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Seagate has announced pricing for its latest enterprise-targeted hard drives, offering an 8TB capacity for just $260 - a fraction of the cost of the equivalent capacity from rival HGST.
With solid-state storage devices having easily won the performance war, spinning-rust manufacturers have begun competing on capacity. Currently, the major contenders are in a race to 10TB and while none have yet reached those heady heights in a commercial implementation, both Seagate and Western Digital's wholly-owned HGST subsidiary have launched single 3.5" drives boasting an 8TB capacity into the market. Where HGST's 8TB unit uses a novel helium filling and costs nearly £700
, however, Seagate's offering has pricing significantly more down-to-earth.
Seagate's new Archive family uses Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) to hit a new areal density high of 1.33 terabytes per platter. Launching in 8TB, 6TB and 5TB flavours, the drives are aimed at enterprise use but as the name suggests not as a high-speed near-line storage option. Instead, Seagate is hoping the drives will find favour as far-line storage where speed is less important, hence their 5,900rpm spindle speed. Backed by a 128MB cache, Seagate's own figures claim a 150MB/s average throughput - although this may be impacted by use of the Secure variants, which pack a hardware encryption chip at additional cost.
The real headline-grabbing feature of the new Archive drives is the cost. Retailers have begun listing the 8TB variant ahead of January availability, costing as little as $260 from US retailers and around €260 from European retailers. While UK pricing is not yet available, a conversion from Euros allowing for VAT and import overheads suggests a launch price of around £250 - far less than HGST's similar-capacity though far-faster 8TB equivalent at £685.20, and a price which may put them within the reach of enthusiast users looking for high-capacity storage to sit alongside a high-performance SSD.
UK launch pricing and availability for the Seagate Archive drives has yet to be confirmed. More information is available on the company's official website


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Antalis continues to expand internationally and has signed a binding agreement to acquire Pakella www.pakella.lv, a player in the distribution and manufacture of industrial and food packaging in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Antalis has signed a binding agreement to acquire Pakella, which specialises in the manufacturing and distribution of industrial and food packaging to various business customers. Pakella is a leading packaging distributor in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia with a €15 million turnover in 2023 and 60 employees across its three distribution sites.
The agreement is subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions including the approval of the Latvian competition authority.
Founded in 1996, the Pakella Group excels in the design and manufacture of made-to-measure industrial and food packaging, having developed unique and specific expertise in various sectors over more than 20 years, particularly in the food industry.
Antalis, already well established in Europe, continues to expand its presence in the packaging distribution market worldwide. Following the acquisition of Portuguese company 100 Metros at the beginning of 2024, Pakella will strengthen Antalis’ offering in the industrial and food packaging market in the Baltic countries.

domain: news


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Manhattan-based Revolution in Motion, a whole body health and fitness center, is opening its first location on Long Island in Port Washington on Monday.
Founded by chiropractor Edythe Heus, RevInMo features sequences of precisely designed exercises performed bare-footed on unstable surfaces like slant boards and gymnastic balls, according to a statement.
The program is designed to enhance how the nervous and musculoskeletal systems work together, reaching overlooked micro-muscles.
Former Radio City Music Hall Rockette Marcy Ellen Greco, a RevInMo client-turned-trainer, said the fitness program helped her posture and dancing.
“The difference was so profound that I decided to become a certified RevInMo instructor and share this extraordinary healing technique with others,” Greco said in the statement.
The gym is located on the second floor of 939 Port Washington Blvd.
More breaking news
- Q&A with Emerald Brand
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- State greenlights med marijuana sites
- Invenergy files documents for solar project
- Wayback Burgers to open in West Hempstead
- Wage hike for fast-food workers may face legal challenge
- Tesla opening pop-up store in Southampton
- New media market emerges with business opportunities
- New York-area construction sizzling this summer
- To B or not to B


text: The video game market is growing so rapidly that it will surpass the movie theater industry in revenues this year, and it threatens to supplant other media. One big factor is the expanded demographic of gaming: New research studies reveal that a large portion of the visitors to video game sites are 40 or older. What does this mean for media companies and investors? And what are the implications of new advertising models designed to exploit this new medium? We’ll provide the answers.


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Online health sites are spreading across the country as swiftly as a virus. And Massachusetts investors are not immune, plunging millions this year into the online health care sector.
In recent years, startups aimed at providing information on health care -- from consumer research to hospital rankings to social networking for doctors -- have been popping up around Boston.
Earlier this month, Cambridge-based Sermo Inc., which works almost like a Facebook for physicians, closed a third round of funding worth $26.7 million. That brings the company's venture backing to about $38 million. Investors include Waltham-based Longworth Venture Partners and Softbank Capital in Newton.
Meanwhile, another social networking site, PatientsLikeMe in Cambridge, has raised $5.75 million to date. And Cambridge-based WEGO Health, a Web health information site being run by former Yahoo Inc. executive Jack Barrette and backed by General Catalyst Partners in Cambridge, is soon expected to announce its formal launch.
Bay State online health sites are taking in millions in venture capital investment, adding to what some consider an already overcrowded market. More than $36 million has been invested in online "decision support" companies for health care -- exempting software and infrastructure businesses -- in 2007, according to Dow Jones VentureOne. That's a big jump over 2006, when the sector raised a mere $7 million.
Excluding the $171 million round raised to restart Boston-based Health Dialog in 2005, investments in the online health market are at their highest level in five years.
"I think there's been a lot of money on the sidelines for a longtime and I think (investors are) finally trying to go after that," said Ben Heywood, a founder and CEO of PatientsLikeMe.
Of course, Boston is not an isolated case of the Internet health craze. Startups are sprouting up everywhere, creating what looks to be a glut of sites trying to fill every conceivable niche.
Those new players include Miami-based HealthCare.com Inc.; Washington, D.C.-based Revolution Health Group; San Francisco-based TauMed.com; Nashville-based MedBillManager.com and New York-based Waterfront Media Inc.'s EverydayHealth.com.
These younger sites are competing with survivors from the dot-com era, such as WebMD Health Corp. (Nasdaq: WBMD) and HealthGrades Inc. (Nasdaq: HGRD). In short, if you're cruising for health care information on the Web, your dance card is full.
"It's a highly competitive market," said Monique Levy, a senior analyst at JupiterResearch. She said the majority of health information sites are adopting advertising revenue models, anticipating a surge in traffic from aging baby boomers and money from pharmaceutical companies.
Web traffic to online health sites grew by 12 percent in the first quarter of 2007, compared to the same period last year, according to metric tracking company comScore Inc. WebMD took the top ranking with more than 17 million unique monthly visitors in comScore's report, but sites like EverydayHealth saw 55 percent spike in monthly visitors.
"As a physician I can tell you a patient can never have enough information," said Teo Forcht Dagi, partner at Boston-based HLM Venture Partners. "They always want more." Patients will often look across a number of sites for information, Dagi said.
Indeed, a study released last year by JupiterResearch found the majority of online health site users are not loyal customers, preferring to jump to any site that provides the most relevant content. And with so many sites going after the same ad dollars, some companies are experimenting with alternative business models.
"I started noticing a trend (of) ostensibly smart people starting absolutely stupid health care companies," said Daniel Palestrant, CEO of Sermo. Both Sermo and PatientsLikeMe are attempting to employ fee-based models for outside businesses wanting to collect the feedback being created on the companies' social networks. The hope is they'll be able to find a cure for what ails the burgeoning industry.


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We have added capabilities, equipment, and manufacturing expertise that has made us a valued partner to the Automotive Industry.
Westfield, PA (PRWEB) April 18, 2013
Electri-Cord Manufacturing announced today its new wire harness manufacturing focused on the Automotive and Transportation industry. According to the company, the harnesses are custom designed to perform under extreme conditions and meet many stringent customer specific requirements. "We have added capabilities, equipment, and manufacturing expertise that has made us a valued partner to the Automotive industry," said Tom Olmscheid, Director of Sales and Marketing for the company.
Electri-Cord creates products that terminate all major brands of automotive style connectors, including Delphi Packard, Deutsch, Amphenol, Tyco, Molex, and Bosch. The company's factory in Guadalajara is also strategically located to expedite shipping to many of their automotive customers in Mexico.
"Whether you require high volume or high complexity, we have the solution to fit your needs," said Olmscheid. "From sealed connectors to over-molding, we provide the performance that this industry demands."
Electri-Cord began in 1946 in Brooklyn, NY and moved to Westfield, PA in 1965. Throughout its history of owners and presidents, the company has diversified from manufacturing only power cords to becoming a major supplier of cables, wiring harnesses, cable assemblies, and box builds to some of the largest companies in the world.
For more information about Electri-Cord Manufacturing, visit them online at http://www.electri-cord.com or call 814-367-2265.


