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To visit Philadelphia’s Joseph Fox Bookshop in the last two weeks of January was to attend a wake.
Tucked away on a narrow one-way street in the heart of Center City, the 71-year-old institution held a special magic. Its neatly curated selection of hip novels, architectural tomes, and children’s literature was framed by pleasantly tasteful interior decor and soothing lighting. Everyone behind the counter knew their stuff and would gladly recommend a gift, even if you were only half-sure about the recipient’s favorite novel.
So when rumors began to spread on Twitter that the beloved staple might soon close, a story soon confirmed by the Philadelphia Inquirer, the reaction was dramatic.
. . . .
“I wasn’t prepared for the outpouring of emotion,” says Michael Fox, 69, whose father opened the shop in 1951. “People were crying outside the book store, people were bringing us presents and food. There’s been this extraordinary outpouring of affection and sadness.”
Joseph Fox was thronged in those last weeks of business, its narrow rowhouse confines bursting with grieving loyalists. While locals mourned for one Philadelphia icon, however, there were also dark murmurings about a potentially much greater malady.
Is Center City experiencing a retail meltdown? Nearly two years into the era of remote work, are Philadelphia’s downtown, and other central business districts around the country, finally collapsing? The relatively high-end commercial corridors of Walnut and Chestnut streets—both hit hard by the shutdown and looting and property destruction in 2020—are still pocked with vacancies. Their counterparts on Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road, Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, and Manhattan’s SoHo all saw vacancy rates of 20 percent or higher in 2021.
“Walnut Street used to be this vibrant, thriving, amazing community of stores, all these big chain clothing stores—and they’re just not reopening,” says Fox. “At six o’clock when we close, there’s no one on the street. That’s a real indication that something changed. People are not in town, they aren’t working.”
. . . .
This is very specifically a downtown problem. At the macro level, the national retail market is proving resilient two years into the pandemic, with many of its weaker performers already culled by the “retail apocalypse” of 2018 and 2019. For the first time since 2014, the real estate analytics company CoStar Group tracked more store openings than closings last year.
Buoyed by unprecedented amounts of federal support for households and businesses in 2020 and early 2021, paired with increased savings due to inactivity earlier in the pandemic, Americans pounded down the doors of national retailers last year.
“Retail sales blew through the roof at a much higher rate than we would have ever expected and consumption hit all-time highs,” says Brandon Svec, national director of U.S. retail analytics with the CoStar Group. “The consumer was unleashed back into the world with vaccines in their arms and a couple extra trillion dollars in their bank accounts.”
That larger truth obscures inequities. The booming metropolitan areas of the Southeast and Southwest are outperforming more stagnant counterparts in the Northeast and Midwest. Rural regions continue to suffer from a dearth of retail activity, while suburbs are outperforming urban cores especially in older, denser cities like Philadelphia.
Michael Fox isn’t imagining things when he laments reduced foot traffic and boarded up storefronts. By the count of Philadelphia’s Center City District, a third of downtown consumers are still absent. In 2019, an average of 428,000 people walked the streets of central Philadelphia every day. In 2021, there were only 267,000—a gap almost entirely explained by the continued prevalence of remote work.
Link to the rest at Slate


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EU Approves Nvidia's $6.9 Billion Acquisition Of Mellanox
'It ought to allow for a healthy research and development budget, so that they can stay ahead,' one Nvidia partner says of how its acquisition could impact interconnect vendor Mellanox.
Nvidia's proposed $6.9 billion acquisition of high-speed interconnect vendor Mellanox Technologies has been approved by the European Commission, clearing a major hurdle for the GPU powerhouse's ambitions to become a larger player in high-performance computing.
In a Thursday evening filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Mellanox said the deal has “received unconditional clearance” from the European Union's regulatory body, meaning that it's now only awaiting approval from Chinese regulators.
“The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would raise no competition concerns, because the companies mainly supply complementary products and they will not be able to leverage their respective positions into neighbouring markets,” the European Commission said in a press release published Friday.
The acquisition is already cleared in the U.S. after the waiting period under the federal Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 expired on May 23, according to Mellanox.
Last month, Nvidia said that while the deal could close by the end of the calendar year, as the chipmaker originally expected, it may not happen until early 2020 as it awaited regulatory approval.
Nvidia views Mellanox as a critical component provider for future data centers, which the chipmaker has previously said "will be architected as giant compute engines with tens of thousands of compute nodes, designed holistically with interconnects for optimal performance."
Dominic Daninger, vice president of engineering at Nor-Tech, a Burnsville, Minn.-based Nvidia partner and high-performance computing system builder, said once completed, Nvidia's acquisition of Mellanox will give the interconnect vendor a boost in resources for product innovation.
"It ought to allow for a healthy research and development budget, so that they can stay ahead," he said.
With the deal, Daninger said he expects Nvidia to create deeper integration between its data center GPUs and Mellanox's interconnect products, which is already happening in products like Nvidia's DGX deep learning server appliance.
"If you look at their DGX product, high-speed communications between nodes is fundamental to that data center approach," he said.

domain: news


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If you're too time-starved to visit a shop to get your photos printed, many retailers have online services that will do the same job and save you time. We take a look at some of the options on offer for Australians.
Wireless printers are increasingly popular, because such printers are easy to share and can reside just about anywhere you wish -- within reach of the Wi-Fi signal, of course. The vast majority of wireless printer installations will run smoothly if y...
The 3D printing scene is just getting weirder and weirder as more and more 3D printers get out into the wild. Today's 3D printing development is a series of extendable clamps that allows the MakerBot 3D printer to print larger objects. This is not pa...
Last week, GeekTech bought you the story of the awesome Lego 3D scanner, which literally bought two-dimensional Lego objects to life. Now, quirky gift company Shapeways has taken it one step further, creating an intricate glass vase that your grandma...
The printer ate your TPS reports, but no excuse matters when you're rushing off to meet clients empty-handed. No wonder everybody loves to hate printers. When you need them most, they'll display a stupefying error message and create a hot mess of jam...
A coming revolution in 3D printing, with average consumers able to copy and create new three-dimensional objects at home, may lead to attempts by patent holders to expand their legal protections, a new paper says.
This summer GeekTech told you about a cool felt tip printer, which was made out of Lego bricks. Now another hacker has come up with an even more advanced Lego printer, using a three Mindstorm NXT bricks and nine NXT motors. A 3D Lego printer!
The Epson Artisan 835 is the company's flagship, photo-oriented color inkjet multifunction (print/copy/scan/fax). Although it isn't specifically designed for office use (as is Epson's WorkForce line), the Artisan 835 has nearly every feature a home-o...
Canon is responding to strong global demand for inkjet printer products with plans to hike production by around 40 per cent in 2011, the company said Tuesday.
Xerox on Tuesday added remote printing capabilities to its enterprise print services portfolio, bring a new way for smartphone users to print documents while on the go.
HP has unveiled the new Envy 100 e-All-in-One inkjet multifunction printer, which has a sleek, compact design that shouldn't look out of place in a modern living space.
HP will release a multifunction inkjet printer that uses a detachable 7in, iPad-style touchscreen tablet device as its interface. The HP PhotoSmart eStation All-in-One has all the features of HP's ePrint service -- such as remote printing via e-mail ...
HP's new printer tablet is not the "Slate" you're looking for, but it does lend a pinch of crazy to a tablet market that will soon get pretty crowded.
Hewlett-Packard showed off a tablet computer that serves as a control panel for its new printer. The tablet browses the Web and can be used as an e-reader.
Hewlett-Packard's new Android tablet, unveiled Monday as a companion to its latest PhotoSmart eStation all-in-one printer, isn't suitable for applications found in the Android Market because of its screen size.
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First impression on unpacking the Q702 test unit was the solid feel and clean, minimalist styling.


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Biodiesel producer pushes quality standards
A senior executive of one of the nation's top biodiesel producers this week outlined his company's testing process in response to a recent independent study that says some biodiesel producers are not meeting industry standards.
Myron Danzer, Vice President of Customer and Technical Services for Renewable Energy Group, Inc., says his company stands by its quality and testing procedures. "For the past 10 years, Renewable Energy Group has been producing biodiesel that meets or exceeds industry standards," Danzer says.
The national study, released Wednesday by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the National Biodiesel Board, found that one-third of biodiesel samples taken between November 2005 and July 2006 did not meet industry specifications. The samples used in the study were taken from those who handle fuel in biodiesel distribution channels following production, not the production plants themselves.
Danzer says fuel quality does not stop at the production plant gate. "More fuel distributors should have binding industry standards in handling biodiesel. This way more consumers will know they will be getting the best product available," he says. "We work closely with all of our customers to ensure our biodiesel is handled with care all the way to the pump."
In the production of biodiesel, Renewable Energy Group has been proactive in aggressively achieving quality in its biodiesel and setting industry-wide standards. The company goes to extensive lengths to guarantee its biodiesel meets specifications at the production site before leaving the plant for distribution.
"There is a standard for biodiesel, and there are ways for plants to improve and meet quality specifications, which is achievable thorough BQ-9000 Accreditation," Danzer says.
The voluntary BQ-9000 Accreditation program is a grouping of the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) biodiesel standard and a quality systems process including storage, testing and distribution practices. Twelve of the 86 biodiesel plants in the nation are BQ-9000 Accredited, and two of the accredited plants are managed by Renewable Energy Group.
Danzer, who is also a quality standards commissioner for the National Biodiesel Board, stresses the importance of BQ-9000 Accreditation when speaking to a group of biodiesel producers at the same meeting where the studyâ€™s results were announced. BQ-9000 Accreditation, he says, is a way to assure marketers and consumers that they are getting a premium product from biodiesel producers.
Renewable Energy Group produces and markets SoyPOWER biodiesel, which is tested frequently. This testing is conducted several times before and during production, again as the finished product is stored, and once more as it comes out of storage and is sent to fuel marketers via railcar or truck. Before it is shipped out, each batch of SoyPOWER biodiesel is given a certificate of analysis saying it has met all 16 BQ-9000 standards.
As other companies strive to achieve this level of quality on a consistent basis, Renewable Energy Group continues its work with the National Biodiesel Board and the ASTM standards committee to ensure that all biodiesel nationwide meets the high standards and performance expectations of its heaviest users.


