text:
Google has launched Action Blocks for Android to help streamline simple tasks for those who need it. With the Google-made app, Android users can create customizable home screen buttons to launch a particular activity of their choosing.
Yesterday, Google released an update to the Google Assistant on Android, which allowed it to transcribe the contents off of a web page and read it out loud to you.
Google Assistant now can transcribe the contents off of a web page and read it out loud to you. The feature, which was demoed at Google I/O last year, is now making its way to android devices from today.
Google launched interpreter mode for smart displays and speakers at the start of the year and the the live translation tool is now coming to mobile devices.
Google is rolling out its Ambient Mode feature for Google Assistant to more Android devices. The Ambient Mode feature for Google Assistant was announced at IFA 2019. During the launch, the feature was available only on two tablets - Lenovo Smart Tab M8 HD and Lenovo Yoga Smart Tab and a couple of handsets smartphones, including the Nokia 7.2 and Nokia 6.2.
Google Assistant users will soon be able to assign reminders to their family and friends using the Google Assistant. The new feature will function via the Family Group feature. Once a reminder is set, say by a parent for their children, it will appear on a smartphone or a Google Assistant-powered Smart Display. However, Google says it can work for others, all that is needed is the user to be part of an opt-in group of trusted fellow Assistant users.
The Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (HmbBfDI) has opened an administrative procedure to prohibit Google from transcribing Google Assistant recordings by employees or third parties for a period of three months. This is intended to protect the privacy rights of those affected for the time being.
Google employees are allegedly listening-in on all your conversations, including ones which are not meant to be recorded. This happens via the company's AI-powered Google Assistant on phones and Google Home speakers.
Rolling out to Android phones in the United States, beginning today, Google Assistant will be fully integrated into Waze so users won’t have to tap on their screens to get things done. Many of Waze’s most popular features will be supported, such as reporting traffic jams, calling out potholes, and checking for alternate routes.
Starting today, Bose is bringing the Google Assistant to its line of smart speakers and soundbars. This includes the Bose Home Speaker 500, Bose Soundbar 500 and 700, and an all-new, compact smart speaker coming later this summer, the Bose Home Speaker 300.


text:
Made from chemically recycled bio-based and plastic waste feedstock, respectively, Dow’s SURLYN™ ionomers are set to be used in the production of the plastics. Raw materials such as used cooking oil are expected to be used as bio-based feedstocks, with waste residues or by-products from alternative production processes thought to prevent the overconsumption of land resources and competition with the food chain.
The SURLYN™ Ionomers will then be used to manufacture perfume caps and cosmetic cream jars throughout the year. Dow says that the materials are expected to maintain the premium aesthetic of previous packaging designs while contributing towards the reduction of LVMH’s carbon footprint.
“At LVMH, with our Life 360 program, we made the decision that our packaging will contain zero plastic from virgin fossil resources in a near future,” said Claude Martinez, executive president and managing director of LVMH Beauty. “Collaborating with Dow in developing sustainable SURLYN™ is key as this material is used in some of our iconic perfumes, starting with GUERLAIN La Petite Robe Noire. It is helping LVMH achieve our sustainability targets without any compromise on quality.”
“Creating a circular economy takes every player in the value chain to commit to ambitious goals and challenge the status quo,” added Karen S. Carter, president of Packaging & Specialty Plastics at Dow. “Dow looks forward to supporting the sustainability journey of a leading global luxury brand.
Dow hopes that the collaboration will contribute towards its recently announced target of commercialising 3 million tons of circular and renewable solutions every year.
Another long-term agreement between Holmen Iggesund and Yangi aims to replace the rigid plastics used by the beauty and cosmetics industry in refills, inserts, and testers with bio-based and renewable alternatives.

domain: news


text:
Three major US-based textile industry trade shows — the American Textile Machinery Exhibition –
International (ATME–I)/Megatex, Techtextil North America (TTNA) and SPESA Expo — will colocate and
align with one another at the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) in Atlanta for Textile &
Sewn Products Industry Week 2010, scheduled to take place May 18-20, 2010.
The three exhibitions will be held in adjacent halls at the GWCC, allowing attendees to take
in all three shows and their associated educational, networking and other special activities.
ATME–I, a quadrennial exhibition organized by Atlanta-based Mack Brooks Exhibitions Inc. and
sponsored by the Falls Church, Va.-based American Textile Machinery Association, moved to Atlanta
in 2006 from its long-time venue in Greenville. The show, touted by its organizers as the largest
of its kind in the Americas, features the full spectrum of textile machinery, technology and
TTNA and its associated symposium, organized by Atlanta-based Messe Frankfurt USA, have been
held biennially in Atlanta since 2000, presenting a comprehensive, vertical array of nonwovens and
technical textiles machinery, technologies, services and end-products; in addition to a series of
seminars covering research and development, emerging technologies and applications, and other
topics of interest to the industry. The show will become an annual event beginning next year, with
an Atlanta venue in even-numbered years and a West Coast venue in odd-numbered years.
SPESA Expo, organized by the Raleigh, N.C.-based Sewn Products Equipment & Suppliers of
the Americas (SPESA), is a triennial exhibition and symposium focusing on equipment, technology and
services for the Western Hemisphere and global sewn products industry, encompassing apparel,
leather and footwear, home furnishings, upholstered furniture, technical textiles, and
transportation interiors. Held in Miami Beach, Fla., since 2004, the expo will move to Atlanta for
its next edition.
“The colocation of ATME–I/Megatex with Techtextil North America and SPESA Expo provides a
dynamic platform for the textile industry in the Americas,” said ATMA Chairman Jay White Jr.,
Morrison Textile Machinery Co. “We expect excellent customer attendance from the entire textile
processing and applications chain. This will be a very significant event for our industry with
numerous networking opportunities, educational seminars and business and technical workshops
alongside the trade shows themselves. Anyone who is in the textile business in the Americas should
recognize that this is a ‘must-attend’ event.”
May 6, 2008


text:
This comes as a shock as the Supreme Court of India’s decision is against the interest of the Indian consumer. You may recall that last July, a consumer court had capped the interest rate on Credit Cards at 30%. The consumer court decision really made sense, but we got to honor the Supreme Court’s decision and pay APRs as high as 40% now. Ridiculous!!!
Citibank, HSBC and Standard Chartered bank’s credit card division had appealed against the interest rate cap. It is really pathetic that these banks are looting the ill-informed Indian consumer and yet the RBI has decided to turn a blind eye.
The Finance Ministry along with RBI can come out with regulations and cap the rate of interest on credit cards at a maximum of 18%. We don’t like 30% or 40% which is totally unethical and pathetic business practice. Do you think this will ever happen ?


text:
For the 2nd day straight, electrical cars and truck titan Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) saw its stock tumble, as it continued to be shaken by capitalist concerns over a renewed threat of conflict in between Russia as well as Ukraine, climbing interest rates in the united state, the development of a recent Version 3 and Model Y recall right into China, and naturally– Hitlergate.
Tesla stock is down 3.6% as of 12:55 p.m. ET today. Any type of or every one of the above aspects might have contributed to today’s decrease, at the very least partly. And now investors have a brand-new worry to think about, too:
In a prolonged piece out today, legendary business information publication Barron’s explains exactly how yesterday’s steep sell-off of Albemarle (NYSE: ALB) stock (Albemarle is a manufacturer of lithium, used to produce the electric automobile batteries that power Tesla’s lorries) could foreshadow an era of decreasing productivity at the carmaker.
Albemarle reported fourth-quarter sales and profits the other day that mainly matched Wall Street’s forecasts for the company. Trouble was, Albemarle’s earnings margins– and its revenues, period– took a massive hit as it invested greatly to develop out its production ability to please the tremendous global demand for lithium.
This result of up-front capital expense weighing on profit margins is what investors call “reduced fixed-cost absorption,” and also in today’s post, Barron’s alerts that a comparable destiny can await Tesla as it invests greatly to establish two new vehicle manufacturing plants in Germany as well as Texas.
White arrowhead declining dramatically atop a stock tickertape present bathed in red.
On the plus side, these 2 brand-new factories must promptly make it possible for Tesla to increase its yearly automobile production by as high as 100,000 automobiles– as well as eventually, by 1 million autos total. On the minus side, however, “it will certainly take a while to get manufacturing ramped up,” alerts Barron’s, and also while production gets up to speed up, Tesla’s earnings margins can take a hit.
Barron’s notes that Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn has been trying to prepare financiers for this bad news, caution of “greater fixed as well as semi-variable prices in the near term,” along with “the typical inadequacies as we ramp a brand-new manufacturing facility” in the company’s Q4 teleconference.
Capitalists may not have actually been paying close attention when he said that last month– however they sure seem to be taking note since Barron’s has duplicated the warning today.
Elon Musk unloaded $22 billion of Tesla stock– and still possesses more currently than a year ago
Elon Musk let loose a gush of stock sales, alternatives exercises, tax repayment sales and talented shares in 2015 amounting to nearly $22 billion. Yet even after unloading a lot Tesla stock, he still has a bigger share of the firm, thanks to his compensation package.
Musk offered $16 billion in shares in 2015 and also, according to a filing with the U.S. Stocks and also Exchange Compensation Monday, talented 5 million shares, which deserve almost $6 billion, to an undisclosed charity or recipient in November. The sales and presents bring his total to about $22 billion– a combination of tax repayments, cash in his pocket and the gift.
Yet as a result of the nature of the choices exercises, Musk really completed the year with a bigger possession risk– and more shares– in Tesla. In 2012, Musk was granted choices on 22.8 million shares worth about $28 billion last autumn when he began offering.
The means the options works out work is that Musk initially began transforming the 22.8 million choices right into shares. The choices had a strike cost of only $6.24, so he might pay $6.24 for every choice and also obtain a share of Tesla stock, which were trading at greater than $1,000 last autumn.
With each alternatives conversion, he would concurrently offer shares to pay the tax obligations, given that the options are exhausted as Tesla earnings. Even as he was dumping billions of dollars well worth of shares to pay the tax obligations, he was collecting an also larger quantity of stock at the reduced options price– hence enhancing his possession of the business.
In total, Musk offered 15.7 million shares for $16.4 billion. Contribute to that the gifted shares, and he unloaded a total of 20.7 million shares. Yet he obtained 22.8 million shares via the choices workout– leaving him with 2 million more shares in Tesla at the end of the year. He currently has 172.6 million shares, which gives him a 17% stake in the firm, making him by far the single largest individual shareholder.
Musk started his share task with a poll on Nov. 6, telling his followers “Much is made recently of unrealized gains being a method of tax obligation evasion, so I recommend marketing 10% of my Tesla stock. Do you sustain this?” Musk pledged to adhere to the results of the poll, which wound up with 58% for a sale as well as 42% against.
In the long run, he made good on the pledge of marketing 10% of his risk. But he got much more back with choices, which gave him a round-trip-stock journey that left him with billions in cash money, the biggest solitary tax settlement in U.S. background and also much more Tesla shares.
Musk’s possession– and $227 billion fortune– is most likely to increase once again in the future. His next huge pay package, which could be even larger than the 2012 award, runs out in 2028.


