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The week was jam-packed with a number of remarkable funding where a number of startups from different industries were able to raise funds. In total, more than INR 80 Cr. was raised by 11 startups (based on the startups that disclosed their funding amount) and four acquisitions took place.
Have a look at the startups that raised funding this week:
UrbanLadder: Ratan Tata made his personal investment in online furniture retailer Urban Ladder, this round comes in just few months after it had raised its Series B round.
VoxPopClothing: Mumbai based Web-only merchandising brand has raised $1 Mn ( INR 6 Cr.) led by existing investor Blume Ventures. The funds will be used to increase product category in higher margin products, ramp up team and widen brand partnerships.
Simpli5D Technologies– Behind an audience centric digital engagement platform NLPCaptcha, that allows advertisers interact with the target audience in a strong way for their brand recallment through this digital ad-platform, raised an undisclosed amount in Pre-Series A funding led by YourNest Angel Fund along with the participation of Udaan Angel Partners.
Instamojo– The micro product and service sales platform Instamojo raised its funding in Series A led by Kalaari Capital with participation of its existing investors. The raised amount will be used on marketing, product development and expansion of its team in all functions.
Blowhorn– An online marketplace for mini trucks transportation in India that offers a platform for mini truck owners to connect with the consumers who want to move goods quickly and effortlessly, raised an undisclosed amount in seed round from Unitus Seed Fund.
Tripoto– This Delhi based travel startup which act as a guide for the travellers by sharing their travelling experience raised its seed funding amount of $400K led by Outbox venture, also with the participation of Palaash Venture and few other angel investors.
Arkin Net– Maker of software defined data centre operation in a simple and effortless way, Arkin Net has raised $7 Mn in its seed funding led by Nexus Venture Partners also with the participation of BV Jagadeesh, former CEO of NetScaler; Alan Cohen, chief commercial officer of Illumio; and Semil Shah of Haystack Fund.
Ineda Systems– An online semiconductor platform and developer of low-power SoCs for use in the fast-growing wearables and Internet of Things (IoT) market segment, raised an additional funding of $2 Mn from Cisco Investments, thus closing at $19 Mn in its Series B funding round.
Gito.me– A SaaS solution developed by the Bangalore based startup CostPrize.com online India Pvt. Ltd. Which allows physical retailer and wholeseller to bring their offline business online and give them a digital platform by managing different online channels, raised angel funding of $200 K led a group of angel investors.
Hotelogix: Owned by Noida-based HMS Infotech Pvt Ltd, Hotelogix, a SaaS-based property management system (PMS) for small and medium scale hotels raised $1.8 Mn in funding from existing investor Accel Partners, Saama Capital. The raised funds will be used to create awareness and drive adoption of cloud PMS technology. Further, it will be used to increase its user base.
Growzippy: Founded by Co-founder of EBS, Web analytics platform raised $1 Mn in funding from two High Net-worth Individuals (HNIs) based in India. The raised funds will be used for engineering and product development, and to launch the product in India next year, and later in the UK.
With this, Mumbai-based venture capital investor India Quotient (IQ) is targeting to raised INR 150 Cr. ($24.3 Mn) corpus for its second fund.
Apart from the funding activities a number of acquisitions also took place this week, these include:
Times Internet acquired a major stake in Cricbuzz, a cricket news and information company for an undisclosed Amount.
AntFarm acquired Mumbai based online food delivery venture Meals on Wheels, for an undisclosed amount.
Mumbai based call taxi service Bookmycab acquired Hyderabad based Online taxi booking service provider CabOnClick.com rolling out its cabs in Hyderabad.
Dublin headquartered Keywords Solution acquired 91% stake in Lakshya Digital Pvt. Ltd. for $3M and remaining 9% stake for $1M will be acquired in October next year.


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Official data indicates that China’s consumer price index (CPI) saw year-on-year growth of 1.8% in the month of May.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics indicates that the China’s CPI growth in May held steady with the reading for April.
China’s CPI is composed of eight main sub-indices, all of which saw YoY gains last month.
Food, tobacco and alcohol prices posted an increase of 0.7%, contributing to a CPI gain of approximately 0.21 percentage points.
Egg prices and vegetable prices saw especially strong gains of 20.8% and 10% respectively. Poultry prices saw a gain of 6.4%, while other meat posted a decline of 9.3%, including a drop in pork prices of 16.7%.
Medical treatment, residential and education, culture and entertainment prices saw increase of 5.1%, 2.2% and 1.9%.

domain: news


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Depressed milk prices forcing more farmers out of operation
Agribusiness experts say high production costs and low commodity prices are forcing more dairy farmers out of business in Iowa and other states.
Experts say the global flood of milk has depressed prices to about half what they were in 2014, and they still haven't hit all-time lows.
The Des Moines Register reports that Iowa is the nation's 10th-largest milk producer, with 1,150 dairy farms, and it's lost about 80 dairy operations this year - nearly 7 percent.
University of Wisconsin-Madison dairy policy analyst Mark Stephenson says U.S. production has continued to increase despite the large number of dairy cows being culled from herds. He says the U.S. needs a significant increase in exports to bring about a dramatic improvement in prices - something he doesn't see "on the horizon."


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The internet is overtaking TV in terms of popularity with the youth audience around Europe, according to research from the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA).
The findings reveal that 169 million people are now online across ten different European markets - a dream for internet advertisers.
In fact, 57 per cent of Europeans regularly access the internet each week, and the 16- to 24-year-old demographic now use the web more frequently than they watch telly. Almost half (48 per cent) say that their consumption of TV has dropped as a direct result of the internet.
As well as this, the internet continues to rise in popularity among 'silver surfers' and digital women - 12 per cent more people aged 55 or over now access the net than in 2006, as well as eight per cent more women.
The EIAA's chairman, Michael Kleindl, said: "Now in its fifth year our Mediascope study demonstrates just how quickly consumers can change their habits according to the digital opportunities they are offered.
"The challenge for advertisers is to create campaigns appropriate for these new empowered consumers."
EIAA interviewed more than 7,000 people for the study.
Return to marketing news headlines
View Marketing News Archive


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They gather unloved in jars and under cushions, unearthed only when laundry needs doing. They rattle in coat pockets, music to some ears and a nuisance to others. They sink into fountains and lurk in wells, a fortune in wishes but a nightmare to sort and count.
Coins are everywhere until they’re nowhere, and at the moment they’re hard to find. By upending normal habits, the pandemic has dropped them out of circulation and accelerated a trend toward cards, apps and other cashless payments that could eventually make coins obsolete.
China has plans for a digital currency, and the U.S. Federal Reserve is doing “research and experimentation.” Facebook has a currency in the works, and Bitcoin’s evangelists are still preaching. Millions of Americans are skipping right over coins by paying with their phones — or shopping on them.
“There’s a battle for the future of money going on,” said Alex Tapscott, a co-founder of the Blockchain Research Institute, a Canadian firm.
Governments, banks, credit card companies and online communities are among the factions trying to change how people make payments, he said.
“As for cash,” he added, “an elegy is in order.”
How the coronavirus sidelined coins
A funeral for cash has not yet been scheduled, but the pandemic has made it much easier to imagine a world without coins and already reinvigorated the movement to get rid of pennies. For banks, credit card companies and some Bitcoin advocates, the demise of each unit of cash would be welcome news. For small businesses that rely on coins, it’s a slow-rolling earthquake. For archaeologists and collectors, it’s bittersweet at best and a tragedy at worst.
As the coin shortage reached its worst in June, trade groups for grocers, gas stations and convenience stores pleaded for help from the government, calling the coin shortage an emergency that threatened their ability to serve customers and stay in business. The Federal Reserve started rationing coins, and the U.S. Mint kicked production into high gear, urging people to put spare change back in the economy. Major chains like Walmart and CVS asked customers to pay with cards or use exact change, and Chipotle was accused of keeping the change from customers who paid with cash. .
Some laundromat owners had to seek out quarters from car washes and others, or even ask employees to guard change machines so that passersby would not use them like banks, said Brian Wallace, the president of the Coin Laundry Association.
“We just happened to be one of those industries where quarters are still king,” he said. “No one wants to be a bouncer, but it really became a necessity.”
Convenience with a cost
While small businesses have had to adapt reluctantly to a cashless world, many tech firms, banks and credit card companies have pushed for one, said Jay Zagorsky, a professor at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University.
“The economy is bifurcating, sort of splitting in two parts, and there’s one part that’s taking a beating,” he said.
For many people paying for things digitally is a convenience, but for the growing segment of the population in poverty, “going cashless is quite expensive,” he said. Hidden fees, such as for failing to keep a minimum balance in an account or on a prepaid card, can be debilitating.
“If you can’t keep $10 to $15 on a credit card — that’s a great sum of money for some people,” he said.
And for the companies that take a percentage of transactions, it’s a windfall.
“If you take a 2% cut of every transaction that takes place in the United States, that’s billions of dollars” a year, he added.
Tapscott said that credit cards offer less privacy than cash because they leave “a trail of digital breadcrumbs.” Cash can help criminals stay under the radar of the authorities but also provides anonymity to some vulnerable people, he said, such as a woman who wants to evade an abusive husband or a person in recovery from drug abuse.
Planning (and improvising) currency
Cryptocurrency advocates like Catheryne Nicholson, the chief executive of BlockCypher, have proposed Bitcoin as a solution to problems in the existing financial system, such as getting loans to the millions of people who do not have bank accounts.
“Bitcoin is for the public good,” Nicholson said in a 2015 video for Singularity University, an organization that aims to expand technology in society. “It’s a universal currency, so it has the same value no matter where you are — a Bitcoin is a Bitcoin is a Bitcoin.”
But Tapscott said Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies remain relatively niche products, still far from being a feasible, widespread replacement for cash. And some cryptocurrency advocates fear that digital currencies might be curbed by an 1862 law created during a different coin shortage.
In the 1860s, the problem was hoarding — a side effect of the Civil War — so merchants, corporations and local governments tried printing their own money, called shinplasters. Congress tried to stamp out the practice with an 1862 law outlawing such private currency, but the shinplasters flooded cities from New York to Richmond, Virginia.
“We think of the sovereign or the state as having a monopoly on investing money with value, but American history has shown repeatedly that’s not the case,” said Joshua Greenberg, a historian and the editor of Commonplace, a journal of early American life. “Whenever there’s a downturn or a shortage, maybe you just lived somewhere pretty rural, shinplasters filled that void.”
Arguably, isolated versions of shinplasters have reemerged in recent years, he said. In western Massachusetts, you can exchange federal notes for BerkShares. Northern Michigan has Bay Bucks. In central Florida, Disney Dollars can still get you a soda or fries.
The people saving pennies
Coins will always have defenders in curators and collectors like the 26,000 members of the American Numismatic Association. The group’s education director, Rod Gillis, hopes they never stop circulating.
“I would really hate for us to become a cashless society,” he said. “I would hate for us to lose our historical perspective.”
He called coins representations of our history and culture at any given moment. Before the penny featured Lincoln, it showed Lady Liberty in a Native American headdress. President Franklin D. Roosevelt landed on the dime because of his efforts to stop polio through the “March of Dimes” of the 1940s.
“The designs don’t just happen out of happenstance,” he said. “You can learn so much about our culture from just learning about what appears on our coins.”
And coins have survived other inventions — paper bills, stock markets, E-ZPass — outlasting many of the monarchies, republics and empires they were made to hold together. Their value as artifacts is “wonderful,” said Dr. Fleur Kemmers, an archaeologist at Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany. She called ancient coins “historic documents,” passed down by people across centuries and continents as they haggled, hoarded and made their way through daily life. She said that in their design, material makeup and discovered locations, coins can reveal clues about culture, politics, religion, industry, trade and household life.
“They are tangible remains of past regimes, yet also part of the daily lives of ordinary people 2,000 years ago,” she said.
Then as now, they became part of little rituals, symbols and gestures. Fearing bad luck, some don’t pick up a penny unless it’s heads-up. Flipping a coin offers a question up to chance. For centuries, people have tossed coins into wishing wells, or now their urban equivalent, the city fountain.
In the ancient Mediterranean, people sometimes placed a coin in the mouth, on the eyes, or in the ashes of the dead, a fare for the mythological ferryman to take souls to the underworld. Coins meant something to the living even in the context of death: Commerce was rolling on somewhere, and the ferryman had to make a living, too.
But Kemmers said that aside from their symbolism, she was “not that optimistic about the long-term future of coins.” With one exception: “Commemorative coins might be something that will last.”
c.2020 The New York Times Company