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Nic Inc. (Nasdaq: EGOV), a provider of digital government services, acquired Complia, a provider of a technology platform for government regulation of the cannabis and hemp industries.
The amount of the deal was not disclosed.
The acquisition expands NIC’s professional licensing capabilities, which also include:
– dozens of tailored licensing services across the United States,
– a custom cannabis regulatory system for the state of Oregon, and
– an enterprise licensing and permitting platform for the state of Illinois.
Complia’s cloud-based cannabis and hemp licensing technology platform serves three primary aspects of cannabis regulation: business licensing, patient and caregiver registration, and employee credentialing. The system integrates with NIC’s payment processing system as well as third-party seed-to-sale systems, and can be deployed rapidly, typically within 30-45 days after a contract is signed.
Founded in 2015, the company currently has contracts to provide their technology platform to four states, with NIC serving as the payment processor.
This acquisition is a purchase of the entire business, and all employees will become NIC employees, including Complia’s three founders: Alex Valvassori, who will serve as an NIC General Manager; Harikrishnan Gopalakrishna, who will serve as a Senior Director of Technology at NIC; and Ramesh Babu, who will serve as a Director of Operations at NIC.
Led by Harry Herington, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, Nic provides a payment processing platform and thousands of digital government solutions across a network of more than 6,000 federal, state, and local government agencies.
In addition, the company is one of the nation’s leading providers of outdoor recreation solutions.
Nic also provides a personal assistant for government and comprehensive mobile platform, Gov2Go®, and recently launched a data-driven prescription drug monitoring platform, RxGov®.


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“Furniture sector may close the foreign exchange deficit in tourism”
He said that the loss of foreign exchange experienced in the days when the support packages for the tourism sector were put into practice could be closed to other sectors and the furniture sector could take a pioneering role in this.
LODE Furniture Chairman David Khan, “all exporting sectors to create added value, design, If the weight of effective communication efforts to strengthen the perception of branding and brand of Turkey in the international arena can give back to our country as soon as possible exchange we lost as a result of the embargo by Russia,” he said. Embargo that Russia applied for Turkey, larch, indicating that many sectors adversely affect the start, the implementation of the support package for the tourism sector of the loss of foreign exchange that took place in the following days, other sectors may be closed, and said this one also can assume a leading role in the furniture industry. “All exporting sectors focus on value added production, original design and branding on international markets, and in many sectors, especially tourism, Russia can compensate for the loss of foreign exchange, which could be the result of embargo,” he said.
Due to the Russian crisis, Turkey’s only the annual income loss in tourism 8.5 billion dollars found that the way that claims are evaluating Khan, “This deficit is already $ 2.4 billion of exports, the Turkish furniture sector, 2023, which is 10 billion dollars, reaching the export target of almost will be compensated, “he said. Referring to the effect of the sector on the country’s economy, Karaçak said, “The furniture sector is one of the sectors with the lowest imports, with the highest employment. Turkey’s furniture exports, but account for 20 percent of the current production, produces 80 percent of profits. The sector provides a serious resource input to the country’s economy. Today, in the countries that have a say in the world, the furniture sector is the leading sector dominating the economy.
Loda Furniture Chairman Karaçak, “Furniture included in the fast consumer group, now design, innovation and quality front panel. What we need to focus on is the struggle with China, which has cheap labor, namely design, innovation and quality. If the focus to these issues, Turkey may turn into furniture production base. We maintain and maintain our presence in major markets such as northern Iraq, Baghdad, Azerbaijan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Arabia, Iran, Africa and the Balkan countries.
Ege Haber was taken from the publication dated February 27, 2016.


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Photos: Westmoreland County drug suspects being rounded up
Heinz is known for worldwide for ketchup, but it produces many other food items too.
Heinz is known for ketchup but also makes many other food items under different brand names. See what other Heinz products you may be eating without knowing it.
A lone bugler sounding the traditional military farewell "Last Post" marked the arrival Wednesday in the Netherlands of the first dead from the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.


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Walmart Canada announced that they have partnered with Canada’s domestic debit network Interac to offer in-app and in-browser payments through proprietary wallets, which is a different approach than the U.S. market. In the U.S. Walmart offers its own app, Walmart Pay and conducts payments though registered cards and the use of QR codes. Here’s the overview from their press release:
Interac Corp. today announced that it is working with Walmart Canada to offer its customers enhanced methods of paying with debit online and in-store. With a target timing of Spring 2021, Walmart shoppers will soon be able to checkout using Interac® Debit for In-App and In-Browser Payments on proprietary wallets. Walmart has also begun rolling out Interac Flash® at point-of-sale terminals in-store, giving customers the option to pay with the secure tap of a debit card or smartphone.
Walmart has also been implementing contactless for Interac cards at the point of sale also:
Walmart Canada is very excited to now offer Interac Debit and provide more convenient and contactless ways for customers to check out in-store and online,” said Nicolai Salcedo, Chief Information Officer, Walmart Canada. “We listen to our customers and want them to have even more choices for how they pay for their items. This is part of our ongoing effort to make shopping at Walmart easy, safe and seamless, especially during these challenging times.”
It was noted in the press release that the wallets offer “a seamless and secure customer experience to pay wherever, whenever, however, in near real-time with no chargebacks.” I am sure that Walmart appreciates the lack of chargeback rights. I wonder how customers feel about that.
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Merchant Services at Mercator Advisory Group


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Velas, the blockchain project that centers itself around the scalability issues of blockchain networks like Bitcoin is at the brink of a major revamp. According to the press release shared with Altcoin Buzz, this update will enhance the existing Velas network by bringing in new features to the ecosystem. Moreover, the re-engineered suite of the next-gen products will push the project closer to its vision of providing blockchain users a feature-complete blockchain ecosystem.
As per the press release, the team will start rolling out Velas 3.0, a new suite of products and solutions in the coming weeks and months. With the completion of the roll-out, Velas network that promises maximized performance and security will become a truly usable and interoperable platform. Effectively, within Velas 3.0 ecosystem, the users will have complete control over their privacy and finances.
Redesigned, Rebranded, and Re-engineered suite of next-gen products.
— Velas (@VelasBlockchain) December 12, 2020
Next-gen product sneak peek!
Even with a large number of miners, the throughput of networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum is still limited. While Bitcoin and Ethereum network continues to struggle with transaction per second (TPS) of 7 and 15, Velas promises to deliver 30,000 TPS. Moreover, the platform promises to maintain security and decentralization.
Interestingly, Velas blockchain will now adopt a unique consensus mechanism. Known as Artificial Intuition Delegated Proof of Stake (AIDPOS), it forms the foundation of a robust ecosystem. Atop, this strong foundation layer, the project team has been building innovative products and solutions. Moreover, the roll-out will begin with an enhanced Telegram like social media platform BitOrbit.
Decentralized social media platform- BitOrbit
Built on top of high-performance Velas blockchain, BitOrbit is a social media platform that preserves the privacy of the users. Interestingly, the platform does not need users to have a password. The users will have to use Velas Account for authentication instead of passwords.
Thus, users can easily interact with decentralized apps (DApps) and content creators in a secure manner. BitOrbit will roll-out with a built-in wallet that will enable secure trading. All the data generated on BitOrbit is backed by, highly-secure IPFS network. This will help build a decentralized access management system. Basically, the users will be able to access files on IPFS using multiple encryption types.
Furthermore, BitOrbit will use multi-model Governance for content moderation. Moreover, stakeholders will select validators to moderate the content.
Synthetic asset supporting Wallet
As discussed above, BitOrbit will roll-out with a built-in Velas Wallet. The wallet will support VLX, Velas tokens, vBTC, vETH, vZEC – the synthetic tokens of BTC, ETH, and ZEC. The team will also introduce BitOrbit Account API and will streamline the use of APIs with user wallets.
The project is expanding its capabilities in building DApps. It will soon become a foundational platform for cross-platform DApps for mobile devices. Known as MicroApps, the users can interact with these DApps from applications like Telegram.
PayPal like payment efficiency
With its Velas Account Module, the project will bridge the gap between cryptocurrencies and traditional payment methods. Along with that, it will introduce support for instant payments.
It is a novel security solution. The users can use it to distribute the security of their funds and information over Google and Apple platforms. Firstly, users need to segment their passwords and keys. Secondly, they must distribute them across other platforms. Finally, to combine these keys, they need to use the Velas Vault.
Is Velas a sleeping giant?
According to Twitter influencer @BITCOINTRAPPER, with the Velas 3.0 roll-out, things look pretty bullish for the project. He adds that the project holds all the potential to become one of the biggest crypto projects of 2021 and beyond.
— ฿ITCOINTRAPPER (@BITCOINTRAPPER) December 12, 2020
Meanwhile, VLX, the native Velas token rally is yet to trigger. However, at the time of press, the VLX token is trading a little over $0.0248.
For more crypto-related updates, do check out our Altcoin Buzz YouTube Channel.


