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Gold up, food items stable in Kabul
KABUL (Pajhwok): The price of gold increased but foodstuff rates stayed unchanged in Kabul during the outgoing week, market sources said on Thursday.
Abdul Basir, a jeweller in the Lycée Maryam locality of Kabul, told Pajhwok Afghan News the rate of one gram of Arabian gold increased from 2,000 to 2,100afs.
The same amount of Iranian gold rose in price from 1,650 to 1,700afs, he said, linking the surge to the global market trend.
Fazlur Rahman, the food traders’ union head, said food prices remained stable during the week. The whole sale price of a 50-kilogram bag of Pakistani flour was 1,300afs.
A 50-kg sack of sugar cost 1,500afs and a 24-kg rice bag 1,800afs. A five-litre Momin Ghee tin accounted for 380afs. Similarly, a kg of green tea was priced at 170afs and black tea at 210afs.
But Khan Ali, a retailer in Kart-i-Seh area, sold a 49-kilogram bag of flour for 1,370afs, a 50-kg sack of sugar for 1,700afs and a 24-kg rice bag for 2,000afs.
He sold a five-litre tin of cooking oil for 460afs, a kilogram of green tea for 200afs and black tea for 240afs.
Mohammad Sultan, a firewood merchant in Sar Sabzi Square, said wood prices remained stable. The price of 560 kilograms of peeled oak was 6,500afs, unpeeled oak at 6,000afs and cedar at 6,000 afs.
Mohammad Sharif, a gas seller in Kolola Pushta neighbourhood, said one kilogram of liquefied gas cost 50afs -- same as last week’s rate.
The Ministry of Commerce has fixed the price of per kilogram of gas at 48afs, but last week’s rates ranged between 48 and 55afs.
The price of diesel also stayed stable, with one litre selling for 62afs and the same of petrol for 57afs, said Abdul Hadi, a filling station official in Wazirabad area.
Moneychanger Ahmad Shah said the buying rate of one US dollar was 57.10afs, while 1,000 Pakistani rupees accounted for 530afs. Last week's exchange value of the dollar stood at 57.05afs and 1,000 Pakistani rupees at 529afs.
Download “Pajhwok” mobile App, on your smartphone to read and access latest news, features, interviews, videos and photos about Afghanistan.


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March 20, 2019
Tehran announced this week that the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has launched a mechanism similar to the EU’s Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) trade channel, to be called the Special Trade and Finance Institute (STFI), to circumvent US sanctions.
The Iranian official news agency, IRNA, reported on the newly established mechanism, involving Germany, France and Britain, including a number of banks and companies, without giving further details.
IRNA also cited Abdolnasser Hemmati as confirming that at “a meeting with the INSTEX manager and representatives of France and the UK, CBI authorities have fully explained the STFI mechanism,” and that it is set to facilitate business between Europe and Iran.
Hemmati, however, stopped short of elaborating publicly on the details of the mechanism.
The announcement comes after nearly ten days of negotiations by the German head of INSTEX, Per Fischer, with Iranian officials. For the first stage, the STFI is supposed to focus on goods that are not currently subject to US sanctions, such as medicines, medical supplies, foodstuffs and consumer goods.
But the spokesperson of Iran’s foreign ministry, Bahram Ghasemi, told the local Young Journalists’ Club website on March 19, “You should not have hopes for the trade mechanism to do miracles”.
“We have not been waiting for Europeans, and we have pursued other mechanisms with other countries”.
He added that countries such as China, Turkey, India and Russia have been mulling over trade with Iran using their national currencies.
For Iran, the economic crisis has only worsened since US President Donald Trump decided to withdraw from the nuclear deal last May. Five months ahead of the US pullout, Iran witnessed a wave of protests that saw more than 80 Iranian cities take-to-street against skyrocketing prices with protesters chanting anti-corruption and anti-government slogans.
As living conditions deteriorated, Iranians rebelled against the Rouhani administration failing to fulfill its promise on creating more jobs and improve living conditions in the country.

domain: news


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With the purported release date of Apple's third-generation iPad nearing, it's time for the rumors surrounding the device reaching their apex.
Adding to the heat, Chinese webite WeiPhone released a photo, which it claimed was of the iPad 3's logic board. But the real news could be an A5X system-on-a-chip showed on the board, suggesting the next version of the tablet won't involve a revolutionary upgrade (an A6 chip), but a more evolutionary improvement of its processor.
iPad 3 Rumor: Leaked Logic Board Photo Revealed 'A5X' Chip, Not A6. Photo: WeiPhone
There is also a date code of 1146 on the SoC, indicating it was manufactured in the 46th week of last year, the week of Nov. 14-20, 2011. The photo of the logic board also showed two 16-gigabyte Hynix flash memory chips and a rectangular Apple-branded chip.
Considering that Apple's original iPad had a single-core (A4) processor and the iPad 2 featured dual-core (A5) processor, rumors were rife until now that Apple would opt for an A6 quad-core processor to power the iPad 3.
However, some analysts also predicted that the upcoming iPad would be a more limited upgrade over the iPad 2, and the latest rumor based on the A5X does correspond with that theory.
Other features that Apple iPad 3 is expected to bring along include an 8-megapixel rear-camera, a double-resolution Retina Display running at 2048 x 1536 instead of the current 1024 x 768 panel, a larger battery and 4G LTE support.
It's expected that Apple will release the new iPad at a media event on March 7.


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The Blizzard president and co-founder Mike Morhaime has decided today July 19th 2012 on the Battle.net official website to post a notice about the games issues and feedback. The post was published on the site with the attention of letting players know that they are being heard by the game developers and they are doing every thing in their power to make the game a great user experience.
The post was seen as a letter rather than a article or thread and it was especially devoted to the loyal game followers who have certain issues regarding the role playing game.
The Blizzard boss wanted to thank personally, all the Diablo 3 community for their vital feedback and said that all of the feedback via emails ect was being taken in to consideration. The creators of Diablo 3 had gathered all the feedback for them to get stuck into and resolve any real problems that needed addressing.
The boss said in the letter “We’ve never gone from 0 to more than six million players across multiple continents within a few days with a brand-new game.” Diablo 3 became completely unplayable when it officially launched well over 2 months ago.
He then went on to say, “The launch week of Diablo 3 was memorable for many reasons – some positive, and some not so positive,” he said. “We were thrilled that Diablo 3 had the biggest PC-game launch ever, surpassing the lifetime sales of Cataclysm (the previous record holder for biggest PC-game launch) in a matter of weeks. We’ve been floored by the response.”
The fact that the servers went down upon release even surprised Mike and took the entire Blizzard team by surprise. He said that when people were pre-ordering the game consistently, they decided to increase the servers capability. That didn’t even stop the servers from not being able to hack the amount of gamers that wanted to get online and play the RPG game.
Mike said that the team have been taking a look at any future problems and although Diablo 3 has been not failing or running badly over the past couple of weeks, they aim to make the experience last this time round.
Mike also said “For Diablo 3, we looked at historical sales for Blizzard games and other top-selling PC games and watched pre-order numbers. We even upped our estimates to ensure we had additional capacity, or so we thought. In the end, it just wasn’t enough, and that is something we will work hard to conquer for future releases.”
The fact that there is a important Patch 1.0.4. coming out very soon, Blizzard want to make design even better and keep it’s existing customers for the foreseeable future. Many critics have suggested that there has been a massive decrease in online Diablo 3 users. Mike seems to not disagree as he wants to get a decent game balance aswell.
“Rather than address every subject individually, I’ll just say that even as we work to address or resolve current issues, it’s always possible that further issues will crop up. We hope that our actions in the past have demonstrated that above all else, we’re committed to delivering an awesome game experience, and we hope you’ll have faith that we will continue to keep that commitment and respond to any new or outstanding issues quickly.”
One of the biggest problems that the Diablo 3 makers have had to put up with is the famous real money auction house. Which was an added bonus feature for the latest in the long running series.
“Our primary goal for including this in the game was to provide convenience and peace of mind for those players who might otherwise turn to third-party services to buy items,” Mike said.
Mike ended the letter by personally tanking every single one of the loyal fan base that Diablo 3 has. He said that their passion, thoughts and vital feedback were very important and crucial to them all. In doing so, this is making Blizzard a stronger and better company in the long run he added. We want to make amazing improvements to the series and thank you for your support were he’s last words.


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Seattle, Washington and Austin, Texas will soon have bitcoin-based ATMs in the U.S., bringing the digital currency in to the physical realm.
The kiosks -- similar to cash ATMs -- will be equipped with scanners that read official identification before transactions can be made. Suitable I.D. includes passports and driver licenses, and the machines will allow users to trade bitcoin for cash or deposit money to be converted into the digital currency.
The kiosks, manufactured by Las Vegas-based Robocoin, are also planned for Asia and Europe. One is currently in operation in Vancouver.
Bitcoin suffered a blow last week to its value after a bug in trading platform Mt.Gox meant digital currency was stolen and withdrawals were frozen. Although the problem is now being fixed, it's a reminder of how vulnerable the digital currency is to cyberattacks, and there is both a lack of regulation and stability associated with the alternative to traditional currency.
In August last year, German regulators accepted bitcoin as a "unit of currency," meaning that profit gained from it can be taxed -- although finding users may not be so easy. In addition, if corporations wish to trade in bitcoin, they now need permission from the German Federal Financial Supervision Authority.


