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October 8th, 2018
PR Prepped For Suffolk Restaurant & Food Culture Guardian
Catapult PR has taken on board its first-ever public relations client in Suffolk, having received yet another word-of-mouth recommendation last year, which led to us discovering the star eatery that is Oakfired at The Royal Oak, in the small town of Beccles.
Oakfired is not just any restaurant, but one that is only the third in the UK to acquire the stringent certification from the Naples-based Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana (AVPN), that allows it to promote the fact that it serves real Neapolitan pizza. This accreditation has been hard-won by co-owner Paul Jackson, who has dedicated himself to the art of Neapolitan pizza, training in Naples in an art form that has been recognised by UNESCO as “intangible cultural heritage.”
Catapult has already been treated to some of the amazing pizza that comes out of Oakfired’s wood-fired Valoriani oven and will be promoting Oakfired in an ongoing campaign that will raise its profile nationally, regionally and locally.
This is a perfect fit for us, given our expertise in the hospitality and restaurant sectors, in wood-fired cookery and, of course, general culinary and food PR – expertise that has seen us promoting chefs and cookery schools as far apart geographically as the Lake District and Bologna. The first press release is already written, so watch this space!


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For its second edition, Africa Startup Summit Kigali has selected 11 African tech startups to pitch on stage, with 5 Nigerian Startups – OkwuEco, HouseAfrica, Limestart, ThankUCash and Riby, participating.
This cohort of startups were selected from a pool of 100 applications across Africa. After review, the 11 startups were shortlisted from six African countries. The lists is a diverse one as it cuts across startups from various verticals – edtech, fintech, proptech, agritech, recruitment and waste management.
Nigeria-based startup, HouseAfrica aims to help Africans own shares in multiple properties, and make returns from house sales profit, sales appreciation and rental profits. OkwuEco, is a marketplace that enables users to trade their solid waste irrespective of location.
Limestart, aids financial inclusion for unbanked SMEs across Africa by helping them digitise their financial books and handle their payments digitally.
Thank U Cash is an online rewards platform that allows consumers to save and earn loyalty points that can be swapped for cash while merchants benefit from the extra spend. Riby, provides a simple and smart financial management platform that allows cooperatives, company groups, and individuals to manage their financial and saving activities.
The other 6 startups consist of two from Kenya – MarketForce, M-Lugha App, The Awareness Company from South Africa, BAG Innovation from Rwanda, M-omulimisa from Uganda and Talents Africa from Egypt.
The 11 startups will have the chance to pitch at the Africa Tech Summit Kigali, Rwanda between 5th – 6th February, in the presence of over 600 stakeholders in the tech startup space across the continent.
As such, the startups will have the opportunity create impact connections with investors, corporates, stakeholders and startups. They could also secure funding from investors interested in their solution.
Beyond pitching they will also have the opportunity to attend the rest of the event, which features two other summits, while taking part in a variety of workshops.

domain: news


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Kickstarter is certainly far from being the only crowd funding platform, but it is almost certainly the best known, with high-profile successes such as the Pebble E-Paper Smart Watch which raised $10 million.
The platform, which started mainly as a means of raising funds for art projects, works by collecting money from the general public. Kickstarter takes 5% commission from the cash raised. Project developers set a minimum amount to be raised within a deadline. If they do not meet their targets no money is collected from the pledges.
Giga Om says the announcement of plans to launch in the U.K. later this year came via Kickstarter’s Twitter feed.
Up until now, all projects had to originate in the U.S. though it was possible for projects to be funded by anyone around the world. The main limitation was Kickstarter’s use of Amazon Payments , which was until last year limited to the U.S. Kickstarter relies on Amazon Payments because it allows for instant charging when a project meets its goal and cancels pledges immediately if it fails…
Kickstarter has proven to be a game-changer for a lot of creators and gadget makers. Last year, users pledged $100 million to projects and by May of this year, the platform had received $250 million in pledges overall. Though it started out as a funding mechanism for artistic projects, the platform now supports a number of projects in the design and technology categories.


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Auction house Christie's announced on Monday the May sale of a portrait of Andy Warhol's
estimated at $200 million, which would make it the most expensive 20th-century work of art ever sold to the public. auction.
Shot Sage Blue Marilyn
painted in 1964 by Andy Warhol,
"the most important 20th century painting to be auctioned in a generation
," according to a statement from Christie's in New York.
Discover the “Best of the Goncourt Prize” collection
Read alsoA New York collective has sold a thousand Warhol drawings, only one of which is authentic
With this serigraph made in 1964 of the star Marilyn Monroe, the artist Warhol tested a new format, using for the five backgrounds a different color (red, orange, turquoise blue, sage and clear).
This work has become over time a symbol of the history of art.
Coveted more than once by art buyers and exhibited in many museums around the world.
This is not the first time that a work by the artist has been put up for auction.
These are constantly put on the market with nearly 200 works per year according to
The Wall Street Journal.
If this portrait of the actress meets with the expected success, it will exceed the record of another painting by Warhol:
Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) from 1963,
sold for 105.4 million dollars by Soberthy's.


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Scrive Recognised for Another Year of Growth
Deloitte has named Scrive to the Deloitte Sweden Technology Fast 50 for the second straight year. Deloitte announced the 2018 rankings of Sweden’s fastest growing technology companies last night
Scrive, the Nordic market leader in electronic signature solutions, made the list last year with 723% growth. This year that figure rose to 840%, putting Scrive in the 24th position.
“Being named one of Sweden’s fastest growing technology companies is a fantastic recognition of our electronic signature solution and our strategy,” says Scrive CEO Viktor Wrede. “I could not be prouder of the hard work of all our employees, a real team effort.”
For consideration in the Fast 50, a company must:
- have been in business for the last four years and be Swedish (no subsidiaries or divisions)
- produce technology-related products
- develop proprietary technology that represents a significant share of the company’s net sales
- invest a significant share of their resources in research and development
- have net sales exceeding EUR 50.000 for the base year, EUR 1.000.000 for the final year
The Deloitte Technology Fast 50 was founded in 1995 in the United States. Deloitte Sweden has ranked the fastest growing technology companies since 2004.


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Genetic Engineering: The Future of Foods?
Bren, Linda, FDA Consumer
Hawaiian farmers were in trouble. In the mid-1990s, an insect-borne virus--the papaya ring spot virus (PRSV)--threatened to decimate Hawaii's second-largest fruit crop. Plant breeders scrambled to produce a virus-resistant papaya. When traditional plant breeding methods failed, researchers turned to genetic engineering.
Years of research were finally met with success, and by spring of 1998, Hawaiian farmers were planting the seeds of PRSV-resistant papaya.
"The results were dramatic," says Dennis Gonsalves, Ph.D., a Cornell University plant pathologist who led the researchers' efforts to save the tropical delicacy and the livelihood of Hawaii's growers. "It was not a matter of increasing the yield, but a matter of whether they could grow it or not grow it."
Gonsalves' team of researchers from academia, industry, and government had isolated and copied a virus gene, then used a device called a gene gun to "shoot" the gene into the cells of the papaya plant. The virus gene in the plant works somewhat like immunization, but the mechanism of resistance is different, says Gonsalves, now director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center in Hilo, Hawaii. "By integrating this virus gene into the chromosomes of the papaya, this made the papaya and subsequent generations resistant to the virus."
The rescue of the Hawaiian papaya industry is "a really satisfying story," says Gonsalves, and one that shows the difference that genetic engineering can make in people's lives.
But not all share Gonsalves' enthusiasm for genetically engineered foods. Although the newness of these foods may be wearing of L public concern about the safety and environmental impact of genetically engineered foods remains.
Some consumers and advocacy groups urge mandatory labeling that discloses the use of genetic engineering. Others advocate more stringent testing of these products before marketing. Still others want a ban on all genetically engineered foods.
"The Food and Drug Administration is confident that the genetically engineered food products on the U.S. market today are as safe as their conventionally bred counterparts, and the agency is prepared to meet the safety and regulatory challenges presented by new products as they emerge from the laboratory," says Commissioner of Food and Drugs Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D. "Genetically engineered foods must adhere to the same high standards of safety under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that apply to more traditional food products," McClellan adds.
What Are Genetically Engineered Foods?
Genetically engineered foods are produced from crops whose genetic makeup has been altered through a process called recombinant DNA, or gene splicing, to give the plant a desirable trait. Genetically engineered foods are also known as biotech, bioengineered, and genetically modified, although "genetically modified" can also refer to foods from plants altered through other breeding methods, says James Maryanski, Ph.D., the FDA's food biotechnology coordinator. "Scientists and farmers have been genetically modifying plants for hundreds of years," he says. Hybrid corn and tangelos (hybrid of a tangerine and grapefruit), for example, are the result of genetic modification through traditional methods of plant breeding. And the many varieties of apples we eat today were produced through genetic modification.
Using traditional genetic modification methods, such as cross-fertilization, scientists can produce a desired trait, such as a hardier plant. But in doing so, they mix thousands of genes from several plants, requiring many attempts over many years to weed out the unwanted traits that occur.
Newer methods of genetic modification, in the form of genetic engineering, are more precise and predictable--and faster. By controlling the insertion of one or two genes into a plant, scientists can give it a specific new characteristic without transferring undesirable traits. …