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ANDERSON, SC (WSPA) – A man is accused of setting a fire inside Walmart as a diversion for shoplifting, according to an Anderson Police report.
Police say Michael Travis Robinson set fire to a product inside the store causing extensive smoke and water damage to the store.
Anderson Fire Department Lt. Travis Poore said the fire happened around 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 15 at the Walmart at 651 Highway 28 Bypass.
Poore said the fire was in the back of the store in the photo and toy area. Customers and employees were evacuated from the store, which closed following the fire.
No one was hurt.
Investigators were able to identify Robinson as the suspect.
They say he was trying to create a diversion so he could shoplift.
Robinson was arrested Thursday morning at 12 a.m.
He is charged with Shoplifting and Arson Second Degree.
His bond as set at $10,000.


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A new campaign is being launched today to help warn people of the dangers of pension scams, and ultimately, help ensure that those who want to take advantage of the pension freedoms don't lose out.
The campaign is being launched by The Pensions Advisory Service (in association with Project Bloom) and will include images, key messages and top tips that are set to be released every day for the next week.
It's a campaign that's well worth talking about, particularly with pensions remaining firmly in the spotlight. A growing number of people are both joining pension schemes and finding that they can access their pot more flexibly, but unfortunately this increases the chance of being targeted by pension scammers who may try to offer "lucrative" places in which to transfer a lifetime of savings.
"Much work has already been done to help raise consumer awareness about scams," it said in a statement, "but the message needs to continue to make sure that pension savers can identify the warning signs of a scam, know where to go for help and guidance and what to do next if they think they've fallen victim. By raising awareness of this potentially devastating issue, pension savers can make sure that their plans for later life are scamproof, ensuring that their financial future is protected."
Not only have the pension freedoms opened up more opportunities for scammers, but it can be a particular issue at this time of year, too, as Michelle Cracknell, chief executive of the Pension Advisory Service, explains: "We know that scammers will target anyone at any time, but the period after Christmas, when money is a little tight, is a prime time for people to be contacted out of the blue with unrealistic offers of fast cash. It's important that we keep highlighting to consumers the best way to protect their pensions from these opportunists and raise consumer awareness of pension scams."
Whether you could be at risk or are years away from retirement, why not get involved? It's a truly social campaign with the content being shared across all social media channels (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn), and consumers are being encouraged to follow and support the campaign by following @TPASNews, @TPRgovuk or by getting involved with the #protectyourpension hashtag.
Michelle concludes: "The campaign launching today will continue to improve people's knowledge of scams, what a scam looks like and how it might impact their later life, should they fall victim. We urge anyone to get in touch with us on 0300 123 1047 if they aren't sure what they're being offered; it's better to be safe than sorry."
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Credited with developing the first commercially successful lever-filling fountain pen,Walter A Sheaffer founded the WA Sheaffer Pen Company in 1913. Since then,it is known across the world for its range of writing instruments,particularly their luxury fountain pens. So even as this year marks 100 years of the company,William Penn Indias multi-brand retail store chain that houses the most premium brands in fine writing instruments is organising 100 Years & More-Sheaffer Centennial Celebration on July 31 at Hotel Shangri-la,Lower Parel. Over 46 vintage pens from the past 100 years will be on display. Limited edition Sheaffer pens will be unveiled at the event. The pens Sheaffer Legacy Heritage Centennial Limited Edition,the Sheaffer Centennial Limited Edition and Sheaffer Legacy Limited Edition are priced between
Rs 85,000 and Rs 18,00,000.


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Mayor Marion Barry, responding to the discontent expressed by merchants, said yesterday he would investigate ways to improve the city's blighted Northeast Florida Avenue market area.
Barry talked to three merchants and bought a bag of pecans from a vendor as he walked through the area yesterday on a good will tour.
Sidney Kolker, owner of Washington Beef Co., largest in the Florida Avenue area, engaged in verbal jousting with the mayor, saying D.C.'s policy of giving 25 percent of city procurement to minorities has resulted in some minority businesspeople acting as brokers or jobbers by buying food outside of the District to sell to city agencies.
Barry, who said he didn't want to start on the wrong foot on the tour, quickly interrupted Kolker's complaint saying, "look, let's not go on off" with unfounded accusations.
Lawrence Schumake, director of the city's Office of Business and Economic Development, said later that he investigated Kolker's complaint and as of late yesterday found it to be untrue. Barry will get a full report next week, Schumake said.
The city is concerned about businesses in that area fleeing to nearby Maryland and commissioned a study to determine what Florida Avenue merchants need. The market, situated on 37 acres radiating from 5th Street and Florida Avenue NE, serves as a citywide and regional wholesale meat and produce distibution center where the area's restaurants and institutions buy food.
Automobiles, trucks, trash and stray dogs drawn by the aromas of fresh and decaying meats, fruits and vegetables crowd the market's streets.
Many of the buildings, erected in the 1920s, are largely unadorned, have broken and dirty windows and cracked sidewalks in front of them. Some workers huddled yesterday outside the buildings, warming their hands over fires in large trash barrels.
Besides food distributors, other retailers such as automobile repair companies, printers, banks, motels and restaurants have located in the area. There are two office buildings at the site.
The 46 wholesale food firms provide about 640 jobs, and all of the 80 businesses in the market provide about 1,000 jobs, officials said. Most of the firms employ fewer than 10 persons.
In D.C.'s business-retention study, Florida Avenue merchants said they need better security, improved truck loading facilities, wider and better kept streets, upgraded traffic signals and more parking space.
The area's advantages are its central location and good automobile and truck access to New York Avenue, the merchants said.
More than half of the employes of the 14 of 20 firms surveyed by the city were District residents. Sixteen of the firms queried have been in business there for more than 10 years, and seven firms said they wanted to expand their Florida Avenue facilities.


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Build-A-Bear is no stranger to holding great sales throughout the year. As for the company's latest must-have offer? Look no further than Build-A-Bear's National Hug Day deal, an event that gives customers the opportunity to purchase a plush toy for under $6. And don't forget to make a note in your calendar because the special sale is only back for one day.
There are many holidays in the United States, some of which are less well-known than others. I had never heard of National Hug Day before, for instance, but it exists. The special day — that takes place annually on Jan. 21 — was first recognized in 1986, and it's designed to "help everyone show more emotion in public," according to the website National Day Calendar.
Of course, you don't have to hug a person to celebrate this unique event — stuffed animals are perfect for hugging, right?
A company that knows this all to well is Build-A-Bear, which held a National Hug Day deal on Sunday, Jan. 20 and Monday, Jan. 21. The sale let customers make "select furry friends" for $5.50 each, stating on its website: "Come feel firsthand how bear hugs come in all shapes and sizes by bringing your own furry friend to life for a BEARY special price. You’ll even be able to wish your furry friend to life on our limited-edition National Hug Day heart – available in stores for a limited time only!"
The options include, according to Build-A-Bear's website: "Lil' Cub Pudding," "Lil' Cub Walnut," and "Lil' Cub Brownie."
If you missed this wondrous sale — don't fret. Build-A-Bear will extend its deal for one day only on Sunday, Jan. 27, according to a press release.
The company explained in a press release:
With the help of Guests and 'virtual huggers' across the globe, the brand has already exceeded its goal of sharing 1 million virtual hugs in 2019. To celebrate, Guests who visit a Build-A-Bear Workshop® store on Jan. 27 will be able to make one of several Lil’ Cub® furry friends that will be available for just $5.50 each and enjoy in-store fun for this one additional day.
It's important to note, however, that clothing and accessories are sold separately, and you must be a Build-A-Bear Bonus Club member to participate.
The other restriction? "Guests may purchase up to 6 (six) total Lil’ Cubs for $5.50 each," according to Click Orlando.
As for the virtual hugs Build-A-Bear mentioned? It created a line of GIFs for customers to send and share if they can't make it to the store.
"Beginning today and all year long, friends and loved ones near and far can send a virtual hug—and help Build-A-Bear reach its goal of sharing million virtual hugs in 2019—using the newBuild-A-Bear bear hug GIFs!" the company said on its website. "Whether someone needs a “Heartfelt Hug,' a 'Bear Bump' or a 'CeleBEARate Hug,' Build-A-Bear has 'all the hugs.'"
You can download the GIFs directly from Build-A-Bear's website if you're curious about this cute campaign.
On that note, mark your calendars for Jan. 27. And don't forget to sign up for Build-A-Bear's free Build-A-Bear Bonus Club.


