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The devastating earthquake that hit Japan last month may push back the NGP's launch, Sony exec Jack Tretton has announced.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, the Sony Computer Entertainment America president explained that a number of its factories in the north of the country have had to close for repairs, and there is also a shortage of component parts from suppliers in the quake zone.
He also argued that delaying the NGP's release would give developers affected by the quake and subsequent tsunami more time to finish their software.
"It may be the straw that says 'maybe we get to just one market by the end of the year,'" he said.
He didn't given any indication which market that might be but Japan is obviously a favourite.
Speculation early last month had pointed towards a November launch in Europe for the new handheld but a global 2011 release has never been promised by Sony.
"It's very difficult to have the quantities to be able to launch on a worldwide basis on the same date," said Tretton after the device was unveiled in January.
"Our goal is get at least one territory out by the end of holiday 2011."
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On 24 September, Apple opened the doors of its much anticipated Hong Kong store, the first in the city and its most expensive in the world. The opening of the sixth Apple store in China is part of the software giant’s plan to tap into the booming China market and push back on the city-state‘s parallel market for counterfeit Apple products.
The store’s prime real estate position serves to attract Hong Kong natives, Chinese travellers and gadget enthusiasts for a genuine and unique Apple experience.
Here are some interesting facts about the new store:
It occupies 15,000 sq/ft of floor space, taking up two levels of the 4.7 million sq/ft IFC mall.
The store is anticipating 40,000-plus visitors a day, that is four times the average footfall of stores in the US.
Apple has a 10 year lease on the space at an estimated $9.4 million per year.
The company spent more than $20 million on its construction and development.

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Public-cloud preacher Salesforce.com will deliver a white-label version of its enterprise "app store" for private clouds – so businesses can use it to distribute software to staff.
The Marc Benioff-run online giant has dubbed the product Private AppExchange, which companies can individually brand and tailor as required. The system lets IT depts manage and distribute their customized programs and web services for use on mobile devices and desktop computers.
“With Salesforce Private AppExchange, now CIOs can quickly deliver a custom corporate app store - a one-stop shop for all of their enterprise apps," gushed Salesforce platform executive vice-president Mike Rosenbaum.
Private AppExchange goes live on November 1 for web and handheld gadgets; the ability to download apps to desktop machines due sometime in 2014. The service aimed at folks with enterprise, performance and unlimited licenses for the company's Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Identity, Company Communities, Force and Chatter Plus.
It’s the third major repositioning of software-store AppExchange since it went live in 2006; it was billed by Benioff as the “iTunes of enterprise apps.”
Private AppExchange doesn't contradict the big boss's crusade for public cloud systems: the new service still runs on the Salesforce infrastructure and not as an on-premises installation or an instance inside someone else's data center.
'Aspirations are high'
Benioff has argued customers should not host their own clouds and instead surrender their data and applications to external service providers – such as his own company, natch. While Salesforce and other software-as-a-service outfits are used by companies thoroughly tired of Oracle and SAP, these business customers – unlike consumers – are not lured to app stores. AppExchange has notched up 1,996 programs in its marketplace since 2006, versus more than six million for Apple’s iTunes, although admittedly that comparison is like judging apples against pairs. Salesforce brags of two million downloads from its service.
But analysts at Gartner point to a slow move to public clouds. It reckons nearly half of enterprises will have hybrid cloud deployments – a mix of on- and off-premises hardware and software – by 2017.
“Actual deployments are low, but aspirations are high,” Gartner said.
The reasons for not relinquishing control are varied. Outages, such as Microsoft's Azure wobble this week, knock confidence as will revelations US spooks are snooping on data centers as well as private communications. ®


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Hispanics make up a growing share of the US affluent population (those with household income of at least $125,000), according to research data released by Ipsos. The percentage of affluents overall who are Hispanic stands at 11%, but that figure is much higher among younger than older affluents.
Indeed, 20% of Gen Z affluents are Hispanic, per the data, compared to 13% of Millennial affluents, 12% of Gen X affluents, 6% of Boomer affluents and 3% of Senior affluents.
With their growth among younger generations – in which they make up a significant share of the population (including 26% share of Gen Z) – Hispanics now comprise the largest affluent subgroup in the US. Additionally, 1 in 5 Hispanics overall is affluent.
Looking at diversity within the Hispanic affluent population, Ipsos’ data reveals that Hispanics of Mexican origin are under-represented relative to their population share, while Puerto Ricans and Cubans are over-represented within the affluent population compared to the general population. Affluent Hispanics of Cuban origin have the highest average incomes, with 51% living in households with annual income of at least $200,000.
The vast majority of Hispanic affluents are first-generation affluent, with 1 in 4 of this group growing up poor and three-quarters growing up middle-class. Affluent Hispanics tend to be bi-cultural, with two-thirds describing themselves as both Latino/a/Latinx and American. Some 3 in 10 self-identify as completely American, while 3% identify as completely Latino/a/Latinx.
Brands need to recognize the role that culture plays with affluent Hispanics. Among affluent subgroups, they’re the most likely to agree that “I feel more connected to my cultural heritage than my parents did,” with almost half (47%) feeling this way. That compares with 39% of affluent non-Hispanic Blacks and 18% of affluent non-Hispanic Asians. Additionally, 6 in 10 agree that “it is easier these days to express my culture heritage than it was for previous generations.”
Half of affluent Hispanics are bilingual and use both Spanish and English. Research has suggested that advertising in Spanish can have an impact on Latino audiences, and Ipsos notes that “marketers thinking about how to message to affluent Hispanics need to consider that language continues to be the glue that connects them to their culture and with their loved ones.”
Hispanics overall tend to be bigger spenders than other racial/ethnic groups, and this applies to affluents also. Affluent Hispanics are as likely as non-Hispanic affluents to make purchases in various expenditure categories, and more likely in areas such as technology (computers, tablets, smartphones), fragrance, and watches. They also have higher median annual expenditures in areas including personal travel, leisure entertainment and dining, technology, men’s apparel and accessories, watches, and fragrance.
For more, check out Ipsos’ data here.
About the Data: The results are based on the Ipsos Affluent Barometer, Q2 2022 and the Ipsos Affluent Survey, Spring 2022.


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The NPD Group on Monday released its domestic Mac sales estimates for the month of June, which showed year-over-year growth for all three months of the June quarter. Analyst Gene Munster said that likely puts Apple on track to announce sales of between 3.1 million and 3.2 million in its quarterly earnings report Tuesday.
Mac sales were up a strong 35 percent stateside in May, following the introduction of the iPad in both Wi-Fi and 3G models. Those sales figures have been interpreted to suggest that Apple's new portable multitouch device will not cannibalize Mac sales.
In addition, NPD estimates for April found that Mac sales were up 39 percent year over year.
If the estimates hold, they would mean that Apple is likely to exceed its Mac sales from last quarter, when the company sold 2.94 million machines to start 2010. Those sales from January through March were accomplished without a new product launch.
June quarter sales, however, will likely be bolstered by new product launches. Early last quarter, Apple launched new MacBook Pros, equipped with Intel's latest Core i7 and Core i5 processors in the high-end 15- and 17-inch models, as well as a refresh to the 13-inch MacBook Pro adding a Nvidia GeForce 320M graphics processor.
Then in May, the company also updated its low-end $999 MacBook, giving it, too, GeForce 320M graphics. And in June, the company redesigned its Mac mini, adding an HDMI port, a built-in SD Card slot, and giving it a unibody enclosure with a built-in power supply.
The latest NPD data for June also shows that iPod sales were down 10 percent year over year, leading to an estimate of between 9 million and 10 million iPod sales. Wall Street expects Apple to report about 9.5 million in Tuesday's earnings.


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Coinbase has announced that it has met with hundreds of NFT producers to collaborate on its future NFT marketplace, which is set to open "soon."
The crypto exchange Coinbase has just revealed that their non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace will open "soon."
Coinbase NFT, the account for Coinbase's planned NFT marketplace, announced on March 14 that its team met with more than 100 content creators to work on the launch of their new NFT marketplace.
However, no official launch date has been set as of yet. What is certain is that the marketplace will launch soon and will include a number of features and technologies that the competition does not.
The crypto exchange's primary differentiator, according to the company, will be a new "social function" that aims to improve the interaction between artists and users, allowing them to build an endlessly growing community of creators.
Note that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong recently stated that the NFT market might ultimately overtake that of cryptocurrencies, which is why the company is developing a marketplace that provides a more immersive experience similar to that of social media platforms such as Instagram or Facebook.
"We're very excited about NFTs; it's going to be a huge area for crypto in the future, and it already is," says the team.
Only 5 months after its announcement, Coinbase NFT has received more than 2.5 million registrations from users on the waiting list to join the network.