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- How to watch Pacquiao vs. Broner online Today 9:00 AM
- What does IMO mean? Today 8:00 AM
- ‘Trigger Warning with Killer Mike’ digs into America’s wounds with a wink and a black flag Today 7:00 AM
- How to watch Tigres vs. Cruz Azul online for free Today 6:00 AM
- How to watch Arsenal vs. Chelsea online for free Today 5:21 AM
- How to watch Borussia Dortmund vs. RB Leipzig online for free Today 5:07 AM
- How to watch Real Madrid vs. Sevilla online for free Today 4:48 AM
- Netflix says ‘Fortnite’ is more competition than HBO Friday 8:25 PM
- This computer-generated Insta model looks staggeringly real Friday 7:15 PM
- Netflix is bringing back ‘Unsolved Mysteries’ with ‘Stranger Things’ producer Friday 6:42 PM
- Facebook is creating a meme feature to bring back the teens Friday 4:13 PM
- A hitman’s smartwatch helped send him to prison for life Friday 4:05 PM
- Privacy group files complaints against Netlifx, Spotify for GDPR violations Friday 3:02 PM
- Bikini Kill reunion show sale proves the internet is still hell for live music fans Friday 2:55 PM
- Teen’s photo of Nazi-themed school-dance invite goes viral Friday 2:31 PM
Urban Outfitters now selling sexist Hillary Clinton nutcracker dolls
Get it? It’s because she’s a woman that expresses opinions.
With the GOP‘s shellacking of the Democrats in last week’s midterm elections, everyone can now turn their attention to quaking with sheer terror at how terribly dumb the 2016 presidential election is going to be.
If you’re not convinced the presumptive matchup between Hillary Clinton and either Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, or whatever Bush still hasn’t been president yet will degrade into the worst kind of knee-jerk, hyper-partisan buffoonery, may I present you with Exhibit A: the Hillary Clinton Nutcracker currently being sold at Urban Outfitters.
Screengrab via Urban Outfitters
Just how stale is the joke? Urban Outfitters originally sold the doll back in 2008.
The toy is obviously sexist and—while Urban Outfitters CEO is a right-wing, Rick Santorum-supporting billionaire, the store’s customer base skews relatively young and progressive—meaning that most purchases of the nutcracker will probably be, at some level, ironic. While the Hillary Clinton nutcracker is self-consciously meant to be painfully sexist, the joke underlying isn’t even really clever enough to warrant taking offense to.
However, a critical mass of people taking offense is exactly what Urban Outfitters hopes will happen.
When the company sells merchandise like a blood-spattered Kent State sweatshirt or a pro-anorexia t-shirt bearing the slogan “eat less,” the goal is to generate outrage. Millennials are bombarded with messages from brands trying to get their attention ever few seconds. A major clothing retailer putting out so something blatantly offensive, even in a limited run, is an effective and cynical way to remind young people that, yes, Urban Outfitters still exists and is happy to take their money.
Amazon also sells the Clinton nutcracker; but, since the products Amazon offers are far less curated than those sold by Urban Outfitters, its hard to ascribe nearly as much agency or intentionality to the Seattle-based ecommerce giant’s stocking decisions.
In essence, getting offended by the doll is just letting the trolls win. But, in another sense, the toy shows that the level of discourse that’s swirling around the former First Lady hasn’t exactly elevated itself in recent years.
— Carla Marinucci (@cmarinucci) October 6, 2013
But, then again, maybe it isn’t just Hillary, her husband has gotten the dumb toy/cooking utensil treatment too.
Screencap via Amazon
Photo via Chad J. McNeely/Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
Aaron Sankin is a former Senior Staff Writer at the Daily Dot who covered the intersection of politics, technology, online privacy, Twitter bots, and the role of dank memes in popular culture. He lives in Seattle, Washington. He joined the Center for Investigative Reporting in 2016.


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Aug 22, 2013 Coffee snobs might want to take their french press and find another article to read.
Aug 8, 2013 Ranking coffee brands by caffeine amounts.
Jul 9, 2013 A new website can help -- it lets you stream the sound of a local coffee shop to wherever you are
Jul 2, 2013 In the past, Dunkin' Donuts put out aggressive ads against coffee competitor Starbucks. Now, it's following its lead.
Jun 17, 2013 Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants New York residents to set aside food scraps in a separate bin. Similar programs are already in place in San Francisco and Seattle.
Jun 13, 2013 The new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual now lists caffeine withdrawal.
Jun 6, 2013 The Monterrey Bay Aquarium just released a new report on all the sea junk they've discovered over the past 22 years of underwater surveys.
Jun 3, 2013 The timber industry is challenging the sustainable forestry certification of the LEED green-building program state by state.
May 14, 2013 A new satellite could tell us a lot about climate change.


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Another week, another HUD!
You know you are difficult to please when two of the industry’s favorite games, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, aren’t good enough in your eyes. Fumito Ueda has the right to think that though, he did design them after all. In an interview with Edge magazine, the developer describes his disappointment with the games, […]
Few games can build so much hype with such little information as a Team ICO title. The latest from the elite developers, The Last Guardian, made its presence known at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, and took the time to explain why it passed E3 without even so much as a mention earlier this year. […]
Arguably the most disappointing absentee from this year’s E3, Team ICO’s The Last Guardian has been getting major hype since its first speculative trailer last year. The studio has confirmed that the anticipated title will be making an appearance at Tokyo Game Show, specifically at a special invite session with creator Fumito Ueda at 3pm […]


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Blu-ray platform gives Sony boost
No industry is as aggressive about maintaining momentum as the entertainment world, a lesson Sony Corp. clearly understands after its PlayStation 3 video-game console got the boost it needed after Toshiba Corp. abandoned its HD-DVD business on Tuesday.
It came at a crucial time. As NintendoInc.' s Wii continues to be snapped off retail shelves more than a year after it was launched, video-game pundits began to declare "game over" for the Sony system.
It was deemed too expensive and not as innovative as other Sony products, critics claimed, as the lack of Play-Station 3 sales contributed to Sony's games division posting a loss of US$1.97-billion in the last fiscal year.
Now with Blu-ray, the next-generation high-definition video player, on a roll as major companies back it, can Play-Station 3 reclaim its crown as the world's most popular video-game console?
Absolutely, said Paul O'Donnell, London-based Gartner principal analyst.
"The real winner in this race is the PlayStation 3," Mr. O'Donnell said. "The Blu-ray was such a critical part of their business model, they couldn't let it go. And now they've won."
While reports suggest Bluray was poised to capture the lion's share of the US$24-billion home-entertainment market, the figure dwarfs the US$37.5-billion worldwide video-game industry, a larger pie that Sony is now primed to take more of.
Although video games have been a relatively insular activity, it was only when Wii emerged that video gaming truly took off. To date, more than 21 million households have purchased Nintendo's console, lauded for its innovative wireless remote-control interface.
Both Sony and Microsoft Corp. marketed their consoles as more of a media centre than a video game. However, only Microsoft's Xbox 360 has proved to be a hit with consumers, with 17-million units sold, aided in part by the popularity of Halo 3, the best-selling video game of 2007 in the United States.
Today, Sony's strategy to marry the Blu-ray with its next-generation video console looks to be a winner, said Mark Perrella, IDC Canada vice-president of technology.
"They're giving more of that high-definition premium experience and now it's more attractive to a greater amount of consumers," he said.
Taking several cues from other failed format wars-- BetaMax, MiniDisc, the Memory Stick--Sony learned that to be successful with a new media player, it had to be able to control the content available.
When Blu-ray was introduced in 2002, Sony made sure it partnered with as many film studios and retailers as possible to strongarm consumers into adopting its technology.
After several years with no leader in the high-definition video world emerging, the real tipping point, Mr. Perrella says, was when Warner Bros. Entertainment decided last month it will release films only on the Bluray format.
"The key thing is having compelling content widely available consumed in that format," Mr. Perrella said.
The cheapest Blu-ray player on the market has a price tag between $399 and $499, and Mr. O'Donnell expects Sony to cut prices further within the next few months to maintain momentum.
"[Sony] will do everything it can to come back from the brink," he said. "You'll see pricing, bundled with Bluray discs and TVs. It's seen as more as a media centre for your living room that can play games as well".


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Kastbergs Gourmet-Is, a former participant in our acceleration program, is taking the next step in scaling their business and has just sold company shares to Mammen Mejerierne. Founder Joachim Kastberg is incredibly happy about this milestone as they can now simplify the production and boost the growth at the same time.
If you ask young Joachim about his dream job, he probably would have replied becoming a pilot. Later, he discovered his passion for ice cream and took over the home kitchen trying out new variations. What started as a hobby soon became his dream job and he launched his startup in 2012.
Kastbergs differs from other ice cream providers as the company is only using ingredients from suppliers who can assure premium quality. The team regularly visits those partners in order to control the quality and develop new products together. For instance, they recently teamed up with a chocolate company in France to produce a new sort of chocolate which they will process in their ice cream selections. Since starting in 2012, the creative mind came up with manifold ice cream sorts and hit the taste buds of his customers: Kastbergs was selling all across Denmark within two years.
Leaving the home kitchen behind
Kastbergs successfully applied for getting a spot within Accelerace’s food accelerator and received one-on-one business training from FoodTech experts. “The eight months spent with Accelerace have been a really insightful time with a steep learning curve. I could fundamentally profit from their widespread network and they opened a lot of opportunity doors for me.” Besides that, Joachim’s industry coach also helped him in shortlisting his growth strategies and pursuing the most realistic ones. “An entrepreneur has thousands of ideas running through his mind at the same time. Accelerace’s external and unbiased expertise allowed me to strategically think about the feasibility and challenges of my ideas. And even months after having graduated from the program, I’m still in close contact with Accelerace.”
Big plans for the future
After years of continuous growth, the current production plant has reached its maximum capacity and Joachim was looking for satisfying alternatives. During his whole venture, he was in contact with employees from the dairy company Mammen Mejerierne. Both sides realized the potential of a future collaboration and decided that Kastbergs sells shares of the company to Mammen Mejerierne. “This allows us to expand our current production while guaranteeing the same or even higher quality of the ice cream” says Joachim Kastberg. They will start teaming up in January 2018 building the fundament for future growth including the long-term goals of exporting to other countries. “But first, we need to serve all our Danish customers to their fullest satisfaction.”
Read more about Accelerace’s FoodTech program: www.accelerace.io/food