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Property website Zoopla valued at up to £1billion by float price range but is the time right for another big IPO?
- Zoopla price set at 200p to 250p a share, with trading to start on June 19
- But float comes as investor scepticism grows over glut of IPOs
Online property group Zoopla could be valued at over £1billion when it floats in just over a fortnight’s time with the group’s offer price set at between 200p and 250p a share.
But the details of the firm’s initial public offering come as questions are being raised over the investor appetite for floats after a glut in the past six months - and as shares in leading internet retailer ASOS plunged after a second profit warning in three months.
Zoopla, which is currently 52.6 per cent owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust - owner of MailOnline and Thisismoney.co.uk - would be valued at between £833million and £1.04billion by the offer price range.
Driving ahead: Property website Zoopla is pushing ahead with its share offering despite questions being raised over investors' appetite for floats.
Conditional trading in the shares will begin on June 19, followed by the start of unconditional trading on June 24.
The fast-growing group laid out its plans for flotation last month when it said subscribing members –estate agents, lettings agents, new home developers, and franchise holders – will be able to get their hands on up to £2,500 worth of stock at a 20 per cent discount to the offer price.
Zoopla aims to sell up to 179million shares, representing 43 per cent of the existing share capital.
Zoopla’s founder and chief executive Alex Chesterman, who holds an 8 per cent stake in the business said: ‘We have been delighted with the response to the news of our intention to float, including from our members who will have the opportunity to participate in the initial public offering and become shareholders in our business.’
But questions will be asked about the timing about the float given recent instability in the IPO market, particularly for internet-related stocks, and today’s shock profit warning from online fashion retailer ASOS will not have helped matters.
Profit warning: Internet fashion firm ASOS today issued its second profit warning in three months, blighting the online retail sector.
Shares in internet-based retailers took a big battering after ASOS delivered its second profits warning in three months sending the stock down over 30 per cent, or 1,423p to 3,110p.
The latest ASOS downgrade was triggered by the impact of a stronger pound on international sales, with the firm also highlighting the need for increased promotional activity in the womenswear sector.
The warning hit recently-listed online fashion rival Boohoo.com, down 4.8p to 44.7p, while online domestic appliances retailer AO World – which also floated earlier this year – fell 4.25p to 257.0p.
AO World’s decline came as it posted its maiden results as a listed company today showing a 40 per cent jump in annual revenues but flat operating profits of £8.2million without one-of charges.
The appliances retailer also said its plans to start trading in Germany were well advanced as it takes its first step to becoming a leading European online electrical retailer.
AO World added that its current financial year had started well and was trading in line with expectations.
Shares in AO World are around 8 per cent below its February offer price of 285p, while Boohoo shares are also now lower than its 50p offer price when floated in March.
There was some good news on the new issue front today as lender OneSavings Bank rose on its stock market debut after the company set the price for its initial public offering at 170 pence a share, valuing the group at £413million.
Shares in OneSavings started conditional trading at 172p before advancing to 178p by late morning.
OneSavings Bank, which focuses on niche lending such as buy to let, was created in 2010 after the Kent Reliance Building Society was rescued with a £50million cash injection from private equity firm JC Flowers.
Real estate investment trust Secure Income also started trading strongly on the junior AIM today after raising £15million through a placing of 8.6million shares at 174 pence each, with the stock jumping to 210p in conditional trading by lunchtime.
Secure Income has a freehold portfolio of 28 assets valued at £1.46billion as at April 30 including attractions managed by Merlin Entertainments, such as Madame Tussauds, Alton Towers, and Thorpe Park.
Both today's offering were only open to institutional investors but there are signs another upcoming float could attract strong retail investor interest.
Lloyds Banking Group’s planned float of its TSB subsidiary on the London Stock Exchange by the end of June is said to be attracting strong demand from investors on both sides of the Atlantic.
However the state-backed lender has dismissed speculation that it plans to capitalise on this by selling off around 30 per cent of shares in TSB – more than the 25 per cent stake it had originally earmarked for the initial disposal.
The lender could be reticent to push out too much stock given the recent disappointing reception for the flotation of over-50s insurance and travel firm Saga, which was the biggest public offering of shares since the successful privatisation of Royal Mail last October.
After cutting its offer price right to the bottom of its predicted 185p to 245p target range when it floated nearly a fortnight ago, Saga’s shares have been on the slide ever since although they managed to recover slightly today, adding 2.1p at 174.6p.
Investors in the Saga flotation have also been left waiting for thousands of pounds of refunds on shares they did not get after a blunder by outsourcing firm Capita.
Investors who applied for the shares by debit card had the full value of their application deducted from their bank account immediately. They were supposed to be repaid the value of stock that they were not awarded by the end of today, if not sooner.
But Capita has since told Saga that in some cases it won’t be possible, forcing the over-50s group to release a humiliating apology to investors.
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Once, Israel was the land that taste buds forgot.
It was a gastronomic wasteland so barren that Daniel Rogov, a food critic who moved to Tel Aviv in 1975 after living in Paris for 25 years, avoided domestically produced wine "like you'd avoid the bubonic plague."
Among the more celebrated national dishes was cholent, a meat-and-potato stew so famously leaden that it was disparaged as "the Jewish atom bomb."
Times are changing. Driven by growing prosperity, a craving for the good life and the gradual onset of peace, a quiet gourmet revolution is sweeping the Holy Land.
For a country founded from the ashes of the Holocaust, weaned on socialism and war, and imbued with notions of communal sacrifice, the flowering of a gourmet culture means more than crustier bread, pluckier wine and fruitier olive oil.
"It's not that one day we woke up and decided that good olive oil is better than regular olive oil," said Erez Komarovsky, a Tel Aviv restaurateur trained in France, Japan and California who bakes delicious sourdough bread for a fast-growing market. "It's part of growing up for the whole society. . . . Before, we had wars, and all you think in war is just to feed, not to enjoy. We didn't used to have the emotional space to enjoy. It was a shame to indulge."
No longer. Consider:
* In the rugged hills west of Jerusalem, an eccentric former botany professor is making goat cheeses so exquisite that his select clientele includes one of the very best restaurants in France;
* In Tel Aviv, epicenter of Israel's culinary temblor, a young chef trained in some of New York's hottest restaurants is opening a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week French-American bistro;
* In New York last week, the owner of one of Israel's dozens of new boutique wineries celebrated a triumph when the city's major retailers agreed to carry his highly regarded Bordeaux-style wine--for $38 a bottle.
"We want to make for ourselves an international reputation," said Eli Ben-Zaken, the vintner whose 1996 Grand Vin Castel was snapped up by New York wine stores. "We believe we have something good on our hands, and we've been proven correct in New York."
True, the average Israeli's hummus and falafel have not been displaced by foie gras--even though Israel exports tons of its top-quality goose liver pate to France every year. Gefilte fish is still very much in demand. So is chopped liver. And cholent remains a popular end-of-the-week meal in many Israeli households, despite its caloric punch.
Still, the dawn of a new gastronomic day is undeniable. Wine shops, practically nonexistent five years ago, are opening all over in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. So are small wineries, dairies, chocolate shops, bistros and espresso bars.
Even fresh produce stands are getting into the act. "You used to go into a greengrocer's and you'd find romaine lettuce, and if you didn't like romaine lettuce you could have romaine lettuce," said Rogov, restaurant critic for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. "Now five or six kinds of lettuce are typically available."
To some Israelis, eating well is the best revenge after decades of war and privations. "We have this hunger for new things," said Jana Gur, editor of the monthly food magazine On the Table. "It's not that they're so wealthy, but Israelis have this craving for a life of leisure and luxury and normality."
At the same time, Israelis have gotten richer and started to see the world. As their living standards approach those of some Western European countries, the travel bug has become an epidemic: Israelis make three times as many trips overseas today as they did a decade ago. The result is a taste for the good life--and the good meals--they've been finding on holiday in Europe and North America.
"Thank God for the snobs," said Ben-Zaken, the winemaker who got his start in 1992 using oak barrels and techniques imported from France. "Because when they grab a subject like wine, it's irreversible."
A few miles up the road from Ben-Zaken's winery, cheesemaker Shai Zeltzer keeps his herd of 100 specially bred goats on 600 acres of grazing land overlooking a magnificent valley.
With his foot-long white beard and digressions into Buddhism, Zeltzer conveys an impression that is part prophet, part aesthete. But when the talk turns to the science and artistry of cheesemaking, he is all business.
"Fifteen years ago, I'd go door-to-door and give more than a third of what I made to people to taste, to teach them about cheese," said Zeltzer, 56. "People would make a face and say, 'Oh, the smell.' Now they travel more and they start to understand that cheese is part of a culture, like music."
The flair among Israeli vintners, cheesemakers and olive oil producers is matched by Israel's young restaurateurs, many of whom had apprenticeships at cooking schools and restaurants overseas.
Michaela Sharon, 35, who receives rave reviews for her pan-Asian restaurant, Mika, in Tel Aviv, worked at New York's TriBeCa Grill and owned a well-regarded restaurant of her own in Manhattan. She came home to open Mika in 1995, and her next project is an all-day, all-night combination bistro-diner modeled after the trendy places she loved in New York.
"It's no longer about bringing in your mom or your aunt to make homemade schnitzels," said Sharon, who still makes quick trips to Manhattan to pick up new techniques.
Like the vast majority of new restaurants, Mika is emphatically non-kosher, and the menu defies kashrut rules by offering crab, shrimp, eel and pork. At least half of Israelis are believed to stick more or less to kosher guidelines in their homes, but many bend the rules when they go out to eat.
Many Israelis agree, though, that there was more to overcome than kosher food on the way to integrating gastronomy into Israeli culture. "The whole notion of good food was against the messianic or socialist way of thinking in the early days," said Komarovsky, the breadmaker. "The idea then was that we're tougher because of the Holocaust. The majority didn't spend money on food, and people ate very simple food--bread, a little egg and a little cheese. . . . The idea was to feed, not to enjoy food. Only now as part of a bigger change in the last 10 years have people started to behave like in a normal country."
CAPTION: Israeli cheesemaker Shai Zeltzer has one of the best restaurants in France as a client.
CAPTION: After owning a restaurant in Manhattan, Michaela Sharon opened the pan-Asian Mika in Tel Aviv. Her new project is a 24-hour French-American bistro.


