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In four short years, the annual spring Michigan Wine Showcase has become the premier event to see, and for Michigan wineries to be seen.
Established by master sommeliers Claudia Tyagi and Madeline Triffon in cooperation with the Michigan Wine and Grape Industry Council to commemorate April as Michigan Wine Month, the April 15 event is a triple whammy: an afternoon gathering for buyers, an evening reception for the public and one of Detroit’s top dining destinations, The Rattlesnake Club on the riverfront.
“We created the event to promote Michigan wines, especially in Southeast Michigan,” said Tyagi, who consults for the Rattlesnake and Birmingham’s Forest Grill. “We meet lots of winemakers — California, Italy, France — but a lot of wine buyers don’t get to meet with Michigan winemakers.”
They do at the Showcase.
“We all meet with wineries when they come down here one on one,” said Triffon, “First Lady of Wine” for Detroit area’s Plum Markets. “But to have 20 in a room at one time, and taste the new releases, it’s really exhilarating.”
Tyagi and Triffon are particularly excited about the 2011 vintages they expect to be among the stars at the Showcase, where there may also be some previews of the 2012 vintage. According to Tyagi, 2011 “was the year we’ve been waiting for.” Quality shined in the 2010 vintages, but quantity was limited. Ideal growing conditions in 2011 promise more.
“We had ideal ripening conditions,” she said. “There was no drastic frost or hail or anything like that. We had temperate weather and a very long, warm summer. It was delightful.”
Both master sommeliers also judged at the 2012 Michigan Wine and Spirits Competition, largely composed of 2010 reds and 2011 whites.
“Most of what thrilled me was 2011 vintage,” Triffon said, noting the steady emergence of various wineries with outstanding new products.
She cited Leelanau Peninsula’s Chateau Fontaine Vineyards and Winery among them; Chateau Fontaine won the 2012 competition’s Best of Class in dry white wine for its 2011 Pinot Blanc. Others taking Best in Class included Shady Lane Cellars’ 2010 Blue Franc for dry red; Fenn Valley Vineyards’ 2011 Vignoles Reserve for semi-dry white; L. Mawby’s Blanc de Blancs in the sparkling category; Lawton Ridge Winery for its 2011 Late Harvest Vignoles dessert wine; and Chateau de Leelanau’s Cherry Wine in the fruit wine category. Mawby also took the Judges’ Merit Award for its Blanc de Noirs.
In all, an upwards of 22 wineries from around the state will be on hand for the Showcase, with close to 200 retailers, distributors and restaurants represented during the trade portion of the event.
“This is a place that they can come in and try all of the Michigan wines that are showcased, make their notes and choose the ones that they like in their stores or their restaurants,” said Dan Matthies, owner of Chateau Fontaine.
About 150 attended the ticketed public evening reception last year, and the Michigan Wine and Grape Industry Council’s Karel Bush expects more this year. It all means exposure for an industry that continues to gain attention as it grows. Michigan now has 101 wineries, with double the acreage for wine grapes — 2,600 — over the 1,300 of a decade ago.
“Before, I used to have to suggest Michigan wines,” said Tyagi. “Now I go up to a table and people say, ‘What Michigan wines do you have?’”
Triffon attributes that to the strides in quality that Michigan winemakers have made as vineyards mature and they continue to learn what works and what doesn’t in the state’s cooler climate, with support from research at Michigan State University.
“If there is residual negative perception about Michigan wines in the Michigan market, it’s perhaps people who love California Cabernet, then God love you, you should buy California cabernet,” Triffon said. “But if they’re looking for Pinot Blanc, Gewurztraminer, pinot blanc, sparkling wines, pinot grigio, dry roses, there’s a plethora of Michigan wines.
“Michigan is considered one of the best quantitatively and qualitatively American states making wine,” she noted. “Michigan wines can bear examination by anybody. The quality level is high.”
A Taste of What’s to Come
Detroit’s venerable Rattlesnake Club pairs the best in Michigan wines with bites equal to them.
In Detroit, The Rattlesnake Club’s Executive Chef Christopher Franz opts for local, seasonal and always fresh ingredients to create dishes that members of the trade as well as guests at the public reception for the Michigan Wine Showcase April 15 will be able to taste between wine samplings.
“Since it’s spring, we’ll have asparagus maybe, or peas as far as vegetables,” he shared. “If something goes with lamb, lamb is always good for spring. For the most part, I definitely go with seasonality.”
Beyond that, his mission is to create appetizers and other small bites that won’t compete with the wines.
“What we do is ask them to make a broad range of finger foods and appetizers that are wine-friendly,” said Master Sommelier Madeline Triffon, one of the Showcase organizers. “There are extremes to avoid — (foods that are) overtly hot, overtly sweet. What someone going to a wine tasting is looking for — and I mean this in a generic way — is Mediterranean-style appetizers.”
That means small amounts of protein, olive oil, herbs, good bread or flatbreads. Cheese is ideal, but it shouldn’t be overly strong, or peppered.
“It’s walk-around style,” Triffon said. “People get a glass and program booklet and go around tasting as much or as little as they want. And when they feel their blood sugar waning, they go over to the food station.”
Learn more at michiganwines.com. Freelance writer Kathy Buzzelli lives in Traverse City.