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AdAge conducted an interview with Ross Hoffman, Twitter’s director of brand strategy, that revealed the social network’s plans to, well, plan social engagement spontaneity. A program called Hatch is a new initiative within Twitter’s ad team, which is essentially a stable of marketers that work with brand advertisers to plan ad campaigns months in advance of major events such as the Grammys, or more local events like product launches. In short, it looks forward to times where Twitter’s activity volume around a specific topic will be high and creates strategies that will help brand advertisers capitalize on that increased engagement.
“Probably about a quarter in advance, we’ll prepare a laundry list of questions for a brand and an agency really getting at the root of what they want to do: [whether] it’s around an event, a product release, a key time of the year. We want to think about the innovation that we can push with them.
We work with the brand [and] agency in those weeks and months leading up to a day where we’ll have one to three pretty good ideas about where we’ll be going. As opposed to getting in the room and saying, ‘We’re gonna leave this room with greatness.’ We want to do that ahead of time.” – Ross Hoffman
Social Media Landmine
Social media – and Twitter in particular – unlike traditional marketing channels, is a real-time platform. For marketers, success in positively engaging and influencing consumers in these channels requires the ability to take advantage of conversations or themes that are capturing the public’s hearts and minds at the moment.
Although real-time engagement on platforms like Twitter is equivalent to walking through a landmine for businesses, the benefits of successfully traversing the deathly obstacle course can pay large dividends. The You Can Still Dunk in the Dark Oreo campaign during Super Bowl ’13 is a famous example of getting it right – and winning.
On the other hand, many brands have tried this and failed miserably. The most recent case of a brand getting it wrong is DiGiorno Pizza, which attempted to capitalize on the popularity of the trending #WhyIStayed hashtag used by women to highlight stories of why they remained in abusive relationships. The trend grew in response to the video of NFL running back Ray Rice assaulting his wife.
Real-time Social Engagement Strategies
I can see the appeal of Twitter’s Hatch program; if designed and executed successfully, the social network provides marketers a fertile landscape from which to harvest a bountiful yield. Yet, are the risks too high – especially given the fact that there are more brands which have failed than succeeded?
The key may lie in the strategy developed. Earlier this year, we posted an article on the difference between real-time marketing and real-time content in which we suggested brands are better served by generating content that is relevant to their audience, connects to the brand’s voice, and displays genuineness in context instead of trying to be the first to push out a witty meme.
“At base, we still need to understand consumers and shoppers in a deep and meaningful way; we still need to communicate a core reason to interact with our brand… and our standard for creative excellence is heightened,” states Coca-Cola VP of strategy and development and eCommerce for North America in an interview with CMO magazine.
Starbucks’ Tweetable Coffee Program is a good alternate real-time strategy in social media marketing. It wasn’t based on an upcoming event; instead it utilized the real-time nature of Twitter’s conversations to proactively insert its brand and product into the collective psyche of the social audience. The campaign allowed U.S. customers to sync their Starbucks accounts to their Twitter accounts so that by simply tweeting @tweetacoffee and the Twitter handle of a gift recipient, the recipient instantly receives a $5 digital eGift.
The point is, to achieve the success of Oreo’s real-time You Can Still Dunk in the Dark campaign requires more than planning for future events predicted to be popular on Twitter. It requires a marketing team that is willing and able to listen to real-time chatter and understand the underlying emotions and social relevance they represent. Further, the business must ensure its marketing team understands the brand essence and given the latitude to make real-time decisions when these events are occurring. Janda Lukin, vice president and brand leader for Oreos spoke about this shift in a recent interview with Forbes.
“…decision making [has been] pushed down further into the organization. That’s been driven by the fact that the speed of communication and information is a lot faster than it was 12 years ago. As an organization we’ve learned to become more nimble in pushing down decision making across our communications for responding to opportunities from a real-time standpoint, particularly within social.”
Of course, they must possess the courage to say “no” when the conversation does not align with the brand voice, despite the popularity of the online conversation or the scheduled campaign.
Can Spontaneity Be Scheduled?
As we see it, Twitter’s Hatch advertising program will fail to capitalize on future trending topics if it only sees them as “media events” instead of real people sharing real time emotions, views, and experiences. Creating a clever ad campaign to tie in to major events is just that: Advertising, which seems to die a quick death on social media.
Selling through conversation flash mobs such as those building around the #WhyIStayed hashtag requires a more nimble approach that is more reliant on the business’s internal culture and decision-making processes than planned advertising. Further, it’s best if the brand already has a relationship established with that community; otherwise, the attempt will surely be seen as opportunistic regardless of how pithy the planned commentary is.
Can social media spontaneity be scheduled?
Feed Your Community, Not Your Ego


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CLEARFIELD – A walking club for seniors ages 50 and older will be made available courtesy of the Clearfield YMCA.
It will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. May 2 – Aug. 31. It will be a “refreshing fitness walk” around town.
All walkers will meet and start at the YMCA. The cost is free for members and $3 for non-members.
For more information, call the YMCA at 814-765-5521 or visit online at www.clearfieldymca.net.


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$ILMN still expects FY16 revenue growth of about 12% and non-GAAP EPS of $3.48-3.58. For 3Q16, the company projects revenue of $625-630MM. CEO Francis deSouza said $ILMN will continue to focus on execution to deliver the sequential growth it is expecting in 2H16.
People seem to be cold about the $HAL earnings! Honestly, I expected more stock action by now.
$TSLA's Musk says Neuralink will take on AI prominence. Apparently, he wants to avoid a "Terminator" kind situation.
$JCP shares rebounded and now in green territory after saying it will hire 800 consultants as part of a beauty expansion that will include 70 new Sephora store-in-store locations.
The latest earnings report by $VZ shows how it is losing customers despite offering the unlimited data plans, a record for the company.


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Hotter weather calls for lighter beer. This summer Bud Light, arguably one of the most popular light beers out there, is introducing a new flavor to help everyone beat the summer heat: Bud Light Lemon Tea. Check it out!
All posts by Jim Lytton
Beers that are low in calories, carbs, and alcohol are having a serious moment. Chalk it up to the keto movement or the fact that beach bod season is right around the corner. Here are 15 super low-carb beers that won’t totally derail your diet. Check it out!
Don’t be alarmed if your next Natty beer run has you crossing paths with a fun-loving flock of flamingos because Naturday season is officially her. Natty Light is introducing Naturdays, a sessionable light lager brewed with phenomenal strawberry lemonade flavor. Check it out!
Eager to jump into their 20th year of craft brewing, Starr Hill Brewery (Charlottesville, Virginia) sent out a 2019 Product Calendar this week that outlines all the surprises they have planned for their fans in the coming year. Check it out!
Aloha readers! And Welina Hou to The Intoxicated Review! Jack writing in today from the Hawaiian Island of Kauai. What better way to enjoy Thirsty Thursday than with a great tasting Hawaiian beer made right here in the islands. Today’s beer choice comes from Kona Brewing Company and is their…
Anheuser-Busch InBev is finally making an acquisition in San Diego, but it’s not a craft brewery. The world’s largest beer company today announced the purchase of fast-growing Cutwater Spirits, a craft distilling venture that was originally born inside of Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits. Check it out!
When Anheuser-Busch InBev purchased Roseland, Virginia’s Devils Backbone Brewing Co. back in 2016, it was a curiously muted announcement, all things considered. Certainly, the beer geek masses didn’t rise up to spew venom as they did a year later when Wicked Weed announced its sale to AB InBev, in a…
NELLYSFORD, VA—Bold Rock Hard Cider has announced the release of its first seasonal cider of 2019, Ginger Turmeric. The new spring seasonal will be available on shelves January 19 accompanied by release party’s at Bold Rock’s Nellysford Cider Barn and Mills River Cidery. Ginger Turmeric is an herbal tea inspired…
Not too long ago, Anheuser-Busch InBev declared that they would be running on 100% renewable energy by 2025 at the latest. Well, it seems that one of their flagship products has already reached that milestone—at least if their just released Super Bowl ad is anything to go by: Check it out!


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Data management: a record $5 billion fine for Facebook: According to US media, the federal regulatory agency reached an amicable agreement with the giant, providing for fine and restrictions on the use of personal data.
Table of Page Contents
Data management: a record $5 billion fine for Facebook
The amount of the fine may be historic in the United States, but its impact is minimal for a company as successful as Facebook. Because of data breaches, the Silicon Valley group will pay a record $5 billion fine, say several US media outlets, including the New York Times and the Washington Post on Friday, July 12.
Concluded with the Federal Regulatory Agency (FTC), the amicable agreement, which no detail has filtered, should also include restrictions on how Facebook uses personal data, reports the Wall Street Journal, which the first reported the decision. The Ministry of Justice has yet to give the green light to this agreement, adopted by the FTC commissioners by three votes to two, the newspaper said, quoting a source familiar with the matter.
The stock market applauded: the stock reached its high of the year to end at nearly $205. Investors probably believe that the restrictions will not be too severe, as the opposition of two Democratic commissioners to the decision seems to think while the three Republicans voted for.
In any case, this is the interpretation of the consumer advocacy association Public Knowledge. “We do not yet know the essential aspects of the amicable settlement: does Facebook have to change its business model “or in its way of doing business?


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Majestic Wine PLC (WINE) Price Target Cut to GBX 400
Majestic Wine PLC (LON:WINE) had its price target lowered by equities research analysts at Peel Hunt from GBX 540 ($7.05) to GBX 400 ($5.22) in a research report issued on Wednesday. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Peel Hunt’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 21.21% from the stock’s previous close.
Separately, Liberum Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Majestic Wine PLC from GBX 500 ($6.53) to GBX 510 ($6.66) and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 20th.
Shares of Majestic Wine PLC (LON:WINE) traded down 23.88% during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting GBX 330.00. 4,224,422 shares of the company’s stock traded hands. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of GBX 416.60 and a 200-day moving average price of GBX 422.38. The stock’s market cap is GBX 233.48 million. Majestic Wine PLC has a 1-year low of GBX 273.25 and a 1-year high of GBX 485.00.
This story is the sole property of American Banking News and it was originally published by American Banking News. If you are reading this story on another website, that means this article was illegally copied and re-published to this website in violation of U.S. and International copyright law. The original version of this article is available at http://www.americanbankingnews.com/2016/09/21/majestic-wine-plc-wine-price-target-cut-to-gbx-400-2.html
About Majestic Wine PLC
Majestic Wine plc is a wine retailer. The Company acts as a holding company for its subsidiaries. The Company is engaged in the retailing of wines, beers and spirits. The Company operates through four segments: Retail, Commercial, Naked Wines and Lay & Wheeler. The Retail segment is a customer based wine retailer, selling wine, beer and spirits from stores across the United Kingdom, and online, and also incorporates the Company’s French business.
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The Anova Precision Cooker is a Bluetooth-enabled smart sous machine -- and it's a lot more affordable than you probably think.
The gentle giant has been designed specifically to assist in caring for Japan's ageing population, taking on heavy-duty tasks such as lifting.
A new stylus seeking funding on YouTube employs a pressure-sensitive barrel that allows users to squeeze to fine-tune line thickness to razor precision.
This vacuum cleaner is entirely worth its $300 price tag. The search for vacuum perfection is ongoing, but the Electrolux Precision Brushroll Clean gets pretty darn close.
A huge update for the Leap Motion Controller, which recently launched in Australia, will significantly change the way it interacts with users' hands.
US military research agency DARPA forsees a tiny implant that could restore sight loss or give you a heads-up display without a helmet or glasses.
The social-networking company will now let advertisers target users by device, OS, and even Wi-Fi.
Sophia is a "smart" skipping rope that tracks your fitness and calories and allows you to set goals using a connected app.
These sous-vide machines give you precise temperature control with minimal fuss.
Here's a look at the Electrolux Precision Brushroll Clean vacuum.