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It was yet another wardrobe malfunction for the flashy don.
Federal Bureau of Prisons guards committed a fashion faux pas yesterday when they turned away a daily delivery of neckties to Bonanno mob boss Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano — causing him to borrow a Brooks Brothers tie from the judge.
It marked the second time that Basciano borrowed threads from Judge Nicholas Garaufis — a hilarious quirk in his capital-murder trial.
Basciano’s most recent mishap came despite the fact that the judge had already approved an odd request — first reported by The Post — to keep several sets of suits, shirts, and shoes at his daily disposal.
But there was a glitch in the order Garaufis wrote — it didn’t specifically mention ties — which led to yesterday’s misunderstanding between prison officials and Basciano’s family members who were trying to deliver the neckwear.
“Apparently, whatever was in my order didn’t include ties . . . although it says ‘accessories,’ ” Garaufis said about the case of mixed-up fashion semantics. “A tie is an accessory. The definition of accessories includes a tie, shirts, shoes, socks, belts.”
During his 2007 murder and racketeering trial, Basciano ran out of freshly laundered dress shirts and was forced to borrow a shirt-and-tie combination from the judge himself.
To prevent any other such glitches, the judge wrote in the recent order: “The court now orders that the [federal Manhattan detention center] accept up to five sets of clothing, including but not limited to undershirts, socks, shoes, dress shirts, suit pants and suit jackets, be made available to Basciano prior to each court date in this case.”
In yesterday’s proceedings, Garaufis and defense lawyers exchanged fashion quips.
“Brooks Brothers is quite fashionable, your honor,” joked George Goltzer, one of Basciano’s lawyers. “Do you want to entertain a formal motion for Paul Stuart?”
Two weeks ago at the start of jury selection, Basciano appeared in a well-tailored suit but privately groused that the length of his pants’ cuffs was not to his taste.
Basciano, who is already serving a life sentence on his 2007 conviction, faces new charges of murdering a mob associate.


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SOUTH AFRICA: Clover profits fall on currency, dairy costs
Clover has reported a fall in profits in 2014
South African dairy manufacturer Clover Industries has witnessed a drop in annual profits on the back of a weakening currency, pressure from commodity costs and industrial action in the country.
For the full year ended 30 June, profit fell 21.2% to ZAR189m (US$17.2m). Headline earnings slid 12.8% to ZAR187.5m and operating profit decreased by 24% to ZAR282.3m.
Despite overall sales volume declining, revenue from the sale of products increased by 8.9% to ZAR8.5bn as a result of an increase in selling prices.
Johann Vorster, Clover CEO, said it had "been an exceptionally tough second half of the financial year".
"In the current lacklustre economy, the typical lead-and-lag effect in terms of cost recovery through selling price increases is aggravated. We took a strategic decision to increase prices gradually, to protect hard-won market share and sales volumes," he said.
"I'm confident though that the recent downward pressure on international oil and grain prices as well as the stabilising of raw milk supply will enable us to claw back some of these costs whilst growing market share and sales volumes."
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Nickelodeon UK uses Front Porch Digital for content archive
July 8, 2005
Nickelodeon UK has selected Front Porch Digital to implement a new DIVArchive.
The new DIVArchive system will manage a 17TB online disk array storage disk and connect to Pinnacle MediaStream 8000 video servers for ingest and playout under the control of a Harris automation system via VACP.
DIVArchive enables interoperability between large digital media storage devices, video servers, editing systems, and digital media workflow applications.
For more information, visit www.fpdigital.com.
Back to the top


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LONGi and UNSW reinforce research commitment
Last week was significant for LONGi Solar and UNSW as the duo renewed their strategic PV research cooperation by ceremoniously signing the renewal contract. The spirit of goodwill at the signing event showcased Sino/Australian cooperation for mutual benefit, with the wider solar sector gaining through greater efficiency and higher yield PV products that have made rooftop PV more affordable for all.
The LONGi Solar and UNSW partnership dates back to 2015 when LONGi and UNSW reached a strategic agreement on technology R&D and industrialisation of efficient cell technology, efficient module technology and low LID technology, maximisation of energy conversion efficiency and close cooperation in personnel training.
In August 2017, the strategic partnership was renewed to further strengthen LONGi Solar’s technology leadership in the photovoltaic industry.
Speaking at the October 2018 media event Tang Xuhui said “The cooperation is of great significance to both sides, and will also promote the in-depth exchange of PV technologies between Australia and China.
“The PV industry is driven by technology. LONGi has always attached great importance to scientific research. Through close cooperation with UNSW, we have made great strides in innovations that contributes high efficiency technology solutions to the industry, brings high yield PV products to end users and accelerates the progress of PV grid parity.”
Warwick Dawson, Director of Knowledge Exchange, Division of Enterprise UNSW explained that the cooperation with LONGi during the past few years had achieved remarkable results, saying “We are honored to witness the determination for globalisation and passion for technology of LONGi as a global leading solar technology company.
“UNSW will continue to exchange advanced lab technologies with enterprises to accelerate the application of technologies to production lines.”
A recent result of the partnership is light-induced regeneration (LIR) technology - a monocrystalline low LID solution - which was jointly released, by LONGi and UNSW in Shanghai in April last year. The technology completely eradicated the initial LID phenomenon and leads to higher capacity and lowers LCOE of monocrystalline module systems.
LONGi Solar has actively participated in Australia’s PV market with high-efficiency monocrystalline products since October 2016, and established strong relationships in large-scale power stakeholders, EPCs and local distributors.
From January to August 2018, LONGi exported more than 100MW of modules to Australia and has secured over 200MW of orders with EPCs and investors.
China customs data show that monocrystalline modules exported to Australia accounted for 24% in 2017, and the proportion increased to 37% in the first half of 2018. Efficient monocrystalline PERC products with higher efficiency and lower LCOE will have a greater market share over the coming years.
LONGi is opening a full service office in Sydney by the end of 2018, to provide after sales service, sales and logistics support for Long’s growing customer base in Australia. The company plans to export more than 50% of its module products to overseas markets by 2020, and Australia is an important destination.


