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A Russian astronaut managed to record a new record as the oldest still active astronauts ‘walks’ in outer space.
Quoted by FoxNews, Monday (22/4), Pavel Vinogradov is recorded as the oldest astronaut at the age of 59 years.
Pavel has been [...]
The issue of global warming causing many manufacturers to make devices that are environmentally friendly. Including one replacement power source for electricity with renewable sources or unlimited.
This one device seems to be an environmentally friendly [...]
If the server Mega returning confiscated or hacked by anyone, files and data in it is not accessible at all.
Step Kim DotCom as lord and founder of MegaUpload seems difficult to be stopped by anyone.
A number of media and internet analyst is reporting [...]
One of the best Android smartphone HTC output, One X, is now getting a refresher with some improvement in terms of hardware.
Products named HTC One X+ uses an Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core 2nd generation 1.7GHz speeds.
“One X+ equipped with batteries [...]
Raise money for children with cleft lip.
Today many people are using Google Maps to find directions to a mall, offices, and other locations in the city, a man wearing this app to walk 5.000 miles or 8046.7 kilometers.
Armed with the Google Maps application [...]
Through Vietnam blog site, Tinthe.vn, it was reported that the latest generation iPhone that was allegedly named the iPhone 5S will have a 12 megapixel camera.
In addition, Apple also improve low-light photography feature so image quality in low-light [...]
Polaroid has agreed to put his name behind a Socialmatic concept, which will embody the spirit of Instagram into real form with an instant camera.
With the help of ADR Studios, Polaroid instant camera will perform retro and is expected to be present [...]
Jobs family have not paid off a fee designer.
Venus, ships super sophisticated and minimalist late founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, was confiscated because the ship designers claim the Jobs family have not paid off a fee.
Philippe Starck, designer of the [...]
Many people who do not want to buy a ring tone as their smartphone. But not a few who complained about the use of the song into ringtone is quite disturbing.
The most easy and free way to make ringtone for your iPhone is using iTunes as reported from [...]
Stylish phone with a sleek body parts excellence and performance backed-powered phones.
Continuing the successful launch of the previous series, the LG Optimus L3, LG Optimus L5 and LG Optimus L7, LG Mobile Indonesia is taking the stylish range of phones [...]
BlackBerry, formerly known as RIM, decided not to sell latest BlackBerry 10 smartphone in Japan.
“Japan is not a major market for the BlackBerry,” said the company recently announced that BlackBerry Q10 and Z10.
Quoted from Cnet, Friday [...]


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Last week, SneakerWatch brought it to your attention that Swizz Beatz re-signed Shaquille O'Neal to Reebok and that the brand would be bringing back retro versions of the former NBA player's signature sneakers. We've already gotten a look at the 2013 retro edition of the Shaq Attaq, now Swizz teases the sneaker community with small preview of the Reebok Shaqnosis that will be hitting retailers in the new year. We were treated to a look at these earlier in the year but the Shaqnosis' potential 2012 release was scrapped. It seems like everything's a go at this point, considering Swizz is previewing them once again. Check out Swizz's teaser photo above and stick with SneakerWatch for more info.
Swizz Beatz Shares Teaser of Reebok Shaqnosis 2013 Retro
SneakerWatch Staff Writer

domain: news


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Shaking off yesterday’s skydiving stock market, Apple continued its fevered advance towards becoming the world’s most valuable company. During trading early this morning, Apple’s (AAPL) stock was priced at $365.25(↑ 3.41%) with market capitalization valuing it at $338.68 billion, while Exxon Mobil (XOM) was priced at $64.40 (↓ 1.13%) with market capitalization at $337.48 billion, a difference of $1.2 billion.
However, by the time the markets closed for the day, Exxon reclaimed its spot as most valuable, worth about $348.32 billion as opposed to Apple which closed at $346.74 billion, a difference of $1.58 billion.
At their peak, Exxon and Apple’s stock price was priced at $88 and $404 a share, respectively. According to Techcrunch, Exxon was worth $410 billion just three weeks ago. If oil prices continue to fall and iPads continue to sell like hotcakes, it wouldn’t be surprising to eventually see Apple surge past Exxon and never look back.
“You know what’s cooler than one hundred billion dollars? One trillion dollars.”


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Big Data Platforms Enable Racial Profiling and the Exploitation of the Most Economically Vulnerable Groups in Society
Once upon a time, people celebrated the Internet as promising a new era where shoppers, invisible on the web, could not be judged based on their race or otherwise discriminated against. However, online behavioral targeting can combine a home address and a few more characteristics to create an almost perfect proxy for race. If anything, such online discrimination can be more vicious for its subtlety and invisibility since customers don’t even know what prices are being offered to other people of different races or socioeconomic circumstances. And it’s not even clear that current laws could fully address such harms if they could be made visible, since as George Mason University professor Rebecca Goldin noted in a 2009 article, what would be the legal status if banks used “the kind of music one buys to determine his or her loan rate?”[i]
Such online “weblining” has been well documented. Along with the price discrimination based on location discussed above, companies like Wells Fargo listing houses for sale have collected zip codes of online browsers and directed those buyers towards neighborhoods of similar racial makeup.[ii] This online discrimination parallels the broader reality of companies like Wells Fargo illegally steering an estimated 30,000 black and Hispanic borrowers from 2004 to 2009 into more costly subprime mortgages or charging them higher fees than comparable white borrowers.[iii]
As ColorLines magazine has noted, a "user’s browsing history, their location and IP information…combined with information available in Google’s public data explorer (including US census, education, population, STD stats, and state financial data) presumably could also be folded into the personalized search algorithm to surmise a lot more than your race."[iv] Latanya Sweeney described in an academic article how, on sites detailing legal information about individuals, when people searched for a name "on the more ad trafficked website, a black-identifying name was 25% more likely to get an ad suggestive of an arrest record.”[v]
What is disturbing is that people online can find themselves losing opportunity as their ongoing behavior or interests lump them in with the “wrong” racial or other group in the algorithms of big data platforms. For example, Kevin Johnson, a condo owner and businessman, found that after returning from his honeymoon, his credit limit had been lowered from $10,800 to $3800. The change was not based on anything he had done but, according to a letter from the credit card company, he had shopped at stores whose patrons “have a poor repayment history.”[vi] If your habits associate you with particular categories or groups, you will invisibly find opportunities opening up or closing down based on how data algorithms choose to place you. Similarly, whether you get a refund when making a complaint to a company will often be heavily influenced by the categories in which data analysis places a caller.
For less ethical companies, big data gives them the ability to seek out the most vulnerable prospects to exploit and entice them with scams and misleading offers. Such niche scams and economically exploitive relationships can be focused on those most vulnerable to the scam’s appeal, while remaining essentially invisible to everyone else, including reporters and researchers trying to evaluate the harms from online advertising methods.
The data broker industry even has a term – “sucker lists” – for the poor, old and less educated groups that they compile for such unethical marketers. For example, people who reply to sweepstakes offers are put onto a list by one data broker and offered to advertisers as an “ideal audience for…subprime credit offers” and other enticements. Other lists include “suffering seniors” who are identified as having Alzheimer’s or similar maladies.[vii] The Federal Trade Commission itself has noted that when companies use a consumer’s financial status to send targeted advertisements, it is not covered by FCRA if they don’t cover specific pre-approved offers of credit.[viii]
Search advertising is especially attractive to companies looking for micro markets of vulnerable targets for scams, since the combination of keyword searches and demographic data allows what writer Jaron Lanier calls the “ambulance chasers and snake oil salesmen” of the Internet to get targeted access to victims. The “minimalist link” of a search ad focuses on lead generation for such companies where users self-select into the advertisers’ target group by clicking on the link.[ix] For example, one company ran advertisements for poisons and chemicals on the Google Group page alt.suicide.methods where users were discussing how to kill themselves.
Reflecting the more comprehensive problems in search advertising targeting the vulnerable, Google in August 2011 agreed to pay a $500 million civil forfeiture to the federal government, one of the largest in history, as part of a settlement for the company knowingly allowing illegal pharmacies to target users on its search engine.[x] The company had been put on notice by the government as early as 2003 that companies were selling illegal steroids and fake prescription medicine to desperately ill individuals, yet the company not only accepted the ads but its staff helped foreign-based pharmacies write their ads for maximum effectiveness. It was only when a felon, David Whitaker, collaborated with the government in a sting operation that the full extent of the company’s collaboration with such scam and illegal marketers was fully documented, including that knowledge of the collaboration went all the way up to CEO Larry Page.[xi]
[i] Rebecca Goldin, “Doting on Data,” Notices of the AMS Book Review (April 2009); http://www.ams.org/notices/200904/rtx090400483p.pdf
[ii] Andrews Ibid., p. 36.
[iii] James O’Toole, “Wells Fargo in $175M discriminatory lending settlement”, CNNMoney.com, July 12, 2012; http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/12/real_estate/wells-fargo-lending-settlement
[iv] Jorge Rivas, “Google Calls Racial Profiling Claims ‘Wildly Inaccurate’”, Colorlines, Sept. 28, 2011,http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/09/google_responds_to_preliminary_study_says_their_ads_dont_racially_profile.html
[v] Latanya Sweeney, “Discrimination in Online Ad Delivery,” Working Paper,
[vi] Andrews Ibid, p. 20.
[vii] http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204556804574260062522686326; see also Rockefeller Senate Data Broker report-p. i - http://op.bna.com/der.nsf/id/sbay-9ehtxt/$File/Rockefeller%20report%20on%20data%20brokers.pdf
[viii] FTC Data Brokers report, p. 25 — http://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/reports/data-brokers-call-transparency-accountability-report-federal-trade-commission-may-2014/140527databrokerreport.pdf
[ix] John Brockman, “The Local-Global Flip, or, "The Lanier Effect": A Conversation with Jaron Lanier,” Edge, Aug. 29, 2011; http://edge.org/conversation/the-local-global-flip


