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It was easy to see this one coming. Rule Breakers newsletter recommendation Steiner Leisure
It did, of course. The company wound up earning $0.56 per diluted share. While the results included a one-time gain after cashing out of its minority interests in some resort spas in Asia, it was still a healthy showing as operating profits grew by 21%, outpacing the top-line growth of 17% for the period.
Over the past few weeks the company has been providing its investors with welcome contract renewals with the major cruise ship lines that serve as landlords to the company's onboard spas. This week alone saw Carnival
The renewals weren't much of a surprise, especially after Princess went back to the bargaining table to hammer out a new deal with Steiner last month after its attempt at running the spas on two of its ships itself failed. It handed the ships back to Steiner -- as well as recommitting the rest of its fleet to Steiner's proven hands.
Operating the popular spas at ships run by Carnival, Royal Caribbean
Steiner manages several dozen resort spas as well but the average sea spa generates more than twice the weekly revenue as the company's landlubber offering. It also runs spa training schools. The company has been able to parlay its popularity into selling related spa merchandise. In fact, products now make up nearly a third of the company's revenue base, growing faster than the company's hands-on business.
2004 will clearly be a year to remember for Steiner. Every quarter was a record-breaker. It wound up growing earnings of its continuing operations by 41% to hit $2.03 per share. While the bottom-line spurts will clearly not match 2004's heady growth, all the ingredients are in place for reasonable growth to continue. That leaves one to wonder why Steiner is priced at just 17 times last year's earnings. The cruise ships have all signed up for many more years. The ship travel industry is booming and reaching out to a new, younger audience that is more likely to want to be pampered while at sea.
While the stock has risen by 56% since being singled out as worthy in the November issue of Rule Breakers the upside remains. The ocean beckons. Steiner's willing to soothe.
Need some more reading while you lay out on the massage table?
- Read all about the reasons why Steiner won the heart of a Princess.
- Ten strong quarters was a good way to predict an eleventh.
- Check out some of the other Rule Breaker stock picks.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has been a Steiner customer on the Disney Wonder and while he does own shares in Disney, he does not own shares in any of the other companies mentioned in this story. The Fool has a disclosure policy. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.


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Mazda UK is the ‘Official Vehicle Partner’ for one of the most prestigious events on the European Senior Tour – the Travis Perkins plc Senior Masters – taking place from 30 August to 1 September 2013. The event is hoping to beat last year’s record crowd of 23,000 people over the three days of the 54-hole competition where the manufacturer will use the event to further raise brand awareness among company car drivers.
The Travis Perkins plc Senior Masters is being held for the 13th time over the Duke’s Course at Woburn and for the first time 2010 European Ryder Cup Captain Colin Montgomerie is among the legends of the game competing.
Mazda will be exhibiting a number of cars at the venue – the fleet favourite multi award-winning all‑new Mazda6 featuring breakthrough emissions-busting SKYACTIV technology and the SKYACTIV Mazda CX-5 compact SUV, alongside will be the iconic Mazda MX-5, the world’s best-selling two seater sports car.
During the event there will also be Mazda branding throughout the course. A highlights package from the event will be screened daily on Sky Sports that will further boost Mazda brand exposure.
Mazda Head of Fleet Steve Tomlinson said: “Many visitors to the Senior Masters will be company car drivers, which is a major target audience for Mazda, especially with our all-new Mazda6. Our first-time sponsorship involvement will raise brand awareness and encourage attendees to consider Mazda when they choose their next company car.”
The European Senior Tour Order of Merit is currently led by one of the continent’s best known golfers, Germany’s Bernhard Langer, and leading players that will be trying to close that gap at Woburn include last year’s winner Des Smyth, along with Sam Torrance, Ian Woosnam and Mark James.
Tomlinson said: “Participation in golf is increasing and there is phenomenal interest from people wanting to see events on the Senior Tour as demonstrated by record attendance at the Senior Masters last year and an expectation of that figure being exceeded this year.”
Ahead of the event Mazda UK is holding a competition to win the an ‘Ultimate Golf Drive’ as the first prize, this includes the loan of a stylish top-of-the-range Mazda for a month, as well as two rounds of golf at one of the UK’s top golf resorts, overnight accommodation, breakfast, dinner and two tickets to any day of the Senior Masters. Second prize is £300 worth of Woburn Pro Shop vouchers to be spent on clothing designed by top golfer Ian Poulter, Woburn’s touring professional, and two any-day tickets to the event; with further prizes, including 60 pairs of any-day tickets to the event, up for grabs. To enter go to www.mazdagolf.co.uk. Competitions entries close on 22 August 2013.
Tomlinson concluded: “Mazda’s partnership with the Senior Masters promises to be exciting for both parties and we are confident that the relationship will help showcase our comprehensive model range.”

domain: news


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May has long been a month dedicated to bicycles. Fifty-five years ago, the Cycle Trade Association declared the month to be American Bike Month. Several decades ago, May became known as National Bike Month when the League of American Bicyclists took over the cause, and the emphasis shifted more towards cycling advocacy and away from bicycle retail (although the latter group clearly still benefits from Bike Month). The third week of May is Bike to Work Week, and hundreds of activities are taking place across the nation in celebration, culminating on Friday, May 20th, with Bike to Work Day.
In many of the well-established bicycle-friendly cities around the United States, Bike to Work events have grown exponentially over the past several years. In the DC Metro area, local advocacy associations will organize nearly fifty pit stops on Bike to Work Day in 2011, adding more than a dozen pit stops within the region since only last year. The Washington Area Bicyclist Association set a goal of registering 10,000 cyclists for this years event, and with a week to go, there are currently 8,000 registered participants. At stops in Maryland, DC and Virginia, commuters can grab a bite to eat, enjoy music and entertainment and even take advantage of tune-up services being provided by local shops at some locations.In New York City, Transportation Alternatives Bike Month NYC hosts an entire months worth of events, including Traffic Skills 101 classes through Bike New York and bicycle repair workshops through Times Up bike co-op. On Bike to Work Day, Clif Bar sponsors seven different commuter stations at busy locations such as the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, and cyclists are treated to iced coffee and, of course, Clif Bars.Even places that are slightly less bicycle-wonky by reputation are getting in on the Bike Month action. Iowa is celebrating its ninth annual Bike to Work Week with more than 2,200 participants. Iowas Bike Month organizer, the Des Moines Bicycle Collective, encourages riders new and old to register for the event as a way to demonstrate to local decision-makers that Iowans are in support of more bicycle amenities.Thanks to the League of American Bicyclists, there is plenty of information available to assist community organizers in planning Bike Month events, and there are an incredible number of educational activities leading up to 2011s Bike to Work Day. Through the diverse and increasing amounts of activity surrounding Bike to Work Week, veteran commuters can be rewarded and new cyclists can be encouraged. And, importantly, as cyclists continue to ride in greater and greater numbers, decision-makers in Iowa, New York, DC and around the country will be reminded that cycling can be a viable, enjoyable and sustainable form of transportation.


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Japanese factory worker held over poisoning of food with pesticide
Japanese police have arrested a food factory worker for lacing some of its products with pesticide. The crime led to massive poisoning and a recall of more than six million packages of frozen food.
Toshiki Abe, 49, worked at a subsidiary of Maruha Nichiro Holdings, where the tainted food was found. Abe has denied the charges.
As many as 2,800 people may have been made ill by the tainted food, which included pizzas, croquettes and pancakes made at the plant in Gunma prefecture, north of Tokyo.
Abe is suspected of lacing the food with poison four times in October, and malathion, the pesticide used, was allegedly found in his possession.
Maruha Nichiro has announced executive pay cuts and said president Toshio Kushiro and the president of the subsidiary were resigning in March to take responsibility for the food poisoning.
The Tokyo-based manufacturer has repeatedly apologised and bought full-page ads in major newspapers to apologise and warn people not to eat any of the possibly tainted food.


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Even before most phone makers have launched their first 5G handsets, Qualcomm, the company behind the chips powering many of these smartphones, is already thinking about the second generation. Today, Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon X55 5G modem, its follow-up to its first 5G modem, the X50. The chip-maker will make the new modem available to its partners in the coming months, and the first devices equipped with it should be out before the end of the year.
The headline feature of the Snapdragon X55 is its maximum download speed of 7 gigabits per second, compared to 5 gigabits for the X50. That’s technically a 40 percent improvement — even if a combination of geography, radio interference, and spectrum availability means you’re…
from The Verge – All Posts http://bit.ly/2GVOin0


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Modine Manufacturing Co. ended its second quarter with an increase in profits in almost all of its markets.
In an earnings release, Modine (NYSE: MOD), the Racine-based manufacturer of thermal management systems, said it swung to a $4.6 million profit, or 10 cents per share, compared with a $12.2 million net loss, or 26 cents per share.
For the fiscal quarter ending Sept. 30, net sales were up 7 percent to $364.2 million this year from $339.9 million a year ago. Sales were up in North America, Europe and Asia but down in South America due to the lower Brazilian real to U.S. dollar exchange rate.
Even though one of its factories suffered a fire that took 100 firemen to put it out, Modine expects its financial outlook to remain the same from last quarter with year-over-year sales up 3 to 8 percent and adjusted earnings per share of 50 to 60 cents.
The Business Journal reported Sept. 6 that Modine’s Airedale International Air Conditioning facility in the U.K. experienced a fire.
“The team is in the process of moving production into temporary quarters so that we can continue serving our customers and we expect the Airedale production volumes to ramp back up to near-normal levels throughout the remainder of the fiscal year,” said Modine president and CEO Tom Burke. “We are also working closely with our insurer to secure payments for property loss and business interruption expenses. We are very pleased to confirm our earnings outlook, despite this significant event.”
The business has not yet announced what caused the fire.