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Natural cycles apple watch : The software heralded a new era of digital contraception, but it was not without criticism.
Table of Contents
Natural Cycles, a fertility tracking app, said today that it has acquired FDA approval to be integrated into the Apple Watch, a product that is believed to be worn by over 100 million people globally.
Natural Cycles made history in 2018 when it became the first FDA-approved digital contraception method, combining user-inputted temperature data with its algorithm to calculate individuals’ fertile and non-fertile days of their menstrual cycle. It is now about to be implemented into the world’s most popular smartwatches.
According to the firm, the most requested feature of Natural Cycles’ 3-million-strong user base is inclusion on the Apple Watch, which has supported body temperature-based ovulation tracking since its Series 8 edition was released in 2022. It has already being deployed for over a year on the Oura Ring after receiving FDA approval in 2021.
How does Natural cycles apple watch?
Natural Cycles heralded a new generation of contraception, but it was not without controversy. It facilitates the fertility awareness method, a rebranding of natural family planning that involves closely monitoring changes in your body to assess your fertile and non-fertile days each month; as a non-hormonal method, it has proven appealing to many who are concerned about the safety and potential side effects of hormonal methods.
The fertility awareness approach is based on the idea that a woman can become pregnant in just six days throughout her menstrual cycle: the day of ovulation and the five days before it when sperm can survive and fertilize the liberated egg cell.
Natural Cycles uses the temperature curve provided by data to compute the day of ovulation and the days following it, assisting it in determining when unprotected intercourse is safe and when it is not. If you wish to have sex on unprotected days, you must use a barrier technique such as a condom. Users had to manually enter this data every morning when they woke up, using a thermometer to gauge their basal temperature.
Natural Cycles’ remarkable 98 percent success rating as a strategy only works if it is followed consistently and correctly; look at ‘normal use’ and that percentage swiftly drops to 93 percent. In instance, the combined and progesterone contraceptive pills have a comparable discrepancy between perfect and normal use, with efficacy decreasing if a pill is missing, for example.
The dependency of Natural Cycles on temperature data can also be substantially influenced by improper use, down to instances that aren’t always the user’s fault. Not only does it have to be measured at the same time every day, which is presumably more of a problem with manual thermometers than with wearable technology, but Dr. Shazia Malik, a consultant obstetrician and gynecologist in the UK, is concerned that “wearing a watch isn’t somehow going to exclude the things that make temperature readings less accurate.”
Natural cycles, fertility awareness, and the realities of everyday use
As a result, Natural Cycles has been smacked on the wrist in more than one market for not being more forthright about the reality of typical use. A Swedish hospital stated in 2018 that 37 of 668 women who sought abortions there during a three-month period used Natural Cycles as their main form of birth control. While the number of pregnancies was consistent with Natural Cycles’ failure rate, the Swedish Medical Products Agency advised the business to “clarify the risk of unwanted pregnancies” in its instructions, which it did.
The UK’s Advertising Standards Agency concluded that a Natural Cycles Facebook advertisement’s claim that their approach is “highly accurate” was deceptive, and they were cautioned against overstating the system’s effectiveness as a means of contraception.
The CEO and co-founder of Natural Cycles, Elina Berglund, told Mashable that the probability of becoming pregnant unintentionally as a result of the algorithm was “really low” and added that users in cohorts around the age of 30 may exhibit riskier behavior, probably because they are more likely to be established in their lives and unconcerned about becoming pregnant. This was reiterated by Malik, who added, “You should only use [fertility awareness methods] if getting pregnant isn’t going to be a disaster.”
Can this ‘normal’ use be made better by integration with wearable technology? The Apple Watch’s current period monitoring data, Berglund continued, is already being used clandestinely by watch owners as a fertility awareness technique. “We remain the only app with FDA clearance and approval for use as a contraceptive. We’ve published more than four studies on the effectiveness of contraceptives alone, but ease of use and how well it fits into women’s life are just as significant. “We believe the drop off rates will be lower,” she said of the Apple Watch integration.
Which apple watch has temperature sensor
Temperature sensors are a feature of the Apple Watch Series 8 and Apple Watch Ultra. These sensors are made to monitor nighttime variations in wrist temperature, giving consumers useful information about their health. One beneath the display and one for measuring body temperature are where the temperature sensors are situated. Users of iPhones can get and view this temperature data using the Health app. You only need to launch the Health app, then “Browse,” then “Body Measurements,” and then “Wrist Temperature.” A temperature chart will appear as a result.
It’s crucial to remember that early Apple Watch models, like the Apple Watch Series 7, don’t include a body temperature sensor, mostly because of software restrictions. Therefore, if temperature monitoring is a specific requirement, it’s advisable to opt for the Apple Watch Series 8 or Apple Watch Ultra.
Read More Story Like this


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Fort Worth barbecue restaurant F1 Smokehouse opens on Sept. 21, 2023, bringing style and flair to a down-home Texas cuisine.
That sparkle starts at the front door, where the University Drive restaurant sports neon blue columns and houndstooth-painted brick. It’s a big change from the look and feel of the original F1, which was a food truck parked near the Trinity River.
The now-permanent structure for F1 comes from the same owner, Felipe Armenta, whose company Far Out Hospitality is one of Fort Worth’s most prolific, with Press Cafe, Pacific Table, Maria’s Mexican Kitchen, and new Le Margot in the portfolio. Chef-partner Graham Elliot moved to Fort Worth in 2022 to open restaurants with Armenta. You might know Elliot as a former Food & Wine “best new chef” who’s been a judge on Top Chef and MasterChef. We called F1 one of the most exciting new restaurants to open in 2023.
The menu has been given a total overhaul, Armenta tells The Dallas Morning News. He explains it this way: “We’re smoking, but we’re not a barbecue shack.” Plus, he never loved the no-napkins, no-forks style of barbecue that’s prevalent all over Fort Worth and beyond.
Lunch or dinner at F1 might start with an upscale bar snack like loaded tots with bacon ($9) or shrimp-avocado cocktail ($17). Unlike many barbecue joints, F1 has three salads priced $12 to $17 that could be eaten as entrees.
Customers won’t order meat by the pound at F1, as they did at the food truck. Instead, Elliot and his team have moved their smoked meats into sandwiches or entrees. Two stand-out sandwiches seem to be the smoked pork loin with mustard and country ham ($16) and the rib-eye French dip with horseradish cream and jus.
The entrees read like an upscale, sit-down Southern restaurant — a refreshing update in the world of Texas barbecue. But there’s added expense, too. Peach-glazed chicken with a side of “mac and Jack” pasta is $23, blackened grilled salmon with Mexican corn relish costs $28, and smoked prime rib with garlic potatoes is priced at $35. For those craving brisket, it comes on a plate with white truffle potato salad for $26. That’s not much higher than brisket by-the-pound might cost someplace else in this economy, but it’s rare to find truffle anything on the side at barbecue joints.
“We’re excited,” Armenta says. “I believe we’re doing something unique and different and can stand out.”
Armenta also hopes that F1 becomes a late-night drinking spot or a place to watch the game. The lush patio is brimming with plants.
He picked the location because of F1′s proximity to the Fort Worth museums, Dickies Arena, the new Crescent hotel expected to open in October 2023, and the Auberge hotel Bowie House debuting in November 2023.
“That neighborhood is always humming,” he says.
F1 Smokehouse is at 517 University Drive, Fort Worth. Open seven days a week for lunch, dinner and late night starting Sept. 21, 2023.


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Amazon India is finally ending its relationship with one of its biggest sellers in the country, Cloudtail, following years of allegations that it received preferential treatment from the e-commerce giant. The announcement by the company comes amidst an antitrust probe into the joint venture between the two, that came after a document leak by Reuters.
A joint statement by Amazon and NR Narayana Murthy-owned Catamaran Ventures that controlled Cloudtail confirmed the same. The partnership between the two parties was due for renewal in May 2022 and they decided not to renew the deal considering the recent developments and policy changes in the country. This means the seller will no longer be selling on Amazon in the coming year.
According to Reuters documents, the e-commerce platform has been flouting Indian foreign direct investment (FDI) rules by investing in the creation of a ‘special merchant’. While Amazon can be a platform for e-commerce in India, it isn’t allowed to control the inventory. However, with the creation of this special seller, Amazon has been indirectly controlling the inventory, favoring its own seller over other sellers.
As per the rules for e-commerce firms in India, a foreign entity running a marketplace as well as its group companies are not allowed equity participation in any of the sellers or having control over their inventory.
In line with these rules, Amazon had to reduce its stake from 49 percent to 24 percent in Cloudtail and Appario, the two top sellers on its marketplace. However, it was still under the scanner of various government bodies who claim the marketplace flouts FDI rules through such indirect stake in seller entities.
Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart had to delist hundreds of thousands of items from their stores and made their investments in affiliated firms way more indirect, post India fixed the loophole in its FDI policy in late 2018. In June this year, India proposed even tougher e-commerce rules that, among other things, prohibit Amazon, Flipkart, and other e-commerce players from running their in-house or private labels.
Copyright © 2009 - 2024 Franchise India Holdings Ltd


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After receiving orders for its GaN-based blue LEDs this year at a rate far exceeding its original expectations, Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) of Tokyo, Japan has decided to invest JPY5bn ($40 million) to expand production capacity of gallium nitride-based blue LED chips at its Chiba site ahead of schedule. Capacity is expected to reach 200 million units per month by June 2008.
This is in addition to SDK's ongoing expansion (announced in February) from 30 million to 100 million units per month by the end of 2007 (capacity is currently 60 million units per month).
To read the rest of this article, please visit the Semiconductor Today website.