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Sony will hold its annual E3 press conference on June 10 at 6.00 p.m. PST.
The presser takes place on the same day as Microsoft, Ubisoft and Electronic Arts’ own events.
Nintendo, much to the surprise of many, will not be hosting its typical E3 press event this year.
This year’s Sony conference is poised to place heavy emphasis on PlayStation 4 following its February reveal. Aside from a glimpse at some upcoming titles, we’ll also hopefully finally have a butcher’s at the console itself.
Concurrently, we also expect to hear more on PlayStation Vita, which could do with some more triple-A support, hopefully in the form of some major franchises. Of course, PlayStation 3 is still chugging along too, so we’ll see what Sony has up its sleeves for the next 12 months or so.
What do you want Sony to show off at E3? Let us know in the comments section below.


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The Federal Government has initiated a process to convert the Ways and Measures Department of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment into a full-fledged agency for improved service delivery.
The minister, Niyi Adebayo, confirmed this during the presentation of a draft legislation copy of the revised Weights and Measures Act by the Act Review Committee, held at the ministry headquarters on Friday.
Speaking during his address, Adebayo stated that the agency named “Nigerian Weights and Measures Regulatory Agency” is part of the implementation plan of the Nigeria National Quality Policy approved in 2021.
He explained that the agency will promote accurate measurements, boost consumer confidence and facilitate trade practices to make Nigeria the destination of choice for trading with the international community.
He said, “Today is a memorable day in the history of the development of the Weights and Measures Department of the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.
“This event is part of activities to upgrade the framework of Nigeria’s Weights and Measures Act for improved service delivery and the process of the objectives of the metrology component of the Nigeria National Quality Policy.”
Continuing, the minister assured that accurate measurement of goods and other statutory objectives of the agency will boost revenue and help renew the confidence of international trading countries.
“The provisions, clauses and a Table of Fees are consistent with global best practices, and will promote accurate measurements and facilitate trade practices to make Nigeria the destination of choice for trading to the international community,” he stated.
Earlier in her remarks, the Director, Weights and Measures Department, Comfort Emenbu, emphasized that the policy has incorporated many sectors, including oil and gas adding that exports must be done properly with standard weights and measures of other AfCFTA countries.
Reeling out some of its benefits, she said the policy will create a fair enabling environment for commercial transactions, curb sharp practices in marketplaces and promotion of business competitiveness amongst others.
“Weights and Measures has received prime recognition globally because of the significant roles it has played in the social, economic, and technological development of nations. It is on this note that previous Governments of Nigeria acknowledged the huge position and relevance of Legal Metrology to the economy of Nigeria.”
She promised that at full capacity, the agency will generate more revenue than the Federal Inland Revenue Service. CONTINUE READING…………………………………
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WICHITA — It's not exactly news when new space is available at a mall, but Jeff Englert makes a good case for 8,000 square feet that he and Grubb & Ellis/Martens Commercial Group colleagues are marketing at Towne East Square.
"To my knowledge, it's the first time that Simon used third-party brokers in Wichita," he says of Simon Property Group, which owns the mall.
Perhaps more significantly, Englert says, "They want to go after nontraditional mall tenants for this."
Not that he and fellow brokers Nathan Farha and Grant Glasgow won't look at retail.
"Retail is definitely going to be our first play there."
However, Simon has had some luck with nonretail tenants, such as Wright Career College.
"They want to explore that some more," Englert says.
The space is located on the west side of Towne East between Dillard's and Sears at the second-most busy main entrance of the mall. Englert says it's possible to add a glass exterior so the space is visible from outside the mall.
After retail, Englert says there could be possibilities such as office users, educational facilities or a fitness center.
He says he'll soon have news on a new Towne West Square tenant.
"This will be pretty big news, let's put it that way."
Look for it in about a month or so.


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iPhone capacity full? How to free up space for your iPhone in the event that you would prefer not to erase anything? Another question is how to erase your iPhone when you need to offer or give away your iPhone? Essentially erasing your iPhone information including industrial facility reset your iPhone is quite recently excessively hazardous, as the erased information can be effortlessly recuperated by a few information recuperation programming.
The uplifting news is that with iMyFone Umate Pro, you have one of the world’s driving space sparing and security insurance instruments to help you accomplish all these.
iMyFone Umate Pro can tidy up iPhone trashes, [...]
Huawei Technologies has uprooted Samsung Electronics to end up the second most beneficial cell phone provider on the planet for the quarter finished September 30, trailed by two other Chinese brands Vivo and Oppo, a most recent report by research firm Strategy Analytics appears.
The Shenzhen-based Huawei produced some $200 million of cell phone working benefit – income before intrigue and assessment – worldwide amid the quarter, equal to 2.4 percent share of the worldwide cell phone working benefits, trailed by Vivo and Oppo’s 2.2 percent offers, as indicated by the report.
Apple remains the most beneficial cell phone mark, picking up $8.5 billion, or [...]


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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho economic development organization has submitted a bid proposing Boise as the location of Amazon’s coveted second headquarters despite the city not fitting some of the online retailer’s requirements.
Among Amazon’s criteria for what’s being called HQ2 is for the location to be near a metropolitan area with more than one million people, which Boise does not have. In response to the city’s shortcomings in this regard, the Boise Valley Economic Partnership and Gov. Butch Otter sent letters to the company asking it to keep Idaho in mind for other projects, the Idaho Statesman reported .
“After the dust settles, we hope you have time to review Idaho’s highlights on this site and consider us to be part of your future growth plans,” Otter said in the letter. “So in other words, save us for later in your cart.”
The Seattle-based retail giant has received 238 proposals from cities and regions in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The company’s second home is expected to generate $5 billion in investments, create 50,000 jobs and use 8 million square feet of space over eight or nine years.
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The Republican governor said in his letter that the state has the right business environment that could make it a suitable home for a future Amazon project.
“Idaho is recognized for its favorable business climate, stable tax rates, reasonable regulations, low-cost renewable energy and affordable land,” Otter said. “We have a skilled, motivated workforce and state policies that recognize the importance of economic activity to our Idaho way of life. We balance our budget without raising taxes and we know that the best way to help business is to simply get out of the way.”
Information from: Idaho Statesman, http://www.idahostatesman.com


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- Jon Hamm, on Creativity, Innovation and TechnologyJon Hamm is passionate about ideas that sit at the intersection of brand, content, experience and technology. Today, the adman who has responsibility for Geometry’s transformation, innovation and creativity across the globe is set to talk at Dubai Lynx on Innovation and Technology and how along with Creativity, he believes they are key drivers of organisational competitive advantage.While many argue that technology is diminishing the need for creativity in marketing, Jon Hamm says this is clearly not the case. In his talk titled ‘Weaponising Creativity,’ scheduled at Dubai Lynx Festival on March 11, Jon Hamm will focus on how digital technologies can create a new more open, inclusive and “decentralized” world in which everyone has the opportunity to be more creative and entrepreneurial. A not to be missed talk to understand the relationships between creativity, innovation and technology.In this interview, he shares his views and tries to set the record straight on how technology can rather enhance creativity.
- Our stories are on life-support, where do we go from here? asks Thomas KolsterThomas Kolster, aka Mr. Goodvertising is a man on a mission, one of the early pioneers in the do-good space coining the term ‘Goodvertising’ to describe the changing advertising landscape that’s become a movement in itself. As a seasoned advertising professional counting more than 16 years, he’s a vocal voice for advertising and brands as a force for good and his book “Goodvertising” is the most comprehensive book to date exploring communication for good. In the following, he questions the real power of the people working in ad land, as he firmly believes that as an industry we can do so much more to contribute to society.
Do you still buy print publications?