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Following the unveiling of the new MacBook Pros to the public, Apple execs Phil Schiller, Craig Federighi, and Jony Ive sat down with CNET for an in-depth interview discussing the company’s new MacBook Pros.
Jony Ive starts off by explaining the idea of the Touch Bar, noting that it creates a “very interesting direction” for the laptop, and presumably the rest of Apple’s Mac line.
“We unanimously were very compelled by [the Touch Bar] as a direction, based on, one, using it, and also having the sense this is the beginning of a very interesting direction,” Ive said. “But [it] still just marks a beginning.
It’s difficult to talk without going into a lot of details… about things that we are working on. I don’t really want to talk much more about it.”
Phil Schiller than noted that the Touch bar in many ways is bringing aspects of the iPhone to the Mac. Apple has long been vocal about touch screen Macs and making macOS touch compatible is a dream that’ll never happen. But the Touch Bar, however, is the company’s first step in bringing the best parts of the iPhone to the Mac without fundamentally changing either product.
“We did spend a great deal of time looking at this a number of years ago and came to the conclusion that to make the best personal computer, you can’t try to turn MacOS into an iPhone,” Schiller says. “Conversely, you can’t turn iOS into a Mac…. So each one is best at what they’re meant to be — and we take what makes sense to add from each, but without fundamentally changing them so they’re compromised.”
One of the biggest complaints customers have said surrounding the new MacBook Pros is the price hike. The newer models are more expensive than the previous generation. Schiller, however, explains that the company didn’t start out with the intention of hiking the prices. Instead, he says that Apple doesn’t design for price, rather design for “the experience.”
“But we don’t design for price, we design for the experience and the quality people expect from Mac. Sometimes that means we end up at the higher end of the range, but not on purpose, just because that’s what it costs.”
You can read the entire interview on CNET here.

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Alien slime soda, anyone? Then rush to Disneyland’s Tomorrowland.
According to a report in Cosmopolitan, Disney is planning to turn an obsolete pizza restaurant at one of their parks into a real-life version of Toy Story’s Pizza Planet.
For those who are not aware of Pizza Planet, it is a space-themed arcade restaurant where Buzz Lightyear and Woody meet the aliens (aka Little Green Men) who worship “The Claw” machine game in the movie ‘Toy Story’.
Still confused? Check out the clip here:
However, no official confirmation from Disney has taken place.
This toy story themed-restaurant is coming up at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland. According to Disney News Today report, Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port in Tomorrowland will be transformed into “Alien’s Pizza Planet — A Better Place”.
Media reports suggest the new restaurant will open on April 13.
Pixar Fest is all to set to kick off at both Disneyland Resort parks from April 13. Meanwhile, the Walt Disney World is opening Toy Story Land in June 2018.
However, the Toy Story re-theme of the pizza restaurant in Tomorrowland is supposed to be temporary. However, other restaurants, like a Beauty and the Beast-themed Red Rose Tavern, have ended up sticking around past their temporary status.
As the restaurant’s tagline “A Better Place”, we can assume that the aliens and their claw game will be the focus of the new restaurant’s decor.