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Running News Daily is edited by Bob Anderson in Mountain View, California USA and team in Thika Kenya, La Piedad Mexico, Bend Oregon and Chandler Arizona. Send your news items to firstname.lastname@example.org Advertising opportunities available. Email bob for rates. Over one million readers and growing.
A 41-year-old TikToker and salesman from Sichuan, China, Wu Nan, has found a niche way to sell women’s high heels. The man’s marketing strategy involves sprinting in stilettos–and he has reportedly generated a staggering six million yuan (CAD $1,100,000) in monthly sales.
After years of struggling to sell cakes, and then curtains, Nan found running in heels a great technique to boost his online sales.
In Nan’s videos, he can be seen sprinting aggressively on the treadmill, track or outdoors while wearing big black boots or dazzling stilettos, showcasing how sturdy the heels are. Apparently many women face this trouble with heels and need a durable pair to get around in.
Nan is also very descriptive with his marketing. In one clip, he refers to the softness of the sheepskin and the shoe’s “special feeling” when sprinting in it.
According to the South China Post, Wu began selling women’s shoes in 2008 when he opened his first shop. He began posting videos online in March 2020 and has gained over 1.2 million subscribers on TikTok.
Wu told Chinese news that his expectations were low at first. He thought he’d only sell around 500 pairs a year. After he made his first video, he sold over 100 pairs, raking in $10,000; now he makes more than a million dollars per month.
The prices of his shoes ranges from $40 to $200 CAD (US$150).
His videos have gone viral in China, as locals express their admiration for grown men who can run in high heels.(01/20/2023) Views: 98 ⚡AMP


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Influencers could soon be publishing content to Instagram with a “paid partnership” notification at the top of each post. Since the AANA released their new guidelines earlier this year, players with a hands off approach to the channel have been trying to enforce guidelines all the while trying to facilitate non meaningful relationships with brands and Influencers without fully understanding both perspectives.
Confused about the best way to disclose payment, influencers have been including words like #spon and #ad in their sponsored posts in an attempt to legitimise the partnership. For the sake of the advertising industry’s peace of mind, they have been sacrificing their authentic tone of voice – which their followers love them for.
As we expected, Facebook have solved the problem for their 700 million monthly active users on Instagram in an ingeniously simple and consistent way.
Instagram’s creative programs director Charles Porch told TechCrunch: “People are building amazing businesses on Instagram all over the world, at all sorts of scale,” Porch said. And those users are “looking for ways to be super transparent with their followers when they have a partnership.”
The new “paid partnership” notification could not only quash the question of credibility but also directly connect the brand to the influencer. Brands would automatically be able to access the data around the post’s reach and engagement. All the influencer marketing stats join the Facebook dashboard alongside the rest of their advertising data.
What does Vamp think?
It’s a hugely positive progression for the industry with Facebook legitimising influencer marketing alongside all other forms of digital advertising. The latest stats shows that 84% of marketers judge Influencer Marketing to be effective and the market is expected to grow to $1.7 billion next year.* Everyone – brands, influencers and agencies – can expect the pace to pick up big time.
Partnership is such an apt word because it says it exactly how it is. When it’s done right, influencer marketing is all about genuine partnerships between brands and Influencers. At VAMP we make sure that our Influencers align authentically with the brands they partner with. When they love the brand it really shines through in the content.
It’s understandable that the advertising industry has taken a while to get used to the idea that influencer marketing is here to stay. It’s growing at such breakneck speed that it’s not surprising that some marketers got whiplash. It takes forwarding-thinking industry leaders like Instagram to point out the obvious solution to the problem.
Like we’ve always said, our Influencers’ followers aren’t put off by the fact that a post is paid for.
For influencers, being genuine and relatable comes hand-in-hand with creating original aweinspiring content. Their followers trust that that they would never partner with a brand that they did not already genuinely align with.
We can all stop wasting time worrying about it.
Interview with VAMP Co-Founder Aaron Brooks as published on AdNews


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INTEGRA Biosciences builds campus for 400 employees in Zizers
International laboratory technology company INTEGRA Biosciences is expanding its head offices in Zizers, Switzerland, with the aim of creating 250 new jobs by 2028. At a cost of over 100 million Swiss francs, the new 30,000 m2 ‘INTEGRA Campus’ will be a site for creation and innovation, wit ... more
INTEGRA announces $10,000 contribution to Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Following the launch of its limited edition PIPETGIRL pink pipette controller in support of breast cancer research earlier this year - INTEGRA announced it has made a $10,000 contribution to the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Mass.
Marc ... more
INTEGRA Biosciences Opens German Subsidiary
Following on from the successful launch of subsidiaries in France, the UK and the USA - INTEGRA Biosciences has announced the opening in January 2015 of a new organisation based in Konstanz, Germany.Leveraging an existing knowledgeable local sales and service team – INTEGRA Biosciences Deut ... more


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Couple paving the way to Texas wine
Published 12:05 am, Thursday, July 21, 2011
A world of new discovery is just a short trolley ride down the road with Atascocita residents Selina and Steve Shadd
Their new business venture, Texas Grape Escapes, offers day trips to local wineries, restaurants, bakeries, cooking schools and farms. And, the Shadds have partnered with The Original Trolley Company to provide transportation for trips within a 90 mile radius of the Kingwood/Humble area.
Trips, which can be scheduled on weekends or weekdays, range from six to 8 hours and are all-inclusive, providing transportation, a meal, wine tastings, and, depending on the tour, culinary samplings and cooking classes.
SELINA AND STEVE SHADD
Community connection: Atascocita residents
Fast fact: Founders/event producers of the Chocolate Festival of Texas and the Lake Houston Bridal Show
Quick quote: "This is a close getaway and a change of scenery. It's a peaceful, relaxing afternoon. There are 20 wineries within a 90 mile radius, and I haven't been to all of them. It's a great day trip," said Selina Shadd.
For more information: Visit www.texasgrapeescapes.com or call 832-515-3860
Their goal is to showcase the varieties of Texas wine, which range from grapes to prickly pear to hibiscus, and Texas foods through the Texas Department of Agriculture's Go Texan program.
The Shadds are no strangers to educating the public about local wares when it comes to food and unique products. They are the founders and event producers of the Chocolate Festival of Texas and the Lake Houston Bridal Show.
The idea for the wine tours began after they invited wine vendors to the chocolate festival to offer tastings with various chocolates, Selina Shadd said. The response to the tastings at the festival was a sold-out success.
Evolving into the tours was just a natural progression.
"This is a great day trip to see the Texas countryside and get away to see wineries close to Houston. There was no one in the Houston area that offered this," said Shadd, winner of the 2008 Woman of the Year award from the Houston chapter of the American Business Women's Association.
"People are really knowledgeable and will have the chance to get out and see how the wines taste. I think it is going to be really interesting," she said.
Earl Love, owner of Texas Star Winery located 18 miles north of Montgomery off FM 149, is excited about being part of the tour. Texas Star was recently featured as one of 10 wineries on the Bluebonnet Wine Trail.
"I think this wine tour is a great idea. It takes people to the different wineries and it's safe to have a professional driver," Love said. "People have a great time learning how the wine has come to be. They get to experience it all."
A few of the wineries on the tour include Montgomery-area businesses Cork This! and Retreat Hill Cellars, as well as Bernhardt Winery in Plantersville.
Steve Shadd, who also owns Green Kitchens and Baths, a remodeling company, said one of their goals on the tour is to attend all the "grape stomps" as part of the fun. "We're hoping people have a really relaxing time," he said.
The tours will also be a good place for people to get an education on all the wineries and what they offer, he said.
"The people we've met want to share their entrepreneurial spirit. It's all about knowledge and fun," Steve Shadd said.
"I'm looking forward to going on every tour. We're not wine connoisseurs. We're learning as we go too," said Shadd, a native Houstonian.


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Insect resistant variety of the tomato which requires the introduction of a gene that is poisonous to insects, has been controversial. Data suggesting chemical pesticides as a suspect in the increase of deseases such as autism, is the reasons for growing activism against genetic modifications also. Reduction of bio-diversity is yet another major concern against GMO food. Peruvian Indians raised their voices loud and clear about the bio-diversity concerns to get their country to ban GMO food. The model GMO vegetable in its genetically modified form, is now out of the land of its origin!
Food companies claim that the growing world population needs drastic innovations such as genetic modifications. The activists claim that the food industry is poisoning everyone in the quest for higher profits. But how much of the problem is sustained because of a monoculture sweeping through the world? The current debate doesn’t appear to have any clear winners. The debate could be contained if each country promotes its native food habits. Smaller sized food markets may encourage the food industry to fully consider locally available organic options. History text books in a few decades will likely discuss the mono-culture aberration of the 21st century as a phase towards globalization.


