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Being fingerprinted used to be the first step on a trip to jail. Now it can mean access to a building or office, a computer or an ATM transaction.
Biometrics—user authentication based on a fingerprint, voice pattern, retinal scan or other biological characteristic—is rapidly gaining momentum, leading to a variety of new jobs in related fields. As biometrics hits the mainstream, the technology is proving itself as both a convenient and secure method of user identification. Organizations using biometric identification include financial institutions, retailers, governments and security companies. A growing number of people are also adding biometric readers to their laptop computers and other theft-prone mobile devices to provide simple, trouble-free system access.
Photo credit: BotheredByBees
Jane Snipes, founder and an executive recruiter at Northstar Recruiting, a Florence S.C.-based recruitment firm that specializes in biometrics careers, notes that biometrics technology has existed for a lot longer than many people think. "It's been around for 30 years," she says. "The government has been using this for decades."
Biometrics identification is inherently more secure than passwords and most other common-used identification methods, says Vance Bjorn, co-founder and chief technology officer of DigitalPersona, a biometrics systems developer and manufacturer located in Redwood City, Calif. "A password, a smart card or your Visa card—anybody could take and use those," he says. "But biometrics allows the system to know actually who's using it, with certainty, and that has a lot of consumer applications."
In fact, while biometrics is often associated in the public mind with spooky facilities operated by giant, faceless government and business entities, the technology's brightest potential appears to lie with everyday users. "We do see a lot of movement on the consumer side," Bjorn says. "That's a market that we think is most ripe with potential."
Bjorn feels that a growing awareness of identify fraud—people stealing social security numbers to fraudulently obtain credit—is helping drive the biometric industry forward. "A fingerprint is probably the most convenient way to resolve those types of issues, he says. "You prove that you are the actual physical person who is associated with that account."
Bjorn notes that fingerprints have a natural association with identity protection and are widely recognized as a reliable means of identification. "I could show my 90-year-old grandma a fingerprint sensor and she would immediately know what it is," Bjorn says. "It's something that people recognize—they've seen it in James Bond movies."
Where the Jobs Are
Since biometrics involves many different types of sciences and technologies—everything from optics to algorithms—jobs are available to grads in just about every IT-related field, and in many other technical areas as well.
DigitalPersona's staff, for example, includes system software engineers, security architects, device driver specialists, artificial intelligence experts, computer vision engineers and mathematicians, among many others. "I absolutely see this market as having lots of opportunities," Bjorn says. For her part, Snipes sees a growing demand for people with both technical knowledge and business skills. "There are a lot of jobs in sales support, marketing, product management [and] product development," she says. Snipes also believes that there will be "a huge need" down the road for hardware technicians who are able to diagnose and troubleshoot biometrics readers in the field. "Just as you have technicians that go out and fix ATMs, you're going to have to have technicians who know how to fix fingerprint readers."
The Wild West
Bjorn, like many other biometrics industry leaders, views the market as one in which there is no established hierarchy and where just about anyone with a good idea can make a significant impact. "I think this is a field that I would still characterize somewhat as the 'Wild West,'" he says. "The leaders have not fully emerged; there is still a lot of churning, a tremendous amount of competition coming on board."
This means that even an engineering student can lay the groundwork for a successful biometrics startup. Bjorn, for example, began planning his move into the field in the early 1990s while an undergrad at the California Institute of Technology, specializing in computational and neural systems. "Which is kind of the nexus of brain sciences and computer science and electrical engineering," he explains.
Bjorn says that he and "the guy who lived in the dorm next to me" worked jointly on a class project in pattern recognition. "We were supposed to turn some of the concepts presented in the class into a project and we chose fingerprint recognition to work on together," he recalls.
The project turned out to be the seed for his future business. "I wouldn't say that that specific technology is the one that's used in our products today, but it certainly was the catalyst," he says. The project, which received an A, attracted the attention of several Caltech professors who urged Bjorn and his friend to consider commercializing his concept. "I ultimately became an intern at Intel that summer, where they wanted me to adapt some of this technology," he says. "Again, not exactly the same technology that we use today, but adapt some of that to research they were working on at Intel."
After his experience at Intel, Bjorn and his friend started to seriously consider their technology's commercialization prospects. "We started to develop the prototypes and other things necessary," he says. The duo founded the company, which now includes Microsoft among its customers, in 1996.
Today, DigitalPersona technology is widely used worldwide. "We have entire banking systems in Mexico where over a million people a day put their finger down in the system to access their bank records," Bjorn says. "We also have healthcare systems where there are hundreds of thousands of drug-dispensing medical cabinets in pharmacies."
Bjorn says that once he got started in biometrics he never looked back. "It's an exciting area for a graduating engineer to look into because, if you bet right, you could be in a very high growth area with a lot of financial rewards," he says. Snipes agrees. She notes that biometrics has a hold on the public—as well as on the people who work in the field—like few other technologies. "It's not rocket science, but it is very cool," she says. "So for those people who like to be on the cutting edge, this is certainly a good place to be.