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Tech News: Page 2
Gartner Expects Apple to Dominate Tablet Market This Holiday Season (September 23, 2011): Gartner reported in a press release that it expects Apple's tablet dominance to continue this holiday season.
HP Sells Tons of Discounted TouchPads. Proof There is Demand for Non Apple Tablets (August 20, 2011): HP deeply discounted its hot looking TouchPad and it quickly sold out of its stock despite being overwhelmed by traffic.
HP: Consumer PC Sales Fell 20% Last Quarter (May 18, 2011): Hewlett-Packard Co.
Microsoft Reports Q3 Profit of $5.23 Billion (April 28, 2011): Microsoft Corp.
Apple Profit Surged 95% in Its Second Quarter (April 20, 2011): Apple reports its fiscal 2011 second quarter results today.
TI to Acquire National Semiconductor (April 4, 2011): TI announced it has signed an agreement to acquire National Semiconductor for $25 a share in a $6.
Google Co-founder Larry Page to Take Over as CEO of Google (January 20, 2011): Google co-founder Larry Page will be taking over as CEO of Google in April.
Yahoo Cuts 600 Jobs (December 15, 2010): Yahoo, Inc.
Steve Jobs Discusses Flash at D8 Conference (June 4, 2010): CNN reports that Apple CEO Steve Jobs reiterated his disdain for Flash technology at the D8 conference.
Amazon.com to Let Developers Create Kindle Apps (January 22, 2010): Amazon has the launch of the Kindle Development Kit.
Microsoft to Cut 5,000 Jobs (January 22, 2009): Microsoft has announced plans to cut 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months.
Charles Babbage's 5-Ton Calculator Comes to Life (May 14, 2008): Nathan Myhrvold, the former CTO of Microsoft, has added an extremely cool looking 19th-century mechanical calculator to his collection.
New Security Camera Uses T-Rays to See Under Clothes (March 10, 2008): A new camera can reportedly see under people's clothes from up to 25 meters away.
Study Links Heavy Cell Phone Usage to Salivary Gland Cancer (February 18, 2008): The BBC reports that a new study from Isreal has linked heavy cell phone usage to increased risk of cancer of the salivary gland.
Microsoft Finds Yahoo's Rejection Unfortunate (February 11, 2008): Earlier today Yahoo rejected Microsoft's offer saying it was too low - that it undervalues Yahoo.
Pudding Media Offers Ad-Based Phone Service (September 26, 2007): The New York Times reports that a company named Pudding Media is launching an ad-supported Internet phone service called ThePudding.
Steve Jobs Responds to iPhone Price Complaints (September 6, 2007): Yesterday, a number of new Ipods were announced by Apple.
Will Zink Replace Ink? (August 25, 2007): The Next Net has a post about a company called Zink that has developed a new inkless type of printing using special dye crystals.
Holographic Al Gore Kicks Off Live Earth in Tokyo (July 7, 2007): This was the scene in Tokyo as former Vice President Al Gore kicked off the Live Earth concert in Tokyo.
Ebay iPhone Sellers Frustrated? (July 2, 2007): Sellers of iPhones on eBay may end up frustrated by an abundance of iPhone product.


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McDonald’s announces summer holiday menu with 4 new burgers and halloumi fries
McDonald's will be introducing four different burgers in the coming weeks.
It's also the first time that the fast-food chain will be introducing the popular dish, halloumi fries, to the menu.
McDonald's is releasing its new items in two waves, all with a summer holiday theme.
What are the new menu items?
The first new menu items are available from 8 June 022, with fans being able to try the Taste of Italy Summer Menu.
This new menu also includes the new Italian Stack and the Crispy Chicken Italiano.
The Italian Stack
This burger comprises of two beef patties, mozzarella, crispy onions, a tomato sauce, lettuce, and a smooth cheese sauce serves within a freshly toasted tomato and herb style bun.
The Crispy Chicken Italiano
This burger has a crispy chicken fillet, topped with a tomato slice, mozzarella, a basil pesto style sauce, red onion and lettuce, served up in its toasted ciabatta style bun.
A new tiramisu McFurry flavour will be on offer too, with fans being able to enjoy a chocolatey, caffeinated kick as a sweet treat.
What are the other two new burgers?
Over a month later, on 27 July, McDonald's will release their Taste of Spain and Taste of Cyprus menus.
The new items will see a Spicy Spanish Stack and Chicken Fiesta on offer.
The Spicy Spanish Stack
This burger has two beef patties, chilli cheddar, red onion spicy tomato sauce and lettuce served in a warm paprika bun.
The Chicken Fiesta
With a crispy chicken fillet topped with chorizo, chilli cheddar, spicy tomato sauce, red onion, and lettuce, the burger is served on a warm toasted chilli and paprika topped bun.
For a side, fans can enjoy a bag of four halloumi fries, served with a rich tomato dip.
A new Spanish Fruit Punch, a chilled soft drink with berry and citrus flavours will also be released.
Currently, the prices for the new menu items are unknown, but will likely vary between locations.
What items will be dropped from the McDonald's menu?
To make way for these tantalising new menus, existing menu exclusives will have to end.
Products like the popular McSpicy chicken burger and the Grand Big Mac will only be available until 7 June.
The flake McFlurry and its raspberry twin will be leaving the line-up after 7 June too.


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Time for the next (really) big Internet idea - The Boston Globe - Boston.com - Personal Tech - Business
If you still aren't paying any heed to the RSS revolution, perhaps this will get your attention: $100 million.
That's the amount two Harvard guys plan to invest in new businesses that use RSS. It's a healthy chunk of cash for a technology that doesn't cost a cent. The software behind the World Wide Web is also free, yet Web-based companies like Google, eBay, and Amazon.com have made out all right. RSS might be the next billion-dollar Internet idea.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Next Big Thing
at 8:42 am
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Some thoughts for the day:
1) Amazon.com has recently entered the casual games market with a new Games Download store.
That this would happen sometime has been entirely predictable for years - the entire portal model has devolved into simply competition on price - which means prices were bound to just go lower and lower. Most of the games on portals are completely derivative and have no way to compete on quality or as a brand - so that leaves only price.
The result will be that margins of the portal companies will just go down and down until the weakest have to either sell out to some big company who won't care or go bankrupt.
2) Today is the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, which is a pretty big deal here in Springfield IL. There are lots of events going on in town today to celebrate and the President will be here tonight to give a speech. The location is not very far from where we live and the security is out in force. When I went out earlier I saw security people with dogs roaming around.
3) Our neighbors across the street still have their Christmas tree up.


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Step inside the Ronto Roasters restaurant in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland and you’ll find an animatronic droid complaining about his never-ending job turning a spit of “space meat” over a fire stoked by a repurposed podracing engine.
Ronto Roasters will offer spit-roasted barbecue meats and cold drinks in the Black Spire Outpost village on the Star Wars planet of Batuu, the setting for the new 14-acre themed lands coming to the Anaheim theme park and Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida.
“This location is super fun because it’s all about meat and it’s all about heat,” said Brian Piasecki, Disney World culinary director for concept development.
The quick-service food stand takes its name from the strong yet skittish Rontos ridden by Jawas on Tatooine in the Star Wars universe.
Ronto Roasters will be run by a podracing fan named Bakkar who pays tribute to the sport throughout his Black Spire eatery, according to the restaurant’s backstory.
“He loves podracing,” said Walt Disney Imagineering creative producer Brian Loo. “You’ll see a lot of the podracing flags around his area.”
The dangerous and deadly racing sport popular on the Star Wars planets of Tatooine and Malastare features single-racer pods propelled by large engines.
An audio-animatronic smelter droid named 8D-J8 will endlessly turn a rotisserie spit at Ronto Roasters while constantly complaining about his thankless job.
Smelter droids, which show up in “The Return of the Jedi” and “The Phantom Menace,” typically work in the harsh environments of ore-extraction facilities.
Ronto Roasters will serve barbecue sausage sandwiches and hand-torn turkey jerky that appear to be cooked by a repurposed podracing engine.
“It’s shaking and rattling,” said Imagineering executive creative director Chris Beatty. “It’s heating this giant foil that sits at the bottom. There’s space meat that’s on a rotisserie spinning around. Our droid is standing over here on this plinth and he’s turning the spit, complaining about his job.”
The Ronto Roasters menu will play off a mix of sweet and spicy flavors in a culinary nod to the eternal battle between the light and dark sides of the Force.
“We know that we are stuck with serving food within our planet, but we had to think about it differently,” Piasecki said. “We had to think about some of those flavors of Morocco and those flavors of Asia because of that yin and yang, that sweet and that spicy. It all became very important in the development of the story.”
Several of the food and beverage items at Ronto Roasters will have a spicy kick that you might not expect from a theme park restaurant.
The Ronto Wrap handheld sandwich will come with a spicy Portuguese-style sausage and sliced roast pork on a pita with a Szechuan peppercorn “clutch sauce.”
The house-made turkey jerky will be offered in two flavors: Spicy herb or sweet teriyaki.
“You’ll see these hanging strips of leather that’s actually house-made turkey jerky,” Piasecki said.
Even the Sour Sarlacc raspberry lemonade will have a spicy mango kick to it.
“That drink is a little bit sour, a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy,” said Disneyland food and beverage director Michele Gendreau.
Ronto Roasters opens in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge on May 31 at Disneyland and Aug. 29 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.