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Brinc is leading the city’s development as a consumer IoT mecca, tying together the city’s cosmopolis with manufacturing connections just over the border
With the roar of the crowd at the Qube in Hong Kong’s Central district filling the air, the creators of the Lumos illuminated bike helmet walked up on stage for the third time in two hours. This time they weren’t pitching, but receiving the crown as the judges’ favorite startup company at the IoT Launch Summit in Hong Kong.
The Consumer IoT Launch Summit was the first of its kind for the city, a project of the relatively nascent Brinc accelerator located at the artsy startup hub PMQ in central Hong Kong.
“Our goal was to bring the first large-scale consumer IoT event to Hong Kong for attendees to hear insights from leading innovators, entrepreneurs, and investors from all over the world to identify potential business models and partnerships and monetize the latest consumer trends in connected devices, wearables and IoT enabled solutions,” Christina Lau Tam, Brinc’s marketing director, told Geektime.
Hong Kong’s first and leading IoT accelerator
CEO Manav Gupta’s American accent only alludes to part of his upbringing.
Born in India and after school years spent in the U.S., he lived for a time in Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and eventually China. He is the epitome of the nascent, cosmopolitan ecosystem in Hong Kong.
When asked what led Brinc to put on Launch, he emphasized that the ecosystem is flourishing and a pitch-plus-conference was an easy decision for ‘pure ecosystem development’.
“We wanted to showcase Hong Kong as a leading platform for the latest innovative consumer IoT technologies and founders by creating an immersive experience for startups, entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem players to network and learn about new connected product business models.”
Brinc has a staff of 25 people accelerating its companies. “We’re very hands on,” Gupta told Geektime during a press tour of their headquarters. It’s the first and most advanced IoT accelerator in Hong Kong, located at the artsy new startup and culture hub, Police Married Quarter (PMQ) in the city’s central district.
In the beginning, Brinc tried one mass class of companies but found it was impractical for consumer electronics. All those groups had very specific needs.
They have changed the format to rolling admissions, taking up to two new companies per month and integrating them into the accelerator.
“It’s not about just signing them on and flipping the companies. This is a long haul game,” Gupta emphasized to us between pitches at LAUNCH. “We only take equity stakes after a month and a half [of the startups spending time with Brinc].”
The best in show not taking home a trophy was Nanoleaf, whose complete rethink of the lightbulb has already gotten them three successful Kickstarter campaigns and several thousand units on their way to backers.
A lot of crowdfund successes hit the stage, like fellow acceleratee, and Berliner company, Soundbrenner. Their design uses a wrist-wearable called Pulse to replace metronomes for musicians. It was too brilliant.
All the band members can synchronize all their Pulses to be in tune with each other. Had it not been for the stiff competition and the fact they’re already in the Brinc accelerator, they probably should have taken the gold — or the tungsten judging by the design.
Like Soundbrenner, one of the key strategies the accelerator uses is crowdfunding. It has its financial and strategic advantages, the Brinc team tells Geektime.
“In 2015, our startups have raised more than $2M USD from pre-orders from early backers and $2M from co-investors,” says Lau Tam. “Crowdfunding is one of many ways to do market validation and like any validation model, has its share of pros and cons.”
Other incubatees include surfing wearable Glassy Zone, cardiotech company Heartisans, luggage-locator Lantrn, smart alarm clock Kello, child wearables startup Kiddo, Aumeo Audeo, Indybo, Pilldrill, O2 Tech, 8Cups, Cordcruncher and Smart GPS Card.
Brinc got the chance to show off its portfolio and test drive new candidates for its program, all while mixing in some talks from Microsoft’s Director of Architecture Josh Holmes and Indiegogo Director of Design Ben Bateman.
Red Bull, who helped sponsor the event, let it rain — I must have gone through three cans.
Joining Lumos on stage was Brinc’s choice for its next member, wearable company Mosaikx out of Dubai, and audience choice Indian IoT devices coordinator Thinqbot. But limiting mention to the winners would dismiss an impressive, international lineup of companies that definitely made journeying to Hong Kong worth the trip.
Gupta and Launch’s emcee, COO Bay McLaughlin, bootstrapped Brinc together last year using resources they had after work in the Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou where the accelerator now brings companies during the program.
The infrastructure of the accelerator came from the co-founders’ own financial resources and assets from Gupta’s previous venture in southern China, Fabriqate, bringing the project together quickly.
The program is structured over 12 months, during which time they get themselves together at their PMQ headquarters before spending extended periods of time in the accelerator’s other two locations where they are meant to ramp up the prototyping process.
Shenzhen and Guangzhou are the centers of southern China’s industrial manufacturing and a key incentive for startups deciding to branch out to or headquarter themselves in Hong Kong.
HK-American company Aivvy told Geektime recently the prototyping and manufacturing costs in Shenzhen were approximately a third of what they would be in the U.S., though those numbers could be different depending on the product design, the molding process, and obviously the scale of production.
Half of the acceleratees are from outside of HK, attesting to the transient cosmopolis that the city is. But that doesn’t mean the accelerator doesn’t see itself playing a role in pushing for more native entrepreneurs to enter its program.
“Approximately 30%” of the startups in the accelerator originate in Hong Kong itself,” says Lau Tam, “and we’re continually looking to increase this number.”
The rolling admission style of Brinc gives the accelerator an advantage as it helps build up the city’s ecosystem. The wheels are always turning, something the city will definitely need if it’s going to catch up to other Asian startup centers like Singapore and Bengaluru.
“We are looking to continue being the leading IoT accelerator and platform in the region and helping to develop the global IoT ecosystem through our startups, content, strategic partnerships and events. We are also looking to invest in up to 15-20 startup teams in 2016 and are accepting applications from startups worldwide on a rolling basis,” Lau Tam notes.
The article Hong Kong’s IoT accelerator drives city’s rolling growth was first published on Geektime.
The post Hong Kong’s IoT accelerator drives city’s rolling growth appeared first on e27.
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The World’s Fast Moving Smart Phone
People may wonder on buying a new smart phone because there are hundreds of smart phone releasing every day and all are available at reasonable prices everywhere across the world. One of the latest trends in the market is that new Apple product. It is said that people are waiting eagerly for the new release of the product. The all new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+ are the fast-moving smart phones in the world. The people in United States of America does not believe in china made mobiles phones and they never use the Asian made phones for various reasons. Apple products have always been a trademark for many users across the world and it has the got the best features as it supports the new applications developed by the company. The applications supported by this phone are very unique and it cannot be used by any other platform. The camera clarity is perfect and there is no other smart phone invented so far to beat the camera specifications of the iPhone model. There is still research going on how this model has created so much hype among many age groups of users across the world.The inbuilt storage is very high and it sometimes matches to the desktop computers used at homes. There is no external storage slot in the mobile phone and the internal storage will be very helpful and it is completely secured. The iPhone smart phone is always a secured one and no data can be stolen by any hacker.