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UCB Predicts Briviact Sales Of €450m by 2026; Plans New Partnerships
UCB says its early to mid-stage pipeline contains 10 promising breakthrough molecules, some of which it aims to partner with other pharma players as part of its open innovation strategy.
You may also be interested in...
Zydus Cadila has scooped another material ANDA approval from the FDA, with the green light for its generic version of UCB’s Briviact to treat partial-onset seizures.
UCB has reported positive data from the final Phase III trial of its anti-TNF product Cimzia in plaque psoriasis, paving the way for approval applications later this year, but the product will have to elbow its way into a competitive market already under the shadow of a biosimilar threat.
A next-generation version of levetiracetam, brivaracetam could help UCB recapture some revenue it's losing to generic competition for the mature epilepsy drug.


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LAS VEGAS, NV - JANUARY 07: Shiro Kitajima (R), President of Panasonic Consumer Marketing Company of North America, demonstrates Bone Conduction Headphones at a Panasonic press conference during the 2013 International CES at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center on January 7, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. CES, the world's largest annual consumer technology trade show, runs from January 8-11 and is expected to feature 3,100 exhibitors showing off their latest products and services to about 150,000 attendees. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS (AP) - People who don't want to disturb sleeping family members could use a new product from Panasonic that doesn't need speakers or even your own ears: wireless bone-conduction headphones.
The headphones connect to a TV via the Bluetooth wireless standard and attach to your head like a normal set of headphones. But instead of using your ears, the headphones work like hearing aids by transmitting sound waves through your skull.
They are one of several innovations Panasonic unveiled at the International CES show in Las Vegas. It also showed off a new user interface for its “Smart Viera'' TVs, featuring a TV-mounted camera that recognizes the user and sets viewing preferences accordingly.
The Japanese electronics maker also showed off an easy way to send YouTube videos from smartphones to the TV.


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An Australian agriculture and technology company is partnering with a US brewer on an ingredient-tracking blockchain pilot.
Blockchain technology from BlockGrain will be used by Mountain State Brewing Company in West Virginia in the US to track where its beer comes from.
BlockGrain allows farmers to track their commodities from the paddock to manufacturers, such as malt houses and breweries, all the way to the end consumer. It also enables farmers to create, manage and track commodity contracts, including invoices, payments and inventory, in a single, mobile application.
The partnership will explore how blockchain can overcome the lack of transparency in the beer industry, allowing consumers to fully trace the product's ingredients from the source through to the entire supply chain.
Blockchain technology enables for the recording and storing of millions of transactions in one single computer network to empower consumers all along the supply chain with data they can trust.
The BlockGrain pilot aims to overcome the lack of transparency in the beer industry, allowing consumers to fully trace the product’s ingredients from the source through to the entire supply chain.
Consumers today increasingly want transparency and authenticity, according to Mountain State Brewing Company co-owner and co-founder Brian Arnett.
“As we reach a stage of excessive product proliferation, both consumers and manufacturers alike are looking for the next level of differentiation," he said.
“In the case of the beer industry, we believe this can be achieved through secure ‘barley to beer’ traceability, allowing for single origin products to be adopted at mass scale. Capturing and sharing this type of information with our customers will be key to the continued success of our business.”
BlockGrain CEO Caile Ditterich said, “BlockGrain was started by farmers and the technology we bring is for farmers. We’re committed to support any individual or company out there that is in the business of returning value to farmers and this is exactly what we saw in Mountain State Brewery Company.
“The team there is a great bunch of forward thinking individuals, who not only have a leading product in the market, but they are also not afraid to adopt technologies like blockchain to provide more value and get closer to their end customers.”
The pilot will run for a month.


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Fabulous Reception for QualiFi at Melbourne International HiFi Show
Using the show as a perfect opportunity to launch the brand new Denon PMA2500NE Premium Integrated Amplifier and DCD2500NE SACD Player, along with other products including the new Marantz Special Edition models paired with the Jamo Concert C109 speakers, Qualifi have reported an overwhelmingly positive response.
Paul Astbury, Brand Manager for QualiFi told StereoNET:
The International HiFi Show in Melbourne was without a doubt one of the better industry events we have participated in. The sound from the new Marantz Special Edition models, paired with the Jamo Concert C109 speakers, received very positive comments from the steady stream of Hi-Fi enthusiasts across all three days.
Most of the demonstrations were fed from hi-res 192/24 files streamed from the new Heos Link, which was connected to the Denon Amplifier. The ability to also wirelessly send the same music (or other music from virtually anywhere) to wireless Heos speakers in other rooms of the home also received a positive response from show visitors. There is no doubt the segment for wireless, whole home audio is growing dramatically, proven by the amount of interest in these products at the show.
The level of interest in Denon and Marantz proved beyond doubt that these iconic brands in HiFi are still well and truly alive and well in traditional two channel applications, as well as multi-channel and wireless applications.
For more information visit QualiFi.
StereoNET's Founder & Publisher and still buried deep in the review room auditioning everything from docks to soundbars, amplifiers to headphones. Marc also founded Melbourne's International HiFi Show.
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Revelations 18:23:’For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.’
- Kroger Shoppers Call Out Shortages: “A Lot of Empty Shelves”
- It’s not a stretch to say that millions of shoppers rely on Kroger for their groceries and other necessities. The company currently operates roughly 2,800 stores—including some under the Ralphs, King Soopers, and Dillon’s brand names—across 35 states, making it the largest supermarket chain in the U.S. But even as a shopping mainstay, customers have begun to take to social media to air their frustration about some locations’ lack of items. Read on to learn more about the shortages reported by Kroger shoppers
- In a YouTube video posted on Dec. 31, user AdventuresWithDanno took viewers on a walk-through of his own local Kroger store to document what was available for purchase and take note of any changes.
- “We are at Kroger, and are noticing price increases on groceries, and a lot of empty shelves!”
- “Just paid $5.49 for a dozen Kroger large [eggs]. Several days ago the same egg section was totally empty,” one user wrote in a tweet on Dec. 31
- On Dec. 25, one user posted four photos of almost completely bare shelves in one Ohio location’s meat, produce, and frozen food sections, asking “where did all the food go @Kroger?”
Read the original article by clicking here.


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Uber Eats robots are on the move in Virginia.
A New Jersey man’s Uber ride turned into a trip that would save his life.
Scam victims now have a new tool helping crack down on scammers and get people their money back.
Police say Ryan Munsie Graham was stabbed to death by two teens while she delivered food in 2021. Zakariya Marshall was sentenced to 45 years behind bars on Thursday.
If you’re a fan of food delivery services, you could see some big changes happening soon. Your next Uber Eats order could be delivered by a robot!
A teen hacker has been blamed for a complete compromise of Uber's systems. The 18-year-old allegedly uncovered some of the most private company information and posted screen shots of the findings.
Uber is rolling out a revamped safety toolkit featuring live help from an ADT safety agent that will stay in touch with the user and contact 911 if necessary.
The report revealed Sunday revealed the extraordinary lengths Uber undertook to establish itself in nearly 30 countries.
Uber Reserve, which allows users to book rides up to 30 days in advance and automatically adjusts reservation times based on flight information, is expanding to 39 U.S. airports.
It’s the sixth annual detailing of some of the most interesting and unusual items passengers mistakenly left behind.
Uber, which had mandated masks since May of 2020, said Tuesday that both riders and drivers will no longer be required to wear them.
Both Uber and Lyft later said that surge pricing had been disabled and the companies would work to refund any customers who experienced "unintended charges."
Uber driver DaVante Williams was stranded with a teenage passenger for hours on the snowy I-95 and is being praised for going “above and beyond” to get her home safe.
The new audio recording is one of three new safety initiatives Uber is starting. The company will also roll out audible seat belt alerts and RideCheck Enhancements.
Uber has pledged 10 million free or discounted rides for those seeking to get the coronavirus vaccine, saying it wants to ensure transportation is not a barrier.
In a statement, Uber said Kalanick is leaving the board to focus on his new business and philanthropic endeavors.