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AstraZeneca sales slip as it struggles with drug patent expiry but pharma giant is propped up by emerging markets
- FTSE 100 drug maker reported a 13 per cent slide in product sales
- Shares in the company slid nearly 1 per cent to 4649 pence in response
FTSE 100 drug-maker Astrazeneca has reported a 13 per cent slide in first quarter sales as it continues to face the headwind of some of its most successful drugs coming out of patent protection.
Shares in the company slid close to 1 per cent to 4,649p in latest trading.
When pharmaceutical companies develop a new drug they can apply for a patent that stops any other companies from making the same thing.
Astrazeneca has reported a 13 per cent slide in sales.
This only lasts for 20 year however, after which point other producers can replicate the drug and its selling price plummets.
In AstraZeneca's case, the loss of a patent on popular anti-cholesterol pill Crestor is one recent example of this.
The company pointed to a string of new drugs in the latter stages of development as reason for optimism however, with diabetes and cancer treatments prevalent among them.
Chief executive Pascal Soriot believes the company is poised to turn a corner however, with the most costly of the patent losses now behind it and promising signs in emerging markets.
'Our good start to the year supported our guidance for 2017. Notably, emerging markets became our largest region, representing 32 per cent of sales.'
Chief executive Pascal Soriot pointed to a strong pipeline of new drugs as reason to be optimistic on the company's prospects.
'The pipeline continued to deliver in what we expect will be a pivotal year for AstraZeneca as we announced important developments, in particular in oncology.'
'In addition to the availability of positive data for Lynparza in ovarian and breast cancer, we also received full approvals in the US and Europe for Tagrisso in lung cancer and launched this important medicine in record time in China,' he added.
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Lieser Skaff Alexander
Many entrepreneurs start a company using do-it-yourself legal forms that have been downloaded from the internet. While this process may be expedient and inexpensive, the lack of professional legal guidance can result in costly mistakes that damage the venture before it has a chance to start. Make a true investment in your business by working
Signed into law in 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. § 12101, et. seq., declares that “physical or mental disabilities in no way diminish a person’s right to fully participate in all aspects of society.” According to the Southern District of Florida, websites may well be one of those aspects.
Lieser Skaff Alexander attorneys wrote an article about Florida’s Litigation Privilege that was published by the Florida Bar Journal in the September/October 2018 issue (Volume 92, No.8).
The litigation privilege “initially developed to protect litigants and attorneys from liability for acts of defamation, but has since been extended to cover all acts related to
The following scenario occurs all too often: a homeowner abandons their home, the homeowner’s association (HOA) places a lien on the property for failure to pay dues, the HOA forecloses on the lien, making it the current owner of the property, and property falls into disrepair, becoming an eyesore or worse. As a result, residents
In July of 2015, Florida banned the use of drones for surveillance on private property without the occupants’ written consent. The law also mandates drone operators to display a unique identification number on the craft. This makes it easier to identify and allows for a person to sue drone owners for invasion of privacy.
Most business owners retain legal counsel to manage a variety of issues that arise during the normal course of business. Smart executives also retain counsel in states where they do significant business to assure their legal interests are addressed efficiently and effectively.
Tampa Law firm, Lieser & Skaff reviews the business dispute between Verizon and Netflx under the Florida Unfair Business Practice Law. Verizon is disputing that Netflix’s message to its customers stating issues of the streaming and picture quality was the fault of Verizon’s crowded network and it was working adjust the video for smoother playback. This message was seen by hundreds thousands of customers of various ISP, which included Verizon. Verizon sent a cease-and-desist letter to Netflix as it felt the message could harm its reputation.
It is important to have a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) drafted by a business lawyer when entering into a joint business venture. By doing this, it will protect you and it makes each partner accountable to have the fiduciary duty of the “finest and highest loyalty” to every partner. You can help prevent future litigation issues by having a business lawyer draft this agreement when first going into business.


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From this weekend’s CityBeats column in the Star-News:
“Upscale stores often pride themselves on giving customers the royal treatment.
Maybe the Nordstrom store at Westfield Santa Anita in Arcadia comes closest — the 1960 Rose Queen, Margarethe Bertelson (Knoblock) is a personal shopper there.”
Above and below, former Rose Queens with 2010 Rose Queen Natalie Innocenzi at the Tournament House earlier this month.
The oldest-living Rose Queen is 88-year-old Margaret Main, who took the title in 1940. She’s the one in pink in the photos.


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Is SEO Losing Its Luster?
Not yet, but...
Nearly two years ago, Facebook made a decision that led to some major fraying of its reputation among marketers.
The company, in an effort to remain in its users’ good graces, decided to scale back the organic reach of brand posts—already a point of contention on the network’s news feed—even further. While Facebook still has value in the marketing ecosystem, it’s not the same, and many brands, associations among them, responded by switching to more traditional methods of reaching their audiences.
One method that made a bit of a comeback was search engine optimization, or SEO. There are some major advantages to allowing search engines to help dictate strategy, including an avoidance of some of the privacy risks associated with Facebook and other social networks. But SEO has always had some built-in weaknesses—the biggest one being that Google, like Facebook, has not been afraid to make changes to its algorithms to favor its own business interests.
Please select this link to read the complete article from Associations Now.


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On The Farm, Chefs Learn The Basics To Food Production
About a dozen chefs from Chicago and central Illinois recently gathered for a two-day crash course on where their food comes from – the farm.
Each year in June and September, Livingston County Farmer Marty Travis hosts chefs on his farm for Chef Champ, a project of a foundation he and his wife started to promote small sustainable family farming. The chefs are there to learn about everything from keeping bees to butchering chickens to maintaining healthy soil.
Farmer Marty Travis shows off one of his fields to the campers on June 8, 2014. (Sean Powers/WILL)
Chicago chef John Asbaty was on Travis' farm in June for the camp. Asbaty relies heavily on local produce and meats when he is cooking.
“I actually spend all my time thinking about where the food has come from,” Asbaty said. “That’s kind of the basis and inspiration for how we cook.”
Asbaty is planning to open a new restaurant by the end of the summer. He previously ran a small Italian market in the city.
“Serving food, it’s kind of a very intimate relationship with people you don’t know,” Asbaty said. “So, I take pride in finding the people who care about growing and raising the food as much as we care about cooking the food. So, I think keep that symbiotic relationship makes a lot of sense.”
Travis showed Asbaty and the other campers some of what he is growing. There are wild onions, alfalfa, fava bean tops, and red potatoes – a small sample of the roughly 200 varieties of crops.
“So, right here is the beginning of a potato,” Travis explained. “So you see, we’re just barely starting.”
Marty Travis shows the campers potatoes he's growing on his farm. (Sean Powers/WILL)
Travis checked the potatoes for invasive insects.
“If those white flies were starting to cause the plants to turn yellow, we’d mix some sea salt, mineralized sea salt that we would mix with water and I’d just spray over this whole thing,” Travis explained. “That would give more mineral content to the plant and it would also get rid of that soft shell insect.”
Marty Travis (front center) shows the campers his fields. Pictured from left to right are chefs Camille Spaccapaniccia of Chicago, David Costello of Chicago, Sarah McVicker-Waters of Carlock, and Terrah King of Champaign. (Erin Meyer/Spence Farm Foundation)
Later on, the campers heard from an agricultural consultant who explained how to test the nutrients, sweetness, and acidity of fruits and vegetables - all useful when deciding whether to rely on a farmer’s produce. They also learned about some of the jargon found on meat labels, like cage free, free range, and all natural.
“Everybody’s all natural, it means nothing. It’s a very nebulous, nebulous term,” said Donna O'Shaughnessy, who runs a certified organic farm with her husband in rural Chatsworth in Livingston County.
O'Shaughnessy told the chefs that “all natural” only applies to processing.
“All that means is that (at) the processing point it’s done naturally without chemicals, but there’s no guarantee that they weren’t fed antibiotics or hormones while they were growing,” she said.
Farmer Donna O'Shaughnessy talks to the campers about the jargon found on meat labels. (Sean Powers/WILL)
O'Shaughnessy explained that labels only tell part of the story. She said the best way to know what you’re getting from the farm is to know the farmer.
“If you’re working with a farmer who says, ‘No, I don’t allow visits,’ you need to be suspicious,” she said. “Drop-ins are hard. They’re busy. They’re doing something, but if they don’t want to make an appointment for you to come and drop by, I’d be really suspicious about buying from that particular farmer.”
O'Shaughnessy also produces raw milk. She had the campers do a taste test of her milk and pasteurized skim milk. There was more taste testing later with different kinds of beef, eggs, and honey.
Donna O'Shaughnessy's raw milk that was produced on her farm in rural Chatsworth in Livingston County. (Sean Powers/WILL)
The chefs also learned how to kill and butcher an animal. Wildlife Biologist Darryl Coates with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources was there with a rifle and a cage holding three rabbits. He told the campers that hunting isn’t something he takes lightly.
“The harvest of an animal is important to me because I try to respect the animal,” Coates said. “It’s giving its life to nourish me or my guests.”
Coates aimed the gun behind one of the rabbit’s ears.
Just behind the head and here we go,” he said, just before firing the rifle, which sounded like a small pop. “There is a little twitching that’s going to happen. It’s the nerves of the animal, but trust me this animal is deceased.”
Coates skinned the animal and took out its organs, pointing out physical features that show the animal’s bill of health. For example, white patches on the liver could be signs of disease.
“The lungs are these white materials here,” he said. “If they’re breathing a lot of dust and stuff, you may see little flecks of black in it. This is very healthy. The environment that it came from is extremely good.”
Wildlife Biologist Darryl Coates helps chef Camille Spaccapaniccia of Chicago with pulling the skin off of a rabbit. (Sean Powers/WILL)
Coates shot two more rabbits, but this time he had the campers do the butchering.
A similar exercise played out a few feet away with three chickens, which one-by-one were stuffed into a metal cone with their heads sticking out. Each bird squawked loudly as they were placed into the cone. Their throats were cut, and their blood dripped into a bucket. Farmer Kate Potter from Peoria County led this discussion. She showed chef Terrah King of Champaign’s Big Grove Tavern how to kill one of the birds. This was King’s first time.
“Oh my goodness,” King said, as she prepared to kill the bird. The bird squawked once as its throat was cut.
“Very good,” Potter said.
“That’s scary,” King responded.
“You did it very well and humanely,” Potter added.
Potter instructed the chefs to pluck out the feathers and then do the butchering. She explained a bit about chicken anatomy to King.
“Some people take off the fat gland, which is right here,” Potter said, pointing to the base of the bird’s tail, which is also known as the oil gland. “If you see chickens preening themselves, they get fat from back there….I actually like the flavor of it. So, you can decide whether or not to take that off.”
“I think we’ll keep it,” King said.
King cut up the chicken and eventually showed another chef how to do it. This was later cooked for the campers.
Terrah King of Champaign (l) shows chef Golda Ewalt of Peoria (r) how to take out a chicken's organs. (Sean Powers/WILL)
For the chefs here at Chef Camp, this was not the first time they had thought about the origins of the food they prepare.
Sarah McVicker-Waters is the head chef at the Garlic Press Market Cafe in Bloomington-Normal. She is raising a couple of chickens and wants to start a small farm where she lives in rural McLean County. McVicker-Waters said she is working to expand the Garlic Press’ local offerings.
“Food is so important, and our food system is so, so essential and the more I can do to help this sort of system work, and to show that it does work on a scale like a café, then honestly, why aren’t we all doing that?” she said.
Chef Camp participants include chefs Golda Ewalt of Peoria, Sarah McVicker-Waters of Carlock, Camille Spaccapaniccia of Chicago, and Terrah King of Champaign. (Sean Powers/WILL)
That is a question farmer Marty Travis is trying to answer. He and his wife also oversee a food hub, a distribution network that connects area farmers with businesses in Chicago and central Illinois. During the chef camp, the campers helped process food hub orders, packing a cooler with produce destined for restaurants, grocery stores and other customers. From planting to distribution, Travis said he hopes going through the camp helps these chefs better understand and appreciate food.
“These chefs all have the opportunity to make us better farmers,” Travis said. “They can go to other farmers that they work with either at the farmer’s markets or on their own and say, ‘Hey, have you ever thought about such and such. I was at a chef camp and I learned about this.’”
These are lessons that Travis hopes will stay with chefs in a constantly changing food industry.


