. Blackburn of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado said that Colorado's 2010 “Amazon” law, so called for one of the online retailers it ostensibly targets, violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
The law, approved by the 2010 Colorado General Assembly (H.B. 1193), requires out-of-state vendors that do not collect state sales and use taxes to notify consumers they may have an obligation to pay taxes on remote purchases. The law also requires the vendors to report certain information about such transactions to the Colorado Department of Revenue.
Blackburn's ruling enjoins the enforcement of the act and related regulations against retailers that sell to Colorado customers but do not have a physical presence in the state.
His ruling came on cross motions for summary judgment filed by the Direct Marketing Association, the plaintiff in the case, and the Colorado Department of Revenue, the defendant.


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You know the economy has taken a turn for the worst when you can’t afford a cup of coffee.
Just as McDonald’s was ready to take a final run at the severely crippled and seemingly clueless Starbucks (in the midst of all their troubles, the coffee company has taken time and money to introduce a new, printed newsletter – the Good Sheet), Bank of America steps in (or out as the case may be) and says “no” to the loans the hamburglars so badly want to fund their 14,000 franchise coffee bars.
So now the franchisees are scrambling to find other banks with money to support their java jitters. But of course, now is not a good time for lending or borrowing. So, the golden arches are suggesting that franchisees use available cash. So maybe it will happen and maybe it will not. Maybe in the spring, maybe in the summer, maybe never. And how do we plan all our marketing support amidst all this uncertainty? Maybe McDonald’s should quit clowning around and stay with what it knows best – fast and affordable burgers and fries.
Yeah, like that’s gonna happen.
For my money, this scenario begs the question: Just how much does McDonald’s hate Starbucks (and/or Howard Schultz)? Apparently more than it once hated Pizza Hut, unless of course the grand plan behind all of this is to eventually purchase Starbucks.


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China Market Consulting conducted an interview with Peibi Wang the CEO of YMQ.cn. Mr. Wang is known as the “Domain Captain” in China.
About Raymond Hackney
Raymond Hackney has been involved with domain names since 1997. One of the most prolific writers in the domain industry and founder of TLDinvestors.com and 3Character.com