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411 items found, showing page 15 of 35
Pet theft on the rise: GoCompare urges owners check insurance as pet price outstrips average cover
According to GoCompare data, the average price of a pup is now £1,900* but less than half of pet insurers offer more than £1,000 should your dog go missing.
Motorists warned of steep rise in policy excesses
As cost of policyholders’ contributions to claims increase by up to 47% - drivers are urged
to consider the total costs of car insurance
- The average compulsory excess for theft claims has risen by 47% in the last 12 months1
- Compulsory excesses for accidental damage and fire claims have increase by 26%, on average
- GoCompare Car Insurance’s free excess protection will pay-out up to £250 for qualifying car insurance claims2.
Annual personal finance switching report shows fall in shopping around
- 43% of Brits didn’t switch any of the 10 most popular financial products in the last year.
- 88% of Brits are looking to make savings on essential outgoings and bills in 2021.
- GoCompare warns blind loyalty to financial product providers and utility companies collectively costs Brits £billions in overpriced premiums.
Homeowners urged not to neglect their property during lockdown
- Reminder to check home insurance policy for valuable emergency cover
- 26% of buildings insurance policies automatically include home emergency cover
- 49% offer cover as an additional extra
Rising cost of living and impact of Brexit top Nation’s biggest money worries
40% of Brits facing a financially ‘very difficult’ year
Lockdown 3 – Eight things drivers need to know
GoCompare Car Insurance summarises key information and help for motorists
Bad weather warning: how to protect homes, cars and pets
With fears of another Beast from the East, GoCompare has tips on how to protect your bubble
6.3 million Brits will be in credit card debt throughout 2021
- 16% of Brits have started 2021 with a credit card debt and 12% will remain in debt all year.
- 24% of Brits know they could save money on their card and loan interest, but only 9% switched credit cards last year.
- GoCompare Money provides tips on managing credit card debt.
GoCompare provides free mental health support to life insurance customers
- Wellbeing support made standard for those arranging life insurance through GoCompare
- ONS figures show that adults experiencing depression doubled in 2020
88% of Brits look for savings on essential outgoings and bills in 2021
According to new research1 from GoCompare Money, 88% of Brits are looking to make savings on essential outgoings and bills in 2021, including the grocery bill, TV, mobile and internet contracts and car insurance costs.
New Year’s Resolutions: 23 million resolve to make 2021 healthier and happier
But Brits have just seven weeks to change their ways in the New Year!
- Lose weight, save the environment and get off social media – Brits plan for 2021.
- Mental health resolutions top for almost a third
- Seven weeks – the average length of time New Year’s Resolutions last.
- A quarter pledge to sort out finances and cut back spending.
- Less time on social media is now bigger resolution than cutting back on drinking or smoking.
Winter Worry Land – the Nation’s biggest concerns revealed
- Not seeing friends & family and loved ones catching coronavirus top Brits’ concerns this Christmas
- Over a third of Brits are worried that 25 December 2020 won’t feel like Christmas
- Health is a key concern – including Covid-19 and mental health issues
- Financial worries include finding enough work, affording Christmas, and paying winter bills
- GoCompare Money shares advice for those experiencing financial difficulties


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On the 6th of this month security firm, viaForensics done some testing on a number of popular iOS and Android tests and revealed that Netflix, LinkedIn and FourSquare apps all stored user account passwords unencrypted.
Since the announcement was made, FourSquare acted and updated its app to obscure users’ passwords, however, other data such as search history was still vulnerable.
While these three apps were the big brands, other apps, such as the iOS edition of Square which stores signatures, transaction amounts and the last four digits of credit card numbers, was found to do this unencrypted.
Although it may take some effort to steal this data, it is quite possible to do so by experienced hackers. Seasoned programmers can easily create some malware to harvest this information automatically when installed on a handset.
We surely hope that these companies would take action in patching these security loopholes.
image source Engadget


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When it comes to food, “radical transparency” is the watchword for 2018, according to market-research firm Mintel. Indeed, 69% of 1,500 consumers surveyed in a recent Hartman Group report wanted more transparency and evidence from companies about their sustainability practices.
Considered a step beyond third-party certifications such as Fair Trade Certified or Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), radical transparency is about staying ahead of the curve by offering even more proof points to eaters. For companies embracing this approach, the goal is simple: provide a high-quality product while also ameliorating a social or environment ill.
Take seafood. Long lauded by nutritionists as a nutrient-packed superfood, the vast majority of eaters still fall well below the recommended intake (at least two times per week), often citing concerns about potential contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which are highly toxic industrial compounds; heavy metals such as lead, mercury or cadmium; and general murkiness about where the product was sourced.
“Seafood has been a notoriously opaque industry for much of its history, and that has led to a lot of fraud, overfishing and unsustainable practices that do not value responsible sourcing,” says Ken Plasse, CEO of Fishpeople Seafood. The solution? Fishpeople Seafood introduces you to the waters, the fishing methods, the species and the crews who caught your dinner. “Our mission is


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Receivers move into Greenaway
Greenaway, one of the largest printers of annual reports and takeover documents for the City, has gone into receivership.
Majority investor 3i confirmed that Alan Barrett and Iain Bennet of PricewaterhouseCoopers were appointed as receivers to Greenaway's parent company Pillan & Wilson and eight subsidiaries yesterday.
The firms employ just over 300 staff. Bennet said: 'We have already had quite considerable interest and will continue to trade while we find a buyer.'
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Dong Yuhui, who experienced been a single of New Oriental’s English-language tutors, joined the company’s newly shaped e-commerce reside-streaming crew and started off pitching a variety of products on TikTok’s Chinese sibling Douyin.
Viewers shortly grew to become drawn to Dong’s special pitching type, which requires reciting poems, English phrases and musical accompaniment whilst attempting to offer books, cooking pans, steaks, shrimp and additional.
In the course of their debut dwell stream on Taobao, Dong, Yu and some others pitched a variety of merchandise including smartphones, skincare, make-up, shoes and residence decorations. Their live-streaming channel, which began operations at 8am on Tuesday, gathered a million followers by 5pm, Dongfangzhenxuan reported.
Dongfangzhenxuan’s start on Taobao marks a single of its most crucial methods to diversify its arrive at. Earlier this month, the manufacturer done its 1st reside-streaming session on Tencent Holdings’ WeChat.
That came after Douyin blocked Dongfangzhenxuan from streaming on the application for three days in July, citing violations of system regulations. The brand’s Douyin website traffic had been on the drop even prior to that incident, with viewership falling 30 for every cent in Might from the previous thirty day period, according to information provided by analysis organization Baiguan.
Dongfangzhenxuan ended up conducting a income party on its possess application during that month.
When Douyin remains Dongfangzhenxuan’s biggest supply of targeted traffic and a well-known revenue channel for new groceries, treats and regional specialities, “the achievement of [the brand’s] stand-on your own app and its [debut on] Taobao Stay underscore its diminishing reliance on Douyin”, said a analysis report by Huafu Securities on Tuesday.
Nevertheless, Dongfangzhenxuan’s Taobao debut arrived with a hiccup: a laptop or computer bug resulted in shoppers receiving a 25 yuan rebate for a 23 yuan products, prompting hundreds of customers to put in an buy. That merchandise was delisted as quickly as the company found the loophole, several neighborhood media outlets documented.


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From innovation in 3D printing to specialist software and bioplastic packaging, this is the place to stay up to date with what's happening in the ever-evolving cosmetics packaging sector.
Bookmark this page to keep up to speed on industry suppliers and manufacturers alike, as they all strive to become greener in their innovation and developments.
11-Apr-2017 - Silgan Holdings Inc., a leading supplier of rigid packaging for consumer goods products, has announced that it has completed its acquisition of the dispensing systems business of WestRock Company.
30-Mar-2017 - The Cosmoprof North America team has announced its inaugural Beauty Innovation & Design program, also known as the BeautyID Awards.
24-Feb-2017 - Emphasizing just how crucially important the perceived quality of secondary beauty packaging is, Stora Enso says it has based the development of an upgraded carton board on consumer insights.
23-Feb-2017 - The men’s grooming category has seen rapid evolution and diversification in recent years, prompting barcode technology provider Videojet to offer more tailored solutions.
15-Feb-2017 - Recent moves by major players including Procter & Gamble and Unilever in the field of recyclable beauty and personal care packaging suggests it’s fast becoming a key area of innovation...
14-Feb-2017 - Euromonitor has released a new report on the global state of packaging for beauty and personal care (BPC), which covers four essential trends for the industry.
09-Feb-2017 - Refillable packaging is a cosmetics trend set to hit the mainstream, according to a leading packaging trade fair.
26-Jan-2017 - Procter and Gamble has announced that its Head & Shoulders brand is set to produce the ‘world’s first’ recyclable shampoo bottle, made from up to 25% recycled beach plastic.
24-Jan-2017 - An electronic ink company has partnered with a major beauty packaging player, with the two announcing that the collaboration offers the industry a ‘world first’ digital solution for personalised packaging.
17-Jan-2017 - The consumer goods giant has said that by 2025, it will ensure that it is technically possible for its plastic packaging to be reused or recycled.
06-Jan-2017 - The Aerosol & Dispensing Forum and the PCD packaging shows’ 2017 editions are to be held together 18 and 19 January in Paris.
04-Jan-2017 - A supplier of natural ingredients for the cosmetic industry has released its list of key natural alternatives to microplastic particles.
07-Dec-2016 - The Queensland Government in Australia collaborates with Amyris to create a new platform for sustainable ingredient production in APAC.
29-Nov-2016 - UK packaging provider, Collcap Group, has merged with international manufacturer Quadpack Industries, with the combined group set to trade under the Quadpack name.
28-Nov-2016 - Given recent competition in the shave and grooming categories, P&G is upping its marketing and advertising efforts as well as changing packaging and products to hold on to its market share....
14-Nov-2016 - The chemical, material company has put out a call inviting entries in its annual packaging award competition. DuPont’s contest is meant to highlight and inspire packaging in cosmetics, personal care,...
03-Nov-2016 - Improvements in the functionality and aesthetic of pouch packaging are set to help increase the size of this market, and could attract more cosmetic and personal care brands.
02-Nov-2016 - Manufacturing in a sustainable way is undeniably good business for any industry that hopes to outlast the current moment. But what ‘sustainability’ is and how to make it an accurate...
02-Nov-2016 - Last month saw the 29th edition of the industry’s key luxury packaging trade show take place. Here, we give a roundup of all the highlights.
02-Nov-2016 - Small and medium-sized enterprises in the beauty industry in Turkey are struggling with new barcode regulations.
21-Oct-2016 - Albéa, a global packaging player, has entered its 15th country, with its recently acquired facility in Slovakia now an official part of the company.
18-Oct-2016 - The 2016 Pentawards in Shanghai, China, marks the 10th anniversary of the packaging design industry awards.
07-Oct-2016 - Luxe Pack Monaco’s industry awards honoring ‘the most environmentally-friendly packing solutions’ in the industry have taken place, and the winners announced.
04-Oct-2016 - Tokyo Pack 2016 will display the latest packaging innovations to show the Japanese consumer-led market what it can expect to see in 2017 and beyond.
27-Sep-2016 - As the number of ethical labels in Asia’s cosmetics industry is developing rapidly, will new ethical, health and environmental labels join the dominant natural and organic segment? And how can...