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Mothercare’s interim chief customer officer Andy Harding is quitting the business after just two months to take over as boss of stock photography company Alamy.
As revealed by Retail Week, the former House of Fraser executive only joined Mothercare in July, but will leave at the end of his contract.
But Harding, who is highly regarded in the retail industry for his multichannel expertise, has now bagged a top job outside of the sector.
Alamy, which was founded in 1999, has grown to boast an online archive of 110 million images, illustrations, vectors and videos, contributed by agencies and independent photographers or collected from news archives and museums.
He went on to become executive director of multichannel and then chief customer officer prior to his departure in August 2016.
Harding was drafted in by Mothercare earlier this year to help drive boss Mark Newton-Jones’ turnaround strategy, but his stint with the nursery and maternity specialist proved to be short-lived.
He will take up his new role at Alamy on December 4, when the firm’s co-founder and chief executive James West will become chairman after 18 years in charge.
Harding said: “I am very excited to be joining Alamy to lead the business into the next stage of its growth story.
“James and the team have built a fantastic company, creating the most diverse stock photography library in the world, and I am looking forward to the challenge of taking the business into new markets, developing innovative solutions as to how new customer demands will be met.”


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The seventh Dash conference was hosted in Venezuela and fetched over 600 people in attendance who wanted to learn more about how cryptocurrency, in particular Dash, can benefit their lives.
The Dash conferences have grown from around 140 Venezuelans in the first conference to now having over 8,000 people in their database. Eugenia Alcalá Sucre, founder of DASH Caracas and DASH Venezuela spoke with Dash Force News about the “adventure that has taken us to places we had not even dreamed of finding.” She mentioned that the “journey has been full of satisfaction, joy, achievement and hope” and that they “have managed to build a high performance team, whose members are driven by passion and show their commitment and excellence in every little thing they do.”
Eugenia mentioned how the team’s passion and attention to detail has accomplished “important achievements that can be seen in our numerical indicators that we present in the monthly reports that we make in the DASH Forum.” She added that they also have “other achievements that are not so easily measurable, but equally important”.
“[W]ith the help of the DASH Community and the support of MNOs, we have helped to change the lives of dozens of people who have begun to understand that DASH – Digital Cash is an alternative that can give them a new economic reality.”
What has caused the massive adoption of Dash in Venezuela?
Eugenia mention that “speed and low commissions that makes it viable for micropayments” was what attracted Venezuelans to Dash, at first. However, the community strengthened even further when it became “visible that there is a large Dash community in Venezuela that is active and is constantly providing support to entrepreneurs and users”.
In addition to the conferences and large community, a live Dash support desk will soon been launched in Venezuela. When asked what is the most effective advertising method to bring new Venezuelans into the Dash community, Eugenia mentioned “a good combination of an adequate management of social media, appearances in TV, radio, press and word-of-mouth generated by well-produced events is the perfect combination”.
One of the top attractions of the Dash conferences has been ‘Dash City’ (Ciudad Dash), where entrepreneurs can trade their goods and services for Dash. Euginia recalled how her team was only accompanied by two entrepreneurs in their first conference (Sept. 2017), a business entrepreneur and a social entrepreneur, but they now have over 100 entrepreneurs selling their goods and services for Dash.
“[M]any of them are already daring to accept the currency outside our events and have had very good results, which makes the other entrepreneurs also dare to cross the borders of Dash City.”
Euginia described such a wide diversity of products being sold at Dash City that it was difficult for her to name her favorite product.
Future of Dash in Venezuela
Euginia and her team wants to make Venezuela the first Dash Nation through multiple channels. They want to work “in a network of alliances with new communities, with new projects and with many entrepreneurs” to ensure that “in the shortest possible time [that] the most Venezuelans are familiar in how to buy and sell with DASH, and choose DASH – Digital Cash as their favorite cryptocurrency.” They are intending to end their announced conference cycle in September of this year, but immediately afterwards “engage in other kind[s] of activities that takes DASH to the top of mind of our citizens.” Eugenia and her team gained valuable knowledge and insights from their experiences, which they will apply to their new initiative: Dash Venezuela. More of their goals and initiatives can be seen in this forum.
The inflation and economic quagmire in Venezuela shows little signs of abating, but luckily Dash is providing an alternative currency for Venezuelans to institute their own individual economic solutions. The Dash teams in Venezuela understand this and are leveraging quality strategies to continue to spread knowledge of Dash to help increasing amounts of Venezuelans.
*Note: Some of the material from source article was translated via Google page translate


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We look at the scope and impact of China’s credit crisis
We believe the possibility of a financial meltdown is low
We discuss how resolution of the crisis may unfold
News of a trust product on the brink of default has deepened the concerns of increasing instability of China’s financial system. The risk of defaults on trust and wealth management products will likely continue to impact markets.


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Dell Intros PowerEdge VRTX: Converged Infrastructure For SMB, Remote Office
Dell on Tuesday unveiled the PowerEdge VRTX, a new converged infrastructure offering with integrated server, storage and networking technology targeted at small and midsize businesses and remote offices of midsize and larger businesses.
Dell also introduced its fifth-generation of modular data centers, which Forrest Norrod, vice president and general manager for Dell servers, called the first modular data center solution targeting the broad market.
The PowerEdge VRTX, which was officially rolled out during the opening keynotes at the Dell Enterprise Forum, was designed to be easy to deploy, manage and maintain, Norrod said.
"We think this is a disruptive solution for small offices and remote offices," Norrod said.
Marius Haas, president of enterprise solutions for Dell, said the PowerEdge VRTX was all about helping customers simplify their IT infrastructures.
"This is really compelling," Haas said. "It will take a year for competitors to come up with anything like this."
The PowerEdge VRTX features up to four dual-processor server blades, each with a maximum capacity of 768 GB of memory. It can be configured with up to 48 TB of direct-attach storage capacity, which is shared among the up to eight processors. Dell PowerConnect networking technology is also built into the small chassis.
The PowerEdge VRTX is scheduled to ship in June with an entry price of $9,999 for two blades, each with a single processor and 32 GB of memory, as well as 5 TB of SATA storage.
Paul Clifford, president of Davenport Group, a St. Paul, Minn.-based solution provider and Dell partner, said the PowerEdge VRTX appears to be way ahead of the market.
"That much simplicity and power in such a small footprint," Clifford said. "I had four of my engineers sitting at my table this morning. When they heard about it, they started grinning. After the keynote, they got together and were already talking about where they can use it."
Scott Winslow, president of Winslow Technology Group, a Boston-based solution provider and Dell partner, said the idea of a simple data center converged infrastructure with little cabling is attractive to his company's customers. "Our engineers are really excited about it."
Even so, more details are needed before a final understanding of the possible market for the PowerEdge VRTX, said Daniel Morgan, owner of the Bakersfield, Calif.-based solution provider SANplicity and Dell partner.
"You can never get anything out of buzz words," Morgan said. "So I'll be looking forward to seeing the numbers."
NEXT: The Fifth-Generation Dell Modular Data Center
SANplicity's Morgan said he has yet to see the VRTX's price point, how networking is done and how redundant it can be since it is contained in a single chassis.
He cited Dell's Active System 800 converged infrastructure solution as an example where buzz does not always meet reality.
"Dell oversells it," he said. "It said customers can get 100 virtual machines on 24 hard drives. You can't do it. You really have to dig through the marketing.
The PowerEdge VRTX is not the first converged infrastructure offering targeting the SMB market. The ExpressPod reference architecture from NetApp and Cisco, introduced last Fall, targets businesses with up to 500 users.
The new fifth-generation Dell Modular Data Center, based on high-density Dell PowerEdge servers, make use of individual power, IT and cooling modules that snap together to form an easy-to-deploy, easy-to-maintain data infrastructure, Dell's Norrod said.
"Modular Data Center is a misnomer," he said. "Our Modular Data Center is a completely engineered system from Dell that allows you to deploy on barren ground a complete data center."
Morgan said he is looking forward to getting details on Dell's latest Modular Data Center.
"This is a very niche market," he said. "But we just happen to have a customer looking to buy a modular data center."
Davenport's Clifford said his engineers are excited about the idea of a modular data center suitable for a broad customer set.
"The proof is in the details," he said. "But I think Dell makes sense. Think of what CIOs face. Every CIO on the planet is dealing with systems that can't go down, and they can't live with a degradation of performance. When you look at that complexity, if Dell can define a solution to simplify the data center, that's a powerful message. Put it in the hands of my engineers with faster deployment and simpler management and boom, they're ready to go."
PUBLISHED JUNE 4, 2013


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NEW YORK (AP) — Gap says the president and CEO of its namesake business is stepping down and it’s looking for a replacement.
Jeff Kirwan, who joined Gap in 2004, took the helm of the retailer’s brand four years ago.
Brent Hyder, Gap executive vice president of global talent and sustainability, will serve as interim brand president.
Gap, once the cool brand in the 1990s, has lost its way as it wrestles with stiffer competition from the likes of fast-fashion players like H&M.
The brand saw improving sales in its fiscal third quarter, but Gap Inc.’s CEO says it needs a new leader to take it to the next level. The San Francisco company also operates Old Navy and Banana Republic stores.
Gap’s shares fell nearly 4 percent to $31.96 in morning trading.