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Home > News > Is That A Nano In Your Pocket?
January 5th, 2006
Is That A Nano In Your Pocket?
Several companies have separately developed thin conductive materials that manufacturers can sew into shirts, pants, jackets, and other consumer products to house electronic controls for devices. The materials and garments are being showcased at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week.
Advancements and developments of solid-state nanopores sensors May 16th, 2013
Physicists discover a new kind of friction: Friction in the nano-world May 16th, 2013
Squishy hydrogels may be the ticket for studying biological effects of nanoparticles May 15th, 2013
Pitt Chemists Demonstrate Nanoscale Alloys So Bright They Could Have Potential Medical Applications: “Think about a particle that will not only help researchers detect cancer sooner but be used to treat the tumor, too.” May 15th, 2013
Aspen Aerogels Announces $22.5 Million Private Placement May 18th, 2013
NanoInk, Inc. Assets To Be Sold May 18th, 2013
NIA Public Briefing: Nanotechnology and the Council of Europe May 17th, 2013
Scientists capture first direct proof of Hofstadter butterfly effect May 17th, 2013
Nanoadsorbent Synthesized to Remove Toxic Dyes from Textile Industry Wastewater May 16th, 2013
Miller Sports Aspen Brings European Fashion to Aspen With Designer Ski Wear with Goldwin and Toni Sailer May 3rd, 2013
Revolutionary new device joins world of smart electronics: Unique properties of graphene and graph Exeter combine to create a new flexible, transparent, photosensitive device April 19th, 2013
Peratech working on "Nose in clothes" and touch technology for wearable electronics: QTC sensors in clothes can monitor vital signs for illness and warn of exposure to dangerous chemicals March 18th, 2013


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WHAT’S BEING CLAIMED:
- American radio show host was advised by the USFDA to cease marketing and selling products that falsely claim to treat coronavirus ailment.
- The FDA also warned the conspiracy theorist to take down videos that also promote the products which are not yet approved.
- Currently, the products are no longer displayed on the website, InfoWars, where it was earlier posted.
The U.S Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) reportedly warned radio show host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to take out various medicinal products that claim to cure coronavirus being sold on his website.
In his website, InfoWars, Jones has previously posted products for sale such as “SuperSilver Wound Dressing Gel,” “SuperSilver Whitening Toothpaste,” “Superblue Fluoride Free Toothpaste,” and “Superblue Silver Immune Gargle,” that all claimed to be treatments to the current COVID-19 pandemic.
On Thursday, the FDA sent a notice to Jones, telling him that the specified products on his website are new drugs that are currently not yet approved by the agency.
The government agency also told Jones of the violations he will be facing by promoting and selling the unapproved drugs on his website.
As of today, the said products are no longer available at InfoWars, as per order by the USFDA.
Also, the FDA asked Jones to take down some videos that several videos where the InfoWars founder reportedly promoted the products, as well as false claims on how the said items can help fight the coronavirus.
The letter advised Jones to review his product labels, websites, and other marketing materials, and make sure that it did not mislead the public about its veracity as a cure COVID-19 symptoms.
The letter also reminded Jones that the products are not FDA approved, further noting that item misbranding violates the United States Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C).
Source: The Hill


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WeWork, a premiere coworking site provider, has burned through more than $10 billion of its backers’ money since 2020 without turning a profit, slammed first by the COVID lockdown and now by ever-rising interest rates and massive layoffs of tech workers, WeWork’s chief source of tenants.
Category: TRENDS ON THE U.S. ECONOMIC FRONT – Dec 20 2022
AS FORECAST: BUSINESS OFFICE BUST BEGINS TO BITE
A battle is taking shape in the U.S. between office property owners and the cities where those buildings stand.
AS ECONOMY WORSENS, COVID-ERA LOAN CRASH COMING
As interest rates rise and consumer spending shrinks, COVID-era federal rescue loans are coming due for thousands of small businesses.
INTEREST RATES UP, RETAIL SALES DOWN
November’s U.S. retail sales slipped 0.6 percent from October, double the 0.3-percent drop predicted by Dow Jones.
ECONOMIC UPDATE – MARKET OVERVIEW
Once upon a time, we used indisputable facts and hard data as fundamentals to forecast the current events forming future trends.


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Nature's Mace Blog
Keep up with the latest news and tips.
Commercial and professional deer repellent products containing chemicals are thought to protect landscapes, crops and gardens from browsing deer through different means such as: fear, pain, and taste. Historically, it was assumed that deer repellent products inducing fear produce odors that are typical of predator activity. These deer repellent products contain ingredients that produce sulfurous odors, such as putrefied egg solids, blood meal, meat proteins, garlic and predator urine. Repellent…Continue Reading


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What do Microsoft and Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory have in common?
Not a lot, unless you link them together with Nathan Myhrvold.
The former chief technology officer at Microsoft is now a renown culinary expert, and he has a much-anticipated cookbook due to debut soon. But the release of “Modernist Cuisine,” sold in six volumes, has been delayed until March while it is proofread and packaged.
You have to understand, proofreading becomes a bit more time consuming when you’re editing 2,400 pages that retail for $625.
Myhrvold has earned a name for himself as culinary scientist of sorts. He combines science experiments with cooking in his Bellevue lab, reveling in the physics of food.
On his blog, Myhrvold wrote that the delay is unfortunate.
“The biggest concern with the delay is that we will miss the 2010 holiday season, which is a traditional time to give gifts. Of course, the rejoinder is that the holidays come every year, so rather than being just in time for 2010, we will be quite early for 2011. Nevertheless, I personally apologize to everybody who had their heart set on giving the gift of Modernist Cuisine this holiday season.”
The New York Times reports the delay has gastronomes heaving a “collective sigh.”
Myhrvold quit Microsoft in 1999 to start Intellectual Ventures. He has Ph.D.s in mathematical economics and theoretical physics from Princeton University, and his postdoctorate work included studying quantum theories of gravity with Stephen Hawking at Cambridge University.
If you still want to know more, check out this talk Myhrvold gave at the University of Washington last year.


