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Corvette Z06 Videos
Sunday, April 20, 2014 11:40 AM PST
Corvette Z06 News
Updated: 11:40 AM
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2015 Corvette Z06 Convertible preview (pictures)CNET (blog)2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Convertible. 1 of 10. Chevrolet released preview photos and specs for the Corvette Z06 Convertible, which will debut at the New York auto show next week. Read more about the 2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Convertible. April 11 ...
Corvette Z06 Convertible Student Photo ContestGM High-Tech Performance Magazine“The students had a challenging assignment because the work I see being done on a daily basis by our Design team is so good,” said Ed Welburn, vice president for GM Global Design. “So for the students to go into this area was obviously going to be ...and more »
2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Convertible First One Built Since 1963J.D. Power Autos (blog)In 1963, Chevrolet built 199 Corvettes equipped with the performance-oriented Z06 option package, and one of those cars was a convertible. Now, for the 2014 New York International Auto Show, Chevrolet has built a second Corvette Z06 convertible, and ...


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The international textile industry and its many players will be able to look into the near future at Techtextil and Texprocess in Frankfurt, Germany, April 23-26, 2024. These two leading trade fairs are hotspots for innovations, textile solutions and networking. With over 1,600 exhibitors from around 50 countries, Techtextil and Texprocess reflect the extraordinary degree of innovation prevailing in the sectors.
Innovation, research, an exchange of ideas and information, inspiration and successful business transactions – these are the promises made to the international industry by Techtextil and Texprocess. The large number of current exhibitor registrations from around the world confirms the relevance of the two trade fairs for the textile sector.
Companies can look forward to meeting buyers and top decision makers from 95 (Techtextil 2022) and 86 (Texprocess 2022) countries. In addition to familiar and high-grade formats, such as the Techtextil Innovation Award and the Texprocess Innovation Award, as well as the Techtextil Forum and the Texprocess Forum, the coming editions will be distinguished by several new special areas, e.g., the Nature Performance area and the Future Materials special show at Techtextil, and the Denim Hub and an Emerging Markets area at Texprocess.
Visitors can discover a spectrum of unparalleled textile solutions and an extraordinary range of products in twelve areas of application, which are used in many different industries – from automotive, fashion, medicine, construction and more. The latest developments in fibers and yarns, nonwovens, composites, coated textiles, technologies, etc., will be presented by companies at Techtextil, in many cases, for the first time.
Texprocess is the international platform for exhibitors of the latest machinery, equipment, processes and services for manufacturing garments, as well as textile and flexible materials. The spectrum of products to be seen ranges from sewing technology and materials, embroidery technology, fastening, CAD/CAM and cutting to recycling technologies and much more.
Digitalization is an emerging hot topic, as it affects innovation and efficiency. During a panel discussion of industry experts recently by Techtextil/Texprocess, it was pointed out that digitalization has by no means carved out a place for itself in the work processes of many companies.
A study conducted by the German Economic Institute in 2022 revealed that only 31 percent of companies in Germany are able to use data efficiently. However, it is essential for companies to improve their digital infrastructure because legal regulations, such as the EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles and the associated digital product passport, require a corresponding level of digitalization.
Digitalization also helps to meet the sustainability requirements of customers and partners by improving supply chain transparency or resource calculation. Companies wanting to remain competitive can no longer avoid digital technologies.
“The sectors have an enormous potential for innovation, especially in the field of digitalization. We can only realize this through a joint international exchange of information. The global industry meets at Techtextil and Texprocess. Dialogue, knowledge transfer, unique innovations and multifaceted solutions strengthen companies on their journey into the future”, said Olaf Schmidt, Vice President Textiles & Textile Technologies, Messe Frankfurt.
Digitalization helps companies meet the challenges currently facing their industries and remain competitive. Companies can take advantage of digital developments to counter raw material and labor shortages, energy costs or increased sustainability requirements and produce more efficiently, faster, more flexibly, more transparently and more cost-effectively.
“Constantly changing consumer and legislative requirements, as well as labor shortages and more difficult trading conditions due to geopolitical changes, are constantly posing new challenges for garment manufacturers and processors of technical textiles. The manufacturers of machines, systems and processes for processing textile materials offer the necessary solutions. Through digitalization and automation for increased flexibility, sustainability, quality and increased product potential, we help our customers in their production and at the same time ensure a boost in innovation,” explained Elgar Straub, Managing Director of VDMA Textile Care, Fabric & Leather Technologies, who participated in the panel discussion.

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A new global study into the behaviours and desires of Millennials (those aged 18-35) has painted them as a pretty unhappy bunch, with Aussie Ys particularly aggrieved.
The study by financial firm Deloitte and titled Millennial Survey 2017 found Aussie Ys are increasingly pessimistic about their futures and the way the country is run. You can download a copy of the report here.
The main takeouts around Australian Millennials were:
• Only eight per cent believed they would be financially better of than their parents and a worrying four per cent said they’d be happy than them (it was 26 per cent and 23 per cent globally.)
• Only 28 per cent expected the economy to improve and 22 per cent expected society to improve.
• Less than one in 10 young Australians think they will be more financially secure than their parents (the global average was 36 per cent).
• Housing affordability was the Ys number one worry, followed by terrorism, crime, climate change, income inequality and access to healthcare.
• Underemployment or a lack of full-time jobs was a concern for 76 per cent of the Ys or jobs that offered no ongoing security. However, 60 per cent had plans to quit their jobs in the next two years.
The report noted: “Millennials in emerging markets generally expect to be both financially (71 per cent) and emotionally (62 per cent) better off than their parents. This is in stark contrast to mature markets, where only 36 per cent of millennials predict they will be financially better off than their parents and 31 per cent say they’ll be happier.
“But in Australia just eight percent of Millennials believe they will better off than their parents and only four percent believe they will be happier.”
When it came to the Ys globally the report found:
• 76 per cent said businesses, in general, are having a positive impact on the wider society in which they operate.
• Millennials feel accountable for many issues in both the workplace and the wider world. However, it is primarily in and via the workplace that they feel most able to make an impact.
• The Ys are more comfortable with plain, straight-talking language from both business and political leaders; respond to passionate opinions; and identify with leaders who appeal to anyone who might feel “left out” or isolated.
• Millennials tend to have a positive opinion of the Gen Zs (those currently aged 18 or younger), believing the group to have strong information technology skills and the ability to think creatively. Six in 10 Millennials believe Gen Z will have a positive impact as their presence in the workplace expands.
Canteen’s latest campaign features the combined talents of Director Luna Laure and creative agency Crater. The campaign strives to raise awareness for young people affected by cancer. The awareness campaign centres around Harry Barentson, who at 12 years of age found out his pregnant mum had cancer. While his mother fortunately survived, he lost his […]
In partnership with storytelling agency Enthral, AFL star Kevin Sheedy has voiced a video ‘Love Letter to Victoria’ using visuals to showcase the state’s natural beauty and culture. Victoria has been hit with the worst of the coronavirus pandemic compared with any other Aussie state experiencing four lockdowns. Sheedy has partnered with Ethral to share […]
Telstra’s lower-cost telco, Belong, has awarded its strategy and creative account to Howatson + White, and has reappointed OMD to its media buying account, after a competitive pitch process. Howatson + White will handle strategy, planning, creative and CRM, while former agency Clemenger will continue to have a relationship with Belong, managing PR and retail activation. […]
Coca-Cola Australia has rolled out its new campaign ‘Turn Up Your Break’. The campaign will be led by a TVC that encourages people to truly pause with a Coke on their break so they can walk away feeling refreshed and uplifted. The TVC features two busy chefs stepping outside for a break, the bustling kitchen […]
Nova 919’s Ben & Liam breakfast show announced that they’ll be throwing their support behind and raising awareness for a cause very close to their hearts, mental health. On Monday 21 June Ben Harvey and Liam Stapleton will be locked in a purpose-built glass structure, in the middle of Rundle Mall, for an entire week […]
TRENDii has announced TRENDii Ads, a new contextual advertising solution that leverages content and context to promote eCommerce products at scale around the world. TRENDii Ads is user privacy friendly and offers a new way for businesses and brands to target consumers at the moment that they are most inspired to shop. “We believe good […]
ARN and The New York Times have reached an agreement for ARN to become the advertising sales representative for The New York Times’s podcast portfolio in Australia. The deal will enable Australian brands to connect with Australian listeners to The New York Times’s most popular podcasts, such as The Daily, Serial and This American Life, […]
Verizon Media’s talent program has come to an end for the third year, closing with a hybrid pitch-off event for Musicians Making A Difference (MMAD). The Verizon Media Academy class of 2021, made up of 44 emerging leaders from across Australia and New Zealand media, advertising and marketing industry, were given just one hour to […]