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Restaurant payment app provider Velocity Mobile has acquired Tab Payments, a mobile payments app for diners in Canada accepted at more than 100 restaurants in Toronto and Montreal. “The acquisition further expands Velocity’s reach, which now connects premier restaurants with global diners in six major cities in the US, UK and Canada,” Velocity Mobile says. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
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In June of 2013, Resorts Casino in Atlantic City partnered with the Rational Group to use PokerStars for online gaming in the state. However, PokerStars was unable to gain licensing in the state and Resorts had to put their online gambling plans on hold. Just recently, Resorts Casino announced they have partnered with NYX Gaming and Sportech, both of which are European gaming software providers. The new partnership will see the casino working with the company’s as they prepare for online gaming launch.
With the announcement of the Amaya Gaming acquisition of the Rational Group, sets the stage for PokerStars as well as Full Tilt Poker to enter the online gambling market in the US. Amaya is now working with officials in the state of New Jersey to allow the poker sites to offer gaming in the state and if PokerStars were to be approved, Resorts Casino would be ready to offer options with PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.
In a recent press release, the Owner of Resorts Casino Hotel, Morris Bailey, commented on the announcement by Amaya: “We welcomed the recent announcement by Amaya Gaming Group, Inc. of its plans to acquire Rational which we expect will move the regulatory approval process forward. PokerStars is the leading world-wide brand in online gaming and we are looking forward to our future with them in New Jersey.”
According to OnlineCasinoReports, the Sportech and NYX Gaming companies will be providing direct software support for the Atlantic City Casino until New Jersey allows PokerStars to be licensed. The announcement by Amaya Gaming is a game changer and many feel as though PokerStars will be licensed in the state of New Jersey by the fall of this year. It will be interesting to see over the next few weeks what plays out with Amaya, New Jersey and PokerStars.
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Chip-maker AMD is back and is hitting the market with brand new products and a renewed spark.
You may not be familiar with AMD’s technology but they have a foot firmly in the door of the marketplace.
We take a look at their latest product which is taking the data centre world by storm.
AMD (or Advanced Micro Devices) is an American semiconductor, producing microprocessors, motherboard chipsets and embedded processors for business and consumer markets. To put it simply – they make chips. While they have been out of the data centre market for around eight years now, having chosen to focus on other tech markets and ventures, the company’s values of ‘People, Purpose and Place’ highlight AMD’s desire to innovate and their commitment to allowing ‘technology to create a better world’.
This philosophy is all well and good – don’t we all want to change the world? – but with AMD coming back into an ever-evolving, fast-moving market, the company need to hit the ground running.
That’s where their cutting products come in.
The AMD EPYC™ Chip, originally codenamed Naples before its release, hit the market in 2017.
The CPU possesses up to 32 cores, 64 threads and eight memory channels, meaning that they have enhanced processing capabilities able to handle larger data sets in high performance computing (HPC) workloads.
So what does this mean inside a data centre and what are the benefits for data centre owners? Basically, AMD are leaping ahead in their tech with EPYC – more users can be put onto an AMD stack with reduced overall power utilisation, giving service providers more revenue per rack unit (U).
The chip is based on the company’s Zen architecture using Infinity Fabric and CCX and has heightened security which sets AMD apart.
Forrest Norrod, Senior VP and General Manager of Enterprise at AMD, says that the EPYC name and brand represents a “new era in the data centre where balanced performance matches the needs of today’s and tomorrow’s workloads.”
They’re right. It does sound pretty epic.
The technology has received high praise from industry leaders such as HPE. EVP and general manager of HPE, Antonio Neri, said: “The EPYC processor represents a paradigm shift in computing and will usher in a new era for the IT ecosystem.”
Over the course of time where AMD has been out of the market, the data centre world has changed. They have come back to evolve the data centre industry but also to adapt to the changes that have been leading the way over the past few years, and this evolution certainly seems to be working.
In 2018, AMD share prices are gaining traction since the announcement of new products and the growth in market share – rising 165% since April this year.
UKFast Engineer, Tom, said: “After waiting for what felt like a decade for AMD to return with a new ecosystem in the data centre, AMD have returned with a genuinely exceptional product which was certainly worth the wait! The AMD EPYC ecosystem provided some significant insight to the hardware variants we are likely to see in the future of cloud computing. During our testing the AMD EPYC processors exceeded all expectations creating well needed competition in the data centre arena, welcome back AMD.”
Watch this space to find out AMD’s latest developments.
See more about AMD’s EPYC product here and it aims to evolve the industry:
Find out more about UKFast’s wholly-owned data centres
and book a tour.


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Hat Tip: BB
The protests started after the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced plans to redevelop historic Gezi Park in Istanbul’s Taksim Square into a shopping mall. This upset locals who staged a sit-in protest. The protests escalated into a mass uprising after the original group was attacked by government forces.
What started at the beginning of the week as an environmental protest aimed at saving the park from a shopping mall has snowballed into a national display of anger at the Erdogan government.


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Projector firm Panasonic is to launch a new projector perfect for live events and give a laser showcase at one of Europe’s leading audio-visual trade shows next month.
The company is to show off its new 31,000 lumens projector, the PT-RZ31K, at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE), which takes place in Amsterdam on 7-10 February 2017 and is expected to attract more than 65,000 visitors.
The new projector is a replacement for Panasonic’s PT-DZ21K, currently the best selling high brightness projector in Europe, and will be debuted at ISE through a live show combining laser projection technology, 3D mapping and performers interacting with moving projection.
Hartmut Kulessa, European projector marketing manager at Panasonic, said, “Our annual showcase is fast becoming a tradition at ISE and this year we will create a live event display, which uses the latest AV techniques and is sure to stop people in their tracks.
“Our relentless innovation in laser technology means we now have a roster of projection products that perfectly position us for the live events market.”


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Every year, more than 13 million pints of Guinness are consumed across the world to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
Ireland's national holiday has become a global celebration with Americans in particular fond of celebrating their inner Irishness. That comes as little surprise given that some 39.6 million people in the U.S. claim Irish heritage, nearly seven times the entire population of Ireland.
The most recent census data shows that Boston, Middlesex County and Peabody in Massachusetts are the most Irish American towns in the country. Many other places will don the green this weekend and splash the cash.
The National Retail Federation has forecast that 60 percent of Americans will celebrate this weekend with planned spending expected to reach a record $5.9 billion. On average, that means every person will spend $39.65.
Chicago always has an exciting St. Patrick's Day celebration where the river turns green. 400,000 people are expected to turn out for the long term tradition tomorrow and 60 pounds of dye will be required to turn the river green between Columbus and Wacker drives. Of course, many people will be hoping for a sublime pint of Guinness this weekend and according to the makers themselves, it takes 119.5 seconds to pour the perfect pint.
Many others will enjoy a nice glass of Irish whiskey, something that has become increasingly common in the states. Back in 1996, 280,000 cases of Irish whiskey were consumed and that had risen steadily to 3.65 million by 2016.
You will find more infographics at Statista


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Max Schrems wasn't sure what he would get when he asked Facebook to send him a record of his personal data from three years of using the site.
(AP) -- The OnStar automobile communication service used by 6 million Americans maintains its two-way connection with a customer even after the service is discontinued, while reserving the right to sell data from that connection.
Many preteens have dived into the expanding worlds of social networks and smartphone apps, but federal rules designed to protect their privacy are still in the era of Web portals and flip phones.
The federal government has put Google, Microsoft, Apple and other technology companies on notice: Give consumers a way prevent advertisers from tracking their movements across the Web - or face regulation.
Google, the king of Internet search but a bust on the social front, launched its rival to Facebook on Tuesday, a social networking service called Google+.
US regulators have launched a probe into Google's lucrative search and advertising business in a move that could pose the most serious legal challenge yet to the Internet giant.
The US Federal Trade Commission is poised to open a formal antitrust probe into whether Internet search giant Google has abused its dominance on the Web, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
US senators introduced bills on Wednesday aimed at protecting the privacy of mobile phone users and safeguarding personal information of consumers stored online.
A study of more than 100 popular websites used by tens of millions of people has found that three quarters directly leak either private information or users' unique identifiers to third-party tracking sites. The study, co-authored ...
US lawmakers have invited Apple and Google to attend a hearing on privacy next month following claims the iPhone and Android devices regularly track a user's location and stores the data.


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Crayon Software Experts India has announced their partnership with CoRover, a human-centric conversational AI platform, serving 350 Million+ users globally, improving customer experience via personalized chats.
“Excited to partner with Crayon to expand our reach globally, as CoRover is the highest ROI delivering human-centric conversational AI platform, which is serving 350 Million+ users currently. CoRover’s Virtual Assistants have helped enterprises improve the top line via lead-generation and engagement; improve the bottom line via round the clock Conversational AI capabilities; and even improve customer experience via personalization. CoRover enables users to interact with any system the way they interact with their family and friends, in the language of the user’s choice (120+ language support) and in the format of the users’ choice like Videobot, Voicebot, Chatbot, Click Based Bot across Web, App, WhatsApp, IVR, AI Kiosk, SMS +12 more channels to reach customers where they are,” says Ankush Sabharwal, Founder & CEO – CoRover.
CoRover have rendered their services to organizations such as Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), National Payments Corporation of India (70+ Banks), ATC/ITC Ltd, Mahindra Group, IGL, KSRTC, SRS, Gamerji, Aura Health Solution, Malahide Shopping, NSDC and many more. They are also the co-sell/re-sell partners of Microsoft, Accenture, UI Path, Automation Anywhere and more.
With traction of 350M+ Users, 25M+ MAU, CoRover is currently the highest ROI delivering human-centric conversational AI platform in India.
“Seamless and effective conversations in business are the keys to customer success. With CoRover on board, Crayon is now well equipped to provide the best-in-class conversational service to its customers. CoRover’s conversational platforms is 10x quicker to deploy and has a 90%+ accuracy, as it is built on technologies such as AI, ML, apart from Natural Language Processing (NLP), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Robotics Process Automation (RPA),” says Vikas Bhonsle, CEO, Crayon Software Experts India.