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Tesla have announced that they’ll release their ninth studio album later this year.
The follow-up to 2014’s Simplicity (opens in new tab) is called Shock and it’ll arrive on March 8 via UMC on CD, LP, on digital and streaming platforms – and on limited edition translucent blue vinyl.
And to mark the announcement, Tesla have shared a stream of the title track, which can be listened to below.
A statement reads: “That they are still roaring and soaring should be no surprise. That’s just how they are built. Tesla may have been born in the mid 80s eruption of leather, spandex and big hair, but this band has never been about those things.
“Their bluesy, soulful sound is strongly embedded in the roots of organic, authentic 1970s rock and roll. The same roots that produced bands like The Allman Brothers, Grand Funk Railroad, AC/DC, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Aerosmith.”
Def Leppard’s Phil Collen produced Tesla’s Mechanical Resonance Live album back in 2016, and the guitarist was behind the desk again for Shock.
The friendship between Tesla and Def Leppard is set to continue this summer when they’ll join forces on a Canadian tour (opens in new tab), which will kick off on July 12 in Halifax.
1. You Won’t Take Me Alive
2. Taste Like
3. We Can Rule The World
5. Love Is A Fire
6. California Summer Song
7. Forever Loving You
8. The Mission
9. Tied To The Tracks
11. I Want Everything
12. Comfort Zone
Tesla: Shock (opens in new tab)
Tesla are set to release their brand new studio album titled Shock in March. It's the follow-up to their 2014 record Simplicity and is not to be missed by fans of classic rock.


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Stryker Corporation, a medical technology company based in Michigan, yesterday reported a definitive agreement to acquire MAKO Surgical Corp. for a purchase price of about $1.65 billion. MAKO’s stock price exploded following the announcement, gaining more than 83 percent on the day to close at $29.45. MAKO builds robots designed to assist with orthopedic surgery.
Tag: Robot-Assisted Surgery
Israeli surgical robotics firm Mazor Robotics yesterday reported promising financial results despite a net loss for second-quarter 2013, which ended June 30. According to CEO Ori Hadomi, “Our strong financial performance, highlighted by the revenue increase and gross margin expansion, demonstrates continued global adoption of our Renaissance systems as we ended the second quarter with 54
The biggest name in robot-assisted surgery is Intuitive Surgical, whose da Vinci Surgical System has been installed in more than 2,000 hospitals since its introduction in 1999. However, with sales of medical robots topping a billion dollars annually (Intuitive itself reported revenue of $611 million in its most recent quarter) and expected to grow, they are


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For a non-technical person, it’s one thing to hear all about these payment security solutions from Patrick Carroll, ValidSoft’s founder and Chief Executive and the man who developed them and leads the drive to promote them to the banking and retail community. Seeing VALid-POS® in action and appreciating its simplicity is another.
On The Grocery Trader’s visit to Devonshire Square to see Patrick, ValidSoft’s VALid-POS® Product Manager Jon Alford also took us through a demonstration of a simulated transaction made with a UK payment card and mobile in New York City and validated through VALid-POS®. The transaction is routed, like the rest of the card traffic that ValidSoft monitors, through parent company Elephant Talk’s servers in Amsterdam.
ValidSoft offers coverage for support from its UK operation, if the cardholder’s phone is on and connected to the global network.
To the untrained observer the demonstration shows clearly the invisibility, speed and conclusive nature of ValidSoft’s products, and the check works in less than a second, effectively instantly.
A ‘confirm’ goes unnoticed by the cardholder, but a ‘refute’ generates a call to their mobile from the issuing bank’s fraud department, asking them to confirm a key word or press a key on the phone. Once this is done, the transaction may proceed. Even if the transaction is identified at first as potentially fraudulent, the problem can still be remedied and a positive outcome (i.e. the transaction goes through) achieved in customer relations terms. All of this is fully configurable by the bank.
The second part of Jon Alford’s demonstration of VALid-POS® covered how the technology works for a domestic model. The demonstration featured a handful of ValidSoft staff: the real thing, of course, involves millions of cards and mobile devices.
The card system collects data from each transaction about that card and that mobile, and ‘learns’ it: the first time it happens, it has never ‘seen’ the card, the mobile or the ATM or POS reference associated together. The information from the transaction goes to the bank and is retained there. As the system progresses its learning, it will be able to confirm or refute correlation between a POS or ATM’s unique ID and the mobile network segment ID that it is located within. All of this happens completely anonymously.
As a banking technician, Jon has clear views about how the practicalities of validating payments with ValidSoft’s solutions will fit into the retail and banking world’s adoption of the mobile wallet, and where these technologies will go in the future:
“The same ‘confirm’ or ‘refute’ response is applicable to all electronic payment channels, and applies to every payment method, including mobile. The most important factor, in our view, is the data privacy aspect.
“In other areas of our business, we’re involved in using our four-factor authentication solution for ID validation for government payments to individuals in one of the EU countries, something which is transferable to other jurisdictions. We’re also looking at integration of our solutions into other products and risk engines, and the different needs of the financial institutions to deploy them in house.
“We have some innovative solutions to offer, which are now available. We are a long way in front in terms of authorisation and verification, and very much ahead of the game, and are now embarking on the commercialisation of our solutions.
“Our solutions are very relevant to the retail banks and anyone running large card schemes. In terms of immediate returns, retailers such as Amazon, Argos and PC World have huge issues with the banks and financial institutions, regarding false positives on card fraud, and our solutions bring about an instant improvement for these headaches.”
Tel: 020 3170 8125