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The CG animation undertaking will be a brand companion for Netflix’s previously announced Mattel partnership on the 2D anime series Masters of the Universe: Revelation from filmmaker Kevin Smith.
"On the planet of Eternia, a young lost prince discovers the powers of Grayskull and transforms into He-Man, Master of the Universe! The classic battle between He-Man and evil Skeletor rages to new heights as both hero and villain forge new and mighty teams. A new generation of heroes fighting for the fate of us all. In the end, who will become Master of the Universe?"
Mattel’s Fred Soulie said in a statement that “Masters of the Universe is one of the most iconic global franchises of all time, with a 30-year history and a passionate fan base. The entire team at Mattel is excited to introduce the world of He-Man to a new generation and, together with the talented team at Netflix, to reimagine the classic characters in a way that appeals to kids and families today, while also resonating with the fans who grew up with them.”
Mattel’s reboot of the classic Masters of the Universe franchise also includes a comic book series by DC Comics, an upcoming feature film, and a reimagining of the 1980s toyline that hits retail shelves in fall 2020.
First posters for the Netflix He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series


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Facebook makes it easier for businesses to run contests
Friday, August 30, 2013 2:45 PM
Facebook Inc. this week announced changes to its features that could affect business use of the social network. Businesses can now post promotions and contests on their pages' timelines and collect contest entries by having users post on the page or by having users message the page.
They can also allow users to use the "like" button as a voting mechanism, according to the official Facebook blog.
Previously, businesses could only run promotions or contests through a third-party app.
A Facebook spokesperson told the AllFacebook blog that the capability should make it easier for small businesses to build awareness for new products or the opening of a new location.
"Say, for instance, a local pizza parlor wants to give away free pizza for a month to the 100th person to like its post," the spokesperson wrote. "Now the business can do this right on its page (and increase awareness of the post via promoted posts) without needing to work with a third party to build an app."
Facebook also announced a new feature that allows multiple contributors to post photos to the same photo album, the tech blog Mashable reported. In the past, only the creator of the album could post photos to it.
Twitter Inc. also updated its mobile phone apps, with the intent to make it easier to follow conversations on a user's timeline. To see a short video on that feature, click here.


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Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc wins Bundestag electionsWorld September 25, 5:37
Russian senator believes German Social Democrats interested in boosting ties with MoscowRussian Politics & Diplomacy September 25, 2:42
US declaration on UN reform is not organization’s document - LavrovRussian Politics & Diplomacy September 24, 13:34
Lavrov believes US will not attack North KoreaRussian Politics & Diplomacy September 24, 13:32
US forces assist Syrian opposition force in crossing IS positionsRussian Politics & Diplomacy September 24, 12:55
Putin discusses Russia’s economy growth with ministersBusiness & Economy September 24, 2:38
Lavrov warns against partition of SyriaRussian Politics & Diplomacy September 23, 0:00
Lavrov calls to coordinate Russian, US military action in SyriaRussian Politics & Diplomacy September 22, 21:05
Lavrov blames Obama administration for souring Russia-US tiesRussian Politics & Diplomacy September 22, 20:41
MOSCOW, November 15. (ITAR-TASS) - Russia’s consumer inflation rate amounted to 0.1% in the week from November 6 through November 11, the Russian State Statistics Service says in its regular report.
Russia’s consumer prices have grown by 0.2% since the start of November and reached 5.5% since the beginning of the year, the report underlined.
In 2012, the consumer prices growth was at 0.2% on November 1-11, amounting to 5.9% on January 1 - November 11. The growth rate accounted for 0.3% in November.
On Wednesday, Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev forecasted that this year’s inflation rate might exceed the target of 6% and most probably will be at about 6.1% by December 31, 2013.
On November 6-11, the Statistics Service registered the ongoing growth of egg prices at 2.8%. In addition, cheese prices went up by 0.8 % and prices of sour cream, cottage cheese, pasteurised milk and butter grew by 0.4-0.6%.
Simultaneously, prices for granulated sugar decreased by 0.7%; while prices for vermicelli, macaroni, buckwheat, sunflower oil and lamb slid down by 0.2-0.4%, the statistics noted.
Besides, prices of fruit and vegetables decreased by 0.7% on average across the country. However, prices of potatoes went up by 0.8%, as well as prices of cabbage, onions and carrot edged up by 0.1-0.3%. In the mean time, apple prices went down by 0.3%.
In the designated period, the Russian State Statistics Service registered no growth of average petrol prices, while diesel fuel prices increased by 0.3%.


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Dannon Yogurt Might Get More Expensive Soon — But the Reason Is Actually Pretty Awesome
Genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) have been on consumers' minds for the past few years, and soon, they'll be removed from some top yogurt brands.
On Thursday, the Dannon Company announced it will source milk exclusively from cows fed with non-GMO feed. The company expects to offer three yogurt lines that are fully GMO-free by 2018.
To make their pledge a reality, Dannon has partnered with the Non-GMO Project, the nonprofit that created and regulates the "GMO-free" butterfly label on food products, and Green America, a nonprofit that helps companies create sustainable supply chains.
What will change? Dannon's Danimals, Oikos, and Dannon brand yogurts will be completely GMO-free by 2018. While most of its products have roughly 14 to 18 ingredients, the products will soon be pared down to an average of 10 ingredients that will be as "natural" as possible, Mariano Lozano, president and CEO of The Dannon Company, said during a press conference about Dannon's move toward GMO-free.
Dannon will need to seriously shift its supply chain. To make its products GMO-free, Dannon will need to ensure that the roughly 45,000 cows providing their milk do not consume GMO feed, Alisa Gravitz, the president and CEO of Green America, said during a press conference. That means 80,000 acres of farmland will need to produce non-GMO corn feed.
A whopping 90% of U.S. feed is currently created with GMOs, said Gary Hirshberg, the founder of Stonyfield's Organic Yogurt. Hirshberg is now the chairman of Just Label It, an organization that promotes GMO labeling.
Creating a new supply of non-GMO corn feed will undoubtedly come with a cost. According to a 2010 study from Iowa State University, corn-based products would be 6% more expensive if genetically-modified crops were not grown.
"We strongly believe that this will provide value for our consumers," Lozano, the president of Dannon, said when asked whether the GMO-free pledge would change the price of yogurt. "We are working hard to offset extra costs."
Anyone who's strolled the organic aisle at Whole Foods knows that buying nonconventional products comes at a price. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, organic products are typically costly because organic produce must be segregated from conventional products during processing and transportation.
Why pay up for a cup of GMO-free Greek yogurt? It indirectly creates a more sustainable environment. GMOs are engineered to make crops herbicide-resistant, so farmers may use more herbicide than before. Glyphosate, an active ingredient in herbicide, is bad for birds, insects and wildlife, the Environmental Working Group noted. And Gravitz pointed out at the Dannon press conference that glyphosate is an antibiotic that kills microorganisms that are important for soil health. It's also present in rainwater and streams, Hirshberg noted.
GMO-free yogurt just might be the perfect dairy base for your artisan granola, if you're into that sort of thing.


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Hyper-V Made Available
Microsoft's first major push into the virtualization space officially kicks off today, as Hyper-V has been released to manufacturing (RTM).
As of noon ET, Hyper-V will be available for download from the Microsoft Download Center, according to Arun Jayendran, a senior product manager for Windows Server marketing. It will be available through Windows Upgrade on July 8.
The unexpected announcement is in keeping with recent Hyper-V development; ever since late last year, Microsoft has been ahead of its scheduled timetable for Hyper-V availability. When Windows Server 2008 hit commercial availability in February, Microsoft officials predicted that the Hyper-V gold (or final) code was expected in about 180 days (it originally shipped with a beta version). That would have put delivery of the hypervisor in the August timeframe.
Despite the early release, Jayendran said Hyper-V is ready to go, and has been thoroughly vetted. There have been "more than 1.5 million downloads of the Hyper-V beta. We had more than 140 customers in the TAP [Technology Adoption Program]." He also pointed out that three of Microsoft's most heavily-traveled Websites -- Microsoft.com, MSDN.com, and Technet.com, with a combined 42 million page views per day-- have been running on Hyper-V for months.
"We've talked to lot of customers deploying the beta version of this product. Customers are saying it's easy to use, has good performance, and stability and reliability are very good," Jayendran added.
Hyper-V is a bare-metal hypervisor, meaning it sits directly on hardware and controls the creation and operation of virtual machines (VMs). It's intended to compete directly with ESX, the flagship hypervisor of industry leader VMware. Microsoft hopes to make inroads in the market by offering Hyper-V as part of Windows 2008; no additional licenses are needed. ESX, conversely, carries a hefty pricetag. VMware, however, owns a huge share of the market -- as much as 80 percent or more, according to most estimates -- putting Microsoft in the unfamiliar role of underdog, trying to grab market share from the dominant player in the industry.
Microsoft's other hypervisor, Virtual Server 2005, is a Type II, or hosted, hypervisor. It sits on top of an operating system, creating additional overhead, making it a poor choice in most cases for enterprise environments. Microsoft also has a PC virtualization product, Virtual PC, which allows users to run other Microsoft OSes within an OS like Windows XP or Windows Vista.
Microsoft will also offer a standalone version of Hyper-V, independent of Windows 2008. Called "Hyper-V Server", it will retail for $28, with availability in late 2008, according to Jayendran.
The other key piece of Microsoft's virtualization strategy, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, is slated for release in the early fourth quarter of this year, according to Microsoft. The last beta for VMM 2008 came out in April. VMM 2008 is Microsoft's enterprise-level management product for virtual environments. One way it distinguishes itself from VMware's management product, VirtualCenter, is that it can manage physical as well as virtual machines. In fact, VMM 2008 can manage VMware's own ESX servers.
Hyper-V slides into an increasingly crowded marketplace. Along with ESX, there are a number of vendors, with most offerings built around the Xen open source hypervisor. Chief among those are Citrix, which offers the commercial XenServer; Sun; Virtual Iron; Novell, which has a close partnership and technology interoperability agreements with Microsoft; Red Hat; Oracle and others.
Keith Ward is the editor in chief of Virtualization & Cloud Review. Follow him on Twitter @VirtReviewKeith.