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Paypal Returns to Online Gaming
Posted on August 2, 2010 by John Trevors for Luckyroom.com
Popular e-commerce service Paypal has announced a possible comeback to the online gaming industry after a whole year of absence. The popular electronic wallet has seen its market share going down as rival service Neteller has been found on valuable ground to increase its customers portfolio and subsequently its offerings. Paypal had made the decision to step away totally from the online gaming industry early last year by allowing very few casinos having the honour of being called Paypal Casinos as the particular electronic wallet assessed the online gaming industry as instable therefore handing over a large piece of the pie to Neteller which adopted more and more brands under its wing and allowed them to be called Neteller Casinos.
European facing betting giant Ladbrokes was one of the first to strike back with the breaking news as headlines announce an agreement coming up. The big scale escape from the online gaming industry came from Paypal years ago when its mother company ebay was accused to be providing good ground for money laundering through online gaming establishments which used its service to transfer money to offshore banking facilities.
European facing betting giant Ladbrokes together with the Virgin associated brands were the two first two have come to an agreement with the popular ebay owned electronic wallet last week. Since its large escape from the online gaming industry Paypal remained affiliated with very few online gaming establishments including 888 which has and still does offer Paypal as a depositing and withdrawing options across its network. PayPal was established in 1999, and is the most widely used online payment company in the world, with annual revenue well in excess of $2 billion.
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Moscow denounced sabotage and Ukraine hinted at responsibility for new explosions on Tuesday at a military base in the Russian-annexed Crimea region that is an important supply line for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
- WorldTrump's midterms revenge campaign takes aim at lawmaker Liz Cheney
Donald Trump's campaign to oust congressional Republicans who supported his impeachment gets its last major test of the U.S. midterm primary season on Tuesday, when Liz Cheney and Lisa Murkowski face challengers backed by the former president.
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August 16, 2022 · 10:23 AM UTC
Seven U.S. Western states that share Colorado River water are poised to miss a federal deadline for drastic consumption cuts amid a megadrought.


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It should come as no surprise that esports are a big thing. It’s also a huge growing component of mobile gaming as well! At the forefront of that growth is Skillz, the leader in mobile esports that connects the world’s 2.6 billion mobile gamers through competition. Skillz changes the way competition happens on mobile devices around the world.
We spoke to Stephen Yu, Skillz’s Director of Revenue & Marketing at our recent Supernova Summit about how the company came to be, their philosophy, and how it aims to grow and help mobile developers grow with them.
In it to Win it
“Our co-founders, Andrew Paradise and Casey Chafkin, saw a need that wasn’t being met in the industry,” Yu explained, “They wanted to enable competitions in every video game, just like how every offline sport has competitions.”
This drive to bring competition to video games has taken off in the PC and console arena recently, after years of gaining mindshare within gaming. With major “Fortnite” tournaments sponsored by Epic, as well as Overwatch League doing its best to bring major sports styles to video games, things are looking up for esports in general, but mobile is a special case.
“Andrew and Casey are also big mobile gaming fans,” Yu continued, “They realized that there had to be a better way for game developers to make money beyond just ads and in-app purchases.”
Esports have become part of the overall engagement strategy for many big traditional developers, but mobile developers hadn’t really taken advantage of that opportunity until Skillz came along.
“Not only do our developer partners receive a free, out-of-the-box esports solution,” Yu explained,“but our technology is also proven to consistently deliver improved engagement, retention and revenue metrics to game studios.”
The Skillz platform excels at monetizing engaged users for developer’s games. “The ideal scenario is to maximize the lifetime value of users through deep retention combined with regular and responsible monetization,” Yu explained. “Given that we’re still working toward that ideal state, we diversify our marketing and product roadmaps with short-term, mid-term, and long-term strategies to balance the need for immediate monetization with initiatives that will push us closer to that ideal state,” he said.
“Berenberg projects that the esports market will be worth as much as $40 billion by 2025,” Yu explained. According to Newzoo, the global games market is worth $137 billion, with mobile accounting for over half of total generated revenue across the ecosystem (outpacing both PC and console gaming combined).
“With only 700 million computers in circulation compared to 4 billion smartphones (and growing), mobile is the future of gaming and esports,” Yu stated.
So what exactly is Skillz and how does it factor into that growth? In the company’s own words, it’s a competitive multiplayer platform that improves mobile game engagement through mechanisms including in-app rewards, content updates, achievement systems, and push notifications.
But that’s not all. The company is constantly looking to bring more for developers to leverage to keep users engaged. “One example of a special feature we’ve integrated into some titles is our proprietary chat technology,” explained Yu, “It helps connect our millions of gamers across the thousands of titles we power on both iOS and Android.”
If this sounds familiar to AdColony readers, it’s because we’ve been talking about engagement and retention best practices for a long, long time. Skillz is making it easy for developers to engage and retain their users with advanced tools that major publishers spend millions of dollars.
More than a Platform
As of writing, Skillz currently has more than 18 million players. That’s successful by any standard, but the company has embraced its ability to deliver results to developers that have integrated Skillz into their app and really hit a stride.
“In September we announced our most updated metrics, including Skillz reaching a $400 million revenue run-rate – doubling the $200 million figure announced just five months prior,” Yu explained. “The Skillz platform now powers esports competitions for 13,000 game studios, nearly double the 8,000 studios announced in April 2018,” he added enthusiastically.
One key part of Skillz’s popularity with developers is its popularity with players — and that popularity comes from making good on the promise of competition and rewards for engaging. Skillz has awarded over $300 million in prizes and has hosted over 800 million tournaments, said Yu. “The past five months, in particular, have marked record growth for us,” he added, “We awarded over $100 million in prizes across nearly half a billion competitions!”
How does a platform like Skillz grow this fast? A talented UA and growth team. The Skillz UA team is comprised of just eight people. “They are a highly analytical, intellectually curious bunch,” Yu explained. “It’s an eclectic group of warriors with a get-it-done attitude.”
“As a UA team, we’re excited about fine-tuning the acquisition engine that we’ve built and continuing to find innovative ways to distribute our content to the world!” Yu smiled.
Working within so many games and apps make the Skillz brand identity different from that of a traditional publisher or developer. “We’re partnered with over 13,000 game developers, so we power games with all sorts of different artistic styles, genres, and demographics,” Yu explained.
This had led to Skillz having a clean, cool, and easy to recognize brand that developers recognize immediately.
What’s Next for Skillz
“As a company, we’re excited about continuing to conquer the mobile gaming market and adding more titles to the platform as we grow the player base,” Yu said regarding the company’s plans for 2019. “We have some exciting features that we’re going to announce soon, but for now we will be continuing to constantly strengthen, scale and improve our platform.”
“Building a diverse team of Skillzians with various backgrounds, opinions and perspectives help ensure everything we do,” Yu said when discussing growing Skillz as a company to support the business success, “From building new technology to deploying marketing campaigns – will be inclusive and applicable to diverse audiences.”
Sound interesting? Check out their careers page!
Up your Skillz … By contacting Skillz
The best way to stay in touch with all things Skillz is just by checking out their blog, which contains tons of great news about the company, best practices, and more. The team at Skillz also regularly updates their Twitter, @Skillz, Facebook, and LinkedIn. They’ve even got a cool Instagram showcasing their great company culture and news!
About Publisher Spotlight
The AdColony Publisher Spotlight series showcases the finest publishers in mobile gaming. To nominate a publisher to be featured, tweet to @AdColony. To feature your studio, fill out the Publisher Spotlight Questionnaire.
Join the Conversation
Did you learn something about Skillz’s approach to engagement and retention? Tweet us at @AdColony. For the latest AdColony mobile news and updates, follow @AdColony on Twitter, like us on Facebook, or connect on Linkedin.
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LG has officially announced Australian availability of the world’s first 3D smartphone, the LG Optimus 3D, which is described by the company as its "most advanced smartphone to date." The Android phone will launch exclusively through Optus in early J...
While NFC (near-field communication) gradually emerges to turn mobile phones into payment devices, Silicon Valley startup Naratte is introducing a system it claims can do roughly the same thing without adding a chip to the handset.
Is HTML5 the Holy Grail for building next-generation Web applications?
Research in Motion hasn't exactly had the best year so far.
If you’ve ever spent a Saturday watching male figure skating because you couldn't find the remote, you may welcome the news from Griffin that its Beacon Universal Remote Control for iOS (first demoed at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show) is now avai...
Everything Everywhere, O2 and Vodafone plan to create a joint venture in the U.K. that will allow users to pay for goods using NFC-equipped phones, they said on Thursday.
Nokia is infringing on a patent owned by German company IPCom, the U.K. High Court ruled today. IPCom will be seeking damages and an injunction banning the sale of the Finnish company's 3G phones, it said in a statement.
If you are a mobile developer and not making any money on your Android applications, don't give up. A good name, focus and offering paying users the right incentives can help, according to<a href="http://blog.getjar.com/developer/nobody%e2%80%99s-pay...
If you own an Android phone and you are a subscriber to Sony's cloud-based Qriocity music service on the PlayStation and PC, you're in luck: Sony has just announced the launch of a dedicated Qriocity app for Android smartphones.
Following a recent uproar over the ways in which Apple and Google collect location information from mobile users, two U.S. senators have proposed a law that would require companies to get permission from mobile users before sharing that information w...
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) will allow its most frequent flyers to check in using NFC-compatible stickers, the company said on Tuesday.
Don't put any dirt on Nokia's coffin just yet--the company still has some life in it. A victory in its patent war with Apple means a new revenue stream for Nokia, and a stronger position to enforce its patent portfolio with other mobile device makers...
Google removed more malware-infected applications from its Android Market last week, according to a security researcher who reported the rogue software to the company.
Microsoft is trying to woo Android application developers, offering them help in porting applications to Windows Phone.
Sprint's renewed partnership with Motorola, announced today, will result in more than 10 smartphones and tablets for sale in 2011, including Motorola's first WiMax phone for Sprint, the Photon 4G.
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The retailer TsentrObuv acquired its first distribution center for $ 68 million. This is the largest transaction in the warehouse real estate market over the past year.
The facility has an area of almost 50 square meters. m, built by PNK Group, is located in New Moscow - in Vnukovo.
PNK Group and TsentrObuv closed the deal earlier this year. The developer agreed with the retailer on the construction of the facility from scratch in May last year, and in June the parties signed a preliminary contract of sale.
Until now, the retailer has rented a warehouse area of almost 20 square meters. m in the south of Moscow region. In December 000, TsentrObuv also received tenancy rights for 2011 square meters. m in Yekaterinburg. In addition, the company has 10 square meters. m in Novosibirsk.
General Director of TsentrObuv Andrei Nesterov draws attention to the fact that the geography of the retailer’s stores is very wide - they are located “from the borders with the European Union to the neighborhood line with Japan. “It is important for us to constantly improve logistics, and well-equipped warehouses are one of its components,” he said.
Analysts call the deal PNK Group and "CenterObuv" significant: its size corresponds to the pre-crisis level. “Deals with price tags in this spirit were last concluded, perhaps, only in 2008,” comments Vyacheslav Kholopov, director of industrial and warehouse real estate at Knight Frank, who acted as a consultant to the transaction. “The deal has become the largest in the warehouse real estate market in Russia in the last 12 months,” agrees the director of the warehouse and industrial real estate department at Colliers Int. Vladislav Ryabov.
According to company estimates, its share in the Russian footwear market is 4,3%, the number of CenterObuv family stores and fast-fashion Centro format outlets is about 800 in more than 200 cities of the country. The company plans to enter the market of the CIS countries and foreign countries.
The leading position of the company in its market segment was confirmed by the National Rating Agency, assigning the retailer an individual credit rating of “AA-” (very high creditworthiness, third level).
The retailer TsentrObuv acquired its first distribution center for $ 68 million. This is the largest transaction in the warehouse real estate market over the past year. An object with an area of almost 50 square meters ...
Opteka, a retail chain of orthopedic footwear, proposes to spend a new season under the slogan "Enter your comfort zone!" and presents the collection of the Berkemann orthopedic footwear brand fall-winter 2020/21.
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The Italian brand Skandia has released a new collection of footwear for children and teenagers fall-winter 2020-2021. The Italian brand Skandia has released a new collection of footwear for children and teenagers fall-winter 2020-2021. Stars, flowers and splashes of watercolors decorate ...
The Swedish shoe brand Vagabond Shoemakers announced the launch of an official online store in Russia. On the website vagabond.com, it became possible to place an order with delivery to any Russian region.