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Footwear Producer Peko Halves Its Loss in 2001
Tržič, 1 March - The troubled Slovene footwear producer Peko, which has passed into state ownership after recording disastrous results in 2000, has almost halved its loss in 2001 to SIT 810 million (EUR 3.6 million), down from SIT 1.53 billion (EUR 6.6 million) in 2000, the company said Friday.
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To walk into the footwear department of a shopping mall in Tokyo is to become aware of two things: Japanese customers like comfort. They are also really into sneakers — at least for now.
Athletic footwear — both the stylish and performance kind — dominates the sector in the country, with giants like Nike and Adidas leading the throng. Following closely behind are domestic brands such as Asics and Mizuno, which shoppers tend to prefer when it comes to actually hitting the gym or jogging, according to Kaori Kawabata, an analyst for sports footwear at The NPD Group Inc., a market research company with offices in Japan. “Local labels are seen as quality, more appropriate choices for exercising,” she said. “”Which is why they still perform well, despite the big influx of Western companies we’ve seen in recent years. People trust them.”
Coming third in the sector are walking shoes – footwear that’s casual and easy to move in. “Japanese people tend to have very long commutes and have to use busy public transportation, which requires standing and walking for a long time. Because of that, there is a high demand for shoes that are walkable and comfortable all day long, yet are still visually appealing,” said Wakana Morlan, strategist at cross‐cultural consulting, branding and marketing agency Btrax, which focuses on the Japanese market.
The shift to casual footwear is fairly recent. Over the years, Japan’s rather formal office culture paved the way for workshops and manufacturers that mostly focused on handmade, bespoke shoes for formal occasions. It also sparked a controversy just a week ago, as more than 26,000 women signed a petition protesting wardrobe restrictions by Japanese companies, particularly their rules requiring high heels in the office.
While that demand for formal footwear created opportunities for highly-skilled shoemakers — even leading to the opening of a school where the craft is taught — it didn’t do much for leisurewear, until the sneaker boom of the last five years.
“As pop culture from the West has seeped through Japan and our codes of societal conduct have become slightly more relaxed, low-key shoes have started seeing a surge in popularity,” Kawabata said. “The trend isn’t as strong as South Korea, where it’s acceptable to dress casually in the office, but it’s grown.”
Between 2014 and 2016, the Japanese sneaker market rose from US$1.3 billion to US$1.65 billion a year, with Nike taking the largest chunk of the segment, according to NPD Group. Kicks made up roughly 30% of the total footwear sector.
While sneakers remain a favorite among shoppers — particularly younger generations — the hype around some styles, such as Air Maxes, Asics Gel-Kayanos and the like, has cooling off a bit. “Over the last two years, the market has been really flat,” Kawabata said. “The sneaker obsession is not as strong as it used to be. Same for performing shoes. We’ve actually seen almost negative growth since 2017.”
But comfort still leads. For Morlan, sneakers remain the stars of the show, just as in the rest of the world. “Kicks are still big in Japan,” she said. “[In the last few seasons] there are even been niche made-in-Japan sneaker brands popping up — Moonstar, Blueover, Spring Move, just to name a few.”
Alongside these indie kicks, other local labels with an eye for wearability and functionality have also emerged in the market — and become widely sought-after both in Asia and abroad. Suicoke, which makes practical outdoor footwear, is one of them.
“The speedy growth of the footwear industry has made Japanese buyers more interested in exploring different sides of the sector that may not have been as popular in past,” said a designer behind the notoriously anonymous brand. “That has opened up chances for a brand like ours.”
Sellenatala, a women’s brand that, among other things, crafts boots made of water-repellent leather to fight off Japan’s frequent rains, has also been riding the small-but-ascending wave of interest around made-in-Japan names. “The niche sector is, well, still niche, but we’re building it,” said designer Ikue Enomoto. “More people are trying to see meaning, value and stories in what they purchase, while seeking comfort.”
That’s seems to be the defining trait of the sector as a whole: Fot makes blocky, short heels, mules and flats. Famzon does removable heels. Shoes Like Pottery is all about soft, flexible soles that are baked inside a kiln to vulcanize them.
It might be a while before these names enter the mainstream, though. According to Kawabata, when it comes to shopping habits, Japanese consumers are still relatively ‘traditional,’ preferring in-store retail experiences over online, and classic advertising over social media — both of which might prove challenging for cash-strapped, indie ventures.
However, Kawabata sees it as a good thing: “Compared with China and South East Asia, Japanese consumers are not so influenced by KOLs [key opinion leaders] and social media figures when it comes to footwear,” she said. “They don’t care much for that. It’s about believing in the product.”
For now, Western brands still rule the game, but Morlan believes things are changing. “There is a good amount of people who specifically look for Japanese shoemakers because they understand their lifestyles and needs for comfort,” she said. “Western names can’t match that.”
Check out a video about how to keep sneakers clean all summer:


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Wheels in motion for motor show on Wexford Quayfront
MOTOR fans and those looking for a new set of wheels are in for a treat on Saturday, June 13, when the 2015 Wexford Motor Show comes to town with all the latest models and some from yesteryear too.
The show will feature 18 franchised dealers and 124 new vehicles plus 50 light commercials, as well as a large contingent from the Sports and Classic Car Club. The show will take place on the town's Quayfront, between Wexford Bridge and Crescent Quay.
More than 100 vintage and classic vehicles will be on view at the show which will run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and at the other end of the scale, the latest electric vehicles will be on view to demonstrate just how far the industry has come.
The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI), which is running the event in partnership with the Road Safety Authority, the car club and the council, says the Quayfront is perfectly suited to this type of event and it is expected that over 10,000 people will visit the show.
While the emphasis at the show will be on new and classic cars, there will be other attractions for families too.
The family entertainment area, centred on Cresent Quay, will include clowns, face painting, a climbing wall and a rally simulator.
At the other end of the Quays, next to Wexford Bridge, The Road Safety Authority will provide their road show vehicle and a roll-over simulator, as part of a road safety awareness campaign on the day.
Tom Cullen, from the SIMI, said there are jobs in the motor industry, which was growing along with the economy and representatives from SOLAS would be on hand to talk about job opportunities.
'There is growth, so if you interested in a career in the motor industry bring along your CV,' he said.


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In Australia as a whole, Telstra is the number one mobile service provider, ahead of Optus in second, and Vodafone in third. But in Sydney, Vodafone claims the number one spot, Roy Morgan Research shows.
Nationally, among all Australia’s 18,775,000 mobile owners aged 14 and over, Telstra is the clear number one service provider, which 43.6 per cent of owners use, ahead of Optus (24.1 per cent) and Vodafone (18.0 per cent). But almost two-thirds of Australian consumers (and mobile phone owners) live in one of the mainland state capitals – where competition between the three network operators is much more fierce and diverse.
Across these five cities – Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney – Telstra claims only about one in three mobile owners overall (33.6 per cent), a full 10 percentage points below its national share. Some of Telstra’s metropolitan loss becomes Optus’s gain (up to 26.3 percent), but Vodafone is the biggest winner, with a mainland capital city market share of 24.1 percent.
Sydney is also the most closely fought market, with less than four percentage points separating the three competing providers. Here, Vodafone is in the lead (30.4 percent), ahead of Telstra (27.9 percent) and Optus (26.5 percent).
Roy Morgan Research CEO Michele Levine says Sydney is worth more than $2.6 billion a year to mobile service providers, and the big three network operators between them own 83.3 percent of the market.
“Although there are some differences between mobile owners in Sydney and other capitals in how they use their phones, whether it’s mainly for business or personal purposes, what they want in service providers, and their cultural backgrounds, Vodafone’s market lead in the city is particularly anomalous – but perhaps has a simple explanation,” she said.
Roy Morgan’s analysis indicates that traditional retail reach is an important piece of the puzzle.
“Vodafone’s share of owners and their dollars in each city is actually remarkably similar when looked at ‘per store’,” Ms Levine said. “That is, while mobile owners in Sydney and Melbourne like equally to buy their plans in-store, Vodafone has just over 50 per cent more stores in Sydney – so is it any wonder its share of the market (and revenue) is also just over 50 per cent higher?”
In both Sydney and Melbourne, Vodafone has just over 7000 customers per store, worth around $430,000 a month.


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At the CEBIT big data is showing off what it can do. Today's technology allows millions of bytes of data to be collected every minute - and that data can be read, evaluated and analysed in real-time.
Companies gathering and selling consumer data is commonplace nowadays. But what if your medical records were for sale as well? A new book shows how trading patient data has evolved into a multi-billion-dollar industry.
© 2018 Deutsche Welle |
Legal notice |
| Mobile version