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Security vendor AVG has released an application for Android that lets users adjust power settings and manage applications to conserve battery power.
The White House has threatened to veto the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) in its present form, citing concerns that the bill does not adequately prevent sharing of irrelevant personal information.
Oracle will release a new version of Java on Tuesday that will include 42 security fixes and will make changes to how Web-based Java content will be presented inside browsers.
Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg was charged with hacking the IBM mainframe of Logica, a Swedish IT firm that provided tax services to the Swedish government, and the IBM mainframe of the Swedish Nordea bank, according to the Swedish pub...
Oracle is planning to release 128 patches on Tuesday covering security weaknesses that affect "hundreds" of its products.
Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting small businesses due to their less sophisticated defenses, according to a new report from Symantec.
Paying for an app in Google's online store, Google Play, will banish nagging in-app ads, but it won't dam the flow of personal information from your phone to marketers.
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), a controversial cyberthreat information-sharing bill, will be debated on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives this week, despite continued opposition from some privacy and digital r...
Find My Mac can be used to show the location of a stolen Mac, but the service often does not provide enough evidence to obtain a search warrant and get the stolen device back to its rightful owner, the Dutch police said on Monday.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called defending against cyberattacks a major part of maintaining security in Asia, and said Washington is forming working groups with China and Japan to address the issue.
A poker software developer plans to implement a fix this week for a vulnerability recently discovered by two security researchers who analyzed one of its gambling applications.
Unidentified hackers are said to have have launched a large-scale attack against WordPress blogs and any hosts using weak passwords are urged to update them immediately.
Microsoft has amended a security update containing a patch that reportedly caused errors in some third-party software.
A review of poker applications shows that many suffer security flaws, putting players at risk of attack, according to a Malta-based security company.
A U.S. House of Representatives committee failed to make the changes necessary to allay fears about government surveillance in a controversial cyberthreat sharing bill that's moving toward a House vote, critics said.
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citizenM has announced the launch of a new subscription model available via its app, with payments made monthly or annually.
The corporate subscription by citizenM gives members access to workspaces in any citizenM hotel living room during the subscription period, along with three hours of meeting room use per month.
Included in the programme is a three night stay per month at any citizenM hotel worldwide, with a complementary welcome drink and breakfast the following morning for every overnight stay.
Additional nights or meeting room hours can be booked at a 15% discount, while fixed rates start at £500 per month. The annual upfront payment includes one month free of charge.
citizenM’s chief commercial officer Lennert De Jong explaines, who is meant to benefit from this model:
To those workers who are working from home for the last six months, and realise they will not be back in the office full time anytime soon; to the companies that realise that the time to have centralised prime real estate, huge offices are gone, and are looking for smarter ways to empower their workforce; to the recruiters that realise that it pays off to not have to recruit for people to move into the expensive cities of London, Paris, New York and Boston, but still want to give a huge secondary benefit new hires. citizenM offers now a corporate subscription.
Other leaders in the hospitality industry also react to actual changes in working habits. OYO for example has recently announced a UK-wide initiative to support its remote workforce from the start of September, giving its employees the flexibility to either work from home or within the office.


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Here is Senator Capito earlier this week:
Look at the first three items (the ones with a sizable increase) of what Capito calls the “Biden Inflation Tax”: car rentals, gasoline, and airfares. According to the senator, the cost of travel has risen dramatically since last summer and somehow it’s President Biden’s fault even though she never explains which Biden polices have provoked these large percentage increases. Capito doesn’t explain because she can’t – the dramatic increases are simply too much demand chasing too little supply.
“I don’t care how much it costs, I (we) need a vacation.” If you haven’t said words to this effect, I’m sure that you’ve heard others express this thought. And if you have done any travelling this summer, you’ve personally seen the consequences. I travelled to upstate New York last month and saw a dramatic increase from a similar trip seven years ago. The planes were all full and on two of the four legs of my trip the carrier was offering vouchers of possibly $800 for volunteers to take a flight the next day. I’m sure the carrier was not doing this out of the goodness of its heart which probably meant that someone was probably paying at least $900 to travel less than 500 air miles. Additionally, my rental car was at least double of what I paid seven years ago. (A friend recently flew into Boston and found no rentals available at the airport. To get a car, he had to take a taxi to a rental agency many miles away.) Finally, high demand has also affected the cost of gasoline as it does every summer in non-pandemic years.
So, where’s the beef? Capito and the Republicans never explain how Biden's policies increased the cost of travel from last year to this year.
But what about other costs? Capito’s tweet lists consumer goods that now cost more than they did last summer: bacon, oranges, milk, and electricity. I checked and they do cost more. But is this Biden’s fault? My research found a lot answers -- some of which are quite complex. I found CNN’s fact check to be among the more succinct attempts to answer the question:
Facts First: While some economists say the stimulus packages passed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic are having an impact on inflation, it's misleading to suggest that's the only explanation for the recent rise in inflation. Blaming it exclusively on Democratic spending proposals misrepresents what's actually been passed, and ignores the trillions of dollars in spending passed last year supported by Republicans and signed by then-President Donald Trump which economists say have also contributed to inflation.
Last year, Congress passed two bills totaling around $3 trillion in Covid relief spending -- the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act passed in March 2020, and the $900 billion pandemic relief bill passed in December 2020. Both were signed by Trump and supported by Republicans. The economic stimulus packages, including the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan signed by Biden in March 2021, which contained at least one tax credit program which is already in effect, have contributed to inflationary pressures but are not the only reason behind the spike, experts say.
(Note – the article cites economists to prove its conclusions.)
But what about the possibility of increased inflation? I’m not sure that anyone can definitively answer that question. Here is Reuters take on the most recent economic numbers:
U.S. consumer prices increases slowed in July even as they remained at a 13-year high on a yearly basis and there were tentative signs inflation has peaked as supply-chain disruptions caused by the pandemic work their way through the economy.
The data could provide some support to Fed officials who have repeatedly said that the current burst in inflation is temporary and likely to fade as the handful of categories that have caused inflation to surge in recent months get back on an even keel.
Finally, coming soon to a media source near you: look for Capito and the Republicans to start screaming about the deficit – something we heard nothing about while Trump was president. From Pro Publica:


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LONDON — When Adyen, a Dutch financial payments processor, began trading publicly last month — and nearly doubled its stock price on its first day — partners at Index Ventures had reason to cheer.
It was the second investment by the venture capital firm to cash out in a short time. Just a month earlier, the European mobile payments company iZettle was sold to PayPal for $2.2 billion, or nearly double what that the start-up had hoped to fetch in its own initial public offering.
Index, founded in Switzerland in 1996 and now based in London and San Francisco, is trying to seize on the moment and amass more financial firepower.
The firm plans to disclose on Monday that it has raised $1.65 billion for its two newest funds: $650 million for its early-stage investment fund, and $1 billion for a so-called growth fund that invests in slightly older companies.
Those figures are up slightly from the $550 million that the firm raised in early 2016 for its last early-stage fund and $700 million for the later-stage round.
The new funds, raised in a matter of weeks, are meant to help Index continue its recent roll, one that has impressed its investors.
“When you find a venture fund that we will back in successive iterations, it tends to be because they’ve figured out that formula or magic where they’re investing early in transformative companies,” said Kathryn Mayne, a managing director at Horsley Bridge Partners, which has invested in every Index fund since 2005.
To be clear, Index does not have the name recognition of Silicon Valley’s biggest boldface names, like Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins or Benchmark Capital. Nor does it have the firepower at the command of those firms: Sequoia, for instance, is reportedly raising $8 billion for its latest fund, and SoftBank’s Vision Fund has nearly $100 billion to spend. (Partners at Index argue that they are not interested in competing with those titans.)
And while Index has had a remarkable run so far this year — in addition to Adyen and iZettle, it was an early backer of the file-sharing company Dropbox, which went public in March, and the speaker company Sonos, which just filed for an initial offering — repeating that performance will be difficult.
But Index has come a long way since 1996, when it was founded as a way to import Bay Area-style venture capital to Europe. It has become one of the top European venture capital firms, investing in start-ups like Skype and the food delivery provider Deliveroo.
And since it opened an office in San Francisco in 2011, it has gained more recognition in the United States by investing early in start-ups like Dropbox. (One of its San Francisco-based partners, Danny Rimer, ranked 17th on a list of the top 100 venture investors from 2009 through March compiled by CB Insights in partnership with The New York Times.)
Still, among the big selling points for Index — both to investors in its funds and to the entrepreneurs it hopes to back — is its international reach and outlook. (Executives speak often of their staff members’ 17 passports and 20 languages.)
“What’s important is how fluent entrepreneurs are about their international opportunities,” Mr. Rimer said in an interview. “They have to win globally from Day 1.”
Drew Houston, chief executive of Dropbox, in which Index invested in 2012, asked for help moving into international markets, with Index helping to introduce the company to European cellphone carriers to create partnerships.
“We were really interested in global expansion,” Mr. Houston said in a telephone interview. “By starting in Europe, they bring that global perspective first.”
And Vladimir Tenev, the chief executive of the online financial brokerage app Robinhood, said he regularly asks the Index partner Jan Hammer, who gave him his first venture financing, for thoughts on political developments that could affect regulation of companies like his.
Meanwhile, Index said that its global perspective helped it recognize early the potential for Bird, one of the big electric scooter sharing companies. Martin Mignot, a London-based partner, said that the success of similar businesses in Europe persuaded the firm to be an early backer and take part in the company’s Series B round in March at a $400 million valuation.
Bird raised money again last month at an enormous $2 billion valuation, with Index again participating.
With the new fund, Index’s partners plan to do more of what they’re already doing: being among the first investors in companies, rather than trying to follow rivals into ever-bigger investments.
“We’re sticking to our knitting,” Mr. Hammer said.