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Cisco Jasper® has completed live trials of Narrow Band-IoT (NB-IoT) on its Control Centre connectivity management platform, making it one of the first IoT platforms to support NB-IoT.
Supported by the GSMA, NB-IoT delivers a reliable, cost-effective IoT connectivity solution for low-cost devices. By building out support for NB-IoT, Cisco Jasper and its service provider partners are also making it easy for enterprises to manage devices across multiple network types.
Cisco Jasper is seeing increasing support for NB-IoT throughout its global service provider partnerships and demand from enterprises worldwide. The company has already completed live trials, including initial core network trials with Optus in Australia, which has completed integration of the Cisco Jasper platform to support NB-IoT.
“Optus sees the evolution of LTE technology, to support dedicated IoT networks, as a critical step towards mass adoption of IoT solutions by both enterprise and consumers, and is excited to be part of this emerging market trend,” said Allan Burdekin, head of NCSi Incorporating Safe and Smart Cities at Optus.
“Incorporating Cisco Jasper into our NB-IoT plans allows us to provide a consistent user experience to our customers across both traditional cellular and NB-IoT, all on a single platform. Cisco Jasper will be a key partner in enabling our customers to grow and scale with the IoT market in the most efficient way.”
Globally, Cisco Jasper partners with more than 50 service providers, managing IoT devices across more than 550 mobile operator networks. Many of these service providers have already committed to NB-IoT.
The company has also collaborated with Jupl, introducing wearable tech to empower seniors with independence and safety.
Using the Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch and purpose-built software from Jupl to provide a personal emergency response device without the need for a smartphone, Cisco Jasper and Jupl have can provide a wearable mobile Personal Emergency Response System (mPERS) that promotes safety and wellness, to empower the world’s rising population of the elderly.
In the third of four IoT announcements at Mobile World Congress, the MyHonda Connected Car platform is to use IoT from Cisco Jasper and Bright Box to deliver customised driving services.
Honda is leveraging IoT solutions from Cisco Jasper® and Bright Box to deliver the MyHonda Connected Car platform, which provides a suite of powerful services to increase driver safety, simplify vehicle ownership, and enable new experiences for drivers. Honda will launch these connected car services across all European countries.
Finally, KT and Cisco Jasper are launching a global IoT services platform for businesses in Korea. By combining KT’s high-performance network and the Cisco Jasper Control Centre IoT connectivity management platform, for the first time businesses throughout Korea will now be able to take advantage of IoT to deliver new connected services to their customers.
The Cisco Jasper Control Centre is an automated connectivity management platform that makes it possible to launch, manage and monetise IoT services anytime, anywhere.
Comment on this article below or via Twitter: @IoTNow_ OR @jcIoTnow


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Posted December 5, 2013
Agriculture, Industrialized Meat, Food
Minneapolis, December 5, 2013 — In early November, the European Commission (EC) posted on its website a report evaluating Australian meat inspection. The upshot of the report will be to ban imports of Australian beef, pork and lamb because Australia allows companies producing meat products to also inspect them...
Posted December 3, 2013
Food and Health, Healthy Legacy, Autism, Environment, Health
Download the PDF version of this fact sheet, including full reference list.
Autism is one of a growing number of developmental and learning disabilities that now affect 1 in 6 children.1 Autism is distinctive among these disabilities for its devastating effects on individuals and families, its astronomical...
Posted November 27, 2013
Food security, World Trade Organization (WTO)
Ambassador Michael Froman
United State Trade Representative (USTR)
Office of the United States Trade Representative
600 17th Street NW
Washington, DC 20508
Ambassador Michael Punke
Deputy USTR and Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization
11 Route de Pregny
Posted November 26, 2013
WASHINGTON – Following the recent implementation of new country-of-origin labels (COOL) for meat and poultry products, 15 farmer, rancher and consumer groups issued the following statement:
“As families settle in to celebrate Thanksgiving, it will have a renewed all-American emphasis as a result of the new...
Posted November 14, 2013
Agriculture, Food, Health
With over 25 years of experience in the fields of agriculture and trade, IATP has significant experience working with food producers, processors, distributors, retailers and consumers on a variety of scales. This experience has afforded the organization an appreciation of the impact—both positive and negative...
Posted October 23, 2013
Local Food, Finance, Trade, Food safety, Free trade agreements, Toxics
Download Promises and Perils of the TTIP: Negotiating a Transatlantic Agricultural Market or read the executive summary below.
Still reeling from the devastation of the global financial crisis, the EU and U.S have embarked on an ambitious set of trade talks for a Transatlantic Trade and...
Posted October 9, 2013
Agriculture, Agroecology, Environment, Food, Globalization
If there was a silver lining in the disastrous 2007–2008 food price crisis, it was that it prompted governments and international donors to re-examine their priorities for agricultural development. They committed to invest in agriculture and food security in a manner that prioritizes small-scale producers (...
Posted October 9, 2013
Agribusiness, Food, Free trade agreements
The drive for "regulatory coherence" in the transatlantic trade talks risks pushing food and farming standards down in the U.S. and EU. Big food and biotech companies are pushing to eliminate EU restrictions on genetically modified (GM) foods and food additives, challenge food labelling laws...
Posted October 7, 2013
Agriculture, Food security, Sustainable Agriculture, Water
Wednesday 9th October, 12:30–2:00 p.m., at the 40th Session of the FAO Committee on World Food Security, FAO Headquarters, Rome
This side event will give examples and characteristics of sustainable, equitable and viable food systems, including crop and livestock production. Examples and experiences from...
Posted October 1, 2013
Agriculture, Antibiotics, Food
October 1st, 2013, Washington, DC —Late yesterday, under threat of a lawsuit, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) responded to a nearly four-year-old petition, calling for the immediate withdrawal of the vast majority of arsenic-containing compounds used as feed additives for chickens, turkeys and hogs....
Posted September 25, 2013
Common Agriculture Policy (CAP)
A vital and timely new Toolkit on the Common Agriculture Policy and Rural Development in the EU has been released by the ARC2020 team.
With political agreement on remaining CAP issues reached between the European Parliament, the EU Council of Ministers and the European Commission Tuesday evening, before further urgent...
Posted September 19, 2013
Agriculture, Trade, Free trade agreements, United Nations
This piece is an IATP commentary originally published in the UNCTAD Trade and Environment Review 2013.
The weakening of agricultural, financial and trade rules has contributed significantly to increased volatility and corporate concentration in agricultural markets. This increased volatility is harmful to long-term...
Posted September 10, 2013
Agriculture, World Trade Organization (WTO)
There are several proposals on the WTO’s agricultural negotiations table, but the dominant discussion ahead of December’s Bali Ministerial Conference is the November 2012 proposal put forward by 46 countries under the auspices of the G-33. The G-33 is a group of developing countries united by primarily...
Posted September 1, 2013
Posted September 1, 2013
Posted August 30, 2013
Local Food, Agriculture, Food
Minneapolis – With another school year set to begin, exciting things are in store for school cafeterias. September is Farm to School Month in Minnesota, designed to highlight partnerships between school districts and local farmers that bring fresh, local food to K-12 students and children in childcare. Weekly...
Posted August 16, 2013
Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), Farm Bill
An article published in December of 1987 by the Catholic Institute for International Relations of the need for the European Commission to take into account potential U.S. policy options in order to successfully reform the Common Agricultural Policy.
Posted August 14, 2013
Biofuels, the programs that support them, and the impacts of these policies on climate, environment and society have been subject to some of the most intense scrutiny of any areas of public policy in recent years. Public support for biofuels production has generated considerable controversy for a variety...
Posted August 13, 2013
Minneapolis – The locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi River have significantly damaged—and continue to degrade—the Mississippi River. This infrastructure is the most heavily subsidized of all the private transportation industries and it is one of the most environmentally damaging...
Posted August 8, 2013
The following is a declaration presenting the work done by young food professionals from 24
European countries in a week-long Eating City Summer Campus at La Bergerie de Villarceaux,
France. It is an outcome of discussions, presentations, working groups and general conversation.
All of us agreed on the strong...