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East Lansing’s Cash to launch new wine cellar line
Depending on how you look at it, Revel Custom Wine Cellars was either a happy accident or an abject failure on the part of founder Jim Cash.
“I was actually trying to not start a business,” said Cash, who designed a wine cellar for his own use about six years ago and ended up with a hugely successful business venture. “But once I got to the point where I was, and people were telling me they’ve never seen anything like this before, I sort of had no choice.”
Cash’s ultra-premium wine cellars quickly caught on with well-heeled aficionados.
After operating the company as a hobby for several years, he retired in August 2013 from his executive-level job at Christman Co., a Lansing-based real estate and construction firm, to concentrate on Revel.
Since then, the East Lansing resident said sales are up 500 percent. The company has no advertising budget, relying instead on word-of-mouth referrals and exposure from Wine Spectator, Forbes and other publications that directly reach its target demographic.
Now, it’s about to take a step that could greatly widen its market.
Cash said Revel will launch a manufactured wine cellar line that will be sold through retail outlets worldwide. It now offers only custom-made wine racks that can sell for more than $100,000 each.
“We’ve been frequently asked if we have a more contemporary style product, something more urban, with a steel-and-glass kind of look,” he said. “We’ve developed a concept for a new product that responds to that aesthetic. It will have comparable function and quality at a lower price point.”
Cash wouldn’t discuss price points, but said the cellar line will be far less expensive than his existing line.
Filling a need
Revel Custom Wine Cellars grew out of Cash’s wine collecting hobby.
When he reached the point where he could afford to have the wine cellar of his dreams, he went shopping for one, only to discover that no one was making it.
With a traditional wine rack system, “all you see is a bunch of cork ends of bottles looking at you. I could never find the bottle I was looking for. All I could see is a bunch of corks.”
Cash’s original design uses drawers that present bottles label-side-up. For the corners, where two racks come together, he developed a turntable system similar to a kitchen lazy Susan, eliminating wasted corner space.
“I just started sharing pictures with people I knew,” he said. “One thing led to another, and I started getting calls from people saying, ‘Hey, could you do one of those things for me?’ Different celebrities started hearing about it, and it just sort of went from there.”
Cash doesn’t name names when it comes to his clientele.
But those celebrities include Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and other well-known entertainers, along with various high-profile business tycoons, according to Forbes.com. At least two vineyards in Napa Valley have installed Revel wine racks, Cash said.
Made in Michigan
Revel’s cellars are made by a custom woodworking company in Holland, Mich.
The shop has doubled its production capacity and has the room to expand even further — enough to accommodate “four or five times the business we have now without breaking a sweat,” Cash said.
The cabinets are assembled in Holland “right down to the last detail” and shipped to clients via a moving company, he said. In all, about 75 cabinets have been delivered around the world.
“Our product is at the high end of the price-quality spectrum,” he said. “They are usually two to three times more (expensive) than our nearest competitor.”
The new line will use aluminum, wood and wood-derived products sourced from Michigan and assembled in Holland. Some variants will be “highly environmentally friendly,” using recycled, recyclable or renewable materials, Cash said.
The racks will be sold as custom installations or kits.
“We’ll be doing a launch within the next couple of months,” said Cash, who declined to be more specific. “We see a pretty tremendous amount of growth potential.”
The 60-year-old Cash runs the operation from a suite in downtown East Lansing, five blocks from his home. The company has a representative in New York and distributors in California and Florida, but virtually everything else is contracted out, much the way Apple operates.
The local economy has benefited from Revel in sectors such as legal and accounting services, graphics and printing, Cash said. And in Holland, the venture has directly created jobs.
He declined to speculate on whether Revel might eventually build products in the Lansing area.
“I think it’s very nice dynamic that Michigan has such deep roots in agriculture and furniture-making and now has a rapidly growing wine industry,” he said. “To have a product like this associated with Michigan ... says a lot about Michigan.”
Expanding its reach
Revel Custom Wine Cellars, known for hand-crafted wine racks that can cost more than $100,000, is preparing to launch a manufactured wine cellar line that will be sold through retail outlets.
The new product will use aluminum, wood and wood-derived products sourced from Michigan. Some variants will use recycled, recyclable or renewable materials.
• Age: 60
• Home: East Lansing
• Family: Married to Carol, daughters Rachel and Marissa.
• Occupation: Founder of Revel Custom Wine Cellars
• Background: Retired last fall as executive vice president of Christman Co.’s construction arm and president of its capital development arm. U.S. Army, 1971-73.


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Andrew Tarantola is Engadget’s Senior Reporter covering emerging technologies from artificial intelligence and robotics to electric vehicles and commercial spacecraft, as well as producing the site’s weekly Hitting the Books column. When not telling tales of the future, he enjoys gardening, woodworking, and reading pulp sci-fi serials.
Articles By Andrew Tarantola
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Here is Steve Ballmer's email to staff today revealing his decision to retire: "I am writing to let you know that I will retire as CEO of Microsoft within the next 12 months, after a successor is chosen....
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Doughnut ice cream cone sells like hotcakes at Pizzi Farms
It turns out Waltham has quite a sweet tooth.
It took only 30 minutes for Pizzi Farms to sell out of the 300 doughnut ice cream cones that were made for the ice cream stand’s opening day on Friday, April 1.
The doubly sweet treat was the brainchild of Pizzi Farms owner Rick Pizzi, who said he was inspired after seeing a blog post about a doughnut ice cream cone from Prague go viral on the Internet about a month ago. He said it only took two drafts for him to create his own cone.
Pizzi’s parking lot was packed Friday afternoon when the ice cream shoppe opened, and the line to get a cone wrapped around the store, nearly reaching Lincoln Street.
“It’s really savory. It reminds me of a Belgian waffle except you get to hold it in your hand,” said Waltham resident Tom Cheng.
A flaky, cone-shaped doughnut dipped in sugar and filled with chocolate, including a chocolate rim at the top, holds the ice cream in place for Pizzi’s creation.
“I’m very impressed with the sturdiness. The chocolate held the ice cream inside the cone and the cone didn’t get soggy,” said self-described doughnut fanatic Chris Gelinas. “Although it’s really more of a cronut than a doughnut,” he said, referring to the popular croissant/doughnut combination pastry.
Pizzi said he plans on introducing other doughnut/ice cream concoctions throughout the season. That includes a hot doughnut ice cream panini, or “doughnini” as he refers to it, that was first served at the Waltham Food and Wine Festival on March 31.
“Id definitely do it again, but it’s not an everyday thing, said Emilie Perna, referring to the doughnut cone.
“I’d get them all the time. I think it’s a great way to start off the season,” said Angela Parente.
Many people left disappointed after the ice cream shoppe quickly ran out of the doughnut cones, but there might soon be a chance to get a taste of one for anyone who missed out on Friday.
Pizzi said that after seeing how popular the cones were, he would rethink the decision to only offer them once. Later on Friday, Pizzi Farms announced that the doughnut cone will likely be offered as a “First Friday” event on the first Friday of every month for the rest of the season.