text:
According to TIME Newsfeed, Facebook is taking on a new marketing giant – Groupon. Groupon.com has gained popularity extremely fast due to the huge discounts they offer users on a daily basis. Their average discount ranges from 50% to 80% off of food, services, shops and entertainment. They boast over 18 million subscribers and have sold over 12 million deals. It is no wonder that Facebook would want a piece of the action — when Groupon featured clothing giant GAP on their site, they sold 400,000 deals, making them $11 million.
But there is a catch: Facebook Deals only goes hand in hand with Facebook Places. In order to receive the promotions, you have to use their location sharing app and “check in” to get the deal. In other words, to gain the benefits offered by Facebook Deals, you have to sacrifice more privacy. Groupon only asks users for their city location in order to tailor deals to their area. To take advantage of a deal, you must share your address and billing information, and that is done on their secure checkout site.
Although some copycat ideas have worked in the past (Facebook Places) this type of offer may fall more along the lines of Google Buzz. While in theory Google Buzz was offering a mini feed in their popular Gmail web service, similar to Facebook and twitter, they lacked users because people were already using other sites to report their daily activities. A third place to check in was extraneous. With the popularity and ease of Groupon, users may not be as inclined to give up their privacy for Facebook Deals when they are already receiving great deals.
Facebook is still not secure for transaction processing. Where your bank and other financial sites offer secure browsing, Facebook doesn’t even warn its users of current privacy issues. With so many recent privacy breaches by Facebook, users should be more wary of giving the social networking site more private information than they already have.
John Sileo is the award-winning author of Stolen Lives and Privacy Means Profit (Wiley, August 2010), a professional Social Networking Speaker and America’s leading identity theft expert. His clients include the Department of Defense, FTC, FDIC and Pfizer; his recent media appearances include 60 Minutes. Contact him on 800.258.8076.


text:
Thief May Be In Serious Trouble
The enamoring steampunk vision that the new Thief game had been giving us may actually be fading away. Growing evidence of creative conflict at Eidos Montreal is showing that the original concept of the game has been undergoing numerous changes, to the point that Thief is a shadow of what it once was.
There’s apparently not really a single problem to pinpoint, but rather a laundry list of them. The worry really began when Thief was MIA at this year’s E3 conference after a poor preemptive demo at GDC earlier in the year. Further investigation at Eidos Montreal by sources such as Polygon and Kotaku revealed a game development that was essentially stuck in the mud. Ridiculously high-level staff turnover has led to one idea after another being push and then scrapped. Pressure to produce quality demos for promotional purposes sidetracked the team into focusing on a step that should actually have come later. If your game is far from being even passable, there’s not really a point in sending out demos if you don’t have much to show. The lack of regard for this notion was evident in the demo sent to Game Informer and subsequently the rest of the press that reportedly took 10 months to develop. Ten months. That’s after 4 years of supposed game development. This came from Polygon:
The current version of Thief barely resembles the initial concept, says a source. The vertical slice doesn’t load inside Thief’s current heavily modified version of Unreal Engine 3. Many programming tricks were necessary to run the current demonstration, like turning off non-playable character AI — the engine has trouble when too many characters are on screen.
Publisher Square Enix has reportedly declined to comment on any of the issues surrounding the game, likely due to them being very preoccupied with steadying FFXIV: A Realm Reborn and preparing it for console release, as well as promoting FFXIII: Lightning Returns. So there really hasn’t been a clear word of any kind on Thief‘s probability of survival, and with its release date slated for February 2014, it’s hard to tell what will happen.
What do you think will happen? Will Thief be able to overcome so many adversities? Will it need another 4 years to right itself?


text:
Each year, developments in CAD, CAM, and 3D printing push the boundaries of what can be designed, cast and printed. The ability to design with CAD has become quite affordable, as increasing automation in jewellery continues to push its uptake among modern jewellers. Here we spoke to four major players in the Australian jewellery tech scene to see how improvements to jewellery design and manufacture is positively affecting the Australian jewellery industry.
The state of the jewellery tech scene
All our contributors lauded the design and manufacturing potential that modern jewellery tech affords them. Evotech Pacific are the distributors of Gemvision and Asiga products in Australia and New Zealand, and its Director Anthony Nowlan said he’s seen some pretty big leaps forward in terms of jewellery design software capabilities.
“Gemvision (creators of the Matrix and CounterSketch software), acquired TDM (creators of the RhinoGold software), and have combined the best parts of all three software applications into the one – MatrixGold,” he said.
He said that with MatrixGold jewellery design software, jewellers can quickly and efficiently design pieces and utilise parametric history to easier adjust models if required.
“Rendering capability is also vastly improved enabling designers to create photorealistic images of their designs.” Chemgold is a family owned and run business with a proven track record of supplying the Australian jewellery industry with precious metal products and services for more than 30years. Its director Darren Sher said that their jewellery clients are becoming increasingly aware of the quality Chemgold can produce from CAD.
“Improved technology in printing allows finer and more intricate pieces to be printed and cast easily, when using the correct software and machine,” he said.
“The trend has continued with more lower priced point 3D printers entering the market which are suited to some businesses that want to view the prototype before production or being able to print the wax/resin themselves and send to us for casting.”
Production Manager Desmond Ambagtsheer at well-known jewellery supplier Peter W Beck said their company have always been at the forefront of jewellery tech.
“60 per cent of ‘retail ready’ products we produce would in some way employ CAD/CAM technology: CAD to develop new products or revamp old, CAM for product manufacturing using machines such as 3D printers, mills, lathes, and faceting machines,” he said.
DesignDrawCAD is a Sydney-based CAD jewellery design service headed up by CAD Jewellery Designer Helen Pusenjak who acts as a single, client-focused CAD designer. Helen said more and more jewellers are looking to take additional advantage of CAD’s potential to improve their business.
“This may be to create the new stock pieces, produce bespoke pieces more suited to the CAD/casting process or at a certain price point, set up a range of jewellery for ready modification or to simply increase output,” she said.
Huge uptake in CAD/CAM
Darren said that attitudes toward the technology has improved and become more positive as it continues to become more mainstream.
“I would estimate a huge percentage of jewellers and jewellery retailers now use CAD/CAM as an additional tool to design and manufacture jewellery.
“It has continued to increase with more jewellers and retailers purchasing CAD software for in-house use and our customers taking advantage of CAD-based libraries they can order from such as our JewelMount collection.”
In addition, Darren reported that an increasing number of jewellers have invested in the CAD software themselves.
“This has been an incredibly helpful tool to show their customers how the new technology provides them with their desired piece of jewellery.
“Jewellers benefit by viewing CAD/CAM as another tool at their disposal to save time, money and simplify the process in manufacturing, not replacing their skill but rather assisting where possible.”
Anthony reported that the COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in software uptake from clients who were previously undecided.
“The ability to continue working and designing with efficiency whilst in lockdown has been very appealing to many of these new clients.
“Desmond said that Peter W Beck customers use CAD/CAM to produce their own products on their own 3D printers and mills for casting and/or engraving.
Pushing boundaries with cutting edge design and manufacture
Advances in new software or updates in existing software means that for Chemgold and their clients it has become increasingly more efficient to design and offer their clients designs that were previously not possible or unaffordable. Darren said the latest software releases have made the design process smoother, sometimes easier, that still requires some skill to master, but now cuts design time in half compared to five years ago.
“We have also found that with the introduction of 3D scanning items, that the possibility of replicating pieces become much faster, and creating fitted wedding bands is no longer a headache to the designer, as we can scan the engagement ring and simply build around it.
“…organic designs have also been more popular in the past few years, and we have advanced our team with the software and knowledge required to assist with the growing demand for these.”
Anthony said that jewellery design software’s potential to design delicate, complex, and/ or organic shapes has always been a major drawcard for many designers and jewellers, and it’s for these reasons that jewellers and designers have invested in the tech. However, he said he felt that the ability to adjust those designs easily has at times been difficult and cumbersome, sometimes causing the designer to completely redesign those parts.
“The latest version of MatrixGold makes this task easier and less likely that a part will need to be completely re-designed from scratch.”
Desmond said that CAD/CAM has opened many new opportunities in product design and the services they supply to their customers.
“Customers want the freedom to design their own individual pieces: CAD/CAM allows us to communicate precisely with the client and then produce the part to their tolerances.”
3D printer go brrr!
Improvements in printer resin and wax qualities has also improved the quality of pieces for CAM users and their clients. Anthony said that printing resins have advanced greatly and produced pieces with better surface finish and quicker build times.
“Better formulas with resins and investment powders used within the casting process have also lessened the likelihood of a negative reaction with the investments used within the casting process, improving the result greatly.”
He also lauded modern printing technology’s ability to reduce turnaround time.
“…it depends greatly on both the resin and the geometry being printed…but we have seen the latest Asiga Resin (SuperCast X) create a full build plate of standard height rings in around 2 hours.”
Desmond said their company is always investing in the latest technology and the newest software.
“Keeping up to date allows us to push the limits on design and increase our capabilities and efficiencies,” he said.
“Our latest innovation would be the use CAD/CAM to directly machine metallic components, lasering and milling products and having the ability and flexibility to use multiple CAD/CAM platforms to create a single product.”
Darren said that Chemgold’s leading technology and wax printers ensure customers receive the absolute best surface finish from their CAD files, along with the highest quality castings.
Jewellery tech helps keep it Australian made
In an increasingly globalist scene, the trend for some major jewellery companies over the past few decades is to outsource manufacturing to countries with low labour costs and operations such as China and India. This helps the companies from domestic economic downturns, but at the expense of potential local manufacturing jobs. Fortunately, from Helen’s point of view, an increasing number of jewellers are opting to advance jewellery wholly produced in Australia, bringing work back from overseas.
“They (the jewellers) profit from improved communication resulting in an accelerated process and superior models.”
Darren said that with the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent issues with freight, a lot of manufacturers and retail stores opted for Australian-made.
“Not only is it a great selling point for most of the market, it also reduced their turnaround time greatly by having something made locally and delivered much quicker than any overseas competitor.”
He said this has had the flow-on effect of manufacturing roles opening throughout the industry over the past few years with jewellers, setters and CAD designers being in high demand across the country.
“This shows that there is a lot more interest in bringing manufacturing back to Australian shores and keeping it here.”
Anthony said that due to the increased pricing in outsourcing work overseas combined with their inherent communication breakdowns and their subsequent blowout in design time, Evotech Pacific have had quite a few clients who have recently purchased their own licenses of MatrixGold.
“For many of these particular clients, it has been more economic (financially and in time), to learn the software/hardware and keep everything in house.”
The revolutions of tomorrow
When asked to speculate on what the future holds in the jewellery tech scene, our contributors predicted improvements in software design capabilities, faster job turnaround times, and greater uptake in the technology. Darren believes that CAD programs will become more user-friendly, printers will print faster and in higher resolutions, and developments in job-tracking technology will aid Chemgold’s customers with up-to-date information on where their jobs are in the system.
“If the past has taught us anything it is that it will be developing at a rapid pace and changing in ways we cannot yet foresee.”
Helen predicts that use of the CAD/casting process will expand because it boosts output for business, helps to produce pieces that can be offered at competitive prices, and expands the styles a business can offer.
“Given the scarcity of apprenticeships being offered and the resulting decrease in qualified jewellers coming up, this process will become a necessary option.
“With the exponential advances in technological innovation, opportunities for cross-over items of jewellery will also grow.”
Anthony foresees an increasing uptake in Direct Manufacturing 3D Printing, as research and development in the field has produced far better quality metal powders and thus a better surface finish.
“…whilst I don’t think Direct Manufacture 3D Printing will replace any sector of existing jewellery manufacturing, it will certainly add a new dimension for those designers who create pieces and parts that are not possible to create with current tech and processes.
“It is certainly an exciting time to be a jeweller!”
Read below for related stories:


text:
|By Kevin Benedict||
|September 27, 2012 07:00 AM EDT||
Also read Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
SAP AG has readied a new mobile-first program, the SAP Mobility Design Center. It is purpose-built to help customers tackle mobility in the workplace by designing applications that are custom-tailored to the need of mobile workers. Read Original Content
ABI Research indicates the global market for mobile application security will be worth $398 million by the end of 2012. This includes revenues for paid apps, partnerships with manufacturers and operators, white label deals, and dataset sales. Read Original Content
The BYOD trend is prompting the merger of two previously distinct markets – mobile device management and mobile application management software – into one $444.6 million mobile enterprise management software market. Read Original Content
Founded in 1979, DSI is a global provider of Enterprise Mobility Solutions®, helping companies worldwide increase productivity and profitability regardless of data source, device type, operating system or network connectivity. DSI serves clients globally through its offices in Australia, Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. This newsletter is sponsored in part by DSI.
Lenovo Group, set to overtake Hewlett Packard as the biggest PC maker this year, now has its sights on the smartphone and tablet markets, as it takes on Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. in China. Read Original Content
Shares of Blackberry maker RIM closed up +0.30 or +4.68 percent to $6.60 per share on Tuesday, after the company announced RIM had added two million new subscribers and introduced its new BB10 operating system to be released in early 2013. Read Original Content
Between Q1 2011 and Q2 2012 ABI Research found that unique malware variants grew by 2,180 percent reaching 17,439. Read Original Content
Google has made no move to provide Google Maps for the iPhone 5 after Apple dropped the application in favor of a homegrown but controversial alternative, Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said. Read Original Content
Research In Motion plans to release its new BlackBerry 10 smartphone lineup on six continents in the first quarter, seeking to capitalize on the company’s lingering strength in overseas markets. Read Original Content
Driven by the strong growth from emerging markets, smartphone shipments are expected to hit 1.7 billion in 2017, predicts a recent report by Ovum Ltd.. Read Original Content
Mobile Enterprise Management software market is expected to reach of $1.8 billion by 2016, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 31.8 percent during the period, according to a report by IDC. Read Original Content
A recent study found nearly half of online consumers in the United States have downloaded an application for their mobile device, and most prefer using apps to their phone’s Internet browser. Read Original Content
According to PC Mag, Apple’s new iPhone 5 is “the fastest smartphone” the publication has ever tested. In a series of performance-based evaluations — browser, general purpose and graphics — the device overshadowed every iPhone and Android phone before it. Read Original Content
In the U.S., the iPhone 5 is being offered by Verizon, AT&T and Sprint Nextel. All three networks have been building out their LTE networks, otherwise known as 4G, as the next standard for mobile devices that allows ultra-fast data downloads, that can include high-definition video. Read Original Content
New numbers from research firm IHS iSuppli on Wednesday revealed Apple’s App Store revenue in 2012 is estimated to increase nearly 70 percent. The company is on pace to make $4.9 billion from its App Store this year, an increase from $2.9 billion in 2011. Read Original Content
New market intelligence from ABI Research projects the MEMS sensor market in mobile devices will be valued at $1.2 billion by the end of 2012 and reach $2.8 billion in 2017. Read Original Content
Recent Articles by Kevin Benedict
Digital transformation is too big and important for our future success to not understand the rules that apply to it. The first three rules for winning in this age of hyper-digital transformation are: Advantages in speed, analytics and operational tempos must be captured by implementing an optimized information logistics system (OILS) Real-time operational tempos (IT, people and business processes) must be achieved Businesses that can "analyze data and act and with speed" will dominate those t...
Sep. 27, 2016 04:45 AM EDT Reads: 1,124
The Jevons Paradox suggests that when technological advances increase efficiency of a resource, it results in an overall increase in consumption. Writing on the increased use of coal as a result of technological improvements, 19th-century economist William Stanley Jevons found that these improvements led to the development of new ways to utilize coal. In his session at 19th Cloud Expo, Mark Thiele, Chief Strategy Officer for Apcera, will compare the Jevons Paradox to modern-day enterprise IT, e...
Sep. 27, 2016 04:30 AM EDT Reads: 1,898
There are several IoTs: the Industrial Internet, Consumer Wearables, Wearables and Healthcare, Supply Chains, and the movement toward Smart Grids, Cities, Regions, and Nations. There are competing communications standards every step of the way, a bewildering array of sensors and devices, and an entire world of competing data analytics platforms. To some this appears to be chaos. In this power panel at @ThingsExpo, moderated by Conference Chair Roger Strukhoff, Bradley Holt, Developer Advocate a...
Sep. 27, 2016 04:15 AM EDT Reads: 2,008
In his general session at 18th Cloud Expo, Lee Atchison, Principal Cloud Architect and Advocate at New Relic, discussed cloud as a ‘better data center’ and how it adds new capacity (faster) and improves application availability (redundancy). The cloud is a ‘Dynamic Tool for Dynamic Apps’ and resource allocation is an integral part of your application architecture, so use only the resources you need and allocate /de-allocate resources on the fly.
Sep. 27, 2016 03:45 AM EDT Reads: 2,554
SYS-CON Events announced today that Bsquare has been named “Silver Sponsor” of SYS-CON's @ThingsExpo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. For more than two decades, Bsquare has helped its customers extract business value from a broad array of physical assets by making them intelligent, connecting them, and using the data they generate to optimize business processes.
Sep. 27, 2016 03:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,752
There is growing need for data-driven applications and the need for digital platforms to build these apps. In his session at 19th Cloud Expo, Muddu Sudhakar, VP and GM of Security & IoT at Splunk, will cover different PaaS solutions and Big Data platforms that are available to build applications. In addition, AI and machine learning are creating new requirements that developers need in the building of next-gen apps. The next-generation digital platforms have some of the past platform needs a...
Sep. 27, 2016 03:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,796
SYS-CON Events announced today that ReadyTalk, a leading provider of online conferencing and webinar services, has been named Vendor Presentation Sponsor at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. ReadyTalk delivers audio and web conferencing services that inspire collaboration and enable the Future of Work for today’s increasingly digital and mobile workforce. By combining intuitive, innovative tec...
Sep. 27, 2016 03:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,932
Fact is, enterprises have significant legacy voice infrastructure that’s costly to replace with pure IP solutions. How can we bring this analog infrastructure into our shiny new cloud applications? There are proven methods to bind both legacy voice applications and traditional PSTN audio into cloud-based applications and services at a carrier scale. Some of the most successful implementations leverage WebRTC, WebSockets, SIP and other open source technologies. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Da...
Sep. 27, 2016 02:15 AM EDT Reads: 1,598
Cognitive Computing is becoming the foundation for a new generation of solutions that have the potential to transform business. Unlike traditional approaches to building solutions, a cognitive computing approach allows the data to help determine the way applications are designed. This contrasts with conventional software development that begins with defining logic based on the current way a business operates. In her session at 18th Cloud Expo, Judith S. Hurwitz, President and CEO of Hurwitz & ...
Sep. 27, 2016 02:15 AM EDT Reads: 3,037
Almost two-thirds of companies either have or soon will have IoT as the backbone of their business in 2016. However, IoT is far more complex than most firms expected. How can you not get trapped in the pitfalls? In his session at @ThingsExpo, Tony Shan, a renowned visionary and thought leader, will introduce a holistic method of IoTification, which is the process of IoTifying the existing technology and business models to adopt and leverage IoT. He will drill down to the components in this fra...
Sep. 27, 2016 02:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,726
The Internet of Things can drive efficiency for airlines and airports. In their session at @ThingsExpo, Shyam Varan Nath, Principal Architect with GE, and Sudip Majumder, senior director of development at Oracle, will discuss the technical details of the connected airline baggage and related social media solutions. These IoT applications will enhance travelers' journey experience and drive efficiency for the airlines and the airports. The session will include a working demo and a technical d...
Sep. 27, 2016 02:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,730
I'm a lonely sensor. I spend all day telling the world how I'm feeling, but none of the other sensors seem to care. I want to be connected. I want to build relationships with other sensors to be more useful for my human. I want my human to understand that when my friends next door are too hot for a while, I'll soon be flaming. And when all my friends go outside without me, I may be left behind. Don't just log my data; use the relationship graph. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Ryan Boyd, Engi...
Sep. 27, 2016 01:45 AM EDT Reads: 1,292
SYS-CON Events announced today that Pulzze Systems will exhibit at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Pulzze Systems, Inc. provides infrastructure products for the Internet of Things to enable any connected device and system to carry out matched operations without programming. For more information, visit http://www.pulzzesystems.com.
Sep. 27, 2016 01:30 AM EDT Reads: 1,849
SYS-CON Events announced today that Numerex Corp, a leading provider of managed enterprise solutions enabling the Internet of Things (IoT), will exhibit at the 19th International Cloud Expo | @ThingsExpo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Numerex Corp. (NASDAQ:NMRX) is a leading provider of managed enterprise solutions enabling the Internet of Things (IoT). The Company's solutions produce new revenue streams or create operating...
Sep. 27, 2016 01:15 AM EDT Reads: 2,000
If you’re responsible for an application that depends on the data or functionality of various IoT endpoints – either sensors or devices – your brand reputation depends on the security, reliability, and compliance of its many integrated parts. If your application fails to deliver the expected business results, your customers and partners won't care if that failure stems from the code you developed or from a component that you integrated. What can you do to ensure that the endpoints work as expect...
Sep. 27, 2016 12:30 AM EDT Reads: 1,634
The Transparent Cloud-computing Consortium (abbreviation: T-Cloud Consortium) will conduct research activities into changes in the computing model as a result of collaboration between "device" and "cloud" and the creation of new value and markets through organic data processing High speed and high quality networks, and dramatic improvements in computer processing capabilities, have greatly changed the nature of applications and made the storing and processing of data on the network commonplace.
Sep. 27, 2016 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,051
WebRTC adoption has generated a wave of creative uses of communications and collaboration through websites, sales apps, customer care and business applications. As WebRTC has become more mainstream it has evolved to use cases beyond the original peer-to-peer case, which has led to a repeating requirement for interoperability with existing infrastructures. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Graham Holt, Executive Vice President of Daitan Group, will cover implementation examples that have enabled ea...
Sep. 27, 2016 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,542
Major trends and emerging technologies – from virtual reality and IoT, to Big Data and algorithms – are helping organizations innovate in the digital era. However, to create real business value, IT must think beyond the ‘what’ of digital transformation to the ‘how’ to harness emerging trends, innovation and disruption. Architecture is the key that underpins and ties all these efforts together. In the digital age, it’s important to invest in architecture, extend the enterprise footprint to the cl...
Sep. 26, 2016 10:45 PM EDT Reads: 489
Fifty billion connected devices and still no winning protocols standards. HTTP, WebSockets, MQTT, and CoAP seem to be leading in the IoT protocol race at the moment but many more protocols are getting introduced on a regular basis. Each protocol has its pros and cons depending on the nature of the communications. Does there really need to be only one protocol to rule them all? Of course not. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Chris Matthieu, co-founder and CTO of Octoblu, walk you through how Oct...
Sep. 26, 2016 08:45 PM EDT Reads: 2,171
In his keynote at 18th Cloud Expo, Andrew Keys, Co-Founder of ConsenSys Enterprise, provided an overview of the evolution of the Internet and the Database and the future of their combination – the Blockchain. Andrew Keys is Co-Founder of ConsenSys Enterprise. He comes to ConsenSys Enterprise with capital markets, technology and entrepreneurial experience. Previously, he worked for UBS investment bank in equities analysis. Later, he was responsible for the creation and distribution of life sett...
Sep. 26, 2016 08:45 PM EDT Reads: 3,422