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PS4 not due any time soon
Speaking at an analyst day Sony has confirmed that they are still very much committed to a ten year life span for the PS3 and will not be releasing any new home hardware any time soon.
The news was no real surprise for the analysts but one in particular, Lazard Capital's Colin Sebastian, noted that this may open up new opportunities for emerging platforms to make their mark.
Sebastian began: "Management remains confident in the 10-year console lifecycle no PS4 anytime soon. While no time frames were mentioned explicitly regarding a console refresh cycle, management indicated that there is little reason to expect a deviation in the '10' year console cycle."
He added: "We think this might, over the duration of the remaining life of the PS3, provide a window of opportunity for new gaming platforms such as an Apple TV, which could simply utilize an SDK and App Store to deliver games to television sets. The next generation Apple TV, will in our view, likely feature the same hardware and software improvements that accompanied the iPad 2, which include a dual core processor and a 9x improvement in GPU performance."
- Shovel Knight arrives on PlayStation platforms this week
- Microsoft shows off Spartan Locke in action in Halo 5: Guardians
- Bethesda E3 press conference invites tease everything but Fallout 4
- New Mass Effect details possibly leaked in an online survey
- Phil Spencer promises a first-party-focused E3 offering from Microsoft
- Valve tackles phishing and scamming on Steam by requiring new users spend 5 USD to make use of all features
- Borderlands franchise director leaves Gearbox
- Blizzard announces a release date for Heroes Of The Storm and an open beta too
- Ultra Street Fighter IV coming to PS4 at the end of May


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Kuaishou Technology, a major rival to ByteDance Ltd. that owns a popular short-video platform in China, said it expects tighter regulations to hurt its revenues, adding that it would try to weed out undesirable content that authorities have frowned upon.
The Hong Kong-listed shares of Kuaishou tumbled 10% on Thursday, after the Beijing-based company reported a loss equivalent to $1.1 billion for the second quarter, which ended in June.
While Kuaishou’s revenues jumped 49% to nearly $3 billion in the second quarter, firm Chief Executive Su Hua warned during an earnings call Wednesday that cyberspace regulations, including China’s newly-passed privacy law, could dent Kuaishou’s revenue in the short term as the company adapts to the changes.
Kuaishou, which means “fast hand” in Chinese, operates a namesake app that allows users to share short videos, stream live broadcasts and shop online, similar to ByteDance’s Douyin and TikTok apps. Kuaishou said 293.2 million people used its flagship app at least once a day during the second quarter, and each daily user spent an average of 107 minutes on it.
The company, which counts Tencent Holdings Ltd. as one of its main backers, went public in February after raising $5.4 billion from global investors in one of the largest initial public offerings by a Chinese technology company in recent years.
After surging early on, Kuaishou’s shares have been on a long decline, losing more than three-quarters of their value over the past six months—placing them among the worst performing Chinese internet stocks this year.
As of Thursday, Kuaishou’s market capitalization was about $37 billion, down from more than $220 billion in mid-February, according to FactSet. The company has been accumulating red ink and its loss in the recent quarter was mainly a result of expenses that it incurred for sales and marketing as well as research and development.
Last month, China’s cyberspace regulator summoned Kuaishou and several other internet companies and chastised them for having sexually suggestive videos of minors and other inappropriate content on their platforms. The firms were fined, ordered to rectify the problems and close illegal accounts. In May, the cybersecurity watchdog also found that Kuaishou’s apps were illegally collecting users’ personal data.
On Wednesday, Mr. Su said Kuaishou will rein in live-streaming broadcasters who he said “seek quick profits and are unfriendly to the public, their followers, the platform and the merchants.”
“We will resolutely crack down and educate them on these behaviors. This work will take lots of time,” he said. The company will also comply with China’s data-security requirements.
Following the results, analysts at China Renaissance Securities lowered their revenue forecasts for Kuaishou, and said new regulations would likely result in slower growth in advertising revenue and e-commerce sales.
Kuaishou is among the tech companies that are challenging the dominance of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and JD.com Inc. in China’s online retail sector. Overall e-commerce transactions via Kuaishou’s app doubled in the second quarter to the equivalent of $22.45 billion, the company said.
Both Kuaishou and ByteDance have been trying to lure more merchants to sell products on their respective platforms, whose large user numbers have proved a big draw. ByteDance achieved roughly the equivalent of $77 billion in e-commerce sales in 2020 and both companies are expecting to double their numbers this year, according to people familiar with the matter.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text
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Cosmetics Products in India: According to the report, Indian consumers spent an average of Rs 1,214 on cosmetic products during the six months. Lipstick or other lip care products dominated the entire sale.
Indians Cosmetics Consumer: How much will be spent on cosmetic products in your household every month? If you are asked this question, then maybe you will say about 4 or 6 thousand rupees. But if you read the report related to the cost of cosmetic products, then you may be surprised. Yes, within the last six months, more than 100 million cosmetic products ranging from lipstick, nail polish to eyeliner have been sold.
- Rs 5,000 crore revenue achieved
Due to this, the government has earned a revenue of Rs 5,000 crore. Out of this, about 40 percent of the purchases have been done online. Its information has come out from a report. According to the report, Indian consumers spent an average of Rs 1,214 on cosmetic products during the six months. Lipstick or other lip care products dominated the entire sale. Lipstick and lip care products accounted for 38 percent of this entire business.
- Working women use more cosmetics
The study also revealed that working women use more cosmetic products. According to the facts of the report, working women contribute the most to the sale of makeup. The survey also found that retailers’ brokers played a major role in motivating more than a third of purchases. While social media exerts an equal number of influences among younger customers. Among different age groups, the survey found that the elderly preferred lipstick and nail polish, while primer and tinted lip became a special choice among the youth.


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Xiaomi said to be making $32-priced smart band
Chinese phone producer, Xiaomi, is in the news once again. This time, the privately-owned telecommunications giant was reported to be making a smart band that will cost only $32.
The smart band/fitness tracker will likely resemble the Samsung Galaxy Gear Fit or the one from Fitbit, since we know Xioami’s reputation of copying established products and selling them at half price.
Asides that, we don’t have any specs or pictures to accompany the story yet even though our sources tell us there will be one soon enough.