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- Our Team
September 20, 2022
In August, the IRS posted new guidance for current and future owners of electric vehicles, outlining the tax benefits available. If you are interested in claiming the tax credit available under section 30D (EV credit) for purchasing a new electric vehicle after Aug. 16, 2022 (which is the date that the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 was enacted), a tax credit is generally available only for qualifying electric vehicles for which final assembly occurred in North America — the so-called final assembly requirement.
The IRS notes that the Department of Energy has provided a list of Model Year 2022 and early Model Year 2023 electric vehicles that may meet the final assembly requirement. Because some models are built in multiple locations, there may be vehicles on the Department of Energy list that do not meet the final assembly requirement in all circumstances.
To identify the manufacture location for a specific vehicle, advises the IRS, please search the vehicle identification number of the vehicle on the VIN Decoder website for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The website, including instructions, can be found at VIN Decoder.
Watch the dates
What if you purchased a vehicle before Aug. 16, 2022? If you entered into a written, binding contract to purchase a new qualifying electric vehicle before then but did not take possession of the vehicle until on or after that date (for example, because the vehicle had not been delivered), you may claim the EV credit based on the rules that were in effect before Aug. 16, 2022. The final assembly requirement does not apply before Aug. 16, 2022, says the IRS.
If you purchase and take possession of a qualifying electric vehicle after Aug. 16, 2022, and before Jan. 1, 2023, explains the IRS, aside from the final assembly requirement, the rules in effect before the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act for the EV credit apply (including those involving the manufacturing caps on vehicles sold).
The feds are pushing EV
The tax breaks are not the only reason to by an electric vehicle. In September remarks in Detroit, President Biden said, “As part of the Infrastructure Law, we’re investing $7.5 billion to build electric vehicle charging stations all across America. So, today I’m pleased to announce we’re approving funding for the first 35 states, including Michigan, to build their own electric charging infrastructure throughout their state.”
For more details on the tax breaks, read the full IRS guidance and consult with a qualified tax adviser.
November 15, 2023
If you lose money on a stock investment in a taxable brokerage firm account, the good news is that you can usually harvest a tax-saving capital loss deduction by selling that stock before year end. However, the wash sale rule might come into play, causing your anticipated tax loss to be disallowed. As the end […]
November 15, 2023
As the holidays approach, it’s time to consider tax planning moves that will help lower this year’s tax bill, as well as set you up for tax savings in future years. The good news is that it appears there won’t be any significant unfavorable federal tax changes that will take effect next year. Assuming that’s […]


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EVERY year new Christmas tree trends appear, but one woman is taking it back to basics with her minimalistic look.
The mum has made an incredible ‘floating’ Christmas tree – out of fishing line, a clothes rail and some old board.
She came up with the idea as part of an Elf on the Shelf prank, and people are seriously impressed with how it turned out.
The mum shared her minimalist tree to Facebook group Kmart Home Decor & Hacks Australia, where she said: “Oops! My son's elf Trixie made the tree disappear.
“For anyone interested in making: All baubles from kmart (of course!)
“Fishing line from $2 shop. Cheaper than from kmart.”
The mum, thought to be from Australia, explained she used a freestanding clothes rail to create the look, saying: “I hung the board using fishing line to the freestanding rail.”
She tied on baubles in strategic places, and while she used fishing line, you could probably use fine thread to re-create the look.
Her novel tree has gone down a storm online, with hundreds of people liking her unique tree.
Commenting on the design, one person said: “You are very very clever!”
Another wrote: “That is the best thing I’ve seen.”
A third posted: “That's dedication.”
Someone else thought: “A good job! amazing well done.”
While this person added: “Maybe we need to up our game.”
Meanwhile an ex-retail worker reveals how to make fake trees look ‘bigger and fuller’ in an instant.
Plus this mum transforms son’s dinosaur toys with gold paint & they make great budget Christmas decorations.
And experts share the one mistake not to make when putting up your Christmas lights this year.
Source: Read Full Article


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Outstream ads are popping up all over the place – and for good reason. Outstream ads are in-feed video ads
Starting 02-15, Google Chrome will begin blocking ads that do not meet the Coalition for Better Ads’ standards. The Coalition for Better Ads is an industry group of technology and media companies…
Over the past few years, digital display advertising has evolved-perhaps more than in the previous five or ten years combined.
Due to a recently identified Abobe Flash Player vulnerability, three of the World’s top web browsers are blocking Flash content.
Adventive’s brand-spanking new Twitter Component is now available in our HTML5 Builder. There are five ways to integrate Twitter into
You’ve got your ads built, your campaign created and your tags generated. Then, you get a 4:55p email from the agency with 25 third-party
Hyperconnected. Multi-channel. Real-time. Digital can be stressful. We’re constantly faced with new challenges in the ad marketplace because our
Despite standards, best practices and comindustry guidelines, it can be hard to develop an engaging rich media campaign when
Adventive’s totally redesigned Campaign Manager makes creating and managing your campaigns even easier, including multi-site campaigns. While most campaigns might


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The A8 Audi exclusive concept
- Small-series production of A8 L W12 with exclusive interior
- Leather from Italian designer furniture maker Poltrona Frau
Audi is introducing an exclusive special edition of its flagship. The A8 Audi exclusive concept with W12 engine (500 hp/368 kW) will be built at the quattro GmbH facility in Neckarsulm. The small-series production model, which is scheduled to begin rolling off the assembly line in March 2014, is strictly limited to 50 units.


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From 16th July 2022, Tom Enoki joined Nintendo of Europe as senior managing director and head of corporate planning office within the senior management team.
Luciano Pereña and Laurent Fischer remain as chief financial officer and chief marketing officer respectively, and along with Tom Enoki, will continue to support Nintendo of Europe president Stephan Bole.
With Tom Enoki joining Nintendo of Europe, former Nintendo of Europe CEO and chairman Koji Miyake has returned to Nintendo’s headquarters in Kyoto, Japan.
“With our mission of putting smiles on people’s faces through unique entertainment experiences, Nintendo of Europe’s management structure is perfectly equipped to meet all challenges and deliver surprises to our customers in Europe,” explains Nintendo of Europe president Stephan Bole. “We welcome Tom to the Nintendo of Europe senior management team, and we thank Mr Miyake for his commitment and service in Europe and look forward to continuing working together.”


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Global trade growth in 2023 is still expected to be subpar despite a slight upgrade to GDP projections since last fall, WTO economists said in a new forecast on 5 April. Weighed down by the effects of the war in Ukraine, stubbornly high inflation, tighter monetary policy and financial market uncertainty, the volume of world merchandise trade is expected to grow by 1.7% this year, following 2.7% growth in 2022, a smaller-than-expected increase that was pulled down by a sharp slump in the fourth quarter.
The WTO’s trade projections, set out in the new “Global Trade Outlook and Statistics” report, estimate real global GDP growth at market exchange rates of 2.4% for 2023. Projections for both trade and output growth are below the averages for the past 12 years of 2.6% and 2.7% respectively (see chart).
WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said: “Trade continues to be a force for resilience in the global economy, but it will remain under pressure from external factors in 2023.This makes it even more important for governments to avoid trade fragmentation and refrain from introducing obstacles to trade. Investing in multilateral cooperation on trade, as WTO members did at our Twelfth Ministerial Conference last June, would bolster economic growth and people’s living standards over the long term.”
The 2.7% increase in world trade volume in 2022 was weaker than the WTO’s October forecast of 3.5%, as a sharper-than-expected quarter-on-quarter decline in the fourth quarter dragged down growth for the year. Several factors contributed to that slump, including elevated global commodity prices, monetary policy tightening in response to inflation, and outbreaks of COVID‑19 that disrupted production and trade in China.
Notably, trade growth last year turned out to be in line with the 2.4% to 3.0% baseline scenario in the WTO’s March 2022 initial report on the war in Ukraine, and well above its more pessimistic scenario in which trade would have grown just 0.5% as countries started to split into competing economic blocs. In the event, international markets remained broadly open. A follow-up study the WTO released last month documented how vulnerable economies were able to compensate for essential food supplies cut off by the war by finding alternative products and suppliers.
The 1.7% forecast for trade growth in 2023, meanwhile, is up from the previous estimate of 1.0% from last October. A key factor here is the relaxation of COVID-19 pandemic controls in China, which is expected to unleash pent-up consumer demand in the country, in turn boosting international trade (see table).
WTO Chief Economist Ralph Ossa said: “The lingering effects of COVID-19 and the rising geopolitical tensions were the main factors impacting trade and output in 2022 and this is likely to be the case in 2023 as well. Interest rate hikes in advanced economies have also revealed weaknesses in banking systems that could lead to wider financial instability if left unchecked. Governments and regulators need to be alert to these and other financial risks in the coming months.”
Looking ahead to 2024, trade growth should rebound to 3.2%, as GDP picks up to 2.6%, but this estimate is more uncertain than usual due to the presence of substantial downside risks, including geopolitical tensions, food supply shocks, and the possibility of unforeseen fallout from monetary tightening.
The full report is available here.