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V Nanammal is one of the oldest yoga teachers in the world and says that yoga is not about pushing to yourself or working up a sweat. Her school, Ozone Yoga, has trained thousands of yoga practitioners in traditional yoga since the 1970's.
Yoga practitioners from around the world will congregate in Shenzhen, China for the sixth International Yoga Championships. The IYC will take place on June 23 through 25 at the World Famous Mission Hills Resort.
Guests of the luxury Ritz-Carlton Bali are invited to explore and partake in rituals at a Hindu temple located on the grounds on which the resort was built. The lux getaway also offers yoga classes, spa treatments, and rituals for various festivals.
Bali United's interfaith soccer team showed the world that they can work together towards a common goal. Three players used various postures of prayer to celebrate the team's victory.
Yoga is gaining more popularity in China, Rishikesh exports a great number of yoga instructors to China and more are needed!
An earthquake of 6.4 magnitude scared tourists in Bali last week. But in Ubud, the gods smiled on Bali Spirit Festival as the yoga workshops and concerts went on.
A medical study in India has shown positive results in the use of yoga and fenugreek seeds to treat diabetes.
Dormeuil celebrated the launch of their new kimono line in Aoyama with Japanese tea ceremony. The founders of tranquility blend together the art of tea with the art of yoga.


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General Motors signed the Climate Declaration. The statement is part of a new initiative by businesses for greater action on global warming in Washignton. No specific recommendations are made in the declaration. The Guardian reports:
"We want to be a change agent in the auto industry," Mike Robinson, GM vice-president of sustainability and global regulatory affairs, said in a statement.
Other endorsers of the Climate Declaration include eBay, Ceres, Starbucks, and Unilever.
The short statement, endorsed by GM, leads off: "Tacking climate change is America's greatest economic opportunity of the 21st century (and it's simply the right thing to do)."
Read more here.


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IFilm completes its sale of OTX
January, 9 2004
The Hollywood Reporter, 01.09.04
IFilm said Thursday that it has closed a deal to sell its profitable subsidiary OTX, or the Online Testing Exchange, to a host of investors that include Strauss Zelnick and Bob Pittman.
Although it becomes only a minority investor, ZelnickMedia — a firm headed by Zelnick, the former CEO of BMG Entertainment — is considered the lead investor and will manage the firm.
ZelnickMedia, along with Pittman's venture firm Pilot Group Lp. and other investors, paid $30 million for OTX, with founder and CEO Shelley Zalis and certain other senior executives splitting $4 million. Zalis also maintains a 13% stake in OTX and remains its CEO.
IFilm CEO Adam Frank said that after "helping incubate and provide a platform for its growth," it seemed the right time to book profits on OTX and concentrate on iFilm's two core businesses: its ifilm.com movie portal and database and its Lone Eagle and Hollywood Creative Directory publishing assets.
Recent media speculation that a divestiture of OTX would spell the demise of iFilm is unfounded, Frank said. And in fact, the company will be announcing a new product this month. Frank also noted that iFilm doubled the number of advertisers at its site last year.
"All these Internet businesses that started five years ago were ahead of their time," he said. "We're beginning to click."
The departure of OTX and its 80 employees leaves iFilm with 36 employees, Frank said, and no job losses at either entity are expected.
Zalis, in fact, said she intends to hire an additional 40 people at OTX, which is used by every major studio to test their marketing materials as well as by consumer product firms like Procter & Gamble.
Zalis said iFilm had been approached by several suitors seeking OTX and that ZelnickMedia was a "perfect fit" and that OTX had "outgrown" iFilm.
"It positions us in a place that, if I need more financing to develop out-of-the-box stuff, it would be available to me," she said.
The investment marks ZelnickMedia's fourth, having previously acquired minority stakes in direct marketing firms Time Life and Lillian Vernon as well as Japan's oldest music label Columbia Music.
"Any business that helps Madison Avenue and Hollywood answer the question, 'Am I getting bang for my advertising buck?' is of interest to us," said Scott Siegler, the ZelnickMedia partner who heads its West Coast operations.


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The German marque reports the affected vehicles could have electronic stability program (ESP) software that doesn't correspond to the correct specifications.
If the condition occurs, the brakes could remain slightly engaged after an automatic brake intervention by a driver assistance system, such as adaptive cruise control, which would lead to continuous vehicle deceleration.
Affected models could experience brake overheating, and as a result a loss of braking ability. Mercedes-Benz says this could increase the risk of injury to occupants of the vehicle and other road users,
Sale dates for the recalled sports cars are from 1 May 2015 through 31 December 2016.
Owners of these SLK vehicles will be contacted via mail, and are encouraged to visit their local dealer to arrange for the upgrade of their car's ESP software.


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Singapore-based merchant platform firm Pine Labs on Tuesday announced it has acquired Bengaluru-based gift card solutions provider Qwikcilver for $110 million.
The combined gift solutions business will be the largest in India with a customer base of over 250 brands and retailers and 1,500 enterprise customers, the company said in a statement.
"According to market estimates, gift, as a category, is growing at a high double-digit rate annually. Qwikcilver's technology and market expertise will help us scale up this business," said Vicky Bindra, Chief Executive Officer, Pine Labs.
Pine Labs processes annualised payments of $20 billion.
Founded in 2006, Qwikcilver is a full-stack gift card service provider, powering nine out of every 10 gift cards in the country and managing an annualised gross transaction value of $1.5 billion across India, Middle East and South East Asia.
"With Pine Labs, we have the potential and ability to significantly scale the gift card category and drive consumer adoption with novel products and solutions," added Kumar Sudarsan, Co-Founder and CEO of Qwikcilver.
Pine Labs started its own gift solutions business "Pine Perks" four years ago.
Today, Pine Perks gift cards are used by 600 organisations across banking, insurance, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, FMCG and telecom industries.
Kumar will join the Pine Labs leadership team after the completion of the transaction.
Pine Labs' investors include Sequoia India, PayPal, Temasek, Actis Capital, Altimeter Capital, Madison India Capital and Sofina.


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Chief investment officer: MSG Afrika
“Everything was a deal for me,” recalls Andile Khumalo of his high-school days in Umlazi, south of Durban. From bets on sports matches to Tupperware sales, the enterprising trader was always a leader on his playing field. Now 34, Khumalo plays the same game in the boardrooms of Africa’s economic heart.
Seeing the number of CEOs who were chartered accountants, Khumalo set about studying for a BCom and honours before completing his articles with Deloitte in Durban. He moved to Investec in 2003 where he soon found himself discussing billion-rand deals.
After stints as a financial consultant and chief financial officer, Khumalo joined investment company MSG Afrika in 2007. With a stable of businesses ranging from advertising supremos to a printing company, Khumalo spends his days buying new businesses, raising funds or “helping grow one of our businesses”. His acumen has seen him appointed to the statutory Takeover Regulations Panel and, in 2011, named 11th president of the Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants of Southern Africa.
— Ian Macleod


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Heads down at the Lab
THE Lab has been appointed by the Duvet and Pillow Association to handle public relations for National Pillow Week, from April 18-24. MD Adam Clyne said: "Our strategy relies on headline-grabbing tactics both media and consumers will find exciting. The brief lends itself to creative thinking and the team look forward to getting involved."
A NATIONAL marketing consultancy has announced a co-operative partnership with Blackburn-based direct marketing specialists Granby. MMi Creative and Granby will now be able to expand the wide range of services each provides. MMi will fulfil creative, design and production for Granby which will provide all of MMi's direct marketing.
A PROMOTIONAL video is being produced by Fresh Approach UK on behalf of Manchester: Knowledge Capital - the partnership initiative designed to position the city at the centre of the global knowledge economy. Fresh provides a one-stop shop for event planning, video production, branding and design.
THE True North agency has moved to new offices on the fourth floor of Fourways House, Hilton Street, Manchester. The 11-strong agency has created a clever transfer-style mail-out to inform clients of the newlocation.
BUBBLE Media has been briefed by Sony to design and produce a website to promote the WipEout Pure game for its new PSP platform - the latest game in the series that created a cult following on its original release in 1995.
Media news in brief
A ROUND-UP of news from the media agencies in the region.