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Brands seeking to ‘inspire’ women should start with their workers
People making sportswear forced to work in stifling conditions and fired for striking
Workers on their way to the many garment factories in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. File photograph: Jason South/Fairfax Media/Getty Images
Women’s sportswear is having a moment with new clothing lines powered by inspirational quotes popping up everywhere. But behind the motivational slogans lie thousands of women in developing countries whose lives are far from empowered.
If sports brands are serious about supporting women, they should start with the women in their factories.
Asian countries are the go-to location for garment production; an estimated 80 to 85 per cent of workers in these garment factories are women. The companies filling our social media feeds with exhortations to dream big then turn around and pay their workers so little that paying the electricity bill is an impossible dream.
Just last year the Clean Clothes Campaign published a report Foul Play pointing out that only 2.5 per cent of the cost of your Nike or Adidas shoe goes to women on the production lines. That percentage drops every year. At the same time the report tells us the marketing budget for both companies has risen by about a fifth.
That budget includes marketing gimmicks such as the Dream Crazier video from Nike targeted at sports women and seen more than nine million times since February. The video tells women they’re seen as delusional for dreaming of equal opportunities to men, which is exactly what most garment workers must feel when looking at their lives.
Almost every sports brand you care to name has production lines in Asian factories including Nike, Puma, Asics, Adidas, Reebok, Under Armour and New Balance with varying levels of commitment to working conditions. Most factories produce for more than one brand under third-party contracts and the process is not as exclusive as consumers might think.
In just one week more than 300 workers at the Nike, Puma and Asics factories in Cambodia fainted while at work
The women making the sports gear typically work in factories on the outskirts of large cities. They stay in rows of concrete bungalows, each small room filled with a double bed shared by two or more women.
The bathroom is usually a row of toilets, with pipes and barrels of cold water for showering. Cooking facilities are non-existent (not unusual in Asia in any sector). Wires run along the rooms connecting shaky light-bulbs and powering sewing machines used by some women to earn more money in the evenings.
They rise at 6am or earlier to get breakfast along the street. Commuting is by motorbike taxi or standing together in the back of an open flatbed truck. Job security is rare with the majority of women on contacts of two to 12 months.
A Cambodian activist with the Workers’ Information Centre, supported by Irish NGO ActionAid, told me workers hide pregnancies because they’re let go when it shows. A United Nations report in 2015 found the abortion rate among garment workers in Cambodia is more than three times higher than in the general female population.
So you have women stitching progressive maternity sportswear who are afraid to become pregnant themselves.
If they do have children and take up a new position afterwards, the children are usually sent to live with their grandparents in a rural village. A Cambodian worker told me she sees her children – aged seven and 12 – twice a year.
After the tragedy at Rana Plaza in Bangladesh in 2013 when more than 1,000 garment workers died in a building collapse, many promises were made by clothing brands but only some have been fulfilled. In January, this year more than 7,000 workers there were fired for striking. Human Rights Watch have called on brands to take action in support of the workers.
In Vietnam, however, working conditions have been improved by limiting factory floor temperatures to 32 degrees. That’s important because stifling hot temperatures are not unusual in other countries.
In just one week in November 2017, more than 300 workers at the Nike, Puma and Asics factories in Cambodia fainted while at work. The brands acknowledged the problem at the time. But little has changed.
The Cambodian labour minister counted more than 2,000 fainting incidents across the whole garment industry there in 2018. They pointed to chemicals in textiles, exhaustion and badly ventilated factories as possible causes.
In some cases, women resort to a practice called coining where they scrape each other’s backs to draw blood believing this lowers body temperature. It’s somewhat like leeching but photos I saw, supplied by the Community Legal Education Center in Cambodia, left me nauseous as the women crouched next to sewing machines with blood flowing down their backs.
As consumers we do have power to change this. The workers rely on their income to survive, so a boycott is not the answer. But public pressure for change can go a long way.
It isn’t right to produce any type of clothing in these conditions. When sports companies target sportswomen and claim that wearing these clothes empowers women, we must ask questions.
How empowering is it for sportswomen to compete in clothing made by a mother who hasn’t seen her child for months? How empowering is your performance-enhancing moisture-wicking top if it was sewn by a woman who later fainted in a stifling factory?
If sportswomen and fans of women’s sport are serious about female empowerment, then we need to be serious about how our gear is made.
Instead of sharing the next motivational video, ask the brand on their social media page how much they pay the women putting those cool outfits together. Ask how much maternity leave workers get and ask how long work contracts are.
Support campaigns run by the Asian Floor Wage Alliance to pay women working in garment factories a local living wage.
This might all sound difficult but as sports brands will tell you; nothing is impossible.


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A 27-year old man in Japan was arrested after he was caught attempting to sell modified Zelda: Breath of The Wild save files.
As reported by the Broadcasting System of Niigata (and spotted by Dextro) Ichimin Sho was arrested on July 8 after he posted about modified save files for the Nintendo Switch version of Breath of The Wild. He posted his services onto an unspecified auction site, describing it as “the strongest software.” He would provide modded save files that would give the player improved in-game abilities and also items that were difficult to obtain were made available as requested by the customer. In his original listing, he reportedly was charging folks 3,500 yen (around $31 USD) for his service.
Niigata Prefecture police spotted the listing and arrested Sho on July 8 for possibly violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Law. After being arrested, the man admitted he had sold modded saves and software before, telling police he had sold about 10 million yen (around $90,000 USD)in the past year and a half.
Read More: Nintendo Thanks People For Ratting Out R4 Retailers
While this might seem wild, being arrested for selling save files, it’s not a new situation in Japan. Police in Japan have previously arrested folks for modifying video game software which violates the Unfair Competition Prevention Law in Japan. This same law was also used by Nintendo to sue a go-kart company in 2017. In 2015, another man in Japan was arrested after selling cheats in the popular online shooter Alliance of Valiant Arms.
In a comment given to the BSN, Deputy Director Okazawa of the Cybercrime Countermeasures Division of the Niigata Prefectural Police asked folks to not create, sell or buy modified save data or software.
This all seems a tad extreme to me. I’d reckon police in Japan (and around the world for that matter) should be more focused on far more dangerous and important crimes. But I guess a dude selling some modified save files for an old Switch game is also important too… to someone.


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STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -- With cost cutting boosting profits last year, Volvo is looking forward to all its main markets growing in 2014, especially in China, it said today.
The carmaker is banking on strong sales of increasingly locally-made Volvos in China to reach a target of roughly doubling sales by 2020. Last year, sales jumped 46 percent in the market to 61,146.
"We for the first time in many years have positive outlooks really for all our main market blocks," CEO Hakan Samuelsson said, pointing to growth in China and the United States and a long-awaited if modest pick-up in European markets.
Volvo, bought by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. from Ford Motor Co. in 2010, stood by a forecast to remain in the black this year and grow sales by "a good" 5 percent from deliveries in 2013, which rose 1.4 percent to 427,840 over the previous year.
The company earlier reported operating profits last year rose to 1.92 billion Swedish crowns ($302 million) from 66 million in 2012 when one-off gains from the sale of technology to Chinese parent Zhejiang Geely Holding Group helped keep the carmaker in the black.
The sharp rise in earnings came despite Volvo having posted a 577 million loss in the first half and full-year revenue slipping to 122.25 billion crowns from 124.55 billion in 2012.
China has become a bright spot for Volvo as it seeks to take on larger global luxury brands such as BMW, Daimler's Mercedes and Volkswagen's Audi and generate volumes sufficient to pay for billions dollars of investment in new vehicles.
But while turnover in China has taken off, a lack of new models has left Volvo unable to take advantage of a growing total U.S. market with sales there sliding 10 percent last year to 61,233 cars, roughly half of what they were a decade ago.
In response, Volvo has replaced top management in North America and hopes that a sprucing up of existing models and a launch of its V60 sports wagon will revive sales in the fiercely competitive U.S. market. Samuelsson said a stronger model line-up, which will eventually include a new XC90 SUV, and a doubling in its marketing spend would go some way towards enthusing dealers and showing its commitment to the U.S. market.
"We need to get back above 100,000 [cars] as soon as possible to be relevant as a brand and for the dealers," he said, adding that "that probably requires that the new XC90 is on board and helping us. So we will probably have to wait a couple of years, until 2016, before we manage that."
Volvo has for decades been hampered by periodically strong currency headwinds in times of dollar weakness against the euro and Swedish crown as it ships all cars sold in the United States from its factories in Europe. With the focus squarely on China, local U.S. production looks distant but Samuelsson said the group was eyeing "concrete opportunities" to eventually ship Chinese-made Volvos to the United States due to the yuan being more closely linked to the dollar than currencies in Europe.
"Instead of crossing the Atlantic we can cross the Pacific Ocean. Toyota and Kia have moved a lot of cars across that ocean over the years," the CEO said.