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An apparatus for stifling competition
Are you tired of hearing of patents granted for obvious innovations? Are you weary of hearing about old patents that are purchased by firms like Niro, Scavone, Haller & Niro which “concentrates its practice in intellectual property law” and became notorious as a hugely successful “patent troll”? Do you think that the people suing Google, Apple and Microsoft for infringement of a patent ludicrously granted for “a system and method for iconic software environment management” that they claim covers thumbnail images should be granted their day in court?
Linux Defenders faces challenges not only from Linux foes like Microsoft but also from its trolls, which we’ll come to in a moment.
Microsoft has meanwhile patented the utterly trivial.
Microsoft has asked for a patent to protect its idea for a smartphone docking cradle that would turn your handheld into a mini-laptop.
This was also covered in:
- New Microsoft patent hints at smartphone dock for quick computing
- Microsoft patent intelligent cradle to turn a smartphone into a PC
- Microsoft Patent Envisions a Desktop Smartphone
- Microsoft patent makes smartphones more like PCs
- Microsoft patents the interface to transform your phone into a PC
- Microsoft Patent Turns Smartphone Into A PC
- Microsoft’s Patented Smartphone Dock Cometh!
The more one reads, the more laughable it seems. This is also covered here and it’s preposterous.
Microsoft Claims Patent Holder Got A Job At Microsoft To Get Info Used In Patent Lawsuits
We see all sorts of strange patent-related lawsuits around here, but this one probably qualifies for the most extreme attempt by a patent holder to come up with info for the sake of a patent lawsuit. Apparently (and this is according to Microsoft), Miki Mullor, CEO of a company called Ancora Technologies, applied for a job at Microsoft while still working for Ancora.
Here is another silly Microsoft patent.
Last week, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office made public a new Microsoft patent application titled “Content Management System and External Data Storage System Data Synchronization.” (Interestingly, it specifically mentions SharePoint by name.)
Microsoft is basically trying to patent the idea of letting data synchronization be triggered by administrator actions in a content management system. According to the Abstract of the application: “In one example, an administrator creates or modifies an event at the content management system, and if the event is coordinated with the external data storage system, the content management system is synchronized with the external data storage system.”
The bigger among patent trolls, Acacia, is still on a mission to collect more software patents and then use them for extortion or litigation. It is a form of racketeering and it remains very relevant to us because Acacia may be close to Microsoft [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11] and it is not reluctant to attack Free software. Since if offers no products, it just hasn’t a reputation to harbour. Here is the company’s latest extortion:
Acacia Research Corp. (ACTG: News ) said its Hospital Systems Corp. subsidiary has entered into a license agreement with Intelerad Medical Systems covering a portfolio of patents that apply to medical picture archiving and communication system technology.
Transmeta IP sold to not-patent troll
IV said it grabbed 140 US patents and “a substantial number” of pending patent applications issued in the US and abroad. The firm intends to license the technology to other vendors on non-exclusive terms. IV is run by former Microsoft chief technology officer-turned-IP collector, Nathan Myhrvold. It claims to have more than 2,000 patents in the semiconductor field.
It’s funny how the press is scared of labeling IV a “troll”, despite all the extortions it quietly engaged in (e.g. with Cisco).
There is great deal of hypocrisy in Microsoft which used to dislike patents and began hailing them when it needed fences to defend a monopoly. The same goes for Apple, as the following good analysis shows rather vividly using actual quotes.
For all the talk among patent system defenders about how patents are most necessary for young startup companies that need to grow, most tech startups couldn’t care much less about patents (other than as a bogus currency to increase their valuation in talking to VCs). Startups are focused on actually building a product and getting it out to the market. Instead, what we see time and time again is that it’s the big, more established companies that use patents to stifle startups, rather than the other way around. Startups innovate, while big companies litigate.
The company was incredibly open in sharing ideas and concepts, and wasn’t going around threatening others for ripping off its IP (that did come later… especially with the graphical user interface, which Jobs himself admitted “ripping off” from Xerox… which had “ripped it off” already from SRI). It’s really only when you’re afraid of competing in the marketplace that you rely on patents. When you’re young and innovative you focus on the possibilities and opportunities in front of you, rather than on ways to block others from innovating.
These days, Apple is too busy supposedly “innovating”.
In a newly published patent filing (#20090022329) known as the “Method and Apparatus for Using a Sound Sensor to Adjust the Audio Output for a Device,” Apple is working on a system that automatically adjusts the volume of the iPhone, iPods, and Macs based on a combination of ambient noise and user feedback.
Does that sound sophisticated? Is it an idea worthy of ownership and assignment to a person or one company? As TechDirt correctly points out, Apple might be doing itself more harm than good by sheltering this antiquated attitude towards software patents.
After Palm showed off its new Pre smartphone, including the device’s multitouch interface, at the Consumer Electronics Show last month, Apple made some threatening noises about how it would go after anybody who “ripped off” its intellectual property. As always, we didn’t see how this would benefit anybody in the marketplace, since competition pays benefits to consumers, and drives participants, even Apple, to continually innovate and improve their products. Now, a wireless industry analyst has called Apple’s threats into question. He makes the point that a long, drawn out IP fight won’t help Apple’s business in the long run: “Building on the company’s legacy as one of the greatest innovators in the technology industry may be a smarter business model than taking on the rest of the industry in a battle that may be impossible to win.”
Why does Apple make itself enemies?
More Patent Trolls
To demonstrate the failure of the patent system, trolls are pretty handy. Here are some new reports of interest:
Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP, the world’s leading plaintiffs’ law firm, representing IntusIQ, announced that it has filed a major patent infringement suit against Oncor, Reliant Energy, Comverge, Datamatic, EKA Systems, Sensus, Tantalus, Tendril Networks, and Trilliant on behalf of its client IPCO LLC d/b/a IntusIQ.
Each year a growing number of IP lawyers heads to the International Trade Commission, asking officials there to enforce Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930. That Depression-era law forbids various “unfair trade practices,” including the importation of products that infringe a U.S. patent–the goal is protecting domestic industries and jobs.
There’s a lot of information here, but the takeaway point is this: Cisco says Frenkel’s articles were accurate. And in the United States, of course, you’re allowed to publish true information, even if it hurts someone. What Albritton said was defamatory was either true (the docket was altered), or fell into the categories of opinion and rhetoric (words like “conspiracy”) or just wasn’t about him, says Cisco’s lawyer, Charles Babcock of Jackson Walker.
Software patents may actually vanish from the United States rather than expand to other countries. Here is an interesting analysis.
As I noted at the time it was decided, people care about Bilski largely because of what it says about legality of software patents. Software patents are intensely controversial, with many geeks arguing that the software industry would be better off without them. What I found striking about the conversation was that both guests (and perhaps the host, although he didn’t tip his hand as much) took it as self-evident that there needed to be patents on software and business methods
Earlier, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) opened the patent examination process for online public participation. With the consent of the inventor, the Peer-to-Patent: Community Patent Review pilot, developed by the New York Law School Institute for Information Law and Policy in cooperation with the USPTO, enables the public to submit prior art and commentary relevant to the claims of pending patent applications in Computer Architecture, Software, and Information Security (TC2100).
The Enlarged Board of Appeal will be handling ambiguity or mixed messages with regards to software patents in the European continent. We’ve mentioned all this in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7], but the main reports are in [1, 2]. Here are the latest two updates: [via Digital Majority]
This month’s Official Journal of the EPO contains an announcement relating to the EPO President’s referral under Article 112(1)(b) EPC on software patents. As well as reproducing the questions first announced back in October 2008 (commented on by the IPKat here, here and here) and the composition of the board, the announcement says the following:
“It is expected that third parties will wish to use the opportunity to file written statements in accordance with Article 10 of the Rules of Procedure of the Enlarged Board of Appeal (OJ EPO 2007, 303 ff). To ensure that any such statements can be given due consideration they should be filed together with any new cited documents by the end of April 2009 at the Registry of the Enlarged Board of Appeal, quoting case number G 3/08. An additional filing of the statement and documents in electronic form would be appreciated (Dg3registry_eba@epo.org).”
The President of the European Patent Office (EPO) has referred several questions of law to the EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBoA) in an attempt to clarify the patentability of software-based inventions.
Patents are a partly philosophical issue. At the end of the day, let’s ask ourselves, what’s it all good for? Some people already ask this sort of question.
Are My Ideas Being Stolen? If So, What Then?
“…Folks, it’s not the ideas; it’s design, implementation, and especially hard work that make the difference.”
Considerable difference in opinion is also expressed in the Web site NewEconomyPatents.org.
After hearing oral arguments on May 8, 2008, in the patent case In re Bilski, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (the Federal Circuit) reached a 9-3 decision on Oct. 30, 2008 to uphold the ruling by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The appeal followed the rejection by the USPTO of a patent application for a process for hedge fund risk management, filed by inventors Bernard Bilski and Rand Warsaw.
In Re Bilski is not over yet. As FFII had correctly predicted, lobbying was bound to ensue. █
“IBM is proud of its patent portfolio, and the fact that they produce patents at a rate of 10 a day. With such an extensive arsenal of patents, backed by unlimited legal funds – what chances are left for the VC backed company? This is like the US going to war against Micronesia.” —Daniel Cohen, Gemini Israel Funds

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Injecting Youth Into the C-Suite– September 08, 2018
A 26-year-old running a 150-year-old company sounds crazy. At that age most have just started their careers, maybe still interning at a large and historic company. However, this is the age of the co-CEO at Rimowa, the LVMH-owned German luxury luggage company famous for its metal cases. The answer to how this young man became in charge of this heritage brand: his last name is Arnault.
Alexandre Arnault is the son of Bernard Arnault, the richest man in France and the CEO of LVMH. He graduated from Télécom ParisTech then went on to earn a masters of research in innovation from École Polytechnique. In 2016, after working at Groups Arnault for only three years, he was named co-CEO of Rimowa alongside Dieter Morszeck, the grandson of Rimowa’s founder. While his appointment is an example of nepotism, Arnault has proven himself to be extremely valuable to the luggage brand. The benefit of his young vision and ambition should be noted by other heritage brands.
With his millennial touch, Arnault led the rebranding of the historic luggage company to be relevant to younger travelers. Rimowa now has all the elements of a modern brand—a new minimal logo and visual language, strong social media effort, and experiential show rooms. The company also integrated tech into its products. Recently it launched electronic tags with E Ink display to make traveling easier and more aesthetic. Another accomplishment is the collaborations Arnault made between Rimowa and popular brands such as Fendi, Supreme and Off-White.
His success as co-CEO makes a case for other heritage companies to give more leadership responsibilities to younger people. Especially today when these companies are struggling to understand how to interact with youth, it makes sense to be guided by those in tune with the culture. Gucci, today’s superstar heritage brand, understands the value of the insights young people have. Marco Bizzari, the CEO, points out one reason for the brand’s success is the insight he gains from meeting with a committee of people under 30 to discuss the future of Gucci. Further, many of the upstarts that are threatening the heritage brands are founded and run by young CEOs. Michael Preysman and Jesse Farmer were 25 when they founded Everlane—the radically transparent clothing company. In 2010 Emily Weiss was 25 years old when she founded Into the Gloss, the website that four years later would become Glossier, the popular beauty company. Looking at the tech world, Mark Zuckerburg founded Facebook when he was 21, and Kevin System and Mike Krieger founded Instagram in their twenties. These entrepreneurs had youthful vision, optimism, insight and ambition that gave them the drive to embark on these enterprises.
Heritage brands especially should look at finding ways to integrate younger people in the C-suite. The co-CEO role provides an interesting opportunity to integrate a youthful vision into the strategy. If most CEOs are close to 50-years-old, they may not grasp the steps needed to create an attractive brand to a younger generation. That is where the younger co-CEO could help since they are more likely to recognize and make sense of the trends. It’s important to give him or her decision-making power but also having the more seasoned executives assist where there is lack of experience. There are lots of talented, smart, and capable young people out there who don’t have fathers naming CEOs, but who could very well do much needed service to a brand. If a heritage company wants to be bold they should find these talents and invite them to lead their companies into the future.