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Tesla’s 2016 video touting the company’s self-driving technology was meant to show what its system wasn’t capable of, according to testimony from a senior engineer.
The video, now archived on Tesla’s website, shows the company’s Model X driving through a city on streets and highways while the driver’s hands hover below the steering wheel.
“The man in the driver’s seat was only doing it for legal reasons. He did nothing. The car is on autopilot,” reads a text before the four-minute video begins.
Elon Musk, CEO of the electric car maker, shared the video on Twitter with the caption: “Tesla self-driving (with no human input at all).”
“When looking for a parking space, the car reads the signs to see if it’s allowed to park there, which is why it skips the disabled parking spaces,” he added.
However, testimony from Ashok Elluswamy, head of the company’s Autopilot software, said the video was partly orchestrated, according to Reuters.
The testimony comes from 2022 testimony, which is now reportedly being used as evidence in a lawsuit against Tesla following a car accident involving former Apple engineer Walter Huang.
In a transcript of the testimony reported by Reuters, Mr Elluswamy said the video was produced “not to accurately describe the services provided to clients in 2016”.
“It’s about describing what can be built into the system,” he said.
Behind the scenes in the making of the video, the driver reportedly intervened to take control of the car during the test run, and the Tesla was also reportedly driving on a predetermined route.
He said the test car also crashed into a fence in a parking lot while trying to demonstrate that the Tesla Model X could park itself without a driver.
Although Tesla did not immediately respond independent newspaper Requesting comment, the company said on its website that “until truly driverless vehicles are validated and approved by regulators, drivers are responsible and must remain in control of their cars”.
According to its website, Tesla’s Autopilot technology is designed to assist drivers with steering, braking, speed and lane changes, but these features “do not allow the vehicle to drive itself.”
The company has come under legal scrutiny over claims it has made on its driver assistance systems.
Last year, the U.S. Justice Department began a criminal investigation into Tesla’s claims that its electric vehicles could drive themselves after crashes, some of which were fatal, were reported involving the autopilot feature.
When Mr Elluswamy was asked whether the video described the performance of Tesla’s Autopilot feature in production vehicles at the time, he reportedly said “no”.


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According to an analysis by the giant Swiss investment firm UBS, the “consumer cost of ownership” of electric cars will achieve cost parity with petrol and diesel cars in 2018, beginning in Europe.
This doesn’t mean that the cost to buy a new electric car will be the same as a petrol car, but that, without any government incentives, the total cost of owning either type of vehicle, when fuel costs, maintenance costs and other expenses are taken into account, will be similar.
Of course, the cost of electric vehicles will continue to fall after that, so that we are about to reach an inflection point after which electric car will be the cheaper option. UBS expects that the will lead to electric vehicle sales reaching 14% of the global market and 30% of the European market by 2025.
UBS also expects the rise of electric vehicles to massively disrupt the parts and aftermarket sector because of the much simpler drivetrains of electric vehicles, which have far fewer parts to break or wear out. UBS predicts that the spare parts business will shrink by 60% over the coming decades.
As well as cost, the take up of electric vehicles is being held back by lack of charging infrastructure.
A study by the U.S. National Science Foundation concluded that, had there been 60,000 more charging stations in the U.S., electric vehicle sales would have been five times higher.
With the world’s most popular electric car, the Renault Zoe, having been launched in Europe in 2008 but still not available in Australia, how far behind are we? And what is happening to enable us to catch up?
Some of the answers may emerge at the upcoming EV Workshop which will be part of the Renewable Cities Forum at the new Sydney International Convention Centre on June 14 and 15. Electric vehicle companies, such as Tesla, Carbridge, SPB batteries and the autonomous pod company, RDM Group will setting out what they see as the path forward for electric vehicles in Australia.


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It's already legal in Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Indiana – and lawmakers in Ohio are on the verge of making CBD oil derived from hemp legal in the Buckeye state.
Senate proposal 57 has already cleared the Senate and led to
Senator Sean O & # 39; Brien of Warren is a cosponsor.
He expects the bill to turn it into Governor DeWine's desk and get his signature.
"We are trying to get it done quickly because we not only recognize the importance of the oils, but hemp in general," says Brien.
The bill, which has broad two-sided support, would create an industrial hemp program in the state ̵
"It could be Ohio's third largest cash crop in the near future," said Brien.
"It has taken us a while to implement the people and structure and put everything in place," said State Secretary Michele Lepore-Hagan. "Now I think we have started discussions about hemp because we have the medical marijuana aspect in Ohio."
Across the state line of Sharon, PA, Tobacco 4 Less manager Josh Runyan has seen the enthusiasm for CBD oil and the benefits for his customers for years.
"We have noticed a good growth of customers coming from Ohio," says Runyan. "So our CBD sales are definitely strengthened."
The store is one of a few in our region that will sell CBD oil to people outside the state.
Many online sellers will not risk legal liability or punishment.
"That they send it to a state that it's not legal in, it's a little different than a person coming to the state and buying it … personally," Runyan says. 19659003] The Senate bill 57 would also create rules through the state agricultural department to ensure that people know what they are buying.
Until then, Runyan suggests that "even conduct some studies. Don't be afraid to see the benefits of CBD compared to hemp oil. Hemp oil is completely different." .
"Farmers want to increase their jobs and output By making this hemp, the oil producers, more people can sell them in their stores and that will increase the Axis product's viability," Brien says. "It's a win-win for Ohio."
When it comes to smart shopping for CBD oils, there are a few things to consider.
Consumer Reports says many hemp CBD products do not include THC levels on their labels, even if they should.
CR also warns that cannabis plants absorb things like soil pesticides, so you will ask the source you buy from how often the plants are tested and where they have grown.
And avoid products that make sweeping or dramatic health claims – if it sounds too good to be true, it's safe.


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CEO Vas Narasimhan seeks to transform the Swiss multinational into a cutting-edge pharmaceuticals firm that embraces digital healthcare technology.
In less than two years since assuming the top executive role, Narasimhan has been taking substantive actions to remake Novartis. This includes offloading non-core assets, making acquisitions to add more advanced medicines to the company’s portfolio, and collaborating on digital healthcare initiatives. Narasimhan says he is focusing on “transformative innovation” and claims to have a pipeline of 25 blockbuster drugs.
Divesting unwanted assets was a top priority for the CEO early on. Within two months of Narasimhan taking the helm, Novartis agreed to have GlaxoSmithKline buy up its share in a joint consumer healthcare venture between the two companies for $13 billion. Familiar, low-margin OTC products clearly do not align with Narasimhan’s vision. Acknowledging that the move helped declutter Novartis’s portfolio, analysts expressed concern that the group was too vague on its plans for the cash. Their questions were soon answered by a series of “bolt-on” acquisitions.
Novartis purchased dry-eye drug Xiidra from Takeda for up to $5.3 billion. The buying spree has also included Endocyte, a small biopharma firm, for $2.1 billion, and gene-therapy firm AveXis for $8.7 billion. The latest deal, announced on November 24, is the $9.7 billion acquisition of American biopharma firm the Medicines Company, which has a promising cardiac drug that targets bad cholesterol and requires only two annual shots.
Although most of the pharmaceutical industry has been relatively slow to adopt the technologies that have disrupted so many sectors, the “new Novartis” is intent on developing its digital health capabilities, using big data and other technologies to improve productivity and offer new services, The Economist reports. In December Novartis announced a collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to build an enterprise-wide data and analytics platform to transform its manufacturing, supply chain and delivery operations.
Bertrand Bodson, Chief Digital Officer at Novartis, suggested that manufacturing is only the starting point. “Using data science and digital technologies to reimagine the way we manufacture medicines is not only at the heart of our transformation, but also core to our ambition to bring innovative medicines to patients faster,” Bodson said.
Novartis is working on using big data to become more adept at drug development; for example in clinical trials, it could be used to identify subgroups of patients who will respond better to particular treatments, significantly lowering costs through greater specificity. The pharmaceutical industry giant is also opening digital health labs. The first, called the Novartis Biome, opened in San Francisco in October 2018, positioning the company to work with healthcare technology start-ups.


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Jul 10, 2020
H.M. Royal has introduced a news feature to help you stay up to date on the latest in raw materials and chemicals for formulators. In this post, we share expert insights, predictions, and practical tips for the rubber, coatings, and aerospace and defense industries.
May 23, 2019
Each day, American workers use tens of thousands of chemicals. Many of these chemicals pose serious health risks to employees. Yet only a small number of hazardous chemicals are regulated.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently updated i[…]
Mar 13, 2019
We are excited to announce the launch of H.M. Royal’s newly designed website–https://hmroyal.com. The goal of the new website is to enhance user experience so that new prospects, loyal customers and supplier partners can find the information they need–in the most eff[…]
Oct 16, 2018
The former Akzo Specialty Chemicals, recently acquired by The Carlyle Group, is being renamed as Nouryon. The company changed their name to increase their potential as an independent, global specialty chemical leader.
New Company with a 400-Year History
Jun 29, 2018
SK Capital recently announced that they are acquiring SI Group, a chemical manufacturer and longstanding partner of H.M. Royal. SK Capital made the announcement on June 1st, and the deal is set to close in the second half of 2018.
SI Group has been in business for[…]
Nov 24, 2015
In March, H.M. Royal had the honor of hosting a webinar with Rutgers Novares, the leading raw materials manufacturers in Europe. Rutgers is a German company with 150 years of experience in the materials industry, specializing in the production of raw materials for th[…]
Apr 30, 2015
Members of H.M. Royal recently attended the American Chemical Society – Rubber Division 187th Technical Meeting in Greenville, South Carolina from April 27th to the 30th. As a part of the conference, H.M. Royal was the proud sponsor of the 5k Run/Walk event which dre[…]


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Gold prices holding above $1,800 but sees little traction as U.C. CPI rises 7% in December
(Kitco News) - Gold prices are holding gains above $1,800 but is struggling to gain some bullish traction as consumer price pressures rise more than expected in December.
Wednesday, the U.S. Labor Department said its U.S. Consumer Price Index rose 0.5% in last month, after a 0.8% rise in November. The data beat consensus forecasts as economists were forecasting a 0.4% rise.
For the year, the report said that headline inflation rose 7.0%. Annual inflation rose in line with expectations. The report said that inflation is at its highest level since June 1982.
Meanwhile, core CPI, which strips out food and energy costs, increased 0.6% in December, up from a 0.5% increase in November. Economists were expecting to see an increase of 0.5%.
For the year, core inflation rose 5.5%, “the largest 12-month change since the period ending February 1991,” the report said.
|This is the difference between gold price surging above $2k or plunging below $1,600 in 2022|
The latest inflation data is having little impact on gold. Spot gold prices last traded at $1,819.60 an ounce, down 0.12% on the day.
Some analysts said that gold is not seeing much reaction to the latest inflation data because markets were expecting to see a much hotter report.
“The market was particularly fearful ahead of this report and that's coming out now with the numbers generally in-line with estimates (though a touch higher),” said Adam Button, chief currency strategist at Forexlive.com.
Katherine Judge, senior economist at CIBC said that the latest inflation data continues to support the Federal Reserve’s push to raise interest rates. Markets expect the U.S. central bank to raise interest rates as early as March and see four increases this year.
“Although supply chain issues will likely fade once omicron is behind us, the Fed will want to act to lean against escalating wage pressures and rising shelter inflation, and is therefore set to hike rates in March,” Judge said.


