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Yes, no, maybe so
It was a busy day for global dealmakers, with some deals going ahead, some being scuttled and yet others being given further consideration. Here are some of the key deals of the day:
** Value investment firm Southeastern Asset Management has boosted its stake in Sun Microsystems Inc and has talked to the computer hardware company about its strategic alternatives.
** Saputo Inc said that it planned to buy the Neilson Dairy division of George Weston Ltd for C$465 million ($372.5 million), boosting its presence in the Ontario fluid milk market.
** Media magnate Sumner Redstone does not plan to sell any more shares in Viacom Inc or CBS Corp, two companies he controls, he told cable television network CNBC.
** Deutsche Lufthansa is not in talks now to merge its Germanwings airline unit with TUI AG’s TUIfly carrier, a spokesman for Lufthansa said.
** General Motors Corp is exploring the sale of ACDelco, its global aftermarket parts business, to raise cash, the No. 1 automaker said.
** Icelandic bank Straumur-Burdaras is in talks with troubled Landsbanki to buy parts of its UK business after ditching a similar deal earlier this month, a source familiar with the situation said.


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Some dealers greatly overpriced the new Chevy CorvetteAugust 26, 2019
Fans of the American sports car Chevy Corvette C8 have teamed up to avoid dealership margins, which in some cases reach $ 30,000. They create communities on the web where they publish lists of honest dealers.
To avoid dealers’ margins on the new generation of Corvette (index C8), fans of this iconic model decided to unite. It turns out that some dealerships set their markup on a sports car and it can reach up to $ 30,000.
When Chevy published a price list for its new product, the base price was only $ 59,995, which meant that many could afford a new mid-engined car. Unfortunately, some dealerships allow themselves to profit from such people and add their own, sometimes even very large margins.
Even the initial equipment of a sports car turns from an affordable purchase into a rather expensive pleasure. Fortunately, there is a smart solution for the masses.
To fight dealers who are trying to make money on the hype around the new C8, communication forums appear on forums dedicated to this car, which publish lists of dealers who will sell the C8 at the retail price recommended by the car manufacturer, as well as those who put their margins . This is how customers will learn about honest dealers, while avoiding scammers.
It is reported that the eight largest dealers in the United States in terms of sales of the previous generation Corvette are selling a new generation of coupes at the price recommended by the automaker.
- Isuzu has officially unveiled the new crossover Mu-X
- Mercedes SL 2022 spotted on tests in Germany
- Dutch flying car PAL-V allowed on the roads
- “Charged” Jaguar F-Pace SVR prepares for restyling
- Prices for Toyota’s new Mirai hydrogen sedan announced

domain: news


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Disney Park Updates for June 6th 2021
Orange County is ready for summer, Tusker House will reopen, and Club Level rooms are coming back soon. Here are the Disney Park Updates you need to know.
Orange County Fully Reopens
Orange County, Florida, has ended its state of emergency. Mayor Jerry Demings confirmed during his third state-of-the-county speech that the pandemic is over. Demings announced that all county health mandates would end on June 5th.
Notably, Walt Disney World didn’t make any declarations of its own.
What Orange County’s Decision Means for Disney
So, the park rules in place haven’t gone away yet. Cast members are in the process of rescinding all signs of the pandemic, though.
Disney has removed most social distancing signs and even altered rules for workers. Some outdoor employees no longer need to wear face coverings.
The rule applies to cast members who don’t interact with guests. As long as their job requirements involve organic social distancing, they don’t need a mask.
Disney has clarified that anytime a worker enters an area where they may come into contact with guests, they must put on a mask.
The company is working toward a balance of employee satisfaction and guest safety.
Overall, Florida’s pandemic COVID-19 numbers have improved to the point that healthcare officials only provide weekly updates now. The daily briefings are a thing of the past.
As a reminder, the other Orange County, the one in California, will reopen fully on June 15th. We’re in the final week of pandemic restrictions for the counties that host Disney theme parks.
One other note from Demings involves the Central Florida economy. The Mayor suggested that the region will feel the lingering impact of Coronavirus for at least three years.
However, Demings believes that the Orlando economy will return to pre-pandemic levels by mid-summer, much faster than anyone had expected.
Disney Park and Resort Updates
I’ve got plenty of good Disney news to share this week.
Tusker House Reopening Date Set
For starters, Tusker House will finally reopen on June 20th.
The beloved Donald Duck character meal is among the most popular meals at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. When it returns, it’ll offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Like other former buffets, Tusker House will switch to family-style service for a while, if not permanently.
Breakfast will cost $42 for adults and $27 for children, while lunch and dinner are $55 for adults and $42 for children. We’re all missing the Disney Dining Plan right now, aren’t we?
Park guests will also discover new PhotoPass opportunities during Pride Month. You’ll find them at Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and Disney Springs.
Fans of the new Disney release, Cruella, are in luck as well. Disney has invented a fabulous newspaper headline PhotoPass.
This image will insert your picture into a virtual background of a Cruella premiere event. As a fan of the movie, I WANT this picture.
Club Level Update
The other update that could impact your next trip involves Club Level. Some Walt Disney World resorts have opened booking for this room trip.
Here’s the return schedule for the impacted resorts:
- Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa – September 16th
- Disney’s BoardWalk Resort – September 23rd
- Disney’s Contemporary Resort – September 26th
- Disney’s Wilderness Lodge – December 16th
- Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort – December 16th
Unfortunately, Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge hasn’t revealed a return date yet. You still can’t book Kilimanjaro Club Level yet.
Also, Disney has stated that guests must wear face masks in the Club Level lounges. That may change if/when Walt Disney World updates its mask policy, but it’s the law for now.
A DVC Change and Some Other Park Updates
DVC has once again altered its policy for card-carrying members. If you want DVC Membership Extras and aren’t currently grandfathered in, the rules have changed.
You must buy 150 points directly from Disney to acquire Membership Extras. Nick Cotton has previously debated the value of these extras.
Suffice to say that Disney charges a lot for minimal benefit, and I say that as a card-carrying member. The change took place on June 3rd. So, it’s already in effect for potential DVC members.
In other park news, Celebration of Festival of the Lion King has added morning shows at 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
So, you’ll have an easier time getting to watch the show, which has claimed crazy-long lines since its return.
On the downside, Canada Far and Wide in Circle-Vision 360 will close for refurbishment on June 27th. It’s apparently going to be down at least five weeks, and nobody’s sure why.
Some have speculated that Disney may use this space for the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, but I have been unable to confirm that.
The new movie just debuted in January of 2020. It’d be alarming if technical issues have cropped up already.
Finally, Disney has filed some permits for the oft-delayed Roundup Rodeo BBQ at Toy Story Land. The pandemic put this project on hold for a year, but Disney’s ready to get started again.


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In keeping with a tradition of supporting the local community, Steele Hill Resorts offered guests a special treat during the recent February School vacation period. By hosting an Usborne Books & More Book Fair, the resort was able to provide vacationers with some great reading material during their break and help raise money for the Sanbornton public library.
“We set things up in our activities room and brought in some pizza to help attract more vacationers,” says Nancy Sapack, Steele Hill’s activities director. “The guest really enjoyed themselves and we were able to raise a significant amount of money for future book purchases at the Sanbornton public library.”
Carol Varney, Usborne Books & More local representative, organized and ran the book fair one day during each of the two school vacation weeks at no charge to the Resort. “When a school, business or organization hosts an Usborne Books & More book fair, they earn up to 50% of the total sales back in free Usborne children’s books. Businesses can use this as an opportunity to help non-profits as the Resort has done here with the library,” explained Varney. This was the first time an event of this type was held at the Resort and, according to Varney, the Resort’s guests and staff alike responded very positively to it and especially appreciated the fact that half of their purchase was coming back to the local library in free books.
Cab Vinton, Sanbornton Public Library’s Director, was perhaps the happiest person, though, when he received the news of the successful book fair and was asked to submit a list of over 30 book titles of his choice. The new additions are slated to add to the growing children’s section at the town library.
“Sanbornton has been a great place to grow up in and do business in over the years. Having a chance to give back to the community is a truly rewarding experience. I hope the new books will help put a smile on the faces of the kids at Sanbornton Central,” stated Justin Cutillo, Steele Hill Resort’s Director of E-Marketing.


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The cryptocurrency underwent a “fork” on August 1, giving birth to the second version of Bitcoin.
A new cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Cash, emerged on Tuesday, August 1, after the Bitcoin community was divided over the speed of transactions.
For several years, part of the community of users of Bitcoin, an anonymous digital currency that can be exchanged but also “mined” – using powerful computers to solve complex mathematical problems – has been stunned by all kinds of problems related to nature. currency. If Bitcoin was relatively easy to mine when it first came out, the protocol governing the currency states that only a limited number of Bitcoins (21 million) can be created – so it’s getting harder and more expensive over time. mine. The currency remains the most used of its kind, but faces some difficulties, including increased transaction costs.
transaction record keeping
So, as dictated by the currency rules, part of the community wanted to create a fork — a second currency derived from Bitcoin that would be able to process more transactions per second. After a long debate, the option was finally adopted on Tuesday, with the first Bitcoin Cash mined overnight. The new currency is still tied to Bitcoin because it carries the history of Bitcoin transactions as of yesterday.
After a brief dip on Tuesday, bitcoin’s value stabilized at around 2,300 euros overnight. In June, the currency reached an all-time high of around 2,600 euros.
Created by one or more anonymous computer scientists and published under the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto,” Bitcoin’s principles are based on blockchain, a technology that uses encoded and verified blocks of transactions that are added to each other. Blockchain is considered tamper-proof because in order to modify information, it must be changed for all users at the same time, which ensures the stability of the system.