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Digiday+ Research: The economy will hit the media and marketing industries this year, but differently
The economy will plague both the media and marketing industries in 2023, but the hit will be uneven between publishers and agencies.
Podcast ad buyers have yet to see a slowdown
Ad buyers have yet to see clients cut their podcast budgets – though the time of podcasts as the shiny new medium may be coming to an end.
The programmatic open marketplace is faltering, but publishers see a bright spot in private programmatic deals
Publishers are coming to terms with their open programmatic marketplace RPMs being 20-55% lower than they were this time last year, but the hope is that programmatic guaranteed deals will make up the deficit.
SponsoredHow Jounce Media and Teads are framing SPO’s role in driving business outcomes for brands
As supply chain concerns abound, marketers are increasingly focusing on the main motivators that drive efficiency in their operations, including financial considerations, supply chain transparency and, most recently, environmental concerns. Sustainability has not always been at the forefront of the digital video buying process for the ad industry, but brands like Teads are taking steps […]
Atlas Obscura wants to be profitable before raising funds in a tricky media market
Atlas Obscura wants to turn a profit this year before it raises another funding round, at a time when publishers are facing lower valuations and pickier investors as deal activity slows.
Marketers weigh the cons of working with Google Ad Manager amid Justice Department’s new lawsuit
When is it time to back away?
Groupon is notable as a business — and entire category — built off email. But the second act for the hot daily deals space is probably mobile — and it’s clearly aiming for the fences as a next-generation search engine.
The deals juggernaut signaled that with its first significant acquisition that wasn’t about expanding geographically. It paid an undisclosed sum for Pelago, parent company of mobile location service Whirrl, which built a Foursquare-like app that allows users to form “societies” and get discounts.
Groupon CEO Andrew Mason, who reportedly spurned a $6 billion acquisition offer from Google, painted Whrrl’s strength as being the “real-world serendipitous discovery.”
“It’s about discovering what you didn’t know you didn’t know, right in your own backyard,” he wrote on the company’s blog.
With that Mason has significantly expanded Groupon’s mission far beyond a new-fangled coupon company. He’s declaring it a better, improved variation on discovering new things. Google obviously perfected discover through search. The knock on that is if you don’t know what you’re looking for, you’re unlikely to find it. Facebook has come up with the most credible alternative to this vision with its social graph. Now Groupon is establishing itself as another option tied to real world serendipity.
The deal is significant also because Whrrl was mostly a customer-retention tool. Murphys USA, for instance, used Whrrl for a loyalty program that rewarded customers with $50 of free gas based on their check-ins.
Greg Sterling, an independent analyst covering the space, said the acquisition could be part of an effort by Groupon to expand beyond merely bringing in new customers.
Whirrl said on its company blog it would close down its service following the acquisition, a sign that Groupon is more interested in the technology and talent than the service itself.
“I’m sure they also envision potential uses for the tech down the road as the product/platform evolves more into a CRM tool as well,” he said in an email.
Groupon is betting big on the release of Groupon Now, an app that has just two buttons: “I’m hungry” and “I’m bored.” While that seems straightforward enough, Groupon faces major challenges in making it work. Email distribution works because Groupon doesn’t need a huge number of deals in a geography. It features just one per email. But in mobile the equation is turned on its head. A deal for a spa in one corner of Manhattan might be OK for email, but a mobile offer has to be pinpointed within a few blocks of an urban location. That means an enormous pool of deals.
Groupon might style itself a next-gen Google but the current version is the one with relationships with millions of advertisers and deep technology in matching offers to the right user at the right time.
The second front in the deals battle will pose a challenge to Groupon from LivingSocial. It beat Groupon out with a mobile product, LivingSocial Instant. It flexed its muscles in this area with a kickoff offer this weekend of $1 for $20 of food in Washington, DC. The catch was the coupon had to be redeemed before 5pm. It sold over 30,000.
Clearly those are unsustainable promotions, but the effort showed an appetite for instant deals. Whrrl gave little indication of how it would fit with Groupon, saying only its “mission has always been to increase the possibility of adventure in our daily real-world lives.”
“The mission alignment of the two companies and the fact that we’ve taken very different approaches is a big part of what makes this marriage non-strange, and in fact, very complementary and compelling,” Pelago CEO Jeff Holden wrote on its blog. “And what made this a no-brainer was Groupon’s massive adoption and meteoric growth. The opportunity to take the collective brain power and technology of our two companies and point them at a phenomenon already at huge scale is virtually impossible to refuse.”
Digiday Top Stories


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With More Than 50 percent of Americans Vitamin D Deficient, Dr. Karl Gruber Says the Sun is the Best Solution - but for Only 10 Minutes Weekly; Wear Sunscreen With UVA and UVB Protection to Avoid Melanoma and Premature Aging
CHARLESTON, S.C., March 4 /PRNewswire/ -- As many as half of all U.S. children and adults are vitamin D deficient and new evidence shows a link between low vitamin D levels and cancer, autoimmune and infectious diseases, according to experts. Researchers and doctors say the vitamin D problem can be solved if people spend more time outside on a sunny day.
Karl Gruber, M.D., a South Carolina-based surgical pathologist and CEO of LUCA Sunscreen, providing the highest UVA rating available, agrees that the sun can help people reap the benefits of vitamin D, but not without precaution.
"There's no doubt the sun is the quickest way to obtain important vitamin D," says Dr. Gruber. "However, to simply prescribe sunshine without prescribing sunscreen is irresponsible. It's imperative that people understand that ample vitamin D is produced with finite limited amounts of UVB rays, but there are no beneficial effects from the more dangerous UVA rays. People need to block the UVA rays with sunscreen everyday -- even when trying to obtain vitamin D from the sun."
Vitamin D is produced by exposure to the sun's UVB rays. According to Dr. Gruber, the SPF system rates a sunscreen's protection from these rays. For example, an SPF 15 blocks 94 percent of the sun's UVB rays so a person wearing an SPF 15 sunscreen will need to stay in the sun for two hours to obtain the vitamin D benefits they would receive in eight minutes without sunscreen protection. Although a person obtains UVB exposure while wearing sunscreen, they increase their risk of exposure to dangerous UVA rays that are closely linked to melanoma and premature aging.
Dr. Gruber suggests that people concerned about getting enough vitamin D should plan 10 minutes of sun exposure once a week on parts of the body that are not chronically sun exposed, such as the back and stomach. During this time, Dr. Gruber says to use sunscreen -- with a high UVA rating such as 370nm or higher -- on the face, neck and arms or body parts chronically in sunshine.
"People should wear sunscreen daily on these highly exposed body parts as a vital defense against the damaging effects of chronic sun exposure, including solar aging and cancer," says Dr. Gruber. "I'm seeing skin cancer in younger and younger patients and everyone needs to wear sunscreen daily and take doing so seriously."
Dr. Gruber created LUCA Sunscreen as a daily wear moisturizing solar protection that is water resistant, hypoallergenic, fragrance free and specially formulated for children and adults with sensitive skin. Featuring breakthrough Polycrylene(R) technology, LUCA(TM) Sunscreen is better at blocking UVA radiation than other sunscreens sold in the U.S. and it is the first sunscreen on the U.S. market to back up its UVA protection claims with a critical wavelength value printed on the bottle. With this unique formulation, LUCA is effective for up to six hours in intense sunlight.
Critical wavelength is an international rating system for UVA protection and LUCA's critical wavelength of 383nm is the highest available in the U.S. The FDA has not yet adopted a standard by which to measure protection against UVA radiation, however, it considers any product with a critical wavelength over 370nm to provide excellent UVA coverage.
Because there are no tangible symptoms of vitamin D deficiency, people are encouraged to ask their physicians to check their vitamin D levels during annual check-ups. Ensuring the proper vitamin D levels will help the body fight cancer, autoimmune and infectious diseases, according to experts.
Dr. Gruber says the farther you live from the equator and the less opportunity you have for regular sun exposure, the more likely you are to be deficient. Older adults and people who are obese or who have liver or kidney disease also are at risk. In addition, African Americans and people with darker skin are more at risk, because their skin is less able to synthesize Vitamin D from the sun.
|SOURCE LUCA Sunscreen|
Copyright©2008 PR Newswire.
All rights reserved


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Publisher’s Weekly is carrying an interesting article about the decision by Barnes & Noble not to carry what it calls, “Amazon published books.” Books A Million has apparently joined the B&N boycott, saying it won’t sell Amazon-published books either.
The article’s author also reports (anecdotally) that independent booksellers are joining the list of bookstores that won’t carry books published by Amazon.
Not a new battle but once again, a battle in which authors and readers lose while the behemoths of the book world do battle in the center ring of the publishing circus.
The comments below the article are interesting and enlightening. I would love to know what you think, too.