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Brew Dr. Kombucha, which spawned from Townshend's Tea Co., is now looking to expand its product line.
The airline is offering two nonstop flights from PDX to Puerto Vallarta or Los Cabos.
Customers will be able to use the mobile app debuting next month as a delivery service.
Seattle-based evo grosses $50 million per year in sales.
The Hotel Vintage Plaza will undergo a complete remodel and rebranding in January.


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Updated on April 3, 2017, with comments from J&B Medical Supply.
A broken promise over retail sales of Roche diabetes test strips may be at the heart of a federal lawsuit against a handful of pharmacies and medical suppliers. And if Roche is right, that broken promise may have cost the company millions of dollars.
|Learn about critical areas within the medtech industry at BIOMEDevice Boston, May 3-4, 2017.|
Two Indianapolis-based Roche units have accused several pharmacies and medical supply companies of exploiting the price differences of blood glucose test strips sold to people covered by durable medical equipment (DME) plans and those covered by pharmacy benefits plans.
Test strips paid for by pharmacy plans have a much higher list price and a higher insurance reimbursement rate than those paid for by DME plans, but pharmacy plans get significant rebates from Roche that DME plans do not receive.
The complaint, filed by Roche Diagnostics Corp. and Roche Diabetes Care in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, accuses the defendants of buying Roche test strips at the lower DME list price and diverting them to sale in channels where they would be reimbursed at the much higher pharmacy plan rate. In doing so, Roche claims the defendants and their "co-conspirators" made millions of dollars in illicit profits, costing Roche as much as $89 million in wrongful rebates and legitimate sales.
According to the lawsuit, some of the defendants, including Centerline, MI-based Binson's Hospital Supplies, and Wixom, MI-based J&B Medical Supply, had promised to sell the DME test strips only through DME channels but broke that promise.
John Truscott, of Truscott Rossman, a public relations firm representing J&B Medical Supply, told Qmed that J&B has not purchased any of the test strips in question since 2009 because Roche had some issues with FDA at that time and "numerous insurance companies asked J&B to stop purchasing from them, and they stopped immediately."
Truscott said J&B plans to respond to the lawsuit with emails and letters that will show Roche has continued to try to win J&B's business back. He said the company is confident that it will be removed from the lawsuit after J&B presents this evidence. "They simply didn't have anything to do with the situation in question," he said.
Other defendants named in the lawsuit include Centerline, MI-based Northwood Inc.; East Lansing, MI-based Olympus Global; Flint, MI-based Delta Global; and Cheyenne, WY-based Alpha XE.
The lawsuit also notes that Roche has certain security measures in place, such as using separate packing and product codes for pharmacy and DME strips, so that there is "no legitimate way to engage in a profitable diversion scheme," therefore the defendants and their business associates would have had to have conspired against Roche in order to profit from the scheme.
"Importantly, defendants' profits did not result from offering lower prices to customers, the vast majority of whom pay a fixed out-of-pocket amount set by their insurance plans," Roche said in the lawsuit. "Rather, the profits resulted from causing Roche to pay substantial rebates to pharmacy plans for products that were intended for sale through DME plans."
The company also claims that Binson's Hospital Supplies "covered up their wrongdoing by giving Roche fabricated quarterly sales reports that indicated Northwood was fulfilling a certain number of patient prescriptions with its sale of Roche test strips. But in fact, Roche said in the lawsuit, Binson's "simply made up these numbers," and Northwood did not deliver any test strips to patients. Instead, Roche said, Northwood sold all of the test strips to J&B, and J&B diverted all of them to pharmacies.
Truscott said Binson's is a competitor to J&B, and that during the time in question, the two companies were involved in costly litigation against each other. "It's not the situation where they would have been cooperating with each other," he said.
Roche is suing the defendants for fraud, criminal deception, negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and conspiracy.
Amanda Pedersen is Qmed's news editor. Contact her at email@example.com
[Image courtesy of Peter67/Pixabay]


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announcing the One M9
Prime Camera Edition earlier this month in Germany, HTC has made
official a new variant of the device - dubbed One
M9+ Prime Camera Edition, on its online store in India, priced at Rs.
23,990 (around $355).
The One M9+ Prime Camera Edition features:
full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) display
Octa-core MediaTek Helio X10 clocked at 2.2GHz.
2GB of RAM.
16GB of built-in storage, which can be expanded
via microSD card (up to 2TB).
13-megapixel rear camera.
Dimensions: 144.6x69.7x9.61mm, weighs: 168
Connectivity options include 4G LTE, Bluetooth,
Wi-Fi, micro-USB, 3.5mm audio jack, and NFC support.


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Salesforce.com (CRM), which reports Q1 results next week, likely will raise fiscal 2015 guidance above expectations, posits Pacific Crest Securities in a report published Tuesday.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters predict that Salesforce.com will report fiscal Q1 profit of 10 cents, the same as a year earlier, with revenue growing 35% to $1.2 billion including acquisitions. For the full-year, analysts model EPS of 50 cents and revenue of $5.3 billion.
"Based on our channel checks and the transaction volume, we expect upside in fiscal Q1 and likely upside in fiscal 2015 guidance," Pacific Crest Securities analyst Brendan Barnicle said in a report.
"In particular, we heard of two nine-figure deals that remain in the pipeline in the financial services and manufacturing verticals," he said. "Salesforce has focused on understanding verticals better, and it is starting to see the benefit of its focus."
"We don't expect Salesforce.com to guide fiscal Q2 above current expectations," he added.
Salesforce.com stock was down 2% in midday trading on the stock market today. IBD's computer software-enterprise group is ranked No. 161 out of 197 industry sectors. The group also includes Aspen Technology (AZPN).
Salesforce.com is the No. 1 maker of CRM, or customer relationship management, software, ahead of bigger rivals Oracle (ORCL) and SAP (SAP).
The San Francisco-based company has steadily expanded its focus from mostly small businesses to large enterprises. It acquired email marketing services firm ExactTarget last year for $2.5 billion.
Like other software companies, Salesforce.com is moving to a cloud-based business model. It's growing cloud-based subscription revenue.
"We have also heard of larger deals in both the platform business and the marketing cloud. It is likely that both of those businesses will exceed $1 billion in revenue in F2016," Barnicle said.


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Duty-free agreements between regional competitors and foreign importers would put the Cambodian garment industry at risk, Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh said last week.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting, Prasidh warned that the Kingdom’s garment sector would not be able to maintain its competitive edge over the industries of neighbours such as Vietnam and Myanmar should those countries implement free-trade agreements with the US, EU and regional trade partners.
“The big risk for us is that I start to see Vietnam negotiating a free-trade area with the US, and Vietnam will push garment products entering the US to be duty-free, while Cambodian garment products are still charged,” Prasidh said.
“Investors in the Cambodian garment industry would move into Vietnam; it is a big risk and a big challenge.”
According to Prasidh, the EU and US have recently engaged in talks with the Myanmar government about instituting a trade agreement similar to the “Anything But Arms” initiative under which Cambodian imports to the EU are duty- and quota-free.
Myanmar’s garment industry is at an advantage to Cambodia’s, Prasidh said, as it enjoys cheaper electricity costs and encounters fewer strikes and protests.
Tran Tu, trade attaché for the Vietnam Trade Office in Cambodia, said that as far as he knows, Vietnam and the US have no plans to institute a bilateral free-trade area. “But Australia, Malaysia, Peru, the US and Vietnam are preparing to join the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement,” he told the Post.
Van Sou Ieng, president of the Garment Manufactures Association in Cambodia, also claimed that Cambodia’s frequent strikes and protests were a risk to its garment industry.
“If Vietnam negotiated [with the US] successfully, investors will move to Vietnam because the Cambodian garment sector would lose its image,” he said.
But with Cambodia’s garment exports still on the rise – hitting $1.3 billion in the first quarter of the year, up 16 per cent from the corresponding period last year – Kang Chandararot, executive director of the Economics Unit of the Cambodia Institute of Development Study, said Cambodia needs to look at more long-term measures of the industry’s strength, including workers’ welfare, factory conditions and minimum wage.
“If Cambodia wants long-term investment, it needs to discuss the conditions. If some investors go out, others will come to discuss on the conditions,” he said.