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CHICAGO, Ill., Jun 12, 2020 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) — Matt McCann, a nationally-known veteran of the long-term care (LTC) insurance industry, announces the formation of LTC NEWS, LLC after acquiring the online asset – ltcnews.com.
Previously owned by publisher Chip Ramsey, the acquisition includes all the websites and social media platforms operated by LTC NEWS and its corresponding editorial content.
Formed in July 2015, LTC NEWS is an online resource for long-term care planning, health and retirement issues to help consumers plan for and better understand the financial impacts of aging.
LTC NEWS, LLC plans to expand its editorial content and resources and to offer a full range of unique digital advertising and marketing opportunities to reach adults aged 40 and up. It will also provide creative resources to design advertising to help businesses effectively reach their target audience.
It will also offer sponsored-content opportunities to allow a company, health care provider, or insurance or financial professional to engage readers and drive traffic to their website while delivering on their marketing objectives.
“LTC NEWS will continue to offer news and informational resources to help American families plan for a successful future retirement,” Matt McCann, who will work as interim president and CEO, says. “I look forward to working with the current staff and to adding new staff to help us grow in the years ahead.”
Prior to acquiring LTC NEWS, McCann consulted for LTC NEWS, so he’s intimately familiar with its operation and assets. The company will also design websites and social media platforms for home health agencies, adult day care centers, assisted living facilities, memory care facilities, nursing homes and other businesses related to providing long-term health care services.
LTC NEWS will provide similar services for insurance and financial professionals looking for quality websites and social media platforms to help them engage their clients.
“Many insurance and financial professionals want affordable state-of-the-art websites and social media platforms,” McCann explains. “LTC NEWS will provide these resources so these professionals can have a compelling Internet and social media presence.”
LTC NEWS will continue to publish articles at no charge from expert guest columnists and these authors will gain outstanding exposure, website backlinks and traffic to their websites. Specific guidelines will limit the amount of advertising content in those articles.
Sponsored-content articles will allow a targeted message to promote a product or service and drive traffic to a website while providing useful information on a specific topic.
“We’re striving to provide an exceptional user experience and brand that users remember and trust. Answering consumers’ questions accurately, clearly and quickly is essential to LTC NEWS,” Daniel Pope, who will lead the website development and creative team, says. “We’ll also analyze consumer behavior at scale in large datasets to help determine which topics, resources and advertisements are most relevant to consumers.”
Pope says the goal is to present the website visitor with relevant opportunities to learn something new. The overall website experience will enhance user activity and increase the time spent on the website.
“The time invested between the user and the LTC NEWS brand will foster a culture of trust which benefits both consumers and advertisers. Our advertising partners can take advantage of targeting specific topics or resources within their niche that our consumers actively seek,” Pope says.
The company is currently seeking an entrepreneurial sales manager to lead its nationwide sales effort. This individual should have a solid knowledge of Internet advertising and an understanding of the long-term health care industry.
Interested individuals can forward a resume and cover letter to Lori Urbanick at: firstname.lastname@example.org.
LTC NEWS will be operated independently from McCann’s firm, McCann Insurance Services, Inc., and the company will be headquartered in offices located in Countryside, Illinois, and Columbus, Ohio.
For more information, visit: https://www.ltcnews.com/
IMAGE LINKS FOR MEDIA:
*Photo caption: Matt McCann of LTC NEWS, LLC.
of LTC NEWS, LLC
News Source: LTC NEWS LLC
Related link: https://www.ltcnews.com/
This press release was issued on behalf of the news source, who is solely responsible for its accuracy, by Send2Press Newswire. To view the original story, visit: https://www.send2press.com/wire/ltc-news-acquisition-anticipates-growth-and-expansion/


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FLANDREAU, S. D. – A recreational and medicinal marijuana resort planned for the Flandreau Santee Sioux Indian Reservation in southeast South Dakota has been put on hold.
WeedWorthy News Network
Hot off the press cannabis, marijuana, cbd and hemp news from around the world on the WeedWorthy News Network.
John Aguilar ~ Denver Post ~
Englewood liquor licensing authority floats proposed ordinance allowing social pot use at cannabis clubs.
Julie Carr Smyth ~ Associated Press ~
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- So a few states out West and a couple cities on the East Coast have voted to legalize marijuana. Does that mean legal pot can fly in the heartland?
Travis Khachatoorian ~ KTUU.com ~
ANCHORAGE – While many health officials are mulling over the best way to tackle the spice epidemic in Anchorage, one resident says handing out free marijuana may be the answer.
Bruce Kennedy ~ WeedWorthy ~
Veteran cannabis entrepreneur Christian Hageseth says the legal cannabis industry is rapidly evolving and on the verge of explosive growth.


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Charlotte, North Carolina – Charlotte-based Honeywell and Premier Inc, a technology-driven healthcare supply company, have announced a “commercial relationship” to expand the production of local nitrile exam gloves in the US.
In separate statements 13 July, the companies said that the venture is expected to produce 750 million gloves in the first year and is in response to the “significant shortage of exam gloves” caused by the Covid pandemic.
The two companies did not offer further details on the location of the production plant or the investment size.
Premier, however, said that more than 80 of its members had committed to purchase “a certain percentage” of the Honeywell gloves for a period of five years.
Honeywell will also provide additional gloves to S2S Global, Premier’s direct sourcing subsidiary, the company added.
According to the two companies, world demand for exam gloves currently exceeds production capacity by 40%, due mainly to global raw materials shortage, port closures & delays as well as increased consumption amid vaccination programmes.
"Honeywell and Premier share a commitment to increase the domestic production capacity for safety solutions to help to protect American healthcare workers," said Praveen Reddy, president of Honeywell’s personal protective equipment (PPE) business.
Also headquartered in Charlotte, Premier connects more than 4,100 US hospitals and health systems with 200,000 suppliers and organisations with the aim to "transform" the healthcare system.


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Here is our weekly feature in which we share the top articles we enjoyed.
The Next Web, Opera sums up 2012 in mobile advertising: iOS, the US and multimedia are the market drivers by Andrii Degeler (@shlema)
Opera Software highlights insights in mobile advertising from 2012 with its new “mobile advertising” report. The report showed that iOS leads the way in ad impressions once again with 44%, from which 65% is iOS 6. Android falls far behind with 29%. Researchers from Opera also named the iPad and iPhone the most successful devices of 2012. In addition, the United States is still the clear leader in ad impressions with 65%, while Russia and Ukraine saw a rapid growth of 95% in monthly impression volumes since January, making it the fastest growing emerging market. Finally, the report also found that multimedia is on the rise as this category accounted for 15% of revenue with 23.8% of mobile ad impressions.
We also found these articles interesting:
- AdWeek, Mobile Ad Rates Inch Up, Slowly by Tim Peterson (@petersontee)
- Media Post, Rich-Media Drives Mobile Ad Demand by Mark Walsh


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With documented health risks tied to the exposure to glyphosate, the Mexican government is continuing to approach conversations around genetically modified corn with caution.
Science, Precaution, and Mexico’s GMO Corn Restrictions
A new decree states that any ban on GM feed corn, which is the overwhelming majority of U.S. exports, would only be implemented gradually, pending a full review of the science and the availability of adequate supplies of non-GM corn.
No Reason for Alarm over Mexico’s GM-Corn Ban
U.S. farmers already grow non-GM corn and according to reports, many can and would produce it for Mexico if given time to prepare.
“More Data, Better Transparency Means Less Waste,” Vishaal Bhuyan Says
At the Future of Food @ SXSW Vishaal Bhuyan explains how Aanika Biosciences is working to use microbial tags to improve traceability and transparency in the food system.
The USDA’s New Rule Seeks Standardized Label for Bioengineered Foods
A new rule from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) now requires all food manufacturers and importers to disclose information about bioengineered (BE) food and BE food ingredients. Under the National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard (NBFDS), foods marked as having…
Mexico’s Highest Court Rejects Appeal of GM Corn Ban
According to the citizen group Demanda Colectiva, the decision is a win for peasants, Indigenous communities, and consumers.
Accelerating the Local Food Industry
On “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg,” We bring you to a recent Food Tank Live event at The Hatchery in Chicago. Journalist Dawn Reiss sat down with Jim Slama, founder and CEO of Chicago non-profit FamilyFarmed and co-founder of Naturally Chicago…
Jayson Lusk Works to Reframe Food Debates with Data
Food Tank sat down with Dr. Jayson Lusk, the Head of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University, to talk about controversies, data, and economics. He is working to reframe major facets of the food discussion by making sure that arguments are underpinned by solid data.


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Apple releases third developer beta of watchOS 7.4
AppleInsider may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made through links on our site.
Apple has released the third developer beta for watchOS 7.4, just a couple of days after the iOS and macOS betas were released.
The latest build, released Thursday, can be downloaded by developers in the beta-testing scheme via the Apple Developer Center, or as an over-the-air update for hardware already using earlier beta builds. A public beta version of the releases is expected to start arriving soon, and will be available through the Apple Beta Software Program website.
WatchOS betas usually feature bug fixes or other improvements without any user-facing changes. The current cycle of updates feature over 200 new emoji and tweaks to the Apple Music app.
These betas arrive shortly after the third developer betas for iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5 became available on Tuesday. Apple also released the third developer beta of macOS 11.3 earlier Tuesday as well.
AppleInsider, and Apple itself, strongly suggest users avoid installing betas on to "mission-critical" or primary devices, due to the potential for data loss or other issues. It is instead recommended to install betas onto secondary or non-essential devices, and to ensure there are sufficient backups of important data beforehand.
Find any changes in the new betas? Reach out to us on Twitter at @AppleInsider or @Andrew_OSU, or send Andrew an email at [email protected].


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AusVeg Archives - Inside FMCG
AUSVEG asks Government for greater security in lead-up to federal election.
Strong demand for Aussie veg in Singapore, Japan and Thailand.
The agreement will increase import quotas and decrease tariffs for carrot and potato exports.
The two companies are extending their strategic partnership for a tenth year.
Vegetable exports grew two per cent to AUD$252 million in 2017.
Convenience is killing the weekly grocery shop.
The organisation says the new visa changes must not damage the industry.
Aldi, Woolies and Coles remain dominant.
New boss brings an extensive background in agriculture and agribusiness to the role.
There’s a great opportunity to introduce new veggie consumption occasions into Australian households.