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Why You May See More Chinese Tourists In Arizona
Thanks to its strong economy and growing middle class, China is the world’s biggest market source for tourism. Last year, the Chinese took more than 140 million overseas trips. By 2030, that number’s expected to top 400 million. Public and private groups across the globe are trying to cash in, including Arizona destinations.
Meet Jonathan Jiang
Arizona is like a second home to Jonathan Jiang.
“I like the nature and the landscape and the, you know, the Western styles of small towns,” he said.
Jiang has traveled all over the state and carries that knowledge nearly 7,000 thousand miles east to Shanghai. That’s where he lives and works to promote Arizona through the state’s office of tourism.
Inside the Camelback Inn Resort last month, Jiang attended the governor’s annual conference on tourism where Consultant Renee Hartman led a workshop on China.
She told a group of hospitality and tourism representatives that nearly 90 percent of Chinese travelers are under the age of forty.
“Two-thirds belong to the high-income bracket and they outspend their parents or grandparents by as much as 40 percent,” she said.
In 2017, Chinese tourists spent 81,400 nights in Arizona, more than double the overnight stays reported in 2013.
Attracting Chinese Tourists
Reaching the lucrative market requires different approaches. The Chinese government blocks most social media platforms used in the West, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google. Instead, Hartmann said more than a billion Chinese people use an app called WeChat.
“So, it’s not just young people that are on it,” she said. ”It’s old, young, rich, poor. Everybody is on WeChat.”
The app lets users do almost anything — text, make calls, schedule doctor’s appointments, play games, share photos, pay bills. When it comes to money, Hartmann said merchants should think digital. Mobile payment technology is embraced across China.
“You know you might even see a homeless person who has a QR code and is getting payment through mobile payments, so, mobile payment is everywhere,” Hartmann said. “People don’t even use cash anymore.”
Last year the Arizona Office of Tourism established a presence on Ctrip, a popular Chinese travel site. But Kimberly Todd says building relationships still matters. She takes Chinese journalists and trade representatives on tours around the state and even markets to Chinese students attending Arizona universities.
“So we really want to reach out to them and let them know all the great things they can see and do while they’re here, but also their friends and relatives who come to visit them,” Todd said.
When they visit, Hartmann said hotel and restaurant workers should understand what she calls "cultural essentials." She said most Chinese people prefer to shower at night, have a hot breakfast and warm drinks.
“Even when it’s hot outside, most people — in America in particular — love a lot of ice, a lot of cold things,” she said. “I remember when I lived in China I would go and get a bottle of water and people would love to give me the ones that were iced over because no Chinese person would want to have the ice water, everybody wants it to be warm.”
Educating Chinese travelers is also necessary. Many will travel from Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon and not even realize they’re in Arizona. Or they may visit northern Arizona and never venture south. Jonathan Jiang said having direct flights from China to Phoenix could make a difference.
“I think it’s very important to the Chinese traveler because it’s time saving,” he said. “They can spend more time in [the] Phoenix area and southern Arizona.”
So why would Arizona — with no direct flights — spend time and resources to compete with nearby states that do? The market potential is big.
In a country of 1.4 billion people, only 8 percent have passports.


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Union Pacific Corp., citing slowing economic conditions, said Wednesday it will cut 2,000 jobs next year.
The nation's largest railroad said it will take a fourth-quarter charge of $70 million, or about 26 cents a share, to pay for the elimination of the jobs, which represent about 4 percent of the company's workforce.
"The downward trend in the economy has accelerated sharply in the past few weeks," said Dick Davidson, chairman and chief executive, in a statement.
The railroad employs several thousand workers in the Chicago area, principally at its Proviso freight yard in Northlake and its freight yard in West Chicago.
The Omaha-based railroad has been seeking a site for a giant intermodal freight yard, where shipping containers would be loaded onto trucks for final delivery.
Proposed sites near the DuPage County Airport or near Maple Park were blocked by residents afraid the noise and truck traffic would drive down home values.
Railroad officials have opposed efforts to force the proposed yard further west to Rochelle, saying it is too far from the railroad's customers. Rochelle is about 80 miles west of Chicago.
In addition, Union Pacific warned that it expects fourth-quarter earnings, before the one-time charge, to fall short of Wall Street expectations. The railroad said it expects to earn 87 cents to 90 cents a share, compared with the 93 cents estimated by a consensus of analysts contacted by First Call/Thomson Financial.
"The railroad's fourth-quarter carloadings are expected to rise by only 1 percent over a year ago, considerably below our forecast," Davidson said. "An increasing number of our customers report that their business levels have weakened, and few see any signs of significant improvement."
Shares of Union Pacific closed, before the company's announcement, at a 12-month high on Wednesday of $52.62.
The company said its job cuts would occur primarily during the first half of 2001 and said about half of the reductions are expected to come through attrition. The rest will come from an early retirement program and layoffs.


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It’s going to be “pandamonium” on the high seas this summer, as Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas and Liberty of the Seas will have the latest Kung Fu Panda film showing onboard from June through August 2011. There will also be a series of special red-carpet premieres aboard each ship; Oasis of the Seas on June 4, Freedom of the Seas and Allure of the Seas on June 5, and Liberty of the Seas on June 18.
To complement the new film, the second in the Kung Fu Panda story, Royal Caribbean is also rolling out a new promotion called “Pandamonium,” which is a cruise promotion aimed at families this summer. The package is available onboard the ships featuring the DreamWorks Experience, and includes VIP seating at one of the onboard “Kung Fu Panda 2” premieres, exclusive meet and greets with the characters, two soft drink packages, two cupcakes from the Cupcake Cupboard, a complimentary family photo and a chance for guests to build their own Pets at Sea plush animal.
For more information contact www.royalcaribbean.com.au or your travel agent.
Vote in this year’s special Readers’ Choice Awards
No doubt 2020 will go down in cruise history as the year of the pandemic – a once in a generation event. And this year’s Cruise Passenger Readers’ Choice Awards will reflect it.


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Watchdog under fire over LV sale: FCA urged to reveal details of rival bid from Royal London which would have saved the insurer from private equity barons
The City watchdog has come under fire over its handling of the US private equity takeover of LV.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) yesterday received a letter from the chairman of a group of MPs demanding that it release details about the circumstances surrounding the historic British mutual insurer’s £530million sale to Bain Capital.
The deal would see LV, formerly Liverpool Victoria, lose its mutual status. It would no longer be owned by its members but run by a profit-hungry investor.
Questions: The FCA has received a letter from the chairman of a group of MPs demanding it release details about the circumstances surrounding LV’s £530m sale to Bain Capital
MPs are interested in a rival offer from fellow British mutual Royal London, which would have saved the 178-year-old insurer from private equity barons.
They also quizzed the FCA on what it knows about the potential rewards being offered to LV bosses.
In a letter seen by the Mail, the chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Mutuals Gareth Thomas asked the watchdog to confirm Royal London offered more money than Bain.
For legal reasons Royal London cannot confirm if its offer was higher, but it has been reported that it offered £540million for LV – £10million more than Bain.
A panel representing 340,000 with-profits LV members was said to have favoured the Royal London offer, initially rejecting Bain Capital.
Now MPs are demanding the FCA fulfils its ‘crucial obligation’ to protect consumers and publish what it knows about the rival offer.
Bosses ‘devious’ in forcing deal
LV bosses have been accused of being ‘devious’ in trying to force through Bain’s £530m takeover.
The mutual’s 1.16m members will be asked to vote on the 178-year-old mutual’s sale in two votes between now and December 8 – or at an online meeting on December 10.
One will be to approve the sale, another will allow LV bosses to override their constitution, which requires 75 per cent of members to back a private equity takeover, with a minimum turnout of 50 per cent.
Chairman Alan Cook has admitted it is ‘frankly impossible’ that so many members will vote.
To get around this problem those that do take part will be asked to vote to drop the turnout requirement.
Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge described it as ‘devious and underhanded’.
The letter said: ‘It is now clear that the two most valuable bids received by the Liverpool Victoria board were from Bain Capital and crucially, another mutual, Royal London.
Will you confirm what many have explicitly suggested; that Royal London offered more money than Bain Capital?’
Thomas said the 1.16m members who own LV cannot make a ‘complete assessment’ of the bids without seeing the report.
Bain’s bid for LV has garnered criticism across the political spectrum.
Pay rise: LV chief exec Mark Hartigan (pictured)
Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake said: ‘The FCA needs to set out clearly the evidence and basis on which it has considered the consumer interest of the sale to Bain Capital.’
Members will be able to vote on the deal between now and December 8 or at a special meeting on December 10.
If it is approved, ordinary members will receive a £100 payout while with-profits members will be given an additional boost when their policies mature.
The deal has been slammed by members, who have called the £100 offer a ‘bribe’ and a ‘paltry’ sum.
Thomas also urged the FCA to release any information it has about how much chief executive Mark Hartigan and chairman Alan Cook will be paid if the deal passes. Hartigan has claimed he will gain nothing.
But it is understood he will receive a stake in the company and a pay rise potentially worth millions if members vote for the takeover.
Cook will stay in post earning £210,000 a year. Both would likely have lost their jobs under a deal with Royal London.
It is thought Royal London is waiting in the wings and could return with its own offer for LV if members reject the Bain deal.
LV bosses claimed ‘Bain Capital was the only option that offered both an excellent financial outcome for members and gave unrivalled support for the LV brand, our people and UK-based locations’.
Make your voice heard on LV
We are encouraging LV members, customers, or others, who would like to see it retain its mutual status, rather than be bought out by private equity, to write to it.
You could use the wording from the letter printed in the Daily Mail newspaper’s City pages (pictured here).
We have included the words for you to copy and paste into a letter below.
Send it to Alan Cook, Chairman of LV=, Liverpool Victoria, County Gates, Bournemouth, BH1 2NF
Dear Alan Cook,
I, the undersigned, urge you to reconsider your decision to sell LV= to Bain Capital and instead maintain its mutual status.