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Damiani Wine Cellars to expand tasting room
Damiani Wine Cellars in Burdett, Schuyler County, is expanding the lower level of its tasting room to accommodate private parties, wine classes and a small wine bar.
"We haven't finalized a name for the space yet," says Michael Cimino, manager of the Seneca Lake winery's tasting room. "We have decided that we will serve wine by the glass – ours as well as our neighbors' – and local beers."
Food options in the new space will include local cheese, charcuterie, bread, olives and pickled peppers, Cimino adds. Live music will be featured on weekend evenings, and guests will be allowed to take beverages onto the bocce court.
Construction is slated to wrap up next month, in time for a soft opening in early June.
The winery is at 4704 State Route 414 in Burdett. For more information, call (607) 546-5557 or go to damianiwinecellars.com.


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|Filament’s Blocklet Chip comes in a USB form factor (shown) that allows existing industrial IoT devices to communicate and transact using blockchain. (Image source: Filament)|
Has 2018 been the year of enterprise production blockchain? Blockchain technology is moving into more and more commercial and enterprise applications—from supply chain, to energy production, and even potential automotive applications. The ever-expanding Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is going to require solutions for automation and security alongside its solutions for connectivity. And blockchain, with its promise of facilitating encrypted, automated, and verifiable transactions between systems, looks poised to be the answer. But while interest in blockchain technology is growing, with it comes a new challenge for engineers and companies looking to implement it. Very simply, how can they do so easily and efficiently?
Reno, Nevada-based Filament, a startup focused on providing enterprise blockchain solutions, believes it has the answer in the form of a hardware solution. Earlier this year, Filament announced a beta version of its Blocklet Chip, a chip designed to communicate and interact with multiple blockchain technologies natively. Essentially, it allows any IIoT device to use multiple blockchain technologies (or currencies) for communication. The Blocklet chip is designed to be implemented into any device in development.
Filament also recently announced a solution for existing devices in the form of a Blocklet USB device. According to the company, the Blocklet USB solution, which the company is now making available for pilot and proof of concept projects, can be used on any system with a USB port. It is designed to interact with multiple blockchains natively. The aim is to let companies facilitate blockchain transactions on their machines simply by plugging in a USB device and installing the requisite software.
Filament’s CEO, Allison Clift-Jennings, has said that blockchain will have an impact akin to what e-commerce has done for the Internet, creating entire shifts in business models for whole industries. She and her team at Filament believe a hardware-based approach is the best one for an industrial landscape that will increasingly require “trust” and security among devices. “Most people really don’t think of physical chips and blockchains going together,” Clift-Jennings told Design News. “But fundamentally, all that blockchain does, from a data structure standpoint, is provide trust or specify trust in a poorly trustable environment or nontaxable environment. So it’s not that [blockchain] establishes trust when there isn’t any; it’s more that it specifies very explicitly how parties will interact with each other.”
She continued, “When you start talking about trust as this atomic unit rather than data, which is what most of the IoT is, trust fundamentally ends up having to protect a private cryptographic key. And when you boil it all down, in anything in the security world, you need a hardware location for the cryptographic keys to reside securely. Without that hardware—what we call a secure element or secure enclave—you simply cannot build higher order trust on top of that.”
“Touch ID for Machines”
Clift-Jennings said that what Filament is attempting to accomplish with Blocklet is not at all unlike what Apple has done with Touch ID and Face ID in its products. “These are separate chips in the phones that do something very similar in that they are trying to drive for human authentication authorization. We’re trying to drive to a blockchain native machine authorization authentication. So another way to look at it is like we’re Touch ID for machines.”


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The New York state attorney general's office recently accused dietary-supplement retailers of putting deeply flawed products on shelves for consumers. According to the state investigation, some "herbal supplements" made fraudulent claims, while some others included potentially dangerous unlisted ingredients.
The New York Times reports today, however, that the largest retailer in the industry is taking steps to address safety concerns.
GNC, the country's largest specialty retailer of dietary supplements, has agreed to institute sweeping new testing procedures on its herbal products that far exceed quality controls mandated under federal law. [...]
Experts said the announcement marked an initial but significant step forward for the $33 billion-a-year supplement industry, which is loosely regulated and plagued by accusations of adulteration and mislabeling.
GNC will reportedly begin an 18-month process subjecting its products to "additional quality-control measures," which will include "advanced DNA testing to authenticate all of the plants that are used in its store-brand herbal supplements."
The retailer's progress will be worth watching, but it's worth pausing to consider some more fundamental questions, such as why it was a state investigation, and not a federal one, that sparked the recent controversy. For that matter, why is it that GNC's announcement is the result of voluntary actions, as opposed to required safeguards imposed by regulatory agencies?
That's where the story takes an interesting, and more political, turn -- and attention turns to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who has long shown a great interest in the subject.


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ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., Feb. 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- LG Electronics today released behind-the-scenes footage of its first-ever Super Bowl television commercial, giving viewers inside access to the making of the spot that stars critically acclaimed actor Liam Neeson and was executive produced and directed by Ridley and Jake Scott, respectively. This deeper look will reveal how LG's revolutionary new OLED TV innovation inspired the creative direction of the spot and how the powerhouse team behind the commercial is bringing that vision to consumer's living rooms during the big game.
LG's debut Super Bowl spot focuses on how LG is ushering in a new era of TV technology with the launch of its soon-to-be-released LG SIGNATURE OLED TV. Packed with a myriad of innovations, including the first-ever Picture-on-Glass design that sheds all unnecessary features to achieve a seamless streamlined look, LG's newest OLED TV is truly the future of TV technology, available today.
"The technology is so innovative, it lends itself to the visual sort of storytelling that you need to make an epic spot," said Sir Ridley Scott. "So this is a chance to help produce and bring that all to life in a way that entertains, informs and lets people see how amazing the OLED technology is."
What's more, this all-access look reveals a late-breaking fact many viewers may not know. In addition to the father-son collaboration of Ridley and Jake Scott, LG has also brought Liam and his son Micheál Neeson together for the first time ever on screen. In the spot, both Neesons actually play the same character, with Liam being the 'Man from the Future' (#ManFromTheFuture), who comes to present-day to bring OLED TV – the future of television – to his present-day self, played by his son Micheál. The commercial follows the 'Man From the Future's' action-packed journey as he enlists the help of his present-day self to bring OLED TV to the masses to experience today.
"It's great having father and son working together because it's a truthful, authentic relationship," said director Jake Scott. "Micheál's innocence against Liam's obvious wisdom and experience is a nice dynamic intention created through that relationship."
The award-winning LG SIGNATURE OLED TV, which was recently named Best TV Product by the "Official Best of CES® 2016 Awards" presented by Engadget, is defined not only by its amazing picture quality, but also its aesthetic design. With a sophisticated OLED panel featuring an impossibly thin depth (measuring about one-tenth of an inch) with a translucent glass back and a powerful, forward-facing sound bar speaker system, it is an outstanding feat of modern engineering and design.
"Occasionally you'll hear people quip that a particular product or technology is so far ahead of its time it feels like that technology came from a science fiction movie or the future itself," said Dave VanderWaal, vice president of marketing, LG Electronics USA. "LG has pioneered OLED TV to make this future-forward technology a reality today with a complete OLED TV lineup available nationwide. The Super Bowl is the perfect platform to let people know the future of TV is here."
LG plans for U.S. rollout of its 2016 OLED TVs beginning in the first quarter. Followers of the #ManFromTheFuture campaign on Twitter can get details about an OLED sweepstakes and learn how to participate by visiting @LGUS on Twitter. Please visit www.lg.com/us/man-from-the-future for more information and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of LG's spot.
For more information about LG home entertainment products, visit www.lg.com.
*Official rules available at https://usscpromotions.com/lg/oledtv4/rules
**Wireless Internet connection & certain subscriptions required and sold separately. Agreement to smart TV terms and conditions required to use certain smart features. Content and services vary by product and are subject to change without notice. webOS does not support Flash. In order to stream 4K content you will need a high speed internet plan capable of receiving 20Mb per second of data.
About LG Electronics USA
LG Electronics USA, Inc., based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is the North American subsidiary of LG Electronics, Inc., a $49 billion global force and technology leader in home appliances, consumer electronics and mobile communications. LG Electronics, a proud 2015 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year, sells a range of stylish and innovative home appliances, home entertainment products, mobile phones, commercial displays, air conditioning systems and solar energy solutions in the United States, all under LG's "Life's Good" marketing theme. For more news and information on LG Electronics, please visit www.LG.com.
Experience the interactive Multimedia News Release here: http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7743351-lg-oled-tv-super-bowl-commercial/
To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lg-releases-behind-the-scenes-video-of-its-first-ever-super-bowl-commercial-300213443.html
SOURCE LG Electronics USA