text: MediaTek Dimensity 9000. (MediaTek) Hitekno.com – MediaTek has revealed the Dimensity 9000 flagship chipset some time ago. The latest leak claims that MediaTek Dimensity 9000 could be coming to flagship phones in the first quarter of 2022 (Q1 2022). Based on a leak from a leaker on Weibo, the first HP with Dimensity 9000 could be launched in the range of February next year. If production goes according to plan, we can see firsthand devices with MediaTek’s fast chipsets in early 2022. Please note, MediaTek has actually stolen the start before Qualcomm. Even so, the commercial release of the device is predicted to be held by Qualcomm. The flagship cellphone equipped with Snapdragon 8 Gen1 is expected to be ready to launch this year. Quoted from GSMArena, Xiaomi 12 with Snapdragon 8 Gen1 chipset is expected to debut in December 2021. CPU configuration of MediaTek Dimensity 9000. (MediaTek) Towards the MediaTek Annual Summit, the company has previously showcased the features of Dimensity 9000. They claim that this is a chipset with a system the most technically advanced 4 nm fabrication. MediaTek’s Vice President of Corporate Marketing, Finbarr Moynihan explained the advantages of the Dimensity 9000 and discussed its competitors. The chipset is the first product to use an ARM Cortex X2 core based on the ARM V9 architecture. The Dimensity 9000 has an octa-core CPU configured with one Cortex X2 core (3.05 GHz clock speed) + three Cortex A710 cores (2.85 GHz clock speed) + four Cortex A510 cores (1.8 GHz). The Dimensity 9000 5G. (MediaTek) VP MediaTek claims that their flagship chipset can rival or match the Apple A15 Bionic in multi-core benchmark tests. They also boast a Dimensity 9000 score which is able to break the AnTuTu score of 1 million points. A leak from a leaker also reveals that the Snapdragon 8 Gen1 could hit the AnTuTu benchmark score of 1 million points. Regarding graphics, the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 is the first chip to use the Mali G710 Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). Mediatek’s AI Processing Unit (APU) has been upgraded with four high-performance cores and two flexible-performance cores. .


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O Aliexpress has partnered with payments company Ebanx to open a temporary store in Curitiba: this is a space that will demonstrate some of the products for sale at the online retailer, such as headphones, speakers, drones and cell phones from Xiaomi and Huawei . In this showroom, you will have to make the purchase over the internet with your smartphone.
The AliExpress space was opened on Friday (6) at the L4 floor of Shopping Mueller, in Curitiba, and will be available until October 5, 2019. André Boaventura, partner at Ebanx, explains to leaf that the store will make customers “safer to buy products from China over the internet”.
“The mall gives consumers a sense of security,” says Boaventura. “Putting a Chinese e-commerce in that location helps to change the perception that the products there are of no quality.”
The store has a 30-meter panel where some physical items are displayed, but it does not have stock for delivery: instead, the consumer will be able to analyze the products on an interactive screen and scan a QR Code to purchase them by cell phone.
AliExpress store in Spain is also a showroom
This is the same model that AliExpress adopted in its store in Madrid, Spain: it is a 740 m² showroom divided into five areas, displaying around a thousand products – including cell phones, notebooks and electric scooters – from 60 brands many different. In this physical space, sales are made online.
The store opened in Madrid last month and had 2 thousand visitors; some waited 48 hours in line. The company gave awards to the first 500 people, including cell phones, watches, drones and scales.
Brazil is the fifth largest market for AliExpress in turnover; ahead are China, the USA, Russia and Spain. However, the company does not intend to open a permanent store in our country.
“For now, we have no plans. Brazil is one of the most important markets for us. We will continue to serve our users and improve their shopping experience, ”says Kang Huang, director of AliExpress for Brazil, to leaf.
This year, AliExpress launched the Premium Shipping shipping option to Brazil, which promises deliveries from China within 28 days. Its owner, Alibaba, last year considered creating a distribution center at Viracopos airport, in Campinas (SP). Rumors say the company has plans to acquire the post office during the privatization of the state-owned company.


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It looks like we finally have a rendering to go with the rampant speculation about the introduction of a Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet. The ever-talented Jon Sibal has turned his attention to the drop-head Vee-Dub, and has worked up what he thinks the car might look like should the the people's automaker decide to pull the trigger on the project, which will reportedly commence in the spring of 2011. Martin Winterkorn, chairman of the board for VW, has already said that he would like to see a convert
If you're like us, you've never found the Eos to be a fitting replacement for the long-running Golf-based Cabrio. Well, rejoice, Cabrio fans – it appears that Volkswagen will be bringing back the diminutive droptop sometime next year. And with the current Golf providing the groundwork, it shouldn't be too bad of a steer out on the road.


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Theme parks were one of the industries hit hardest by the massive closures of the global pandemic. Parks around the world closed down for at least a few months, and some, like Disneyland Resort, were closed for over a year. While most places around the world have seemingly moved past all pandemic restrictions, China is one place that is still instituting shutdowns in an attempt to reduce virus spread, resulting in the Shanghai Disney Resort now closing for the third time.
It will not be a Happy Halloween and Shanghai Disney Resort as a message on the homepage for the theme park announces that, due to government regulations surrounding covid, the majority of the resort, the Shanghai Disneyland theme park, the Disneytown shopping and dining district, and the Wishing Star Park recreation area, are closed as of October 31. At this point the two resort hotels remain open. There is no estimated reopening date as of yet.
Shanghai Disney Resort, alongside Hong Kong Disneyland, became the first Disney Parks to close, in late January 2020. At that point it was hoped that the coronavirus outbreak would be contained and that the closure would be temporary. By March we knew that would not be the case, as Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World would close a well, with the former remaining closed for more than year.
Shanghai Disney Resort would reopen under strict pandemic restrictions in May 2020. In November 2021 there would be a covid scare, which resulted in guests inside Shanghai Disneyland being mass tested inside the park before being released, but the park remained operational.
That's essentially what happened in this situation as well. that following Shanghai's procedures, guests were tested inside the park and let out once they tested negative. A Disney Spokesperson told CinemaBlend that the testing was expedited and all guests have since left the park. Plans for reopening have already begun.
The park would remain open until March 21 of this year, when it was closed again due to government restrictions surrounding covid. The park reopened on June 30. If the new closure lasts for about the same amount of time as the last one, we can expect Shanghai Disney Resort to reopen early in 2023.
China’s “zero covid” policy has continued to result in businesses shutting down and even residential lockdowns, especially in the Shanghai area, over the last two years. This is what caused the brief closure earlier this year as well as this one. Any time there is an uptick in cases the government takes whatever steps it deems necessary to stem the bump. Once things start trending downward, we can expect the parks to reopen. Of course, the possibility of additional closures also exist.
Guests who planned to visit Shanghai Disney Resort while the park is closed can get their tickets refunded or exchanged for another date. Hopefully this will be the last time we see a Disney Park closed due to covid, and hopefully this closure won't last too long.
Your Daily Blend of Entertainment News
CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis. Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.


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TechCrunch reported last week that the streaming music service Spotify suffered a security breach. A list containing hundreds of account credentials, including emails, usernames, passwords and other account details, appeared on the website Pastebin on April 23. If you’re a Spotify user, you will likely want to change your password.
Some Spotify users noticed suspicious activity on their accounts, like deleted playlists, unknown songs had been listened to, and one user event got locked out during a streaming session.
However, Spotify denied the allegations in a statement: “Spotify has not been hacked and our user records are secure. We monitor Pastebin and other sites regularly. When we find Spotify credentials, we first verify that they are authentic, and if they are, we immediately notify affected users to change their passwords.”
If the company did not in fact experience a breach, how can this activity be explained?
The answer: Poor password security on behalf of the consumer. While companies have a responsibility to maintain a user’s security, consumers are equally responsible for the security of their online accounts. Many consumers reuse the same login credentials (username and password) across multiple sites. Cyber criminals may steal data from one site and find the same credentials work on other sites. This is likely the case with the recent Spotify incident.
And, Spotify isn’t the first company to get called out in the media for lost credentials due to user’s poor password habits. Both Uber and PayPal have had account information compromised in the past few months.
For advice on how to create strong passwords, check out our blog post on the topic here.


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- About Us
Businesses wanted to register for Kent Turkey Challenge to help food bank
Kent businesses and organizations must sign up by Friday, Oct. 11 to join the 3rd Annual Kent Turkey Challenge to collect donations for the Kent Food Bank.
The first two years of the Kent Turkey Challenge collected more than 3,700 pounds of food and $24,500. The Kent City Council will once again support the event through an official proclamation Oct. 15.
Torklift Central is hosting the event and will drop off donation boxes to participating businesses on Oct. 14-15.
Kent businesses are challenged to compete against each other to collect food and monetary donations. Donation boxes and related materials are provided to each business at no charge.
Businesses have the option to sell paper turkeys for $10, which will be another way that community members can participate in the challenge. Customers can write their name on the paper turkey and the businesses can hang them on the wall to represent their progress.
Several businesses and organizations are on board including the Experience Kent Expo who agreed to have the Turkey Challenge a part of the expo on Oc. 17 at the Showare Center. You can donate food or money towards the challenge during the expo.
“Our goal this year is to reach 3,000 pounds of food and $15,000 for the Kent Food Bank,” said Torklift Central general manager Matt Lynch. “With the help of local schools, organizations and businesses, we hope to achieve this goal.”
Kent Food Bank relies on the community to help families in need.
“The annual Kent Turkey Challenge has been a huge success and the Kent Food Bank has been able to feed over 3,500 families, “ Lynch said. “As a community, it is important that we unite as one and help out where we can.”
Businesses that are interested in participating can contact Katie Brown at Torklift Central at 253-720-1969 or Katie@tlcentral.com.