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Krafton, the South Korean video game studio that makes PUBG (>1B downloads), announced an NFT gaming partnership with Solana Labs. Krafton describes the partnership as "a long-term cooperative relationship for the development and operation of blockchain- and NFT-based games and services." Krafton has not said which games will feature Solana integrations.
Gamers have not reacted positively to other recent NFT game integrations, such as centralized exchange FTX's recent purchase of F2P card game Storybook Brawl. Following FTX's purchase announcement, Storybook Brawl fans complained on Twitter and nuked the game's ratings on Steam.
The Verge's Jon Porter believes Krafton's new partnership is part of a larger pattern. As China cracked down on its domestic video game industry, Chinese competitors flooded Krafton's native South Korea. Krafton's stock has fallen since its Chinese competitors arrived. Porter sees Korean gaming firms turning to P2E and blockchain gaming to recover revenue and increase their share prices.
Solana is an Ethereum competitor offering extremely fast, cheap transactions with sub-second finality. Critics bemoan Solana’s centralization. Krafton says it favored the Solana blockchain because “Solana is the world’s most performant blockchain. It gives [...] predictable scaling without compromising security or composability.” Perhaps in business deals like this, centralization could be favorable.
In the 48 hours following the announcement, Solana's SOL token rose from $91 to $104.


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Texas police will serve seek warrants on Tesla on Tuesday to safe knowledge from a deadly automobile crash, a senior officer advised Reuters on Monday, after CEO Elon Musk mentioned corporate assessments confirmed the auto’s Autopilot motive force help device used to be now not engaged.
Mark Herman, Harris County Constable Precinct four, mentioned proof together with witness statements obviously indicated there used to be no person within the motive force’s seat of the Style S when it crashed right into a tree, killing two other people, on Saturday night time.
No motive force in Tesla prior to fatal crash that killed each passengers, Texas police say
Herman mentioned a tweet through Musk on Monday afternoon, announcing that knowledge logs retrieved through the corporate thus far dominated out using the Autopilot device, used to be the primary officers had heard from the corporate.
“If he’s tweeting that out, if he has already pulled the knowledge, he hasn’t advised us that,” Herman advised Reuters. “We will be able to eagerly watch for that knowledge.”
The crash is the 28th Telsa coincidence to be investigated through the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Protection Management (NHTSA), which regulates automobile protection.
It is usually being probed through the Nationwide Transportation Protection Board (NTSB), which got rid of Tesla as a birthday celebration to an previous investigation right into a deadly crash in 2018 after the corporate made public main points of the probe with out authorisation.
B.C. guy accused of bad riding for slumbering in self-driving, rushing Tesla
In Saturday’s coincidence, the 2019 Tesla Style S used to be touring at high-speed close to Houston when it failed to barter a curve and went off the street, crashing right into a tree and bursting into flames, Herman mentioned.
Government discovered the our bodies of 2 males within the automotive, one within the entrance passenger seat and the landlord of the auto within the backseat.
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“We now have witness statements from those that mentioned they left to check power the automobile with out a motive force and to turn the buddy the way it can power itself,” Herman mentioned.
Tesla’s Autopilot is a motive force help device that handles some riding duties and lets in drivers to take their palms off the guidance wheel every now and then, however Tesla says its options “require energetic motive force supervision and don’t make the automobile self reliant.”
In his tweet, Musk rejected the concept the automobile’s semi-automated riding tool used to be in charge: “Knowledge logs recovered thus far display Autopilot used to be now not enabled & this automotive didn’t acquire FSD,” in a connection with Complete Self-Using, Tesla’s separate beta semi-automated motive force help device that also calls for motive force supervision.
Tesla’s Autopilot device faces higher scrutiny after three crashes, three deaths
Musk added that “usual Autopilot will require lane traces to activate, which this boulevard didn’t have,” relating to highway markers that wish to be captured through a automobile’s cameras to allow autopilot.
Tesla has get right of entry to to operational and diagnostic knowledge dropped at its servers at “common periods” from the auto, which has been impounded through police. It’s unclear whether or not investigators will be capable of retrieve knowledge at once from the development knowledge recorder within the significantly burned automobile.
Simply hours prior to the crash, Musk had tweeted: “Tesla with Autopilot engaged now drawing near 10 instances decrease probability of coincidence than reasonable automobile.”
‘Shouldn’t be a loss of life possibility’
Tesla’s Autopilot device, which used to be working in a minimum of 3 Tesla automobiles curious about deadly U.S. crashes since 2016, has come underneath expanding scrutiny.
NHTSA advised Reuters remaining month it had opened 27 particular investigations into crashes of Tesla automobiles, 23 of which stay energetic, in crashes believed to had been tied to Autopilot use.
Tesla didn’t reply to a request for remark. Its stocks closed down three.four% Monday prior to selecting up 1.five% in after hours buying and selling following Musk’s tweet.
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, wrote on Twitter that “the usage of Tesla’s driverless device — or some other — shouldn’t be a loss of life possibility. Developments in riding era should first & main be protected.”
The NTSB, which makes protection suggestions however can not compel remembers, mentioned its investigation into the Texas crash would focal point “at the automobile’s operation and the post-crash fireplace.”
Fireplace officers mentioned it took 4 hours to totally extinguish the fireplace as a result of the auto’s lithium ion battery.
(Reporting through David Shepardson and Hyunjoo Jin Enhancing through Richard Chang, Nick Zieminski, Jonathan Oatis, Karishma Singh and Jane Wardell)


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- Special Sections
- Public Notices
While one area business was announcing this week that its local plant could close as the business restructures, another was announcing plans for expansion.
Brooks Food Group, based out of Bedford, has closed its North Carolina plant and could do the same in Bedford. Meanwhile Mail America, based out of Forest, has announced plans to add 75 jobs over the next three years.
Brooks Food Group
According to a news release from Brooks Food Group, a major supplier of frozen specialty foods to multi-unit restaurant chains, the company “has recently encountered issues related to volatile commodity prices, competitive pricing pressures, and the loss of a major account.”
Those factors have resulted in liquidity issues, according to the news release and the company has engaged several advisers “to assist in formulating a recovery plan which includes bringing in investors orthe sale of the plant.”
“The company’s owners and management are distressed over the impact this downturn has had on employees, but are resolved to find a successful resolution,” the release from the company stated.
The company hopes to find a buyer for it and has been in talks with potential companies over the weekend, a spokesman said Tuesday afternoon.
“It’s never good if a plant closes,” stated Bedford City Manager Charles Kolakowski. “Our number one concern is the people who work there.”
Kolakowski was alerted to the move by Brooks Food Group over the holiday weekend.
“We’re concerned about the loss of jobs,” he said. “We can try and bring in resources form the state to assist.”
Kolakowski said the Brooks Food Group has been made aware those resources are available. Those state programs include helping people sign up for unemployment and to assist them in seeking employment elsewhere.
“At this point we’re lining up whatever we can for employees affected by this,” he said. “We’re obviously very concerned and looking at every possibility of what we can do.”
Earlier this month it was announced a Brooks Food Group plant in Monroe, N.C., was closing, affecting more than 100 workers there.
Representatives from Brooks Food Group weren’t immediately available for comment.
Mail America Com-munications Inc. has announced it will add 75 jobs and spend $5 million to expand its operations in Forest.
The expansion is an effort to meet customer demands in the direct mail advertising industry, according to a news release from the company.
Mail America will maintain its current facilities on Elkton Farm Road in Forest and, through a lease agreement, will immediately utilize 42,000 square feet of the vacant Gammapar facility located on Venture Drive in Forest for new production lines and offices.
Bedford County’s Office of Economic Development worked with the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission (TICRC), the Bedford County Economic Development Authority, and The Virginia Jobs Investment Program to provide grants and assistance toward the expansion totaling more than $210,000.
The Bedford County operation started in 1989 and now employs 325 full time employees. Mail America was selected as an expansion site for its holding company that has plans to double the local company sales in five years.
“Mail America’s decision to expand its operations in Bedford is another regional success story,” said Virginia Delegate Kathy Byron who serves on the Tobacco Commission and recently toured the Mail America facilities. “Our region continues to demonstrate that it is an ideal place for businesses to grow and to locate. The attributes we have here – reasonable taxes and regulations, a skilled and talented workforce, and welcoming state and local governments that are ready to work as partners – are instrumental to the success of firms like Mail America.”
Mail America produces nearly 400 million U.S. mail pieces annually for its national based clients. The new jobs to be added will include print and mail insertion operators, maintenance staff, and various office administration positions.


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Mismanagement of the country’s finances over the years has led to what President of Colina Financial Advisors Limited (CFAL) Anthony Ferguson yesterday called a pandemic recession, which he contended will take a lot of time and tough decisions to get out of, as well as the redevelopment of core and ancillary industries.
Ferguson, who was a panelist on a webinar held by the University of The Bahamas and the Tourism Development Corporation, added that while economic diversification has been a catchphrase for some time, he believes that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has spurred the political will to begin to expand the country’s economic drivers.
“From where we look, tourism is still our number one industry,” said Ferguson. “A lot of people like to talk about diversification… For years we paid lip service to diversification. I humbly believe that the time is probably now and perhaps the political will is there to get behind diversifying into agriculture and fisheries that could be a horizontal feed into the tourism product.
“The government will have to make some decisions, like hotels will have to be required to access and purchase, whatever that number is, of local goods to support their guests.”
Ferguson said while diversification is a “beautiful thing”, Bahamians have not even been able to successfully diversify their core industry of tourism.
He added that there is not much heritage or culture that has been developed surrounding the tourism industry.
“I think what’s going to happen going forward, there is going to be a huge opportunity with respect to heritage tourism, cultural tourism and tourists will require value for money. This is the only way we can increase the yield,” Ferguson said.
“Small entrepreneurs have a wonderful opportunity to retool the cruise sector in terms of increasing the yield and the experience of the visitors, while increasing the financial well-being of the individual Bahamians participating.”