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“Looking at the industry we’re in ecological imbalances. And growing demand from customers and governments for sustainable solutions has cultivated an urgent need for environment-friendly practices in supply chains.”
Douglas Brown, Head of Flexport Europe, talked in our interview about the connection between supply chains and mobility. He also reports on Flexport’s strategy for digitizing supply chains and why this step is the right one for a sustainable future.
Flexport is the platform for global logistics, connecting the entire ecosystem of global trade and empowering buyers, sellers, and logistic providers with the services and technology to grow and innovate. Doug leads Flexport’s business in Europe, responsible for leading and growing their Europeanfootprint, and overseeing the operation of international supply chains for Flexport customers. He has been working in logistics for 17 years at both logistics providers and ocean carriers, gaining experience in both domestic and international supply chain management. Being a fluent Mandarin speaker, Doug spent 14 years working in Asia, leading large teams, most recently Flexport’s Asian operations. Passionate about working in scale-up environments, he is an expert in complex supply chain management, air & ocean markets, and operational and commercial management.
What will happen if we don´t shift our mobility behaviour?
DB: The mobility of goods aka global trade plays an important role in our global economy. Billions of tons of cargo are transported around the world each year by trucks, planes, ships, and trains. This transportation makes up 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gases are not the only climate concern when we think of freight transportation. Transportation equipment emits over 20% of the world’s black carbon, a powerful short-lived climate pollutant. These emissions can cause serious health problems if they happen where people live, as with home delivery or communities near ports. Black carbon is also tied to the fast melting of ice-covered areas, like glaciers or sea ice, where the dark particles from black carbon cause hotspots that lead to melting.
What do we have to radically invent, improve or change to realize the turnaround in transport policy?
DB: I don’t think that there’s one cure that solves all our problems. It’s more about expanding our innovation horizons when innovation is the process of translating an idea or invention into goods and services that a society will adopt on a large scale. It differs from an invention in that innovation implies implementation, adoption, and diffusion. Innovation is an essential part of the response to the challenges faced in the logistics sector, including those related to climate change. This means creating greater value through the development of more effective products, processes, technologies, or business models.
What is the most hyped buzzword in terms of mobility which has in your opinion no impact on the real issues of mobility?
DB: “Digital Transformation” is a term widely deemed worthy of the hype and perhaps one of the most pervasive ideas in the IT and tech world in the past few years. It’s also incredibly nebulous on its face. We’ve struggled with that one ourselves, like, what does ‘digital’ mean? What does ‘transformation’ mean? What does ‘digital transformation’ mean? So, I think trying to find a better way to describe that would benefit us all.
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word “mobility”?
DB: Having just moved my family from Asia to Europe I think of international mobility, both physical and mental: The ability to move from one place to another and adapt.
Let’s now take a look at the future of mobility. What will be the most important thing in 10 years from now about “mobility” that comes to your mind?
DB: Looking at the industry we’re in ecological imbalances and growing demand from customers and governments for sustainable solutions has cultivated an urgent need for environment-friendly practices in supply chains, from raw material extraction to managing product end of life. Together with digital optimized processes, zero-emission mobility, and carbon offset solutions for facilities, hopefully, this momentum will help the logistics industry be a lot greener ten years from now.
What is the greatest mobility challenge for Flexport and for your sector industry these days?
DB: Moving goods is a complex undertaking. It requires seamless coordination and timely exchange of information between multiple parties, including ocean carriers, truckers, shippers, warehouse owners, and customs brokers. This complexity is further aggravated by the fact that the freight forwarders and their partners have been slow to capitalize on the digital revolution. That’s about to change. Flexport has a digital-first mindset, and we are rushing in to transform how to move goods. In the next 4-5 years we will accelerate the development of our technology platform for global logistics, continue to expand into new geographies and markets worldwide, and support logistics technology innovation by investing in new startups to make supply chains more efficient, transparent, and inclusive – everything they’re still not today. Flexport is building the easiest way to take any brand global. Great brands can come from anywhere – it should be easy to take them anywhere too.
Which mobility best cases particularly impress you and why?
DB: The Covid-19 pandemic and the 2021 COP26 summit have sped up sustainability awareness around the world, increasing pressure on companies to make meaningful changes to operations Following COP26, 90% of world GDP is now covered by net-zero commitments for 2030, and “sustainable, resilient operations” are the number one business trend for 2022. Avoiding greenwashing campaigns is vital though, and organizations must take real action to reduce carbon emissions by cutting business operation output and supply chain waste. A clear trend we are seeing, particularly in the fashion retail industry, is the heightened level of scrutiny into the supply chain, from alternative sourcing regions to different modes of transport, often in response to ‘fast-fashion’ trends. With that has come a more informed and holistic understanding of the environmental impact of accessing goods. Having visibility and accessibility to all stages in the supply chain process can particularly benefit companies by not only saving costs and optimizing efficiency, but it also helps reduce unnecessary waste and carbon emissions, which helps save our environment.


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Patrick Brown founded Impossible Foods with the goal of supplanting the meat industry. He believes America’s 230 million omnivores can be made to trade their hamburgers and steaks for a plant-based equivalent, scienced into being.
The Oakland plant, which will begin to produce burgers this summer, is the first concrete sign that Impossible Foods and flagship offering are anything more than utopic moonshots. The plant will prove whether or not the concept can scale, which has implications for public health and the environment.
It also has consequences for the emerging clean-meat industry, of which Impossible Foods is an early (and highly visible) player. Unlike Boca or Morningstar before them, which sought to corner the vegetarian market, these companies aim to appeal to hardcore meat-eaters by creating a meaty plant-based product. Beyond Meat, a popular vegetarian brand, has dipped a toe in those mainstream waters with its beet-juice "bleeding" Beyond Burger. And earlier this week, the start-up Memphis Meats announced that it had successfully created a lab-grown chicken strip -- at a whopping price per pound of $9,000.
But few of these companies have proved that they can commercialize yet, and even those that have, like the Beyond Burger, still only sell at Whole Foods. With this new facility, a spokesperson for Impossible Foods said, the company’s production capacity will increase 250-fold -- allowing it to supply 1,000 restaurants by the end of this year.
“The mission of the company is to making the existing method for producing meat obsolete,” said Brown on the phone from California, several weeks before the factory’s ribbon-cutting. “That means we need to be competitive everywhere. And soon we will be.”
Proclamations like this one have earned Brown and his six-year-old company constant attention almost since its founding. A former biochemistry professor at Stanford, Brown became interested in industrial meat production after learning that it’s a major contributor to climate change: livestock account for nearly 15 percent of all greenhouse gasses, according to the United Nations.
Brown became convinced that, given enough time and resources, science could essentially solve that problem by engineering plant-based “meats” that look and taste like the original artifact. Since 2011, he has received more than $180 million in investments from the likes of Bill Gates and Google Ventures to pursue the project.
His first offering is the Impossible Burger: a patty composed largely of wheat and potato proteins that -- thanks to a iron-containing molecule called heme -- looks, handles and (reportedly!) tastes quite a lot like ground beef. The burger has caught the eye of several high-end chefs, including New York's David Chang and San Francisco's Traci Des Jardins, who have put the burger on their respective menus for roughly $15 apiece.
But even as the burger earned rave reviews from curious patrons, its central tenet has remained unproven. Namely, Brown still has to show that he can churn out burgers en masse -- and that red-blooded meat-eaters will buy them.
That could prove difficult in two respects, say analysts and advocates who know the industry. First, Brown and his team will need to optimize their supply chain and manufacturing process to bring the price of the Impossible Burger on par with conventional beef.
Some of that will happen naturally, said Bruce Friedrich, the executive director of the Good Food Institute: all food startups, regardless of what they make, benefit from economies of scale as they standardize and mechanize the way they make their food. Prices will also come down once Impossible Foods has a reliable distribution network. And the company has another advantage, as well: Compared to conventional livestock slaughter, its methods are inherently more efficient.
But sourcing has still provided challenges -- such as the question of heme. The iron-containing molecule is what makes the Impossible Burger taste like meat. Brown initially extracted it from the root nodules of soybeans, but that process, at scale, costs a fortune and releases a lot of greenhouse gasses. Impossible Foods eventually skirted the issue by engineering yeast that produce heme, meaning that the company no longer needs to extract the molecule from soybeans. It can be produced in vats.
It's also not the only uncertainty that faces Impossible Foods. The company's biggest challenge may be getting it to catch on not only with the coastal Whole Foodies who have flocked to Manhattan or Los Angeles to try it thus far, but with average and middle-income Americans. Brown is adamant that his product is not designed to appeal to vegetarians; he's after the old-school meat-eater, who is motivated largely by price, taste and convenience.
John Coupland, a professor of food science at Penn State and the president of the Institute of Food Technologists, believes this type of consumer might prove difficult to convince, even if plant-based meats are priced on par with their conventional equivalents. Some focus-groups and studies have suggested that consumers aren't entirely comfortable with the idea of meat that doesn't technically have any animal in it.
“So much is going to play out in psychology, more even than in chemistry,” Coupland said. “Meat is an incredibly gendered thing to eat. How is that going to play out? Are you picking the light beer by having this stuff? It’s too early to tell if it’s really going to take off.”
We may find out very shortly. While Impossible Foods is not releasing any details on the new plant’s exact capacity, cost or headcount until after the March 22 launch, it’s already clear that the facility represents a significant ramp-up from what the company has produced thus far.
By the end of the year, Brown said, the burger will be in multiple restaurants, including some chains like Bareburger, which debuted the Impossible Burger at its flagship location in February. Those restaurants won’t all be coastal hotspots, Brown added -- they’re pursuing deals in the heartland, as well. Brown has also reportedly been in talks with McDonald’s, though the company doesn’t have that capacity yet.
Such a coup could move the whole industry much closer to dinner tables across America. And other plant-based and clean meat companies are watching the experiences of Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat closely, Friedrich said. Their success or failure in scaling could inform the whole market.
"This is brand-new for the plant-based meat industry," he said. "It's lifting the whole sector and inspiring other entrepreneurs and food scientists to get involved with it."
More from Wonkblog:


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Tesla drivers in China will soon be barred from entering the coastal district of Beidaihe, the area where leaders of the Chinese Communist Party will gather for their annual meeting, according to police.
The ban will take effect on July 1 and last for at least two months, an official at the Beidaihe Traffic Police Brigade told Reuters on Monday. The police officer, who did not give his name, said that the ban on Tesla cars applied to “national affairs”[ads1]; without further explanation.
Located in northeastern China, Beidaihe has traditionally hosted a secret annual summer conclave behind China’s behind closed doors.
The decision to ban Tesla cars in Beidaihe comes just weeks after Tesla cars were banned from driving on certain roads in Chengdu. The ban coincided with a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the central city.
TESLA ACTIVITIES REQUIREMENTS FOR CLOSED EXHIBITION OF CHINA
The ban in Chengdu was not officially announced and only came to light after videos of police redirecting Tesla cars from certain areas appeared on social media.
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China is one of the car manufacturer’s largest markets as well as production sites. Tesla’s Shanghai plant made around the 936,000 vehicles the American carmaker delivered globally in 2021. In recent months, production has been curbed by Shanghai’s draconian COVID-19 shutdown.