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Later tonight, Samsung will take the limelight and release the next flagship smartphone device at the Unpacked 5 event on day 1 of MWC in Barcelona and we will be right there in the thick of things bringing you the latest from the Korean powerhouse.
So from 2am Malaysian time, we will have Pang on the ground in Barcelona, bringing you whats happening from the event as well as myself at the Lowyat.NET HQ making sure you have the latest from the event. So hit the jump and join in the fun! The event starts at 3am but we will open half an hour early for a bit of pre-show and speculation!
We will not be allowing posting on the live chat timeline, but we will be allowing for you to comment on whatever we post. If you want to take the discussion elsewhere, feel free to go to our comments section below!


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Additives for Polymers (v.2015, #1)
Clariant launches new orange pigment; promotes uptake of liquid masterbatches in North America (1-2).
Swiss speciality chemicals company Clariant has extended its comprehensive range of organic pigments for plastics applications with the addition of mid-shade orange pigment PV Fast Orange HGR. According to the company, the new product can be used as a shading pigment or to create ‘unique full orange shades with eye-catching appeal’. It is reported to be suitable for use with a wide range of polymers in consumer goods and packaging applications.
UK-based masterbatch specialist Silvergate Plastics has developed and launched Simply White, a new range of cost-effective white masterbatches that ‘performs extremely well’ in terms of colour accuracy and covering power, the company claims. Described as a ‘technical breakthrough’, Simply White reportedly has a lower price tag than industry alternatives and thus offers a high-performance, low-cost option for plastic processors, Silvergate says.
US thermochromic packaging materials manufacturer Chromatic Technologies Inc (CTI) has introduced PowerCapsules™ thermochromic colour concentrate pellets. According to the company, the products incorporate new technology ‘that drives vibrant colour and UV stability’. The concentrates also offer customers the benefits of ‘an enviable let-down ratio’ combined with temperature indication, CTI says.
A new portfolio of resin compatibilizers from Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics offers the potential to give millions of pounds of barrier film scrap a second chance at life. According to the company, RETAIN™ Polymer Modifiers make it easier to recycle post-industrial barrier films without compromising performance or aesthetics. The range was launched at Pack Expo International in Chicago in November 2014.
In the USA, Milliken has unveiled Hyperform® HPN 210 M, a new nucleating agent for injection moulded high-density polyethylene (HDPE) applications. Described by the company as ‘game-changing’, this new technology features a unique crystalline orientation that is claimed to improve the mechanical performance of HDPE to levels approaching those of polypropylene (PP) impact copolymers. The new polymer additive is specifically targeted at material-handling applications such as waste containers, totes, shipping crates and pallets.
Polymer materials and solutions firm PolyOne Corp has launched OnCap™ UV technology for fibre and textile applications in Asia. Combining colorants with performance-boosting additives, these formulations help to protect non-woven polymer fabrics, fibres and filaments from UV light-induced degradation without any trade-offs in performance, the company claims. The OnCap UV solutions are compatible with polyamide (PA), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP) and a range of other materials, PolyOne says.
German masterbatch manufacturer Lifocolor Farben GmbH of Lichtenfels is investing more than €4 million in a new plant in Brno in the Czech Republic. The investment is being made via its existing Czech subsidiary Lifocolor sro, and the new facility is to be located in the Cernovická Terasa industrial zone near Brno's airport. The plant is scheduled to come on stream in the first half of 2015.
US-based SI Group, Inc, a global developer and producer of chemical intermediates and speciality resins, has announced plans to expand 2,6 xylenol capacity at its Freeport plant in Texas. The expansion is expected to increase production by 7000 tonnes per year in early 2015.
The ICIS 2014 Award for Best Innovation by a Small or Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) has been presented to Canada's Argex Titanium Inc in recognition of its novel method of producing titanium dioxide (TiO2) pigment. The 2014 Innovation Awards, covering five categories, identify companies that have made significant steps forward in technological and business innovation, with tangible results emerging during 2013 and the early part of 2014.
For the third quarter of 2014, South Korea's Songwon Industrial Group saw a ‘strong recovery’ in profitability, posting a quarterly net profit of KRW2.98 billion (c. €2.34 million) following losses of KRW6.71 billion and KRW4.89 billion in the previous two quarters. The gross profit margin also increased by 1.9% to 15.7% points compared to 13.8% in 2Q 2014. The company attributes the improvement to the resolution of the production issues that occurred at the beginning of 2014 [ADPO, October 2014].
European investment company Gimv is investing in EcoChem International, a Belgian company engaged in R&D, product development, manufacturing and distribution of eco-friendly flame retardant additives. Gimv takes a majority stake, alongside EcoChem's founders. This financing will be used to support EcoChem's ambitious growth strategy through both international expansion and entrance into new product segments.
Cologne-based speciality chemicals company Lanxess reported net income of €35 million on sales of €2.04 billion for the third quarter of 2014. Quarterly net income improved threefold compared with the figure of €11 million posted in 3Q 2013. Sales were down 0.5% from the previous year's level. The company says that marginally higher volumes compensated for slightly lower prices.
For the quarter ended 30 September 2014, PolyOne Corp posted a 45% jump in net income attributable to its shareholders to US$32.7 million (€27.8 million), despite a 5% dip in sales to $958.4 million. In 3Q 2013, the company reported net income of $22.8 million on sales of $1.01 billion. The decline in sales was attributed to the firm's exit from some unprofitable products related to its purchase of Spartech, the closure of some operations in Brazil and recent weakness in Europe. Operating income was $63.6 million, up from $61.6 million in 3Q 2013.
Philadelphia-based Chemtura Corp reported net sales of US$558 million (€474 million) for the third quarter of 2014, down 2% on the 3Q 2013 figure of $569 million. However, net earnings from continuing operations on a GAAP basis of $15 million for the 2014 quarter were a substantial improvement on the net loss of $44 million posted by the company in 3Q 2013. Operating income was $35 million in 3Q 2014, a 30% increase compared with the previous year.
Events Calendar (12).


text: As a part of the comprehensive marketing launch surrounding the all-new 2013 Accord, Honda kicks off the first-ever Accord Cash Car competition event on Saturday, Oct. 6th in Times Square. The interactive allows participating contestants to trade knowledge of the all-new 2013 Honda Accord’s new features for cash prizes and the chance to win a 2013 Honda Accord. After the Times Square event, the Cash Car competition moves on to Chicago, Phoenix and Los Angeles. The Honda Times Square event features several models of the all-new 2013 Honda Accord and the chance for passersby to kick the tires. Three-person teams compete each hour, from 2 pm to 8 pm, with their shot at the cash awards broadcast live to the crowd on a large-screen display.


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Australia's drug regulator has found three-quarters of a popular heartburn medication it recently tested contained heightened levels of a suspected cancer-causing agent.
- Popular heartburn medication Zantac, known generically as ranitidine, has been recalled
- The drug has been found to contain NDMA, an agent which probably causes cancer
- Seventy five per cent of ranitidine drugs tested by the Australian regulator were found to contain heightened levels of NDMA
"We're just validating those results and we'll be publishing that on our website soon," Professor Paul Kelly, the Therapeutic Goods Administration's chief medical advisor, told 7.30.
The TGA recalled the popular drug Zantac, also known by its generic name ranitidine, on October 4 after regulators in other countries found the pharmaceutical had been contaminated with the probable carcinogen NDMA.
Although the risk to consumers was believed to be low, the TGA took what it described as a "very precautionary approach" by recalling the products and carrying out its own testing.
"In terms of the level of concern, it's three parts per million. Very, very small amounts," Professor Kelly said.
"We've now tested 135 different batches of this medicine, and we're finding about 75 per cent of those are positive above that level of three parts per million.
"If someone were to take a ranitidine tablet for their entire life for 70 years, every day, then the risk of cancer may go up by about one in 100,000, so I think you can see from those figures it's a very small risk."
'It's pretty scary'
The recall of the drug was a shock for Sydney mother Jade Wood, who relied on Zantac to treat her two children with severe reflux.
"I would love to know the batch we've got is not contaminated. I'd love to hear that ASAP, so I wouldn't have to stop it," she told 7.30.
"It's pretty scary and you get quite angry that a fault like this could happen. It's not just a slip-up."
The drug has been on the market since the early 1980s and was at one time the most popular medication in the world.
How it became contaminated remains a mystery.
Dean of pharmacy at the University of Sydney, Professor Andrew McLachlan, believes it may be something inherent in how the drug breaks down.
"It's quite possible that this break down product coming from that drug has probably been in those products for quite some time," he said.
"There's no one manufacturer, so this doesn't appear to be a manufacturing issue, particularly because globally we set a very high standard."
The TGA agrees this is a possibility.
"We've found a range of manufacturers in different countries — five altogether — and that's spread across a number of suppliers," Professor Kelly said.
"So yes, it could be a generic issue with the actual manufacture or it could be something to do with the drug itself."
'Safe alternatives are available'
Brisbane pharmacist Chris Owen says some customers have been worried, but there has been no sign of panic.
"A lot of people who are taking Zantac were a little bit worried, justifiably," Mr Owen said.
"There is a low-risk carcinogen in the product but at this stage we haven't had anyone who couldn't go onto another treatment. They've been able to talk to their doctor or their pharmacist and get an alternative."
Professor McLachlan said "there are some very effective and known-to-be-safe alternatives that are available".
The company responsible for Zantac in Australia is Aspen Australia. In a statement it said: "Aspen Australia treats the quality of its products with utmost diligence and will continue to work closely with the TGA on this matter."
Watch this story tonight on 7.30.