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The online travel agency Yatra.com has claimed that airfares to Southeast Asia and Italy have dropped by 20-30 per cent in the backdrop of coronavirus.
The travel agency also said that there is a hike in enquires with respect to domestic destinations including Andaman & Nicobar, Goa, and cities in North-East.
"Southeast Asia and Italy being one of the most preferred destinations for Indians, we can anticipate a drop of about 20-25 per cent in terms of future bookings, though it is too early to predict any drastic impact. They are wary of making fresh bookings to the affected locations and airfares to these destinations have dropped by 20-30 per cent," Sabina Chopra, Co-Founder, Yatra.com said in a statement.
"Travelers are now looking at alternate foreign destinations from India, such as Sri Lanka and Bhutan for summer travel. There is a hike in enquires to domestic destinations such as Andaman & Nicobar, Goa, Ujjain, North-east cities among others," she said.
Chopra said that the travel agency has received about 35 per cent of cancellation queries from travellers planning their trips to foreign locations during the holiday season. "We at Yatra.com are advising and helping customers to postpone their travel dates and book their tickets accordingly," she added.
The Union Health Ministry informed on Tuesday informed that six positive cases of deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) have been reported in India so far.
Global deaths due to coronavirus outbreak on Monday rose above 3,000 with the new count in China mainland rising to 2,912. The deadly virus that originated in China late last year continues to spread around the world and has infected more than 80,000 people.


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Finding a home with bags of character is still a top priority for the majority of UK homebuyer hopefuls, but could they be overlooking all the added benefits that come with investing in a new-build?
Sales of new-builds are soaring with the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government recording a 28.2% increase in new-build purchases between April 2017 and April 2018, while last year saw a 16% rise in the number of new properties being constructed compared to the previous year.
But still, when a recent survey was conducted by discountflooringdepot.co.uk, an overwhelming 82% of respondents said that, given the choice, they would rather invest in a period home than a brand new one.
What do period properties have that new-builds don’t?
Having original features was the reason for 51% of people preferring a period home over a new-build, with original windows a favourite among 42% of respondents, feature fireplaces being chosen by 40%, and real wooden floors or original tiles swaying 37% of people towards an older property.
Homebuyers are also keen on the idea of cornicing and ceiling roses, singled out by 26% of people in the survey, while just over a fifth (21%) listed original radiators as a major draw towards period properties.
Period homes do come with a heftier price tag than many new-builds though, but surprisingly it is millennials aged 22-37 who were the most likely to shy away from a new-build in favour of an existing home (89%), while the older generation aged 38-58 were slightly less inclined to buy an older home (86%).
Despite these survey results, the number of people buying new-builds continues to rise, and there is a lot to be said for the benefits that come with buying a brand new property – or even investing in one before it has been built to reap even more advantages.
One of the huge plus-sides is, obviously, the fact that they are new. Unlike many 100-year-old houses, a new-build will not need any work doing and can be lived in straight away, with a full set of fresh furnishings and state of the art appliances. Typically, new-builds are also covered by a 10-year NHBS new home warranty, so if something breaks within a certain amount of time, the homeowner will not have to foot the bill.
With this comes the added cost savings involved. Compared to a home with original windows and floors, a newly built home is incredibly energy efficient, with double or even triple glazing, more draught-proofing and insulation and sometimes even smart home technology such as built-in remote heating and lighting controls. Even though some may baulk at the price tag of a newer home, the savings to be made over the years can be huge.
New-builds can have character too
According to Robby Du Toit, managing director of Sellhousefast, while older properties have their charm, there are plenty of reasons people choose to buy new-builds.
“New-build properties are increasing in popularity due to a competitive off-plan price, and governmental Help to Buy initiatives, making it a more prosperous and modern appeal to young individuals and couples who are looking to get onto the property ladder.”
If lack of character is the main concern for a prospective homebuyer, this can easily be remedied by decor choices, particularly if purchasing the home off-plan. You can easily add sash windows, real wooden flooring and cornicing to any property, offering a perfect balance of a cheaper, more energy efficient home that still has character and soul.
To see what property investments we have on offer at BuyAssociation, see our investments page.


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Steve Klein, the former CEO and Co-Founder of Statuspage.io (which was acquired by Atlassian in 2016), was the winning bidder for the “Pete” NFT for 0.075 Ether, which is about $160 the last time we checked. That amount will now be donated to the North Carolina Museum of Art. So thanks, Steve! We’ll have more on this down the road, but here's an explainer.
Of course, those of you who watched the latest Friday Nooneralready knew that Steve now owns “Pete.” But don’t worry, you can still enjoy the heck out of the Friday Nooner despite that spoiler.
Now we need to look forward, specifically to the Greppys. See Item No. 1!
We’re proud to announce the inaugural Greppy Awards, aka The Greppys, which will be held virtually on Friday, April 23, at 12 Noon ET. (Register here.) Thanks to our sponsor, Dualboot Partners!
We’re asking readers to go vote for their top choice among the nominees (listed alphabetically) in the following five categories:
Best Small Smartup (1-10 employees): Blue Recruit, Courtroom5, Klearly, InsightFinder, Wrangle Best Medium-Sized Startup (11-50 employees): Allstacks, LoanWell, Pattern Health, Reveal Mobile, Revibe Technologies Best Large Startup (51+ employees): Pendo, Real Magic/Levitate, Pendo, Spiffy, Spoonflower Most Impactful Individual: Robbie Allen, Jesse Lipson, Todd Olson, Joe Procopio, Scot Wingo Best On-Campus Startup: Audacity Labs (Duke), Blooket (Duke), Extruo (NC State), Flux Hybrids (NC State), MUSE Biomedical (UNC), PLAY (NC Central), Vector Rideshare (UNC)
Of course, we all want an educated electorate. So we've put together a handy guide with brief descriptions of the nominees in each category. Please give it a quick read before casting your votes. Voting will remain open until Thursday, April 22, at 5pm ET.
These "Readers Choice" winners will be honored alongside the category champ chosen by our six-judge panel, which also generated the nominated companies/individuals in the first four categories. (The on-campus startups were nominated by the universities.) We’ll also be presenting a special award for Best Leveraging of Triangle Ecosystem Resources. Our Greppys page has all the info on judges, process, etc., but let's thank them here too: John Austin (NC IDEA), Tina Cochrane (Dualboot), Jan Davis (Angelic angel investor), Lister Delgado (IDEA Fund Partners), Sarah Leners (Bull City Venture Partners) and Tim McLoughlin (Cofounders Capital).
Now please register for the event, read about the nominees, and vote for the winners! And thanks again to our sponsor Dualboot, which can help with any/all of your development needs.
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Epic Games has raised more money and is now worth a boatload. Actually, we’re going to keep going regardless of what you say, because you’re not the boss of us. Where were we; oh right, Cary’s Epic Games has raised another $1B, including $200M from Sony, in a deal that values the Fortnite maker at $28.7B. And just think how valuable Epic would be if it wasn't giving away billions of dollars worth of games! Actually CEO Tim Sweeney says that the free-to-play model is ultimately good for the company’s bottom line, as he explains in a story yesterday on Verge titled: Three reasons why Epic Games can give away $17.5 billion worth of games for free.
And this seems like as good a spot as any to link to TBJ’s wrap-up of Q1 financings among Triangle startups, whether tech, life sciences or other.
Triangle-based serial entrepreneur Chris Evans is back with a new startup called Aries that makes something especially timely: facemasks. Today, Aries announced the public release of the new Aries Work Week Barrier Face Covering, i.e. a comfortable yet protective mask that can be worn for an entire 40-hour work week. The mask is one of the very first to meet the newly released standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ATSM). An Aries blog post explains this much better than I can, and with cool graphics to boot.
Telehealth is one of the sectors that has really boomed during the pandemic, and Raleigh’s CarePICS is taking full advantage. The startup, which uses a tech-enabled virtual care platform to help those suffering from peripheral artery disease (PAD), announced that it has sold a minority stake to Cardiovascular Systems Inc. (CSI). While the full terms of the deal were not disclosed, CSI does have an exclusive option to acquire the remainder of CarePICS, so this might end up being a full-on acquisition rather than a “mere” investment. TechWire has more details.
Real estate tech firm Fathom, which is partly based in Cary, has announced its third acquisition of the year. The publicly traded company has agreed to acquire LiveBy, a Nebraska-based data aggregation and hyperlocal content firm, in a deal expected to close at $9M. It was LiveBy's content that drove the deal. TBJ has more details.
Hot, Hot, Hot!
Here’s the latest data point that Raleigh-based AI startup Pryon is red-hot: CB Insights named Pryon to its AI 100, a list of the most promising AI companies in the world. CB Insights whittled down the list from a pool of over 6,000 companies. Pryon also made CNBC’s Upstart 100 List for 2019. And this is another excuse for us to recommend that you read the highly entertaining Download Q&A with Pryon Founder and CEO Igor Jablokov.
There are already a few startups in the Triangle that are in the general space of connecting with local farmers to bring fresh produce to stores and/or the public; i.e. Seal The Seasons, The Produce Box and Freshspire. But there’s still room for a new player—Tall Grass Food Box. Launched during the pandemic, the three co-founders are particularly focused on helping Black farmers, who face systemic challenges that long predate the pandemic. Consider that of the more than 2 million farms in the U.S. in 2017, fewer than 2% were owned by Black farmers, and 87% of Black-owned farms had annual sales of less than $25K. TBJ has much more detail in its cover story.
Two national tech stories from yesterday had a local angle: 1) IBM, which is a major Triangle employer and also the owner of Raleigh’s Red Hat, has launched a spinout company built around its Managed Infrastructure Services group. The new company—which will likely include Triangle employees—is called Kyndryl, a name that is already widely mocked. 2) Microsoft will pay $16B to acquire speech recognition companyNuance. The local angle: in late 2017, Nuance acquired Durham-based healthtech iScribes, which had received investments from Triangle Angel Partners (TAP) and The Launch Place.
Dualboot Partners is a software development firm that helps ventures at all stages build great software and great companies. Founded by serial entrepreneurs, Dualboot Partners comes to each project with deep expertise in technology and business, as well as a commitment to supporting its clients well beyond the development process. The team offers advice and perspective—built over the course of hundreds of projects—and leverages its vast network to connect clients with investors, future hires and other resources critical in turning a concept into a successful venture. Intrigued? Email them here!


text: As the race for Social Media dominance continues, Google is reportedly working on a social app for group photo editing. On India tech news, Samsung Pay has fully launched in India and Apple is planning a production centre in the same country which will be operational withing month. iOS 10.3 now available for iPhone, iPad with Find My AirPods, Apple File system. Apple has further released update for OS X Yosemite and El Captitan “2017-001”. Contanan for Android is now interactive even when your device is locked, as lock screen voice control is now enable in the latest update. We all know that Facebook in recent time include a two-way authentication in the instant messaging app (WhastApp), it has also been included in Instagram for all Users. Finally Facebook is testing GIF button for News Feed comments.