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Dutch scientists are warning pet owners against feeding their cats and dogs raw meat. The meat carries bacteria that can be dangerous to both animals and humans.
Raw meat-based treats for pets is becoming increasingly popular in Europe but scientists in the Netherlands, where 51% of pet owners - an estimated one million people - have adopted the trend, are warning against the diet.
A raw meat-based diet (RMBD), also known as Bones and Raw Food (BARF), contains a number of parasites and bacteria that could be passed on to humans, say researchers from the Institute of Risk Assessment at Utrecht University's Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment.
RMBDs can form all sorts of products crafted for pets: dried treats for cats and dogs, homemade and manufactured meals.
Marketing campaigns assure consumers that they have plenty of positive effects on animals, including facilitating digestion, reducing allergies, improving energy levels or even easing the treatment of diabetes and epilepsy.
But the study, published in Vet Record, exposes these so-called health benefits as "mostly anecdotal" which have not been properly studied. On the other hand, the main health risks present in such a diet have been backed by analysis.
The diets lack several key nutrients and may lead to serious health problems, especially in puppies, the researchers warned. The food also carries a number of bacteria that could infect dogs and spread to their owners.
Listeria, e-coli and toxoplasmosis
The team analysed 35 frozen RMBDs from eight brands bought in ordinary pet stores.
The researchers found that 43% of the products (15 packs from eight brands) contained species of listeria, which causes extremely invasive illnesses.
In 23% of the test packs there were traces of e-coli. Another 20% contained salmonella species. Toxoplasma gondii, the bacteria responsible for toxoplasmosis, was found in 6% of the diets.
Only four packs out of the 35 selected were completely bacteria-free.
Although animals do not always show symptoms of infection, the bacteria can be transmitted to humans and cause different levels of damage.
"Despite the relatively low sample size of frozen products in our study, it is clear that commercial RMBDs may be contaminated with a variety of zoonotic bacterial and parasitic pathogens that may be a possible source of bacterial infections in pet animals and if transmitted pose a risk for human beings," the researchers warned.
"Cats and dogs that eat raw meat diets are also more likely to become infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria than animals on conventional diets, which could pose a serious risk to both animal health and public health," they add.
The research team urged pet owners to educate themselves before handling RMBDs and feeding them to their pets. They urged manufacturers to print warnings and instructions on raw food product packages.


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Students and staff members at WSU-Tri Cities strut their stuff on the runway in the university’s 2017 Washington State University Tri-Cities Professional Fashion Showcase on Friday.
The event was hosted by the university’s Career Development Office in the hopes of showcasing professional attire for the workplace. The fashion show featured different outfits that students should wear to an interview, in the office, or to a cocktail or formal event.
WSU Tri-Cities Sophomore, Mariah Brush, says the event showed her different pieces she should have in her closet.
“I think I’m going to go buy a pencil skirt and a blazer because I don’t have either of those, and those are important,” says Brush.
Eadie Balint with the Career Development Office stresses the importance of owning key pieces, such as a blazer, dark pants, a good tie, and a black dress for women.
Maria Torres, a senior, agrees. She says, “It's very important for students to know what kind of attire to wear, especially trying to go out and find a job."
- Camp Hope in Yakima sticking around until possibly November
- Funding for Yakima downtown plaza once again a problem
- Healthcare providers bracing for hospital closure in Walla Walla
- Wapato public swimming pool set to open for summer
- Pasco officer donates car seats to vehicle theft victims
- Oregon joins states where roadkill can be harvested for food


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Aug 21 2020 01:31PM
Retail Business News - As we know, the rules around face coverings are changing all of the time and as per the latest update to the government s rules for the public In England, you must wear a face covering in the following indoor settings . This advice though, is not enforced across the retail sector.
Feb 18 2020 12:00AM
Technology Business News - Nathan Swinson-Bullough, Director of Imageco has been selected to join the board of FESPA UK Association. As one of the most renowned companies in the printing sector, FESPA UK has been supporting the print community with successful exhibitions, events and publications.
Dec 13 2019 12:00AM
Technology Business News - Your Special Delivery Service, a Leeds-based logistics company, has seen excessive growth this year. With over 80 year on year growth, it is not only the fastest growth ever seen for the UK branch, it s also putting Leeds on the map within this international company.
Sep 10 2019 12:00AM
Property Business News - The team at Your Special Delivery Service UK were excited to welcome MP Rachel Reeves to their newly refurbished office, right in the heart of her constituency.
Jul 16 2019 12:00AM
Property Business News - The specialist delivery service has had a presence in Leeds for around seven years and with their recent influx in new business they have expanded their operations to new premises.
Nov 14 2018 12:00AM
Health Business News - Rochdale-based Frontline Healthcare Ltd boasts over 75 years or trading experience. This year, the company won the Ward Hadaway award for fastest growing small business in the North-West. In 2016, Frontline Healthcare Ltd launched the online brand Chemist.co.uk.
May 10 2018 12:00AM
Retail Business News - Frontline Healthcare has announced that it is being joined by Stephen Ormerod in the role of Finance Director. Frontline, named as one of the fastest growing businesses is in the North West in Ward Hadaway s recently published Fastest 50, has recently raised capital to accelerate the growth of its Chemist.co.


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MoviePass needs to, and will be raising prices and limiting new movies to do it.
In a Tuesday announcement, the company is telling customers that it needs to reduce its costs by 60 percent. Its plan to do this: Raise the service’s monthly cost to $15 a month in the next 30 days and limit availability for new, major-release movies during their first two weeks at the box office.
The announcements come nearly a year after MoviePass, which at the time let customers see one movie a day as long as it was a 2D screening. Before that, MoviePass could cost anywhere from $15 to $50 a month depending on a customer’s plan or region.
MoviePass said Tuesday that its service now has over 3 million subscribers and is “generating incremental non-subscription revenue of approximately $4 to $6 per subscriber per quarter.” MoviePass says this money comes from marketing efforts, thethat adds surcharges to some screenings, various promotions and .
But despite that, the company ran out of cash on Thursday leading into a four-day period, an and a then-unannounced blackout of the major release of . MoviePass confirmed Tuesday that the new Tom Cruise movie is the first film under the new policy of limiting major releases, which MoviePass says can be avoided should a studio decide to partner up with the service. In other words: Probably pay up.
“This is a strategic move by the company to both limit cash burn and stay loyal to its mission to empower the smaller artistic film communities. Major studios will continue to be able to partner with MoviePass to promote their first run films, seeding them with a valuable moviegoing audience,” the announcement said regarding the new policy.
MoviePass has always been a bit too good to be true. The $10-per-month subscription fee is often cheaper than the price of even one ticket to the movies, especially in major cities where a 2D screening can be as high as $17.
Seeing MoviePass adjust its plan and policies to help cut costs isn’t at all surprising considering how quickly the company is burning through cash. Customers however were not made aware of the policy change for new releases before last weekend, leaving many to take out their frustrations on the service over the weekend without that information.
Meanwhile other companies are touting their own competitors to MoviePass, which include, and an upcoming entry from Alamo Drafthouse.
First published July 31 at 7:54 a.m. PT.
Update 8:32 a.m. PT: Adds more details.


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A sneak peek into our new collection ‘Vague Parade’ and unveiling of our new product line. Established menswear designers, Kola Kuddus popular with names like former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, multiple award winning movie producer, Kunle Afolayan and style icon, Noble Igwe, has joined the list of diffusion line creators and will be launching the label […]
We have released the official images of our “Spring/Summer” 2016 collection that showed at the South Africa Menswear Fashion Week in Capetown. Sticking to our afropolitan philosophy, the label’s mood this season is quite vibrant, with an obvious influence of ethnic, creating an extended cohesive play on designs, cuts, texture, color, proportions and a new silhouette for men’s shorts. […]
It was an evening of great music , comedy and fashion as a wealth of noted fashion designers came showcasing their designs and crafts on the run way at the Image Exhibition put together by the Harvesters International Christian Center, Lekki. Images from the event after the cut of our feature designs :
Kola Kuddus Couture run by Kola Kuddus ,started out very simple. He was a personal shopper and stylist for friends. He decided to focus on making clothes for men. His dissatisfaction with regular brands he used to style his friends led him to starting his own fashion design company. Watch Kola talk about how he […]
It was a night of glitz and glamour as Kola Kuddus dazzled fashion enthusiast and designers in the 2014 Edition of the Music Meets Runway and it was a super packed event . Kola Kuddus featured “Double Wahala” hit crooner Oritshe Femi as fans were thrilled to an evening of fashion and music .
Kola Kuddus recently teamed up with urban clothing retail chain brand, Twice as Nice to enhance the sale and distribution of his kaftan and tunic line, to a larger fashion savvy consumer audience.