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What exactly are the costs of owning an electric car, find out in this post.
If you’re looking to upgrade your company car there never has been a better time to switch to an electric vehicle, find out why in our latest blog…
The Government have recently stated that company car drivers who choose to drive an electric car will pay no Benefit-In-Kind (BIK) tax in 2020/21. HM Treasury say that for cars registered from 6th April 2020, most company car tax rates will reduce by 2% meaning that for a 100% electric vehicle with zero emissions, this will drop to 0%, therefore company car drivers will pay no BIK tax at all.
These rates are also applicable to already existing company car drivers who already drive 100% electric vehicles which were registered prior to 6th April 2020. So, for those drivers who were looking forward to a reduced rate of 2%, they can now enjoy 0% tax in 2020/21. The 0% BIK tax also applies to company cars registered from 6th April 2020 with emissions from 1-50g/km and with a 100% electric range of 130 miles or more. In 2021/22 both fully electric cars with zero emissions and emissions from 1-50g/km will rise to 1% followed by an increase to 2% BIK tax in 2022/23 (please see both tables below for a more detailed breakdown).
* Add 4% for diesels up to a maximum of 37% (unless RDE2 compliant). Diesel plug-in hybrids are classed as alternative fuel vehicles, so the 4% diesel supplement does not apply to these vehicles irrespective of RDE2 compliance
* Add 4% for diesels up to a maximum of 37% (unless RDE2 compliant). Diesel plug-in hybrids are classed as alternative fuel vehicles, so the 4% diesel supplement does not apply to these vehicles irrespective of RDE2 compliance. Both table from Fleet News.


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Insider trades can give investors a more complete view of activity within the world’s publicly-listed companies. No one knows more about a company, and its prospects, than its leaders.
In this report, we are going to highlight some large insider purchases at Zalando SE (ZAL:GR). Zalando is Europe’s largest online fashion platform. Founded in 2008, it currently operates in 17 countries and sells products from over 3,500 brands. The company is listed on Deutsche Börse’s Xetra and has a market capitalization of €23.4 billion at present.
Zalando: Insider Buying
Our records show that between 6 April and 8 April, Zalando board member – and third-largest shareholder overall – Anders Holch Povlsen purchased stock three times. In total, the insider bought 462,517 shares, spending just under €40 million on ZAL stock.
Previous Insider Trades Have Been Timed Well
Zalando is a stock that has generated a number of very profitable insider trading signals in the past.
In May last year, for example, we noted that Chairman of the Supervisory Board Cristina Stenbeck had purchased 38,000 shares, spending nearly €2 million on stock. We saw this insider purchase as a bullish signal. Since then, Zalando’s share price has risen about 70%.
Meanwhile, in March 2019, we noted that Mr. Povlsen had spent approximately €14 million on stock when the share price was around €33. We viewed this insider activity as bullish. In the next six months, the stock rose about 35%.
This latest insider trading activity also looks quite bullish. Mr. Povlsen has significant experience in the retail industry. Currently, he is CEO of international clothes retailer chain Bestseller which is the largest shareholder in ASOS, and also owns brands such as Jack & Jones, Selected, Vero Moda, and Only. He first invested in Zalando in August 2013 when he acquired 10% of the shares in the company. The fact that he has spent €40 million on ZAL stock suggests that he is confident the stock is undervalued at present.
Zalando delivered a strong performance in Q4 2020. For the quarter, revenue came in at €2.6 billion, up 30% year on year, while adjusted EBIT was €189.3 million, up 71% year on year. Adjusted EBIT margin came in at 7.4% compared to 5.6% in Q4 2019. At the end of the period, the company had 39 million active customers versus 31 million at the end of 2019.
Looking ahead, Zalando said it expects to keep generating strong growth. For FY2021, it is targeting revenue growth of 24%-29%. Meanwhile, by 2025, it is targeting gross merchandise volume of €30 billion.
Despite these strong results, Zalando shares have underperformed in 2021. Currently, the stock is down for the year. The stock purchases from Anders Holch Povlsen suggest that he sees value at current levels. We see this insider activity as bullish.


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This makes me sad, that this is the only solution people can think of. How about holding the cops accountable? That would calm things down a lot:
For the past two days, Steve King has been “unbelievably busy” at his gun store, Metro Shooting at 11434 St. Charles Rock Road. King said business spiked 50 percent as local residents respond to the violent events taking place in Ferguson.
“We’ve sold a variety of handguns, shotguns and AR-15s (a semi-automatic rifle),” King said. “All of the sales are having to do with home defense.”
King, who owns the store that has 17 employees and 2013 revenue of about $2 million, added that customers have ranged from new firearm buyers to those upgrading their current arsenal. He said both black and white individuals have purchased firearms at his store over the past few days.
“Usually it’s pretty slow through the summer, but this has been a huge spike for business,” King said. “People are hunkering down because those events are taking place too close to their own home ... in some cases, a half a mile away. Lots of people are afraid.”
Officials at Mid America Arms, at 8205 Gravois Road, have seen a similar increase in business. Owner Al Rothweiler had to break away from his jammed-packed store this afternoon to talk to the Business Journal.
“We were closed Sunday and Monday, but today, sales have been brisk, and the store is full of people,” said Rothweiler, who estimated that his sales were also up 50 percent Tuesday compared with a typical day in August. “Everyone who bought today mentioned something about Ferguson.”


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After so many rumors and speculations, the first 5G-powered smartphone from Infinix will be unveiled few days from now. A new official confirmation about the launch date is out.
According to the upcoming phone’s Flipkart microsite, the launch has now been scheduled for Valentine’s Day (February 14, 12 noon).
Infinix Zero 5G Specifications (Unofficial)
The microsite also reveals that the Infinix Zero 5G will be powered by the Mediatek Dimensity 900 chip and feature support for 13 5G bands. Its AnTuTu benchmark score has been revealed as well, standing at 475,073. Infinix claims that this makes the device the fastest 5G smartphone in the segment.
The previous rumors were based on leaks so it could be possible that they weren’t exactly false, and that Infinix has actually delayed the launch.
Regardless, those older leaks had also revealed some other key specifications of the phone. The Infinix Zero 5G will pack LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 internal storage. Its display is expected to be an FHD+ 6.67-inch AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate.
In the camera department, the triple-lens setup at the rear will be topped by a 48MP AI primary sensor. Authentication will be handled by a fingerprint sensor embedded into the power button.
The smartphone will be running the Android 11 operating system out-of-the-box with the XOS skin on top. The battery will be sized 5,000mAh and is likely to support 33W fast charging.
Based on official images, the Infinix Zero 5G will come in at least two color options — orange and black. We should be knowing more about the device in the coming days, so stay tuned.


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Verizon unveils 'smart store' makeovers
Published 11/19/2013, INFORUM
FARGO – Verizon Wireless is revamping its more than 1,700 stores nationwide into “smart stores” aimed at helping consumers get more bang from their mobile devices.Word count: 401
The full article is available to newspaper subscribers. If you are a subscriber please log in to continue reading.


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According to an analysis by NewsGuard, ads from “major global brands” are appearing on numerous websites with AI-generated text. First reported by MIT Technology Review, the study said that 140 major brands are paying for ads that end up on next-gen content platforms that often feature unreliable AI-written content – likely without their knowledge.
According to NewsGuard, more than 90 percent of the ads it identified — 356 of 393 — were served by Google Ads.
“Because this process is so opaque, the underlying brands in this report likely have no idea that they are funding the spread of UAIN websites (unreliable artificial intelligence-generated news) since the ads are purchased through third parties and there are multiple intermediaries involved,” said NewsGuard.
NewsGuard cites Google’s ad policies stating that sites may not “place Google-served ads on pages” that include “spammy automatically-generated content.” That includes “Text generated through automated processes without regard for quality or user experience.”
Since it first started tracking the spread of UAIN websites in May of this year, NewsGuard says it has identified some 25 new sites a week.
“It appears that programmatic advertising is the main revenue source for these AI-generated websites,” Lorenzo Arvanitis, an analyst, told MIT Technology Review.
“We have identified hundreds of Fortune 500 companies and well-known, prominent brands that are advertising on these sites and that are unwittingly supporting it.”
The NewsGuard report did not specify which brands appeared on the AI-generated sites, but noted that their research “found programmatic ads for a top tier global bank, two leading broadband providers, a high-profile sports apparel company, and one car manufacturer.”