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Faulty defibrillators recalled
A medical device alert has been issued for an external defibrillator because of malfunctions that can prevent or delay the delivery of delivering a shock.
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A mix of cheaper video games and higher subscription dollars at its kid-focused virtual world Club Penguin helped drive the Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) Company’s interactive revenues up 20 percent in Q3. For the year, interactive’s revenues were up a decent 7 percent. That helped pare the segment’s losses down considerably. For the quarter, interactive’s losses came in at $104 million, versus $114 the year before. For the full year, the digital unit lost $234 million from $295 million previously.
Specially, Disney said lower pricing on self-published video games driven by Toy Story 3, and increased subscribers at its mobile phone service business in Japan also helped boost revenues.
The cable and broadcast networks were able to ride the wave of this past year’s ad spending recovery, though only slightly. The cable business, which includes ESPN and international cable channels, were hit with decreases in equity income of $58 million charge for Disney’s share of programming writeoffs at A&E/Lifetime.


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Rebecca has been working with Samsung and The Huffington Post on a video for the new Samsung Note 4. Not only has she been testing out the new phone but she also visited Audi City London for a virtual test drive using the Samsung Gear VR.
The combination of the Samsung Gear VR and the Note4 gave Rebecca the chance to experience a 3D drive in an Audi TTS. Watch the video and you’ll hear Rebecca exclaim just how realistic it was from the noise it makes as it shifts up to the surroundings when you’re in the car.
The Note 4 itself is handy for someone like Rebecca as it gives her the chance to multi-task during a busy day. She’ll use the Scrapbook function when working on an article as she can do her research then select and save the bits of information or images in a folder for the car she’s reviewing.
If it’s a race weekend Rebecca will be taking a lot of photos, as those of you who follow her on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook will know, and a phone with a good camera is so important. Not only is the camera perfect for snapping pictures of cars but the built in airbrush facility means Rebecca will no doubt be using it on nights out too!
Take a look at the video for yourself over on The Huffington Post where you find out more about the Samsung Note 4 and will be able to see the high-tech Samsung Gear VR in action too!
You can find out more about what Rebecca’s been up to over on her Facebook page.


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Elon Musk mentioned that Edison was his role model rather than Nikola Tesla according to this youtube. I assume the interview asking about the credit on Tesla ended up differently.
Elon Musk was born in 1971 and raised in South Africa. When he entered the university, he moved to Canada and then transferred to the University of Pennsylvania. He also started a Ph.D. at Stanford but quit for founding a startup when he was 26.
Tesla was named after Nikola Tesla since Tesla invented AC (alternating current) induction motor. However, Elon told the interviewer Edison was the big fan because Edison was a brilliant marketer who made available throughout the world by aggressive marketing campaigns.
When he was little, it was not so supportive environment in terms of his family and friends.
His parents were divorced when he was 9. He was bullied throughout his childhood because of his smartness. One of the worst things was that he was sent to the hospital by being smashed his head to the pavement and his nose led to being fixed by surgery.
This kind of hash experiences made him robust mentally and physically.
He did not stop. He never stopped even if many people have tried to draw his legs.
Word of the day: sentient


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Taking care of the Earth can begin with planting native plant species, recycling cans and bottles or capturing rain water in rain barrels to create water reserves.
Visitors to the Earth Day & Recycling Extravaganza in Glen Ellyn can get started on all those endeavors and/or enhance an already environmentally-friendly approach to life.
The free event will take place in the Duane/Lorraine parking lot from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, April 22.
The eastern half of the lot will host local vendors and organizations showcasing their goods and services.
In conjunction with a native plant sale, the Glen Ellyn Public Library will present a lecture titled "Native Plants for All Seasons" at 10 a.m. The library also will present Earth Day crafts for kids from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and a children's story time from 11 to 11:30 a.m.
There also will be rain barrels for sale at the event. There is a limited number of barrels available for day-of-event sales; pre-orders are being taken at http://upcycle-products.com/glenellyn.html.
Food concessions will be available for purchase, including crepes, hot dogs and burritos.
Live musical entertainment will include performances by Dave Glynn and Rich Van Ham of the Empty Can Band from 9 to 9:40 a.m., blues artist Donna Herula from 9:45 to 10:25 a.m., bluegrass band The GrassHoppers from 10:30 to 11:10 a.m., folk musician Dean Milano from 11:15 a.m. to noon, and folk duo Ashley & Simpson from 12:05 to 12:55 p.m.
Haggerty Chevrolet will display a Chevrolet Volt hybrid electric vehicle, representatives from Prairie Co-Op will be on hand to discuss sustainable food sources and recycled textiles will be displayed by Re:new.
Recycling opportunities will be available in the western half of the lot. These items can be recycled for free: non-mercury batteries, American flags, garden tools and supplies, eyeglasses, hearing aids, printing cartridges, clothing, home goods, cabinets, doors, light fixtures, working tools and bicycles, cell phones, books and records.
Paint and fluorescent bulbs can be recycled for a fee.
There is no electronic recycling available this year. Also, the following items will not be accepted: prescription drugs, hazardous waste, chemicals, mercury thermometers and stereo speakers in wooden boxes.
The event is presented as a partnership between the Glen Ellyn Park District, Village of Glen Ellyn, Glen Ellyn Public Library, Glen Ellyn Chamber of Commerce and the Glen Ellyn Environmental Commission with media support from WDCB-90.9 FM.
For more information on the Glen Ellyn Park District, please visit www.gepark.org.
This item was posted by a community contributor. To read more about community contributors, click here.


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Platform will replace operator’s current system and is already deployed by Meraki Travel
Kuoni parent opts for Codegen’s TravelBox to drive digital transformation
DER Touristik UK has partnered with travel technology company CodeGen as part of its digital transformation strategy.
The tie-up will see CodeGen provide DER Touristik’s end-to-end reservations system TravelBox to premium long-haul travel brand Kuoni to enhance Kuoni’s presence in the UK travel market.
The TravelBox platform, which enables travel companies to draw content from multiple sources, as well as create bespoke, multi-centre holiday itineraries, will replace Kuoni’s current system later this year.
In the UK market, Kuoni sells holidays to more than 90 destinations around the world and has established a network of 49 premium retail stores throughout the UK over the past ten years, including 19 within John Lewis stores.
The move to TravelBox signals a new era for the business as it looks to invest in technology fit for the future.
Meraki Travel was launched with TravelBox and is a new concept for tailor-made travel.
Its “bespoke tours designed by you” concept makes complex tailor-made trips to destinations including India, South Africa, China, Kenya and Tanzania “easy and fun” to plan, said the company.
Derek Jones, chief executive officer of DER Touristik UK, said: “In TravelBox we have found a technology partner which, we believe, will continue to make us best-in-class for premium holidays around the world and take the business forward.
“It’s a significant transformation and our staff are overwhelmingly positive about the change.”
Mark Melzack, senior sales manager of CodeGen, added: “The development of the new platform for the Kuoni brand is very exciting since it demonstrates how technology can be used to deliver quality, tailor-made holidays for discerning customers.
“TravelBox is the perfect back-end for such a business. The technology can seamlessly curate content from many different sources and has intelligent packaging capabilities.
“We are proud to be supplying our cutting-edge technology for the travel brands owned by DER Touristik UK.”


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Gabe Newell teases Steam Box news
Valve head says company will release information next week regarding the hardware opportunities for bringing Linux to the living room.
GameSpot may get a commission from retail offers.
Valve head Gabe Newell has teased an announcement for next week that may be in reference to the Linux-powered "Steam Box" that was first revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.
"Next week we're going to be rolling out more information about how we get there and what are the hardware opportunities we see for bringing Linux into the living room," Newell said (via Ars Technica).
Newell's comments came during the LinuxCon keynote address in New Orleans this week.
"It feels a little bit funny coming here and telling you guys that Linux and open source are the future of gaming," Newell said. "It's sort of like going to Rome and teaching Catholicism to the pope."
Valve is currently looking into biometric sensors for Steam Box controllers as a way of monitoring player activity and sensation. The Left 4 Dead franchise has been used as an example of how understanding heart rates could make a more immersive horror game.
"You need to actually be able to directly measure how aroused the player is--what their heart rate is, things like that--in order to continue to offer them a new experience each time they play," Newell said in March.
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‘I am a role model, I’m in touch with my individuality.’ Yazemeenah Rossi entered the fashion industry at the age of 30. Now 60, she’s still going strong. Here, she models key looks for the new season.
It wouldn’t be ‘Vogueland’ without Shrimpton and Moss, Bailey and Beaton, but this new exhibition of Vogue images at the National Portrait Gallery also offers a long record of British life, from Woolf to Winterson, Bowie to Beckham
Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal of a ‘gender fluid’ model in Zoolander 2 has brought calls from LGBT groups for a boycott of the film. Here, a transgender model explains why it is insulting and sensationalist