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Unc0ver team has been working hard to release a new version of Jailbreak, while all eyes are on the latest iOS 13. So every iPhone and iPad users are waiting for a new jailbreak for their devices. After Apple’s 2019 WWDC event, the unc0ver team has announced their version 3.2.0 jailbreak with big promises for a tool that comes with notable changes. You can follow the unc0ver team and the leader Pwn20wnd and their release of the new version of Jailbreak.
What Is New?
The team worked hard to release this new version of the iOS jailbreak tool, and have dealt with previous versions of bugs. After confronting with the issue named CS_DEBUGGED option, they are proud to present the unc0ver jailbreak version 3.2.0. With this new version, a lot of changes are coming. A new release for the user interface has been changed after the design makeover has been requested.
Besides this, the unc0ver jailbreak version was looking pale in comparison to Chimera Jailbreak. Everything has changed now because unc0ver 3.2.3 is changed and ready for download. The unc0ver team doesn’t want to be behind the changes of both Apple and Team Electra, that’s why the Jailbreak includes now a Dark Mode. Funny thing is the Dark Mode feature is rumored for the latest iOS 13 as well.
On the other hand, the unc0ver team is saying that the Jailbreak is still limited. The version 3.2.0 is working only with iOS devices that have versions starting from 11.0 up to 12.1.2. From that, we can see one thing. Unc0ver has improved its Jailbreak to work for the entire versions except iOS 12.2 that remains impenetrable at this moment.
Finally, the hope is not lost because a lot of security researchers are saying that there is always a weak point in the operating system so that they will find a way sooner or later.
Nicholas Jacob is just at the beginning of his career, but he has also had some of his work appear in publications like Android Authority or Digital Overload. Although earning a degree in business from Fordham University, Nicholas prefers to write about new technology and breakthroughs in science. Some of his favorite pastimes are digital drawing, watching TV series, and writing on his blog. He is always eager about the new gadgets on the market and likes to cover updates on software.


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It's thought to have been taken in Southampton the day before she set sail in April 1912.
Southampton Entrepreneur Could Buy Comet
Staff at stricken electricals chain Comet have been dealt a pre-Christmas blow after administrators announced a further 125 stores will close.
Deloitte said it would only keep the remaining 70 stores open until all remaining stock was sold.
It confirmed it was still in talks with a ''small number'' of interested buyers, but said it was necessary to begin shutting shops in the absence of a firm offer for the whole business.
Deloitte also plans to close the company's distribution centre in Harlow, Essex this Friday and will cut back office functions at Rickmansworth, Hull and Clevedon.
The announcement comes after hopes had been raised of a rescue deal after it emerged Southampton-based entrepreneur Clive Coombes was considering making a bid.
Chris Farrington, joint administrator at Deloitte, said store closures are likely to start next month, but added that the process will be delayed if they receive any ''acceptable offers'' for stores.
Around 5,000 employees work across the 195 Comet stores, with more than 3,000 jobs expected to be affected by the decision to shut 125 shops.
Comet employees are to be paid salary, accrued holiday pay, overtime and bonuses for the period covered by the administration.
Deloitte added that it has contacted more than 35 prospective employers who are ''keen'' to offer roles to ex-Comet employees.
The collapse of Comet marks one of the biggest high street casualties since the demise of Woolworths in 2008 and came a month after the failure of JJB Sports.
The group was hit by weak high street trading conditions, competition from online rivals and being unable to secure the trade credit insurance needed to safeguard suppliers.
Newsreaders, MPs, dads and 25k tumble-driers...Cambridgeshire's London Marathon runners come in all shapes and sizes.
Blue Funnel Ferries confirmed a takeover this week of the struggling service across Southampton Water.
Firefighters say no-one has been hurt in a fire that started around midday on Empress Road. (Picture @MatthewRBroad)
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‘No more Agoa demands’
New bilateral trade deal mooted after Agoa expires in 2025, following last year’s ‘meat wars’
The US will probably not use its new powers again in terms of the 10-year Extension and Enhancement Act, which falls under its African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa). This after the Western superpower forced a chicken concession out of South Africa last year.
Edward Winant, the US embassy in South Africa’s trade and investment officer, this week dismissed the threat of further “out-of-cycle” reviews.
“It is unlikely another one will crop up. It could be initiated again, but I think not,” he said at a seminar at the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Law dealing with the “meat wars” – the protracted impasse between the two countries over meat imports and exports.
Agoa will “most likely” not be renewed when it expires in 2025, said Winant.
Instead, at least as far as South Africa is concerned, the US would prefer a trade agreement, he said.
The last attempt at negotiating a trade deal between the US and the Southern African Customs Union ended in failure in 2006.
“We are happy to listen to South Africa and the customs union ... some signed and certain agreements would be a wonderful replacement for Agoa,” he said.
Xolelwa Mlumbi-Peter, the department of trade and industry’s deputy director-general of international trade, said at the same seminar that last year’s rebooted Agoa means it could no longer be considered a “nonreciprocal programme”.
“It was non-reciprocal; now it has conditions attached. We were requested to make a payment for it,” she said.
“This is a risk to all beneficiaries, not just South Africa,” she added.
The new Agoa allows “any US stakeholder” to request out-of-cycle reviews of African countries.
It was seemingly designed with South Africa in mind and used on the country 30 days after the new law was passed.
Now, according to Winant, there is no real reason to use it again. The only payment required is “things South Africa does anyway”, he said.
According to Winant, the normal annual review process built into Agoa from the start is enough to deal with most issues. This process led to Swaziland getting booted out a year ago.
Earlier this year, South Africa re-allowed a limited quota of US chicken into the country, free of standing anti-dumping duties.
This after the US issued an ultimatum and threatened to withdraw parts of the country’s Agoa eligibility – another new weapon created by last year’s act that allows it to be used more subtly than simply completely cutting countries out of the scheme.
The “objective conditions” justifying the anti-dumping tariffs are still there and have been affirmed by two reviews of the original 2000 decision, said Mlumbi-Peter.
“We said we would not let go of that instrument. It is an instrument all World Trade Organisation members are entitled to.”
South Africa’s poultry producers made concessions that would hurt its members for the good of the country – without gaining anything from Agoa itself, she said.
Stephen Meltzer, a partner at law firm Webber Wentzel – which represented South African chicken producers in the Agoa talks – also defended the duties.
“The duties were legally renewed ... the US industry never sought to challenge them in a South African court or at the world trade body, or participate in the renewal process.
“Instead, they tried to turn a nonreciprocal programme into a reciprocal one.”
While exports to the US have increased massively since the promulgation of Agoa in 2000, “not all of that growth is due to Agoa”, said Donald Mackay, director of consultancy XA International Trade Advisors.
The actual usefulness of Agoa, especially outside South Africa and a handful of countries exporting clothing to the US, is often called into question. Most covered products are not made in Africa.
The benefit of zero tariffs is also often far too small an incentive to suddenly make investment into new sectors viable.
Agoa added 1 700 new “tariff lines” to the 4 800 already falling under the general system of preferences, where developing countries enjoy tariff exemptions in the US market.
South Africa exports 141 of these 1 700 products to the US, while the continent uses fewer than 400 of the tariff lines. There are many products Africa would be able to export to the US if they got included in Agoa, Mlumbi-Peter said. “We need to expand the coverage.” Agoa conspicuously excludes major agricultural commodities relevant to the continent when they are produced in the US. South Africa, in particular, wants more of its meat and agricultural products to get into the US.
Here US sanitary (animal hygiene), phytosanitary (plant hygiene) and labelling requirements block exports.
Talks about avocados are advancing after litchis were exported to the US for the first time earlier this year, said Mlumbi-Peter, adding: “I disagree that Agoa is not beneficial.”
It is unlikely another one will crop up. It could be initiated again, but I think not


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JAKARTA, Jul 25, 2019, ANTARA. President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) held discussions with leaders from the Hyundai Motor Group centering on efforts to boost investment in Indonesia, reported the ANTARA.
“We spoke about the investment plan from Hyundai Motors in Indonesia,” Minister of Industry Airlangga Hartarto remarked after accompanying President Jokowi to welcome Hyundai Motors delegates at the State Place in Jakarta on Thursday.
Minister Airlangga revealed that Hyundai had elaborated on the potential of automotive technology development in future, including the development of electric, automatic, and drifting vehicles.
The minister expounded that Hyundai Motors is conducting a study and survey of suitable industrial estates for investment development.
Hyundai Motors expressed interest to invest in industrial areas in Bekasi, Karawang, Purwakarta (Bekapur), and Subang.
Hyundai Motors plans to produce vehicles in Indonesia and has set an export target of 40 percent abroad and in the domestic market.
The minister confirmed that the investment value is yet under discussion.
“Yes, of course. Mr. President responds to the plan positively, as the automotive industry becomes one of Indonesia’s main exports in future,” the minister emphasized.
Hyundai Motors Group delegates, who met with President Jokowi, comprised Executive Vice Chairman Chung Euisun, President Kong Young Woon, Executive Vice President Park Hong-Jae, and Senior Vice President Lee Youngtack.
In the meantime, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, Minister of Industry Airlangga Hartarto, and Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Thomas Lembong accompanied President Jokowi during the meeting.
Hartarto earlier stated that Hyundai had targeted to commence production in 2021, with a production capacity of 70 thousand to 250 thousand units per year.
In addition, the automotive industry from South Korea is expected to be able to absorb a workforce of 3,500 people.


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Reed has effectively canceled the show without an apology or even admission that they were at fault. The thinly veil a charge that it is the exhibitors that are at fault for getting bent out of shape over something that didnt directly affect them. Their illusion to politically charged atmosphere is bizarre, given they were the ones that charged it.
I dont think Reed will be doing this type of show in the future. Theyve fully alienated the audience, and this release just drives a nail in it.
The way the press release is worded, it seems they think that after the ‘highly-charged’ emotion dies down, all be well. What they fail to recognize is that it is PRINCIPLE (2A Constitutional right), not emotion that is at work here. The boycott on Reed should continue until they apologize and recognize the real issue .... which they won’t ever do, being Lefty/Libs/Progs. What a cr@p piece of b.s. press release ... about as meaningful and sincere as B.O.’s inauguration speech.