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Broader market sell-off
AMC Entertainment (AMC) stock has fallen 14.0% this year. It started this month with a gain, touching $15.27 on December 12, but then fell again last week. The broader market sell-off caused by the Fed’s interest rate hike may have erased its gains. The S&P 500 has fallen 7.7% this year, while the Dow Jones has fallen 7.5%.
A good year so far
AMC’s revenue growth has been rather good this year. In the three quarters of fiscal 2018, its revenue has twice beaten estimates twice and aligned with analysts’ estimate once, and it rose year-over-year in all quarters. This year, AMC has been boosted by its strong box office performance, strategic measures, and acquisitions of Odeon Cinemas, Carmike Cinemas, and Nordic Cinema Group. The addition of recliners and large-format screens, which carry a ticket premium, has contributed to the company’s top-line growth.
One thing that has stood out this year for AMC Entertainment has been Stubs A-List. In its third-quarter 2018 conference call, AMC reported that Stubs A-List was nearing 500,000 paid members just five months after its launch in June, bringing AMC’s loyalty membership to over 17.0 million households.
Stubs A-List was AMC’s attempt to contain any threat from MoviePass, which has been disruptive in the theater business. For $9.99 per month, the service allowed cardholders to watch a movie per day. However, the unsustainable nature of the subscription model has put MoviePass in massive trouble, and the service has seen significant losses. MoviePass has been trying to change its subscription plan and business model to bail itself out.


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A socially conscious food manufacturer can now produce 42 million nutritional food pouches each year, with the help of equipment from HRS Heat Exchangers.
A French manufacturer of potato chips has installed a biomethane plant to process around 22,000 tonnes pa of chip leftovers and sludge into green energy.
Once dismissed as 'junk DNA', a family of 'jumping genes' found in tomatoes has the potential to improve drought-resistance traits.
The challenge for manufacturers of fresh orange juice is the speed at which the flavour and quality alters and deteriorates after the orange is squeezed.
Biosecurity New Zealand has stepped up its response to the persistent presence of fruit flies in Northcote, New Zealand, with intensive baiting and trapping.
A processing line for the production of ready-to-eat salads was recently put into operation for a salad producer wanting to improve its capacities.
More research into the food production process behind corn products is required to achieve high-quality consumable products, according to researchers.
A robotic harvester, dubbed the 'Vegebot', has been trained to identify, harvest and cut iceberg lettuce ready for the supermarket.
A discussion on the rise of meatless products and how producers are keeping up with demand.
A combination of lactic acid and food-grade sodium hypochlorite could offer a sanitising strategy to the organic food processing industry.
Capua 1880 uses dry screw vacuum technology from Busch Vacuum Pumps and Systems to produce high-quality essential oils from citrus fruits for use in food flavouring.
A sheep and cattle station in Central Otago is setting aside 80 hectares of pastoral land to produce premium quality cherries for export from 2021–2022.
Watch a mango auto harvester in action during shed trials in February 2019.
CQUniversity has revealed details of its "world's first" mango auto-harvester that takes just five seconds to pick a mango.
Biochemists have produced potato plants that are resistant to high temperatures by switching off a small RNA that blocks the formation of tubers.


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Eric Zeman / Android Authority
- There will probably be a minimum of one more Samsung Unpacked in 2021.
- The latest event will occur on October 20, 2021, at 10:00 AM ET.
- It is unclear what Samsung would launch at this event, however the Galaxy S21 FE is a risk.
On October 20, there will probably be yet one more Samsung Unpacked in 2021. The event will begin at 10:00 AM ET that day with the same old worldwide livestream.
See additionally: The greatest Samsung telephones you will get
Unfortunately, it’s unclear what Samsung may launch at this event. Usually, this is able to be the proper time for the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE. However, rumors abound that Samsung has both delayed or completely canceled that cellphone. There additionally gained’t be a Galaxy Note cellphone this yr (or seemingly ever once more), so this might be a launch with no telephones concerned.
What about tablets? We haven’t seen a Galaxy Tab S8 this yr. However, the rumor mill suggests the pill may not come till 2022, so we’re reluctant to assume this Samsung Unpacked 2021 event would characteristic it.
Interestingly, the Samsung event invite says the event will embody “opening up new experiences for self-expression through technology.” Your guess is pretty much as good as ours as to what that might imply.
We suppose we’ll simply want to attend and see how this pans out. However, Samsung has the deck stacked towards it that week with the most well liked launch of the yr taking place: the Google Pixel 6 collection. Let’s see if Samsung can steal a few of Google’s Techtober thunder.


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A new pet grooming salon is under construction in Ashburn. It’s called Scally Wags Pet Salon and it’s opening in the Goose Creek Village Center.
Scally Wags has taken a space next door to The Coder School and in between The Burger Shack and the Social House restaurant and bar.
The salon will offer a variety of services such as haircuts, shampoos, teeth brushing, facial scrubs, nail grinding, and more. They will also offer deskunking shampoos if your pooch ever has that misfortune.
The new business is being started by local resident Ryan Gregoire, who has worked in pet grooming for more than 17 years.
If everything stays on track, we’re told Gregoire is aiming for an April 15th opening.


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The partnership will facilitate the full offering and integration of the Israeli startup’s platform within the retailer’s environment
Tel Aviv-based Stor.ai, which has developed an end-to-end digital commerce solution for grocers, has announced a partnership with Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, the global market share leader in retail store technology. The partnership will facilitate the full offering and integration of stor.ai’s platform within the retailer’s environment.
“With eCommerce growing at breakneck speeds, retail store integration has often struggled to keep pace with rising use – and retailers increasingly demand integrated online sales solutions to ensure positive retail experiences for customers,” said Orlee Tal, CEO, stor.ai.
Stor.ai, which was founded in 2014 as Self Point, announced in March that it raised $21 million in an extended series A round.
Read more: https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3913078,00.html
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Yesterday was a banner day for digital video.
Any regular readers of this weekly column are probably scratching their heads right now. This is the space where I bash a company's fundamentals and valuation to bits, yet here I am with a cheery opening.
Well, innovation usually triggers obsolescence somewhere else. This is what I see happening with digital video finally becoming a viable offering. There are going to be plenty of losers once the convergence is complete. I'm going to single out one of these potential dinosaurs today.
Naturally, it wouldn't be right if I dismiss a company without offering you something better. When I pick on a stock, I come right back with three more that I think will be better portfolio replacements.
Who gets tossed out this week? Come on down, DirecTV
Dishing out the numbers
A quick peek at the rearview mirror shows that DirecTV is on a roll. Through the first nine months of 2009, the company added 820,000 net new domestic subscribers -- and another 438,000 net additions in its faster-growing Latin American market. DirecTV is now in 18.4 million homes in the United States and another 4.3 million in Latin America.
Recessions are built for couch potatoes, but DirecTV is no thrift magnet. The average stateside account is forking over $85.32 a month for service, a figure that continues to inch higher as more households tack on DirecTV premiums including HD, DVR, and NFL Sunday Ticket packages.
DirecTV has also delivered record free cash flow and has been aggressively buying back stock. Perfect!
Bulls will argue that if recession-strapped tube watchers didn't trade down to cheaper U-verse, FiOS, or Dish Network alternatives, DirecTV's growth will likely accelerate when the economy turns around.
I don't buy it. The real threat isn't from more economical digital television, satellite, or cable providers. The real sucking contraption of $85.32 monthly check writers will be when digital video -- live, on-demand, and customizable -- sinks DirecTV's battleship.
That day is closer than DirecTV thinks, even if it has had no problem beefing up its account base until now. Connectivity is leveling the playing field. Cable networks, premium movie channels, and major sport leagues will want to protect their subscriber markups by backing the costlier DirecTV and Comcast
Later this year, Netflix-spinoff Roku expects to launch a service with 100 different streaming channels. There are already 500,000 homes with the company's set-top box, originally marketed as a way to receive Netflix streaming or purchase Amazon.com
As I do every week, I don't talk down a stock unless I have three alternatives that I believe will outperform the company getting tossed. Let's go over three new fill-ins.
Sirius XM Radio
(NASDAQ:SIRI): John Malone has interests in DirecTV and Sirius XM Radio, but they are on opposite ends of the pricing spectrum. The average revenue per Sirius or XM user is clocking in at a mere $10.87 a month. Satellite radio has the same long-term digital-media convergence concerns as satellite television, but in-car connectivity is going to take longer to go mainstream than in-home connectivity.
(NASDAQ:GOOG): As the undisputed champ of online video, no site even comes close to Google's magnetic YouTube. It serves up more than a billion video views daily. Revenue-sharing deals have drawn in media giants, so we're no longer talking about home videos of dogs on skateboards. A growing number of set-top devices, portable media players, and smartphones now stream YouTube. Will ad-supported video be enough for the content creators? We'll see. Google is off to a slow start in charging for premium rentals, but it has time -- and market-share dominance -- on its side.
- Netflix: As the only company that's having breakout success with streaming video as a subscription service, Netflix has gone from potential dinosaur to revolutionary executioner. A whopping 48% of its users spent at least 15 minutes streaming video through Netflix this past quarter, up sharply from the 28% in that camp a year ago. Within 18 months, Netflix targets that two-thirds of its subscribers will be streaming video. This outlook bodes well for the niche that Netflix owns -- and poorly for the future of costly satellite and cable subscriptions.
Sorry, DirecTV. Even Peyton Manning can't save you now.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz always takes out the garbage. He owns shares of Netflix and is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.