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Shares in UK retail giant Tesco rose by more than 5% this morning (21 April) after reporting a 10% rise in annual underlying pre-tax profits.
The company, the world’s third-largest food retailer, booked underlying profit before tax of GBP3.13bn (US$4.56bn) for the 53 weeks to 28 February. Stripping out the impact of the extra selling week, profits rose 8.8%.
Group revenue excluding VAT rose 13.4% on a 52-week basis to GBP54.3bn. Tesco’s international sales rose by 13.3% at constant currencies as the company saw its growth in Asia accelerate on the back of the Homever acquisition in South Korea.
In the UK, where Tesco’s sales growth has lagged rivals including Asda and Morrisons, sales increased by 9.5% to GBP41.5bn. On a like-for-like basis, UK sales rose by 4.3%, which included a contribution of 2.1% from the 53rd week.
Chief executive Terry Leahy said: “We have delivered a solid sales and profit performance, both in the UK and internationally, whilst continuing to invest in our long-term strategy for growth.”
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Across the Atlantic, however, Tesco’s Fresh & Easy business in the US reported higher losses. Trading losses stood at GBP142m, up from GBP62m a year earlier.
Tesco recently decided to slow the pace of its expansion in the US, a move that lead to its sales in the country being lower than forecast at GBP208m.
“At constant exchange rates, trading losses were £123m, higher than our guidance provided last year, reflecting the more challenging trading environment in the Western states and our decision not to open stores in Northern California for the time being,” Tesco said.
Looking at current trading, Tesco said its sales had grown by 9.2% during the first six weeks of its financial year – or by 12% excluding fuel.
“In the UK, our planned investment in strengthening further our offer for customers is going well. UK like-for-like sales growth, excluding petrol, was 3.4% in the first six weeks. On a VAT-adjusted basis, growth was higher, at 4.4%.
The company added: “International progress has been robust given the economic environment. Sales growth was strong – 21.5% at actual rates. Sales grew significantly more rapidly in Asia than in Europe, helped by the early success of the Homever acquisition. At constant rates, overall International sales growth was 11.9%.”
Leahy added: “We have made a good start to the new financial year and I am confident Tesco will continue to make good progress even in the current global economic environment.”
Tesco shares were up 5.4% at 350.1p at 09:15 BST this morning.


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Wireless carriers in the U.S., handset makers and the industry's lobbying group have made a significant concession on technology that could remotely disable stolen smartphones and tablets.
The state attorney general for New York has sent the five largest U.S. cellphone carriers each a letter asking why they all oppose the installation of a "kill-switch" device in their handsets as a deterrent against smartphone theft.
The U.S. Department of Justice would "severely set back growth and competition" in the U.S. mobile telecom market if its efforts to block the acquisition of T-Mobile USA by AT&T are successful, AT&T said in court documents filed Friday.
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First impression on unpacking the Q702 test unit was the solid feel and clean, minimalist styling.


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Ford announced on Thursday it was recalling 3 million cars due to potential issues with airbag inflators.
The measure is expected to cost the automaker $610 million, and affects vehicles from the 2006 through 2012 model years.
The airbag inflators in question were produced by auto parts supplier Takata.
In rare instances, a defect in them can lead to a rupture in the bag, sending potentially deadly metal fragments flying.
Worldwide, there have been 27 deaths and at least 400 injuries from the inflators.
It's prompted the largest automotive recall in U.S. history of more than 67 million inflators, and a further 33 million worldwide.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rejected on Tuesday a 2017 petition by Ford and Mazda, which sought to avoid recalling the cars with the potentially dangerous airbags.
The regulator said the evidence was clear that these inflators posed a significant safety risk.
Mazda will be required to recall and repair driver air bags in approximately 5,800 vehicles.


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National Bourbon Day is finally upon us, much to the delight of whiskey-sipping Americans across the country. In fact, the U.S. values bourbon so highly that Congress actually passed a resolution in 1964 deeming the spirit truly American.
On May 4, 1964, a congressional resolution declared bourbon as America’s native spirit. As the statute states, “‘Bourbon whiskey’ is a distinctive product of the United States and is unlike other types of alcoholic beverages, whether foreign or domestic.”
In celebration of this spirit, we’ve gathered five great recipes for the bourbon-lover to indulge in on National Bourbon Day. From the Bourbon Ball Julep to the Blackberry Bourbon Smash, there’s a cocktail here for everyone to enjoy.


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Rob Kardashian Sends Rare Honus Wagner Autograph Card to Auction
Rob Kardashian Who Wants My Honus Wagner Card?! ... Hits Auction Block
2/20/2021 12:40 AM PT
The Kardboard King is at it again -- Rob Kardashian is putting his rare Honus Wagner autograph card up for auction ... and we're told it could fetch around $20k!!!
Rob pulled the card out of a 2020 Topps Dynasty pack he purchased for $750 from the folks at the Bullpen card shop in L.A. back in November.
The guys who opened the pack for Rob went absolutely bonkers when they realized what they had ... a 1-of-1 authentic "cut signature" card from MLB legend Honus Wagner, who died in 1955.
What that means is ... the people at Topps procured an authentic Wagner signature and used it as the base for an incredible baseball card.
Since Rob is wealthy is in his own right and loves to collect cards, it was unclear if he was going to keep it ... or sell it.
But ultimately, he hit up the folks at Goldin Auctions and we're told they're expecting it to sell for at least $20k when the bidding ends on March 7.
As we previously reported, Rob K is a monster in the sports card world -- he pulled an ultra-rare Tom Brady special edition card last year that some think could be worth around $200k.


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Riding on the coattails of Bumble Bee tuna in the worst possible way, Chicken of the Sea just issued a major recall of its canned tuna citing "life-threatening" concerns. This is a trend everyone would like to see stop.
Tri-Union Seafoods issued a voluntary recall of 2,745 cases or 107,280 cans of Chicken of the Sea canned Chunk Light tuna, exactly the same kind of tuna affected by the Bumble Bee recall. The FDA public health announcement explains that some tuna may have been undercooked because of an equipment malfunction discovered during a routine inspection, and therefore may contain "spoilage organisms or pathogens" that could lead to "life-threatening illnesses."
It all sounds very similar to the Bumble Bee incident, and when asked if the two incidents were in fact related, Chicken of the Sea issued this statement:
"Both products in question were produced in the Chicken of the Sea plant in Lyons, Georgia as part of a co-packing agreement between the two companies. Agreements such as this are common among manufacturers. That said, at Chicken of the Sea we hold ourselves to the highest standards, and the health and safety of consumers is of utmost importance. To that end, we moved swiftly as soon as an issue was discovered to have products removed from store shelves. No illnesses have been reported, and the recall was issued as a precautionary measure."


text: Yahoo’s lead among consumer Internet sites has dropped dramatically in the past year, as Micrososft’s MSN has increased its visitors from 47.5 million a year ago, to 63.6 million in September. Yahoo, in contrast, increased its visitors from 58.1 million to 65.7 million. While some analysts blame Yahoo’s lack of aggressive marketing, others point out that many MSN visitors inadvertently end up at the MSN Search page when they enter an incorrect URL in Internet Explorer. Both sites still fall short of AOL’s combined Web properties, which include CNN.com and AOL.com, and captured 76.6 million visitors in September. Yahoo, meanwhile, posted a third quarter loss of US$24.1 million yesterday, as revenues plummeted from $295.5 million a year ago to $166.1 million. The company also revised downward its fourth quarter estimates.


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Articles Archive for July 2014
If you haven’t had a chance to make it to Chicago to see the Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives presented by D23, you’re in luck.
The exhibit has been extended through January 4, 2015 at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago (MSI).
Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives features more than 300 artifacts from nearly 90 years of Disney history, including props, costumes, memorabilia, and artwork. The items are from Disney animated films, theme park attractions, television shows, and live-action Disney films.
The exhibit also features hands-on attractions where guests can …
Disney Parks »
This fall, fans of the Magic Kingdom’s Haunted Mansion will have a chance to shop ‘til they drop at a new themed store.
The as-of-now unnamed shop will be selling Haunted Mansion-themed merchandise – including items from the Haunted Mansion authentic program celebrating the attraction’s 45th anniversary. The store will be taking over the current Yankee Trader location in Liberty Square.
The Yankee Trader closed on July 27.
Speaking of Haunted Mansion merchandise, as part of the anniversary celebration of the Disneyland attraction, the theme park is getting ready to debut the Art …
Disney Parks »
The Villains Unleashed event at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is less than a month away and Disney has recently announced more information on the event.
The event is planned for August 23 and will feature more than 50 Disney villains.
The event kicks off at 8 p.m. when Hades, Megara, and Pain and Panic take the stage to get the party started.
The group from Disney’s Hercules is also the party hosts for the evening. During the party they’ll be joined by the Underworld Dancers, DJ Igg Nite, and other villains including the Queen …
Disney Corporate, Disney Media »
Radio Disney is re-launching its popular N.B.T. (Next Big Thing) as a year-round showcase to introduce recently signed musical acts.
N.B.T. has seen five successful seasons on Radio Disney, launching the careers of Coco Jones and Allstar Weekend. The revamped program will chronicle the featured artist’s journey from being discovered to becoming the next big musical star. Viewers will get unprecedented access into events and other activities.
Fifth Harmony – the season two X Factor finalists – was the first act to be in the spotlight when N.B.T. debuted on July 19.
Disney Parks »
The 2014 Epcot Food and Wine Festival cookbook is going to feature more than just Food and Wine recipes.
For the first time, the annual cookbook will feature recipes for items from all three festivals that take place throughout the year at Epcot – the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival, the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, and Holidays Around the World.
The Epcot Flower and Garden Festival starting featuring food booths a couple of years ago, and Holidays Around the World also just recently added food as one of the festival’s major …
Disney Parks »
August at the Walt Disney World Resort is a month full of special merchandise events.
The month kicks off with an appearance by artist Greg McCullough at the Art of Disney in the Downtown Disney Marketplace from July 30 until August 3. Greg will be back on property from August 20-24 at the Art of Disney.
On August 7, Bobs Gannaway, the director and co-writer of Planes: Fire & Rescue, will be at Once Upon a Toy in Downtown Disney from 3-4 p.m. Bobs will be signing some of the new Planes: …
Disney Parks, Headline »
If you have plans to attend the 2014 Epcot Food and Wine Festival, there’s a resource you won’t want to leave home without.
The Disney Food Blog just announced the launch of the DFB Guide to the 2014 Epcot Food and Wine Festival e-book.
The PDF e-book has more than 220 pages of full-color photos, menus, and information on all the seminars, culinary demos, special events, and more for this year’s festival.
The guide also includes an updated FAQ section, tips on how to enjoy the Food and Wine Festival on a budget, …
Disney Corporate, Disney Movies »
After several delays it appears that Captain Jack Sparrow is returning to the big screen.
Pirates of the Caribbean 5 – which had a working title of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales at one point – is now slated for release in July 2017, nearly two years later than originally scheduled.
The film has suffered several delays and other issues, including Jerry Bruckheimer’s departure from Disney last fall.
The original issue with the film’s delay was reportedly script issues. It was also reported last year that Johnny Depp’s filming …
Disney Media, Disney Parks, Featured »
The news out of Disney World this week is all about the 2014 Epcot Food and Wine Festival, so let’s “dig in!”
2014 Epcot International Food and Wine Festival News
Our friends at the Disney Food Blog were busy this week reporting all the news about the Epcot Food and Wine Festival!
The week started out with news the all-new Eat to the Beat Dining Package! This year’s festival is full of great events and demos and the Disney Food Blog had all the details about the culinary demos and beverage seminars.
Later in …
Disney Parks »
As the transformation of Downtown Disney into Disney Springs continues, Disney has released more information on what changes are being made.
Part of the ongoing construction includes the roadways and parking areas at Downtown Disney.
Lake Buena Vista Drive will be expanded from seven lanes to 10 lanes, and two multilevel parking garages are currently being built. The first garage is scheduled to open by the end of this year providing 4,000 parking spots for guests visiting Disney Springs/Downtown Disney.
Two pedestrian bridges are also being constructed – these will lead guests into …