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They’ve had a rocky relationship, to be sure, full of ups and downs and accusations and codependence, but it looks like publishers and Facebook may soon be on their way to a slightly more mutually beneficial situation. In a blog post this week, Facebook announced an “update to monetization in Instant Articles,” allowing publishers greater customization options when it comes to inserting ads within individual articles.
“We’re making improvements to our Automatic Ads Placement feature and introducing flexibility so that ads can be placed more frequently in articles, now up to every 250 words,” Facebook product manager Harshit Agarwal wrote on Thursday. This ups the frequency from the previous limit of every 350 words.
This, Facebook hopes, will appease media companies that rely upon ads (much as
“As part of the Facebook Journalism Project we’ve been in ongoing conversations with the news industry to better serve the needs of publishers and people engaged in news on Facebook,” Agarwal noted. “We’ve heard from publishers that having more flexibility and control over their business strategies on our platform is important.”
Of course, Instant Articles has long been a sore spot for publishers, as it prevents readers from seeing native ads and other articles, or generally browsing the publisher’s site, keeping them instead on Facebook. Hopefully, these latest updates will serve as something of a compromise between the world’s primary traffic referrer and the news sources of the world.
Concluded Agarwal, “Looking ahead, we’re working with our partners to explore additional ad placements and formats within Instant Articles that drive revenue for publishers and performance for advertisers while maintaining a great reading experience.”
- No joke: Twitter is taking away your blue check on April 1, unless you pay
- Trump allowed to return to Facebook and Instagram
- Make tech work for you: 10 side gigs to make extra money for the new year
- Many Twitter accounts could soon lose blue checkmarks
- Elon Musk reveals date for Twitter Blue relaunch


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In one of the final economic reports of 2022, the Biden administration again saw the fruit of its "build back better" policy efforts in the Producer Price Index's hotter-than-expected read for November.
The PPI report — measuring inflation upstream from consumers — showed an increase of 0.3 percent in November's headline number for an advance of 7.4 percent over the previous 12 months while 7.2 percent PPI inflation had been the consensus estimate.
Among the items that drove inflation past estimates, specifically in the increased costs for final demand goods, was the index for fresh and dry vegetables that spiked 38.1 percent in November, while prices for eggs and meats also increased.
Notably, as seen in the chart below showing the PPI month-over-month changes, increases have moderated from their 40-year highs earlier in 2022 but the headline number has remained steady since the summer while core PPI inflation — excluding more-volatile food and energy prices for producers — is again turning upward.
Month to month rise in PPI shows core bouncing up a bit. pic.twitter.com/iTezCCqMa9— Kathy Jones (@KathyJones) December 9, 2022
The PPI report for November sent market futures tumbling as worse-than-projected inflation numbers raised worries again of more aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve as the central bank fights to tame inflation. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has said his goal is to get inflation back down to just two percent, but that achieving his goal would lead to more pain for Americans who are already struggling to make ends meet as real wages continue to trend negative.
BREAKING: November Producer Price Index comes in hotter than expected. Futures tumble. pic.twitter.com/hPOmoki5wU— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) December 9, 2022
The PPI read that surpassed estimates also stoked fears that next Tuesday's Consumer Price Index report will also show inflation running hotter than Wall Street expects as those data points routinely reflect the increased cost burden being carried by producers who must pass some of those increases on to the end consumer.


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The set top box maker, Humax, has unveiled its new Freeview HD T2.
This is being marketed as the first Freeview HD set top box available in the UK, and should be available in the stores sometime during the early part of next year.
The race is on between Humax and Toshiba to bring out the first Freeview HD set top box in the UK or so they think, because there is additional competition from 3View and even the television maker Cello to get the first Freeview service in HD on the shelves.
The Humax set top box will also include the BBC’s iPlayer, which seems to be a major selling point for the next generation of set top boxes.
Will the first Freeview HD box be the winner or will it be down to what these boxes have to offer?


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The past five years have been good to BT (LSE: BT) investors as the telecoms shares have gained nearly 120% in value. While this bull run may continue, there are some speed bumps on the horizon shareholders should be aware of.
First is increased government scrutiny of Openreach, the subsidiary that controls nearly the entire last mile physical broadband and landline infrastructure in the UK. This division is critical to BT as over the past fiscal year Openreach provided 40% of group EBITDA, despite accounting for only 11% of revenue.
The government, competitors and consumers alike have bemoaned the low quality of the UK's broadband network and blamed BT for not reinvesting enough of Openreach's profits in the physical infrastructure. While the government didn't head loud calls to split off Openreach in its latest review, this remains a possibility in the future.
The second worry on the horizon in my eyes is BT's push into becoming a major player in 'quad-play' packages. This is a highly competitive space that requires investing heavily in the likes of sports rights (nearly £2bn on football alone) and mobile phone services (£12.5bn for EE). This move could pan out, but it does shift BT's focus from its traditional strong point and any change to Openreach's status would be devastating while the company invests so much in this new business line.
Few companies have taken advantage of the internet's ability to democratise information more than property search giant Rightmove (LSE: RMV). Shares of this online database have risen by 290% over the past five years due to its dominant market position and industry-leading margins. Management leveraged 77% market share over the past year into a 50 basis point improvement in underlying operating margins to an astounding 75%.
Continued margin improvement and the relative failure of OnTheMarket.com, the estate agents' attempt to wrest back market share, show there's little danger to Rightmove's business internally or from competitors. However, the company is still vulnerable to any shifts in the housing market and the recent bull run in home values will eventually end. However, it's impossible to predict when this will happen and Rightmove remains a solid company whose dominant position and cash flow is mightily appealing.
Tech spend drives growth
Domino's Pizza (LSE: DOM) has been a quiet winner over the past five years as shareholders have enjoyed a 165% jump in share prices alongside a 68% rise in dividend payouts. While a revamped pizza recipe from the American headquarters has certainly played a large role in this success, the company has done well to expand its market share through innovative means.
Foremost among these is a focus on technology that has paid off with a full 67% of orders now coming through e-commerce. This helped like-for-like sales in the UK jump 11.7% last year. Combined with the addition of 61 new stores, 23% operating margins due to the company's asset-light franchisee business model and its position as the largest pizza delivery company in the market, Domino's should continue to thrive as long as consumer spending holds steady or increases. While shares may be pricey at 27 times forward earnings, I see little reason to believe shares won't live up to that valuation.
The growth these three companies have posted over the past few years is certainly impressive, but it's nothing compared to the 19 consecutive years of sales growth at the Motley Fool's Top Growth Share.
And, even after share prices jumped 200% over the past five years, the Fool's top analysts believe the company could triple again in the coming decade.
To discover the secret to this company's history of success, simply follow this link for your free, no obligation copy of the report.
Ian Pierce has no position in any shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Domino's Pizza and Rightmove. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.


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AUSTRALIA-LISTED property developer Lendlease is optimistic about appetite for its S$3.2 billion Paya Lebar Quarter urban regeneration mixed-use development, even as the retail sector is softening and outlook for the Singapore economy gets gloomy.
Sharing the plans for the project located at the junction of Paya Lebar Road and Sims Avenue, Lendlease on Monday said the development will comprise seven buildings across a 99-year leasehold site.
The non-strata title site, comprising two land parcels with a total area of 3.9 hectares – roughly the size of eight football fields – was awarded in April 2015 to a joint venture in which Lendlease has a 30 per cent stake. The joint venture had bagged the site with a bullish top bid of S$1.67 billion in the Government Land Sales programme.
The site will have three grade A office towers, two of which will have 14 floors each while Tower 3 has 13 floors.
There will be three residential towers comprising 429 one to three-bedroom units, as well as more than 200 retail shops across six floors plus one entertainment level in the mall.
NTUC FairPrice Finest and Kopitiam have been named the first two anchor tenants at Paya Lebar Quarter mall.
The entire project is expected to be completed in phases with the retail and commercial spaces to be ready in the second half of 2018 and the residential towers in the first half of 2019.
The commercial space comprises 55 per cent of the site in gross floor area, while residential amounts to about 18 per cent, Lendlease said. Of the total retail space, about 30 per cent will be for food and beverage tenants.
The residences are expected to be launched for sale in the first half of next year, it added.
Against the backdrop of a slowing economy and general weak sentiment across several sectors, Richard Paine, managing director of Paya Lebar Quarter, remains optimistic about filling up the office, retail and residential spaces.
“I think we’re upbeat because sites of this scale actually don’t come to market very often… When you have a site that’s of large scale, it has actually the ability to move the market in sub-markets. If you look at Paya Lebar today and you look at the pricing of the assets today and then you look at a very large scale project that comes in, it actually has the ability to rewrite sub-markets,” Mr Paine said, adding that the company has seen that very successfully done on a lot of its urban regeneration projects overseas.
He said he is “bullish” about the residential towers as there has not been many such launches in the area.
As for office towers, the developer is focusing on getting tenants who are “progressive multinational companies focused on the health and well-being of their staff” – something he said the development offers, including lush greenery and the incorporation of a cycling path that connects to the wider Park Connector Network. In particular, office occupants will also have access to end-of-trip-facilities where they can shower and change if they choose to cycle to work.
The Paya Lebar Quarter will be a significant landmark of the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s 12-hectare Paya Lebar Central and is Landlease’s first residential project in Singapore.
Urban regeneration is a key pillar of Lendlease’s strategy and it comprises over 70 per cent of the developer’s S$49.3 billion international development pipeline, Mr Paine said.
Desmond Sim, CBRE Research’s head of Singapore and South-east Asia, noted that demand on the decentralised office front has been relatively stable. Pointing to the occupancy for Guoco Tower, he said it has now filled up to about 80 per cent and will not be surprised if it hits full occupancy rate. Another development – Marina One – now has close to 40 per cent pre-leased, he added.
Paya Lebar Quarter is located in an area with a strong transport node, Mr Sim said, adding that the developer will benefit from being flexible when it comes to tenants’ requirements.
As for residential units, Mr Sim said: “If priced within the sweet spot of S$1 million and below, there’s still demand out there for such units.”
For the retail space, he believes retailers will still demonstrate confidence if the site has good day catchment and is convenient for shoppers.