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Belgium — According to Nikkei, NATO is considering publishing a joint announcement for its upcoming summit with four observer countries from the Asia-Pacific in a
Japan’s population has been shrinking for years, and the trend shows no signs of reversing.
RT-PCR test has been made mandatory for flyers coming from China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand from January 01, 2023 onwards. Before travel the passengers would have to upload their RT-CPR report on the Air Suvidha Portal.
India passed the United Kingdom to take over as the fifth-largest economy in the world. Today, the only countries with economies larger than India’s are


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Last month, fintech company MobiKwik is said to have suffered one of the worst data breaches in Indian corporate history when personal information of about 100 million users were hacked and made available in the dark web. Independent researchers said the hackers accessed MobiKwik’s data stores through its cloud infrastructure. Similar attacks were launched on Paytm, Big Basket and edtech firm Unacademy in the past 12 months.
As more companies go digital and operate through a cloud-based model – a need accentuated by the pandemic as people work remotely – the risks of cyberattacks have risen across the world. Configuring for the cloud and protecting data on the cloud are emerging areas. About 52% of Indian companies said they were victims of a successful cyberattack in the last 12 months, as per a survey by British security firm Sophos. The same survey also found that 60% of those surveyed struggle to recruit people with the right cybersecurity skills.
“The security market is growing faster than the skill sets available,” says Sudeep Das, security software technical sales leader in IBM technology sales for India.
Staffing firm Xpheno says about 7,600 active premium jobs are currently open. TeamLease Digital’s data shows that demand for cybersecurity skills has risen by 18-20% over the past six months.
“People tend to claim cyber awareness in their resume, but the challenge is not many of them are equipped,” says Tarun Bhatia, head of south Asia at cybersecurity firm Kroll.
Cyber security experts say attacks have become more sophisticated and are not just restricted to malware, phishing emails or ransomware. Hackers used to charge ransomware for returning stolen data, but now they are encrypting the data and asking companies to pay a ransom for decrypting it. Other new forms of threats include supply-chain attacks and cryptojacking – an unauthorised use of someone else’s computer to mine cryptocurrency.
Globally, India ranks third – after the US and Spain – in the number of threats detected, according to security software firm McAfee. Most of these threats were Trojan, a malware that allows cybercriminals to gain access to an individual’s or a company’s systems and devices.
“The data centre is no longer the perimeter,” says Huzefa Motiwala, director of systems engineering for India & Saarc at Palo Alto Networks. “As employees work remotely, they become individual endpoints which are targeted by hackers.”
Demand for cyber security skills in India has also soared because of the numerous digital back-offices and global inhouse centres (GICs) being set up in India by MNCs. The security needs of GICs span across all aspects of network, infrastructure, application, data, and information management.
The most in-demand critical skills among enterprises are around cloud security, threat intelligence, risk management, incident management & response, data security, access management, network security, application security, information security, and computer forensics.
Venkat Krishnapur, VP of engineering and MD of McAfee India, says there are lots of jobs in many of these areas. But the current cyber security courses in academia, he says, are part of a semester and not, as it should be, a full-blown degree. The mushrooming certification courses aren’t often good enough either. “Technology professionals are focused on certifications, but in many cases it is like you know the instrument rather than know how to play it,” he says.
Security solutions firm Kaspersky says the share of cybersecurity spending in the total IT budget for small and medium enterprises grew to 26% in 2020 from 23% in 2019. Spending by large enterprises grew to 29% from 26% during the same period. Infosys, TCS, Wipro have regularly said over the last one year that most of their new projects from clients are focused on cloud, data & analytics, and cybersecurity.
Among the big cybersecurity employers in India are Deloitte, PwC, EY, TCS, IBM, Infosys, Cognizant, Wipro, HCL, Accenture, and Honeywell. The likes of Google, Amazon, Citrix, VMWare, Oracle, SAP, McAfee and Autodesk also have sizable demand for niche cyber skills.
LEARN BY SETTING UP A CYBER LAB IN YOUR HOUSE


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Just yesterday, the hand-on video of the upcoming flagship, Oneplus 5T was leaked online. And now the smartphone has again appeared on the benchmarking platform GFXBench confirming the configuration. What’s new is that the smartphone tested had 8GB of RAM and 128GB internal storage which would be its premium variant.
According to the listing, According to the listing, the Oneplus 5T will rock a 6-inch display with Full-HD+ (2160 x 1080) pixels resolution and have a 18:9 aspect ratio. It will boast a 2.45Ghz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 paired with Adreno 540 GPU for handling graphical tasks.
As mentioned earlier the tested unit has 8GB of RAM and 128GB built-in storage. As for optics, it would feature a 16MP camera on both front and rear end. But the rear camera is capable of shooting 4K videos, while the selfie shooter can only shoot up to Full HD resolution.
Meanwhile, another hands-on video was leaked which showed Spanish Youtuber Carolina Denia Unboxing the upcoming smartphone. Almost every key specs of the upcoming smartphone is known other than the pricing. The Oneplus 5T will be officially announced in New York on November 16.


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New compact Jeep Avenger SUV won the honorary title Car of the Year in Europe 2023. This is the first such title for Jeep. And in general, the Jeep Avenger SUV is in many respects a “first” for the company.
For example, this is the first fully electric car from Jeep. This is the first model created on the CMP platform, the SUV has only front-wheel drive. However, in the future we hope for the appearance of versions with all-wheel drive.
And the Jeep Avenger SUV is very compact: only 4.08 m in total length, because it was created with a focus on Europe. And it will be produced locally – at a factory in Poland. But we are waiting for the new Jeep Avenger in Ukraine, because Ukraine is Europe.


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CAMIGUIN (PIA)—The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Camiguin tallied 5,208 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which were affected by the coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 crisis in the five towns of the province as of May 15.
DTI Provincial Director Joselito Enot said COVID-19 has affected 5,187 micro to small businesses of which 752 are from Mambajao, Guinsiliban (347), Mahinog (833), Mambajao (2,753), and Sagay (502). For medium enterprises, 21 businesses were affected including 1 in Catarman, Mahinog (1), and Mambajao (19).
From such data, about 9,649 workers of the micro to small businesses were affected and 736 workers from the medium enterprises.
Tourism-related sector recorded the most number of affected businesses with 1,911. Trading sector marked 218 businesses affected, and manufacturing, construction, and agri-based sector recorded 111 businesses, which suffered from the health and economic crisis.
To aid the sectors, DTI-Camiguin facilitated and endorsed the DTI Small Business Corporation Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-Asenso COVID-19 Assistance to Restart Enterprises (P3 CARES) loan applications.
The department also facilitates the provision of livelihood starter/recovery kits to the qualified MSME beneficiaries of the Negosyo Serbisyo sa Barangay (NSB) in the fourth to sixth class municipalities.
“We also provided technical assistance to major industry associations like the Camiguin Tourism Association (CTA) in drafting COVID-19 related solutions or policy advocacy initiatives,” Enot said.
Moreover, DTI-Camiguin also extended its help to MSMEs by urging them to undertake and regularly update their Business Continuity Plans (BCPs) aside from mentoring MSMEs.
Business enterprises are also offered with financial support under the new normal such as termed loans and loan moratoriums. (RTP/PIA10)


text: News Why Brides Like Mandy Moore Reach for Pink Wedding Gowns, According to an Expert By Sam Reed Sam Reed Sam Reed is a news and entertainment editor with over 8 years of experience working in media. InStyle's editorial guidelines Updated on November 19, 2018 @ 05:00PM Pin Share Tweet Email Here comes the bride, all dressed in ... not white. Such was the case for Mandy Moore, who walked down the (backyard) aisle on Sunday afternoon in a blush pink Rodarte tulle gown. The actress, who wed musician Taylor Goldsmith in the "boho" ceremony, isn't the only celebrity bride who has rejected traditional bridal white in favor of a hue with a little more flavor. instagram/mandymooremm When she wed first husband Gavin Rossdale way back in 2002, Gwen Stefani opted for an over-the-top John Galliano ball gown with a white bodice that faded to a cranberry pink at the hem. Like her signature platinum waves, the look was intended to make a statement. Mission accomplished, if we do say so ourselves. Mandy Moore Is Literally a Blushing Bride in Her Pink Wedding Dress UK Press/Getty Images Jessica Biel, too, bucked tradition for a pale pink Giambattista Valli gown at her 2012 wedding to Justin Timberlake in Italy. But is there a reason for the popularity of the pink gown? While I've binge-watched enough episodes of Say Yes to the Dress to know that some brides who walk down the aisle for a second time (like Moore, who was previously married to Ryan Adams) don't necessarily want to wear white twice, that doesn't seem to be the typical motivation — at least, not according to experts. What the Color of Your Outfit Right Now Says About You Lanie List, founder of Lovely Bride, says that most women who begin thinking pink — about 10% of her customers — are just unconventional, and "want to feel more like themselves" on their big days. "Some brides just don't feel comfortable in such a bright white," she said. As for why brides are feeling unconventional in the first place, List added that perhaps there's a little sense of rebellion to the staunch traditionalism wrapped up in the literal significance of a white dress, though customers don't really share those thoughts with her explicitly. It also doesn't hurt that pink is psychologically associated with romance, and with such a wide range of warm and cool tones, it's almost universally flattering. While the soft, peony pink hue that Moore chose is most common, according to List, there are plenty of bridal boutiques (not to mention, ready-to-wear outfitters) that can whip up a pink look in any number of shades, from bubblegum to fuchsia. List credits designer Hayley Paige for setting the pink trend tone for 2018 with pale dresses in A-line or ball gown styles. And it's not just pink that nontraditional brides are gravitating towards. List says that while bright white, ivory, and pink round out the top three most-requested colors, gowns with undertones of blue-gray or lavender are also popular picks for those not looking to blind their guests with bleach-bright white. Our advice? If you're feeling it, just say yes to the (pink) dress.