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Why Beautycounter’s Gregg Renfrew wants to regulate your makeup
Renfrew, who started her Santa Monica-based beauty brand with a focus on creating products with natural ingredients, says the goal for regulating cosmetics is to ultimately “put some standards in place that would protect the American consumer.”
“We have a $62 billion industry that’s highly — I would say woefully – underregulated,” Renfrew said on the Women Rule podcast, where she called for expanded powers of the Food and Drug Administration and increased transparency on ingredients for cosmetics. “What we as a company are hoping for is that we begin to regulate and screen ingredients before they go into the products that are put on the shelves.”
Renfrew met with lawmakers recently to discuss proposed legislation such as the Personal Care Products Safety Act, which was introduced by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine and would give the FDA the power to review cosmetics for potentially dangerous ingredients.
Renfrew’s company employs 30,000 consultants to spread the word of Beautycounter – and to advocate for regulation of the cosmetics industry.
“What we’ve been able to do is mobilize these women and our entire client base – so, our community at large – around this issue on both the state and federal level,” she said. Beautycounter[RL1] trains its consultants with advocacy information and helps them share their own stories advocating natural beauty products.
Renfrew also tries to choose these consultants – as well as her corporate staff –to be as diverse as the women using Beautycounter’s products.
“We’ve been very focused, over the last couple of years, of making sure that in the corporate offices, and at our community at large, that it looks like the face of the nation today,” she said.
Renfrew acknowledged, however, that it could still be an uphill battle – especially given policy priorities coming out of the White House.
“We all know that the Trump administration has been focused on sort of undoing regulation,” she said. “And we are trying to increase regulation, so I think that goes against, in general, what the administration stands for.”
Still, Renfrew remains optimistic.
“I think that everyone believes that it is time for cosmetic reform,” she said, adding that the last major legislation on personal-care products passed in 1938 with the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. “Interestingly enough, that even in these uncertain and somewhat crazy times it seems to be moving forward.”
Asked whether a recent celebrity interest in cosmetics regulation could help or hurt her cause, Renfew said she certainly considered it a boon to her fight.
“I applaud Kourtney for joining our troops, so to speak, in terms of making sure that the world knows that there is a need for cosmetic reform,” she said. “I think that there are lots of people talking about this issue now.”
To hear more about how Gregg Renfrew’s interest in natural beauty products first began, how she fared working under the Martha Stewart and Tommy Hilfiger brands, and how she’s continuing her fight for cosmetics reform, listen to the full podcast here. Women Rule takes listeners backstage with female bosses for real talk on how they made it and what advice they have for women looking to lead.


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NEW YORK (AP) — The market for small businesses rebounded in the last three months of 2019 after four straight quarterly declines caused in part by uncertainty about US trade policy.
That's the finding of a report analyzing business sales released by BizBuySell.com, an online marketplace for companies. BizBuySell.com counted 2,340 small businesses sold during October-December, up nearly 2.3% from 2,288 sold in the same period of 2018. For all of 2019, sales fell 5.5% to 9,746 from 10,312 the previous year. BizBuySell.com counts sales reported by brokers.
BizBuySell.com noted that sales activity is at high levels, but the Trump administration's tariffs on goods imported from China and Europe have driven up companies' overhead and lowered the number of transactions. Buyers are wary about the impact the tariffs can have on a company's earnings, especially since it's unclear how long the tariffs may remain in effect. Meanwhile, prospective sellers are concerned about how much the tariffs can affect their selling prices.
Owners have had to price companies conservatively to make a sale although their businesses are financially healthy. The median revenue of businesses sold in 2019 was up 7% at $567,000, compared to $531,653 in 2018, the report said. Yet the median sales price of a company rose a slim $1,000 to $250,000. Asking prices were flat at $275,000.
Besides tariffs, sales have also been affected by rising minimum wages and uncertainty about the November elections. But Bob House, BizBuySell.com's president, expects strong sales this year “even if levels plateau a bit due to economic and political concerns."
Nearly 40% of the reported sales were of service businesses, while retailers comprised nearly 24% and restaurants, 23%. Four percent of sales were of manufacturers, with other companies comprising the remaining 11%.


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Lightspeed POS, a point-of-sale platform for retailers and restaurants, today announced the acquisition of Dutch ecommerce software company SEOshop. As part of this acquisition, Lightspeed launches its new ecommerce platform, called Lightspeed eCom.
Here you’ll find all the ecommerce news articles we’ve written about acquisitions. This news may come in handy when you want to see what kind of acquisitions were made the last couple of months or even years.
Quotient has announced it acquired Shopmium, a French mobile cash-back app that’s similar to ibotta and Checkout51. With the acquisition, Quotient has a new way to reach customers through their mobile devices. And of course, by incorporating Shopmium, Quotient now also has more data in house so it could better personalize and target media and promotions.
ACI Worldwide has announced it acquired German ecommerce payments solutions provider PAY.ON. The global provider of e-payment and banking solutions acquired 100 percent of PAY.ON’s equity in a combination of cash and stock. PAY.ON is now being valued at 180 million euros.
Docdata, a Dutch company that’s specialized in e-fulfilment, return logistics and online payment services, has sold its ecommerce arm to the American company Ingram Micro for 175 million dollars (€153.4 million). Docdata claims becoming part of Ingram will give the company the necessary scale to compete with other ecommerce service providers.
The Dutch telecom retail chains Dixons, MyCom and iCentre are saved. Their previous owner BAS Group was declared bankrupt, but the retail chains will continue to operate under new owner Relevant Holdings. Now 30 Dixons stores, 22 MyCom stores and 24 iCentre stores as well as their online stores will continue selling items such as white goods, telecom products and IT devices.
Vente-privee.com has acquired a majority stake in its Belgian competitor Vente-exclusive.com. The Belgian stakeholders will keep the remaining 49.9%. They will lead and support the further development of the website, which offers daily sales with discounts of 30% to 70% off the retail price.
CCC, which is the market leader in the Polish footwear retail industry, has entered the local ecommerce market after acquiring Eobuwie.pl for approximately 30 million euros. Eubowie.pl is Poland’s biggest online shoe store.
Carrefour is in exclusive negotiations with the owner of ecommerce retailer Rue du Commerce to buy all of the French company. If the acquisition goes through, Carrefour can boost its non-food online retail business. It’s said Carrefour will pay between 20 and 30 million euros for Rue du Commerce.
Online optical retailer MyOptique Group is expanding its presence in Europe. It acquired German rival 4care and the UK-based online eyewear retailer Eyewearbrands. Earlier this year, MyOptique Group acquired Netzoptiker, another eyewear retailer from Germany. According to the company, it’s on track to delivery €100 million sales across Europe this year, with over three million eyewear customers served online.
The Adlibris Group has acquired Odla.nu, the biggest gardening website in Sweden. With the acquisition the Adlibris Group continues to grow, while slowly moving away from the books it once started selling. The Adlibris Group’s websites are increasingly about customers sharing their passion.
Private equity investment group Apax Partners has acquired RFS Holland Holding, the owner of Dutch online retail stores Wehkamp.nl, Fonq and Create2Fit. The British company paid about 450 million euros for the acquisition.
Yesterday FedEx announced that it wants to buy the Dutch delivery company TNT for $4.8 billion (4.4 billion euro) to strengthen its ground delivery options in Europe. Currently FedEx is already active in 220 countries but in Europe it’s still a relative small company. With TNT it could become one of the major players in the ecommerce logistics industry, at least in the B2B market.
Ecommerce company eShop Ventures has added another brand to its portfolio. After acquiring online stores El Armario de la Tele and BoutiqueSecret, eShop Ventures acquired Nonabox, an online subscription service for mums. This Spanish company was not performing really well in terms of financial results and its founders were already trying to find a buyer of the remaining assets.
Payment gateway Realex Payments has been sold to Global Payments. Realex Payments processes over 29 billion in payments for thousands of online and mobile businesses worldwide and will continue to do this as part of Global Payments, a provider of payment technology services. The transaction is valued at 115 million euros.
Pixmania has announced the acquisition of Oooferton, a Spanish website that offers three daily deals within the consumer electronics sector. The goal of this acquisition is to strengthen its Spanish activities as well as the expansion in the refurbished goods sector.


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At the same time as Pride celebrations take place all over the world, the FIFA World Cup is being hosted in Russia, one of over 70 countries where same-sex relations are not allowed.
In the face of this, a small group of creative activists from Brazil, Spain, Russia, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and United States have teamed up to create a one-of-a-kind-jersey. A global symbol of equality and acceptance.
of packaging waste of the beauty industry ends up in US landfills.
Despite pledging to become ‘zero waste’ by the end of 2021, it’s a problem REN Clean Skincare can’t solve alone. Which is why we proposed a different solution to highlight their pledge.
Don’t just compete. Create an alliance with the competition and work together to make the beauty industry more sustainable.
To launch the alliance, REN not only promoted itself but also four of its biggest competitors products which also use planet friendly packaging.