text:
Supplies needed for back-to-school donation program
We’re just a few weeks away from the start of a new school year.
That means a back-to-school shopping, which can come with a hefty price tag for families. According to a National Retail Federation Survey, American families spent an average of more than $687.00 for back-to-school shopping in 2017.
Local YMCA’s are teaming up to help support families in need through a program called Bright Beginnings.
They’re taking donations to fill backpacks for kids and are looking for things like 1” three-ring binders, wide ruled notebooks, colored pencils, lunch boxes, hand sanitizer and fabric zipper pencil pouches.
“It’s really important that we equip kids to learn and succeed in school,” Nick Zamboni, Director of Family Services at the Spears YMCA, said. “Especially in Greensboro, there is a huge need, so you’re really equipping kids to be successful.”
Wednesday, August 1 is the last day to donate school supplies, but they will continue to accept monetary donations through August 15. The YMCA will waive the joining fee for new members who make a monetary donation.
The YMCA looks to help about 500 kids through the program this year.


text:
Caixin Global reports that Luckin Coffee Inc. removed Chief Executive Officer Jenny Qian Zhiya and Chief Operating Officer Liu Jian amid an ongoing probe of a massive accounting scandal. Qian and Liu also resigned their board positions, according to a filing on May 12 by Nasdaq-listed Luckin.
Six others involved in the scandal were either suspended or placed on leave, the company said. Guo Jinyi, a board member and senior vice president, was named acting CEO, Stuff relates.
The Chinese coffee chain disclosed in late April that nearly half the revenue it reported for the last three quarters of 2019, or CNY2.2 billion ($310 million), was fake. The company blamed COO Liu for the misconduct and said it initiated an investigation of Liu and other employees.
The company’s shares have been suspended for more than a month, following an 80% plunge in their value on news of the scandal. China’s securities and market regulators opened a probe into Luckin. The company delayed filing its annual results, saying it was unable to prepare the financial report amid the coronavirus pandemic.
About Luckin Coffee
Based in China, Luckin Coffee Inc. (NASDAQ: LK) has pioneered a technology-driven retail network to provide coffee and other products of high quality, high affordability, and high convenience to customers. Empowered by big data analytics, AI, and proprietary technologies, the Company pursues its mission to be part of everyone’s everyday life, starting with coffee.
As reported in the Troubled Company Reporter-Asia Pacific on April 7, 2020, China Daily said that Luckin Coffee Inc, the so-called rival to Starbucks in China, has exposed itself to the risks of delisting and even bankruptcy due to severe fabrication of sales data, experts said.
China Daily related that the Nasdaq-listed Chinese coffee chain saw its share price crash more than 75 percent to $6.40 on April 2 after the company disclosed that its earnings results were substantially inflated. It dropped nearly 15 percent more in the first two hours of trading on April 3.
Liu Jian, chief operating officer and a director of the company, and several employees reporting to him, had engaged in misconduct, including fabricating transactions, a company statement said on April 2.
The aggregate sales associated with fabricated transactions amount to around CNY2.2 billion (US$310 million) during the April to December period last year, according to Luckin’s preliminary internal investigation, the statement said.


text:
Asbestos Industry Still Going Strong, Despite Health Risks
The asbestos industry has undergone drastic changes over the last several decades in response to the many discoveries about the many harmful effects of asbestos exposure. Although there are many products that still use asbestos in some form even today, a great many others have also been banned from production in the United States. The problem is that long after these banned products have been pulled from the marketplace, the permanent damage caused by being exposed to them remains, and the asbestos industry today fights tooth and nail against paying claims for any past damage done by their industry.
Early Industrial Cover-Ups of Asbestos Danger
Leaders in the asbestos fiber industry knew about the many health risks (including cancer and pulmonary disease) of their products decades ago. There is ample evidence proving this in the form of medical and professional reports, internal memos and trade organization reports within the industry. Most of the large industrial manufacturers either ignored or downplayed the obvious health hazards of asbestos for years, however, until the government and even some trade organizations forced their hands. Why? Because until they had no other choice, they protected profits above employee health.
Fortunately, the outcry of organizations such as the Industrial Hygiene Foundation and advocates from the medical community pushed those in the industry who used asbestos to come to terms with their problems. Increased safety procedures (see asbestos abatement), warning labels and proper training for workers were some of the measures that organizations pushed into place in this industry.
The Global Asbestos Industry and Its Fight for Survival
Unfortunately, there is still a long way to go. Asbestos use in the United States is still not banned, and there are dozens of products, such as roofing shingles, cement pipes and vinyl flooring, that still contain asbestos.
How the Asbestos Industry Protects Its Interests
The bad news is that there is still a long way to go and corporations invested in today’s asbestos related industries are still trying to protect the investment dollars of companies by minimizing worker health and safety as well as minimizing pay-outs to those who have suffered permanent and life-threatening damage from asbestos exposure. Some of the ways industry insiders are trying to protect their profits at the expense of their employee’s health includes:
- Using political clout to support the passing of resolutions putting a cap on the amount of compensation that individuals can claim when they sue for damages caused by asbestos.
- Attempting to establish government trust funds to be used to pay out settlements against those in asbestos related industries, thereby making sure taxpayers are paying for the problems of the companies instead.
- Lobbying on Capital Hill for various tax credits and tax breaks based on settlements and payments made to victims of asbestos damage. By receiving tax breaks for losing litigation, the industry is attempting to be rewarded for its mistakes.
This industry is a powerful, wealthy block of corporations. They continue to try and minimize the potential danger of products containing asbestos by emphasizing to the public their safety precautions while down-playing the suffering of the millions who have been exposed to asbestos in the past. It seems likely that in the near future, there won’t be any great improvements until the asbestos industry is held accountable to a much higher standard.
Return from Asbestos Industry to the Mesothelioma Cancer Home Page


text:
08 May 2019
Student start-up reaches the F Factor regional finals
Enterprising Lower Sixth students Tiffany Lau and Roshni Agarwal attended The F Factor: Manchester Regional Final last week to present their start-up sustainable business idea, rePET.
Enterprising Lower Sixth students Tiffany Lau and Roshni Agarwal attended The F Factor: Manchester Regional Final last week to present their start-up sustainable business idea, rePET, which was co-developed with Ryan Cherian (also L6).
The F Factor is the UK’s premier start-up competition for ambitious young entrepreneurs using technology to solve the world’s biggest problem, and Tiffany and Roshni were required to pitch their business idea among highly competitive opponents. In fact, they were the only team aged under 18 at the event, which took place on 30 April.
rePET’s business aim is the creation of a plastic vessel to provide sanitised drinkable water for individuals in less economically developed countries, for off-grid household purposes. By harnessing solar UV light for sanitation purposes (SODIS method) and incorporating the use of type 1 PET plastic bottles, they hope to provide a solution to the 844 million people experiencing the water sanitation crisis and respond to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals 6 and 12 UN.
Recently, rePET were also shortlisted as global finalists in the MIT Launch X Entrepreneurship Competition 2019, representing the UK.
This was an extremely rewarding experience and Tiffany, Roshni and Ryan believe their passion and determination will enable them to further pursue this social enterprise. Since beginning the project last September their progress has been significant and we look forward to hearing more news from them!