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Today, watching pirated movies is arguably easier than it has ever been before.
Pirates can choose from hundreds of torrent, streaming and direct download sites, and there are dedicated applications that allow people to stream the latest blockbusters without paying a cent.
Movie industry insiders are doing whatever they can to contain piracy. This appears to be a near impossible task as many unauthorized sites and services are operated by anonymous owners.
As a result the MPAA and other groups warn that hundreds of thousands of jobs are at stake, while the economy is losing billions due to piracy. Illegal downloads, they say, are slowly killing their creative industry.
Interestingly, these stark warnings are not reflected in last year’s box office revenues.
Recent numbers show that the movie industry just broke the magic $11 billion barrier, generating more revenue than ever before at the North American box office. The revenue for 2015 totals $11.3 billion, which is roughly a 9% change compared to last year.
The worldwide grosses also reached an all-time record according to research from Rentrak, which estimates the global grosses at a staggering $38 billion based on data from 25,000 theaters across the globe.
Another sign that business is going well, at least for some, is the increase in the number of tickets that were sold. In 2015 theaters increased their ticket sales by more than 5% in North America.
Of course, the above doesn’t prove that illegal downloads have no effect at all. It could be that the movie industry would make even more money if all pirate sites disappeared overnight, as some studies suggest.
Also, the movie industry isn’t by any means limited to the box office. DVD sales and various streaming platforms impact the bigger picture as well.
That said, piracy has certainly not destroyed the movie business just yet. There are still plenty of people who are going to the movie theater to pay for their entertainment. Perhaps pirates should up their game?


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Our customers have to delay project financing in order to determine how this is going to affect their goals for 2022 and beyond.
In late March 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce initiated an anti-circumvention investigation into Chinese solar cell and module companies with manufacturing capacity across Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. The uncertainty created by this investigation is already having a significant negative impact on the viability of 2022 and 2023 projects, and is creating additional headwinds within a solar market already grappling with recent challenges in module pricing and supply. Ten years ago, the Department of Commerce implemented antidumping and countervailing duties on solar cells imported from China to the U.S. Over time, manufacturers diversified and built out manufacturing capacity in countries outside of China, which is, in part, why Southeast Asia makes up the majority of U.S. crystalline silicon module supply today. Roughly 80% of U.S. crystalline silicon modules come from Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam for U.S. projects, according to market research presented in a PV Magazine article. The remaining 2021 module supply did come from the U.S., but existing domestic manufacturing relies on parts from China and does not currently have the production capacity necessary to support the U.S. market needs.
Recently, Auxin Solar, a PV module manufacturer based in California, filed a petition to launch an anti-circumvention investigation into four major countries in Southeast Asia. The claim is that manufacturers are avoiding existing tariffs on Chinese products by producing PV cells and modules in Southeast Asia and shipping them to the U.S. If the investigation results in the implementation of new tariffs, this will increase the cost of solar significantly, particularly for the utility-scale segment where the cost of modules can account for as much as 50% of project costs. The tariff rate in question is yet undetermined, but the Department of Commerce would consider a rate anywhere between 50% - 250%. Additionally, these tariffs could be applied retroactively, affecting safe harbored module supplies and operating projects alike. This retroactive date will not be known until either the preliminary or final determination by the Department of Commerce. Considering the current planned length of 300 days for the final determination of this investigation process, with a preliminary determination to be made 150 days into the investigation, having nearly a year of uncertainty around module supply chain and prices is stalling the U.S. solar industry at a time that it should be thriving.
Given the extreme uncertainty, SEIA has reported within a week of the tariff investigation announcement solar development companies have reported over 70% of module orders have been canceled or delayed—thus putting over half of the substantial 2022 solar project pipeline at risk. Developers are looking for alternative sources of modules from countries across the Americas, India, or Europe but are finding that the additional costs, unknown suppliers, unproven quality, and limited supply are challenging to navigate. The announcement by the Department of Commerce has begun to amplify challenges in an already constrained module supply chain that will devastate the downstream market and solar jobs, limit the U.S.’s ability to produce renewable electricity, and slow progress toward local and federal climate goals. It is a seller’s market, and these Southeast Asian manufacturers are expected to pivot their shipments away from the U.S. Those manufacturers not impacted will not be able to make up the shortfall of supply to the fill the U.S. market growth. As a result, modules may be either not available or prices may become prohibitive, further jeopardizing even the projects that do manage to obtain modules.
“Our team has already seen the impact of the tariff investigation on our customers who are having to delay project financing in order to determine how this is going to affect their goals for 2022 and beyond,” says Anat Razon, Head of Solar Independent Engineering and Technology. “The solar supply chain was already constrained and difficult to navigate. Given how connected the solar & storage markets have become, this will also impact the rate at which storage projects come online.” DNV continues to update our annual Energy Transition Outlook, with recent analysis showing we are not on track to meet global climate targets but giving insights on paths to succeed. With the recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) bringing further urgency to act now, it is time to enable a faster energy transition, with all stakeholders working together, globally, to tackle what is a fundamentally global climate crisis. Governments should all be doing more to support clean energy manufacturing and a diversification of these supply chains; however, these should be through incentives for clean energy technologies, manufacturing, and infrastructure, not through retroactive tariffs that increase the cost and slow progress toward the energy transition.
The renewables industry has faced challenges before. However, this disruption comes at a time when there is immense pressure to decarbonize and address climate change as outlined in the latest IPCC report. We must find solutions in the immediate term, and DNV is committed to being part of the solution.
DNV is here to support its customers through this challenging time in a variety of ways.
- Our subject matter experts can help evaluate new module entrants to the U.S. market through factory audits, Bill-of-Material reviews, and module technology and test result assessments.
- Our owners engineering, design, and energy assessment teams can help support project re-designs and update energy assessments.
- Our experts can help review contracts to determine which project deadlines are going to be on the critical path and possibly impacted by module delays. We have experience with challenging project financing scenarios and are able to guide projects through non-standard and partial completion milestones.
- DNV can also observe and verify safe harbored equipment or start of construction for projects that are up against the ITC step down at the end of the year.
- For those companies who cannot wait for the final decision at the end of year and may be looking to sell or purchase solar projects or pipelines, our mergers and acquisitions team is prepared to assist them in determining feasibility and value.
Contact us to learn more about these services as well as how we are supporting the solar industry to build safe, reliable assets that are performing as expected to have a positive impact and help mitigate climate change.


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To celebrate the hop harvest, Rocks Brewing Co has teamed up with Hop Products Australia to incorporate fresh hop flowers into a new limited edition Wet Hop Ale, aimed at showcasing the flavours and nuances that the use of fresh hops can bring to a beer.
“The wet hops smelled amazing straight out of the bag,” Head Brewer Scott Morgan says. “But out of the tank the aroma and flavour is, well, nothing short of amazing. The hop notes at the moment are heavy and lush. We are doing all we can to retain the flavour and aroma throughout the rest of the brewing to make sure our thirsty fans share in this hop-plosion.”
Owen Johnson, from Hop Products Australia, added that brewing with fresh, or wet, hops is a singularly exciting experience for brewers – especially when it comes to using exclusive Australian varietals. “At harvest time we love to get involved with brewers making wet-hopped beers,” he says. “Anything to help make hops the hero in beer is great.”
Weighing in somewhere between 5.0% and 6.0% ABV (alcohol by volume), and featuring Ella and Galaxy hop varieties, the brew blurs the lines between an IRA (India Red Ale) and an IBA (India Brown Ale). The Rocks Brewing team of Scott Morgan and Ben Landsberry, were aiming to create a beer that has features a solid malt profile and flavour, as well as being extremely hoppy.
The brew should be pouring any day now, at quality craft beer venues around Sydney. For more information, head to www.rocksbrewing.com


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LCV market hits 25-year high
- Posted by: Alan Feldberg
- Category: News
The UK new light commercial vehicle (LCV) market enjoyed its best February performance since 1998.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), LCV sales grew by 8.5% to 17,540 units, making it the best February in a quarter of a century.
Registrations of vans weighing greater than 2.5 to 3.5 tonnes rose by 14% to reach 12,125 units, more than two thirds of the total market (69.1%), while vans weighing up to and including 2.0 tonnes increased by 5.2%.
Deliveries of battery electric vans, meanwhile, declined to 966 units, down 44.5% on a particularly strong February in 2022, with traditionally smaller volumes in the month accentuating natural fluctuations in fleet investment.
Year to date, overall LCV registrations are up by 17.5% on the same period in 2022 and by 5.3% on the first two months of pre-pandemic 2020, reflecting demand for these critical vehicles from key sectors.
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: “Following a torrid 2022, the UK van market is returning to sustained growth that is exceeding even pre-pandemic levels. Given the importance of vans to keeping the British economy and society on the move, this growth is good news. With the ZEV market still at a very early stage, however, a concerted effort by all stakeholders to accelerate van-suitable chargepoint installation must become an urgent priority, enabling long-term net zero fleet investment at the scale necessary.”