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A holiday without champagne? Not on Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte's watch.
The company recently flew in cases of bubbly for Hampton's vacationers ahead of Labor Day weekend. Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte was able to keep production going during the pandemic and was able to stay ahead of the industry-wide supply shortage.
Learn more here.


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Failings cost ScottishPower £8.5m
Energy giant ScottishPower is to pay £8.5 million to customers after an investigation by regulator Ofgem found that the group provided misleading information through its doorstep and telesales agents.
The watchdog said that, between October 2009 and January 2012, ScottishPower provided customers with inaccurate estimations of annual charges and comparisons with their current supplier if they switched to the firm and failed to adequately monitor its sales staff.
ScottishPower has set up a £1 million compensation fund for those affected, while the remaining £7.5 million will be paid to more than 140,000 vulnerable customers, who will automatically receive payments of around £50 each by December.
ScottishPower will write to 336,000 households that may have been mis-sold.
Customers who believe they were affected can also contact the group on 0845 030 3048 or online at www.scottishpower.co.uk/salescompensation.
Ofgem said that, despite the sales practice failures, it found no evidence that ScottishPower deliberately set out to mis-sell to customers.
ScottishPower apologised "unreservedly" to those affected and said it had taken steps to address its failures.
The group stopped doorstep selling in June 2011 and has overhauled training and monitoring procedures for all telesales staff.
Neil Clitheroe, ScottishPower's chief executive of energy retail and generation, said: "We accept Ofgem's findings and we apologise unreservedly to those customers affected.
"This arose as a result of new regulations which were introduced in 2009. I am sorry to say that we didn't implement these properly at that time."
The probe into ScottishPower comes as part of a wider market inquiry into mis-selling across the energy industry, which has already seen three investigations concluded.
SSE was fined £10.5 million in April for "prolonged and extensive'' sales practice failures.
Ofgem is still conducting two ongoing mis-selling investigations into npower, which was launched in 2010, and into E.ON, which was launched last year.
ScottishPower said that, of the households affected by mis-selling, around 50,000 potentially lost out financially and could be due compensation.
It estimates compensation payments will vary from between £5 and £30 for each gas and electricity service provided to households.
Ofgem said it decided not to levy a fine against ScottishPower as the £8.5 million customer payment package agreed by the firm would be "of greater benefit to energy customers than if a substantial penalty was imposed".
It added that breaches of its rules on energy firm sales activities were vital to protect consumers.
Ofgem warned: "Consumers can suffer financial detriment if they do not benefit from savings that they are led to expect - they may switch to a more expensive deal and competition suffers as consumers lose faith with the market and the value of switching energy supplier."
Sarah Harrison, Ofgem's senior partner in charge of enforcement, said: "Ofgem welcomes ScottishPower's recognition of its failure to comply with the energy sales rules which are there to protect the consumer.
"This is an important step forward and demonstrates a commitment by ScottishPower towards re-establishing consumer trust."
Ofgem fined EDF Energy £4.5 million in March last year for misleading sales claims as part of the industry probe.
Shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint said: "This is yet more evidence that Britain's energy market is broken.
"ScottishPower is the third energy company to have been caught out misleading the public and two more are still under investigation.
"Yet again Ofgem's response has been weak and David Cameron refuses to stand up to the energy giants. These companies need to know that if they mistreat their customers there will be a heavy price to pay.
"But Ofgem has serious questions to answer about why it allowed this problem to go on for so long and it is not insisting that every customer is compensated for every pound they have lost."
Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: "This is a clear, strong signal that energy companies shouldn't expect to get away with bad practice.
"We're giving Ofgem powers that force energy companies to make direct payments to consumers hurt by these kinds of activities, and backing up Ofgem's reforms so that consumers get a simpler, fairer deal."
Consumer Futures added it was "unfortunate" that mis-selling in the industry has taken so long to resolve.
Audrey Gallacher, director of energy at Consumer Futures, said: " Doorstep sales were halted by virtually all of the big six energy suppliers in 2011, and the intervening years should have been used to focus on introducing fair and transparent consumer friendly sales processes.
"Ofgem and energy suppliers need to move much faster in bringing these issues to a close - long, drawn out, investigations don't help anybody."
Energy firms have already come under fire this month after three of the "big six" providers announced price hikes, with RWE npower yesterday revealing plans to raise its electricity and gas charges by an average of 10.4%.
ScottishPower has yet to increase its prices, but boss Mr Clitheroe told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the group was likely to increase its tariffs at some point this year.
Customers can contact the provider about mis-selling compensation on freephone number 0800 074 0362.
At a regular Westminster briefing, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "I think what you have seen from Ofgem is a very strong signal that energy companies will not get away with the kind of bad practice that we saw in this case that Ofgem was looking at."
Asked if the PM was happy with the level of the fine, he replied: "Those must be, of course, decisions for the regulator but I think it does send a strong signal in response to bad practice that was being looked at here."
Pressed on the mixed messages coming out of government on what consumers should do to keep energy bills down, he said : "As I have said, and the Prime Minister has said, I think it is very understandable that customers and consumers will want to look at switching to see whether they can get a better deal.
"I would expect customers to always be seeking whether they can get a better deal."


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Extended breastfeeding is more common outside the US. Experts say Chanel Austin might even be getting protection from COVID-19 through breastmilk.
Coco Austin explains why she still breastfeeds her 5-year-old daughter: 'I'm not just going to say no'
Austin said that while Chanel eats solid foods like steak and hamburgers, she breastfeeds as "a little snack every now and then."
A study followed 25 women who'd used marijuana during pregnancy, but quit for six weeks after giving birth, to assess THC levels in their breastmilk.
People are criticizing Disneyland Paris after a woman was reprimanded for breastfeeding her child at the theme park
Both Disney fans and French citizens quickly criticized Disneyland Paris, saying people should be allowed to breastfeed their children openly.
Sophia Di Martino reveals the hidden detail in her 'Loki' costume added by the show's 'genius' designer to make breastfeeding on set easier
Sophia Di Martino said costume designer Christine Wada made the thoughtful addition so the new mom could nurse her baby between takes.
How long breast milk can sit out on the counter versus how long you can store it in a refrigerator or freezer
Freshly pumped breast milk can be stored in the back of the fridge for up to four days or in the freezer for up to one year.
Scientists say they've made the first 'human' breast milk in a lab, and it'll be available in about 3 years
Biomilq says it's created an infant feeding option with the nutritional components and complexities of breast milk.
Vaccinated moms, and moms who've had COVID-19, seem to transmit protective antibodies through breast milk. Now other moms want some.
The commercial will be broadcast a year after a previous Frida ad showing a new mom going to the bathroom was banned from the Oscars.
Formal milk donation provides important protection for preemies, but some parents choose informal milk sharing for older babies too.
Chrissy Teigen is calling to normalize infant formula after feeling 'shame' when she couldn't breastfeed
Two months after her pregnancy loss, Chrissy Teigen is calling to normalize formula. She said she felt shame from needing to use it due to depression.
La Leche League explain the methods in which transgender and non-binary parents can provide milk for their baby on their website.
Rachael Downs' wedding photographer suggested that one of the bridesmaids pose for a photo with her breast pump, and the bride was all for it.
Katy Perry's outfit, which included a hat, fingerless gloves, and a peplum top with a train, was custom-made for her by Christian Siriano.
Ashley Graham said that V-necks and button-down shirts are her "jam" now that she needs to quickly undress to nurse her son.
Netflix's '(Un)Well' delves into the dark side of fasting, essential oils, tantric sex, and other popular 'wellness' trends
The Netflix docuseries (Un)Well exposes popular alternative wellness practices like fasting and tantric sex.
There are still taboos around breastfeeding, and its challenges — including latch issues and infections — which typically aren't discussed openly.
Lab-made 'human' breast milk may soon be an option for parents who can't breastfeed but don't want to use formula
A food scientist and cell biologist have partnered to create a cultured version of breast milk that contains the central components of the real thing.
Breastfeeding can help protect the baby from infection and illness and help the mother lose pregnancy weight as well as prevent ovulation.
New moms who've recovered from the coronavirus appear to have a 'strong immune response' to the disease in their breast milk
Rebecca Powell is collecting breast milk samples from women who've had COVID-19. The substance could provide a key to a future coronavirus treatment.