text:
Former retail entrepreneur bets on agribusiness
By São Paulo|
Dimitrios Markakis, the son of a Greek immigrant who has built major retail chains in the last two decades, took advantage of the most recent “golden age” of the Brazilian economy, when the consumer pocket was deeper than today. When the foundations began to move, Mr. Markakis decided to channel his capital towards what he considers to be “Brazil’s vocation”: exporting agricultural products.
After selling his shares in the construction materials retailer Dicico in 2018, the entrepreneur, who previously owned Candia supermarkets, considered new investments on retail but opted to bet on the countryside wealth. “I knew that agribusiness was the country’s differential, I just didn’t know yet which segment to bet on,” Mr. Markakis says.
He then prospected business in livestock, coffee and cotton, but ended up going for sugarcane and grains when he met brothers André and Alexandre Candido de Paula, owners of ACP Bioenergia.
The courtship that preceded the businessman’s investiment in the company lasted two years, but the “chemistry” was immediate, says Mr. Markakis, who counted with financial advice from Czarnikow, a firm specialized in the sugar industry.
Mr. Markakis was attracted by the diversification of customers and raw materials that dilutes ACP’s risks. The company’s low operational cost compared to competitors and sustainable practices, such as gradual replacement of chemical pesticides by biological options, were also enticing.
Mr. Markakis bought 20% of ACP’s capital in late 2020 for an undisclosed amount. The investment will allow ACP Bioenergia to expand.
“We had two options: stay the same, or continue to grow, as in recent years. We decided to keep growing and we want to be the biggest in the market. But, for that, it was no longer possible to [do it] alone,” says André Candido de Paula, now a major partner of ACP together with his brother Alexandre. The two had become sugarcane suppliers in 2014, after selling a minority stake at the Conquista do Pontal plant to Atvos (which belonged to Odebrecht) and taking over agricultural production.
In 2020, ACP harvested a record of 2.7 million tonnes of sugarcane at its three sugar and ethanol poles in the Center-South region and cultivated 10,000 hectares of grains in Tocantins.


text:
Yahoo said it had stopped allowing its services to be accessible from mainland China as of 1st November “in recognition of the increasingly challenging business and legal environment.”
This is the second Western tech brand to quit the country in recent weeks, with Linkedin being pulled from China last month by Microsoft.
In an official statement, Yahoo said: “Yahoo remains committed to the rights of our users and a free and open internet. We thank our users for their support.”
Its departure comes as Beijing has imposed fresh curbs on its internet companies on areas from content to customer privacy as well as new laws. On Monday, its new Personal Information Protection law designed to protect online user data privacy came into effect.
In May, Verizon Communications sold Yahoo and its other media businesses to private equity firm Apollo Global for $5 billion.
The Chinese website of tech blog Engadget, which was also sold in the deal, was also unavailable on Tuesday and only displayed Yahoo’s announcement on no longer providing content for mainland China users.


text:
bad news from japan
The fact is that this timeThe news that comes to us from Square-Enix is not the best if you are a fishbowl that everything is played on your PC since, as we feared, the Japanese are not going to put too much effort into reaching stores beyond the PlayStation consoles (or so it seems). Remember that the relationship with Sony goes back a long way and these exclusive titles for their machines have been our daily bread for the last 29 years.
It was Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida, producer of final fantasy 16the one who has verbalized that bad news during the broadcast of a streaming held a few days ago around a New Year’s Mahjong tournament, and in which took advantage of the relaxed atmosphere to remind us that there are no plans that a PC version is even planned or that it will come out after a first release on PlayStation 5.
“There has been talk,” Yoshida said, “that PC version will be out [de FF XVI]but nobody [del equipo] has declared nothing about that version. I wonder why people assume that the PC version will come six months later? [de la de PS5]So go ahead and buy yourself a PS5.”
Made up news, right?
The denial of Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida do not think that it occurs because that morning he remembered that some media had speculated about the possibility that the game would end up coming to PC, but because there have been many evidences that have given to think to the community that something like this was contemplated within the roadmap of the video game
And it is that during the streaming of one of the showcases official 2020 PlayStation, a first trailer of final fantasy 16 in which, in the end, the phrase “Also available for PC” appeared. Mention that it disappeared when that same video was published by Square-Enix on its official channels. I mean, when were they telling the truth? With the first of the revelations or by hiding it? Although it was not until last year when, in official material, it was also possible to read (fleetingly) that the game would be an exclusive for six months.
Be that as it may, everything smells like a marketing movement that tries not to subtract sales to the game on PlayStation 5 that, it is clear, will be the first and only to arrive. Although once six or twelve months have elapsed, the possibility of us having a final fantasy 16 on PC it will be able to be reborn to become a reality. After all, despite the agreements that Square-Enix has with Sony, it has become clear that the Japanese are seduced by reaching PC territory and putting honey on the lips of Xbox owners, who will continue to dream of have an RPG like this on their consoles.


text:
Pre-orders for the upcoming and eagerly-anticipated Starfield were the third-biggest-selling item on Steam last week.
The ambition sci-fi RPG shot up the charts from seventh place to No.3 week-on-week. This is the first new Bethesda IP in 25 years and it's fair to say that there's a lot of hype surrounding the game. Starfield is set to launch on September 6th.
For the third week in a row, Baldur's Gate 3 was the biggest-selling game on Steam.
The title launched in Early Access back in 2020 but came out in 1.0 form at the start of August. Since it has attracted a record of 875,343 concurrent players on Steam and has received overall critical acclaim. Second place once again goes to Valve's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
Chinese-only title MahjongSoul has shot up the charts from 52nd place all the way to fourth. This is the first time the game has appeared in the Top Ten since May of this year.
Apex Legends two spots to the No.5 spot, charting ahead of Call of Duty, which rose two positions to sixth. PUBG: Battlegrounds fell from fourth to seventh, coming in ahead of pre-orders for the eagerly-anticipated mech action title Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon. That title is set to release on August 24th.
Valve's Steam Deck hardware has fallen three places to the No.9 spot, while Digital Extremes-published Wayfinder from developer Airship Syndicate makes its debut in the charts in tenth place.
Here is the Steam Top Ten for the week ending August 22nd:
1. Baldur's Gate 3, Larian Studios
2. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Valve
3. Starfield, Bethesda (P)
4. MahjongSoul, Catfood Studio
5. Apex Legends, EA
6. Call of Duty, Activision
7. PUBG: Battlegrounds, Krafton
8. Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, Bandai Namco
9. Steam Deck, Valve
10. Wayfinder, Airship Syndicate


text:
Starbucks will sell the best coffee brand in Seattle to global food giant Nestle. Both companies announced the acquisition today. The terms have not been disclosed. Starbucks has owned Seattle's Best since 2003, although Seattle's Best dates back to a single coffee shop founded in 1969 on Whidbey Island, northwest of Seattle, under the name of Wet Whisker.
SEATTLE Starbucks sells its Seattle's Best Coffee brand to Nestle for an undisclosed amount. AFC will continue to operate Seattle's Best Coffee's 110 international coffees, most of them in Asia and the Middle East, said President and CEO Frank Belatti.


text:
In 2018, we wrote about Sony Music Germany and Sony Poland were about to release some well-known Within Temptation records on vinyl LP, from which most of them for the first time ever. In 2019, Within Temptation will release their full discography on Vinyl LP!
Album on Vinyl LP
It is pretty common these days, artists releasing their music on Vinyl LP, this kind of media made a strong comeback. Some artists even re-issue their album on limited and coloured discs. So did Within Temptation. For the very first time, they released their debut EP “The Dance” and CD “Enter” via own label.
Not via Sony
In February 2018, Sony Music Germany (or Sony Catalog GmbH) announced the release of three vinyl records. “The Silent Force” was about to be released for the first time on blue coloured LP, “The Heart of Everything” for the first time on marble white LP and “The Unforgiving” as a re-issue this time on red transparent vinyl. Not even a month later, mid-March of 2018, Sony Music Germany canceled the records and they disappeared from the web.
Only a day before the cancelation, a green marbled vinyl edition of “Mother Earth” appeared on the web, which was also canceled the day after.
The same year, a few months later, Sony Music Poland released some exciting news. They claimed the premier of “Black Symphony” on 3LP, the re-issue of “An Acoustic Night at the Theatre” on clear vinyl and the premier of “The Silent Force Tour” on CD.
They were scheduled for release December 2018 and things looked promising. However, half-January of 2019, Sony Music Poland also canceled these releases.
Re-issue of album on Vinyl LP
Not long after the cancelation of the releases, end-August 2018, Within Temptation announced the re-issue of their EP “The Dance” and CD “Enter” on vinyl for the first time and the duo-CD as re-issue.
It took only a few months later before they announced the – previously via Sony Music Germany announced – green marble vinyl LP of the album “Mother Earth“.
Discography on limited LP
In a Polish interview with Metal Hammer (Dec 2018), singer Sharon den Adel announced they’re working on something very exciting, the release of their discography on vinyl LP!
Metal Hammer: “After releasing “Hydra”, you also released a DVD called “Let Us Burn” which has a concert from your fifteenth anniversary on it. And you didn’t prepare anything for your twentieth anniversary…”
Sharon den Adel: “Yes and I regret it a bit… we didn’t prepare anything for our twentieth anniversary but we will prepare something interesting for twenty-fifth! Maybe we will release a box with all our albums, don’t know yet! For now, we’re planning to re-release the whole discography on vinyl records. This is what we’ve been waiting for so long. “RESIST” will be released as a music cassette. It’s actually interesting too, because I know that “Mother Earth” – for example – was released in Poland on music cassette! I even have my own copy (laugh).”
Note: Some third party sellers offer the vinyl records for pre-order already. We recommend to not pre-order any of these items until further notice. These are the long-lost pre-orders from Sony Germany and Sony Poland. If you have pre-ordered these records, contact the seller to get a refund.
Big thanks to Pola Pacholczyk for the interview translation.