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By James A. Loyola
Gaming firm Leisure and Resorts World Corporation (LRWC) reported that its stockholders have approved the firm’s planned private placement of shares worth about P4.5 billion to P5 billion.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said shareholders approved the issuance of up to 1.3 billion common shares from the unissued capital stock (Newly Issued Shares) through a private placement.
The private placement will be made at a price based on a premium over the P3.30 per share closing price of the shares of the Company on November 29, 2018.
During the firm’s special stockholders’ meeting, its also secured shareholder approval to grant authority to the Board of Directors to implement the private placement including the determination of the issue price and the subscriber or subscribers to the shares to be issued.
Proceeds from the private placement of shares will be used to refinance some of LRWC’s existing obligations and for general corporate purposes.
LRWC is planning to develop a casino resort project in Boracay in partnership between Macau’s Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG).
In a statement, LRWC said the integrated resort will redefine the standards of luxury resorts in the country with bulk of its gross floor area allocated for premium hotel rooms and other amenities like wellness centers, bars, lounges and fine dining restaurants.
Based on the resort’s conceptual design, the casino and gaming area’s maximum footprint will not exceed 7.5 percent of the total floor area of the resort “at all times”.
“Thus, the planned Boracay Resort is expected to churn more revenues from the hotel and other ancillary businesses vis-a-vis the gaming segment as it attracts customers all over the region looking for luxury Asian destinations,” Atty. Katrina Nepomuceno, LRWC VP for Legal said.
She added that GEG and LRWC are expected to leverage on Galaxy’s database of clients across the region and the rest of Asia.
Specifically, they are targeting families and clients from Galaxy’s loyalty program to contribute approximately 50 percent of the customers, while other travellers to Boracay — Chinese tourists in particular — will account for the other half.


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From Revolution Magazine.com 3G Marketing: Brands wait for 3G opportunity
The next big thing in mobile services is just around the corner, but how prepared are the operators and brand marketers?
Over the past year, 3G services have brought the promise that brand marketing can reach mobile users in style. While marketing in this space is still reasonably scarce, the richness of the content being downloaded by early subscribers is painting an intriguing picture.
Following the, so far, relative disappointment of MMS, 3G hopes to give brands access to elusive customers through interactive propositions built with high-quality video and audio, with more accurately targeted messages. So says the mobile industry.
"3G will mean richer, higher quality applications, as well as video, and that will make mobile a stronger marketing medium," says Dan Parker, chief operating officer at mobile marketing agency Sponge
For the first time in a long time, there is going to be a new visual medium," says Graeme Oxby, marketing director at 3
Marketing is starting to shape itself to the possibilities of 3G in the increased use of shortcodes to guide offline consumers to mobile sites
See where this is going?


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Retail sales fell both online and offline last month as the cost-of-living crisis hit demand, the latest figures suggest. At the same time, the proportion of sales taking place online appears to have settled at about 39% of non-food sales, just over a year since the end of the last UK lockdown, according to the BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor for May 2022. British Retail Consortium (BRC) chief executive Helen Dickinson says the post-pandemic spending bubble has burst as consumer confidence falls.
Meanwhile, Barclaycard figures for the month suggest shoppers spent more on essential items as prices rose, but cut back in areas such as online subscriptions.
How shoppers spent online
Online sales fell by 8.5% in May, compared to the same time last year – when they had fallen by 8.1% a year earlier, according to the BRC figures. At the same time, the proportion of non-food sales taking place online fell to 38.7% from 42.2% last May. That’s still 7.3 percentage points ahead of the 31.4% of sales that were online in May 2019.
“Online sales appear to have stabilised at a new normal,” says Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), “with the share of total non-food retail sales coming through digital channels settling at around 39% compared with 30% pre-pandemic, though this is well down on lockdown peaks.”
KPMG UK head of retail Paul Martin says: “Online, although still significantly higher than before the pandemic, has now experienced a double-digit decline over the last three months.”
Barclaycard analysis suggests that shoppers cut back on spending on digital content and subscriptions (-5.7%). A fifth (21%) of shoppers questioned in its consumer survey said they were reviewing subscriptions and cancelling any they could live without. That included 18% who cancelled a TV or streaming service.
How shoppers spent across sales channels and in-store
Sales across all channels fell by 1.1% in total compared to last May, when they had grown by 28.4%. That’s below the average both over three months (+0.7%) and 12 months (+4.1%). Total retail sales were 6.2% ahead of the same month in pre-pandemic 2019.
On a like-for-like (LFL) basis, which strips out the effect of store – and business – openings and closures, UK retail sales across channels fell by 1.5% on last year. A year earlier, they had grown by 18.5% in the first month that was fully free of the third UK lockdown.
The BRC’s Dickinson says: “Sales continued to see declines as the cost-of-living crunch squeezed consumer demand. Higher value items, such as furniture and electronics, took the biggest hit as shoppers reconsidered major purchases during this difficult time. Nonetheless, fashion and beauty did well as people prepared for holidays abroad and the summer’s social calendar; with red, white and blue outfits adorning shopping carts ahead of the Jubilee weekend.”
She adds: “It is clear the post-pandemic spending bubble has burst, with retailers facing tougher trading conditions, falling consumer confidence, and soaring inflation impacting consumers spending power. Supply chain issues including rising commodity and transport costs, a tight labour market and higher energy bills are forcing retailers to increase their prices, contributing to wider inflation. Profits may be squeezed further, as retailers continue to find efficiencies in their own operations and supply chains to reduce the impact of future price rises for consumers.”
Food sales fell both in total (-0.7%) and LFL (-1.3%) in the three months to May, below the 12-month average (+0.6%).
Non-food retail sales grew in total (+2%) and fell on a LFL basis (-1%) over the three months. That’s below the 12-month average (+7%). In May alone, non-food retail sales fell.
In-store sales were 31.5% ahead of the previous May in total, and up by 24.1% LFL. However, both are behind the 12-month average (+39.2%). Shoppers appear to be spending less in-store on non-food items than before the pandemic, with sales 57.5% lower in total than in May 2019.
KPMG’s Martin says the second consecutive month of retail sales decline shows shoppers becoming more sensitive to the cost of living. The biggest year-on-year declines were in homewares and computing, while sales of clothing, footwear and accessories rose both in-store and online. He adds: “The rising cost of living is going to remain the main story for retailers for the immediate future, with consumer confidence a key factor to watch out for. Retailers will be hoping that a post-Jubilee and summer feel-good factor begins to improve confidence amongst some shoppers – as presently overall confidence levels are lower than sales may suggest. Cost and efficiency will firmly be top of agenda for most operators, and understanding how they can protect their margins whilst remaining price competitive for consumers.”
Susan Barratt, chief executive of grocery analyst the IGD, says: ““Whilst the last four weeks show modest growth, we increasingly expect that value sales are being boosted by inflation this year and that underlying volume trends are weaker as shoppers economise to manage the cost-of-living challenges they face.
“Shoppers are finding it incredibly tough right now, and although the Chancellor’s announcement of a cost-of-living support package may have offered some respite, our Shopper Confidence Index data for May shows that shopper confidence is still incredibly low. Spending priorities are changing rapidly in reaction to continuous price rises, with shopper coping strategies differing by individual life circumstances.”
Barclaycard research, meanwhile, showed that spending on essential items grew by 4.8% in May, as inflation and fuel prices (+24.8%) both rose, and that spending on travel (+189.7%) outpaced inflation. Shopping at supermarkets (-2%), on specialist food and drink (-0.9%) and in restaurants (-5.9%) fell, while energy costs grew by 34.5% on last May. Some 88% of survey respondents said they were concerned about rising household and energy bills, and 41% are looking for ways to save energy and water at home.
José Carvalho, head of consumer products at Barclaycard, says: “The cost of living squeeze is clearly influencing discretionary spending habits, with figures showing a decline in subscriptions, and a drop in spending at restaurants, bars, pubs and clubs. Despite this, there are some encouraging signs, particularly in travel industry, as Brits’ appetite for going abroad continues to grow as we approach the summer holidays.