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A new initiative is promoting candy, furniture and software under a single brand: Made in Charlottesville.
The program, sponsored by the city’s Office of Economic Development, aims to increase the visibility of businesses that design or manufacture products within the city limits.
“There are many businesses in Charlottesville that are really well known nationally — even internationally — that no one knows about here,” said Jason Ness, business development manager for the city.
Ness cited as examples Blanc Creatives, whose hand-forged cookware won the top prize in Garden & Gun magazine’s Made in the South Awards for 2015; and Rockbridge Guitar, which makes instruments for some of the world’s premier rock and folk musicians.
Although these two businesses have a limited customer base in Charlottesville, Ness said they benefit the community by creating jobs and inspiring civic pride “... in knowing that these things were manufactured or made here.”


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In my case, the command I need looks like this (substitute the values for your applications): The output should look something like this: If you run you'll see that our new application now has several environment variables set, which will enable us to connect to the Kafka instance.
To give your new application access to the Kafka instance, we need to run a command like this: heroku addons:attach [app with kafka]::KAFKA -a [app that wants to access kafka] The is the name of your instance of the application, which you'll see if you run in your other terminal session.
Now we have our original database-backed application, and we've added the Streaming Data Connectors Beta, so we should see an event on the Kafka service whenever we make a change to our table.
We need a database for our app, and in order to use the Streaming Data Connectors Beta you need to use a specific version of the Heroku Postgres add-on: It can take a few minutes to create the database, so the command above will let you know when you can move on to the next step: This deploys our application, and sets up the database with the table and a few sample records.
We'll be using a trivial database-backed web application to represent our monolith, and a separate application subscribed to a Kafka topic, which will consume the events we generate by making changes to our database.
I think the deal fits like a glove in that Arm plays in areas that NVIDIA does not or isn't that successful, while NVIDIA plays in many places Arm doesn't or isn't that successful".
It's funny, if you go back to Intel's first news about joining the graphics market back in 2008 -- Jensen said back then that NVIDIA was ready to "open a can of whoop ass" on them.
Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA explained: "AI is the most powerful technology force of our time and has launched a new wave of computing.
The deal will see NVIDIA grow into an even bigger beast, days before the GeForce RTX 3080 launches, where the company explains on its own website that the deal will combine NVIDIA's industry-leading work in AI with Arm's huge ecosystem to create the "premier computing company for the age of artificial intelligence, accelerating innovation while expanding into large, high-growth markets".
He added: "NVIDIA brings incredible capitalization to Arm which, as we have seen since its Softbank acquisition, Arm has increased its market presence and competitiveness.
Startups and others pursuing practical day-to-day applications of AI, in turn, could harness Microsoft’s tool to build more sophisticated models than they otherwise could afford to with their limited infrastructure budgets.
Even if the available hardware is reduced to just a single V100 chip, Microsoft says, DeepSpeed could still train a language model with up to 13 billion parameters.
The challenge that DeepSpeed was created to address is that developers can only equip their neural networks with as many parameters as their AI training infrastructure can handle.
Microsoft Corp. has released a new version of its open-source DeepSpeed tool that it says will enable the creation of deep learning models with a trillion parameters, more than five times as many as in the world’s current largest model.
DeepSpeed “democratizes multi-billion-parameter model training and opens the window for many deep learning practitioners to explore bigger and better models,” Microsoft executives Rangan Majumder and Junhua Wang wrote in a blog post.
The best charging cables are durable, long enough for most uses, and available in a range of different types, which is exactly what makes the Anker PowerLine+ II series the best charging cable out there.
A great charging cable ensures that your device is always charged up and ready for the day — without breaking.
Some even have multiple connectors on them, allowing you to charge all kinds of different devices with the same cable.
If you want to charge your iPhone, you'll need a Lightning cable, while most Android devices these days use the new USB-C standard.
Here are our top picks for the best charging cables: Prices and links are current as of 9/10/20.
A "conversion" means a visitor has taken a desired action that boosts your business, whether that means signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase.
After tracking more than 1 billion unique shopping sessions across 159 unique retail and consumer brand websites, the study reported that 50 percent of visitor sessions happen on mobile devices, such as smartphones, while 9 percent happen on tablets, and 41 percent happen on desktop computers.
Convenience improves the user experience and makes users more likely to stay on your website to complete a certain action.
Google uses SEO to rank websites based on how well they match certain keywords; you want to be the first result when someone types in that page entry.
Google eventually caught on to this and created algorithms to flag for spam, thus ensuring that a website would not use the same term past a certain limit.
There’s just something about them that instantly transports one back to the late ‘90s / early ‘00s, when user interfaces were truly customizable, and your music collection was an endless and engrossing battle against garbled filenames like any of that is triggering a nostalgic response, then you’ll probably enjoy the Winamp Skin Museum.
It’s an endlessly scrolling collection of 65,000 Winamp skins, searchable and fully interactive.
The taste on display in the Winamp Skin Museum is, in a word, stunning.
The only disappointment is that the format of the museum doesn’t lend itself to supporting the stranger skins that transformed the size and shape of Winamp’s various elements.
I could customize Winamp skins, sure, but also my whole desktop, down to my extremely carefully collated music collection.
A California federal judge ruled Aug. 24 that Epic can maintain access to Apple’s software-development tools needed to update its Unreal Engine, but that “Fortnite” would remain out of the App Store.
Epic said that more than 116 million registered “Fortnite” players have accessed the survival-shooter game through a device running Apple’s iOS operating system, making it the game’s largest platform.
Epic Games Inc. late Friday filed a preliminary injunction against Apple AAPL, +0.06% , reiterating arguments made in a federal lawsuit last month when it accused the tech giant of monopolistic behavior after pulling “Fortnite” from the App Store.
The creator of “Fortnite” is taking another stab at getting a judge to bring the popular game back to Apple Inc.’s devices, this time disclosing that roughly a third of players access it through the tech giant’s App Store.
In July, the shooter-survival game generated about $52.5 million of in-app spending through the App Store and Google Play combined, according to estimates from research firm Sensor Tower Inc. “The continued loss of ‘Fortnite’ as a gathering place for users on all platforms will lead Epic’s customers to defect,” Epic said in its filing Friday.
In March 2020, the DoD requested revised bids from AWS and Microsoft for the storage solutions component of the $10 billion JEDI contract.
The AWS Public Sector Blog Team wrote: "AWS remains deeply concerned that the JEDI contract award creates a dangerous precedent that threatens the integrity of the federal procurement system and the ability of our nation's warfighters and civil servants to access the best possible technologies.
AWS called the DoD decision "politically corrupted," moving it from the usual hard-fought federal contract wars to a political -- and even personal -- level.
Anyone who's been around government contracting isn't surprised that Amazon Web Services (AWS) protested the Department of Defense's upholding of its decision to award a $10 billion, 10-year cloud computing contract to Microsoft.
It's off to the courts -- where AWS makes it clear that the real fight is: "Whether the President of the United States should be allowed to use the budget of the Department of Defense to pursue his own personal and political ends?
Arduino, the company best known for open-source hardware is making TinyML available for millions of developers, and now together with Edge Impulse, they are turning the ubiquitous Arduino board into a powerful embedded ML platform, like the Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense and other 32-bit boards.
For example, software developers who want to build embedded systems using ML can build a model by tapping their iPhone as the edge device, using its sensors to capture the data.
In a recent showcase, Edge Impulse and Arduino published a project that had the power and simplicity of running TinyML on an Arduino Nano BLE Sense that can detect the presence of specific coughing sounds in real-time audio, including a dataset of coughing and background noise samples, and applied a highly optimized TinyML model, to build a cough detection system that runs in under 20 kB of RAM on the Nano BLE Sense.
Tiny Machine Learning (TinyML) is the latest embedded software technology that moves hardware into an almost magical realm, where machines can automatically learn and grow through use, like a primitive human brain.
All you need to do in order to build your first model is sign into the data acquisition tab on the Edge Impulse Studio, select your phone as the edge device, choose the accelerometer sensor for example, and then click “Start sampling” while moving your phone up and down to generate the data and see it in a graph.
Shares of Converge Technology Solutions Corp. (CVE:CTS) shot up 0.6% during trading on Wednesday .
274,498 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 124% from the average session volume of 122,610 shares.
Separately, Echelon Wealth Partners reiterated a “speculative buy” rating on shares of Converge Technology Solutions in a research note on Friday, August 7th.
Converge Technology Solutions Corp., through its subsidiaries, distributes storage devices and systems, computer products, software, and peripherals.
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Between transformer learning, no-code and low-code platforms, the optimal approach would be one that would enable you to reach your business goals and offer a moderate interface to develop applications without prohibiting you to move beyond the platform’s offerings.