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Proper Music Improves Food Sales In Restaurant, Random Top Hits Hurts: Study (Part I)
Daunfeldt said if right music is played, it results with positive effect on sales and customers spend more on desserts, sides and other such items. If wrong music is played, customers get alienated and restaurants end with selling significantly less.
He added the perfect playlist compromises a good mix of well-known as well as less-known titles and those too follow mixture of what’s popular within restaurant’s theme too.
In another study conducted earlier by Oxford University found traditional music helped the curry restaurants set mood for diners and it also made the food taste hotter to customers.
Further research adds fast beats, high-pitched sounds and distorted notes enhances chilli peppers’ heat sensation and hence boost spiciness of food by about 10 percent.
Meanwhile, a McDonalds spokesman said music is a part of their effort in increasing sales. The other areas that helps in making customers spend more are lighting, seating layout, colors, materials as well as menus. All these are ways to eke the money out of food and drink lovers.
Most of the food giants work carefully in deploying the best seasonal menus to up the sale like the famous one is “Do you want fries with that?” These are just psychological tricks which are followed strategically.
The latest study reviewed a total of 2,101 customer surveys at sixteen locations of the food giant. It also studied about 1.8 million unique transactions. This is considered as world’s largest-ever analysis on music in commercial setting.
Soundtrack Your Brand co-founder Ola Sars said subconscious brain of humans is very critical.
Daunfeldt said this is probably the coolest research that he has done in his life where music helps in increasing sales significantly.
For food giants a proper team is deployed to research how to drive sales, but for small restaurants it is suggested to play music that deemed thoughtful and not the mainstream music, which in fact hurt sales. It is also advised to make the area music-free rather than playing random scroll of top hits.


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Tag Archives: dust 514
Tue, Jun 11, 2013 | 23:55 BST
Unlike practically every other title sending trailers to E3, Dust 514 is a game you can download right now and play, for free, on your PlayStation 3. I’m not sure why you’re watching when you could be doing that.
Fri, Jun 07, 2013 | 04:31 BST
CCP believes a demographic it describes as ‘DUST 514-curious’ are buying PlayStation 3 consoles specifically to play the free-to-play shooter.
Mon, Jun 03, 2013 | 12:26 BST
EVE Online and DUST 514 have been brought back online following a string of DDOS attacks, and developer CCP Games has issued a statement on the matter to put subscribers at ease.
Thu, May 23, 2013 | 04:28 BST
While DUST 514, the console based MMO/FPS set in the Eve Online universe, is continuing to receive changes from CCP to its skill system based on feedback from players, some players are not happy with the effects the changes are having on their chosen skills. To help things run more smoothly CCP is offering players a chance to request one free respec.
Tue, May 21, 2013 | 11:51 BST
Eve Online developer CCP Games has confirmed it is toying with the idea of mobile companion apps for its persistent MMO universe. However, it needs to be sure of how it will all work before proceeding.
Tue, May 14, 2013 | 18:22 BST
CCP Games has announced the launch of DUST 514, the free-to-play, multiplayer first-person shooter on PS3.
Tue, Apr 30, 2013 | 11:09 BST
Sat, Apr 27, 2013 | 21:45 BST
With DUST 514 launching next month, CCP has released a look at some of the gameplay you can can expect to see in the game, so VG247′s Sam Clay decided to throw something together for you.
Sat, Apr 27, 2013 | 20:09 BST
Thu, Apr 18, 2013 | 17:51 BST
CCP Games has announced the final schedule of events for the sold out EVE Fanfest.
Thu, Apr 18, 2013 | 01:31 BST
Fri, Mar 29, 2013 | 02:47 GMT
This new trailer for Dust 514 provides a bit of context for all those airstrikes you like to call in during the middle of all those multiplayer matches. It all seems much more exciting than usual in this trailer, really. Look at it inside.
Thu, Mar 28, 2013 | 12:38 GMT
EVE Fanfest 2013 takes place April 25-27 and developer CCP Games has announced streaming options for those of you unlucky enough to not have a ticket. If you want to watch in HD it will cost you.
Wed, Mar 27, 2013 | 09:51 GMT
PlayStation 4 is opening up to indies in a big way, and Sony’s VP of publishing Adam Boyes has said at GDC that the company is open to the idea of paid alphas – like Minecraft PC – in future.
Thu, Mar 21, 2013 | 22:27 GMT
A live event adding further integration between Dust 514 and Eve Online will take place this weekend, according to CCP. The Battle of Caldari Prime starts Friday morning and the devs predict it will be a rather large battle compared to the skirmishes which are already taking place. This will allow players to start “self-scripting” the lore and give Dust 514 players a better idea of the scope via these real-time events. Participant will earn a commemorative dropsuit, and you can watch the events unfold through Twitch. You can find out more on the Ballet for Caldari Prime through a Massively interview with senior producer Arnar Hrafn Gylfason. Dust 514 is in beta and will launch sometime this year.
Wed, Mar 20, 2013 | 22:48 GMT
CCP has announced plans for an official player council to promote the community’s needs, just as sister-MMO EVE Online has its Council of Stellar Management. The community organisation has not been named, but is being called the War Council, and CCP is actively seeking suggestions for “the most helpful, active and knowledgeable community members” to be its first representatives. Details are yet to be locked down, but more information is available in the announcement on the PlayStation 3 shooter’s forums.
Thu, Feb 28, 2013 | 11:04 GMT
EvE Online has defied the trend of MMOs going free-to-play by smashing through the 500,000 subscriber milestone.
Wed, Feb 13, 2013 | 20:55 GMT
CCP has announce EVE Fanfest 2013 has completely sold out, with 50% more tickets sold than last year. However, don’t be sad: in the coming weeks, the firm will reveal its plans to live stream the event. So, that’s at least some consolation if you weren’t able to secure tickets. EVE Fanfest takes place in Reykjavik, Iceland at the Harpa Concert Hall April 25-27, and 1,400 people bought tickets, according to the press release.
Thu, Jan 31, 2013 | 20:48 GMT
EVE Fanfest will be rocking Iceland’s Harpa Concert Hall in April, and to get attendees excited over it along with the EVE 10th anniversary celebrations, CCP has released a teaser trailer for the event. EVE Fanfest takes place April 25-27, and according to Massively, there will be “plenty of alcohol, live bands, DUST 514 shenanigans, and the Icelandic Philharmonic Orchestra” on-hand.
Tue, Jan 22, 2013 | 17:37 GMT
The DUST 514 open beta flung its doors wide this morning, and to give you an idea of what to expect in it, CCP has released a trailer. While PvE isn’t live in the beta, and the developers haven’t said when it’s coming, the game does contain plenty of PvP, so log in to the Tranquility server, if you dare, and start fighting your brethren. Thanks, PCgamesN.


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BROOKLYN, Ohio -- A fire broke out in the Marc's store at Ridge Park Square Wednesday evening.
A fire lieutenant told WKYC that there are no injuries and some damage to the store was caused by the sprinkler system.
Witnesses tell WKYC that the store was closed when smoke suddenly began filling the building. They say it appears the fire started in the candle aisle.
The store is located at 7359 Northcliff Ave.
An investigation is underway.