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By: Lanndon Lindsay
Headphones? Check. Toothbrush? Check. Toss water bottles before reaching TSA? Check. A double espresso first thing after arriving at the terminal? You better believe that’s a check.
Few things go better together than coffee and air travel. Just meander through queues of bleary-eyed passengers and count for yourself how many coffee cups are juggled amongst passports, boarding passes and luggage handles. It’s a practice that goes beyond mere ritual; it’s a survival mechanism.
So when two of the biggest players in their respective industries - Delta Airlines and Starbucks - announced that they were linking their loyalty platforms, yawns turned to “yays” as travellers perked up at the news of upgraded perks.
Beginning October 12, members of Delta’s SkyMiles program can earn 1 mile for every $1 spent on Starbucks, while also scoring double stars on days with a scheduled Delta flight. And as a special promotional incentive to help get the wheels off the ground, members can also snag 500 miles and, after making a purchase at Starbucks, an additional 150 stars for connecting accounts before December 31, 2022.
The strategy behind the move plays deeply into the behavioral patterns of air travel and leverages longstanding customer attitudes to entrench mutually-derived value:
"Starbucks Rewards and Delta SkyMiles are centered on creating moments of meaningful connection, and by bringing together two of the country's most celebrated loyalty programs we are able to reward our members with more of what they love," Starbucks Vice President of Loyalty Strategy and Marketing Ryan Butz elaborates through a press release. "We are excited to partner with Delta to offer our members even more valuable benefits, as well as invite more customers to join Starbucks Rewards."
Coast-to-Coast Customer Experiences
One of the biggest side-effects of this new coalition will be an improved customer experience. As loyalty members reduce friction by interacting with integrated touchpoints, these platforms become more engaging to use, and positive experiences at airports will become intimately entwined with their parent brands. Naturally, these experiences will shine like jewels amidst the tawdry tedium of their surroundings. Let’s face it; airports aren’t renowned for their comfort or convenience. But with an active focus on elevated offerings, many of the obstacles preventing fluid customer experiences can be toppled.
This isn’t the first time that enhanced Starbucks services have taken off at airports. It seems that the company is consistently looking to improve their customer interactions within these hallowed halls. Earlier this year, the brand prompted a push towards mobile orders at airports, an endeavour historically challenged by licensing regulations and operational formats. Sound strategic sentiment prevailed, however, and by March of this year, mobile order-ahead options were made available at more than 230 licensed stores at 70 U.S. airports in cities including Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Orlando and Seattle. "This is all part of the evolution of the Starbucks licensed store experience," Starbucks spokesperson Nick Sampogna said. Customers also expressed their opinions; according to Jasmine Stafford, consultant and frequent flyer: “Oh, snap, this is a game-changer.”


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The Queen’s traditional Christmas Day speech will be available free on Kindle for the first time this year, the BBC reports. The speech will be available to read on the Kindle after it is broadcast at 3pm UK time on Christmas Day.
Book industry watchers have described it as a “coup” for Amazon, after successfully approaching the Royal Household with a proposal. In addition to this year’s speech, all of Queen Elizabeth’s Christmas speeches from 1952-2010 will also be available for download.
A statement from Buckingham Palace read:
“We would like The Queen’s Speech to be broadcast or read as widely as possible, and allowing Kindle to make the text available is just another example of this.”
The Royal Household did not rule out deals with other parties however:
“We would be happy to discuss a similar arrangements with other outlets, we have chosen ones that suits us, but if other companies approached us we would be willing to consider those as well.”
It’s worth noting that even though the speech hasn’t been announced for Apple’s iBooks platform yet, you can still check it out on your iPad by using Amazon’s free Kindle App.


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Telly executives are touting healthy growth figures in the year to date and they're counting on revenues to rise further with key events such as Rugby World Cup and the election still to come.
According to ThinkTV – a joint initiative of TVNZ and MediaWorks – TV ad revenues hit $613 million in the 12 months to June 30, up from $583 million for the previous year.
The free-to-air television industry body says this translated into growth of 5.1 percent and is a "strong indicator of the confidence advertisers place on the medium as the economic recovery begins to take hold".
While March quarter revenues took a hit from the earthquakes in Christchurch and subsequent events, growth made a resurgence in the June quarter.
Chief executive Rick Friesen says television still provides unparalleled reach and impact.
"Advertisers recognise this and, with the building confidence in the economy, television is best able to provide major brand marketers with the most efficient way to reach their customers.”
Figures were sourced from returns prepared by TVNZ, MediaWorks TV and Sky (including Prime).
Despite the growing number of screens competing for viewers’ attention, a recent PriceWaterhouseCoopers report on the media industry concluded television as a medium still wields significant power, with Kiwis watching more than three hours a day on average.


text: Uh oh. Nokia’s Lumia 900 is currently AT&T’s flagship “hero” device but new owners are already expressing concerns over the phone’s ability to maintain a data connection. Reportedly, the phone has had trouble staying connected to HSPA and LTE data networks, so users aren’t able to surf the web or download any data. AT&T is reportedly telling Lumia 900 owners to pull their SIM card, restart the phone or even perform a master reset — all things you don’t regularly expect to have to do with a new phone. The good news is that several users have reported that at least one of those steps helped solve the problem, and we’re betting it’s most likely a SIM provisioning issue since we haven’t had any issues on two in-house units. Did you buy a Lumia 900 from AT&T? Have you had any issues?


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Carroll School Marketing Professors Research the Edgy Marketing Efforts of Red Bull
in an interesting study, Professors Adam Brasel and James Gips find people behave in ways similar to what the Red Bull brand personifies: reckless and aggressive.
Professors S. Adam Brasel and James Gips of the Carroll School of Management released some interesting research this spring that showed the power of unintended consequences of ambient advertising and product placement. The research, which examined the edgy marketing efforts of Red Bull the energy drink, was published in a recent edition of the Journal of Consumer Psychology.
The professors asked 70 subjects (38 percent were female, 62 percent were male, the mean age was 21) to control car racing video games. Each subject’s racecar functioned identically, but sported different brand logos and different colors. Red Bull was one of the company bands. Others included Guinness, Tropicana, and Coca-Cola. The cars all performed the same, only their paintjobs were different.
Red Bull Car Racers Drive Edgily
Interestingly, the subjects in control of the racecar sporting the Red Bull (red and gold) logo behaved in ways similar to what the brand personifies: edgy, reckless, powerful, and aggressive. But the resulting behavior was less predictable. The subjects driving the Red Bull cars all drove exceedingly fast, some crashed and burned, losing valuable time, while others excelled.
Brasel, an assistant professor of marketing at the Carroll School of Management, and the lead author of the study, says that people racing the Red Bull car tended to do great or they tended to do really horribly. “We found very little middle ground."
What’s causing the change in behavior?
Brasel and Gips say the changes in behavior took place without the consumers’ awareness of their own behavior. None of the subjects racing the Red Bull car connected their behavior to the brand. When discussing what had happened afterward, none thought their behavior was logical. This is called “non-conscious brand priming” and results from the personality of a brand pushing a consumer to act in ways consistent with that personality when exposed to brand imagery.
The study shows that non-conscious brand priming can also impact actual consumer performance, with both positive and negative consequences and create behavior that the consumers don’t expect.
Red Bull, in fact, built their brand identity around “edgy.” Their slogan is “Red Bull Gives You Wings.” Some recent promotions include airplane races and full-contact ice-skating obstacle courses. These campaigns work. On the website brandtags.net, users can enter words or phrases they associate with specific brand names. The following words came up consistently for Red Bull: "speed" "power" "risk-taking," and "recklessness." These occur ten times more frequently for Red Bull than the other 14 most common drink brands, according to the study.
Brasel says that as marketers we can leverage this phenomenon to our advantage. But as consumers, we should also be wary of how this effect impacts our behavior, especially now that we are moving away from traditional marketing and towards more multi-media marketing. This results in an even greater exposure to logos. “Branding is having a greater effect than most of us realize," he says.