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Ezetap, the startup that has been incubated by Angel Prime has announced the launch of its new mobile point of sale device which is priced under $50. The MPOS device can be attached to mobile phones and can transact debit and credit card payments. The company is saying is that the device is priced at 1/3 the price of other integrated mobile POS solutions. The company also stresses that this device has been designed and developed completely in India and can go head to head with other such solutions in Asia.
The device is made exclusively for emerging markets in an effort to gain a strong position in countries which are steadily adopting digital solutions to make retailing and selling easier. The device has been certified as global security standards and RBI guidelines compliant. The company was also the first to achieve EMV global standard Level 1 and 2 certifications for chip based hardware which transacts from credit and debit card. The additional advantages are the availability of transaction data on its service, e-receipts generation for customers, single monthly fees etc. Currently, it only works on Android 2.2+ and requires merchants to have a merchant account with Ezetap’s partner banks.
We had written earlier about Ezetap when they released their Square like card reader last year. The company was founded by Abhijit Bose and Bhaktha Keshavachar. Since it was founded, the company says that it has seen good growth. They claim that there are around 7000 live devices and the company is adding 2000 devices per month. Ezetap has also expanded to Kenya and will begin operations in South East Asia in the next three months or so.
Abhijit Bose, CEO of Ezetap spoke about the new launch,
“Ezetap is committed to delivering world-class products from India. To succeed, we needed to deliver a product that met the highest global security and technical standards, but at a price that could help spread the adoption of mobile payments in India and well as other markets.”
Bhaktha Keshavachar, CTO of the company also shared,.
“Adding the PIN Pad will, for the first time, allow every debit card in India to be supported for mobile payments. While difficult to do, we felt that a single integrated device would provide the best user experience for merchants and consumers.”
The device is expected to be available sometime in this quarter. Digital and mobile based payment solutions are a necessity in a country where most of the population still does cash transactions. These solutions make the whole process much easier for consumers and merchants and should become accessible to the general merchant base in the country at large, in a similar manner in how mobiles and smartphones have become accessible and useful for businesses. The lower cost will definitely get more people to use it as it definitely provides a considerable amount of convenience to merchants and their transaction processes.
Website | Ezetap


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Bangalore-based startup Dataweave Software Pvt Ltd has raised seed funding worth Rs 1.5 crore ($270,000) from Blume Ventures, TLabs (Times Internet), 5ideas Startup Superfuel, Meta Studio Advisors and a group of angel investors, namely Rajan Anandan, Pankaj Jain, Bharathram Thothadri, Krishna Mehra and Abhishek Gupta.
This is the first disclosed investment from 5ideas Startup Superfuel, the investment arm of 5ideas, the seed fund-cum-accelerator floated by the husband-wife duo of Gaurav Kachru and Pearl Uppal. Recently, it announced the first close of the $10 million fund.
Meta Studio Advisors is a private investment company formed by two professionals Aakrit Vaish and Miten Sampat. They invest in their personal capacity. Prior to DataWeave they invested in two more companies Tookitaki and Bookadspace.
DataWeave is the first of the TLabs's accelerator programme to get external funding. It joined TLabs (Times Internet's accelerator) in February 2012 as part of its first batch.
DataWeave was founded by duo Karthik Ramesh and Vikranth Ramanolla in 2011. It makes public data on the web accessible in both human and machine readable formats.
DataWeave helps users discover, monitor and visualize public data on the web in a uniform format: APIs, dashboards and visualizations. It works by extracting and structuring relevant data and then stores it. The data is then aggregated, analyzed, normalized and represented in a consumable manner.
Sanjay Nath of early stage investor Blume Ventures shared Karthik Reddy, managing partner, Blume is likely to join the board at DataWeave.
Some of its clients include Jabong, Snapdeal, Hoopos, Rediff, Indiatimes Shopping, CrowdAnalytix, Puma, UrbanJourney, OfficeYes, EasyRation, Zigwheels and more.
Last we checked it was clocking revenues worth Rs 5 lakh a month. It was also one of the two companies doing better amongst the TLabs batch.
In the near future, the company is looking expand its team and foray into more verticals like travel and corporate intelligence, said its official blog.


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- Subscribe NowNewsletters & Alerts
Bids due soon for Anschutz Entertainment Group
- Denver Business Journal
Bids for Colorado billionaire Philip Anschutz’s sports and entertainment holdings are expected to be submitted next week, the Financial Times reported Thursday.
Anschutz, who put his Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) up for sale in September, was reportedly seeking about $10 billion.
The company’s holdings include ownership of a wide range of arenas, including the O2 in London and the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and stakes in the Los Angeles Lakers and other teams. The bids are expected to range from $5 billion to $8 billion, according to the newspaper.
The Financial Times said Westfield Group, an Australian company that owns shopping centers, is expected to submit a bid, as is Steve Mnuchin, who’s chairman and CEO of OneWest Bank, and Qatar Sports Investment, which last year bought the French soccer club Paris Saint-Germain.
But Billboard reported the bidders are likely to be Qatar, Guggenheim Partners, which owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, and a group comprised of billionaires Ron Burkle and Patrick Soon-Shiong and Goldman Sachs.
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Reports suggest that the retailer is ready to print around 20 million catalogues offering electrical, garden products and home furniture.
It is planning to send a copy to each of its 13 million Clubcard holders, with further copies available at 500 stores.
The reports add that the catalogue would not be as big as the catalogue offered by high street retailer Argos, but would be gradually expanded.
There has been speculation for months that Tesco would launch a catalogue. In December last year The Grocer reported that Tesco had started recruiting a new publishing team to “help launch a bold and exciting new venture”.
And this week Verdict Research predicted that Tesco would become the biggest non food retailer by the end of the year, with a 3.6% share of the market, overtaking Argos on 3.5%.


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MedixSafe, Maker of Advanced Narcotics Security Cabinets Gears Up for Expansion
Memphis, TN -- MedixSafe has hired Chad Mitchell as its new Director of Sales. Mitchell, a graduate from Mississippi State University previously consulted for Conference Technologies Inc. Mitchell’s award winning sales strategies and leadership will play a key role in MedixSafe’s future.
MedixSafe makes high tech narcotics security cabinets used by ambulances and emergency vehicles. The Medixsafe M1 Narcotics Cabinet set a new standard for narcotics security with the ambulance trade’s first, simplest dual access security solution - incorporating both proximity card readers and PIN pads. The M2 Narcotics Cabinet incorporates both fingerprint scanners and PIN pads, allowing for the highest degree of individual accountability and automated recordkeeping – assuring compliance with new, stricter regulations.
For 2012 the MedixSafe Research and Development department has been very busy with new designs that continue to exceed the latest strict regulations for medical narcotics security. This while also releasing new models that meet customers desired features and specifications. As Mitchell stated, “ in 2011 we heard from our customers and we listened.” Exceedingly superior customer service is one of MedixSafe’s essential driving forces.
A larger model, “ClinixSafe C1” will be available in January 2012. Measuring 24x18x18, the C1 is ideal for drug storage in small pharmacies and clinics. Like earlier models, it also features advanced security technology including biometrics and a complete audit trail.
MedixSafe™ was created by ESSC Corporation, a Memphis-based, electronic security, and network cabling company with over 30 years in the security arena. Find them on the Web at www.MedixSafe.com.


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Bachus bails on Infinium Labs
Phantom maker's stongest link to real world of gaming departs CEO slot; Greg Koler appointed as interim CEO.
The long, troubled, and still incomplete journey of Infinium Labs' quest to put a game-grabbing, set-top box in living rooms everywhere suffered a blow today as long-time booster--and company CEO--Kevin Bachus resigned his post.
The company stated today that Bachus left the organization last week to "pursue other opportunities."
Replacing Bachus is Greg Koler, a 15-year veteran of the technology beat, with some specific skills in the area of gaming, including stints at Softbank Broadband Media/Europe and Japan, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, set-top box manufacturer FTA Communication Technologies, and Vox Mobile Communications based in Luxembourg.
Since June 2004, Koler has been a full-time consultant for Infinium, handling communications, channel, and investment strategies in Europe.
"I'd like to thank Kevin for his past support and wish him well with his future endeavors," Koler said in a statement. "A lot of that support has helped put our operational planning on track and has helped create awareness for the company in the industry."
Bachus follows former colleague Kathy Schoback, Infinium's former VP of content, out the door--Schoback resigned in April to take an executive position at PhysX chipmaker AGEIA. Just prior to Schoback's departure, Infinium lost its executive VP of business development, Richard Skoda.
Infinium remains focused on bringing the Phantom broadband on-demand game service to market, although it has yet to announce an official launch date.
A call to Bachus for comment was not returned by press time.
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DETROIT — Chrysler Corp. said Wednesday it has signed an agreement allowing it to increase its equity in Italian carmaker Maserati to as much as 48 percent by 1989, with a possible option to acquire 3 percent more and the controlling interest by 1995.
By midsummer, Chrysler will pay $33 million to raise its equity in Maserati from 3.5 percent to 15.6 percent, said American Finance S.p.A., the finance unit of De Tomaso Industries.
De Tomaso currently owns 66 percent of Maserati.
The agreement also allows Chrysler to jointly develop two additional vehicles--a four-door sedan and a sports car--and a new V6 engine for use in Chrysler-Maserati cars.
Currently, Chrysler and Maserati are jointly developing a 1987-model luxury roadster and optional high-performance engine.
Howard Chase, corporate counsel for De Tomaso, said the agreement ``is basically for a new round of financing that will take place next month.``
Under the agreement, an unspecified Italian government agency will purchase newly issued shares of Maserati stock and convertible bonds for a total of $16.5 million, in addition to Chrysler`s $33 million purchase.
With those two purchases, De Tomaso`s stake in Maserati will drop from 66 percent to 52 percent, but it will still remain in control of the company, Chase said.
Chrysler will have the option to purchase the $16.5 million worth of shares held by the Italian government agency at any time before July 31, 1989, raising its stake to 48 percent while keeping De Tomaso`s equity at 52 percent, he said.
At current exchange rates, the 48 percent equity would cost Chrysler about $65 million, Chase said.