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Don’t call it a comeback. Running shoes have been a mainstay on sneaker shelves for decades, and these days, they’ve reemerged as a street staple. In the United States, running sneakers have replaced basketball shoes and trainers as essentials for the stylish set. This is due in part to the retro runner wave that washed ashore a few years ago from enthusiasts in Europe, but more than that, there’s a brand that’s been an even bigger catalyst for the trend: Adidas.
Adidas has been at the forefront of the U.S. runner explosion, carving a niche with the help of its Boost (and now, Bounce) cushioning. While every sneaker brand has touted one of their proprietary technologies as a game-changer at one point or another, Adidas managed to not only deliver, but exceed even the highest of expectations. More than just comfort, Adidas’ new cushioning tech has helped the brand recapture the attention of sneakerheads and build off of that to change the way we perceive running shoes altogether.
This shift can be traced back to Feb. 13, 2013, when Adidas unveiled the Energy Boost performance running sneaker at events in New York City and Herzogenaurach, Germany. This was the first time the public had seen Boost cushioning, a TPU-based compound made up of thousands of small capsules that was originally developed by German chemical production company BASF. “Boost changes running forever,” Adidas said at the Energy Boost’s unveiling. With next-level energy return capabilities and long-lasting durability that could perform at both extremely high and low temperatures, it was apparent that Adidas was onto something. But how would it be able to win over the everyday sneaker enthusiast looking for a comfortable, casual shoe?
That started the following year, when Adidas debuted the Pure Boost in May 2014. Marketed as a running sneaker, the Pure Boost was the brainchild of designers from Adidas’ Sport Performance, Adidas Originals, and Y-3. In its press release, Adidas explained how the sneaker was intended to bridge the gap between performance and style while highlighting the Boost cushioning by stripping down the rest of the design. “The fresh silhouette and simple upper make Pure Boost a blank canvas for you to combine with any outfit,” said Adidas Creative Director James Carnes. The idea wasn’t revolutionary—footwear brands had been trying to find the perfect harmony between sport and street for a while and still are—but the way people embraced the sneaker was.
The Pure Boost caught on as an everyday sneaker almost immediately, allowing those who weren’t necessarily interested in performance running to finally try out the cushioning that everyone had been raving about. Just a month after its release, Kanye West was spotted out in New York City wearing the Pure Boost, and the sneakers were also on his feet in an editorial for GQ’s August 2014 cover. This was during a time when the Adidas-Kanye partnership was just getting started, and with no Yeezys on the shelves yet, people were ready to snatch up any Three Stripes designs co-signed by him. The co-sign did wonders, but truth be told, the Pure Boost was already an incredible sneaker. Halfway through 2014, Complex wasted little time naming it the best sneaker of the year, and it stayed at the top, as no other shoe managed to dethrone it from that position. The craziest part, though, is that this was only the beginning of Adidas’ running takeover.
To kick off 2015, Adidas rolled out the Ultra Boost with the bold proclamation that it was the “greatest running shoe ever.” It was a lofty claim, to say the least, but somehow, Adidas managed to deliver yet again. The brand packed 3,000 individual capsules into the sneaker’s Boost midsole—20 percent more than any of its previous Boost products—resulting in the most cloud-like cushioning setup yet. Adidas didn’t stop there, as the Ultra Boost was also equipped with a strategically engineered Primeknit upper that provided a supportive, sock-like fit and ample breathability. Tech jargon aside, the bottom line was that the Ultra Boost was insanely comfortable. All of a sudden, people who swore by classic shoes were swapping their retros for Ultra Boosts and wearing them for weeks straight. Like the Pure Boost, a Kanye co-sign did wonders for the Ultra Boost’s visibility, turning the “All-White” colorway into the must-have sneaker of summer 2015.
Where the original Pure Boost can be considered a lifestyle sneaker disguised as a runner, the Ultra Boost was very much a performance running sneaker, but it didn’t hurt that it looked great, too. The Ultra Boost’s sleek, streamlined shape represented everything that people loved about running sneakers, and its carefully curated colorways helped turn it into a true game changer. The sneaker helped lift Adidas’ sales in North America, and staggered releases and timely collaborations have kept us talking about it over a year-and-a-half later. When it comes time to put together “best sneakers of the decade” lists, you can count on the Ultra Boost being a top contender.
Kanye West’s co-signs helped draw attention to the Pure Boost and Ultra Boost, but the rapper’s own designs have also helped shift the runner paradigm. The Yeezy Boost 350, which debuted last summer, is notable for being the first low-top Yeezy sneaker and takes many cues from minimal running shoes. In fact, if you ignore their designs, the Yeezy Boost 350 and the Ultra Boost actually share identical tooling with Primeknit uppers and full-length Boost midsoles. That’s not to say that you should necessarily go and rack up some mileage in your 350s, but the point is that it’s more similar to a running sneaker than its moccasin-like details may lead you to believe.
More recently, the NMD range has combined elements from archival Adidas silhouettes with Boost and Primeknit to create the ultimate runner-inspired casual shoe. First debuting in December 2015, it took a little while for the NMD to pick up momentum, but when it did, it was full-on pandemonium. The sneaker’s numerous Primeknit versions regularly resell for insane prices, and although Adidas has shown little restraint with the in-line mesh releases, they’re still selling out every single time.
The latest chapter in the Adidas running sneaker revival is the AlphaBOUNCE—a shoe that isn’t conventional by any means. It was created with motion capture technology that allowed the brand to pinpoint areas for support and expansion. This technology also served as the inspiration for the AlphaBOUNCE’s debut colorway, which was worn by rapper 2 Chainz courtside at the NBA Finals. This sneaker’s story is still being told, but its clean looks and wallet-friendly price point ($100) are already winning people over.
A few years ago, the only running sneakers that were flying off the shelves were extremely limited—and, in many cases, overhyped—retro collaborations. Performance runners were limited to blocky, dad-worthy silhouettes. And then Adidas came along. Driven by the continued evolution of Boost, including the most recent launch of Ultra Boost Uncaged, Adidas has been able to turn the running sneaker category on its head, while shaking up the market and forcing other brands to step their game up. From high-ticket resellers like Yeezys and Ultra Boost collaborations to shoes that everyone can enjoy like the NMD and AlphaBOUNCE, adidas isn't only changing the way we think about running shoes, but footwear as a whole.


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The International SPA Association (ISPA) released the findings of the 2022 ISPA U.S. Spa Industry Study, which indicate a return to near pre-pandemic industry revenue levels even as staffing challenges persist.
The non-profit Global Wellness Institute™ (GWI), the leading research and educational resource for the $4.4 trillion global wellness industry, today launched a Respiratory Wellness Initiative.
The International SPA Association (ISPA) is pleased to announce sponsors for the 2022 ISPA Conference, which will be held May 2 – 4 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Massage Heights Renews Vision, Mission, & Core Values to Foster a `Culture of Care’ Throughout Communities
Massage Heights, a wellness franchise that provides personalized, therapeutic massage and skincare services at 120+ retreats, is redefining how care should look, act, and inspire in communities across North America.
Earthlite, LLC (“Earthlite”), the industry leader in wellness supplies and equipment, announced today the restructuring and growth of its sales, marketing and operations teams.
Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa, the nation’s leading luxury massage and facial spa franchise, announced today the brand is experiencing a surge in development fueled by existing operators growing their portfolio with the brand.
iFlex Stretch Studios the newest concept from the founders of The Joint Chiropractic, one of the nation's leading networks of affordable chiropractic care announced today the opening of its first assisted stretch studio in the Casa Paloma shopping center in Chandler, AZ.
Leading Wellness Industry Technology Platform Mindbody Launches Mindbody Capital to Help Power the Wellness Industry’s Recovery
Mindbody, the leading experience technology platform for the wellness industry, today announced the launch of Mindbody Capital, an offering specifically designed to provide wellness businesses with easy access to funding to power their operations however they see fit.
goHappy will partner with Hand & Stone to provide effective tools to measure the voice of its frontline employees through actionable and insightful employee engagement surveys.
From Just 20 Employees at the First Location in 2002 to a Milestone 20-Year Anniversary in 2022: Massage Envy Celebrates Two Decades of Excellence
Massage Envy, the No. 1 provider of massage services in the U.S. collectively across its franchise network, is celebrating 20 years of outstanding service to millions of members and continued leadership in the wellness category.