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Local real estate sales surge
Eastern Connecticut home and land sales increased in the third quarter, eliciting cheers from leaders in the construction and real estate industries.
Sales of single-family homes in New London and Windham counties combined rose 17.33 percent to 799 units from 681 a year earlier while land sales, an important indicator for new home construction, grew 147.37 percent to 47 units from 19, the Eastern Connecticut Association of Realtors reported Tuesday.
“Inventory is down and demand has been pent up,” said Renee Main, executive officer of the Salem-based Builders and Remodelers Association of Eastern Connecticut, which represents construction companies. “Hopefully, after the election, people will calm down and things will continue to get better.”
Single-family homes are the largest segment of the real estate market. New London County sales climbed 16.33 percent to 570 units from 490 a year earlier for the three months ended Sept. 30. Windham County posted a gain of 19.90 percent to 229 units from 191. Just as important is the firming trends in prices with New London County’s median sales price increasing 6.26 percent to $233,500 for the period while Windham County rose 3.44 percent to $165,500.
Median price for the two counties combined has risen for three consecutive quarters, noted John Bolduc, CEO of the Franklin-based Realtors association.
“I think consumer confidence has a lot to do with it,” he said Tuesday. “There has never been a better time to buy.”
Connecticut’s growing unemployment rate, including hundreds of recent layoffs at Mohegan Sun, could slow activity going forward, Bolduc said.
Foreclosures are weighing less heavily on the market, enabling prices to stabilize, Bolduc said. Yet it’s taking longer to sell homes with New London County’s average days on market for single-family sales rising to 109 from 94 in the third quarter while Windham County’s days climbed to 97 from 93.
The lower end of the market showed strength with mobile home sales doubling to 42 units from 21. Unit sales in all six market segments tracked by the Realtors association rose with sales for all segments combined rising 20.80 percent to 1,051 from 870, group statistics showed.
Activity is expected to slow in the fourth quarter because it is traditionally one of the year’s slowest quarters, Bolduc said. Financing is still proving difficult to obtain for some in the construction industry, Main said.


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In a now-viral TikTok, a McDonald’s customer says she had to “order through a kiosk” at a McDonald’s location with no workers.
TikTok user @jbarbeezy posted the video on Dec. 24. In it, she films what’s behind the counter at a McDonald’s store, pointing out that there are no cashiers or workers in the kitchen. All that can be seen is an automated drink machine completing orders.
“Guys, you won’t believe this. They don’t even have anybody here. I had to order through a kiosk,” she says in the clip.
She also shows a sign that reads, “We apologize that cashiers are currently unavailable.”
“So, like, no humans work here, just machines. What’s happening?” she asks.
@jbarbeezy What! 👀 #mcdonalds #robotics #imshook #what #fyp #sodasdispenser ♬ Sounds Like Sales – TikTok For Business
McDonald’s unveiled its first fully automated store in Texas this week, according to CBS News. The restaurant chain says the move is part of its plan to create “new ways to serve [customers] faster and easier than ever before.”
Jbarbeezy’s video has reached over 301,000 views as of Dec. 27. In the comments section, viewers were divided over the new high-tech additions to McDonald’s operations.
“I can’t wait for this to succeed so that every McDonald’s could be like this,” one user wrote.
“I refuse to buy anything that way,” another pushed back.
Other users suggested that increased automation in fast-food restaurants stems from the demand for higher wages.
“Yeah because some workers asking to get paid like someone with college or trade degree. This is meant to be temp work not career making $50k,” one viewer commented.
“There was an inevitable conclusion to the constant wage increase demands,” another wrote.
“Is this what $22 an hour looks like?” a third added.
The Daily Dot reached out to @jbarbeezy via Instagram direct message and to McDonald’s via email.


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Ribbon cutting for Badda Bling
The Cuero Chamber of Commerce hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony for Badda Bling Oct. 10. The shop, owned by Brooke Smith, is on 108 E. Main St. The shop offers women’s clothing and a full service salon. The shop is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1-6 p.m. Sunday.


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GameInformer: "Ferrari Racing Legends does not exhibit the best of what the sports car brand nor the developer have to offer."
I never found the idea of a a single-manufacturer game, we need variety! It comes across as a huge Ferrari ad!
N4G is a community of gamers posting and discussing the latest game news. It’s part of NewsBoiler, a network of social news sites covering today’s pop culture.


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A former employee of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker is claiming that the Amaya held companies are perpetuating online gambling addiction. In addition, he is spouting some wild claims, including that the game of poker is actually a luck game rather than a game of skill.
This all started on August 27 when Releasewire.com published a press release entitled, “Ex SEO Manager of PokerStars and Full Tilt Launches Campaign to Warn People About the Dangers of Online Gambling and the Devious Marketing Campaigns Launched.”
Serge Pon, claiming to be a former SEO Manager for PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, issued the press release and issued several charges against the Amaya held companies.
Search Engine Manipulation and Operating Without a License Among Charges
Pon begins the presser with information on recent figures involving online gambling addiction and then claims that online poker is a game of luck rather than skill.
He claims that he is going to expose the following about the PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker:
• How PokerStars and Full Tilt manipulated search engines
• How PokerStars and Full Tilt hid gambling advertising behind editorial content
• How PokerStars and Full Tilt are operating in countries even where they have no license and their domains are constantly blocked
• How PokerStars uses celebrities and other influential people to create a myth that poker is game of skill
Pon then said that he launched PokerWTF.com to further expose the companies. However, Amaya quickly launched a lawsuit against Pon and got his site blocked.
Google Cache Revealed Some Information on Claims
While the site is currently blocked, that didn’t stop some resourceful reporters from digging further. Several pages of the website are available in Google’s cache and we were able to look at a few allegations.
We were able to access Part I, II and III of his report and it appears that Pon merely was showing a list of certain sites that Full Tilt and PokerStars had spent money to advertise on.
These sites showed the sites solicited the target websites for either PokerStars or Full Tilt, the keywords used and how much money each site received in Euros.
Part III makes a vague claim that PokerStars bought other domains to get around Russia blocking them but when going to his “examples,” again all it appeared to be is another list of sites used to advertise for PokerStars.
There was nothing particularly earth shattering about any of his allegations. In fact, much of what he showed is standard practice for most any online poker site or even online poker news site.
Disgruntled Former Employees Starting Smear Campaign
From the looks of things, this appears to be no more than a disgruntled employee attempting to start a smear campaign against his former employer.
The only problem is that he is releasing proprietary information on his company and that explains why Amaya is going after his site and pursuing legal action.
Unless a company is performing illegal activities, a non-disclosure agreement is enforceable even after a person leaves the company. If Pon has some actual hard proof of illegal activities, then he needs to present it.
Otherwise, he is merely someone trying to hurt PokerStars and their attempts to enter the legalized online poker market in California and other areas of the United States.


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Global environmental challenges
Coca-Cola has one of the most recognizable brands on the planet: the red can with the white letters. World Wildlife Fund has an equally eye-catching logo: a black-and-white panda. This week, the two are joining forces to change the Coke can’s look from red to white. It’s meant to raise awareness and money to find a safe haven for polar bears, listed as a threatened species because their icy Arctic habitat is melting under their paws due to climate change.
In a project called Arctic Home, Coke plans to turn 1.4 billion of its soft-drink cans white for the first time in its history, replacing the familiar red with an image of a mother polar bear and two cubs making their way across the Arctic. There will also be white bottle caps on other drinks the company sells. The new look is to show up on store shelves from November 1 through February 2012.
The whole point is to raise money to protect a far-north area where summer sea ice will probably persist the longest, WWF and Coke said in a statement. The Arctic Home plan is to work with local residents to manage as much as 500,000 square miles of territory to provide a home for polar bears.
Coke and polar bears are something of a classic combination, according to the company’s Katie Bayne, who said in a statement that the big white bears were first introduced in the beverage-maker’s advertising in 1922. But the color change is more than tin-deep. Coca-Cola is making an initial $2 million donation to World Wildlife Fund to support polar bear conservation work. Those who buy the white cans can text the package code to 357357 to make individual donations of $1, or donate online at ArcticHome.com. The company plans to match all donations made with a package code by March 15 up to $1 million.
Before California regulators announced they unanimously approved regulations for a cap and trade market on Thursday, the chair of the California Air Resources Board made much ado about the impact it would have on the development of clean technology in the state.
The DeLorean Motor Co. announced it will launch an all-electric version of its Back to the Future gull-winged car in 2013, but aficionados are debating whether or not it will fly.
Texas-based DeLorean has partnered with Epic EV (and its sister battery company Flux Power) to bring to market the prototype DMC-12 EV, with a top speed of 125 mph driven by a 260 horsepower electric motor. Range is between 70 and 100 miles and the battery has an expected lifespan of 7 years.
Newsweek today released its third annual Green Rankings, a leading benchmark for rating the largest publicly owned companies in the United States and around the world. Again this year they divided the rankings into two surveys, the top U.S. companies and the top global companies, this year increasing the number of global companies to 500 from 100. By far it’s tech companies leading the packs, from IBM (who scored #1 and #2 on U.S. and the Global lists respectively) to Hewlett-Packard, BT Group and Infosys among others.
Newsweek’s comprehensive online package includes articles to mull including Cary Krosinsky’s report that companies and their shareholders “make out like bandits when they’re environmentally responsible” and a closer look at “Obama’s Big Green Mess” by Daniel Stone and Eleanor Clift as well as other nuggets on the state of green business in faltering economies and abandoned plans for policy reform at the governmental level.
It’s not often that a U.S. first lady’s gift makes news — years after the fact — but Michelle Obama’s 2009 present to Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has sparked some comment among free trade boosters and guitar pickers. The gift in question: a Gibson Hummingbird guitar.
Gibson Guitar Corp. has been making some news of its own this week, which is why those in Washington with long memories recalled the gift to the music-loving French first lady. Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz was in town to raise awareness about a problem he has with a long-standing U.S. law aimed at curbing illegal trafficking in tropical hardwoods, among other materials. Federal agents raided two of his Tennessee factories and confiscated more than $1 million worth of rosewood, ebony and finished guitars. No charges have been filed but Gibson’s chief says he is being investigated for possible violation of the Lacey Act of 1900. Read more about that here.
from The Great Debate UK:
It is more than a year since the devastating July and August 2010 floods in Pakistan that affected about 20 million people and killed an estimated 2,000. Many believe that the disaster was partially fuelled by global warming, and that there is a real danger that Pakistan, and the Indian subcontinent in general, could become the focus of much more regular catastrophic flooding.
What venture capitalists really think and what they say aren’t always the same thing.
Amid the worry about water and food scarcity, some hints of good news: a five-year, 30-nation analysis suggests there might be enough water – and therefore enough food — for Earth’s hungriest and thirstiest as the human population heads toward the 9 billion mark sometime around mid-century.
Anxiety about food and water supplies stems in part from the effects of climate change, with its projected rise in droughts, wildfires, floods and other events that cut down on food production. Another factor is the increase in population, much of it grouped around water sources in the developing world. But water experts said at a conference this week in Brazil that there could be plenty of water over the coming decades if those upstream collaborate with those downstream and use water more efficiently.
A professor at the University of Delaware has patented a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology for parked electric vehicles to return power to the grid and teamed up with NRG Energy to commercialize it.
Professor Willett Kempton, who has been testing V2G technology that lessens the load on natural gas plants, told the New York Times utilities would not be interested in buying electricity from individual cars but from groups of perhaps 100 vehicles.
At the U.S. Energy Department’s Solar Decathlon, visitors can try on — OK, tour — these avant garde houses, knowing at least that they’re supremely energy efficient. And with the solar power industry on the defensive after the Solyndra bankruptcy, it’s a decent showcase for new technologies.