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The universal appeal of confectionery
This week’s confectionery dispatch from myself will be short, but hopefully sweet, with production deadlines looming for our next magazine.
Its fair to say that our title thrives due to the combined support of the confectionery industry, our readership, and leading figures willing to engage with our publication.
With that in mind, special congratulations are due to our editorial board member Andy Baxendale, with his latest commission assisting development of a new range of fudge in Saudi Arabia.
Over the years, he has taken on a broad range of consulting roles for leading confectionery companies within the UK, but this is one of his most unusual projects to date.
The venture is a clear reminder that British confectionery holds universal appeal, with some of its best-loved brands appearing all over the world.
In the case of Saudi Arabia, the extreme heat is something of an obvious barrier to many forms of traditional chocolate confectionery. However, fudge is just one variety that appears to translate well there.
Another recent example of classic British brands doing well in other markets is that of KitKat, which earlier this year (through its manufacturers Nestlé), partnered with Swiss chocolate business Barry Callebaut. The results saw consumers in Japan treated to the first ever experience of the new category of ruby chocolate.
This launch was further evidence that wherever you are in the world, there are things that we share in common, and a love of confectionery is clearly one of those.
– Please keep in touch at [email protected] or via social media at @confectionprod


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Italy has an uncertain scenario set forth for light cannabis (i.e. with THC levels below 0.2%) shops and businesses, after a recent decision of the Italian Supreme Court, last July.
The decision took a rather strict approach, specifying that, under current legislation (and especially, under Law 242/2016), only certain specific types of products may be considered legal, i.e.:
– food and cosmetics;
– certain semi-finished products, such as fiber (“fibra”), shives (“canapulo”), powders (“polveri”), wood chips (“cippato”), oils (“olii”) or fuels (“carburanti”), for supplies to businesses and artisanal businesses of different fields, including energy;
– material intended for the practice of green manure (“sovescio”);
– organic material intended for bioengineering works or products for bio-building;
– material intended for the phytoremediation to reclaim polluted sites;
– cultivations dedicated to educational and demonstration activities, as well as research carried out by public or private institutions;
– crops used for nursery gardening (“florovivaismo”).
Whatever falls outside the items listed above, even if the content of THC is below 0.2%, may be treated as an illegal drug with all relevant implications, especially under Italian criminal law – unless such products are proven to have no doping or psychotropic effect whatsoever.
It is not difficult to imagine the negative impact of such approach on business operators in Italy, which caused many of them to close, interrupt or suspend their activity, right after having experienced a quite impressive boom, leading to an estimated yearly turnover in 2018 of euro 150 million.
Just yesterday, nevertheless, the Budget Commission of the Italian Senate approved an amendment of the draft Budget Law for 2020 that, according to Senator Matteo Mantero, would clarify in express terms that products with a THC content under 0.5% cannot be considered as having a doping or psychotropic effect and, therefore, should be considered as legal. Of course, this measure will be linked to a specific taxation of all cannabinoid products (0.4 euro per gram of finished product), which is expected to bring benefits to Italy’s budget for 2020.
The specific amendment and the entire draft of the Budget Law for 2020 is still undergoing its approval process. We will keep an eye on it. Stay tuned for updates.
1 thought on “New Bill May Bring More Clarity for “Light Cannabis” Business”


text: For Immediate Release PRESS RELEASE Business Elites Discuss Business Strategies for a post-COVID World June 30, 2020, HK: The third webinar organized by China Daily, themed “Getting Your Business Ready for a post-COVID World”, was held today with the aim of helping businesses gain new insights and opportunities in the current challenging environment. Some 300 business leaders from across the world registered and attended the online event. Countries across Europe and Asia are planning to reopen their borders for intercity travel to stimulate economic recovery. Under a “fast lane” arrangement, people from Singapore and six provinces on the Chinese mainland can make essential business or official trips without being subjected to the mandatory 14-day quarantine. As the progress of reopening the major economies hinge on the global public-health situation, how different business sectors can be well prepared for the post-COVID world? The webinar consists of two parts. Prof. Andrew SHENG, Distinguished Fellow, Asia Global Institute, the University of Hong Kong, talked about the “For-Active Policies to Help Re-Open COVID Economies” in the first part, analyzing measures the business sector can take to speed up economic recovery. Prof. Sheng pointed out that we're moving into the 5G technological disruption era and poverty will rise because the poorest are affected the worst. He described it as a very unusual situation. There is no theory to guide us. This is something that is completely out of the textbook. No textbook can describe it. He said that the politics geopolitically and domestically will be very complicated for at least the next two or three years. Because there is a huge trauma, as well as a lot of emotion, anger and protests. These result in populism, border conflicts and national security fears. Although there’re signs that COVID-19 is being contained in some regions across Asia, it still takes time for local economic activities to recover as the pandemic threat has yet to be eradicated on a global scale. According to a survey released by the Hong Kong government in June, both large and small-and-medium-sized enterprises were still seeing subdued business sentiment. What innovative strategies the traditional industries can adopt under such a challenging business environment? The second part of the webinar features three prominent speakers -- Mr. Suthiphand CHIRATHIVAT, Executive Director, Central Group; Executive Director, ASEAN Studies Center at Chulalongkorn University; Ms. Elaine SHIU, Director, Ejj Holding Limited; COO, Luways Travel Company Limited; and Mr. Sunny TAN, Executive Vice-President, Luen Thai Holding; Deputy Chairman, Federation of Hong Kong Industries -- who will share their insights and survival strategies in the “new normal” commercial environment. Suthiphand CHIRATHIVAT said digital transformation is significant in the post-pandemic world and what his company doing is to think of what technologies can fascinate consumers and how to respond to the changing consumer habits. Elaine SHIU said the pandemic has significant impact on the travel industry. People are stuck in Hong Kong while all business travelers as well as vacation travelers are not able to get to Hong Kong. This really hurts companies like hers. What her company really can do at this moment is to focus on local tours. Sunny TAN said that it’s a tough time in the industry. Only the fittest and only the one who has the right financial management and are willing to bring down the overhead and operating costs will survive. About China Daily Founded in 1981, China Daily covers 220 million readers and users worldwide through diversified platforms, including newspapers, websites, and mobiles and social media. The number of China Daily’s followers has now reached 55 million on Weibo, 8.3 million on the WeChat Blog platform, 92 million on Facebook and another 4.37 million on Twitter. About China Daily Asia Leadership Roundtable The China Daily Asia Leadership Roundtable is a by-invitation network of movers and shakers in Asia, providing platforms for focused dialogue, issue investigation and possible collective action on strategic issues relating to Asia’s economic, business and social development. Our aim is to enhance communication and increase mutual understanding between China, Asian and Western countries. Roundtable events are held in major cities across Asia.


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With the emergence of Rivian, the electric vehicle market is no longer a one-horseless-carriage race. Indeed, the 2020s are gearing up to be the decade of the EV. According to research at Oppenheimer, EVs and plug-in electric hybrids accounted for a mere 2.2 percent of all U.S. vehicles sold in the last quarter of 2019. And only a third of those were purely electric. But that is changing rapidly. While only 5.1 million electric cars were sold worldwide in 2018, that figure is expected to surge throughout the decade—21 million units are projected to be sold in 2020, 98 million in 2025 and 253 million in 2030.
Building a new EV, however, requires investing in cutting-edge research into components like battery packs and powertrains. The only company that has been remotely successful is, of course, Tesla—and even it’s had a rough go of it. The question is: Even with $3 billion, does Rivian have enough to realize Scaringe’s electric dreams? If the mighty Tesla has faced so many detours and potholes, what makes Scaringe think that Rivian, which hasn’t made a single car, can have a smooth ride? He doesn’t. “Things will go wrong,” admits the young CEO. And Scaringe, who comes across like a mild-mannered Clark Kent type compared to Musk’s manic Tony Stark, is confident he can overcome any perils or roadblocks. After all, Rivian is built for treacherous terrain.
Read the full profile on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chucktannert/2020/02/10/elon-musks-new-nemesis-rivian-founder-rj-scaringe-has-a-3-billion-war-chest-and-tesla-in-his-headlights/#72de0f06182d
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Bulldog, which manages the Care Bears licensing programme in the UK, has brought on board two new licensees to create offerings based on the loveable, huggable bears.
MoYou will be creating a collection of Care Bears-inspired nail products, including children’s and adult nail art stencil plates, a nail art scraper, a nail art stamper, and nail polish. Meanwhile, The Hut Group has signed on to design a wide range of products inspired by Funshine Bear, Bedtime Bear, Love-a-Lot Bear, and their friends. The offering will span apparel, homewares, accessories, electronics, collectibles, and furniture with collections already available on the likes of www.zavvi.co.uk
“The strong values at the heart of the Care Bears, inclusive of sharing, caring, and kindness, are what ensures the brand remains relevant throughout generations of children and adults,” says Sophie Yates, Licensing Executive at Bulldog Licensing. “The two new partners will expand the product offering for the many fans with a number of brand-new designs. We look forward to seeing the upcoming collections on shelf very soon.”
Care Bears – as well as a stable of other iconic entertainment brands including Holly Hobbie, Madballs and Twisted Whiskers – is owned by Cloudco Entertainment, formerly American Greetings Entertainment.


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The eBay Motors Group has said that it will be offering COVID-hit car dealers free classified advertising across Gumtree Motors, eBay Motors and Motors.co.uk platforms throughout February.
Following a shift to free advertising from Auto Trader and CarGurus, and heycar’s continuation of a free home delivery service, eBay Motors Group has also vowed to axe its usual fees for over-posting.
Matt Barham, country manager at eBay Classifieds Group UK, said: “We are proud to have been able to support dealers last year with discounting in April, May, June and December and will support them again in February.”
Barham said that the move would come “at substantial cost to our business”, but said that “underlines our long-term commitment to being a key automotive industry partner”.
He added: “We look forward to repaying our dealers’ loyalty through our ongoing investment in marketing across our platforms to generate high quality enquiries from in-market buyers.”
The free advertising offer in February applies only to dealers who remain as customers of eBay Motors Group from now until June 30.
Over the coming weeks eBay Motors Group said that it would continue to provide dealers with regularly updated Market View analysis identifying the wider dynamics in the used car market.
The business said that it believes its latest support package will help alleviate the impact of restrictions in place on automotive retailers.
Today, national newspaper sources said that car retail’s click and collect sales provision could be banned as part of an imminent tightening of COVID-19 lockdown rules.
However, as reported by What Car? magazine today, eBay Motors Group believes consumer demand among car buyers currently remains strong.
Barham said: “Consumer demand has remained strong since July and the industry has shown significant agility in adapting to COVID-era requirements.
“We welcome that click-and-collect and click-and-deliver services continue to be permitted in England, Scotland and Wales. The November lockdown showed that dealers continued to sell vehicles and consumers continued to generate leads.
“We hope that these new ways of operating, coupled with our financial relief, will allow our dealer partners to build and maintain a strong pipeline over the weeks and months ahead.”