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The 3.5-percent decline in freight volumes followed two months of strong growth, but is reflective of the weakening state of the overall economy. Shipment volume has already been below corresponding 2012 volumes in six months of this year, and October contributed the seventh month, coming in 2.0 percent below a year ago.
The sharp reduction in the shipment volume in October can be linked to the government shutdown. Although Customs and Homeland Security workers were exempt from the furlough, many freight shipments were delayed because other government agencies were not open to perform necessary inspections or processing. Railroad carloadings declined again in October, dropping 0.7 percent, while intermodal loadings reversed September's drop and rose 2.5 percent. Truck tonnage rose in September (the month for which the latest data is available from the American Trucking Associations), but spot market load indicators declined sharply in October. U.S. manufacturing output was almost flat in September, with even the automotive sector showing definite signs of slowing. With inventories growing and retail sales and business spending flagging, there has been little reason to restock. In addition, export demand began to stall in August and has just begun to rebound.
October Freight Expenditures
Freight expenditures for October fell 2.6 percent - the largest decrease in 2013. Monthly expenditures have declined only two other times this year; in October they were 6.1 percent higher than at year-end 2012. The decrease in expenditures mirrors the drop in shipments and primarily reflects a change in volume, not a substantial change in rates. Carriers have found rate increases difficult to sustain throughout the year, and October was no exception. Spot market rates softened as the month progressed, and posted loads dropped off.
The government shutdown due the budget stalemate on Capitol Hill was in Day Three when this report was written last month. Ultimately, the stand-off resulted in a 16-day closure of the federal government. Exact estimates of the impact have not been calculated. The White House estimated that the stand-off cost the U.S. economy $10bn a week, while Moody's Analytics estimated it closer to $50bn total. Federal government employees lost about $1bn dollars a week in wages and, although a bill was passed to give federal workers retroactive pay, the foregone purchases will in most cases not be made. They represent lost sales to thousands of businesses, especially small businesses. In addition to federal employees being furloughed, many companies (particularly defense contractors and suppliers) also laid off thousands of workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported - belatedly because of the shutdown - that only 148,000 jobs were added to the economy, well shy of the 185,000 we've been averaging over the last year. The combined hit to the economy is substantial. Estimates of fourth quarter GDP losses range from 0.3 to 0.9 percent. When the two sides arrived at a settlement in Washington, their agreement only kicked the can down the road. Rather than settling appropriations for the 2014 budget, the result was a continuing resolution that will fund the government through January 15 and suspend the debt ceiling until February 7. This resolution does little to defray the concerns of workers and consumers alike, demonstrated by the plummeting measures of consumer and business confidence in October. Bloomberg's monthly gauge of consumer expectations indicated a sharp increase in the number of respondents expecting the economy to get worse. In fact, it was the biggest surge since October 2008.
Underwhelming retail sales has resulted in lower expectations for the holiday season. The National Retail Foundation forecasts that the average holiday shopper will spend 2.5 percent less than in 2012, representing the first forecasted decline since the 2008 holiday season. Halloween sales dropped 6 percent this year. Declining sales, mounting inventories, fresh memories of the federal shutdown, and trepidation regarding the January and February federal deadlines are affecting the movement of freight. The Institute for Supply Management reported a 0.4 percent increase in its Purchasing Managers Index (PMI). The PMI Production Index fell 2.9 percent in October. On the positive side, New Orders edged up 0.2 percent and Backlog of Orders rose 4.0 percent, mostly on the strength of a 9.6-percent surge in Export Orders. The conclusion is that the fourth quarter is unlikely to be as strong as initially forecast, with much of the damage already done by the government shutdown and its ripple effects. A pickup in exports will not be strong enough to offset the expected declines elsewhere in the economy. Ongoing concern, both domestically and abroad, over the lack of a long-term resolution to the federal government's budget and debt ceiling issues is casting a cloud of uncertainty over economic growth for the remainder of this year and the first quarter of 2014.
Source: Cass Information Systems
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Following a $100 million funding round led by Alphabet investment arm CapitalG, startup company Collibra is now valued at more than $1 billion, Fortune reports. Collibra focuses on data governance technology, designed to allow companies to manage data in a way that complies with regulatory standards. Collibra CEO and Co-Founder Felix Van de Maele said the capital would support efforts to “invest in our growth” and that the addition of smaller startups could fit with the company’s product strategy. Editor's Note: The Privacy Tech Vendor Report compiles nearly 200 vendors in the space.
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GM Timing Is Exquisite as Silverado Rolls Out Amid Truck Boom
DETROIT ( TheStreet) -- Are we about to enter Silverado Summer?
The Silverado rollout could be GM's best move since it emerged from bankruptcy four years ago on July 10, 2009. U.S. truck buyers are acquisitive and getting more so. In June, GM pickup truck sales rose 29%, Ford
"The Silverado is really going to solidify the GM turnaround," said Edwards.com analyst Jessica Caldwell. "GM is still kind of looking for a defining moment because a lot of people are thinking that Ford has come further. So the timing is fortuitous. From a profitability standpoint, the Silverado is very big for GM."
Caldwell identified three similar moments in the post-recession emergence of the U.S. auto industry, all occurring in 2010, as the economy was just starting a slow recovery that continues to this day.
That year, Chevrolet launched the Cruze, which showed that U.S. manufacturers were capable of making small cars in a U.S. plant and could perhaps be more than pickup truck companies that also build cars. Ford launched a new global Fiesta, which showed that "Ford was going to make cars too and would have a U.S. identity beyond the F-150," Caldwell said.
Chrysler, meanwhile, rolled out a new Jeep Grand Cherokee, its first major launch after being taken over by Fiat. At the time, "Chrysler was really struggling," Caldwell said. "This gave them some momentum." When Grand Cherokee sales jumped to 10,915 units in September 2010 from 6,396 in August 2010, it began to become clear that Jeep was going to lead the Chrysler revival.
Early Tuesday, GM said it will roll out its new Silverado ad campaign in Texas, where one of every six U.S. pickup trucks is sold. Pulling out the stops, GM commissioned a song called "Strong" by authentic country singer Will Hoge, best known for "Even If It Breaks Your Heart."
It is safe to say that Chevrolet's message will recall the "Heartbeat of America" maker of the "Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet" brand. The campaign will roll out nationally during Major League Baseball All-Star festivities in mid-July, according to the Detroit Free Press .
About 5,000 new Silverados arrived at dealerships in June. They sat for an average of just 10 days. Don Johnson, Chevrolet vice president of sales and service, said the brief stay is not atypical or unexpected "when you launch a new one," adding: "You have a lot of customers waiting for this great new truck."


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A big Canadian pension fund's buy-in to New Zealand's biggest dairy farming operator is a sign of confidence in the country's dairy industry, says Dairy Holdings chairman Greg Gent.
Sooke Investments, a subsidiary of one of Canada's biggest pension funds, PSP Investments, has bought 24.9 per cent of South Island-based Dairy Holdings from an exiting shareholder.
The transaction took place last year but only showed up when Dairy Holdings filed its latest annual returns to the Companies Office. The sale price is unknown.
PSP bought the stake from Jagewi Ltd, whose shareholders were JD & RD Wallace, John Luxton and Luxton family interests and Auckland businessman Paul Benjamin.
Dairy Holdings' major shareholder and co-founders of the company more than 20 years ago, Colin and Dale Armer, took the opportunity to lift their stake to nudge 42 per cent, while the other large shareholder Murray and Margaret Turley increased their holding to 33 per cent.
PSP, which has other agribusiness interests in New Zealand, did not have to seek Overseas Investment Office approval for the purchase because it was under 25 per cent.
Dairy Holdings annual revenue is estimated to be around $96 million. It produces around 16 million kilograms of milksolids a year and has assets of more than $1 billion, milking 55,000 cows over 75 dairy and grazing farms.
Dairy Holdings is Fonterra's biggest shareholder.
Gent, like Colin Armer, a former Fonterra director, said PSP, with its long term view of agribusiness, was a good fit for a company with two intergenerational families as major shareholders.
"They're big enough to see through commodity cycles ... and taking a shareholding is a vote of confidence in Dairy Holdings and the New Zealand dairy industry."
Armer said PSP was welcomed as a solid, long-term shareholder which shared the company's vision and strategy, which is based on farming using the natural resource of grass.
PSP has a seat on the Dairy Holdings' board and had proven itself a good corporate citizen, Armer said.
The pension fund was introduced to the company via "mutual acquaintances", he said.
PSP's other New Zealand interests include forestry heavyweight Kaingaroa Timberlands and Global Herd Ltd.
John Luxton of sold-up shareholder Jagewi Ltd told the Herald he had interests in Dairy Holdings for many years and the time had come for Jagewi shareholders "to move on".
The Waikato dairy farms owner and former National Party Cabinet minister said the sale "allowed each of us an opportunity to consolidate our separate business interests".
"We were pleased with it."
PSP has been approached to discuss the investment.