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Curtis J. Crawford Sells 7,500 Shares of Xylem Inc. (XYL) Stock
Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL) Director Curtis J. Crawford sold 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.44, for a total transaction of $498,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 52,385 shares in the company, valued at $3,480,459.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.
Shares of Xylem Inc. (NYSE XYL) traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $66.25. 504,000 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,246,918. The stock has a market cap of $11,898.50, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.16. Xylem Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.67 and a 1-year high of $67.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.76.
Xylem (NYSE:XYL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 31st. The industrial products company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. Xylem had a net margin of 6.85% and a return on equity of 17.74%. The company’s revenue was up 33.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.54 EPS. equities analysts expect that Xylem Inc. will post 2.39 earnings per share for the current year.
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.18 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 1st. This represents a $0.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.09%. Xylem’s payout ratio is currently 41.86%.
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Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Xylem by 2.4% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,697,791 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $980,989,000 after buying an additional 409,920 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Xylem by 11.5% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,360,506 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $460,211,000 after buying an additional 861,484 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Xylem by 7.9% in the second quarter. Pictet Asset Management Ltd. now owns 4,342,944 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $226,441,000 after buying an additional 318,756 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Xylem by 7.7% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,239,067 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $179,541,000 after buying an additional 232,139 shares during the period. Finally, Impax Asset Management LTD raised its holdings in Xylem by 0.6% in the third quarter. Impax Asset Management LTD now owns 3,106,646 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $194,569,000 after buying an additional 18,698 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.
Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $71.00 price target (up from $64.00) on shares of Xylem in a research note on Wednesday, October 4th. Canaccord Genuity reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $50.00 price target on shares of Xylem in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $63.00 price target on shares of Xylem in a research note on Friday, October 13th. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Xylem from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $71.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer Holdings, Inc. reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Xylem in a research note on Tuesday, October 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. The company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.17.
Xylem Company Profile
Xylem Inc is a water technology company. The Company designs, manufactures and services engineered solutions across a range of critical applications. It is an equipment and service provider for water and wastewater applications with a portfolio of products and services addressing the cycle of water, from collection, distribution and use to the return of water to the environment.
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Senate To Vote Whether To Charge Tax On Internet Sales
The Senate planned to vote Monday on a bill that would give states the power to charge sales tax for online purchases.
Right now, a state can only collect sales taxes if the online company has a brick and mortar store within that state.
If passed, the new law would require online outlets with sales of at least $1 million to collect taxes for the states where they ship the goods.
The bill has support from retail giants like Amazon and Walmart.
Opponents insist the law would actually create new taxes and put an unfair burden on businesses.
The National Retail Federation believes it's just a matter of the law catching up with the growth of ecommerce.
The measure is expected to pass the Senate, but it faces opposition in the House.
Watch 10TV News and refresh 10TV.com for more information.


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Kmart and Target are set to receive a major boost around supply chain, fulfilment and online execution after their parent Wesfarmers made a $230 million move for e-tailer Catch.
Wesfarmers said in a financial filing that it will offer Catch Group - owner of catch.com.au - $230 million in cash.
This covers the sale of the marketplace as well as two Victorian fulfilment centres.
However, Wesfarmers made clear that the buyout isn’t simply aimed at acquiring the Catch business, but taking its learnings and systems and applying them to Wesfarmers’ high-street brands.
If the acquisition goes through, Catch will operate as an independent business unit under Ian Bailey, the managing director of the Kmart Group.
Wesfarmers managing director Rob Scott said the buyout “represents an opportunity to accelerate Wesfarmers and Kmart Group’s digital and e-commerce capabilities” while continuing to invest in the Catch brand.
Bailey, meanwhile, said that Catch’s “technology platform and data capabilities” were key assets that Kmart hoped to use.
“This will further drive best practice in supply chain, fulfilment and online execution across our brands, including opportunities for Target to secure online fulfilment capacity and productivity benefits,” Bailey said.
“Catch will also benefit from the support of Kmart Group’s scale and capabilities to drive its continued growth in its existing marketplace business.”
The acquisition needs approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) before it can proceed. A decision is expected “in the coming months”.
Wesfarmers said it would fund the purchase through existing debt facilities.
Target Australia has been using in-store fulfilment for about four years where it relies on its network of stores - in addition to a central distribution centre - to pick, pack and ship orders to customers.
The retailer uses software to determine which stores in its network are best suited to perform in-store fulfilment of orders placed through its digital channels.


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Further to our report August 12 on faulty 3G iPhones, news has emerged that Apple is preparing a software fix.
iPhone 3G users worldwide have reported ongoing issues with 3G call quality, including signal issues and call drop outs, and I'm among them. BusinessWeek reports two sources saying that Apple hopes that the software remedy will fix the problem and negate the need for an iPhone recall. Notably any question of the problem being real or imagined has been put to rest, so if you're experiencing issues as well, they are real.
As per our earlier report, the problem does seem to lie with the Infineon 3G chip in the phone, although it will be interesting to see if a software fix can do the job alone. Either way, please hurry up Apple!