text:
While the program is on hold for the time being because of the COVID-19 crisis, Mortar at Bounce has unveiled the 15 participants in its inaugural cohort.
Akron's Bounce Innovation Hub and Mortar, a Cincinnati group that works with historically marginalized entrepreneurs, teamed up to bring the accelerator program to the Rubber City. Mortar at Bounce looks to support entrepreneurs in nontech fields, with an emphasis on minorities and women.
It will offer two cohorts per year. The first was set to begin April 7, but has been delayed because of the pandemic and Ohio's stay-at-home order. Organizers said they were looking at future start dates and online options.
Each cohort will last 15 weeks and participants will learn the business fundamentals and build a business plan, a release announcing the participants said.
The program is funded by and presented in partnership with GAR Foundation; Burton D. Morgan Foundation; the city of Akron and Rubber City Match; and the Greater Akron Chamber.
"While Bounce is currently closed to the public, its mission to serve small businesses and entrepreneurs in Northeast Ohio is stronger and more vital than ever," Bounce CEO Doug Weintraub said in a statement. "On behalf of our partners, we are incredibly proud of this first round of companies and excited to see where they go from here."
The inaugural class members are:
• 1474 Art Inc., Sekoya Kendrick – An arts marketing firm.
• All Better Care, Janelle Scott – A day care that cares for children with minor illnesses while parents are at work.
• Compassionate Catering Kandy, Aleasha Wilson – Catering company that makes confections and sells them via private parties, festivals and craft shows.
• Cookie's Chicago-Style BBQ, Nina Evans — looks to expand operations to a mobile restaurant
• Eat Speak Love, Tiffany Roper — a service that offers date-night experiences
• Embracing Ur Journey LLC; Angela Higgins — a dance, drum and wellness space
• Fat T's Cookies; Travis Howe — offers cookie-centric baked goods
• Hair Geek; Sapreea English — a hair salon and barbershop
• Honesty Healthcare; Tiffany Adjei — provides home care services for those 55 and older
• I Was Here; Carlotta Pace — helps individuals and families break generational cycles and patterns
• Jenuine Cuisines; Jennifer Tidwell —a personal culinary service
• Julia Belle's Seasoning; Tonya Green — a maker of seasonings, dry rubs and mixes
• Sinclair Creative; Telayne Keith— a private event planning, corporate/public exhibition planning and production assisting service
• Sip. Savor. Soul; Dannika Stevenson — provides catering services, private cooking and food styling
• Sweetly Created 4 U; Brandy Coffey — creates soy candles, melts, sprays and more


text:
Like the look of the new Range Rover Velar, but think it should be even wider and lower? Well, the folks over at German tuner Startech believe they have the answer…
Set to go on display at the Geneva International Motor Show, the tweaked Velar boasts a full widebody conversion, along with fresh front and rear cladding. Interestingly, the company has also specially developed a set of extra-wide Startech Monostar M 22-inch alloys (wrapped in 295/35 R22 rubber, courtesy of Continental) for the project.
In addition, the ride-height has been dropped by a further 30 mm, with the firm’s 16-piece bodywork conversion kit adding 60 mm to the overall width of the Velar.
An optional “electronic sound generator” (yes, even for the four-pot diesel) ostensibly produces a “virtual” V8 petrol sound, which Startech says “thrills driver, passengers and the outside world alike without being annoyingly loud”.
Inside, various options will be offered, from accessories such as aluminium pedals to all-leather interiors “tailored to the customer’s individual preferences”.
Ryan has spent most of his career in online media, writing about everything from sport to politics and other forms of crime. But his true passion – reignited by a 1971 Austin Mini Mk3 still tucked lifeless in a dark corner of his garage – is of the automotive variety.


text:
About a week ago, the TEENA telecom authority of China approved the ZTE 8021N smartphone. The smartphone’s listing reveals the entire specifications of the phone alongside some of its pictures.
Now, a new listing of a device called ZTE Blade 20 5G has appeared in the product library of China telecom.
Surprisingly, the new listing confirms that the model number ZTE 8021N belongs to the ZTE Blade 20 5G.
According to the listing, the ZTE Blade 20 5G will come with a 6.52-inch screen with a waterdrop notch. The TEENA listing suggests that the display on the phone may be an LCD panel that supports HD+ resolution.
Further, the publications mentioned that the phone would feature the Dimensity 720 chipset alongside 6GB of RAM.
Out of the box, the Blade 20 5G will arrive with 128GB of native storage, and it will come with Android 10 OS.
The ZTE Blade 20 5G will house an 8-megapixel selfie snapper in its on-screen notch.
On the rear panel, the Blade 20 5G would pack a 16-megapixel + 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel triple camera setup on its back panel.
For security, the ZTE Blade 20 5G has a rear-fitted fingerprint reader. The battery rating of the device remains a mystery.
The release date of the ZTE Blade 20 5G was earlier scheduled for October 30. Since the date has passed, the phone may likely debut before the half of November.
The listing mentions that the phone will arrive in China with a price tag of 1,699 Yuan (~$254). Interested customers have the option to purchase the ZTE Blade 20 5G in colour editions like jazz grey and light blue mint.


text:
The 2017 Kia Rio has arrived with a new and brushed up design. They say the last time this happened was far back to the 2012 model. The South Korean automaker have released official photos of this car. See for yourselves and enjoy our 2017 Kia Rio gallery:
Kia is yet to reveal any further information or specifications of this car, but we can guess it will be available as soon as possible. What do you think of the 2017 Kia Rio? Yay? or Nay?


text:
Bossard is strengthening its competency in 3D printing. According to a press release, the provider of product solutions and services for industrial fastening and assembly technology has acquired a 30 percent share in Ecoparts AG. The company offers services in the generative design of metal components. These custom and series parts are used for prototypes, toolmaking, lightweight components, hybrid construction and additive manufacturing engineering. It is the largest service provider of its kind in Switzerland.
Ecoparts was founded in Rüti ZH by Daniel Kündig and Adrian Helbling in 2006. Last autumn, the company moved to new, larger premises in Hinwil, which also include a training room. The two founders have now reduced their stake of 50 percent to 20 percent. The other 50 percent remains in the hands of the vonRoll infratec Group based in Zug.
Bossard also acquired 49 percent of 3d-prototyp GmbH back in autumn. The company from Stans NW is an expert in the additive manufacturing of complex plastic parts and models.


text:
Industry multi-channel platform and systems provider Digitain has promoted Simon Westbury to the position of Chief Business Officer.
Prior to this Westbury served as the company’s Head of International Business Development where he took responsibility for expanding Digitain’s international sales channel and strategy related to new clients and markets.
“Simon has successfully led the Digitain Sales team since January 2020, generating significant growth and adding great value to our business. We fully expect even greater things from him and his team in the future,” said Digitain Chief Operations Officer Harutyun Vardanya.
Celebrating this new ‘dream job’, Westbury praised Digitain’s growth throughout 2020 and emphasised its commitment to supporting the company’s expansion into 2021.
He added: “I am delighted to be given this new challenge and in Digitain’s confidence in me, it really is my dream job. 2020 was a year of unparalleled growth for the business and I am committed to deliver even more in 2021.
“I also look forward to guiding and developing my excellent team, current and new, in order to achieve our exciting plans for the business.”
Before joining Digitain, Westbury most recently served as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) for virtual games provider VSoftCo Ltd, an enterprise sold to Pragmatic Play last January.


text:
Come enjoy the Pastega Christmas Light Display, a Corvallis holiday and community tradition since 1981.
The Pastega Christmas Light Display has been bringing holiday joy to Corvallis for nearly forty years. Every year volunteers donate thousands of hours of work to deck the fairgrounds out in holiday lights and displays, including more than 250 figures and mechanized scenes.
Visitors can enjoy the Pastega Christmas Light Display from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily, Nov. 29 through Jan. 1. Drivers can enter the light show through the Reservoir Avenue entrance. Admission is a canned food item for donation.