According to Raj Koneru, the CEO and founder of conversational AI platform Kore.ai, no-code has many benefits.
No-code or low-code Another popular approach has been no-code and low-code platforms, which enable companies to develop their applications through simple drag-and-drop interfaces.
For instance, Anyline’s no-code AI trainer helps companies build their own text reader solutions (such as ID scanners or license plate readers).
tweet here GPT-3 stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3, which demonstrates the idea of training an AI on colossal amounts of data, then using that built-in knowledge to get stunning results for new tasks with little or no training.
Some industry analysts are suggesting Apple take a shortcut and purchase DuckDuckGo (a privacy-focused search engine) and rebrand it as an Apple search engine.
Apple struggles with its current deal with Google, which pays Apple billions to make Google the search engine for Safari on both macOS and iOS.
Private Browsing An Apple-produced search engine would likely create a more private browsing experience compared to Google, where every iota of user data is parsed, processed, categorized, and sold on the open market in the name of marketing and sales.
Apple supports federal privacy industry watchers this week speculated that Apple is developing its own search engine to challenge Google, which owns 92.8 percent of the global search engine market.
If Apple is developing a search engine to slay the Google dragon, it could mean a future where what we search for remains our business, and not a lead for those companies who would try to sell us something.
From desktop to critical infrastructure, Tripp Lite products and solutions power and connect the computers, networking equipment and electronic devices that form the foundation of our digital world.
Share on LinkedIn Share on Facebook Share on Twitter About Tripp Lite Since 1922, Tripp Lite has established a global reputation for quality by providing reliable products and exceptional service to customers worldwide.
Tripp Lite manufactures over 5,000 products to power and connect the computers, networking equipment and electronic devices that form the foundation of our connected world.
CHICAGO, Sept. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Tripp Lite, a global manufacturer of power protection and connectivity solutions, has updated the Netformx KnowledgeBase with its entire catalog of more than 5,000 power and connectivity products that range from desktop to critical infrastructure.
Headquartered in Chicago, Tripp Lite manufactures UPS systems, cables, connectivity solutions, PDUs, racks, cooling solutions, KVM switches, console servers, charging stations, display mounts, surge protectors, power strips, network switches, power inverters and specialty products for data center, healthcare, government, education and digital signage applications.
The hyperscale cloud service provider's contribution was reflected in the especially strong growth of 100 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) and 25GbE – a preferred data center networking architecture within this customer segment.
In fact, 100GbE and 25GbE combined had a 40% year-over-year increase, comprising a majority of total data center switch port shipments.
"This robust shipment growth, even in the face of COVID disruptions, is a reflection of the critical nature of data center networks in delivering needed services to businesses, homes and governments," said Seamus Crehan, president of Crehan Research.
"Back in January 2017, we forecast that combined shipments of 100GbE and 25GbE would comprise over half of all data center Ethernet switch shipments by 2021," Crehan said.
Crehan Research Inc. produces reports with very detailed statistics and information on the data center switch and server-class adapter & LOM/controller markets.
Take a note of the provided discount code and prepare yourself to balk at how much other companies ask you to pay for Office and Windows 10 digital codes.
For those PC owners out there who have been trying to increase their productivity levels – whether it be personal or professional productivity – but who have been consistently put off or disturbed by the price of the modern Office package, this deal is definitely going to whet your appetite.
Just make sure to take the RD20 discount code with you to get the purchase for the $34.84 price: If for some unknown reason you want or need to be using Microsoft Office 2016, you can also get savings on that purchase.
However, as you can see from the main deal above, you will actually be getting the newer and more capable Office 2019 suite for less.
With that said, the choice is yours: In addition to the savings that are to be had with the aforementioned deals, you can also save if you need to upgrade your Windows 10 installation to a more modern and supported version, or even if you are new to the world of PCs and are looking to get a valid and registered copy of one of the world’s most respected and supported operating systems: If you are looking for Windows 10 or Microsoft Office and prefer to deal with hassle-free, streamlined purchasing systems that let you get more for less, then these deals are definitely where you need to be looking.
"We are confident that a Walmart and Microsoft partnership would meet both the expectations of US TikTok users while satisfying the concerns of US government regulators."
"We believe a potential relationship with TikTok US in partnership with Microsoft could add this key functionality and provide Walmart with an important way for us to reach and serve omnichannel customers as well as grow our third-party marketplace and advertising businesses," it said.
Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove declined to say how the two companies would split ownership of TikTok, if they had the winning bid, and whether the retailer would be the majority owner.
Walmart said Thursday that it's teaming up with Microsoft in a bid for TikTok.
"But Walmart could use this as a golden opportunity to partner with Microsoft and monetize the TikTok base, which could start to rival Instagram in the next few years just given its global presence."
The hubs are comprised of top research universities, other national labs and big tech companies in the quantum computing space such as International Business Machines Corp , Intel Corp , Microsoft Corp , and quantum computer startups Rigetti Co and ColdQuanta Inc.
The five research hubs are each led by the Energy Department’s Argonne, Brookhaven, Fermi, Lawrence Berkeley and Oak Ridge national laboratories.
We know our adversaries around the world are pursuing their own advances,” U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios said during a White House press briefing announcing the quantum information research funding and another US$100 million plus investment into the National Science Foundation’s AI Research Institutes.
REUTERS/Steve Marcus 26 Aug 2020 05:15PM Bookmark SAN FRANCISCO: The U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday said it will provide US$625 million over the next five years for five newly formed quantum information research hubs as it tries to keep ahead of competing nations like China on the emerging technology.
Business US to spend US$625 million in five quantum information research hubs The U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday said it will provide US$625 million over the next five years for five newly formed quantum information research hubs as it tries to keep ahead of competing nations like China on the emerging technology.
Facebook has spent months hinting at mixed computing systems being combined in the workplace, which the company has conveniently summarized in a new Facebook Reality Labs post from today.
What's more, Facebook used the Tuesday announcement as an opportunity to rename its entire Oculus VR division: Facebook Reality Labs.
In a Tuesday announcement, Facebook exec Andrew Bosworth cited the company's broader product portfolio as a reason to expand its conference's definition beyond Oculus.
Our "Facebookening of Oculus" series continues today with the announcement of the Facebook Connect conference as a free, live-streamed event on September 16.
As we've recently learned, that kind of "whatever software you want" freedom may not be in the cards for Oculus hardware much longer, since Facebook will soon start mandating Facebook logins for all brand-new hardware—and I've previously predicted that new hardware will be a centerpiece of the company's next major VR event (which we now know is happening on September 16).
The in Hammond will solidify Indiana as a top-tier data center market and we look forward to applying our deep-rooted operational experience in this market," said Steve Holland, Senior Vice President of Data Center Facility Management and Operations for T5.
Digital Crossroad is building an ecosystem of partners that can deliver best-in-class data center services, choosing T5 based on the company's track record of success in delivering and operating data centers for some of the world's largest hyperscale and enterprise users.
Digital Crossroad is celebrating the first phase of its 1.7 million square foot data center campus with the launch of the DX-1 facility on October 31, 2020, bringing 20MW of critical power and 108,000 square feet of IT and office space.
HAMMOND, Ind., Aug. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- has been selected by (DX), a wholesale data center developer, to provide critical facility management services for the company's new data center campus located at the site of the former State Line Generating Plant in Hammond, Indiana.
The company is currently building out a 1.7 million square foot data center campus on a site that was previously the home of the State Line Generating Plant.
About CUJO AI: Powered by proprietary artificial intelligence models and uniquely built on billions of real-world data points, the CUJO AI portfolio of products is designed to gain a clear insight on how data moves across networks and to digitally protect people and devices, creating a safer smart-living experience in homes, businesses and connected communities.
With over half a billion connected devices monitored and protected daily, CUJO AI brings to fixed network, mobile and public Wi-Fi operators around the world a complete portfolio of products to provide end users with a seamlessly integrated suite of Digital Life Protection services.
CUJO AI will benefit from new, innovative developments and greater visibility due to our participation in a whole ecosystem of the world's leading technology players.
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Aug. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- CUJO AI, the global leader in the development and application of artificial intelligence to improve the security, control and privacy of connected devices, announced today that it has joined the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).
Network, mobile and public Wi-Fi operators around the world utilize the CUJO AI portfolio of products to provide users with a seamlessly integrated suite of value-added services, covering network monitoring and protection, advanced connected device identification, real-time network security, and privacy protection.