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Central America's exports drop 5 percent
Central America exported good worth $7.6 billion in the first quarter of the year, according to the Central American Integration System.
The figure is 5.5 percent lower than the $8.1 billion in the same period last year.
The drop came as a result of lower international prices for coffee, sugar, palm oil, bananas and gold, the region's main products.
Full story (in Spanish)


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With lockdown ending and the holiday season fast approaching, a string of high street shops will soon be changing their opening hours.
When lockdown ends, retailers will turn attentions to ensuring we can all get our Christmas shop in before the big day.
So far, the shops which have announced opening time changes are Primark, Aldi, Waitrose and Marks and Spencer.
The shops will be bringing in the new opening hours as soon as lockdown restrictions end on December 2, reports Birmingham Live.
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Primark has said it intends to stay open for longer once non-essential retail is allowed to reopen.
A spokesman for Primark said: "Associated British Foods Plc are calling for extended trading hours for Primark stores once they re-open in December."
M&S yesterday (November 23) confirmed its longer hours will apply on December 21, 22 and 23 and applies to 400 of its stores - around two-thirds of its operation in England.
The branches which don't stay open until midnight will be open until 10pm.
Sacha Berendji, M&S’s Retail, operations and property director said: "We want our customers to be able to shop with confidence this Christmas, which means supporting social distancing in our stores and minimal queueing outside as the weather gets colder.
"To help with this, we’ll be operating our longest ever opening hours just before Christmas.
"Along with the wider industry, we continue to ask for Sunday trading hours to be extended to help us increase our capacity to serve everyone safely this festive season."
Aldi will also be extending opening hours to stay open until 11pm from December 21 until December 23.
Waitrose has said that smaller stores will stay open until 11pm on December 21, 22 and 23 with the large branches continuing to close at 10pm.


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Google Earth just upped its cool factor. With the help of motion-control technology, now you can use your hands to fly over mountains, cityscapes and famous landmarks.
The company announced on Monday — which just so happens to be Earth Day — it is teaming up with 3D motion control provider Leap Motion to bring Google Earth into the palms of your hands.
If you are one of the 1 billion Google Earth desktop users, you will need a Leap Motion controller ($80) to get up and running. It comes with software which syncs the hardware to Google Earth, and that's about it. You'll be soaring over the world in no time.
Well, sort of. The controller is coming to Leap Motion's developer community first, which consists of 10,000 users. It will then roll out to the public soon after, the company said. For a full look at how it will work, check out the video above.
Google has also introduced the premium edition of Google Earth, Earth Pro 7.1, which lets organizations edit maps and measure complex site views. As a part of a limited promotion, Google Earth Pro 7.1 (normally $399) is available for purchase for $199 for the next 24 hours.
Image courtesy of Leap Motion


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Transcript for Amazon selling facial recognition program that detects emotions to police
Into a sec by a facial recognition program that can detect your emotions Amazon sells a service to police agencies they can identify eight emotions including fear the ACLU wants the programs used delayed. The group claims it produces too many false matches your wireless carrier may be slowing down your video streaming researchers found that AT&T throttled Netflix and YouTube. More than two thirds of the time but did not slowdown Amazon's prime video the study says heavy usage was not a factor AT&T denies it throttles what it's an apple is spending big bucks to roll out its new streaming service the tech giant is reportedly spending six billion dollars on news shows and movies of that service is expected to be available for 999 a month launching in November with just five new shows 999 not back. Ford yes. I have to cut those in fact I haven't heard that.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.


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A couple of years back Porsche had made big news when it had sought to buy out Volkswagen a company that was many times bigger than Porsche. Back then Porsche was having the time of its life in the marketplace. The Boxster was a huge hit thanks to the lack of any formidable rivals and Porsche’s bottom line had been soaring. Infact at that time it was the most profitable automobile manufacturer in the world.’
But its fortunes changed rapidly. The economic crisis saw people ditching sports cars for more boring options and its rivals, German as well as Japanese eventually caught up with its products. Porsche realised that it was it needed huge investments in each of its product lines, and couldn’t afford to go at it alone anymore.
VW has already finalised to buy 49.9% of its shares by end of year and as the first stage of the complete buyout that will be completed by 2011.


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COVID has changed everything we considered to be normal. We’ve spent more time at home than ever, following official guidance to stay inside to protect ourselves and others from the virus.
National lockdowns have changed the way we work, rest and play, and have put a halt on eating out. Spending on takeout has risen and many of us have become reacquainted with our kitchens.
Research from Statista reports that food and beverage e-commerce exceeded $15 billion in 2020 and is expected to surpass $20 billion by 2023. The pandemic has and will continue to drive this trend, with Coresight Research stating that online sales increased by 40 percent alone in 2020.
As we’ve spent more time indoors, we have come to rely on our digital devices to communicate with colleagues, friends and family. Social media has become a tool for new discoveries and a way to recreate the fun of eating out. Food blogs and social media accounts have taken on a new meaning.
|This article is featured in O'Dwyer's Mar. '21 Food & Beverage PR Magazine
(view PDF version)
The Recipe Critic is a popular blog, with over 4.3 million Facebook fans alone and a clean, categorized website with recipes that every cook could want. YouTube has also become a vital venue for recreating fast food favorites. Joshua Weissman’s channel provides the inspiration and techniques for everything from Chick-Fil-A to In-N-Out Burgers. Pro Home Cooks is another example of recipes that can take an amateur chef’s cooking to another level.
Platforms like Instagram have been utilized by bloggers to host “cook along” classes. Bloggers like Liz Adams have used Instagram Live to create a “Cooking with Liz” series. Joined by her husband, the popular mid-Western blogger shares recipes, humor and teams up with brands as part of the weekly segment.
Another popular blogger, Carly, teams up with food brands including Cape Cod Chips, spotlighting them across social media and positioning them as “comfort food” that has helped her through the pandemic.
While many of us will have turned to familiar favorite foods throughout lockdown, keeping fit and healthy have been important. Communicating the health benefits of ingredients is one way in which brands have looked to market their products.
Food boxes have been one such method and companies have capitalized on seasonal trends to help consumers stay healthy at home. The usual “new year, new you” theme is just one example, with brands like Plated, Green Fresh and Snap Kitchen using their direct to doorstep service as one way to target individuals that want to use their time during the pandemic to improve their diet and wellbeing.
In terms of marketing, the brands offer a discounted first box, free shipping and encourage customers to share snaps of their meals on social media as a way of targeting new customers. This simple technique works.
While we may not be able to visit our favorite restaurants or have a drink at our local bar, companies and small businesses have realized the potential of selling their consumer-packaged goods direct in a grocery store.
Consumers tired of takeout can still experience their favorite meals from home. Examples include Honest Burger, with meal kits offering an authentic burger experience, and the Asian chain Wasabi, whose take-out options are now available as ready meals in many grocery stores. And while some independent chains can’t compete with the buying power of big names, they can get on board with the rapid transition and reliance of selling their items via ecommerce and social media.
To adapt and survive, brands have taken in some cases to using social media exclusively to sell their food and beverage items. The Cheesecake Girl is one example. Located in Center Street Market in Hilliard, Ohio, it markets individual cheesecakes, cakes and gifts boxes direct to 18,700 Instagram followers. Tiny Kitchen Treats embraced a similar model, with their artisan cookies available exclusively to buy online and shippable worldwide.
And restaurants, including many in the Los Angeles area, have switched to offering their products in kit form for consumers to enjoy at home. Milo & Olive is just one of these establishments, as well as Holbox offering dough and taco boxes respectively.
Brands should look to work with influencers in this way to generate and secure editorial press coverage—stories of triumphing over the odds and switching business models command column inches.
While we’ll eventually see a return to the dining experience as we remember it, the benefits of a brand owning the relationship with their customer will not be lost. The direct-to-consumer marketing model brings with it a higher profit margin. Whilst costs have risen in areas such as online marketing and packaging for take-out options, many expensive overheads have simply disappeared. These costs can be used to expand options in other areas but also offer services that customers expect. One of these is on-demand shipping or fast delivery options if offering products locally. The upside of this model is that the brand can accurately measure the lifetime value of their customer, knowing the true cost to acquire them and the cost it will take to keep them and gain brand loyalty.
The key to sustaining this model of 21st century dining and food is the smart use of social media, influencer marketing and other communications methods. With such a competitive marketplace, brands need to stand out—and fast—against their rivals.
Brands should think outside the box and identify other home-based trends, whether it be improvements to the home—programs like The Home Edit have seen a massive interest in reorganizing kitchens—they should seek opportunities with influencers in these fields to spotlight their food and beverage items. Health and wellness bloggers and social media stars still command great popularity amongst their followers, and whilst short-term revenue opportunities are difficult, avenues like Instagram and live Q&As are a great way to test out meal kits and recipes.
Email may seem like the more traditional of these methods, but it remains an effective way to collect data about customers, provide meal inspiration and directly market products. Smart targeting that ensures emails land in inboxes at key shopping or dinner times is a good way to get customers on board.
And if investment allows, creating an app is a targeted way to encourage and reward brand loyalty.
While the pandemic has thrown the traditional dining experience into turmoil, it has created many silver linings and opportunities for brands big and small. From working with influencers to investing in subscription-based services, brands can bounce back and embrace different ways of working to help create a long-term, sustainable business model.
Lindsey Carnett is CEO and President of Marketing Maven.
No comments have been submitted for this story yet.