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Barry Bonds’ home run record will never be broken. No car company will ever do better than Toyota (TM).
The Japanese company said it would lose $4 billion in the current fiscal and was hit with a downgrade from Moody’s. Those were the rewards for becoming the No.1 automaker in the world.
Toyota (TM) is in the process of cutting its annual production by as much as one million vehicles. After spending three decades becoming a global company with significant market share in every major country in the world, that expansion is back to haunt it, at least for the time being.
Because of Toyota’s quality control, manufacturing prowess, well-regarded brands, and balance sheet, it will emerge from the recession faster than any car company. Toyota has more resources than any of its competition to ramp up production and marketing to catch the next wave.
Toyota’s troubles speak volumes about whether the US car company bailout will work. The news out of Detroit is that the lack of an Administration-appointed "car czar" who could push the UAW and creditors to give concessions to GM (GM) and Chrysler has slowed the restructuring process. Details of how the firms will operate viable businesses may not be ready in March when they return to Washington for more money.
Until Toyota signals that it is doing better, the bailout of The Big Three is going to cost more money every month.
Douglas A. McIntyre


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Nintendo announces its first Indie World event of 2022, which promises around 20 minutes of new indie titles coming to Nintendo Switch in 2022.
Nintendo’s digital presentations haven’t been easy to predict since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the company primarily turning to Nintendo Direct Minis throughout 2020. Last year, full Nintendo Directs came back and have been released consistently since February 2020. 2021. year, however, it seems Nintendo has skipped a lot of opportunities to host its usual indie world events, choosing not to hold them alongside GDC or PAX West, as has been the case in recent years. Finally, after a longer-than-usual wait, Nintendo has announced the next Indie World presentation for tomorrow, May 11th.
Nintendo’s Indie World presentations seek to highlight a number of new indie titles coming to Nintendo Switch soon, with a particular focus on releases over the next year. The presentations came with the revelations of great indie gems, such as the launch of the Nintendo Switch of cuphead and most recently the reveal of the Nintendo Switch version of the beloved indie RPG omori. The introductions also came alongside major stealth releases such as the Switch launch of Chicory: a colorful tale and Necrobarist: Final Spill.
The existence of this presentation was hinted at earlier this week by Emily Rogers, a longtime Nintendo member at Famiiboards, who simply commented “Any indies fans here?” in the Nintendo Direct speculation thread. Rogers has a long history of leaking information about Nintendo games and presentations, including early leaks about Super Smash Bros. ultimateexistence. The performance is scheduled for tomorrow at 7 am PT, which is 10 am ET and 3 pm BST. The presentation will be held on Twitch and YouTube as usual and is expected to last around 20 minutes.
One game that immediately springs to mind whenever an Indie World presentation is teased is the long-awaited sequel to 2017’s Souls-inspired Metroidvania. hollow knight, Hollow Knight: Song of Silk. The game became famous for the lack of updates from developer Team Cherry regarding the title since its announcement in 2019. therefore, 3 years have passed since its announcement, it is possible that Hollow Knight: Song of Silk might show up tomorrow. However, due to the developer’s small size and the game’s ambition, fans shouldn’t hold their breath.
Another game fans can expect to see is Cuphead: the ultimate delicious dishthe DLC for the beloved 2017 run-and-gun platformer that is gearing up for release on June 29, 2022. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Revenge of the Destroyer and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk are also highly anticipated 2022 indie games that will be timed Nintendo Switch console exclusives that may appear.
MORE: 6 great games that subvert expectations
Mario 64 Player wins the game with all 120 stars blindfolded
About the author


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ANNOUNCEMENT 16 Feb 2010In February 2010, the government of Turkey announced an altered import quota.
NUMBER OF INTERVENTIONS
Title: Karadag Menseli Bazi Tarim ve Islenmis Tarim ?r?nleri Ithalatinda Tarife Kontenjani Uygulanmasi Hakkinda Karar
On 16 February 2010 the Turkish government has decided to open an import quota for some agricultural products originating from Montenegro as follows:
This ruling is valid from 1 March 2010 until the end of 2010.


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A new fighter will join the cast of Dead or Alive 5 and her name is Nyotengu.
Anime News Network reports that KOEI Tecmo has announced that the new character Nyotengu will join Kasumi, Tina, and the others in Dead or Alive Ultimate Arcade during this weeks issue of Enterbrain’s Famitsu magazine.
Crunchyroll reported some details about the character as the website decribed Nyotengu as a female Tengu trickster who focuses more on aerial movement, with attacks like generating a gust of wind and other moves using Tengu-Do style.
That’s not all, a new trailer for Nyotengu has also been release showcasing her ferocious gameplay courtesy of username famitsutube.
Nyotengu is part of Phase-4 characters alongside Marie Rose and will aslo include a batch of athletic costumes to be released in Japan this month.
The game is the first arcade game in the franchise in 13 years, and KOEI Tecmo Games released DOA 5 Ultimate 5 in the arcades in Japan last year.
KOEI Tecmo Games released Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in September 2013. The game added new modes from Dead or Alive+ such as the Skill Info Plus and a tutorial mode, and included new fighting stages such as locations from the Ninja Gaiden series. The game include new fighters: Jacky, Ein, and Momiji, and also adds both a single-player mode and an online mode.
So what do you think of Nyotengu in DOA 5?


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Cat auction heads to Houston
Lauren Heartsill Dowdle | September 29, 2010
Cat Auction Services will hold an unreserved public auction in Houston, Texas, on Oct. 27. The auction will begin at 9 a.m. at Houston Raceway Park, located at 2525 FM565 South, Baytown, Texas.
This marks the company’s fourth Houston-based auction in the past year-and-a-half and will include a broad assortment of heavy equipment from a number of manufacturers.
To view the entire equipment list and detailed TA-1 level inspection reports online, visit www.catauctions.com. Real-time online bidding will be available on the day of the auction through the company’s Web site.
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New Trojan Disguises Malicious Traffic
Websense raised the alarm Tuesday of a phishing Trojan that uses a new technique to cloak its activity.
The San Diego-based Web security company said that the Trojan, which installs itself as an Internet Explorer helper object, waits for the user to enter information in specific Web site forms -- particularly online banking sites -- then zaps the stolen data back to the attacker.
What's unique about the new Trojan, said Websense, is that it delivers that data via ICMP packets. Keylogging Trojans usually transmit purloined usernames and passwords via e-mail or a HTTP POST command. Both can be easily spotted.


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Gamescom is one of the biggest videogame shows in the world, but one of the industry’s biggest studios won’t be in attendance this year. Blizzard has announced that it’s skipping Gamescom 2019 this year, so don’t expect any big news on the company’s next few releases when the show hits in August. (Not that you’re getting any major release from Blizzard in 2019, regardless.)
Blizzard says it’s ditching its traditional presence at Gamescom this year “as part of a renewed effort this year to maintain our focus on development, for our current games and our future projects,” though the company’s leaving the possibility of returning in the future open. “We’re also looking forward to sharing more details about the projects we’re currently working on when the time is right.”
That “focus on development” is something we’ve heard about throughout the past several months, most notably when Activision-Blizzard laid off 8% of its employees – mostly in roles outside of direct game development. Cutting costs – and workers – outside of development seems to be the directive, and it looks like the expense of a trip to Gamescom serves as one more cut.
Gamescom hasn’t generally offered the same volume of bombshell announcements that BlizzCon proper has, but last year’s show did include a new Overwatch animated short and a smattering of new features for titles like World of Warcraft, Starcraft II, and Heroes of the Storm.
Read more: Check out the biggest upcoming PC games
Blizzcon 2019 is still on schedule, though it’s looking pricier than ever before. It’s the most likely venue yet for a Diablo 4 release date. The next Diablo is by all reputable accounts well into development, but Blizzard has made every effort to avoid actually announcing it just yet.


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BT Sport will change its name to TNT Sports from July 2023 following the joint venture between Warner Bros Discovery and BT.
The new brand will launch before the start of the 2023/24 football season, and unites the sports rights currently owned by BT Sport and Eurosport under a single offer.
TNT Sports will present the live sports rights currently carried by BT Sport, while Eurosport in the UK and Ireland will continue to be available before being rolled into the new brand at some time in the future, said the company.
discovery plus will add BT Sport’s content to its offering, meaning that subscribers will have access to TBT Sports, Eurosport and discovery’s non-sport content.
Andrew Georgiou, board member of the Joint Venture and president and managing director, Warner Bros Discovery Sports Europe, said: “Today is another important step towards the launch of a simpler and even more compelling offering for sports fans in the UK and Ireland. The TNT Sports name is already synonymous with premium live sport in a number of countries around the world and a further sign of the global scale and expertise that Warner Bros Discovery brings to its partnership with BT.
“While Warner Bros Discovery is excited to contribute its global scale and capabilities, together with its growing portfolio of premium entertainment, we are also determined to ensure we don’t compromise on the inimitable, local style that is at the heart of the way BT Sport has connected with fans over the past decade. Remaining authentically local will remain key to our success.”
Marc Allera, CEO BT consumer Ddvision and chairman of the Joint Venture with Warner Brothers Discovery, added: “We’re delighted with the progress being made on the joint venture. This change marks the next logical step for BT Sport as well as the broader transformation of our Consumer business. Once launched this will become a hugely exciting new premium sports offering for customers in the UK and Ireland.”