text:
In the lore of digital disruption, Eastman Kodak Co.’s downfall is particularly momentous.
Kodak was once one of the world’s most powerful companies. But it failed to act on digital cameras and online photo sharing, despite seeing the trends years before. (Kodak engineer Steve Sasson created the first digital
"what glues everyone to is a combination of an incredibly powerful banking vortex in New York City and America's massive economy, not the medium on which dollars are printed."
Popular News Stories
Cred is the first U.S. crypto lender to file for bankruptcy in the country. Ripple is opening regional headquarters in the Middle East. President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming...XBT.MONEY 2020-11-09
Ant Group’s suspended initial public offering (IPO) has shed further light on a possible motivation behind China’s digital yuan. The Chinese government appears to view the...XBT.MONEY 2020-11-12
Bitcoin was higher, pushing toward the upper edge of its recent range between about $14,700 and $15,600. “The positive sentiment towards bitcoin has not gone away,” said...XBT.MONEY 2020-11-11
With Bitcoin’s (BTC) recent price movements drawing fresh attention to the blockchain industry, conversations centered around cryptocurrency have once again begun to see an...XBT.MONEY 2020-11-27
Short-sellers, who make money when the price of a targeted financial instrument declines, aren’t always popular with corporate or government leaders. Those on the receiving...XBT.MONEY 2020-11-20
Bitcoin was higher for a second day, staying in a range between roughly $15,200 and $15,600, as news of progress in developing a coronavirus vaccine appeared to touch off a...XBT.MONEY 2020-11-09
Mark my words: Governments and central banks will never care about your wealth and your privacy as much as you do. That reality is exactly why central bank digital...XBT.MONEY 2020-11-15


text:
Porsche is in discussions to procure electric-car batteries from China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), as global automakers widen their supplier networks to secure the key components for future vehicles.
The German carmaker and CATL are “in good talks,” Porsche research and development chief Michael Steiner told reporters Wednesday in the city of Fuzhou, China, adding he meets with CATL management regularly. “They are really catching up.”
Sufficient battery supplies are crucial for automakers vying for pole position in the burgeoning electric-car market. While Porsche parent Volkswagen AG has already picked CATL as one of its suppliers, the first all-electric Porsche — unveiled on Wednesday — uses batteries from South Korea’s LG Chem Ltd.
Adding a high-profile customer such as Porsche would be a boon for CATL as it seeks an edge over competitors LG Chem, Panasonic Corp. and BYD Co. CATL is building a plant in Germany to strengthen its presence in Europe — the region where Porsche builds all its vehicles. The battery maker has already secured local premium brand BMW AG as a customer.
Panasonic has a long-standing relationship with electric-car leader Tesla Inc., though the U.S. marque is also said to be buying batteries from LG Chem for cars that will be built in its new China factory. Porsche’s sister brand Audi, maker of the e-Tron electric vehicle, is in advanced talks to buy batteries from China’s BYD, people familiar with the matter have said.
Porsche’s China chief, Jens Puttfarcken, said Wednesday the carmaker is working to get an exemption from a 10% purchase tax in the country for its electric vehicles, something Tesla already obtained. The German brand probably won’t get it by the time the newly introduced all-electric Taycan starts selling, but is confident it can get it within 2020, he said in an interview in Fuzhou.
“We are working intensively with Chinese authorities,” Puttfarcken said.


text:
Tuesday's earnings report reinforces the value in Alibaba ahead of its forthcoming U.S. IPO, but did little to signal whether the rest of Yahoo is currently a steal or just dead weight being propped up by the Asian assets.
Earnings season comes to the technology sector this week and when Yahoo releases its first-quarter report card after the closing bell Tuesday investors and analysts may not see many signs that the turnaround of the company's core business is taking hold.
Chief Executive Marissa Mayer has been making a lot of bets on Yahoo's future, from acquiring businesses like Tumblr to adding boldfaced names like Katie Couric to the tech company's media roster. Yahoo's stock price is up 116% since Mayer took over in July 2012, which certainly buys some time for her effort at reversing the company's long decline, but the gains are thanks to shrewd decision-making by her predecessors rather than the fruits of the restructuring effort.
Those shrewd moves have left Yahoo with sizable stakes in valuable Asian Internet properties
"The jury is still out on the core business," says Mark Foster, chief investment officer at Columbus, Ind.-based Kirr Marbach, which has nearly 3% of its $658 million in assets under management in Yahoo shares. He's upbeat though, figuring that the holdings in Alibaba and Yahoo Japan have provided a cushion as Mayer sorts things out.
Foster, who first bought Yahoo shares around the time the company snagged Mayer from
It's a view shared by many, including analysts at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, who upped their rating on Yahoo to buy Monday. Alibaba said in March that it plans to list in the U.S., and SunTrust's Robert Peck assumes a $150 billion valuation at IPO for the Chinese Internet giant. With Yahoo having committed to selling almost half of its 24% stake in the IPO, a significant chunk of the underlying value in Yahoo's shares will be realized (and taxed) before too long.
SunTrust's analysts expect the shares sold in the IPO and the value of the remaining position will amount to $29 per share in value to Yahoo, only a shade below the current stock price of $33.75. Add the Yahoo Japan position and the near $4 billion in cash on the company's balance sheet and Peck, like Foster, figures investors have what amounts to a free call option on Mayer's turnaround of core Yahoo working.
According to SunTrust's estimates, Yahoo trades at a discount to the value of that core business after stripping out its cash, and stakes in Yahoo Japan and Alibaba. That business is "still very much entrenched in a turnaround with few signs of tangible financial progress," Peck notes, but he figures investors are going to look past that lack of progress when the company issues first-quarter results Tuesday.
The consensus Wall Street estimate calls for non-GAAP earnings of 37 cents per share, according to FactSet, on just under $1.1 billion in sales. Should Yahoo's valuation rise to anywhere near that of other "challenged growth stories" like EarthLink (4.5 times EBITDA),
If Yahoo gets a snapback after earnings it will be coming out of a group of momentum-driven stocks that have been laid low in 2014. In a note last week, Goldman Sachs' research team noted that Yahoo was among a group of stocks that were among the S&P 500's 50 best-performers for the 12 months ending Feb. 28, but down more than 10% since.
Shares of Yahoo, which have fallen 12.4% since March 1, gained 1.2% to $33.85 ahead of Tuesday's earnings report.


text:
LG has officially revealed Optimus G Pro Android smartphone for the South Korean market today. There is no word on the exact availability or pricing, but the smartphone is supposedly going on sale in the country this month.
According to the information present in the press release (which is very little), LG Optimus G Pro will feature a 5.5-inch FHD display with 1920x1080p display with curved glass on the back with a square pattern underneath. Company claims that it creates a 2.5D effect. The smartphone is also expected to feature a quad-core processor (probably Qualcomm’s S4 Pro).
Other details are still sketchy, but they are expected to be same as Japanese Optimus G Pro.
We hope to hear more about this smartphone at the Mobile World Congress later this month, where LG is also going to announce a new smartphones series called “F.”
In related news, LG had officially announced its new L-series smartphones yesterday including L3 II, L5 II and L7 II.


text:
(ABC4) – If you’re missing the smell of your favorite bar, don’t worry, Miller Lite has you covered.
With the return to normalcy from the COVID-19 pandemic in sight, Miller Lite says it is celebrating bar fans’ anticipation by bringing the distinct smell of bars home with a limited-edition candle collection.
Three scents – Dive Bar, Beer Garden, and Game Day – not only bring the bar smell home but help celebrate the reopening of bars and restaurants.
“We know people are so eager to be shoulder-to-shoulder again in a bar like it used to be,” says Carol Krienik, associate marketing manager for Miller Lite. “In the environment, we’re in right now, Miller Time can’t happen in the bars we love, so we’re bringing that experience to our drinkers as much as we can so they can have that Miller Time feeling at home.”
The candles call to mind the atmosphere of some favorite gathering places, according to Miller Lite:
- Dive Bar mixes scents of musk, tobacco, pine and yeast to conjure “dim lights, a faint glass clinking and the sinus-clearing sensation of a puddle that somehow exists indoors.”
- Beer Garden features green moss, warm pretzel, cracked wood and sunburn to “evoke a day spent outdoors as the scent of tropical sunscreens mixes with the staple garden eats that fill the air.”
- Game Day’s scents are salted peanut, jalapeno and cracked leather, mixing “top notes of the most ordered bar snacks on game day with the subtle power of comfortable cracked leather, the ideal backdrop to a freshly opened beer.”
Not only do the candles bring home the unique atmospheres, but Miller Lite parent company Molson Coors’ also says all proceeds will go to support the United States Bartenders’ Guild, a nonprofit that supports bartenders and other service industry professionals.
More than a million jobs were lost amid the pandemic, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with the sector’s unemployment rate leaping to 16.7% in December, up from 5% from the same month a year earlier.
The limited-edition candles are available across North America, with the exception of Quebec and New Brunswick. To purchase your candle, click here.


text:
German retailer Tchibo is calling on European governments to regulate the textile industry, particularly when it comes to payment of living wages, adding that legislation is necessary for ensuring apparel brands and retailers are carrying out the relevant due diligence across their supply chains.
A multichannel retailer operating in Central and Eastern Europe, Tchibo’s product assortment includes textiles as well as coffee and a range of non-food products and services that change weekly.
It has pursued the “strategic goal” of becoming a 100% sustainable company for the past 13 years and says, since then, much has been invested in supply chains and products. But the retailer’s sustainability director, Nanda Bergstein, notes the company is now starting to realise barriers to its sustainability goal that can only be realised via multi-stakeholder collaboration.
“We want and we will continue to invest in sustainability, but today we are at a threshold where we can no longer significantly increase our investments without jeopardising our competitiveness,” she says. “It is becoming increasingly clear that global and very complex problems can only be solved jointly by all those involved; industry, trade unions, NGOs and governments.”
Making reference to the voluntary ACT on Living Wages initiative, Bergstein highlights an obstacle is that companies are given a choice on whether to join the programme or not. She says it is important that the same conditions should apply to all apparel brands and retailers.
ACT is currently the only initiative in the world with the potential to tackle the topic of living wages in the textile industry in the long term and sustainably but “we threaten to fail because not enough partners from the textile industry join in,” Bergstein says.
Tchibo adds that in Cambodia, 21 textile brands are currently negotiating with the government and employers for the introduction of nationwide collective bargaining with the aim of raising wages to a level of living. The companies involved represent around 50% of Cambodian textile production. The government is worried, however, that the other half will leave the market at higher wages, weakening Cambodia’s competitiveness. This example demonstrates the importance of public and unambiguous support from the respective governments of the distribution markets, the retailer says, adding “they must act on the governments of the producing countries and the companies buying in them to support ACT”.
“A regulation that creates the same conditions for all market players in Europe is urgently needed. With voluntary initiatives of individual companies alone, we will not move fast enough and ‘fair fashion’ will remain an illusion,” Bergstein says.