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Pets at Home to create 450 new jobs as full year sales and profits rise
Pets at Home has outlined plans to create 450 new jobs this year as the firm reported a rise in full year sales and profits.
The retailer said pre-tax profits rose 3.7% to £90.2 million and revenues were up 6.7% to £777.8 million in the year to March, adding that it will open 20 new Pets at Home superstores in the next 12 months. It will also roll out 45 to 55 vet practices and as many as 60 "grooming salons".
Chief executive Ian Kellett hailed the firm's growing veterinary and pet grooming services, which helped like-for-like sales rise 2.1%, and said the pet market is proving more resilient than the general high street.
Speaking to the Press Association, Mr Kellett said: "We'll create about 450 jobs overall with the addition of the new stores, vets and salons. We want to become the one stop shop for pet owners, who want happy and healthy pets.
"The pet market has proved over time to be more resilient than general retail, so whilst consumer confidence may be more fragile, we believe our drive to become more specialist and most loved by customers will deliver further progress."
He added that the place of pets in the family "hierarchy" and the "humanisation" of pets have been key drivers in the firm's success, and brushed off Brexit fears.
"Whichever way the vote goes, we're ready for any challenge that throws up but we're lucky because through every period, the pet market is always more resilient than general retail," he said.
Pets at Home also raised its final dividend 39%, with the total standing at 7.5 pence.
The firm also warned that it will take a £2 million hit as a result of the national living wage.


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The Royal Scotsman, the Palace on Wheels, and the Orient Express. Each name conjures up images of a great train journey. But perhaps the greatest trip of them all now departs from Zhengzhou – although it won’t be carrying passengers, only cargo. The China Daily reports this week that the new service has commenced between the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou and Germany’s Hamburg. The train will take 18 days to make the 10,214km journey but that is still twice as fast as marine transport. It also costs 80% less than shipping goods by air. The route has been dubbed ‘the New Silk Road’ and will carry goods between Europe and China via Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland. Jointly operated by the Chinese and Deutsche Bahn’s DB Schenker, the service is expected to be particularly attractive for German exporters of medical equipment, vehicle parts and construction machinery, according to DB Schenker’s China boss, Karl-Heinz Emberger. “It can save a lot of time and money,” Schenker says, highlighting the increasing interdependence of the two economies. Last year, Sino-German trade volumes hit $189.35 billion.
© ChinTell Ltd. All rights reserved.
Sponsored by HSBC.
The Week in China website and the weekly magazine publications are owned and maintained by ChinTell Limited, Hong Kong. Neither HSBC nor any member of the HSBC group of companies ("HSBC") endorses the contents and/or is involved in selecting, creating or editing the contents of the Week in China website or the Week in China magazine. The views expressed in these publications are solely the views of ChinTell Limited and do not necessarily reflect the views or investment ideas of HSBC. No responsibility will therefore be assumed by HSBC for the contents of these publications or for the errors or omissions therein.


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A fan favorite brand is hitting Sephora and none of us saw it coming. Yes, ColorPop Cosmetics will be making its way into Sephora shelves this November. And here is the low down:
ColourPop will launch exclusive products just for Sephora shoppers, new launches will be quick (Colorpop is one of the fastest growing brands), and the prices will be the same and are still committed to no-testing on fur babies! Hallelujah!
Thrilled to announce that @colourpopcosmetics will be available in select @sephora stores this holiday season 🦋 First and foremost, we want to give a huge shoutout to our ColourPop family! Thank you for making us who we are today ❤❤ so much love ❤ Tune into our Instagram story at 9:30 am pst for deets
As reported by Refinery29, Laura Nelson, co-founder, and president of ColourPop’s parent company Seed Beauty explained why ColourPop makes a lot of sense in Sephora: “ColourPop has always been a brand full of personality… We look forward to connecting with our customers on an emotional level by meeting them offline and creating a special experience with each product they encounter.”
You can finally test and swatch those gorgeous eyeshadows and Lippie Stix shades! It’s finally happening y’all and we can’t wait for the holiday season to roll over and get our hands on these vegan beauties!
Images: ColorPop / Source: Refinery29


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Aston Martin to sell DB4 Zagato GT Continuation as package deal with new DBS GT Zagato
For nearly six decades, the idea that “two are better than one” has been more than just a concept to Zagato and Aston Martin—It’s been reality. So what better way to celebrate the 100th birthday of the legendary Italian design house than to collaborate with Aston once again?
Adding to their already remarkable creative partnership, which resulted in some of the world’s most desirable automobiles—from the first Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato in October 1960 to the current Aston Vanquish Zagato Shooting Brake—the two automotive legends have joined forces again to commemorate Zagato’s landmark year in 2019. The new DBZ Centenary Collection includes two tribute cars: a track-only Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato Continuation and a road-legal DBS GT Zagato. Only 19 examples of each car will be produced, and— appropriately—they will be sold only in pairs.
“Great Britain has always appreciated our work,” said Andrea Zagato, head of the Milan-based design house that his grandfather founded in 1919. “I’m honored and very proud that Aston Martin has chosen to celebrate our long-standing partnership with this unique DBZ Centenary Collection.”
Aston Martin Chief Executive Officer Andy Palmer added, “As an engineer, I would always say my favorite Aston Martin is the next one, but I have to say I’m struggling to think of a finer two-car garage than this.”
Why only 19 of each car? Aston built just 19 original DB4 GT Zagato models to challenge Ferrari on the track in the 1960s. The 2019 DB4 GT Zagato Continuations will be meticulously crafted and authentic to those originals by using a blend of David Brown-era old-world craftsmanship and the sympathetic application of modern engineering and performance enhancements.
Using thin-gauge aluminum body panels over a lightweight tubular frame, the continuation car’s bodywork employs state-of-the-art digital scanning technology before being hand-finished. The car will be powered by a Tadek Marek-designed straight-six cylinder engine with two spark plugs per cylinder, transmitting its 380 horsepower to the rear wheels through a four-speed manual transmission and limited-slip differential.
The other half of the DBZ Centenary Collection is the DBS GT Zagato, which begins with Aston Martin’s most potent series production car, the new DBS Superleggera. The exterior will feature a fresh interpretation of the iconic double-bubble roof, along with a striking front grille treatment and dramatically shortened tail.
The DB4 GT Zagato Continuation will be built at Aston Martin Works in Newport Pagnell—the original home of the DB4—while the new DBS GT Zagato will be produced at Gaydon, Aston Martin’s global headquarters in Warwickshire.
“Aston Martin and Zagato is a uniquely dynamic union, one that unites the former’s love of proportion and clean, simple forms with the latter’s daring and maverick eye,” said Marek Reichman, Aston Martin’s chief creative officer. “Zagato’s centenary demanded something extra special, and the Zagato Collection is just that: one car that pays tribute to a timeless icon; another that writes a fearless new chapter for future generations to admire.”
The DBZ Century Collection will also carry an extra special price tag: £6 million for the pair—that’s nearly $7.9 million—plus taxes. DB4 GT Zagato Continuation deliveries will begin in the fourth quarter of 2019, with DBS GT Zagatos commencing about a year later. At that price, we’re hoping they’ll be worth the wait.


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PretzelmakerÂ®/Pretzel TimeÂ® announced today that the company will once again host a National Pretzel Day celebration on April 26 at its 300 stores across the country*. This year the company is putting a new “twist” on the holiday by asking customers to “sing for your snack.”
To mark this festive day, customers are encouraged to visit their local Pretzelmaker on National Pretzel Day, sing a snippet from a song of their choice and receive a FREE soft pretzel (with or without salt). Patrons who prefer not to sing won’t go hungry â€“ they can simply say “National Pretzel Day” to receive their free pretzel. The event is supported by NexCen Franchise Management, Inc., a subsidiary of NexCen Brands, Inc.
Pretzelmaker is also providing a way for customers to share their singing talents with the world by uploading a short video clip of themselves singing their own original songs to www.pretzelmaker.com for a chance to win a $50 iTunes gift card weekly. Pretzel fans needing inspiration can check out the recent “4 Buck Hook Up” music video produced by St. Louis teen Goofy Boi on the Web site. The sweepstakes launches today with the redesign of www.pretzelmaker.com and will end May 16.