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HUNGRY for revenue, the United States Postal Service is out for its own slice of the American wedding business. Figuring that a majority of couples are still choosing traditional printed invitations for their weddings, rather than “e-vites” and other Web communications tools, the Postal Service has been issuing stamps featuring cakes, flowers, gold bands and other wedding themes.
“One of the many strategies to help turn the Post Office around is to continue to energize the wedding industry to keep putting those invitations in the mail,” said Stephen M. Kearney, who works in Washington as the executive director of stamp services, a Postal Services division that accounts for 25 percent of its total annual revenue of $60 billion. “And since wedding stamps are the king of stamps designed for a specific use, it makes sense to keep putting out different ones for people to choose from.”
With 2.4 million weddings a year in the United States and $165 billion spent on them, according to the Association of Bridal Consultants, “thoughtfully worded” wedding invitations “printed on expensive heavy paper stock” are still the norm for most couples, the stamp designer Ethel Kessler said.
Ms. Kessler, an art director based in Bethesda, Md., who has designed about 300 stamps for the Postal Service in the last 15 years, including the five wedding stamps that have been issued since 2006, also noted that the need for postage multiplies “when you factor in invitations for wedding showers, reply cards and thank-you cards.”
Neither Ms. Kessler nor Mr. Kearney deny that the building tide of e-mail, text messaging and other types of social networking, including Skype, has brought a serious decline in stamp production and the revenues generated by them. Among the findings in the 2011 American Wedding Study issued by Brides magazine was that one in five couples are summoning their guests with e-mail or e-vites, which are thought by some to be more efficient, economical and environmentally sound.
But some see a downside to e-vites.
“They can become cumbersome,” said Peggy Post, a director of the Emily Post Institute in Burlington, Vt. “In some cases, people might not have the right e-mail address to send out an invitation, and even if they do, the invitation can get lost in someone’s junk mail.”Continue reading the main story
Ms. Post, who also writes the online Well-Mannered Wedding column for The New York Times, said that etiquette does not dictate that invitations must be printed and mailed. “Most couples still prefer sending out printed invitations through the mail because it signifies a big moment in their lives,” she said. “It’s another way of adding one more wow factor to the wedding, a sort of frosting on the cake that the couple worked so hard to bake.”
Which may be why last month the Postal Service began selling a 65-cent stamp depicting a frothy wedding cake — a reissued and repriced version of the 61-cent stamp it introduced in 2009, generating $76 million in sales over a two-year period.
The Postal Service’s first wedding stamp, depicting a calligraphic dove-and-heart design, posted $375 million in sales. A heart-within-a-heart design, introduced in 2007, saw sales of $446 million over two years.
Another 2009 issue that featured a pair of gold wedding rings piled on another $125 million. And last year’s wedding roses stamp rang up $47 million over eight months.
The Postal Service has also authorized companies like Stamps.com, Zazzle, Endicia and Pitney Bowes/R.R. Donnelly to create their own stamps. Couples can upload their favorite personal photographs (like family portraits, puppies and automobiles) to the Web sites of these companies, which for a fee will turn them into valid postage stamps.
But even the availability of this “puppy postage” has done little to prevent the steady erosion of the Postal Service’s overall stamp revenues, which have declined to $10.3 billion in 2011 from approximately $11.3 billion in 2007.
Ada Marie Foley and Matthew James McCrady of Lawrence Harbor, N.J., who are 29 and plan to wed on July 20 in Ocean Township, N.J., may typify the approach that many young couples are now taking to get the word out. They initially signaled their intentions with a save-the-date video posted on the Web.
Ms. Foley and Mr. McCrady are also preparing to mail wedding invitations in May, complete with personalized postage stamps featuring themselves and Charlotte, their Jack Russell terrier/cocker spaniel mix.
Ms. Foley explained their decision to pair their Web efforts with an old-school formal approach: “Despite the fact that we are living in such a digital age, we still wanted to hold tight to having a formal, paper invitation sent out in the mail. As a bride, there’s something very exciting to me about packing my invitations for mailing. It’s much classier than just sending out an electronic invite, which is not my style.”Continue reading the main story


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Copaken Brooks and EPC Real Estate Group LLC broke ground Tuesday on the latest phase of Lenexa City Center, the 200-acre mixed-use neighborhood incorporating all four corners of the intersection of 87th Street Parkway and Renner Boulevard.
The new $50 million project, The District at City Center, will add 175 luxury apartments, 45,000 square feet of offices and 35,000 square feet of retail to the existing 800,000 square feet of mixed uses already at the southwest corner of 87th and Renner.
The existing uses include the 200-unit Domain at City Center apartment project, which EPC developed across Penrose Lane from the District at City Center site, and the recently opened Lenexa City Hall and Civic Campus.
The District will open in March 2019 and will fill voids in the office and retail submarkets for full-floor offices for 5,000-square-foot tenants and first-class retail space.
“We are well underway with the District and City Center and are really hitting on all cylinders right now,” Keith Copaken, a principal with master developer Copaken Brooks, said in a release. “I’m not sure you could find a more exciting and active area in the Kansas City metro area right now.”
(Read more: Kansas City Business Journal – The Business Journals)


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On May 1, Hawaii became the first state to pass a bill that banned the sale of chemical sunscreen (suncreen containing chemicals believed to harm coral reefs). This legislation prohibits the distribution of sunscreens containing the chemicals oxybenzone and octinoxate that scientists have found contributes to coral bleaching when washed off in the ocean. An estimated 14,000 tons of sunscreen is believed to be deposited in oceans annually with the greatest damage found in popular reef areas in Hawaii and the Caribbean. The Hawaii sunscreen bill now awaits the signature of the governor. The new rules will go into effect Jan. 1, 2021. Sunscreen isn’t the only enemy of healthy reefs; other polluters include ocean warming, agricultural runoff and sewage dumping. But banning harmful chemicals, say environmental advocates, is one variable swimmers can control.
If you’re planning any winter traveling, stop in and shop some of our coral reef safe environment friendly products!


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Raising a glass to Cabernet Gernischt
China’s historic winery, Changyu made history by hosting a World Cabernet Gernischt Day at Vinexpo this year in recognition of the mysterious grape variety’s success in China.
Cabernet Gernischt has previously caused a few raised eyebrows across the wine industry over the last few years, principally because no one was quite sure what it was.
It is grown in abundance at one of China’s largest (and historic) volume producers, Changyu and was one of the first 124 international grape varieties brought over by founder, Chang Bishi.
First bottled in 1931 as ‘Noble Dragon’ the dry red wine now accounts for 80% of the total yield of Cabernet Gernischt in Yantai and 70% of the total yield of Cabernet Gernischt across China.
It wasn’t until DNA profiling revealed in that Cabernet Gernischt which has found a happy home in China was in fact Carmenere though initial studies in China claimed that it was Cabernet Franc.
In 2012, British supermarket chain Waitrose enterprisingly took up the mantle of selling Cabernet Gernischt for £9.99 (97 RMB, HK$114) after wine buyer Katie Mollet spotted an opportunity to bring in lesser-known wine in the UK and offered it as an “ideal accompaniment to a Chinese takeaway.”
Off the back of this, Jancis Robinson also gave 16 points to Changyu’s Noble Dragon, describing it has having “the aroma of herbs of Cabernet Franc and texture of Cabernet Sauvignon.”
The prominence that Cabernet Gernischt took at Changyu’s booth at Vinexpo served as a reminder that the winery wants the world to take it seriously. Changyu hopes that Cabernet Gernischt can raise the profile of China’s winemaking, in the same way that Sauvignon Blanc has done for New Zealand and Malbec for Argentina.
Jeannie Cho Lee MW commented: “I am glad that Changyu has decided to launch a Cabernet Gernischt Day to recognize this special variety that performs very well in China. I first tasted Cabernet Gernischt from China in the mid 1990s and followed its progress and the improvements being made are impressive. Except for Chile, where one can find large plantings of Carmenere (same DNA as Cabernet Gernischt), there are very few places in the world that offers this variety so it is unique differentiation point for China. The Noble Dragon, made from Cabernet Gernischt is well-crafted, balanced red wine, with both herbal and black berry fruit flavors supported by soft, ripe tannins. As a leader in the Chinese wine industry, Changyu can help educate consumers about Cabernet Gernischt and help expand the market.”
As of 2016 – the 85th anniversary of its first release – Noble Dragon has been distributed to 28 countries in Europe, America and Asia with cumulative sales of over 430 million bottles.


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SYDNEY, June 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Over 2.2 million people attended Vivid Sydney 2022 before the lights went out at 11 p.m. (AEST) on Saturday, June 18, to present the largest, brightest and most celebrated festival of creativity, innovation and technology in the event’s 12-year history.
After 23 days of spotlighting light artwork, music performances, thought-provoking talks and immersive workshops, today’s festival organizers provided a beacon of light for fans of Australia’s biggest event, announcing the festival dates for 2023.
Vivid Sydney 2023 will take place from Friday 26 May to Saturday 17 June and will feature a dedicated food program for the first time – Vivid Food – which will take place alongside Light, Music and Ideas.
Minister for Enterprise, Investment and Trade, Minister for Tourism and Sports and Minister for Western Sydney Stuart Ayres said Vivid Sydney continues to provide fresh and new reasons to come to visit while turbocharging the NSW visitor economy.
“Vivid Sydney offers a mid-year boon to restaurants, bars, cafes and retail stores in the Central Business District (CBD) and along the scale of the festival. This year’s participation numbers show that NSW has fallen in love with Sydney once again,” Mr. Ayres said.
“In 2022, more than 650,000 people from Vivid Sydney dined outdoors. Observations suggest that Vivid Sydney provided the industry with sponsors on a par with the holiday seasons that preceded the pandemic. It was this natural synergy between festival and dining out that was what Led to we introduce Vivid Food, which will give chefs, producers, restaurants and event companies the opportunity to create food festival events, stimulate visits to CBD restaurants and venues and promote Sydney as a global dining destination.”
Festival Director Gil Minervini added: “I am delighted that my first program for Vivid Sydney has been so well received. There has been a real buzz in Sydney over the last 23 nights and it is great to see so many people back in the CBD enjoying the essence of this great city and what makes it Originally unique.
“Vivid Sydney has provided a much-needed injection to Australia’s creative, leisure, hospitality and tourism industries, and with the 2023 Festival well planned and already underway, I have no doubts that we will deliver a dynamic, thought-provoking and inspiring streak – up to 12 months.”
To recreate the magic of Vivid Sydney’s biggest, brightest and most daring ever, the stunning FPV (First Person Perspective View) drone has been launched by Destination NSW. The public can enjoy an 8-kilometre Light Walk in 2022, the longest in the event’s history, extending from Circular Quay to Central Station.
Captured over three times in the morning, the tiny drones provide a realistic 2.5-minute flight following key light artworks and 3D projections including Yar Kalpa – Hunting Ground 2021 On the sails of the Sydney Opera House, Ken Don sydney with love at the customs office, New York Sunday At the Australian Museum of Contemporary Art, ephemeral oceanic On the waters of Walsh Bay, and Sydney Infinity The largest light and water show ever seen in Australia is at Darling Harbor.
Vivid Sydney 2023 Expressions of Interest (EOI) light, music, ideas and food will open on Saturday 18 June. EOIs for Light and Cross Art Models will close Monday, August 1 with Ideas, Music and Food closed on Monday, September 19. Vivid Sydney EOI identifies opportunities for artists, designers, creative industry professionals, equipment suppliers, architects, businesses, restaurants, event companies, chefs, producers, and educational institutions to submit their ideas, designs, concepts and interests for inclusion in the festival programme.
To learn more about EOIs go here.
For more information about Vivid Sydney, go to www.vividsydney.com. Be social with vividsydney #vividsydney. For the latest information on Vivid Sydney 2023, sign up to receive MyVivid updates here.
Wayne Meacham, Destination NSW – email@example.com
Picture 1: Vivid Sydney 2022
Credit: Destination New South Wales
Picture 2: Goddess of the Earth
Artist – Ramesh Nethyandran (Australia) Image credit – Destination NSW
Picture 3: New York Sunday
Artists – Helen Egger (Australia) / Julian Reinhold (Australia) / Rico Reinhold (Australia) Image credit – Destination NSW
Picture 4: The chassis
Artists – Layla Jeffries (Australia) / Melvin J. Montalban (Australia) Image source – Destination in New South Wales
This content has been released through the press release distribution service on Newswire.com.