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She's still a moss-have: Model Kate sees earnings TRIPLE in one year to almost £12 million
- Total earnings as of October 2012 for the preceding year totalled £11.72m
- That's nearly three times amount she earned in previous year
- 2013 looks set to see her earnings grow again
- Recently launched a phone accessory collection with Carphone Warehouse
She may be fast approaching her 40th birthday but Kate Moss's domination of the fickle fashion world shows no sign of abating.
After twenty stellar years dominating the industry Kate has seen her earnings triple in the past year alone.
Her total earnings as of October 2012 for the preceding year totalled £11.72 million - that's nearly three times the amount she earned in 2011.
Big earner: Kate Moss has seen her earnings triple despite being in the industry for over 20 years
The Telegraph have revealed that Moss' company, Tilly Church, posted profits of almost £8 million, according to figures filed at Companies House.
And her second company, Skate LLP, saw earnings of £3.8 million.
This was topped off by lucrative campaigns, deals and appearances such as her own range for Rimmel, her stint in the Olympics Closing Ceremony and a starring role in George Michael's music video.
The 39-year-old also fronted campaigns for Salvatore Ferragamo, Mango, Rag & Bone and Dior Addict.
The best is yet to come: This year saw her publish her own book, launch a phone accessories collection, and star in campaigns with Stuart Weitzman, Versace, Givenchy, Matchless and St Tropez
And while 2012 was a lucrative year for the model, earnings for 2013 look set to be even bigger.
In 2013 she has already published her own book, launched a mass market phone accessories collection with Carphone Warehouse and starred in campaigns with Stuart Weitzman, Versace, Givenchy, Matchless and St Tropez.
The latest figures prove that the 2005 drug scandal, where she was pictured allegedly snorting cocaine with ex-boyfriend Pete Doherty, was just a minor blip in her career
While she was immediately dropped by a number of high profile names such as H&M and Chanel as a result - later winning back the contract with the latter - she has gone on to reestablish herself a major player in the fashion industry, and is arguably bigger than ever.
Back to the day job: Kate's most recent job has been designing an accessories collection with Carphone Warehouse
KATE MOSS: A SUPERMODEL'S STORY
1988: Discovered by Storm Model Management founder Sarah Doukas at JFK Airport on her way back from a holiday in Bahamas, when she was 14
1990: Shot for The Face in a cover shoot
1992: Starred in Calvin Klein campaigns with Mark Wahlberg
1995: Won Fashion Personality of the Year award
2002: Gave birth to Lila Grace, her daughter with then-boyfriend, Dazed and Confused editor, Jefferson Hack
2005: Announced as face of Rimmel London
2005: Pictures of her published allegedly snorting cocaine, prompting her to be dropped from H&M, Chanel and Burberry
2006: Named 'Model of the Year' at British Fashion Awards
2007: Launched first collection for Topshop
2010: Released final Topshop collection
2012: Walked in Olympic Closing Ceremony
2013: Launched accessories collection with Carphone Warehouse
Fresh-faced: Kate Moss pictured at New York fashion week back in the 1990s
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As the recognition of cryptocurrencies — particularly Bitcoin and Etherium — surges, Coinbase Global (COIN) is on the forefront of the cryptocurrency trade. After the corporate’s hyped IPO, is Coinbase inventory a purchase or promote within the present inventory market rally?
Coinbase Stock IPO
The crypto large launched its direct listing on the Nasdaq on April 14, pricing at 250 a share. Coinbase inventory shot up almost 72% to 429.54 earlier than closing its first day of buying and selling at 328.28, up 31.3%, for a valuation of $87.Three billion.
Analysts count on the Coinbase IPO to provide the cryptocurrency market elevated validation.
“The Coinbase IPO is potentially a watershed event for the crypto industry and will be something the Street will be laser-focused on to gauge investor appetite,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a observe to shoppers. “Coinbase is a foundational piece of the crypto ecosystem and is a barometer for the growing mainstream adoption of Bitcoin and crypto for the coming years.”
How Does Coinbase Make Money?
Coinbase is the biggest U.S. cryptocurrency alternate. It lists about 50 cryptocurrencies for buying and selling, led by Bitcoin and Ethereum. Bitcoin is the largest digital coin by market worth and is up greater than 70% to date this yr. Ethereum has greater than tripled in 2021, according to Coindesk.
Coinbase charges charges of a number of share factors to deposit funds and commerce, which is among the principal methods the corporate makes cash. Roughly 90% of the corporate’s income, as of 2020, got here from transaction charges from buying and selling and providers like storage.
Coinbase Stock Fundamental Analysis: Huge Earnings And Sales Growth
Ahead of the corporate’s debut, Coinbase issued estimates on April 6 for its first quarter ended March 31 and an outlook for the total yr ending Dec. 31, 2021. The firm expects verified customers of 56 million with $223 billion belongings on platform, representing an 11.3% crypto asset market share.
Coinbase has but to submit outcomes as a public firm. The crypto large turned worthwhile in 2020, incomes $1.64 per share on income of $1.28 billion. Last quarter, EPS soared 743% yr over yr to 90 cents per share on gross sales of $585.1 million. Revenue surged 495% vs. the year-earlier interval.
Looking on the present quarter, analysts count on the corporate to earn $2.97 per share, a whopping 1,756% improve. Meanwhile, gross sales are anticipated to skyrocket 849% to $1.81 billion.
COIN Stock Technical Analysis
According to the IBD Stock Checkup, Coinbase stock reveals a gentle 46 out of an ideal 99 IBD Composite Rating. The Composite Rating helps buyers simply measure a inventory’s basic and technical metrics. Weak IBD Composite Ratings are regular for brand new points.
Coinbase Stock News
On April 22, Mizuho analyst Dan Dolev initiated protection on the inventory with a impartial score and a 285 value goal. “Over time, Coinbase pricing — and industry pricing in general — may face downward pressure from platforms like PayPal and Cash App,” Dolev commented. “This is because PayPal and Cash App primarily use their crypto trading products as engagement tools, whereas Coinbase relies on its crypto trading products as its main source of revenue and profitability.”
Is Coinbase Stock A Buy Right Now?
Coinbase inventory tumbled to new lows Friday. Shares declined as a lot as 3.9% earlier than paring losses to 0.6%.
Bitcoin briefly plunged beneath $48,000 in a single day, buying and selling as little as $47,467 earlier than slicing losses. The value of Bitcoin traded round $50,600 Friday night. On April 14, Bitcoin topped out at $64,829, according to Coindesk.
For now, the inventory is just not a purchase as a result of it has not fashioned a correct chart sample, because it trades almost 30% off its all-time excessive. Be looking out for a brand new base to supply a purchase level.
For extra main shares and shares approaching purchase factors, take a look at these IBD Stock Lists, just like the Stocks Near Buy Zones. To see the present inventory market pattern, take a look at IBD’s signature each day evaluation, The Big Picture.
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$395 Gets You Android And Firefox OS With The Geeksphone Revolution
We’ve been expecting a price tag and launch date for the Geeksphone Revolution for a while now, and today we finally got them. The world’s first dual-booting handset, which runs both Android and Firefox OS, will go on sale next Thursday, February 20, priced at €289 ($395).
That’s just four days before Mobile World Congress 2014 kicks off in Barcelona, but in an effort to grab your attention ahead of the event, Geeksphone is offering early adopters a €20 ($27) saving when they buy the Revolution online. It’s unclear at this point how long that offer will last.
The Revolution sports a 4.7-inch qHD display and is powered by a 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Atom Z2560 processor. Other internals include 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, and an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera capable of shooting 1080p video at 30 frames-per-second.
While those specifications won’t allow the Revolution to compete with the latest Android-powered flagships, its ability to dual-boot into Android or Firefox OS will be the handset’s main selling point. It should be particularly interesting to those who want to use Firefox OS on a regular basis without completely ditching a more established platform — such as developers looking to build Firefox OS apps.


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Dubai - Virgin Hyperloop One system will transport goods and people from Dubai to Abu Dhabi in 12 minutes.
Daily commuters from Dubai to Abu Dhabi can breathe a sigh of relief, as the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has made history by inching one step closer to launching hyperloop.
The transportation authority unveiled the first look into the future of transportation at City Walk 2, Dubai on Thursday. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, took the first look into the hyperloop prototype design, after which it was opened to visitors.
The ultra-fast levitating capsule can travel at 1,200kmph, transporting passengers from Dubai to Abu Dhabi and back in 12 minutes. Furthermore, it will take 17 minutes to travel from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah.
Also read: Soon, travel from Mumbai to Pune in 25 minutes
In an interview with Khaleej Times, Abdulredha Abu Alhassan, executive director of the Rail Planning and Projects Development at the RTA, said: "According to initial studies, it will have a capacity to lift 10,000 riders per hour in both directions.
Commenting on an official launch date, Alhassan said that the project is still under testing and it would be hard to ascertain the exact date of launch. He said: "We are still working on the ticket pricing details as well."
When introduced in future, the hyperloop technology will impact the town planning and the availability of parking spaces. It will revolutionise people's mobility between various destinations in the city, logistical hubs like airports and ports, and shipping patterns.
The hyperloop seats have been designed by German car manufacturer BMW, and passengers would need to be seated at all times, with buckled seatbelts, given the speed at which is travels. Alhassan said: "There will be no windows. However, there will be interactive entertainment screens at the arm rest of the seats. The seats have been designed in a very futuristic manner." The hyperloop will be divided into two classes, a gold class and a silver class. Five passengers can be seated in the Gold Class and 14 in the Silver Class.
Renee D'sa, an eight-year-old resident of Dubai and one of the first visitors inside the prototype, said: "It is Beautiful on the inside. The seats are comfortable and the headrest is amazing. I want to go and visit Fujairah. I'm excited that it would go so fast."
People have stated that they are willing to pay up to Dh1,000 to take a trip in thee hyperloop.


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Select your country
Summer sun equals blistering temperatures and skyrocketing energy use as people turn up the air conditioning to cool down. Helping tackle the heat, a new ad campaign by Coors Light switches from billboards to 'chillboards' to highlight the benefits of covering roofs in reflective white paint. By reducing absorption of the sun's rays, white roof coating can lower surface temperatures by up to 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
For its 'advertising campaign that no one can see but everyone can feel,' the beer brand worked with mural artist Andaluz to design a typeface that would cover as much surface area as possible — as much as 95% of a rooftop — and maximize the cooling effect of its ads. Andaluz and his crew painted 12 Miami rooftops in 6 days, covering a total of 36,000 square feet and helping cool down 96 apartments. The chillboards all feature different messages that highlight their cooling effect, like "This ad chills internally" and "Refresh your roof."
Coors Light is also giving consumers the opportunity to lower the temperature of their own homes — it's giving away 5,000 gallons of reflective white paint via Instagram and Twitter.
Dark asphalt and concrete soak up solar radiation. Add in increasingly hot summers, and it's no wonder that urban heat islands are getting worse. The burden isn't evenly spread, either: less tree cover in disadvantaged neighborhoods means low-income residents are hit hardest, enduring far higher temperatures than people who live in wealthier, more verdant areas.
Similar to murals sponsored by Absolut and Converse that gobble up air pollution, chillboards by Coors Light use advertising to make a positive, physical change that can benefit human and planetary health. While individual campaigns won't make a huge difference, they combine to create awareness and build momentum for large-scale solutions.
(Thinking of rolling out something similar for your brand? Limit the rooftop whitening to cities with mild or warmish winters: reflective paint can reduce beneficial wintertime solar radiation to such a degree that increased energy usage for heating surpasses energy saved in summertime air conditioning.)
Join 100,000+ future-focused professionals in 180 countries already receiving our free trend updates.


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Aug. 24, 2017 – The sensational gardening social media team commonly known as Garden Answer- Laura & Aaron LeBoutillier – has reached the two million followers mark on Facebook. Now you may be wondering … what’s so important about that number?
More followers mean more video views … and each video view is a brand impression for gardening, Proven Winners, and in many cases a DIY and testimonial for specific plant varieties. Simply put, more video views result in more exposure to plants and inspiration.
Garden Answer has helped Proven Winners reach a younger audience – and this is known by specific follower comments shared via social media, as well as a host of analytics offered by social media platforms. Many are first-time gardeners who have questions, need reassurance and video helps them visualize how each plant will look in specific locations in their garden.
As of Aug, 17, Garden Answer has more than two million followers on Facebook, nearly 200,000 subscribers on YouTube and had more than 176 million video views on YouTube and Facebook in 2016 bringing their company’s total to 386 million views in less than three years, a staggering number that eclipses even that of Super Bowl viewership!
To capitalize on this exposure, the popular Gardener’s Idea Book available to gardeners and IGCs from Proven Winners will include two pages featuring Laura for 2018, in addition to 200 videos for Proven Winners in the next 12 months. Their videos will focus on the National Plant of the Year™ varieties and recipes, along with popular shrubs and perennials.
Garden centre retailers, landscapers and growers can refer to this page on the Proven Winners web site to see which recent videos have resonated well with followers, in addition to seeing what is planned for future content. The page also provides assistance on how to share these videos on a company’s own social channels.
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