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In a few days from now, Studio Wildcard is set to release a new content update for Ark Survival Evolved. The upcoming update will add a lot of things to the game so there’s more things to dig into pretty soon. Here are all the things we know about Ark Survival Evolved v256 for the PC.
Ark Survival Evolved v256 launches next week on March 29 for the PC. We’ve yet to know just how much the patch will require in terms of memory, but players should save up a few MBs considering that the update will once again add another slew of content to the game.
Aquatic And Amphibious Mating
One of the new features to be introduced in the upcoming update is aquatic and amphibious mating. This feature was supposed to release long ago, but after delays, it’s finally making its way to the PC version of the game. We’ve yet to know how different this feature is going to be from dino breeding, but the creatures will have different stages when breeding.
Ark Survival Evolved v256 will add 4 new creatures to the game. The new creatures are the Equus, the Leedsichthys, Ichthyornis and Iguanodon. The Equus has long been revealed by the developer and it’s a horse that serves as one of the best ways to travel in the game. It’s mobility comes at the expense of it not being battle-ready.
The Leedsichthys, on the other hand, is going to be a massive marine creature that players should be on the lookout for. The Ichthyornis is a seagull-like bird and it’s going to be one of the most vocal creatures in the game. Lastly, the Iguanodon is a dinosaur that could be used as a mount, so players should tame it when they see it.
The update will add new structures to the Tek Tier. The Tek Underwater Bases that was supposed to launch last month will finally push through in Ark Survival Evolved v256. This will add a whole new dynamic to the game as players will have a new area to build bases in.
Other new structures coming to the game are the Tek Teleporter, Tek Mosa Saddle and Tek Power Generator. Lastly, another major addition to Ark Survival Evolved will be Tek Cave which are likely to be good sources for Tek materials.


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>Nokia's boss and China Telecom's boss got together to announce the first CDMA Windows Phone for China – it's a version of the Nokia Lumia 800, named Lumia 800C, and it will be China Telecom's first Lumia phone.
The Lumia 800C packs all the cool features that the regular 800 has (except it swaps GSM for CDMA). That includes Nokia Maps, Drive and Music. Maps and Drive have free maps for China…
How about these similar questions?


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Toss is not the first digital lender to seemingly walk on water in South Korea. Kakao Bank reached profitability just two years after its launch, continued to sign up new customers at a terrific speed and listed triumphantly on the Korea Stock Exchange in August 2021. Kakao’s market capitalization reached a high of 40 trillion won and it was briefly one of the most valuable financial services companies in the country.
However, Kakao has not been able to live up to overly lofty investor expectations and has lost about 55% of its market capitalization since the IPO about a year ago. Kakao pitched itself to investors as a super app in the mold of China’s WeChat. While that business model has its advantages, especially in the ability of a fintech platform to bring over users from a messaging service, it devotes less attention to financial services than Toss Bank, which has always been a fintech company first.
Toss’s owners seem to have realized it can distinguish itself from Kakao this way and the company reportedly plans to focus on building its brand as “a total financial platform and global fintech firm.” The “total financial platform” sounds like a reworking of Toss’s previous “financial services super app” idea. It’s just that super apps are no longer darlings of investors, so the language needs to change.
As for being a global fintech, that sounds intriguing. In March, Toss’s parent company Viva Republica said it was planning to raise up to US$1 billion from international investors in the second quarter which it would use for expansion in Asia. Toss has offered money transfer and debit card services in Vietnam since 2019 and now plans to expand to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and India. Given how competitive those markets are, we are not exactly sure where Toss fits in, but there is plenty of low-hanging fruit in Indonesia and the Philippines.
At the same time, Toss appears to be in no rush to go public, with an IPO not expected before the second half of 2023. This is understandable given market conditions. For now, Toss is focusing on attracting more investment in private markets. Inn a regulatory filing, the company said it will issue a total of 15 million common shares and 5 million convertible stocks at a price of 5,000 won per share. With the stock offerings, Toss Bank's total paid-in capital will amount to 950 billion won. Since its launch, Toss Bank has sold stocks worth 600 billion won to beef up its capital base.


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By Contributing Reporter
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Burger King Brasil reported a net profit of R$3.051 (US$0.75) million in the first quarter of 2019, a result representing a decrease of 65.4 percent in relation to the same period in 2018.
Excluding the effects of accounting standard IFRS 16, the net income would have totaled R$8.1 million, according to the company’s results report.
IFRS 16 is an International Financial Reporting Standard promulgated by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) providing guidance on accounting for leases.
EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) adjusted for the first three months of 2019 increased 136.4 percent to R$86 million. Excluding IFRS 16, the adjusted EBITDA would have been R$52 million, an increase of 42.4 percent compared to the first quarter of 2018.
Over the period, BK Brasil’s net revenue amounted to R$665 million, up 37.9 percent on a year-on-year basis. By the end of March, the financial result was negative at R$12.582 million, reversing the positive balance presented on March 31st, 2018, when it totaled R$7.799 million.
In the first quarter of 2019, the number of Burger King restaurants in Brazil was 792, with 161 franchisees and 631 company-owned.
Compared to the first three months of the previous year, Burger King opened 83 restaurants. Popeyes stores have also been growing and reached 11 at the end of the quarter.
Dessert outlets, including kiosks and outlets within restaurants (but not physically connected to the counter), amounted to 358 in the first quarter of 2019, an increase of 92 units compared to the same period in 2018.
According to the company, restaurants opened in the last twelve months contributed to the growth of BK Brasil’s net operating revenue in the quarter, which increased 37.9 percent, amounting to R$665 million.


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Singapore cuts 2020 growth forecast amid virus outbreak
SINGAPORE'S official growth forecast for 2020 has been downgraded, with authorities bracing for the possibility of a contraction should the novel coronavirus outbreak be more severe than anticipated, a scenario that economists say could set the stage for further monetary easing.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) is expecting full-year gross domestic product (GDP) growth to be between -0.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent, the ministry's permanent secretary Gabriel Lim said on Monday.
"MTI's baseline view at this juncture is for GDP growth to come in at around 0.5 per cent, the midpoint of the forecast range," he said.
This is a worse outlook from the one MTI announced in November 2019, when it was expecting growth of 0.5 to 2.5 per cent. That forecast was made on the premise of a "modest pick-up in global growth, along with a recovery in the global electronics cycle" in 2020, Mr Lim said.
Singapore's full-year GDP growth for 2019 was 0.7 per cent, on the back of a 1 per cent expansion in Q4 which exceeded advanced estimates.
Even though this is far slower than the 3.4 per cent expansion recorded in 2018 and also the slowest growth since the global financial crisis in 2009, economists were cautiously optimistic of a recovery in 2020.
This is because the Covid-19 outbreak is likely to dampen growth prospects of China and other affected countries in Asia.
Mr Lim said Singapore's outward-oriented sectors like manufacturing and wholesale trade will be affected by the weaker growth outlook in several of its key final demand markets like China. The sharp fall in tourist arrivals as well as the decline in domestic consumption will also hit the tourism and transport sectors as well as retail and food services.
The last time Singapore saw negative full-year GDP growth was in 2001 during the Internet dotcom bust, when there was a 1.1 per cent contraction, MTI officials said.
MTI data shows that Singapore's economy also took a beating from the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak in 2003, with a 0.3 per cent contraction in Q2 at its height. Q3 and Q4 of the same year however saw respective growths of 5.3 per cent and 8.9 per cent, bringing full-year GDP growth to 4.5 per cent.
Whether the same V-shape recovery will play out for Covid-19 remains uncertain at this point, Mr Lim said, due to other uncertainties in the global economy, even as the ministry's growth outlook for the US and the eurozone economies remain broadly unchanged.
However, despite the gloomy outlook, economists believe Singapore may be headed for slow growth rather than a recession.
DBS Bank's growth forecast has been lowered to 0.9 per cent, while United Overseas Bank is expecting a 0.5 per cent expansion. OCBC posted a range of zero to 1 per cent growth,
Economists also believe the government's support measures - to be announced at Budget 2020 by Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat on Feb 18 - will help to soften the blow for companies affected by the outbreak.
Selena Ling, chief economist of OCBC, wrote in a report: "Policymakers are also cognisant of the downside growth risks, so a strong Budget response and/or monetary policy response at the April MPS (Monetary Policy Statement) may help to mitigate and cushion some of the downside risks from here."
Beyond "a strong fiscal response", Irvin Seah, senior economist from DBS Bank, believes further monetary easing could be on the cards if growth prospects deteriorate further.
Citi economists are expecting a slope reduction from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), thanks to the lowered forecast and "broadening of growth weakness beyond manufacturing".
"We continue to see a downward re-centering as less likely before a zero slope, while measures to aid companies' cash flow ... suggest upward pressure on short-term interest rates could be capped by money market operations," Citi economists said.
Edward Robinson, deputy managing director for economic policy at MAS, said the central bank will continue to monitor Covid-19 developments closely ahead of its next monetary policy review in April. He added that MAS had indicated in its October 2019 monetary policy statement that it is prepared to recalibrate monetary policy should prospects for growth and inflation weaken significantly.
READ MORE: More Singapore economy reports