text:
Merrydown core strategy pays off
Cider maker Merrydown has bubbled back into reporting a full-year profit after implementing a drastic turnaround of the business. The company, which makes Shloer soft drinks and Merrydown cider, has scrapped 160 product lines to focus on its core brands.
The strategy appears to be working, with pre-tax profits for the year to 31 March at £740,000 against a £1.3m loss last year. Turnover was £15.7m against £16.8m last time, reflecting the cull of the remaining non-core products and lower sales of its white cider label Pulse.
Merrydown ran into tough times three years ago after sales of Two Dogs, the alcoholic lemonade, fell sharply. The 'alchopop', introduced in Britain in the mid-Nineties, had been a runaway success but lost ground to competing brands.
Merrydown said it had completely turned around the business and the company was now profitable and debt free. Nigel Freer, chief executive said: 'The benefits of the investments and actions of the past two years are evident in the steadily improving brand and financial performance, which is being achieved against a background of some very challenging market conditions.'
Shareholders, who were not paid a dividend last year, will reap the benefits of the turnaround, with a 0.5p payout this year.
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Rollover protection or not?
By Beverley Ford
THERE are about 190,000 quad bikes in Australia, used in workplaces, for recreation, adventure tours and competitive racing.
Around 16,000 are purchased each year, and quad bike accidents result in an average of 16 deaths a year in Australia alone.
They also send six people a day to hospital emergency departments, with an average of two requiring hospitalisation for serious injuries.
In March the Australian Corruption and Crime and Commission (ACCC) produced a report on proposed major changes to improve the safety of quad bikes.
To help reduce the deaths and injuries associated with the machines, the ACCC proposed a mandatory safety standard that they say
• adopts the US standard
• introduces a safety star-rating system, so that safer vehicles get a higher rating
• requires manufacturers to integrate an operator protection device (OPD), such as a crush protection device or roll over protection (ROP) device in the design of new quad bikes, and
• imposes minimum performance tests.
When issuing the report ACCC commissioner Mick Keogh said that a mandatory safety standard incorporating all of these elements was the best option to save lives and make quad bikes safer for everyone.
The recommendation was supported by regional Australia’s most powerful voices, including the National Farmers Federation (NFF), Rural Doctors Association of Australia, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the National Rural Health Alliance, the National Rural Women’s Coalition, the Country Women’s Association of Australia, and the Australian Workers Union.
Disappointed by the federal government’s apparent inaction in legislating to support the recommendations, representatives from these organisations held a demonstration on the lawns of Parliament House on September 10, to share the personal stories of those affected by quad bike rollovers.
NFF president Fiona Simson said that so far this year seven Australians, including children, had lost their lives in quad bike accidents.
Ms Simson said despite the horrifying statistic, the government was stalling on implementing the mandatory fitting of OPDs to all new quad bikes within two years.
“We are at a loss to understand why the government won’t introduce this simple change to save lives,” Ms Simson said.
During Farm Safe Week 2017, Warren-Blackwood MLA Terry Redman said that most people loved riding around on a quad bike.
“However, these bikes accounted for the highest number of deaths and injuries on farms last year (2016) as result of being used for tasks beyond their design limits, towing loads, and riders not wearing helmets.”
The federal government reaction to support for the ACCC recommendations was an unexpected and unusual request that the ACCC conduct a third round of community consultation.
Assistant treasurer Micheal Sukkar, who has responsibility for the ACCC, said he would assess the latest round of consultation and respond in coming months.
Is this reaction from government due to pressure being applied by the major quad bike and ATV manufacturers, Yamaha and Honda?
Both have threatened to withdraw their quad bikes and all-terrain vehicles from the Australian market if ROPs become law.
Honda and Yamaha believe that ROPs don’t improve safety, and that the ACCC’s recommendations include no criteria for what ROPs actually are.
They say that they would have no choice but to withdraw from the quad bike market based on that one item.
In a further complication, reported by the ABC, the United States has referred the proposed Australian regulations to the World Trade Organisation, claiming that it would constitute a barrier to trade.
Is this also due to pressure from manufacturers?
The ACCC and NFF consider that the proposed regulations are not a trade issue but a matter of safety.
Meanwhile, as the bickering continues, more accidents are occurring and more lives are being lost.


text: Project Description: Foodbank is the primary provider of free, nutritious food to low-income households in south Santa Barbara County. Last year, they distributed 2.3 million pounds of food in cooperation with its 125 partners, including 907,000 pounds of fresh produce. Foodbank uses diesel, refrigerated trucks to pick-up, distribute and safely store temperature-sensitive food. Their existing fleet of trucks is aging and must be replaced over the next few years to meet new state emissions standards. This grant will pay 80% of the cost of a new Hino refrigerated box truck outfitted with a lift gate, donation tracking software and GPS system. The larger truck will be able to transport increased food donations and also provide additional refrigerated storage, reducing the amount of spoiled food that might otherwise go to landfill.


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Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.
New Yorkers love to complain. Fashion Week is still a few weeks away, but show attendees are already complaining about Alexander Wang's show at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. "It's the biggest show in New York, so we're all going to be covering it—we're just going to be pissed," fashion photographer Hunter Flynn Abrams told the Daily News.
Aside from the epic struggle that is the commute to the Navy Yard—in heels, no less—the real pain comes from the shows' tight schedule. "Editors will have to give up one show to see another show," said photographer Jennifer Graylock. "To get to Brooklyn, they're going to have to give up two or three shows."
It looks like there's a general disdain for anything non-Manhattan from the fashion elite. "I don't even go over to Brooklyn to visit my good friend," said Ann Caruso, a stylist and consultant who previously worked at Vogue. Apparently, she didn't see her magazine's ode to Kings County this summer.
But the new Brooklyn president, Eric Adams, is confident they'll see his borough's allure. "When New York's trend setters strut their stuff over to the Navy Yard, they'll conclude that Brooklyn's the best backdrop in New York City for fashion," he told the paper.
· Fashion Week Watchers Dreading Brooklyn Show [NYDN]
· Even Alexander Wang is Moving to Brooklyn [Racked NY]
· Vogue Ventures to Brooklyn, Hilarity Ensues [Racked NY]


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Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra with under-screen selfie cam handled in a hands-on video
It's no secret that Xiaomi is looking to launch a smartphone with an under-screen selfie camera but no one expected it to be this soon. According to the new leak, the first smartphone with such design will launch sometime between October and November. And the phone itself looks quite familiar.
As you can see from the video, the back is absolutely identical to the newly released Mi 10 Ultra so Xiaomi might be looking to release a version of the Ultra with under-screen camera. Quite oddly, the person handling the device in the video didn't turn on the selfie camera and there could be three reasons for this.
First, the one who's making the video wants to remain anonymous. Secondly, this is still a prototype and something isn't working properly. And thirdly, it's a fake. Although, we can't see any clear indications that this is an edited video. Of course, the info that the handset is expected to come out in one to two months' time could be wrong as well. Xiaomi said that its first phone with the tech will hit the streets no earlier than 2021.
- 11 Sep 2020
Except for the ten of thousand minimum peoples who desire those smartphones. If smartphones like the LG Wing got made despite being even more niche than a phone without front camera, there are no reasons why a phone without front camera couldn'...
- 11 Sep 2020
provided that one manufacturer makes 10millions phone that you like (phone without front cam or any alternative). 10 months after release 9,999,999 were just lying on the shelves of the retailer stores..
- 10 Sep 2020
Compared to underdisplay camera, it will be more about 100€ to 200€ cheaper, don't get fooled by the ZTE Axon 20 5G low cost, it is to kick start their sales while having huge attention by medias, and it is probably sold at loss as a "beta ...


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By Tiernan Ray
As some speculated, Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook announced a short while ago at the company’s press conference in San Francisco that Nintendo (NTDOY) will be bringing its “Mario” franchise to the iPhone, with the advent of a new game, “Super Mario Run,” with features for one-handed game play.
Cook invited up Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto to talk the audience through it.
Pricing was not announced, though the game will have a “single price,” so users won’t have to worry about the cost to play over long durations, said Nintendo. The game is expected to be available for the holidays.
Nintendo shares are up $1.91, or almost 7%, at $30.11. Apple stock is down 8 cents at $107.62.
My colleague Alex Eule speculated about a Mario arrival on smartphones in an article on the company last year.


text:
TOKYO — In Japan’s businesses and bureaucracies, in home offices and hulking companies, the fax machine is thriving.
Yes, the clunky device has fallen out of favor in so much of the world, a refuge for dust bunnies and stray cover sheets. But it is humming here.
Japanese still fax party invitations, bank documents and shopping orders. Business people call the fax a required communication tool, used for vital messages, often in place of e-mail. In the early hours of last year’s nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, operators informed the government of an emergency seawater injection by dialing up Tokyo and sending a fax.
Japan’s continued fax devotion may be an endearing quirk, what with the country’s reputation as a high-tech playland, all bright lights and flawless trains and chirping micro-devices. But it may also represent a deeper sign of the nation’s inability to change and to accommodate global standards, even as it cedes economic ground to Asian rivals such as China and South Korea.
“It goes back to the famous theory that there are two Japans,” said Serkan Toto, a Tokyo-based consultant for Japanese Web, mobile and social gaming companies. “One is very efficient and highly productive. The other is where things are very slow and there’s barely any innovation. Information technology is in that second basket.”
With their traditional reverence for paper and handwriting, the Japanese still see use for the analog world. Computer use lags behind that in other developed countries. Business meetings revolve around printed documents, distributed in binders of breathtaking heft. And at government ministries, fax machines spin and whir, the centerpieces of a busy bureaucracy.
What other device spits out a confirmation notice declaring its success?
“It’s reliable,’’ said Toyoko Yoshino, owner of a real estate company that is an hour outside Tokyo. She uses the fax machine almost daily, she said, because she trusts it.
Most international trade groups long ago stopped keeping track of fax machine statistics as the technology, in most places, grew obsolete. Experts point out that fax statistics are hard to track even for those who want to, because increasingly, the fax technology is folded into phones, Xerox machines and computers. But several of the world’s most prominent fax machine makers — including Brother, Sharp and Ricoh — are based in Japan.
So Japan, in a testament to its fax fascination, still tries. As of March, according to Japan’s Cabinet Office, fax machines could be found in 59 percent of Japanese homes. (That penetration rate, after climbing for years, has peaked in the past five years.)
Coming up with a similar number for the United States would require a “polite fiction,” said Jonathan Coopersmith, a Texas A&M University associate professor and an expert on the history of the facsimile. But even in the early 1990s, only about 3 percent of U.S. homes had the machines, he said.
In terms of fax reliance, “I don’t think any other nation comes close to Japan,” Coopersmith said.
In most places, computers — and by extension, e-mail — quickly made the fax machine unnecessary. But in Japan, that transition has not happened.
One reason is that computers, at the outset, never worked well for the Japanese. The country’s language — a mix of three syllabaries, with thousands of complex “kanji” ideograms — bedeviled early-age word-processing software. Until the early 1990s, Japanese was nearly impossible to type. Even today, particularly for older Japanese people, it’s easier to write a letter by hand than with a standard keyboard. Japan also relies on seals, called “hanko,” that are required for most official documents.
While the typing difficulties also apply to China, the country never got stuck in the fax stage, tech experts say.
Another factor in Japan: The government’s long-standing monopoly on phone lines kept high-speed digital Internet rates relatively high — particularly compared with South Korea, where the government promoted cheap broadband use.
Largely because of these hurdles, the Japanese developed a preference for surfing the Web on their mobile phones .
“A lot of homes just are not connected to the Internet,” said Andrew Horvat, a communications expert and the director of the Stanford overseas study program in Kyoto. “They all have phones, however, so that also makes faxing easier and cheaper than online communication.”
Even Japan, of course, is weaning itself off fax machines. Mobile giant SoftBank went “paperless” last month, both for environmental reasons and to save printing costs. Other companies say they don’t dare banish faxes — too many clients insist on them — but they would like to soon.
For now, many firms that offer services to consumers say that fax remains their preferred mode of communication. Even NHK, the national broadcaster, relies on faxes, as in a fee-based service offered to viewers of a weekly program, “Tameshite Gatten,” or “Try and Understand,” whose stories on health-related topics often feature healthful recipes.
The fax offer began in January 2011, and in that first year, 491,000 Japanese used the service, NHK spokeswoman Reiko Saisho said. Unlike with e-mail, those recipes came out warm, on standard A4 paper, and were perfect for filing away.
Special correspondent Yuki Oda contributed to this report.