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Toshihiro Suzuki will likely take the helm from his father Osamu Suzuki, but it remains to be seen how he handles Maruti Suzuki in India—the only bright spot in the car maker's global business New Delhi: Suzuki Motor Corp.'s chairman Osamu Suzuki ...Livemint.com, 2 weeks ago
Maruti Suzuki chairman RC Bhargava addresses a press conference in New Delhi, in December 2015 Production at Maruti's Gurgaon, Manesar plants was suspended on 30 May, a day after a fire broke out at Subros —virtually the sole supplier of air ...Sunday Guardian Live, 2 weeks ago
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VW also announced it is now looking into battery technology, tackling the issue of battery range, especially as VW's fleet alone will need 150 gigawatt hours of ion batteries by 2025.
It is also setting up a pilot factory to develop know-how in battery production.
Several parts of the world, including the United Kingdom and France, have announced that they plan on outright banning the sale of new diesel and petrol cars in the future, putting pressure on automakers to adjust their business strategy and commit to improvements in consumption and emissions.
The Company estimates that around one in four new Group vehicles - up to three million units a year depending on how the market develops - could already be purely battery-powered in 2025.
Colin Fleming backs Jamie Murray call for greater prize money in doubles
Stephens was sidelined for 11 months because of a stress fracture in her left foot. The Scot said: "This scoring format is a lot more random than at Wimbledon.
"One thing is clear: The Golf of the future must once again be a people's auto!" B-pillars are absent on the I.D.
Boot space is a family-friendly 515 litres and the rear doors slide backwards opening up a pillarless side allowing for easy access. The vehicle will also have a system that monitors air quality inside the cabin. The I.D. Crozz II concept is a premium compact crossover, with the same design as the first one but deploying a catchy two-tone color scheme - Hibiscus Red Metallic paint and a silvery roof.
Set to be the first of a number of new fully electric Volkswagen models, Volkswagen has released these images showing the vehicle in its entirety for the first time. Output is rated at 225kW, capable of propelling the concept up to a top speed of 180km/h. The battery pack can be charged to 80 per cent capacity in 30 minutes using a fast-charger system.
Daimler said on Monday its Mercedes-Benz luxury brand planned to offer electric motors for all models by 2022, though cautioned the shift to lower-margin electric cars required extra cost savings. CROZZ in the SUV segment.
The company's so-called I.D. electric model has been created to compete with Tesla Inc.'s least expensive auto, the new Model 3 sedan, which is available with a price tag of $35,000.


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Today, instead of your average ribbon cutting ceremony, a fruit slicing event took place to kick off the produce season.
Fresh fruit straight from across the border was cut by officials from the City of Pharr to initiate the beginning of produce season. Other than the produce itself, the event also covered the Pharr International Bridge on business and trade.
Last year around $26.48M worth of goods crossed through the Pharr bridge, produce included. Although the process of growing these fruits and vegetables is not taking place entirely in the RGV, it is definitely bringing economic growth.
The Pharr Produce District will consist of several phases, the first phase .90 acres of 100 percent produce related facilities and cold storage areas.
Although these plans are beneficial for the region, the problems it will face along the way go without saying.
The Pharr bridge is also in the planning stages of making it’s now four-lane roadways into eight to speed up crossing times for commercial and noncommercial traveling.


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iRobot makes mini floor-washing robot, partners with TI
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A Bedford-based maker of a robotic vacuum has expanded its line of floor-washing robots with a mini version of its hands-free way to clean floors.
IRobot Corp. has introduced the compact Scooba 230 product to markets in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America, the company announced recently.
The expansion of Scooba came after the company saw an increased demand for iRobot’s home robots, according to Marc Dinee, general manager of iRobot’s Home Robots business unit.
Separately, iRobot announced a partnership with Texas Instruments Inc. to develop robotic technologies using TI’s system-on-chip, the OMAP platform. According to a news release TI’s OMAP platform’s smart multicore architecture sends processing tasks to cores and engines that can perform best using the least amount of power possible. The system-on-chip technology that is used in smartphones and tablets will now be used to create robots that are “intelligent and practical” and “capable of enhancing people’s lives.”
Last month iRobot announced it was realigning its business units and making executive changes. The robotics developer divided its business into three units focused on home robots, military robots and emerging technologies.
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Over the last two years at LEAP, we’ve had the privilege of meeting activists and thought leaders who are pushing technology towards ethical systems that are good for everyone. They’re asking the difficult questions that open up space for discussion about why tech products are created, who they’re helping (or harming), and how the industry can develop technology that has a truly positive impact.
So let’s look at three key areas of ethical concern for activists and regulatory bodies – and the questions your tech company can ask, to begin building a picture of how you can support the movement towards more ethical technology.
Everyone (including the majority of tech users) understands the critical importance of privacy, as more and more aspects of our lives are mediated by technological experiences and data storage.
Research published in the medical journal Frontiers in Surgery in 2022, for example, looked at the legal and ethical considerations of AI in healthcare, and highlighted a mismatch between the legal obligations that doctors have to adhere to when it comes to maintaining confidentiality and patient privacy, and the obligations that technologists have. In short, while doctors might be required by law to be accountable for how they collect and store data, technologists don’t work with the same requirements – so there are potentially serious implications for patients when third-party data management systems are implemented in healthcare settings.
But the ethics of user privacy reach far and wide, across every segment of the tech industry:
- Research by Tableau found that 63% of global consumers think companies aren’t honest about how they use people’s personal information, and almost 48% have stopped buying from certain companies due to privacy concerns.
- Truata found that 60% of customers say they’d spend more money with a brand they trust to manage their personal data responsibly.
- A 2022 survey by Cisco showed that companies see an average ROI of 1.8% on spend related to improving privacy, and 92% agree they have a moral obligation to use consumer data transparently.
As Richard Benjamins (Chief AI and Data Strategist at Telefónica) said at LEAP 2022, privacy should never be an afterthought. It should be built into digital services and tech products from the start.
“If you look into the future,” he said, “you can have two big views. One is privacy is dead, get over it. Or, privacy becomes more user-controlled. And also user-monetised. I hope and I believe that is the way we’ll go – privacy by design.”
Bias and discrimination
As AI has exploded into our daily lives in a big way, the potential harm caused by bias within AI systems has become a major concern.
- In 2022, researchers at USC Viterbi School of Engineering studied the content of two AI databases, and identified bias in 38.6% of ‘facts’ used by AI.
- In DataRobot’s latest State of AI Bias report, 54% of respondents said they’re ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ concerned about AI bias – and 81% called for government regulation to define and prevent that bias.
- A report by the American National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reminded us that AI bias isn’t just about data. The humans who develop AI systems, and the societal systems within which they’re working, are also embedding bias deeply into the way AI is programmed. AI is created within the context of the world around it. So if we don’t root out the bias, we risk fixing the limitations of our society right now into AI; and then those limitations will stay in the AI for a very long time.
But AI-powered tech isn’t the only area where bias and discrimination come into play. All technology services and products rely on data – whether they’re adapting to data in real-time, or using existing data to inform design and deployment decisions. And all data can hold biases that are hard to spot, if you’re not looking for them.
When we interviewed Edosa Odaro (Chief Data Analytics Officer at Tawuniya), we asked what data diversity means to him.
“There are far too many viewpoints about diversity – with a lot of these causing either offence or unhelpful polarisation. Yet, I believe that something most of us can all agree on is that, regardless of where we stand on the problems of diversity, there is far more we can do to focus on techniques for achieving tangible solutions.”
And data is fundamental to creating these solutions. Why?
- “We need good data to measure and assess where we are – to be clear about our current situation and our starting point.”
- “We need to define in data our target state – our ‘what good looks like’ – and there is no one-size-fits-all as this differs from company to company; community to community; and even country to country.”
- “We need data and advanced analytics to test hypotheses, predict outcomes, create intelligent interventions – to ensure our desired target state.”
“The caveat,” Odaro added, “is that there really cannot be a single silver bullet solution, but it is absolutely essential to start with data and utilise data to enable tangible outcomes.”
How we produce and dispose of technology – as well as how people are using that tech – can have a serious environmental impact. As climate change becomes an urgent concern for communities and governments around the world, the tech industry has to look at its relationship with the planet at every level.
- Pollution. Tech production creates air and water pollution by releasing greenhouse gases from power plants, factories, and distribution operations. It’s certainly not the worst sector – but the UN environment program estimates tech is responsible for about 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
- Resource depletion. Producing and disposing of tech demands that natural resources are extracted from Earth – including metals, minerals, and fossil fuels. The common metals used in technology, for example, include cobalt, lithium, tantalum, gallium, niobium, indium, selenium and zirconium.
- E-waste. As tech companies rush to create newer, more advanced products, a huge amount of electronic waste is produced. Much of it is non-biodegradable, or contains toxic substances that can cause environmental harm if they’re not managed properly. According to data from The World Counts we generate about 40 million tonnes of e-waste each year – which equates to throwing out 800 laptops every second.
There’s no doubt that technology will be a huge part of our future. But there’s also no doubt that climate change is a huge part of our future – and the tech industry has to work hard to minimise its impact.
Asking questions can support ethical decision-making in tech
These are just three of many areas that tech ethicists are focused on right now – from the potential for global governance for data, to the future of human employment and labour; and a whole host of issues in between.
So what questions could tech entrepreneurs and innovators ask to expand their ethical perspective?
Here are our suggestions:
- When you look at the ethical issues around your tech company, what’s the target state? Where do you want to be – and how could you achieve that?
- Can you define your responsibility to your users’ safety and well-being; to the planet; to transparency, and to society?
- In what ways could your tech have the biggest positive impact?
- How can you recognise bias in yourself, your company, and your products – and then how can you reduce that bias?
- What applications of your tech (or of other technologies within your company) will you choose not to pursue?
- What’s the relationship between your ethics and your sales/profits?
- In the relationship between you/your company/your products and your customers, who has the power – and why?
And finally, it’s important to remember that tech isn’t the only industry facing intense ethical pressure in the current geo-political landscape. We’re living in uncertain times; so all industries have to take a close look at themselves, and make decisions which integrate good ethics with good business.