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Yahoo hiring McKinsey for reorg, report says
SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo has hired the global management consultant firm McKinsey & Company to help it reorganize as it enters its fourth year of turnaround, the tech site Re/code reported.
According to sources Re/code spoke with, the consultants are helping Yahoo decide what to do with its various units.
Yahoo stock (YHOO) was down 2% Monday afternoon.
New York City-based McKinsey declined to comment, citing its "long-standing practice not to talk about or comment on our client work," said spokeswoman Steffi Langner.
Yahoo did not respond to a request for comment.
CEO Marissa Mayer's Yahoo is facing trouble on multiple fronts. Three weeks ago it reported a loss of $86 million for the third quarter.
Mayer said then the long-awaited spin-off of Yahoo's stake in Chinese e-retailing giant Alibaba probably won't happen until January.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company is also facing a major exodus of its top brass.
Dawn Airey, former head of Yahoo's European division, left to become CEO of Getty Images in September.
Yahoo head of digital media Kathy Savitt also left in September, to become president for digital operations at STX Entertainment.
The company's chief development officer, Jacqueline Reses, left in October for online payment company Square.
Re/code reported that Mayer has been asking top executives at the company to promise to stay with the company for between three and five years.


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CHRISTMAS shoppers will feel the full brunt of strike action in Marks & Spencer from tomorrow.
Over 2,000 employees across Ireland will go on strike tomorrow (Saturday) in an escalating row over a pension scheme.
The retailer reportedly closed the workers’ pension scheme without agreement – something which Mandate, which represents the majority of the staff, said employees could not tolerate.
Retailing staff voted 94pc in favour of strike action on November 29.
The strike action will take place across 17 stores across the country tomorrow and a further two days of industrial action are planned before Christmas.
Mandate says workers were informed by the company at the end of October that their retirement fund would be a "discretionary benefit".
The company has also been accused of reducing certain premium payments and the eliminating the Christmas bonus.
Mandate says the pension scheme is performing and is in surplus to the tune of approximately €17m.


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UTIX, the blockchain-based e-ticketing platform that provides event organizers across the globe with the ability to sell online tickets, has announced its native $UTIX cryptocurrency reward token will be available to buy and sell on the BitMart exchange from October 31.
The UTIX platform is a software-as-a-service offering that provides comprehensive and highly customizable e-ticketing solutions to event organizers. Its built atop of the Ethereum blockchain network, which enables it to utilize smart contracts to monitor and control the sale of tickets via its e-ticketing ecosystem. UTIX generates revenue by charging small fees on each ticket sold, meaning its platform is completely free for event organizers to use.
The main purpose of the $UTX ERC-20 loyalty token is to reward consumers for their continuous use of the UTIX platform and encourage them to come back again and again. By earning $UTX every time they purchase e-tickets via UTIX, users can obtain discounts on future events listed on the platform. In this way, $UTX loyalty rewards give event organizers a compelling incentive that entices users to purchase tickets for their events. UTIX has also registered its Whitepaper with the MFSA (Malta Financial Services Authority) and became one of only 3 digital assets in the world with this level of regulation.
With the UTIX platform, event organizers have a seamless way to implement smart contracts that control numerous variables pertaining to each ticket sold. In addition to its ease of use, the UTIX platform allows sellers to control the secondary market price for e-ticket sales, preventing touts from buying up multiple tickets and passing them on at a huge markup. And because it leverages blockchains immutability, UTIX helps to combat fraud by minimizing the possibility of counterfeit tickets being sold.
Most importantly, the capabilities of UTIX are wrapped around a simple user interface, meaning that neither the event organizers nor end users will be aware theyre interacting with a blockchain platform. In this way, it provides all of the benefits of a blockchain-based ticketing platform, without any of the complexity.
The listing of $UTX on BitMart is a big milestone that increases the tokens utility, enabling users to cash in on their loyalty rewards, in addition to using them for discounted tickets. The event is also expected to garner more publicity for the UTIX platform.
Were thrilled to announce the first listing of our $UTX token, which holds the distinction of being the worlds first MFSA-regulated digital asset. As we scale UTIX to become the dominant platform in the broken e-ticketing market, the listing will increase exposure to the project and $UTIXs novel utility. BitMarts massive user base will bring more liquidity to the market and greater value to our community, said Max Mayhew, Managing Director of UTIX.
BitMart is a leading global digital asset trading platform that counts more than 2 million users worldwide. Ranked as one of the worlds top cryptocurrency exchanges in both user count and trading volume, it will add support for $UTX/$USDT and $UTX/$BTC trading pairs on Oct. 31, providing greater exposure to the UTIX ecosystem.
BitMart is proud to become the first major global cryptocurrency exchange to list the $UTX loyalty rewards token. UTIXs mission to bring new efficiencies to the online ticketing industry is a transformative one that showcases yet another promising use case for blockchain. With $UTIX now available to trade on our platform, its a project thats rapidly approaching maturity, said a BitMart representative in a statement.
UTIX is a blockchain-based online e-ticketing platform that enables event organizers across the world to sell online tickets with minimal hassle and greater control. Powered by Ethereum, UTIX aims to eliminate the efficiencies associated with legacy e-ticketing platforms through the use of smart contracts.
Users and event organizers will be unaware they are using the blockchain, yet by harnessing its unique capabilities, UTIX allows full control of event-specific variables that would otherwise be impossible. In addition to eliminating the threat of counterfeits, UTIX provides a way to set the secondary market price for e-tickets, permanently solving the problem of ticket touts who routinely try to sell tickets at a massive markup.
View source version on newsdirect.com: https://newsdirect.com/news/blockchain-e-ticketing-platform-utix-announces-major-exchange-listing-on-bitmart-736410447


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1 MIN. DE LECTURA
MEXICO CITY, July 6 (Reuters) - Mexico auto production rose 6.7 percent in June to 306,694 units versus the same month last year, the Mexican Auto Industry Association (AMIA) said on Monday.
Auto exports, meanwhile, rose 5.3 percent to 242,720 units, AMIA added. (Reporting by Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein)


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London-based PassFort, a SaaS provider that helps business meet compliance requirements such as KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) reporting, has closed a $16.2 million Series A led by US growth equity fund, Level Equity.
The 2015-founded startup‘s existing investors OpenOcean, Episode 1 and Entrepreneur First also participated in the round. The Series A is a mix of equity and debt, with $4.89M worth of venture debt being provided by Shard Credit Partners.
PassFort tells TechCrunch it now has 54 customers in total, saying the majority are in the digital payments space. It’s also selling its SaaS to customers in foreign exchange, banking and (ofc) crypto. It also touts some “major” customer wins preceding this raise — name-checking the likes of Curve and WorldRemit.
The new funding will be put towards stepping up its growth globally — with PassFort noting it’s hired a new C-suite for its growth team to lead the planned global push.
It’s also hiring more staff in business development and marketing, and plans to significantly bump spending across marketing, sales and customer support roles as it gears up to scale up.
“On the product side we are developing the solution to meet the demands of the changing digital economy and the threats it faces,” says CEO and co-founder Donald Gillies. “This means investing heavily into our new compliance policy cloud, system-to-system integrations with market-leading CRM and transaction monitoring systems as well as building a data team capable of deriving valuable real-time insights across our customer network.”
PassFort says its revenues grew ~2.5x over the past 12 months.
Gillies credits COVID-19 with really hitting the digital “accelerator” and driving adoption for compliance tools, as fintechs and regulated businesses look to streamline their approach to customer on-boarding and risk monitoring.
Alongside this accelerated digital transformation, he also points to a rise in cyber crime and increasingly sophisticated financial crime driving demand for compliance tools, and a “huge” rise in the number of regulations announced since COVID-19, noting: “Estimates from those who track regulatory changes stated that by August 2020, more than 1,330 COVID-19 related regulatory announcements had been made globally by regulators.”
As well as serving up an “always-on picture of risk”, as PassFort’s marketing puts it, the platform offers a single place to access and manage customer profiles, while also centralizing records for audit purposes.
PassFort’s SaaS also tracks efficiency — supporting customers to see where holdups in the onboarding process might be, to help with customer experience as well as the wider support it offers to compliance teams.
The startup says its integration model is such that it can “ingest datasets from any provider and interoperate with any system”, so — for example — it has pre-built connectors to more than 25 data providers at this stage.
It also offers a single API to integrate with a customer’s existing back-office system.
Another feature of the SaaS it flags is a focus on “low to no-code” — to increase accessibility and help customers with high complexity in their compliance needs (such as multiple customer types, multiple product lines and multi-jurisdictions. This includes a smart policy builder with a ‘drag and drop’ interface to help customers configure complex workflows.
On the competitive side, PassFort names Dublin-based Fenergo as its closest competitor but says it’s targeting a broader market — likening its own product to ‘Salesforce for compliance teams’ and saying its goal is to get the SaaS into the hands of “every financial crime and compliance team in the world”.
Commenting in a statement, Charles Chen, partner at Level Equity — who’s now joining PassFort’s board of directors — added: “Over the last few years, financial institutions and organisations have experienced exponential growth in business volumes and data, which has only increased the complexity in staying compliant with ever-evolving regulatory laws. In parallel, we’ve experienced an unprecedented rise in sophisticated financial crime activity as channels into financial systems have been digitized.
“This has underscored the importance of compliance matters such as AML/KYC, yet companies often have to weigh the trade-offs between speed, compliance and automation. PassFort has solved this challenge by providing a next-generation RegTech software solution that enables customers to offer a seamless customer onboarding experience, maintain best-in-class monitoring capabilities, and balance automation vs. human touch via its intelligent orchestration engine. We are thrilled to partner with the industry thought leader in this space and look forward to supporting the company’s future growth initiatives.”