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CAIRO: Egypt plans to push the Suez Canal beyond its pre-pandemic output this financial year as a new economic zone around the water-way is developed.
Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala Al-Saeed said the aim is to increase the GDP of the canal by 5.6 percent, taking it up to SR23.68 billion ($6.31 billion) by the end of 2021/22.
A government report stated that to maximize the economic returns of the near 200km long stretch of water, it is intended to develop its economic zone and turn it into high-tech industrial and logistical zones.
There will also be supportive elements for efforts to enhance the international competitiveness of the Suez Canal on the map of global shipping lanes, according to the report.
About 10 percent of global seaborne trade travels through the Suez Canal, including 25 percent of the total movement of containerized goods, and 100 percent of the seaborne container trade between Asia and Europe.


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This is the third instalment of our Global Tech Hub series. Each instalment looks at one of the world’s most vibrant tech eco-systems. This week we take a look at trendy Berlin!
From the “poor but sexy” tagline and a historically high rate of unemployment, Berlin has become a global tech centre. With one start-up founded every 20 minutes, Berlin has made a remarkable transition. In 2019, nearly 40% of all VC capital invested in Germany was going to Berlin firms (a record-breaking 3.4 billion euros that year). Which leading lights are shining the brightest? Read on to find out more about some of Berlin’s more recent unicorns.
This grocery delivery app launched at the perfect moment, March 2020. It’s perhaps not a surprise therefore that it became Germany’s fastest ever unicorn , reaching a $1billion valuation in just nine months. Gorillas state that deliveries can reach your doorstep in under 10 minutes and that produce is valued at retail prices. Delivery areas stretch across seven countries with more than 30 cities in their reach.
GetYourGuide is currently valued at $1.6 billion by SoftBank, who provided GetYourGuide with $500 million. The unicorn is an online booking platform for travel and leisure experiences offering a wide variety of products from tourist attraction tickets to cookery classes. Founded in 2009 in Zurich, the unicorn has been headquartered in Berlin since 2012 – where the founders decided to take advantage of the cheap office prices and vibrant start-up ecosystem.
N26 is one of the continent’s leading digital banks offering mobile banking to customers around the EU. Services include current accounts, fixed accounts, insurance and more. According to Crunchbase the website is visited approximately 4 million times per month and has around 250,000 monthly downloads. Like many of its neo-bank rivals, the fintech is now focusing on expanding to the US market.
This insurtech has recently been valued at $3 billion after a Series C funding round, up from a valuation of $1.65 billion in December 2019. The company claims that the raise of $650 million was probably the largest Series C funding round for an insurtech.The firm focuses on personal insurance products like household insurance, motor insurance and personal liability insurance.


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With a view to exploiting the multimedia potential of 3G (third-generation) wireless service, German telecommunication giant Deutsche Telekom AG (DT) is demonstrating a new portal offering access to content including news, financial data, travel, sports, and entertainment.
Board Chairman Ron Sommer demonstrated the prototype service on a handheld device here Monday, as the Bonn-based company started its presence at the huge annual IT trade show CeBIT.
The portal's five content areas, which the company calls "T-Zones," will be accessible via mobile phones based on the current standards WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) or GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), or via handheld devices tapping into a LAN, said Sommer.
But more importantly, said Sommer, "This is the strategy of (DT wireless subsidiary) T-Mobile (International AG), with which we also want to lay the groundwork for the future success of UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System)." UMTS is the next-generation wireless technology currently under construction in Europe.
The service is scheduled to be launched to consumers in Germany in May or June, said J


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Nubia has released a new teaser ahead of their conference scheduled on 19 April, we expect this conference to be used as a platform to launch new Nubia Smartphone(s). The teaser shows a slim, small and a really compact smartphone that can easily fit into a wallet. The teaser has led to a number of speculations regarding which phone it can be, most of the techies are betting on Nubia Z11 Mini.
Z11 Mini is on top of the speculation because it would be the perfect fit for a smaller variant of Nubia’s standard flagship Nubia Z11 which was a relatively bigger 5.2-inch QXGA device. As the teaser shows the new smartphone to be a smaller one and we already have leaked reports which claim Nubia Z11 Mini to sport a 4.7 inch to 5-inch display which will come with narrow side borders.
Nubia is trying to drop certain subtle hints with the use of wallet in its new teaser, first, the size of the new smartphone is easily expressed with the way it can fit into a wallet. Another clue is that the new device will be a wallet-friendly phone meaning thereby buyers don’t have to cough up too much of their savings.
Nubia is mum regarding the features of this new Nubia Z11 Mini, but we can expect it to be powered by a 600 SoC Qualcomm chipset, with around 4 GB of RAM, we are also expecting a fingerprint scanner. None of these specs have been confirmed yet so we will have to wait until April 19 to be sure.


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Amazon.com said yesterday its online stores had returned to normal service after a global outage disrupted shopping on its country sites. According to outage monitoring website Downdetector, services were disrupted for nearly two hours. At the peak of the disruption, more than 38,000 user reports indicated issues with Amazon's online stores. They occurred on Sunday evening in the United States and Monday morning for much of the rest of the world.
"Some customers may have temporarily experienced issues while shopping. We have resolved the issue, and everything is now running smoothly,” an Amazon spokesperson told Reuters. The spokesperson declined to comment on the reason for the outage. It was the second broad disruption since late June, when users experienced a brief outage on Amazon platforms including Alexa and Prime Video before services were restored.
Total Retail's Take: With most consumers used to a glitch-free experience shopping on Amazon, an outage can be quite a shock. The lesson here is that even a world-class technology company such as Amazon can experience technical downtime. Therefore, if your brand is selling merchandise on Amazon, it's probably a good idea to diversify its channels.
"Being totally reliant on Amazon is great when sales are booming, but when any hiccup such as this occurs, all sales will screech to a halt," said Eytan Wiener, CEO of GETIDA, a global leader in Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) auditing and reimbursement, in an email to Total Retail. "Therefore, sellers should try to find additional ways and channels to offer their products to online shoppers. In addition, they should make sure to be financially prepared to absorb any interruption in sales so that they don't experience any detrimental impact on their business activity. Additionally, any products that have built up sales rank over time can be affected by lack of sales, and it's still unknown what the long-term ramifications will be on a seller's listings."


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As part of the Design Without Borders exhibition and the Transparent Sound New Music Festival, the TEXHIBITION exhibition, which will feature works by Finnish and Hungarian textile artists, will be held for the sixth time this year in January.
The exhibition will open at the FUGA—Budapest Center of Architecture on January 8, where this year, in addition to the creations of 21 Hungarian designers, Erja Hirvi, one of Marimekko’s star designers from Finland, will be a foreign guest exhibitor.
One of the main aims of the exhibition is to draw our attention to the textile industry, which previously played a leading role in the designer scene, and to the active designers working in the field, highlighting the creative potential of the genre. In addition to the designers who have defined the professional scene for years, TEXHIBITION also invites young designers every year to help create a dialogue between the generations.
Exhibitors: Viola BALÁZS, Vivien BENE, Réka CSÍKSZENTMIHÁLYI, Viki HARÁNYI, Evelin HORVÁTH, Márta KANICS, Ágnes KOLLÁR, Daniella KOÓS, Gabi LŐRINCZ V., Réka MOLNÁR, Viktória MOLNÁR, Emília PÁJER, Anna REGŐS, Eszter SÖPTEI, Erzsébet SZABOLCS, Viktória SZABÓ, Szilvia SZIGETI, Berta UJVÁRY, Szilvia VERECZKEY, Márta VETŐ, Zsófia VÖRÖS TARA, Gwendolin ZIMONYI
Guest exhibitor: Erja HIRVI (FI)
Venue: FUGA, Budapest Center of Architecture 1052 Budapest, Petőfi Sándor Street 5.
Open: January 8-22, 2022
Opening hours: Monday to Sunday from 13:00 to 19:00, Tuesday: closed
Photos: Csaba Villányi
Textile designs: Erja Hirvi