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- Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X jams out today on PS4 and PS Vita
- Forza Horizon 3 goes goooooold, Halo fans to get bonus Warthog
- Assault Suit Leynos out digitally for PC, physically for PS4
- Don Ramiro to ride again! Maldita Castilla EX headed to PS4
- PC puzzle-platformer Seasons After Fall to launch Friday
Fancy A Date?
Developer- and Publisher-specific Articles: Forces of Nature
It’s time to grab some galoshes and a raincoat because Gears of War 3’s Forces of Nature DLC has hit Live Marketplace. The new pack includes five multiplayer maps: Aftermath, Artillery, Cover, Jacinto, and Raven Down. As the name indicates, each level has a weather theme, with Aftermath featuring a flooding city, tornado-force winds in Artillery, heavy fog in Cover, torrential rains and Imulsion contamination in Jacinto, and snow storms in Raven’s Down.


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BEIJING–Six Chinese suspects went on trial yesterday accused of making and selling melamine, the industrial chemical at the centre of a tainted milk scandal blamed for killing six children and sickening nearly 300,000 others.
Among those in court yesterday was the owner of a workshop that was allegedly China's largest source of melamine, state media said.
Police say Zhang Yujun, 40, ran a workshop on the outskirts of Jinan in eastern Shandong province that manufactured and sold a ``protein powder" composed mainly of melamine and malt dextrin, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The powder was added to watered-down milk to make it appear higher in protein content. The substance was responsible for a health crisis that saw Chinese food products pulled from stores worldwide.
Prosecutors in the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court accused Zhang of producing 703 tonnes of the additive powder from October 2007 through August 2008. He allegedly sold more than 544 tonnes with a total value of 6.8 million yuan ($1.1 million Canadian), court heard.
In the same case, a second man, Zhang Yanzhang, 24, was accused of buying and reselling 208 tonnes of powder to others.
State television showed both men in court in handcuffs with their heads bowed while three judges questioned them.
An official at the publicity office of Hebei Supreme Court confirmed the trial started yesterday but refused to give his name or other details.
Four other men are being tried in three separate courts across Hebei province for allegedly adding the chemical to raw milk and then selling it to Sanlu Group Co., the main company in the scandal.
Melamine can artificially inflate protein levels and was apparently added to watered-down milk to fool quality inspectors.
The verdicts will be announced at an unspecified date, Xinhua said.
The dairy company Sanlu, based in Shijiazhuang, confirmed earlier this week that it was bankrupt.
Xinhua reported Thursday that Sanlu has 1.1 billion yuan ($196 million) of net debt and that a branch of the Shijiazhuang City Commercial Bank was the creditor that applied to a court to have Sanlu declared bankrupt.
Xinhua said Sanlu owes a creditor 902 million yuan ($161 million) it borrowed earlier this month to pay for the medical treatment of children sickened after drinking the company's infant formula and for compensation for the babies' families.
A Shijiazhuang city spokesperson said the money was given to the China Dairy Industry Association to administer.
The Legal Daily newspaper reported that Tian Wenhua, Sanlu's chair and general manager, would go on trial next week for "selling fake and shoddy products.'' Sanlu is 43 per cent-owned by New Zealand daily co-operative Fonterra Group.


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It's OK to be cynical after watching shares of Orbitz Worldwide
See, even though the shares moved up to $11.93 yesterday on the analyst upgrade, they've still got a long way to go to hit the $15 mark where they went public less than two months ago. And it's at this point that you have to remember that Goldman served as one of the lead underwriters of the disappointing offering. It pitched the stock to many of its clients at $15, and those initial investors are now underwater.
So it's easy to snicker at the overly ambitious $18 year-end price target, the claim that the company is "well positioned within the online travel industry," and a 15% annualized growth target over the next five years.
Those $15 investors would love to get out of 2007 with a 20% gain instead of the 20% loss on paper they're staring at now. How likely is that, though?
Look, I'm not suggesting that a conspiracy is at play here. Goldman wouldn't have helped usher Orbitz back as a stand-alone public company for the first time in three years if it didn't believe in it. Reputations are ultimately more valuable than near-term underwriting fees. However, I'm always skeptical when considering the source of analyst moves. Oh, that and the fact that I disagree with the thesis behind Orbitz bouncing back so soon.
When "well-positioned" really means "positioned by the well"
If Orbitz is so well positioned in the industry, why is it that publicly traded rivals like Expedia
So what's with the party hats, folks? Until proven otherwise, Orbitz is more of a laggard than a leader. Its strength also happens to be in the most challenging travel segment of all. The company's specialty has always been selling airline tickets. It was originally funded by a consortium of legacy carriers, looking to take back a little control from fast-growing portals like Expedia and Travelocity as "lookers-to-bookers" ratios were flying through the roof. Orbitz is still earning its wings that way. Airfare bookings accounted for more than $2.2 billion of the nearly $3.0 billion in gross bookings this past quarter.
Do you really want this to be your core strength? You've no doubt heard of the record flight delays this summer. High fuel prices and dissatisfied travelers are a combustible combination, even before you factor in the potential of a weakening economy.
You also have a sector where many of the carriers are reaching out directly to the consumers. You won't find discounters like JetBlue
Southwest would rather tempt you into downloading its cleverly marketed Ding desktop tool to alert you to last-minute discounts than send you scrambling elsewhere like Orbitz or the Orbitz-owned CheapTickets.com. Old-school carriers are also trying to cash in with direct relationships. After all, these are the same folks who began frequent-flyer programs to encourage brand loyalty.
Am I being too hard on Orbitz? Well, someone has to be. Bulls can argue that earnings -- check that, adjusted EBITDA -- are expected to grow in the coming years. However, that assumption is based on booking gains and widening margins. Orbitz, like all of the portals and even travel publishers like Travelzoo
The devil's advocate to my devil's advocate could counter that I'm ignoring the upside. The company's reliance on air ticketing opens up the growth in higher-margin areas like hotel, car rental, and package bookings.
Show me first, I would argue. Investors deserve that much, especially those who got hoodwinked into buying their shares at $15 back in July. There's strength in Europe through the company's eBookers arm, but that's already baked into the projections. In the end, I'm still not sure why the company should matter more in the future than it does now.
Even the bulls can be skeptical. In his otherwise upbeat note, Goldman analyst Anthony Noto notes that Orbitz has "minimal pricing power or sustainable competitive advantages" here. And the stock is supposed to soar 50% higher over the next few months ... why, exactly?
Take a nonstop flight to some of these connecting articles:
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz still relies on the portals to get basic travel information, but then he runs off to see if better deals can be had directly with the provider. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy, and it's got a better on-time schedule than your favorite airline.


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CW lists industry expert reactions on the measures announced for India’s real estate
CW’s webinar discusses the impact of COVID on ports, and the way forward...
Government formulates exit strategy, lifts lockdown selectively across the country.
The COVID-19 pandemic has spared no sector of the economy and real estate, a key employment generator, is no exception.
WHO advises govts across the world to adopt comprehensive measures
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- Revenue at Nike grew 2% year over year in the first quarter, with digital also up 2% and Nike Direct revenues up 6%, according to a company press release. Wholesale revenue was flat to last year.
- The athletics retailer decreased its inventory load by 10% in the quarter, and Chief Financial Officer Matt Friend said on a call with analysts Thursday that total inventory units were also down double digits.
- By category, footwear grew 4% in the quarter, while apparel was down 1% and equipment was up 9%. Net income fell slightly year over year to $1.45 billion.
While overall revenue grew at Nike in Q1, sales in its largest region fell. North America revenue was down 1.6% to $5.4 billion in the quarter, though every other region grew.
“This wasn't the cleanest quarter we've seen, but given the tough macro environment and some of the marketplace inventory challenges (admittedly self-inflicted), it was better than many investors thought we'd see,” Wedbush analyst Tom Nikic said in emailed comments. “Ultimately, we see brighter days ahead.”
As it shifts to a digital-led strategy, Friend said Nike’s DTC Nike Direct business would continue to drive its growth this year, and that the company is on its way to better profitability. The company is lowering online fulfillment costs by investing in regional centers closer to where customers are and reducing “split shipments” so that customers don’t get two boxes for the same order.
“While the ultimate landing spot of digital and direct isn't as clear, we do believe we're going to be a more direct and a more digital company and a more profitable company,” Friend said.
The mix of wholesale and DTC at Nike has been a topic of interest for years, as the company pivoted away from certain partners in favor of its own channels. Lately, the retailer has stressed the importance of both wholesale and DTC, and has reforged ties with companies like Macy’s and DSW.
“Wholesale plays a really important role for us to get the breadth and depth of access to consumers,” CEO John Donahoe said, saying there was “a lot of growth opportunity” with its strategic wholesale partners.
At the same time, the executive said Nike’s own store concepts, such as Nike Rise and Nike Well Collective (a renaming of its Nike Live store format alongside a focus on more holistic fitness) are both doing “quite well” and help to augment its other channels.


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Nissan Looking to Delve into the NFT Space, as It Files 5 Unique Trademark Applications.
Nissan has filed five trademark applications revealing plans to provide NFT-focused offerings.
The top Japanese automobile manufacturer filed trademark applications for some of its prominent car models, including SKYLINE, Z, and GTR. The applications were filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on October 27.
USPTO-licensed trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis revealed that Nissan’s trademark applications seek to introduce the Japanese automaker to the Web3, NFT and Metaverse space. The five applications have serial numbers 97650321, 97650317, 97650308, 97650303, and 97650300.
“Nissan has filed five trademark applications for some of its most iconic car models like GTR, SKYLINE, and Z, claiming plans for
- NFTs + NFT-backed media
- Online NFT marketplaces + Digital wallets
- NFT minting, trading, storing software,”
Kondoudis noted in a tweet Tuesday.
#Nissan has filed 5 trademark applications for some of its most iconic car models like GTR, SKYLINE, and Z, claiming plans for
✅ NFTs + NFT-backed media
✅ Online NFT marketplaces + Digital wallets
✅ NFT minting, trading, storing software#NFTs #Metaverse #Web3 #Crypto #GTR pic.twitter.com/OddWJO6gvf
— Mike Kondoudis (@KondoudisLaw) November 1, 2022
Per information, the trademarks will be utilized by Nissan in several areas relating to NFTs. Nissan plans to introduce offerings in the form of downloadable media files such as pictures, videos, and suchlike; such files could be used in authenticating NFTs.
Additionally, the carmaker plans to present an online NFT marketplace providing interested parties with a platform to buy and sell their NFTs.
Furthermore, Nissan revealed plans to provide temporary use of a particular sort of non-downloadable software program that could be leveraged in minting, storing, and trading NFTs.
Nissan would not be the first top multinational firm to file trademark applications revealing plans to delve into the cryptocurrency industry. The Crypto Basic recently reported Visa’s trademark applications, as the payment service disclosed plans to provide crypto wallets. Before Visa, Western Union showed interest in crypto exchange, transfer, and brokerage.
Nissan’s recent NFT-focused trademark applications come barely seven months after the leading Japanese automobile manufacturer, in tandem with Toyota, revealed plans to jump on the moving Metaverse train.
While Toyota indicated a decision to introduce a virtual working environment for its staffers, Nissan disclosed that it would be leveraging Virtual Reality (VR) tech to provide its customers with virtual rooms. These developments would be powered by the video game-developing firm VRChat.
Last week, Animoca Brands announced a partnership between its Australia-based video game developing subsidiary, Grease Monkey Games, and Nissan. The partnership will see Nissan present its first-ever utility NFTs.
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