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Tuesday, December 02, 2003, 09:00 am PT (12:00 pm ET)
Apple Cinema Display updateAccording to a new report, Apple plans to hold off the introduction of new Cinema Displays until the introduction of the second generation Power Mac G5 models. Next generation displays have been rumored for the last 6 months, but according to sources, are not of high priority on Apple's list of revenue generating hardware.
A number of recent reports have corroborated previous rumors pertaining to the displays, including titanium/aluminum enclosures and the existence of a 30" Apple Cinema HD display. One source claims to have seen the 30" display and marks its release as imminent, while a second report says that an official release of the liquid crystal mammoth is still 'under consideration.'
The second generation of G5 Power Macs have been rumored for a timeframe that spans from as early as January, to a more conservative mid-March.
On Topic: General
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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. CCO, -1.93% said Friday its second-quarter profit totaled $68.6 million, or 19 cents per share, from $48.0 million, or 14 cents per share, in the same quarter a year before. A Thomson Financial poll of analysts had predicted earnings at 20 cents per share. The San Antonio-based advertising company said its revenue for the quarter was up 12% on year to $836.7 million, from $748.4 million. The company said that because of a proposed acquisition deal with Thomas H Lee Partners and Bain Capital, it wouldn't be hosting its usual conference call to discuss the earnings in detail, but it added in a statement that its revenues are pacing to grow 10.6% on year for the third quarter and 7.2% for the full year.
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“I never had chest pain, never had shortness of breath,” said Fowler, who believes it was his 15th Bolder Boulder. “I was looking forward to the end, to get the food, sit down to rest and enjoy the Memorial Day service. But no warnings, I just hit the ground.
It will run from Wednesday July 29th until Tuesday August 4th. Show us what it would be like via Photoshop, the best entry gets $50. Entries must be no wider than 550 pixels. Mills is confident enough in Xanadu to push ahead with its European strategy. The company is exploring sites in Seville, Valencia and Barcelona, Spain, and in Rome and Florence, and expects to build a mall similar to Madrid Xanadu in Milan. It also plans a mixed use retail, residential and hotel project in Milan..
The Trade Data Center that we launched last week contains so many data products that they can almost be lost in a blur. Right now I’d like to take some time to zoom in and profile the most exciting new data product the overhauled Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) database. The TAA database, available here, tracks specific layoffs that have occurred due to rising imports or outsourcing, as certified by the Department of Labor..
Google also conveniently never defines how they measured “coolness” and in turn makes it hard for me to believe any member of Gen Z sat down and told someone the absolute coolest brand out there today is Google Chrome. Yet Google would have you believe their internet browser is in the top 10 and beats out brands such as Snapchat, Instagram, Starbucks, BMW, Tesla, and Spotify. Also, I highly doubt that 42% of Gen Z actually uses Google+ while only supposedly only 35% are on Twitter, but perhaps that data was determined by if you use Gmail since that automatically gives you a Google+.
Perhaps I missed something?. Peasants as well as educated people according to Heidegger are under “Dasein,” which is somewhat of a robotic condition (Nietzsche accuses philology for this type of human mental conditioning, but Heidegger says this happens because Human society is too tightly knitted to allow individuals to ever “think outside the box”). Your article assumes that peasants respect the land; you also state that peasants have a relationship with their lands, instead of just cultivating the land for biological reasons feed themselves and their families.
Far from an accident, the exiling of larger clothing by Lululemon is a central piece of the company’s strategy to market its brand as the look of choice for the stylishly fitness conscious, according to former employees and consumer advocates. They say this treatment of larger clothes and customers reflects the culture that Lululemon represents one that falsely suggests skinniness is the paramount feature of health. Lululemon declined to comment..


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Cricket's Muve Music tops 500,000 subscribers
(AP) -- Muve Music, the all-you-can listen music plan offered to subscribers of prepaid wireless carrier Cricket, has attracted more than 500,000 subscribers in its first year of operation.
The milestone announced Monday marks substantially quicker growth than some of Muve's competitors, which include MOG and Rdio, thanks in part to the service being bundled into a monthly cellular plan that includes unlimited talk, text and Web access for as little as $55.
Muve is the second largest music subscription service in the U.S. behind Rhapsody, which has 1 million subscribers. Swedish service Spotify says it has 2.5 million subscribers worldwide, but it hasn't disclosed its U.S. subscriber count since launching in the country last July.
"The growth rate for the service continues to accelerate and we couldn't be more excited," said Jeff Toig, general manager of Muve Music.
In September, Cricket expanded the Muve offering nationwide at retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., using a roaming arrangement with Sprint Nextel Corp.
Cricket is a unit of Leap Wireless International Inc., the seventh largest cellphone carrier in the U.S. with some 5.9 million customers at the end of 2011.
The company has said that Muve has become a key way to attract new subscribers, and Cricket added 413,000 net new subscribers last year.
Toig said the company is seeing indications that Muve customers are highly attached to the service and are less likely to drop their cellphone plans as a result. Overall, Leap said that "churn," or the percentage of customers who drop cellphone service every month, fell to 3.7 percent to 3.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, from 4 percent a year earlier.
Muve users on average download 300 songs to their phones every month and spend about 40 hours a month listening to the music.
Leap shares rose 430 cents, or 5 percent, to $9.05 in afternoon trading Monday.
©2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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YouTuber Valkyrae is in the talks of netizens and other people after she gets trolled on the Internet after her skincare series RFLCT. Well, the YouTuber has been promised but that goes failed and even has negative effects when coming in contact with computer lights. The YouTube authority issued a statement regarding the side effects of the skincare series. In response to this, Valkyrae released a voice note explaining that she will try to keep her promise in the future during the live broadcast. Get more information regarding Valkyrae Skin Care Series RFLCT controversy.
According to the latest reports, the skincare website RFLCT acclaimed that the Sun is the only source of blue light, but with today’s technology, we have always been exposed. It continued by explaining about the blue light and even stated that the light caused damage to the skin and eyes as well. Later, RFLCT assured that it will protect the skin of its user from the hazardous blue ray. However, as soon as the products have been introduced it started getting criticized the Internet due to a lack of scientific evidence.
YouTuber Valkyrae Skin Care Controversy Explained
As the controversy was circulated and come to the attention of Medical experts, The New York Times divided the effects of blue light on the skin covers the various aspects of the light and the website’s claim. Later, a doctor comes with specific points antioxidants haven’t been proven that they can reduce or prevent the effect of blue light. The website was surrounded by controversy after this statement. Along with that another chief scientist at Beiersdorf a huge skincare company denied the effects of blue light on the skin. In The New York time then the acclaimed amount of blue light coming from the sun is larger than digital screens.
Another skincare company stated that sunscreen can assist in caring for the skin from the rays. Although, the website of RFLCT doesn’t mention any ingredients named SPF on its product landing page. The issue is circulating on all the social media platforms including Twitter and Reddit. Stay tuned with Social Telecast for more information and all the latest updates.