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Boston-headquartered 3D printing startup Fortify is now shipping its FLUX ONE 3D printers to customers. Shaking up the industry in March as they announced the impending release of the new 3D printing platform, the inventors of magnetic 3D printing have now created a unique process centered around engineering applications; for instance, a typical use for the FLUX ONE 3D printer would be in mold tooling.
Some of the most classic benefits of 3D printing are on display with this new technology, allowing industrial users greater versatility, along with the ability to print objects like fiber-reinforced photopolymer mold tools quickly—and with exponential savings on the bottom line. Tooling mechanisms are used with the Fortify Digital Tooling resin, comprised of resin infused with ceramic fibers, meant for the production of quality, high-resolution 3D printed parts expected to be strong under both temperature and pressure.
“Shipping our first product is a monumental step for Fortify,” said Josh Martin, CEO, and Co-founder of Fortify. “Despite shutdowns due to COVID, our lean team has been able to push forward and deliver the technology with minimal disruption to our timeline. After several years of development and servicing customers remotely, we are thrilled to have customers using these machines at their site to bring products to market.”
Two different proprietary Fortify technologies are integrated into FLUX ONE printers: CKM and Fluxprint. Not only do they present the opportunity for greater optimization in the performance of parts for tooling applications, but also allow for engineering additives to be included.
The Fortify team stated in a recent press release sent to 3DPrint.com that they will also be shipping more FLUX ONE 3D printers out this year to other customers engaged in applications for tooling and more complex electronics.
“The modular platform we are bringing to market gives us flexibility to serve a range of applications,” said Paul Dresens, VP of Engineering at Fortify. “We can tailor the systems for the advanced additive manufacturing applications enabled by our unique ability to achieve new material properties.”
Fortify was founded in 2016 by Randall Erb and Joshua Martin, researchers from Northeastern University. The two shared a growing interest in 3D printing with composites, and their ultimate goal was to make big changes to the technology in terms of speeding up the process and creating faster turnaround, along with improving materials often associated with more conventional processes. The result was the invention of Fluxprint, or magnetic 3D printing.
Fortify’s digital composite manufacturing (DCM) process is now being used in tooling, aerospace, and automotive industries. Find out more about this dynamic company, their advanced materials, and how they are disrupting an already disruptive industry in a recent interview between our Executive Editor Joris Peels and Fortify founder Joshua Martin.
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[PRESS RELEASE – Please Read Disclaimer]
While the cryptocurrency world is facing difficulties at the beginning of 2022, there’s one coin that’s seeking to have it all this year!
- Listing: 11th Jan 2022
- Pair: OBT/USDT
- Type: Spot Trading
Introducing OBT to Centralized Exchanges (CEX)
By its nature, the OBToken’s utility is to serve as a currency within the OB Trader platform that gives users various benefits such as paying for monthly subscriptions or enjoying laddered discounts.
Up until now, you could only purchase OBT from decentralized exchanges using BNB and either store it in your private or your OB Trader wallets.
With the company’s growth, the necessity for more visibility and options for obtaining OBT arises. Following the tremendous success of IDO, the next natural step is to list the token on a CEX, which will make purchasing easier.
Here is where Coinstore comes in!
Coinstore is a Singapore-based centralized exchange that may be young but surely knows how to handle tough situations like the recent crypto prohibitions in India.
Despite everything, they entered the eastern market and made a name for themselves, leading to great publicity in media like Forbes and Reuters.
“With nearly a quarter of our total active users coming from India, it made sense for us to expand into the market,” Charles Tan, head of marketing at Coinstore told Reuters.
One of their most significant advantages is their ability to handle up to $350M+ in daily volume, making them a more appealing option than other exchanges.
About One Button Trader
One Button Trader is the platform that has already given an edge to over 5000+ crypto traders using the most advanced AI/ML technology.
Every transaction executed by the OB bots is based solely on deep network programming, given past data, and trained to adapt to the latest market conditions using exclusively machine learning models.
While the technology is still in its early development stages, it presents a unique way of trading in volatile crypto markets.
You can test out one OB Bot completely free by registering HERE.


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Since Russia invaded Ukraine in the early hours of 24 February, 2022, the Western economic response has only grown in strength concerning both the severity and coordination of sanctions. These sanctions are aimed at hurting Russia in terms of trade and investment, making trading with Russia an unlawful activity and deterring foreign direct investment.
Nonetheless, companies—especially Western companies—that have supply chains and/or operations in Russia have had difficult decisions to make: should they stay, or should they go?
For many international companies, the decision to leave came down to public opinion. For example, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, two companies synonymous with both American capitalist expansion and globalization, came under increasing pressure to shut down their operations, including a #BoycottMcDonalds hashtag that started trending on Twitter. The companies resisted until two weeks into the invasion.
Coca-Cola ceded first. On March 7, it announced that it would stop trading in Russia. One day later, McDonald’s followed, announcing that it would close restaurants and pause its operations in Ukraine and Russia, while promising to ensure that the salaries of employees in these countries are still paid in full.
Other companies have decided not to divest from Russia. Those companies—at the time of writing—include Danone, Mondelez, M&S, Burger King, PepsiCo, and Subway. Several of these have complex franchise agreements that prevent them from taking executive action, and several have stated that they will stop supplying these franchises.
However, Danone and Mondelez have vehemently defended their decision to remain in Russia. Mondelez International has said it will ‘scale back’ its operations in Russia and will focus on providing ‘basic offerings’, while ensuring that no new products are rolled out and advertising is suspended. Danone CEO Antoine de Saint-Affrique told the Financial Times “We have a responsibility to the people we feed, the farmers who provide us with milk, and the tens of thousands of people who depend on us.”
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This begs the question. When it comes to the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which company has done the right thing? And, perhaps more importantly, is there an ‘ESG 101’ for companies when it comes to Russia, or should companies act on a case-by-case basis? At face value, Danone’s argument seems moral and compelling; and McDonald’s offer to continue to pay the wages seems ethical and responsible. But given the situation, will these actions prolong or shorten the conflict?
The power of sanctions against Russia
Quite simply, sanctions are a form of economic coercion. Any political leader remains in power by appeasing the stakeholders required to continue to lead. The power and prevalence of these stakeholders varies in differing political systems. For example, in a democracy, the public has voting power, which means that leaders must appease them to remain in power. Russian citizens have less influence on their leader, but they are still important in the decision-making calculus of Putin.
In Russia, the stakeholders include citizens, policymakers, and other members of the leader’s decision-making inner circle. Western sanctions have targeted oligarchs, the siloviki (Russia’s bureaucrats working closely with Putin in the Kremlin), and naturally they have targeted many industries too.
The trade sanctions that impact industries will have an impact on ordinary citizens, something that critics have pointed out is unfair. However, these sanctions will cause many ordinary Russians to turn against their government, fuel domestic unrest, or force Russians to leave the country, which puts pressure on Putin to end the war in Ukraine.
Danone may have a responsibility to the ‘tens of thousands of people [in Russia] who depend’ on the company, but surely—as a leading Western brand that operates in Ukraine—they have a responsibility to Ukrainians and consumers all around the world who are suffering due to rising prices as a result of the conflict. Surely the ‘right’ ESG decision for companies operating in Russia is to suspend operations and maximize the pressure on the decision-makers, to bring the conflict to an end as soon as possible.


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The McDonough County Health Department works to monitor important information regarding food and product recalls that may affect McDonough County residents.
Recalls can be monitored using the FDA portal for Recalls, Market Withdrawals and Safety Alerts at the FDA website.
When there is a recall or alert that may affect foods or products in McDonough County, Environmental Health staff follow up with their local suppliers and providers and operators to ensure that products are removed from use if directed by the recall or alert.
The McDonough County Health Department staff have been working with McDonough County retailers to ensure that the applesauce pouches that are part of the recall due to high lead levels have all been removed from store shelves. Residents should be sure to check their cabinets and discard any of the affected products.
The Centers for Disease Control monitors and reports on investigations regarding communicable diseases in outbreak status. The most up-to-date list of investigations and their status can be found by visiting the CDC.


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MORGANTOWN — Have you ever had a vision of yourself sitting behind the wheel of a vehicle that you’ve always wanted or a car that simply looks cool? Maybe a ’63 Thunderbird or a Chevy Corvette C5 for example?
This was the perfect opportunity to do it.
With schools coming to a close and warm weather here to stay, rain or shine, downtown Morgantown was filled with people of all ages, as well as cars.
Wednesday May 16, the Dream Machines Car Club held its 2nd Annual “Cruise-in” on High Street with cars ranging from the early 1950s to as recent as the late 2000s.
This was a chance to show off your car without judges or bystanders basing their opinion off competition.
“The event allows people to get a look at downtown Morgantown in the evenings when most people have left work and students are out of class,” said Tom Milam, president of Dream Machines Car Club. “Unlike other shows, this allows them to talk with people and become familiar with the cars.”
As many lawn chairs as there were, most were empty while their owners interacted with local businesses and other families.
Even while school is in session, the club holds events across the northern regions of West Virginia, from as early as April until mid-November.
“It’s a great opportunity to look at the cars, talk to the people that own the cars and get familiar with them,” said Harold “Swifty” Shaver, a resident of Morgantown.
The next cruise-in in Morgantown will be held June 1, at the Burger King on Patteson Drive.
For more information, visit dreammachines carclubwv.com/ or the Facebook page, Dream Machines Car Club.