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Who can make money with Twitter's voice conversation function 'Space', and who can use it?
In May 2021, Twitter launched a voice conversation function ' Spaces ' similar to the voice SNS 'Clubhouse ' that gained popularity in 2020. At the time of writing the article, space is a function that anyone can use for free, but Twitter announced that it will start a new paid 'Ticketed Spaces'.
Twitter starts launching Ticketed Spaces for some iOS users --The Verge
Twitter now rolling out Ticketed Spaces for iPhone users --9to5Mac
On August 27, 2021, Space's official Twitter account said, 'We want to help users make money in Space. Starting today, some hosts will have ticket-based space available. For now, it's only available on iOS, but it's expected to be available to everyone in the near future. It will take some time, but I want you to use it too. '
we want to help people creating cool Spaces make $$. Today, some Hosts will be able create Ticketed Spaces!— Spaces (@TwitterSpaces) August 26, 2021
we're experimenting on iOS only for now but we hope to get it to everyone soon. Know it's taking us a little time, but we want to get this right for you! Https://t.co/xc68yWkOim
In the ticket-based space, the host can set the price of the chat room of the space from 1 to 999 dollars (110 yen to 110,000 yen), and it is also possible to limit the number of people. According to Twitter, the fee for ticket-based space is 3%, and the host can earn 97% of the ticket amount. However, it is explained that the commission will increase to 20% when the sales of the application exceed 50,000 dollars (about 5.5 million yen), and it is possible that the commission will increase in the future.
To use the ticket-based space, it is necessary that 'the host user has at least 1000 followers' and 'hosts at least 3 spaces in the last 30 days'. In addition, people under the age of 17 cannot charge for the space.


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The Finnish manufacturer is bringing back their 2000-era 3310:
Given the rising angst of a society run by technology, Nokia might have picked the perfect time to introduce an antidote to the smartphone. But even under today’s conditions, it is tempting to see the new Nokia 3310 merely as another example of retro nostalgia. Ha-ha, what if you could get a dumbphone instead? It would pair perfectly with a milk crate full of vinyl albums. But it’s also possible that the 3310 marks the start of a new period of technological mobility. One that offers a sense of how even the most entrenched technological habits might yet turn out differently.
It might be premature to announce the end of humanity’s love affair with the smartphone. But the relationship’s cracks are surely showing. Some have immediate consequence. Apps have contributed to a huge spike in traffic accidents and deaths, as more and more people attempt to operate finicky handheld devices while driving. The partial-reinforcement techniques baked into today’s apps and games has become more apparent to users, who seem increasingly resigned to services they also feel no option to quit. And the uniformity in design of devices has arrested their future potential. Every year another glass rectangle, affording no more or less than it promises, which is more of the same.
The smartphone’s conquest is definitive and complete. A decade after its form solidified, the contemporary citizen of the developed world has almost no choice but to own and operate one. And yet, the joy and the utility of doing so has declined, if not ceased entirely.
Hey, for $50 I might pick one up as a backup device, once they're offered in the U.S.


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This positive result for EU industry and Vietnamese citizens shows the value of having a free trade agreement with Vietnam. It is the result of months of continuous efforts by the European Commission and constructive engagement with the Vietnamese authorities.
Pharmaceuticals from all EU member states will now see simpler and faster registration procedures and easier participation in government procurement. This will allow better market access for EU pharmaceutical products to Vietnam, greatly benefitting Vietnamese consumers in terms of access to medicines. EU pharmaceutical exports to Vietnam are worth EUR 1.5 billion a year, contributing to EU jobs and economic resilience.
The EU calls on Vietnam to also ensure a more transparent and predictable system of marketing authorisations without delay.
With the entry into force on 20 October 2022 of Circular 08/2022/TT-BYT (Circular 8), Vietnam now fully recognises the EU Single Market for pharmaceuticals and the unity of the EU regulatory framework.
In future, all EU producers will be treated equally, including pharmaceutical companies established in Spain, Poland, Italy and Hungary, which were previously facing longer and more burdensome approval processes because of difference in the treatment of EU Member States’ regulatory authorities.
The previous legislation (Circular 32) differentiated among Member States’ regulatory authorities, listing some as 'Reference Regulatory Authorities' (RRA) and others as 'Stringent Regulatory Authorities' (SRA). This differentiation implied simplified and shorter registration procedures for pharmaceutical products registered by RRAs, including exemptions for clinical trials. This discrimination also affected participation in government procurement for pharmaceutical products, through a better scoring for medicines approved by RRAs, thereby reducing opportunities for products registered by SRAs. The new Circular 8 now recognises all EU Member States’ regulatory authorities as 'Reference Regulatory Authorities'.
Circular 8 also brings Vietnam’s regulatory framework closer to international practices. It now fully recognises the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH) as the relevant standard and guidelines. Circular 8 is therefore an important step for Vietnam to develop competitive and business-friendly conditions that will allow Vietnam to integrate better into global pharmaceutical value chains.
There are still important further procedural reforms in the sector required for Vietnam. In particular, the EU calls on Vietnam to ensure a more transparent and predictable framework for extending the validity of marketing authorisations. The EU stands ready to accompany Vietnam further in its modernisation of the pharmaceutical sector for the benefit of Vietnamese patients.
In 2021, the export of EU pharmaceutical products to Vietnam amounted to about EUR 1.5 billion, or about 14% of total EU exports to Vietnam of EUR 10,6 billion.
For more information
- Дата на публикуване
- 20 Oктомври 2022 г.
- Генерална дирекция „Търговия“
- Country or region
- Trade topics
- EU companies accessing world marketsNegotiations and agreements


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In Manhattan, people are known to covet a phone number with a 212 area code—sometimes paying up to $1,000 for those three little digits. But in Iraq, the scramble for the coolest number is on another level entirely, with some cellphone numbers being valuable enough to pay off a modest mortgage.
The traditional SIM card is dying. The GSMA, which represents carriers and mobile companies around the world, has announced a new eSIM specification for smartwatches, fitness trackers, and tablets, which allows users to remotely activate a SIM embedded in those devices.
SIM cards are dead; Long live e-SIMs.
Now that it's been over a year since the Snowden leaks, you might've thought that all of the insane NSA revelations had been revealed. Not so! Foreign Policy just published a fascinating and exhaustive list of every patent ever awarded to the spy agency. And one of its latest inventions is all about your SIM card.
Japanese carrier Docomo has announced an interesting concept design that could change the way we use mobile devices: a wearable that takes the SIM out of your phone and puts it onto your wrist to create an authentication device for all your hardware.
Data, reception, battery, screen, CPU, weight, size. These are the cellphone specs I'm concerned. Smaller SIM cards? Not so much. But Giesecke & Devrient, one of the original SIM manufactuers, thinks we need a nano-SIM that's 30 percent smaller. Great?
In order to use the iPhone 4 on T-Mobile you have to jailbreak it, unlock it and then annoyingly cut your fatty SIM into a Micro SIM. Annoying! T-Mobile is making it a little easier by giving Micro SIMs to their customers.
According to a report at GigaOM, Apple's working on creating a SIM card that will be integrated into the iPhone itself. That means cutting carriers out of the purchasing process, and giving more power to Apple—and the consumer.
This is great news for pre-paid Verizon Wireless customers, with the carrier introducing unlimited and 25MB data options for their SIMs. Available from today in-store (or online on September 28th), the plans will only work with (most of their) 3G smartphones—which makes sense, really. The unlimited plan comes in at…
Yesterday, Nokia had zero dual-SIM card phones. Today? Two. The C1-00 and C2 are both low-end candybars that won't offer media-hungry people the phone they were looking for—but they will suit travelers or cheating spouses.
MAXroam's iPad-friendly microSIM will let you take your coffee-shop wankery from Starbucks to streetside cafes in Milan. Their microSIMs cost an extravagant €75/$95 for 50MB of data, but at least you'll be able to tweet smugly from your iPad, right?
It's a beautiful dream: buy whatever phone you want and then use it with whatever service you want. And it looks like that's a dream that will come true in Japan.
First, the Eye-Fi added Wi-Fi to any camera with an SD card. Now, the Sagem Orga SIMFi does something similar. It's a SIM card that adds Wi-Fi capabilities to cellphones...Wi-Fi hotspot capabilities, that is.
While SIM cards hold all the stuff address books used to, some people just can't part from that old ink-and-paper. The SIMbook lets people know that you're aware of modern technology, yet you choose to go retro.
While you know SIMs as the tiny cards that slide in your phones/mobile devices, T-Mobile has announced an even smaller SIM the size of a pinhead.
Oberthur Technologies has come up with yet another interesting application of accelerometer technology. Their new SIMSense card is the first motion-sensing SIM card on the planet.
Sadly, watch phones still aren't cool, but Dick Tracy called the weekend news desk and approved the heck out of these his and her models from Chinavision. Sporting dual SIM cards, these black and pink pieces of geek arm candy do video and music, take pictures, and feature a touchscreen (complete with mini stylus).…


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The Latest Retail and eCommerce News
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