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By 2030, 80 percent of heritage financial services firms will go out of business, become commoditized or exist only formally but not competing effectively,according to Gartner, Inc. These firms will struggle for relevance as global digital platforms, fintech companies and other nontraditional players gain greater market share, using technology to change the economics and business models of the industry.
David Furlonger, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner said banks face a growing risk of failure if they continue to maintain 20th century business and operating models.
“Digital transformation is largely a myth as institutional mindsets, processes and structures stand firm,” said Mr. Furlonger. “Established financial services providers will have to move faster on digital business by building digital platforms or finding niche products and services to sell on others’ platforms.”
According to Gartner’s 2018 CEO survey, while financial services CEOs continue to prioritize revenue growth, there has been a clear shift toward emphasizing efficiency and productivity improvements and the importance of management as growth levers. This shift indicates that digital business is predominantly a channel and transaction automation play, focused on business optimization as opposed to a transformation.”
Pete Redshaw, practice vice president at Gartner, said this attitude is dangerous.
“It underestimates the degree of change that digital technology will bring to the industry,” he said. “The future of the financial services industry is increasingly weightless, requiring few physical assets to establish or maintain a presence. That makes the industry especially vulnerable to disruption by digital competitors.”
In addition, emerging technologies (such as blockchain) offer transformational opportunities by creating trust between parties that do not know each other, without intermediary relationships that incumbent financial firms cultivate. Equally, peer-to-peer consensus algorithms can directly match borrowers to those with money, without requiring a bank to mediate.
“The biggest mistake financial services CIOs make is putting too much focus on technology,” said Mr. Redshaw. “They should push their organizations for a more coherent response to digital business — it’s important to set the digital vision and destination first, then think about how to lead an organization there.”
According to Gartner, of the 20 percent of traditional firms that will remain as winners, three types will flourish:
- Power-law firms:Companies that own a digital platform will use its scale, low-cost infrastructure and the customer information it generates to create new services and enter new markets. Very few (5 percent) of these winning heritage institutions have the ability to become power-law firms.
- Fintechs:Individual companies or pure-play/neobank subsidiaries will disaggregate traditional financial services in discrete product areas. They will participate in digital platforms, but will not own them. Less than 15 percent of the winning group of traditional firms can convert themselves into or successfully spin off fintechs.
- Long-tail firms:The dramatically lower costs enabled by digital platforms will allow some traditional providers to act as service brokers. This is likely for large populations of poor and working-class people around the world that were not profitable customers previously. Simultaneously, they can act as concierge providers of bundled offerings to high-net-worth individuals. Around 80 percent of winning traditional financial services providers can become long-tail firms.
The speed of digital transformation in financial services partly depends on regulation, as well as customer demographics and behaviors, which will vary from country to country. In some nations, conservative regulations will inhibit innovation, while other countries, such as Australia, Brazil, China, India and the U.K., will use regulation to speed transformation.
Gartner clients can read more in the report: “Digitalization Will Make Most Heritage Financial Firms Irrelevant.”
Dinesh Nair Appointed as Director for Consumer Business Lenovo India
Global technology leader Lenovo has appointed Dinesh Nair as Director, Consumer Business for India region. Dinesh succeeds Mr. Shailendra Katyal, who has recently been appointed Site Leader for Lenovo India and Managing Director of Lenovo’s PC and smart device business in India.
Dinesh Nair has been an integral part of the Lenovo India consumer business for more than 11 years and has worked successfully across several roles. His most recent role was as the sales & channel management lead for Lenovo’s consumer segment in India. He has handled leadership responsibilities across offline general trade retail, distribution management, field sales, eCommerce, large format retail and category management, and has been a key contributor to the company’s growth journey in India.
“During this difficult time in India, we are working hard to ensure the safety of our employees, partners and customers and I am grateful that we have excellent leaders in place to bring our team together and offer this support. I am proud to hand over the reins of the consumer business to Dinesh. At the same time, this is a demonstration of our commitment to developing talent internally. I am sure he, along with the consumer leadership team, will propel the business to new heights,” said Shailendra Katyal, Managing Director, Lenovo India.
ASUS ROG Announces ROG Masters Asia Pacific eSports Tournament
ASUS ROG will host its first ROG Masters Asia Pacific eSports tournament from March to April 2021. Due to COVID-19 pandemic affecting travel around the region, the tournament will be conducted entirely online, with quarterfinal to final matches livestreamed.
The ROG Masters tournament will feature Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) as the official game title will provide opportunity to teams with enthusiastic players to pitch their skills against each other, as well as the best professional teams from their market and in the region.
The tournament will see various teams from 15 markets across the region vying for the chance to be crowned as the first ROG Masters Asia Pacific Edition CS:GO Champion.
The tournament will be played in three stages played over the course of 2 months:
- Country qualifiers
- Country finals
- Asia Pacific finals
Country qualifiers matches for India will start in the second week of April 2021; 8th April and the finals to be held on the 10th April. The India finals to find the top three teams to represent the country will be livestreamed live on 10th April.
Professional teams from across the region will be automatically placed into seeded positions in the country finals. This gives a greater chance for non-professional, enthusiast teams from India to get through the qualifiers and meet the pro teams in the country finals.
Country Champions will then go on to experience battling winning teams from other APAC markets in the finals that will be livestreamed during 22nd to 25th April 2021.
3 qualifying teams from India finals will stand to win US$800 for first place, US$400 for second place, US$200 for third place. They will then go on to the Asia Pacific finals with the chance to win the following prizes for the championship:
|ROG Masters APAC Championship||APAC Finals (USD/ team)|
Registration and Official Tournament Website
Registration for the first ROG Masters Asia Pacific tournament opens on February 8, 2021 at the tournament’s official website.
Registration closes on February 28, 2021 Further details, match schedules, pro team information as well as rules and regulations can also be found on the tournament website.
Garena Launches Free Fire South Asia Showdown: Battle of the Stars
Garena has announced the Free Fire South Asia Showdown: Battle of the Stars, Free Fire’s first-ever esports tournament for the South Asia region. Taking place on 6 February, the tournament will feature some of the gaming community’s favourite Free Fire streamers and personalities from India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh.
The Free Fire community has continued to expand in South Asia and across the world, with the mobile battle royale game the most downloaded mobile game globally in 2020, according to App Annie. Through the Free Fire South Asia Showdown: Battle of the Stars, Garena will look to continue its efforts to excite and delight its fast-growing South Asian community with exciting Free Fire content, and to support and develop the incredible online community in the region.
The Free Fire South Asia Showdown: Battle of the Stars will feature a total of 12 teams. Each team will be led by one of the top 3 streamers from each of the 4 participating nations – chosen by public voting – in this epic clash to determine the best in the region.
The 12 teams will compete in the Battle Royale Squad mode for a slice of the 1 million diamond prize pool. The ultimate winner of this star-studded tournament will receive 500,000 in-game diamonds; the first and and second runners-up will be awarded 300,000 and 200,000 diamonds respectively.
The Free Fire South Asia Showdown: Battle of the Stars will feature some of the most popular streamers and personalities from across South Asia.
The team captains for each nation are:
- Total Gaming (19.4 Million YT Subs)
- Desi Gamers (7.8 Million YT Subs)
- Two-Side Gamers (6.85 Million YT Subs)
- Gaming with Nayeem (1.6 Million YT Subs)
- Illusionist YT (479K YT Subs)
- Gaming With Zihad (698K YT Subs)
- Sooneeta (3.26 Million YT Subs)
- Bshow Mgr (399K YT Subs)
- Tonde Gamer (2.37 Million YT Subs)
- RKG ARMY (1.77 Million YT Subs)
- Unusual Gamer (81K YT Subs)
- The Skinzo FF (75.5K YT Subs)
Fans can witness all the high-octane action by tuning in to the live broadcasts of the Free Fire South Asia Showdown: Battle of the Stars. These will be hosted on Free Fire Esports India YouTube and Facebook, Free Fire Bangladesh Official YouTube and Facebook, as well as on BOOYAH!.
To cater to the diverse South Asian community, the matches will be streamed with live commentary in 5 languages – Bengali, English, Hindi, Nepali and Urdu.
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Asia’s VR innovators are fast making a name for themselves, as new companies race to solve the biggest challenges in making VR technology consumer friendly. Now South Korea-based VisualCamp claims to have developed an eye tracking technology for Virtual Reality Head Mount Displays that allows user to input signals by just moving their eyes.
Providing an easy input system has been a challenge for VR players in the market. This June, Oculus introduced Oculus Touch, but the system still requires users to buy another input device that includes analog trigger, buttons and analog thumb sticks along with the core VR head-mounted display.
Using VisualCamp, users can supposedly ‘click’ the buttons with their eyes, negating the need for additional input devices. Eye tracking data can also be analyzed. Using the technology, the company developed its own VR device utilizing 3D printing technology, with a price tag under $100 USD.
“In our PC user test demo, users adapted to eye typing within three hours and could type quickly, at the speed of 75 English characters per minute. We are now developing the eye typing technology for VR head-mounted displays,” company CEO and co-founder Charles Seok said.
Founded in November 2014, the Seoul-based company received angel investment from Hanbat Angel Investment and seed investment from Koisra Seed Partners. It was also given a $500,000 USD Korean government grant, along with an $80,000 USD grant from SK Telecom. Recently, the company beat out 400 other companies to win free office space on Google’s Seoul campus.
“The current competitor in the market is Fove, which also allows eye tracking and uses an integrated head-mounted device, sold at $350 USD,” Mr. Seok said. However he believes VisualCamp’s competitive advantage is it wider application to smartphone VR.
“If VisualCamp’s hardware technology is integrated, it has the ability to work with devices like google cardboard” Mr. Park said.
VisualCamp’s technology can be adapted to VR games, movies, sports and toys. Companies can also use the products to test new product design by analyzing where the users focus their eyes when they first see the product. “It can collect user’s interest data… saving time and money,” Company CMO Jason Park added.
VisualCamp hopes their revenue will come from selling their VR eye tracking software license to head-mounted display manufacturers as well as VR eye tracking analysis service to content and game developers.
Image Credit: VisualCamp