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New logos for protected food and drink products unveiled
New logos for food and drink products with European Union Protected Food Name (EUPFN) status have today been unveiled.
At the end of the transition period, all existing protected UK products under the scheme will automatically get protection under a new UK GI status.
Wales currently has 16 protected food and drink products, ranging from Traditional Welsh Caerphilly Cheese, Halen Mon, Welsh lamb to the latest addition Denbigh plum.
Protected products benefit from a high profile and are recognised for their special qualities by consumers across the world.
The new logos, which the Welsh Government has worked with Defra, GI producers and consumers on their development, will represent the unique and protected nature of these products to consumers. It will provide confidence the protected product is linked to origin and is authentic whilst protecting makers against imitation.
Welcoming the new scheme, the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths said:
We are incredibly proud of our world renowned Welsh food and drink sector. Wales currently has 16 protected food & drink products, all of which will be given automatic recognition in the new UK GI scheme, which will come into force at the end of the transition period.
The new logos unveiled today will ensure our protected products continue to be officially recognised for their authenticity, uniqueness & high quality.
There are three UK GI logos, which mark each designation of geographical indication:
- Protected designation of origin (PDO);
- Protected geographical indication (PGI)
- Traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG)
Registered producers of British food, drink and agricultural GI products that are required to use the logos will have until 1 January 2024 to change packaging to display the new UK GI logos.
Legislation due to be laid today in the UK Parliament will enable the new GI schemes to be administered, ensure continue protection of existing products, establish the new logos and simplify the application process.
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SHANGHAI, China — Could the world’s currency of choice have the face of Mao Tse-tung on it, not George Washington’s?
Quixotic or not, the Chinese are preparing for that day.
In a series of what might be called baby steps, Chinese officials recently have moved to globalize the yuan and promote its influence overseas, with Shanghai designated as command central.
Since last December, China has signed deals with six countries, including South Korea, Malaysia and most recently Argentina, for currency swaps that would inject Chinese money into foreign banking systems. That would allow foreign companies to make payments for Chinese exports in yuan, bypassing the dollar — the currency that dominates international trade and finance, including foreign exchange reserves.
Beijing is also taking initiatives to use the yuan, also known as the renminbi, to settle trade accounts between some Chinese provinces and neighboring states, starting with Hong Kong.
“The central bank has set promoting the renminbi for payment settlements as the main task for this year’s work,” said Shi Lei, an analyst in the global financial markets section at Bank of China in Beijing.
China is also spreading the yuan’s influence in the Asian region by making loans and investments in other countries, as well as through its many tourists who are carrying loads of Chinese currency in their pockets. In Cambodia, where the U.S. dollar has long dominated, a tour guide in Angkor Wat recently asked visitors whether he could be paid in Chinese yuan.
Meanwhile, Chinese officials have called attention to the risks of an international monetary system that relies on the dollar, which many analysts see as unstable because of heavy deficit spending by Washington to combat the recession.
Still, Kirby Daley, a strategist in Hong Kong for brokerage Newedge Group, said: “I think these are very, very shrewd moves” by the Chinese. “The timing is really good.”
Daley and other experts say it will take years for the yuan to supplant the dollar; the Chinese currency is currently tightly controlled and not even freely tradable in international markets. It will take time for the yuan to gain international acceptance and for China to reform its capital markets and diversify its economy, critical preconditions before the Chinese can elevate its currency to rival the dollar.
But given the high risk of inflation diminishing the value of the dollar, and neither the euro nor the Japanese yen viewed as attractive alternatives, Chinese and Western analysts say they can envision the yuan becoming the dominant currency by 2020. That’s when Beijing expects the yuan will have been fully liberalized, institutional arrangements and rules set, and Shanghai established as an international financial center.
“That’s a reasonable timetable,” said Tim Condon, chief Asia economist for ING Financial Markets in Singapore, adding that the outlook for the U.S. and Chinese currencies are in the opposite directions. “I see undesirable risk against the dollar and appreciation pressure on the Chinese yuan.”
For the Chinese, that’s not necessarily a good thing at the moment. China holds a stockpile of about $2 trillion of foreign exchange reserves, about half in U.S. Treasury bonds and other U.S.-government-backed debt. Beijing is worried that the dollar will weaken and erode the value of those investments.
Yet any sudden or large move to shift those funds could destabilize the dollar and hurt Chinese interests.
At the same time, the yuan is widely thought to be undervalued. American manufacturers and politicians have long complained that China manipulates its currency to boost exports. By keeping the yuan’s value artificially low, critics say, Chinese manufacturers can sell their goods more cheaply in overseas markets. If the exchange rate — currently pegged at 6.8 yuan to $1 — was not tightly set by Beijing, even Chinese analysts figure the ratio could drop to 5 yuan to the dollar.
Given China’s heavy reliance on trade and related investments for its economic growth, Beijing can’t afford to let the yuan appreciate too quickly. To reduce those risks, it needs time to continue to grow its economy and transfer more of its economic output to services and the domestic sector.
A shift from the dollar to the yuan as the global currency would have significant practical and symbolic consequences. The dominance of the dollar in trade, financing tools, commodity pricing and international payments has given the U.S. a big advantage in driving commerce and funding the running of the country, although that’s also allowed Americans to spend more than it produces and saves.
Psychologically, the unseating of the dollar would be akin to the America losing its stature as the world’s supreme economic power.
Yi Xianrong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, cautions against getting too excited about the Chinese government’s recent moves, including the Cabinet’s announcement last week that Shanghai would be built into an international finance hub. He says there’s a long way to go before the yuan can become an international currency.
At the moment, the yuan, which has a picture of Mao on every note, is traded in the open market in only a handful of small countries, such as Romania. “It’s not so meaningful to talk about this right now when the renminbi is not yet convertible,” Yi said.


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Amazon has sold more than 100 million Alexa-enabled devices in 2018. The company recently released the 3rd generation Echo Dot and it was sold like hot cakes. There was an acute shortage of stocks in all countries and the company had a tough time to deal with production related woes.
The latest reports suggest that the company has sold more than 100 million Alexa-enabled devices in 2018. According to industry analysts, the overall sales of Amazon Echo Dot has increased substantially and has exceeded all expectations. Moreover, nearly one million tech-savvy people had registered to receive invites to purchase Echo Auto. If you are unaware, Echo Auto can be mounted inside any car and is powered by Alexa.
In addition to news rendering and music listening, the Alexa-powered devices such as Echo Dot, Echo, Echo Spot and much more can be extended with the help of Alexa skills. The Echo smart speakers also provide support for alarm and timer functionalities. While the Echo Dot ships with a mini speaker, the full-blown Echo comes with a powerful bass speaker. However, you can establish connectivity with Bluetooth speaker to enhance the sound output of Echo speakers.
No doubt, Amazon has taken over Google when it comes to the sales of smart speakers. It seems that people are addicted to Amazon Echo instead of Google Home since the Jeff Bezos owned company has breached the 100 Million sale. However, Google Home speakers have its own advantages because
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Islamabad July 11 2023: As per the latest data shared by Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA), car sales plunged by 58.8 percent, the steepest fall in country’s history, 96,812 units during the fiscal year 2023.
Auto sales decreased due to issues in opening of Letter of Credits, record high domestic prices and shrinking income levels due to mounting inflation and decelerating economic growth.
Last year, car sales recorded at 234,000 the high of all time on incentives provided by the government by relaxing terms of Auto Financing and lean interest rate cycle.
The breakup figures showed that 12,823 units of Honda Civic and City were sold during the corresponding period of the year 2022-23 as compared to the sale of 35,197 units last year, thus showing a dip of 63.56 per cent.
Toyota Corolla and Yaris cars sales also decreased by 66.67 per cent as it went down to 18,838 units from 56,528 units in the same period of the previous year.
However, Suzuki Swift’s sales went up by 50.87 per cent as sales increased to 9,339 units from 6,190 units last year.
Sale of Suzuki Cultus decreased to 6,956 units during the period under review, whereas during the same period last year, the sale was recorded at 23,169 units while the sale of Suzuki Wagon-R also decreased to 5,434 units from 23,131 units.
Suzuki Alto’s sales also witnessed a sharp decline of 50.30 per cent from 71,198 units to 35,379 units during the year under review, whereas the sale of Suzuki Bolan decreased to 4,447 units as opposed to the sale of 12,361 units in the same period of last year.


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Excessive Sweating – Interview with Galaxus online retailer
Dermatologist Dr. Hero Schnitzler with his practice in Zurich Enge was interviewed at the end of the year on the subject of heavy, excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis).
The interview was led by the editor of Galaxus, a leading Swiss on-line retailer. The matter of the interview was the overwhelming inquiry of Galaxus customers concerning measures against extreme sweating, for example of the underarms. And, how Galaxus Customer Sales and Service can provide professional information.Hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) Therapy
The online retailer is often faced with the question from their customers of what to do about problems with excessive sweating; what measures can be taken, what personal care products are available or what clothing is suitable for excessive sweating.
The entire interview with the expert against hyperhidrosis here:


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Keith Urban plans to reveal a big announcement by calling up a few lucky fans next week.
The country megastar will be hosting a “live, interactive phone and streaming event” through Vekeo on Jan. 11 at 12 p.m. EST, 11 a.m. CST. Urban will reportedly be ringing up a few lucky fans through the Vekeo platform to discuss his endeavors for the coming year, and is sure to drop a few big announcements along the way.
The 48-year-old has kept his cards close to his chest, so exactly what he will be revealing is anyone’s guess. But most of what we can gather Urban’s social media pages point to the release date for his upcoming studio album, tentatively titled Ripcord, which is set to hit store shelves some time this year through Capitol Records.
The country star curiously tweeted the word back in October, leaving fans on the edge of their seats for his next announcement.
Ripcord – KU pic.twitter.com/mqEdUzXelc
— Keith Urban (@KeithUrban) October 24, 2015
Urban has also yet to announce any touring plans for 2016, so we’d expect an initial announcement about upcoming live dates isn’t out of the question. The single for the album, “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16”, was debuted on YouTube back in October.
For fans who want to be the first to know what Keith has to say, you’ll have to register for a chance to get a coveted phone call from the superstar. If that lottery doesn’t suit your liking, stay tuned to Wide Open Country for the latest developments surrounding Keith and his band.


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Micromax Unite 2, one of the best selling smartphone from Micromax Mobile which was launched in competition to the Motorola Moto E is now receiving Android Lollipop 5.0 update. Micromax sold over 1.5 million handsets of Unite 2 since its launch in May, 2014 which rounds up to approximately, 3 units per minute as per the company.
To recap, Unite 2 was the world’s first smartphone to launch with 21 languages support. Apart from that Micromax Unite 2 features a 4.7-inch WVGA display powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core processor paired with 1GB of RAM and 4GB internal storage. The handset is still available to buy for Rs. 6,299 and will come pre-loaded with Android 5.0 Lollipop.
For those who already own one, the Lollipop update will be rolled out via an OTA i.e. Over-The-Air update wirelessly which can be checked and updated directly from the smartphone when connected to Internet. The update will be available starting April 7, 2015 which is early next week.


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Harmonized EU consumer prices in Albania accelerate in August
Friday, Sep 23, 2022, 2:30 p.m.
Photo by Zysko Sergii/Shutterstock.com
Albania’s annual harmonized consumer price index (HICP) rose 7.7% in August, after rising 7.2% in July, the Statistics Institute (Instat) based on in Tirana.
The largest upward push in annual inflation in August came from a 14.4% rise in the transport group’s harmonized index, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages with a 13.3% rise and alcoholic beverages and tobacco with an increase of 5.5%.
On a monthly basis, the HICP rose slightly by 0.7% in August, after increasing by 0.6% in July.
Albania’s non-harmonised consumer price inflation rose 8% year-on-year in August, after rising 7.5% the previous month, the statistics institute said earlier this month.
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