text:
Publisher Ladybird's series of spoof guides helping adults to make sense of modern day themes from hipsters to hangovers have proved a hit for bookseller Foyles this Christmas.
The family-owned retailer said like-for-like sales jumped by 4.7 per cent for the month of December with seven of Ladybird's for grown up series making it into the top ten bestsellers.
The classic Ladybird books were originally published as educational guides aimed at introducing children to a topics ranging from the Magna Carta to airplanes and nuclear power.
In October, Penguin published eight new books for adults penned by the writers behind BBC comedy show Miranda, including How it Works: The Husband and The Ladybird Book of the Mid-Life Crisis.
Foyles, which has six book stores in Birmingham, Bristol and London, said the strong performance was set against an overall 2.15 per cent drop in prices as shoppers splashed out more on the lower-priced Ladybird books.
“We were delighted in the performance at our flagship Charing Cross Road store and our other London bookshops, bearing in mind a challenging retail environment and lower footfall in the West End reported by other retailers following the Paris terrorist attacks," chief executive Paul Currie said.
"Our regional stores also performed well, and we used the Christmas peak trading to fully understand the different trading profile in our new stores in Bristol and Birmingham," he added.


text:
Analysis of cyber security technology and research. A window on the innovation ecosystem.
Tuesday, 21 May 2013
Vasco acquires Cronto for secure online transactions
There's a coincidence! In my post before last I commented on the release by Cronto of a new system to combat online banking fraud. Barely a month later and Cronto, a Cambridge University spin-out, has been acquired by Vasco.


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On Friday, July 9, President Joe Biden signed the Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy, which includes 72 initiatives by more than a dozen federal agencies to tackle major competition problems that face our economy.
According to the White House fact sheet, the executive order focuses on corporate monopolies across many industries, including agriculture, and will have antitrust agencies look into multiple sectors. The new ruling will allow these agencies to look into and enforce the antitrust laws vigorously and recognizes that the law allows them to challenge prior bad mergers that past Administrations did not previously challenge.
How it will affect the agriculture industry
For the agriculture industry, that means empowering family farmers and increase their incomes by strengthening the Department of Agriculture’s tools to stop the abusive practices of some meat processors. For example, the fact sheet references the four large meat-packing companies that dominate over 80% of the beef market. “Over the last five years, farmers’ share of the price of beef has dropped by more than a quarter — from 51.5 percent to 37.3 percent — while the price of beef has risen.” The fact sheet continues, “In short, family farmers and ranchers are getting less, consumers are paying more, and the big conglomerates in the middle are taking the difference.”
In the executive order, the president addresses:
- Packers and Stockyards Act — The executive order directs the USDA to consider issuing new rules under the Packers and Stockyards Act making it easier for farmers to bring and win claims, stopping chicken processors from exploiting and underpaying chicken farmers, and adopting anti-retaliation protections for farmers who speak out about bad practices.
- “Product of USA” labels — The executive order directs the USDA to consider issuing new rules defining when meat can bear “Product of USA” labels, so that consumers have accurate, transparent labels that enable them to choose products made here.
- Increase access to markets — The executive order directs the USDA to develop a plan to increase opportunities for farmers to access markets and receive a fair return, including supporting alternative food distribution systems like farmers markets and developing standards and labels so that consumers can choose to buy products that treat farmers fairly.
- Right to repair — The executive order encourages the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to limit powerful equipment manufacturers from restricting people’s ability to use independent repair shops or do DIY repairs — like when tractor companies block farmers from repairing their own tractors.
Although the executive order did not outline the exact rules just yet, it does put the FTC in charge of creating rules that would address competition concerns. For more details on the executive order, read the fact sheet here.
Many across the agriculture industry are pleased to see an emphasis being put on competition within the industry.
R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard said, “If these rules are brought to fruition, they will go a long way toward rebalancing the disparate market power between the highly concentrated beef packers and the widely disaggregated independent cattle feeders, backgrounders, stockers and cow/calf producers.”
American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said, “AFBF notes President Biden’s effort to address several pressing issues facing America’s farmers and ranchers comes at a time when many in the farm supply chain are frustrated. Growing concern about livestock market fairness is accelerated by the continued rise in grocery store meat prices while ranchers struggle to break even on the cattle they raise and poultry farmers being locked into agreements with very little recourse if they’re underpaid. It’s time to get to the bottom of what’s driving these imbalances. More opportunities for farmers and ranchers to sell their products will ensure they are paid fairly while providing more options for America’s families.” However, Duvall did say that AFBF will closely examine the details of the executive order and work with the administration to ensure changes are consistent with their grassroots policy.
United States Cattlemen’s Association (USCA) President Brooke Miller said, “USCA applauds President Biden for hearing the calls from cattle country regarding increased consolidation in the U.S. cattle industry, and then issuing his own call for prompt action within his Administration.” Miller continued, “A centralized food system is a threat to our national security. USCA believes in pushing forth policy solutions that strengthen the bottom lines of U.S. agricultural producers in order to strengthen our nation’s food security. President Biden’s Executive Order is an important step towards restoring a fair and equitable food system.”
However, not every agriculture group supported the order. North American Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts said, “President Biden’s executive order calling for USDA to change the Packers and Stockyards rules will have unintended consequences for consumers and producers. Government intervention in the market will increase the cost of food for consumers at a time when many are still suffering from the economic consequences of the pandemic. These proposed changes will open the floodgates for litigation that will ultimately limit livestock producers’ ability to market their livestock as they choose. These proposals have been considered and rejected before and they are counter to the precedent set in eight federal appellate circuits.”
The signing of the executive order comes on the same day that U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the USDA intends to make significant investments to expand processing capacity and increase competition in meat and poultry processing to make agricultural markets more accessible, fair, competitive, and resilient for American farmers and ranchers.
Executive orders have become commonplace during the Biden administration — he has signed 50 so far (by comparison, former President Trump signed 55 total in four years, while former President Obama signed 69 over eight years). The issues that are the focal point of this latest order have long been topics among farmers.
For example, for many years, farm groups have been pushing for some type of so-called right-to-repair legislation. However, those actions never came to fruition, and farmers have been frustrated often dealing with technology restrictions when trying to repair equipment. This prevents farmers from being able to properly repair machinery themselves or have an independent contractor do the work — instead paying top dollar for repairs direct from manufacturer experts.
Additionally, labeling is at the forefront, especially when it comes to Made in the USA or Product of the USA labels. In the livestock industry, those in favor of the tightest regulations tend to favor a perspective that an animal should be born, raised, and harvested in the United States, not just fit the criteria of one of those three things. Other stakeholders want the wording to say “Processed in the USA,” to best reflect the reality of the food chain and to protect discrimination in trade dealings with Canada and Mexico.
This article was updated at 3:49 p.m. ET and will continue to be updated as more information becomes available.


text:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced last month schools should reopen as soon as possible, as long as social distancing and mask-wearing
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of American life, but especially so for individuals struggling with opioid misuse or in recovery.
The U.S. Chamber Foundation conducted a series of interviews featuring Coalition to Back Black Businesses (CBBB) grantees and their stories. We heard from Black small business owners on how the CBBB grant helped them, the impact of the pandemic on small businesses, and what Black business owners need during this challenging time.
For investors, Talent Finance provides the language and framework for a realm of new possibilities. With a data-driven approach, the Talent Finance initiative is leading a movement to connect the public and private sectors to work towards increasing investment in people.
We believe our nation should have an approach to financing talent development that is fit for our time, not one built for a different economy and era. The need couldn’t be more urgent.
Before the year 2020, many individuals forecasted their vision board to be filled with milestones, whether it is achieving a promotion at work from an outlined five-year plan, relocating for a new job, or plans to build a small business with new hires.