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Home Automation announcement at 2016 Apple conference
By Alex 16-01-2022
This time of year is particularly thrilling for all tech nuts. September time brings with it the Apple conference, which announces their new products and innovations. Among this year’s announcements, one that caught the attention of the ts design team was the development the Home app on iOS10 as a way of controlling HomeKit function, branching further into home automation.
The home automation technology isn’t exactly new but its inclusion in Apple’s new app speech by software Engineering Craig Federighi came as a surprise. The HomeKit app collects and controls functions for devices such as lights, the locking of windows and doors and in home-heating through your phone.
The advantages of using home automation technology is undoubtedly compelling. Firstly let’s look at what Apple are claiming will be coming with the iOS10 update:
- This is the first time the home automation has been integrated in this kind of system.
- 1000’s of new products coming to market this year which will be compatible to run with iOS10 and the Apple HomeKit app.
- Users will no longer be forced to access HomeKit hardware via Siri commands.
While manufacturers have been slow in releasing HomeKit compatible products, perhaps more annoyingly, users have had to rely on Siri commands or separate apps to control their smart locks and thermostats. Home allows you to do this in a single app. A simple “tap” of the screen to turn on lights and a slider control for the dimmer, which you have to admit is immensely satisfying. Other interesting features include notifications when your doorbell is rung and a “goodnight” feature which will turn off your lights, lock your door and lower the thermostat simultaneously with the press of a button.
Along with countless other Apple products, security details are stored and connected to cloud-based services. The problem with this kind of interconnectedness is that this form of technology often carries with it scary security risks. In other words, if you can control your devices via the cloud, the chances are someone else can, too. The main concern related to home automation, however, is the plain fact of whether it is needed at all.
The cost of installation and the equipment almost always outshines the advantages of the technology. However, with Apple’s promise to see a huge increase in the amount of HomeKit hardware compatible products, the cost of such tech savvy items is likely to decrease. It also sounds like you will need an Apple TV in order to remotely control your home, which is a particular disappointment. “It can serve as a secure point for remote access and automation,” claims Federighi, meaning we will almost definitely have to fork out the added for the TV.
Take a look yourself at what Federighi says at the conference – http://www.apple.com/apple-events/september-2016/


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Date Published: 21st July 2009
A three-strong executive team led by former sales director James Garland has bought the intellectual property rights, goodwill and plant and machinery as well as taking a five year lease on the firm’s Stockholm Road facility.
Martyn Hadfield, a 25-year veteran of Cosalt will also take a stake in the firm and continue in his role as operations director, while Malcolm Mathieson joins the business as finance director and shareholder.
The business was acquired by Leeds-based turnaround fund Endless in October 2008 after parent company Marine specialist Cosalt Plc struggled to find a trade buyer for the ailing caravan business.
The MBO team stepped in to save the remaining jobs and Leeds corporate financier Will Arnold of BTG McInnes Corporate Finance negotiated the sale of the only remaining division of the Holiday Homes business after the closure of the firm’s Stoneferry Road site and the loss of around 200 jobs.
Cosalt Holiday Homes will no longer build caravans, but instead will concentrate on the growing demand within holiday lodges and homes sectors.
“We have rescued a viable and reputable business that has a great deal of potential, and we have to now work hard to up skill the business from being dormant to returning to steady production very quickly,” said managing director James Garland.
“We will be inviting applications from the former Cosalt employees for the new jobs, and we are confident that we will be able to fill the skilled positions from this source, and hope to steadily build the business to becoming a major employer again in the years to come,” he added.
Cosalt Holiday Homes will now exclusively manufacture and sell high quality lodges to the leisure and UK holiday industry. The deal, structured by BTG McInnes and backed by private investment and working capital facilities provided by HSBC, will see the firm’s workforce double from its current level of ten over the coming weeks.
“The business that the team has acquired is a reputable and viable manufacturer, and has a great chance to grow from base with a great product, excellent manufacturing capability, a highly skilled workforce and a book of orders and strong leads. That any aspect of the Cosalt business could be saved is good news, given the seriousness of its problems,” said Will Arnold of BTG McInnes Corporate Finance.
Production is expected to resume within weeks and a strong order book and pipeline of enquiries for the lodges from leisure operators and holiday parks across the country is anticipated to deliver 60 to 70 units in the next 12 months.
Demand for the lodges is growing as UK leisure operators invest in high quality holiday homes, equipped with en suite bathrooms, gourmet kitchens and state of the art entertainment systems and the firm anticipates turnover in excess of £2m over the coming year.
Julie is a law graduate who qualified with Price Waterhouse in 1994. Julie joined Smith & Williamson in 1997 and became a partner in 2001. With Mike Stevenson, Julie set up Middleton Partners offices in Salisbury and Southampton, both of which are now part of Begbies Traynor.
Julie is a member of the Insolvency Practitioners Association and is a Fellow of The Association of Business Recovery Professionals. Julie deals with all aspects of Corporate Recovery and turnaround work and takes all form of personal insolvency appointments.


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The federal government is planning to move forward with a new statutory holiday to mark the legacy of residential schools. This would only affect federally regulated industries; each provincial government will decide if they implement it as a statutory holiday in their province.
Potential cost to employers
We support Canada’s efforts toward reconciliation with its Indigenous peoples, and it is not our place to determine how reconciliation is best achieved. However, in discussing this particular proposal, it should be acknowledged that the introduction of a new statutory holiday has major costs for the economy and businesses. In fact, preliminary estimates from CFIB based on StatsCan data and provincial government methodology indicate that one additional paid statutory holiday could cost Canadian businesses up to $3.6 billion annually in potential lost productivity.
When CFIB has surveyed members in recent years, they generally do not support new statutory holidays by a ratio of 2:1. That’s why we are hoping provincial governments will consider how another statutory holiday would impact business owners.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has said his government will consider the cost to employers before deciding whether the province will observe the holiday. We’re recommending that his fellow premiers do likewise.
We need to hear from you!
Contact CFIB today to tell us what impact a new statutory holiday could have on your business (e.g. higher wage costs to stay open during a holiday, lost production, etc.). We will share your views with your premier.
Call CFIB Business Counsellors at 1-888-234-2232 or email [email protected].


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Curaleaf (CURLF), the largest cannabis company in the U.S. by revenue, saw shares close more than 7% lower Tuesday after the U.S. Food & Drug Administration sent the company a warning letter over its CBD marketing practices and “unsubstantiated” health claims.
The FDA flagged problematic claims on Curaleaf’s website that touted health benefits from its CBD lotions and creams that included “properties that counteract the growth of [and/or] spread of cancer," as well as that products were capable of “killing human breast cancer cells."
Other posts flagged by the FDA, which have since been removed, claimed CBD worked as an effective treatment for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
"As we examine potential regulatory pathways for the lawful marketing of products containing cannabis and cannabis-derived compounds like CBD, protecting and promoting public health remains our top priority,” Acting FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless wrote in the warning letter. “Selling unapproved products with unsubstantiated therapeutic claims — such as claims that CBD products can treat serious diseases and conditions — can put patients and consumers at risk by leading them to put off important medical care.”
Curaleaf shares fell by as much as 13% following the FDA’s announcement, but recovered in afternoon trading to close 7% lower.
‘Compliance is a top priority for Curaleaf’
The Massachusetts-based company responded to the FDA’s warning letter in an emailed statement to Yahoo Finance, noting that the safety of the company’s product was not in question and that it would formally respond to the letter within the FDA’s 15-day window.
“Curaleaf is fully committed to complying with FDA requirements for all of the products that it markets,” the statement read. “Compliance is a top priority for Curaleaf. We can reaffirm that nothing in the letter raises any issues concerning the safety of any Curaleaf product.”
During an interview with Yahoo Finance’s YFi PM following Curaleaf’s acquisition of West Coast-based Cura Partners in May, Curaleaf CEO Joe Lusardi dismissed the likelihood of a hypothetical FDA crackdown on CBD, noting that American demand for CBD was swelling.
“American consumers want to use cannabinoids (CBD), so I think that frankly the Congress and the FDA is out of step with the American public and so I think you’ll see the demand for these products continue to proliferate and they’ll be available across the country because of that,” Lusardi said.
Curaleaf secured a deal to sell its CBD products in 800 CVS stores across multiple states earlier this year. The company behind the leading CBD lotion, CV Sciences, which inked a deal to sell through 975 Kroger stores in June, also saw its shares close about 1% lower Tuesday.


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Our Killian Bell tossed around words like “terrific” and “impressive” when he reviewed the Nuu MiniKey for the iPhone 4/S two years ago. Now, the little backlit Bluetooth keyboard-case has almost arrived (it drops March 15) for the iPhone 5, with a whole slew of improvements.
Naturally the new, iPhone 5 version of the 42-key slide-out keyboard is bigger. But it’s also got improved Bluetooth connectivity, which means it’ll last longer between charges.
We didn’t really find longevity an issue with the older MiniKey; we did, however, find it kind of bulky — and that’s been improved too, with a thinner, lighter frame. NUU says they’ve also made the keys more ergonomic, added a quick charge function and given it an on/off switch
There’s one area, though, where the MiniKey has been downgraded: Its price has dropped from $69 to $59. Win-win.