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Mall of America is planting itself smack dab in the middle of the "open on Thanksgiving" debate.
The Bloomington mall opens officially at midnight on Black Friday, "but stores have the opportunity to open earlier if they choose," mall spokesman Dan Jasper said.
In addition to Macy's, which announced earlier this month that it would open stores at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving, Len, Athleta, Gap, Godiva, American Eagle, Aerie and Express all plan to open at 8 p.m. Last year Sears opened its stores at 8 p.m., including its Mall of America location, but the retailer has not yet announced hours for this year's holiday season yet.
Nordstrom, the only major department store to wait until the day after Thanksgiving to fully decorate its stores for the holidays, will open at 9 a.m. on Black Friday.
Carter's and Field of Dreams will open at 9 p.m. Thursday, and Aeropostale will open at 10 p.m. Old Navy is opening from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and reopening at 7 p.m. on Thanksgiving.
Even with a few retailers breaking the sacrosanct 8 p.m. start time, Britt Beemer of America's Research Group in South Carolina doesn't expect other major retailers such as Wal-Mart or Target to open earlier than 8 p.m.
"Most Thanksgiving dinners are between 2:30 and 4:30 p.m.," Beemer said. "It's difficult to get the kitchen back to normal much before 7 p.m."
Last year, Beemer found that parents generally sent their kids out in the cold to stand in line for early-bird deals on Thanksgiving but took the task on themselves for Black Friday deals.
Mall of America took the chill off by letting its patrons wait inside. Last year, 30,000 shoppers showed up before midnight, said Jasper. The mall will open its doors on Thanksgiving again this year.
Despite vocal opposition to opening on "turkey day," Beemer's research showed that only 4 percent of Americans said they would refuse to shop at a store open on Thanksgiving. Nearly one quarter of shoppers said that they got the majority of their Christmas shopping done during the period from Thanksgiving to Black Friday evening, according to America's Research Group.


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Hackers Can Remote Control Your Car
Two hackers and their guinea pig recently exposed a security flaw in a Jeep that allowed them to take control of a car while it was on the road.
The vulnerability that allowed the car to be taken over is in the touchscreen entertainment console used by Fiat Chrysler automobiles. It affects almost one and a half million Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and RAM vehicles. You can check to see if your car is affected here by inputting your VIN.
The people who were able to hack the car are Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, who are security researchers. Sitting in the comfort of a home, they were able to use the internet to take over the Jeep SUV of reporter Andy Greenberg. They were able to affect the car's air conditioning and radio, track it via GPS and even turn off the transmission and brakes and control the steering.
Scary is not a good enough word. Imagine what a criminal could do with this- taking control of your car and hold you ransom or even take you to a location of their desire where you could be robbed or worse.
Miller and Valasek have been working in conjunction with Fiat Chrysler, so the company already has a fix ready for the millions of vulnerable vehicles. The company, however, is not pleased that the two plan to share details of the hack at the Black Hat Security Conference in Las Vegas. For their part, the security researchers/hackers intend to release information for peer review and to help raise awareness of the the potential dangers consumers face in this modern, computerized society.


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A consumer watchdog report has Amazon in the hot seat over alleged price gouging during the pandemic.
“Amazon has been accused of price gouging on essential items like toilet paper and antibacterial soap in a report by consumer rights group Public Citizen. The report analyzed over a dozen products, including those sold by third-party sellers and items listed as “sold by Amazon.” It found that between the months of May and August, prices on some items more than quadrupled in price, seemingly breaking Amazon’s own Fair Pricing Policy.
Responding to the report, Amazon said that there was ‘no place for price gouging’ on its service, including on products it sells directly. ‘Our systems are designed to offers customers the best available online price and if we see an error, we work quickly to fix it,’ a spokesperson said.
But the report challenges Amazon’s claims that only third-party listings by ‘bad actors’ have seen price increases on items like face masks and hand sanitizer during the pandemic. Amazon has publicly taken a hard stance on sellers exploiting demand for hygiene products and household supplies, and says it’s banned thousands of sellers over the practice.
According to Public Citizen, items listed as ‘sold by Amazon’ saw price increases of anywhere from 48 percent for hand sanitizer (a product category that Amazon said it had placed restrictions on back in March), to 1,000 percent for packs of disposable face masks. In the case of toilet paper, for example, the non-profit group said it found a pack of eight rolls being sold for $36.39 back in June, while other retailers have charged just $6.89 for the same product. One bottle of antibacterial soap was listed at a high of $7, compared to a low of $1.49, an increase of 470 percent.
As well as investigating ten essential items listed as sold by Amazon, the report also analyzed eight items sold by third-party sellers. Such sellers account for a quarter of Amazon’s online retail revenue, according to its most recent earnings report. Here Public Citizen found increases of up to 274 percent for antibacterial soap and 941 percent for flour.”
For the rest of the story, visit Vice here.


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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Google and Yahoo plan to fight a lawsuit filed last week by Xerox, which claims that the two search-engine giants infringed on the copier and printing company's patents.
Xerox Corp. (XRX, Fortune 500) filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Delaware on Friday, claiming Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500), Google (GOOG, Fortune 500), and Google subsidiary YouTube violate two Xerox patents related to automatically-generated search queries and data integration.
"We have been in dialogue with Google and Yahoo! for some time about licensing these patents, without reaching a resolution," Xerox spokesman Bill McKee said in an e-mailed statement. "We believe we have no option but to file suit to properly protect our intellectual property."
Granted in 2001 and 2004, the Xerox patents cover methods for integrating hetrogeneous data and for automatically searching for related content. Xerox claims that a wide variety of products are infringing on those patents, including Google's Maps, Video, AdSense and AdWords, and Yahoo's Search Marketing and Publisher Network.
Representatives of Yahoo and Google said they will fight the lawsuit.
"Yahoo does not believe we infringe and plans to fight this case," Yahoo corporate communications manager Dana Lengkeek said.
"We believe these claims are entirely without merit and plan to defend against them vigorously," Google's senior litigation counsel Catherine Lacavera said in a prepared statement.
Xerox is seeking damages in an amount to be determined, and an injunction blocking Google and Yahoo from further infringement of the two patents in question.
The company is no stranger to patent skirmishes. In 1997, Xerox sued a predecessor to Palm Inc. over the handheld's Graffiti text-entry system. The battle eventually forced Palm to abandon Graffiti, and nine years later, Palm finally settled the suit, paying Xerox $22.5 million to license three Xerox patents.
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