text:
A weekend stay was raffled among guests celebrating the US Independence Day at Laguna Restaurant, Radisson Aruba Resort Casino & Spa, as the resort hosted a 4th of July party, including a sumptuous buffet of holiday favorites, by Executive Chef Kien Fat Lie Kwie.
The winner, from Aruba, Hilary Gomez Kuiperi, reports it was a wonderful evening, as locals and Americans came out to patriotically support the Fourth of July in its 236th edition.
Pictured here, the winner Hilary Gomez Kuiperi, with hotel executives Lily Polsbroek and Raynold Semeleer. The recently renovated AAA Four Diamond Radisson Aruba Resort offers a 15-acre tropical oasis with exceptional accommodations and facilities enhanced by warm and caring, attentive service. With an exceptional staff – many with the resort for more than 15 years – the property is notable for its gracious service, having the largest expanse of white sandy beach on the island, exotic lagoons, cascading waterfalls, lovely gardens, and 355 guestrooms, including 30 luxurious suites and exclusive Plaza Club accommodations. The Radisson Aruba captures the essence of Aruban charm offering sumptuous cuisine in three restaurants including the Sunset Grille, the island’s only AAA Four Diamond-rated restaurant.


text:
DryShips Posts 6th Straight Quarterly Loss and 2 Other Hot Stocks to Watch
DryShips (NASDAQ:DRYS): Current price $1.96
The dry bulk shipping and offshore contract drilling firm has reported its sixth consecutive quarterly loss, saying that it does not expect charter rates to improve in 2013. Shares of DryShips, which are thought a bellwether stock for the industry, fell by almost 7 percent in midday trade. Excess supply of dry bulk ship capacity for commodities like coal, ore and grains, has led shipping rates downward relentlessly in the last five years, accelerated by weak demand, resulting in a number of shippers being forced to restructure their businesses and lower capital spending. DryShips Chief Executive George Economou commented that “even though there has been a recent spike in some dry bulk charter rates, we continue to be defensive about the short-term prospects of the shipping markets. We do not expect any positive sustainable development in charter rates this year.”
BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY): Current price $14.39
On Wednesday, analyst Alexander Peterc at Exane BNPParibas lowered his rating on BlackBerry from Neutral to Underperform, at the same time hiking his price target to $10 from $7, subsequent to trimming estimates. Peterc wrote that the firm’s transition is threatened by the “disappearance of legacy profit pools” in the smartphone industry.
Bloomin’ Brands (NASDAQ:BLMN): Current price $21.66
Bloomin’ Brands has announced the pricing of a secondary public offering of 19 million shares of its common stock at a price of $21.50 per share. All shares are being offered by certain stockholders. The offering should close on May 29, subject to the satisfaction of the usual closing conditions. Further, the underwriters will have a 30-day option to buy up to an additional 2.85 million shares from certain selling stockholders.
Don’t Miss: Boeing Flying Over Competition From Airbus.


text:
Obama Administration Appears Set to Wage War on Online Lenders
The Obama administration made some announcements recently that should be of concern to anyone who gets loans online or who operates an online lending company. The administration announced that it is actively soliciting for complaints from people who have been “encountering problems with loans from online lenders.” This is a blatant warning that financial regulators are going to be taking some serious action against an industry that has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years.
There are literally millions of people who have taken out personal loans via the Internet. These types of loans continue to grow in popularity because they don’t require borrowers to spend hours trying to procure a loan, and they give consumers access to loan applications, comparing loans and ultimately getting their money around the clock. People can easily compare the rates of one lender to another, the same way that they would compare hotel room prices or prices for products on Amazon.
Marketplace loans, or online loans grew from $12 billion back in 2014 from just $1 billion back in 2010. These types of loans have increased competition among lending companies and allow consumers to choose from a wider variety of financial products, while saving money in the process. These benefits apply to everything from mortgages and car loans to educational loans and refinancing existing loans.
It seems, however, that the regulators that Obama is using do not see these benefits. In fact, they seem to view the world of online lending as a virtual landmine that is filled with dangers for consumers. And they are doing everything they can to get control of this industry.
Richard Cordray is the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB.) In talking about online lending, Cordray said, “When consumers shop for a loan online we want them to be informed and to understand what they are signing up for. By accepting these consumer complaints, we are giving people a greater voice in these markets and a place to turn when they encounter problems.”
Financial experts seem to be fearful that the CFPB is getting ready to start a major smack down on online lending companies that will be very similar to the pressure that the organization has been putting on payday lending companies, auto title lenders and other providers of alternative financial services. Anyone familiar with how Cordray and his subordinates has been on a witch hunt to take down these types of lenders should be aware of why online lending companies are concerned. The new alert released to consumers is nothing more than the administration’s attempt to gather up negative data against lenders in the burgeoning online lending industry. The fact of the matter is that the CFPB already collects financial service/product complaints from American consumers. Why is it that a special initiative is being put together with the sole purpose of collecting negative information related to online lending transactions?
Scott M. Pearson from Ballard Spahr LLP stated, “The CFPB’s objectives in taking these actions are questionable, since consumers already could complain about marketplace loans using the CFPB’s existing loan categories. Rather than seeking to provide additional protection to consumers, perhaps the CFPB’s primary objective is to warn marketplace lenders that they are clearly on the CFPB’s radar screen.”
The truth is that online loans have not been the source of a whole lot of consumer complaints. Debt collections, identity theft and even issues with traditional mortgage lenders have received plenty of complaints from consumers. Yet the CFPB continues to cherry pick the industries that it intends to put pressure on, instead of meaningfully using the customer complaint data that the group has access to.
Latest posts by Ian Dallas (see all)
- In Times of Cash Advance, Funds of Trump Positions the Monitoring of Consumers in the Centre of Interest - December 5, 2017
- Consumers depending on cash advance need to be safeguarded from the CFPB - October 24, 2017
- Can’t borrow e-payday loans-due to CFPB - October 3, 2017


text:
For many, the best thing about the fall is the fashion that comes with it, and CR Fashion Book has the leg up when it comes to putting us on to the season’s finest. Yeezy Season, that is.
The fashion mag’s newest pro-male offspring, CR Men’s Book, is showcasing Kanye West’s fashion line with an exciting set of models. Instead of plucking the Chanel Imans of the world, Yeezus hand picked four rising acts on the music scene to don his DIY-style threads in the high fashion mag: Roc-Boy Vic Mensa, Timbaland’s protégé Tink, new G.O.O.D. Music signee Holt and VIBE cover star Fetty Wap.
CR Men’s Book first teased the spread with Fetty Wap next week, but now we know all four of these artists are who Kanye feels “embody the fearless spirit of his debut Adidas collection.”
This isn’t the first time ‘Ye plucked a young star to play dress up in his expensive garments. Just last month, The Weeknd—who just released his Beauty Behind The Madness album—modeled select pieces from the line for GQ.
Check out the entire CR spread and story on Gen-Yeezy here.


text:
Next meeting: Tuesday, April 17th, 2018 Trico Centre Room #7/8April 17th, 2018
Please join us at the next Deer Ridge Community Association Meeting. Interested in volunteering on the Board? Everyone is welcome to attend. We hope to see you there!
Tuesday, February 20th, 2018 Trico Centre Room #7/8 (upper level)
The Calgary Police Service is investigating a shooting in the northwest that left two people dead. At approximately 3:10 p.m., on Friday, April 20, 2018, police were called to the 0 to 100 block of Evanscrest Manor N.W., for reports of gunshots. When officers arrived, they found two individuals deceased in a vehicle. Police continue to search the area for th […]
Count yourself in! Census Takers will begin going door-to-door throughout the city today to assist Calgarians with the submission of their census information. “The annual Civic Census information is used by The City for a variety of planning and program service delivery purposes, and by the Province for the determination of grants if available. The informati […]
One man has been charged in relation to a joint homicide investigation by the Calgary Police Service, Edmonton Police Service and the RCMP. At approximately 8 p.m., on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016, Cuc LUNG, 34, and Quang TRAN, 38, returned to their residence on Redstone Manor N.E., when they were shot while sitting in their vehicle. LUNG’s five-year-old son was […]
The City of Calgary recently prepared bylaw amendments that will facilitate the retail sale and consumption of legalized cannabis in Calgary. Cannabis store applications can be made online or in person starting Tuesday, April 24 at 8 a.m. MT. “The City will start accepting applications for cannabis retail stores on Tuesday,” said Brandy MacInnis, Senior Spec […]
The Girl Guides of Canada and Kid’s Help Phone are once again partnering with the Calgary Police Service to help comfort young victims of crime through the annual Share Your Bear event. Girl Guides across the city donated 1,200 stuffed animals this year to give to the Service’s Victim Assistance Support Team. Every year, volunteers with the police give over […]


text:
Nordic’s Bluetooth low energy solutions join the ARM mbed project to
enable the next generation of internet-connected products across
fast-growing markets such as wearables, fitness, toys and healthcare
As ARM mbed helps the Internet of Things to become a reality, there is a significant opportunity for ultra-low power Bluetooth chips that connect intelligent products with their owners’ smartphones and tablets, and can run for years on small batteries at cost-sensitive price points. This agreement will help to drive the innovation and deployment of BLE-enabled devices in key growth markets including wearables, mobile accessories, fitness, toys, healthcare and consumer electronics.
“There is an immense market opportunity to connect new generations of physical devices such as toys and wearables with mobile devices, and shape the interactive user experience,” commented
Having pioneered the ultra-low power (ULP) wireless sector in the 2000s, Nordic has developed ULP wireless chips that can run for long years on small batteries, which are the size of watch batteries. These chips are already found in products such as wireless PC peripherals, gaming controllers, sports and fitness sensors, advanced multi-media controllers, and digital/satellite TV (set-top box) remote controls.
ARM mbed is a collaborative project providing hardware and software building blocks to developers for rapid development of ARM-based intelligent connected devices. This includes commercially friendly open-source code for microcontrollers, radios, peripherals, middleware and cloud services. By supporting Nordic’s ARM-based Bluetooth SoCs and extending the platform to support Bluetooth smart APIs, ARM mbed allows developers to rapidly create Bluetooth connected products, demonstrate proof-of-concept and move quickly to high-volume production of devices.
“Nordic’s ultra-low power, wireless SoCs will help bring to life the next generation of internet-connected devices. ARM wants to give developers broad access to solutions that fuel the innovation and exciting diversity of devices that will characterize the Internet of Things,” said