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Security efforts to combat hackers usually focus on one method of attack, but computer scientists at UT Dallas have developed a strategy more effective at tackling various types of attacks.
Dr. Murat Kantarcioglu, professor of computer science in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science and director of the Data Security and Privacy Lab, and research scientist Dr. Yan Zhou have created a data-mining model that can identify various adversaries, or hackers.
Data mining, the process of analyzing big sets of data and organizing it into useful information, is used in all corners of industry, Kantarcioglu said.
“One area where adversaries commonly come into play is spam filtering,” he said. “In the early days, we would try to figure out whether an email was spam or legitimate by looking at the words contained within the body of the message. Adversaries, in this example, were anyone modifying emails to try and deceive the data-mining process.”
These adversaries come in an array of types. Some aim to send spam content to email users, while others want to clog networks by making the resource unavailable. Some spammers have the capability to modify spam and legitimate emails, while other have little to no access to such emails.
Kantarcioglu said it’s impossible to implement a filter that uses a single method to counter every possible type of spammer, motivating researchers to develop an “adversarial learning framework” that accounts for different types of hackers.
The team of researchers based its model on game theory principles, primarily for its resemblance to a two-player game. To tackle this particular challenge, they used a nested Stackelberg game framework, which is designed to handle both malicious data corruption and unknown types of adversaries.
He said that past work in the field has focused on developing data-mining models that are resilient against only one type of adversary. Computer scientists mimic adversarial behavior by looking at the end results, or the data extracted from a system. Researchers receive this input and determine whether they’re dealing with a malicious entity.
Kantarcioglu’s research presents a new, multitiered framework that simultaneously looks for adversarial data transformations and an optimal strategy to combat those changes. Zhou said these transformations are performed by the hacker to find the best way to modify data maliciously, allowing them to evade detection.
This mixed strategy is more reliable in situations when the data-mining applications are confronted by unknown adversaries.
Zhou said future applications of the research may expand the idea to include hackers working in tandem.
“In the current work, we assume the adversaries are independent of each other and their actions have no impact on each other’s decisions,” Zhou said. “In the future, we will consider problems where there are multiple collaborative adversaries.”
Their work received the Best Application Paper Award when it was presented last spring at the 20th Pacific Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining. The research was recently published in the conference’s report, Advances in Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining
Source | UT Dallas News Center
Dr. Murat Kantarcioglu Discusses Cyber Security With Wallethub in a Recent Study About Which States are Most Vulnerable To Identity Theft And Fraud in 2016.
Via WalletHub.com – The holiday season is traditionally a time for celebration and togetherness. But it’s also an opportunity for identity thieves and hackers to prey on millions of innocent consumers. After all, the most high-profile data breaches, such as cases involving Target in 2013 and Home Depot the following year, tend to occur during periods of elevated shopping activity — the reason December was declared National Identity Theft Prevention and Awareness Month.
According to the Identity Theft Resource Center’s most recent Data Breach Report, 901 breaches with access to more than 34 million records have taken place thus far in 2016, and more are likely to be reported by the end of the year. Until 2015, identity theft was the top complaint received by the Federal Trade Commission for 15 consecutive years. And while more aggressive measures have been taken to improve the security of our personal information, criminal strategies constantly evolve and grow in sophistication, keeping consumers vulnerable to identity theft and fraud. Just howvulnerable, however, depends on the person’s state of residence.
In order to determine where Americans are most likely to be exposed to and affected by identity theft and fraud, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across six key indicators of susceptibility to such crimes, ranging from “identity-theft complaints per capita” to “average loss amount due to fraud.” Continue reading below for our findings, tips for protecting your personal information, expert commentary and a full description of our methodology.
Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Data Security and Privacy Lab at the University of Texas at Dallas
What can individuals do to guard against identity theft?
First of all, I would suggest limiting the information they disclose to third-party providers (i.e., check whether you really need to disclose the SSN for getting the service etc.) and only send this information in a secure manner (i.e., using encrypted https based services for online transactions).
In addition, some types of malware look for sensitive information such as tax forms stored on personal computers. To limit identity theft risk due to such malware, I suggest keeping such sensitive data on encrypted external hard drives (at least two copies for redundancy, and encryption for security if those hard drives are stolen as well).
Even after these precautions, the information can be still stolen (e.g., the health care insurance provider who has your info. can be hacked and your info can be stolen) and identity theft can occur. Therefore checking the credit report regularly to respond to identity theft situation immediately is important.
How should consumers choose among third-party providers offering services to protect their identity and personal data?
It is hard to distinguish between product and services. In my case, my credit card company provides FICO score info for free so I check that information regularly. In addition, I use annualcreditreport.com (free annual credit history check service) with different providers every couple of months to see whether anything is wrong in my credit report. For those who are the victims of an attack, services such as locking the credit check, etc. could be useful.
Should victims of identity theft be able to change their social security number? How can we make this number more difficult to steal and use (e.g., more digits, etc.)?
I think the main issue is that getting credit is too easy. I do not think adding more digits, etc. will help since longer digits could be easily copied as well. In addition, changing the social security number will destroy your past credit history. Instead, I believe that we should make it harder to misuse the social security information. For example, to get credit even in the online setting, we need to combine it with some offline processing (e.g., sending a copy of your application via mail and post office representative is checking an ID and photographing the applicant before application is mailed, etc.). Or sending mails to previous addresses of the applicant notifying them about the recent transactions.
Is the recent expansion of social media facilitating identity thefts?
Social media has lots of information about individuals and some information, such as birthdays, etc., required for identity theft could be easily gathered online. Therefore, I suggest individuals to put as little information about them online. For example, my birth date info on Facebook is wrong.
Should the Federal government intervene to establish a clear process for victims of identity theft looking to clear their name?
I had some friends who had gone through identity theft. It is really confusing and hard to clear your name. I think clear process should be established as soon as possible.
To continue reading the entire article complete with graphs and other expert profiles, please click here.


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Another generally positive week for global equity markets. The appreciating Aussie dollar created a minor headwind for local investors however. Market drivers remain trade news (China said it will continue to suspend retaliatory tariffs on U.S. autos and car parts) and of course a “wait and see” Federal Reserve.
Weekly returns to 29 March 2019
(AUD 5-day return far right- hand column)
- 10-Year Treasury yield: -4bp to 2.40%
- Gold: -1.2% to $1,297/oz
- Natural gas: -2.9% to $2.672
- WTI crude oil: +2.0% to $60.2/bbl
- AUD/USD: +0.5% to 71.20
Notable company news
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)
On 26 March 2019 Apple announced that Apple TV and TV+ will be available this fall and will feature original content. Users can subscribe to and watch Apple TV channels (including HBO, Starz, CBS All Access, sports, news from cable/satellite providers, movies purchased or rented from iTunes) a’la carte and on demand. The app will offer over 150 streaming apps, including Amazon Prime and Hulu. Apple also announced the Apple Credit Card partnering with Goldman Sachs (issuing bank) and Mastercard (global payments network). The Card offers no fees and attractive rebates (3% for Apple purchases in the AppStore, 2% rebates for payments made with Apple Pay and 1% for every other purchase made with the Apple Card.
Apple announced Apple Arcade, a game subscription service that will feature 100+ new games. Apple Arcade will launch in fall 2019. And finally, Apple announced Apple News, a new subscription service that offers some 300+ magazines, newspapers and digital publishers into a curated app. Available in the US and Canada so far, it is now available in the US for $9.99.
McDonalds (NYSE: MCD)
McDonald’s announced it has acquired (for US$300m) an AI Startup called Dynamic Yield, an Israeli company that helps businesses leverage their data for personalised recommendations, A-B testing and conversion. This is McDonald’s largest acquisition in the past twenty years. In early trials, Dynamic Yield selected menu items based on a combination of weather, time, traffic, and local event data.
McDonalds is held in Macrovue’s High Quality share portfolio.
Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT)
On Friday Lyft shares soared 21% in their first day of trade on the Nasdaq. Lyft is of course the first ride-hailing company to go public in 2019. With over $2B raised so far, Lyft priced shares at $72 (at the high end of its range), putting its valuation at over US$24B. Can investors continue to ignore the steep losses the firm has been reporting so far? Time will tell, but the Lyft price action is positive for the next round of high- profile IPOs that may come in 2019 - Uber, Pinterest and perhaps AirBnb.
The week ahead
Key releases out of the US will include:
- The Commerce Department releases data on retail sales for February. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal forecast retail sales will increase 0.2%.
- The Institute for Supply Management releases its manufacturing index for March. Economists expect the manufacturing index at 54.4 in March.
- The Commerce Department releases durable-goods data for February. Analysts see a 1.8% decline in durable-goods orders for February.
- The Labor Department releases the March jobs report. U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by only 20,000 in February, a big shortfall. However economists expect the U.S. economy will have added 170,000 to payrolls in March and they expect the unemployment rate held steady at 3.8%.
Markets will also focus this week on the announcement made on the past weekend that China’s manufacturing PMI rose to 50.5 in March from 49.2 in February. Factories showed a pickup in activity almost across the board, from new orders to production, according to the official purchasing managers index released Sunday. The index rose to a six-month high of 50.5 in March from 49.2 in February, well ahead of economists forecasts. China recovery is good for global markets.
Charts of the week
1. Reasons to sell...
2. Buffett's next elephant
In his latest letter to investors Warren Buffett remarked “We continue, nevertheless, to hope for an elephant-sized acquisition”. Using Warren Buffett's takeover criteria here are, courtesy of Bloomberg, 20 U.S. companies with market values >$20b that meet his stringent criteria:
✔consistent earning power
✔ good ROEs
✔ relatively cheap shares
✔ little to no debt