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The EU is changing the EU E-Privacy Directive also often called the “Cookies Directive”, in order to be line with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) which was adopted in Spring this year – we previously wrote about the changes here.
A consultation on the changes was launched this April which ran to July 2016, the summary of which can be found here.
The next step is for the EU to issue the proposed legislation, which may come soon. The short title of the proposed rules is understood to be the “(EU) Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulation”. Key aspects of the proposed rules are understood to include the following, which are in many instances similar to the GDPR:
- Legal Form – the proposed rules will be in the form of Regulation meaning that a uniform set of rules will apply throughout the EU, although the EU Member States have some scope to introduce their own additional rules in a select number of areas;
- Scope – the proposed rules will apply to “the processing of electronic communications data processed in connection with the provision and the use of electronic communications services and to information related to the terminal equipment of end-users”;
- Reach – the proposed rules will also have extra-territorial effect and those who it affects outside the EU will have to appoint a representative in the EU to deal with regulators etc;
- Consent – under the proposed rules the same consent conditions apply as under the GDPR (freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous etc), and, consent must be obtained before Cookies are served;
- Direct Marketing – under the proposed rules an opt-in requirement will apply to direct marketing phone calls, and, the Right To Object provisions of the GDPR will apply to some direct marketing and profiling;
- Security Risks – security measures as set out under the GDPR must be applied, and, where there is “a particular risk that may compromise the security of networks and services the provider of an electronic communications service must inform end-users concerning such risk”;
- Sanctions – increased fines may be imposed for infringements, including up to Euro 20 million or 4% of annual global turnover, whichever is the greater, for infringements of certain Regulation provisions concerning confidentiality;
- Time of Applicability – the proposed rules are supposed to be fully applicable 6 months after they enter into force; and,
- Next steps – once the European Commission has officially issued the proposed Regulation it will then have to be considered by the European Parliament and the (EU) Council.
The proposed rules are a work in progress so the official version will have to be checked once it has been published by the European Commission to confirm our initial thoughts.
Once the proposed rules are officially published those businesses affected by them should dovetail preparation for them with their compliance preparation for the GDPR. Although this may sound like regulatory overload our experience is that proper procedures and a flexible plan for future legal change is realistic and achievable – the window of opportunity to comply before the rules fully apply will likely be short.
It is too early to say whether the new rules will apply in the UK, but, given that the aim of the proposed rules is to be in line with the GDPR, and, given that the UK government has announced that the GDPR will apply in the UK at their May 2018 full applicability date (as the Brexit process will still be underway then), it is conceivable that the proposed rules will also apply in the UK.
We have developed a special product to assist with compliance with EU GDPR called Cordery GDPR Navigator – more details about this can be found here. We also write regularly and produce films about data protection and privacy issues which can be found here.
Jonathan Armstrong and André Bywater are lawyers with Cordery in London where their focus is on compliance issues.
Jonathan Armstrong, Cordery, Lexis House, 30 Farringdon Street, London, EC4A 4HH
Office: +44 (0)207 075 1784
André Bywater, Cordery, Lexis House, 30 Farringdon Street, London, EC4A 4HH
Office: +44 (0)207 075 1785


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SAN JOSE – Driven by the growth of mobile devices, merchant CPU cores shipped in more than 10 billion chips last year, up 25 percent over 2010, according to a new report. ARM Ltd. commanded 78 percent of that market while Ceva and Imagination Technologies took even larger chunks of the smaller markets for DSP and graphics cores, said the report from the Linley Group (Mountain View, Calif.).
ARM’s success casts a shadow on its archrival, MIPS Technologies. MIPS recently said it may sell some of its patents, and is reportedly seeking an acquisition partner.
For its part, ARM collected royalties on 7.9 billion chips in 2011 at an average rate of about 4.6 cents per chip, down from 4.8 percent in the prior year, said the report. ARM’s royalties are up 19 percent on a compound basis from 2007-2011 while overall semiconductor industry revenues grew just four percent in the same period.
By contrast, MIPS Technologies reported royalties on 656 million chips in 2011 at a rate of about seven cents per chip. It took third place in the market at six percent behind the ARC cores of Synopsys at 10 percent, the report said.
“Despite a general industry need for a strong alternative to ARM, MIPS is slowly sinking below the threshold of viability,” the report said.
“Without new customers, MIPS cannot survive, but the mere possibility that the company could collapse or be sold to an unknown bidder will make it difficult to sign new licensees,” the report said. “We expect major changes to occur within the next year,” it added.
ARM’s dominance “has created an unbalanced market,” the report concluded. Indeed, at least one semiconductor executive said China’s mobile chip designers want an alternative to what they see as ARM’s high royalty rates with some already turning to the Power architecture.
MIPS is suffering in part from a lack of R&D resources, said J. Scott Gardner, a Linley Group senior analyst and co-author of the report. “There was a window of opportunity for MIPS to be out with a 64-bit architecture before the ARM V8, but that window is closing,” he said.
The report validated the group’s predictions in 2008 that the market of 5.3 billion chips with merchant CPU cores would double by 2012. Last year’s growth fell short of 2010, however, which saw a 30 percent increase over 2009.
“We expect CPU IP to maintain a 10 percent compound annual growth rate through 2016 as the market matures and smartphone growth slows,” the report said.


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Malaysia’s government has offered the UK a post-Brexit trade deal, with improved terms – but only if the country rethinks “the European Union’s misguided policy on palm oil”.
Writing in Bloomberg, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad claimed the EU’s 2017 decision to phase out and ultimately ban biofuels made from palm oil was not based on environmental factors but rather “to protect the agricultural industries of a few EU states”.
“If Europe was so concerned about the environmental impact of palm-oil cultivation, why has it just signed a trade deal with South America?,” he wrote. “Beef production there represents by far the world’s biggest agricultural cause of deforestation, dwarfing the CO2 emissions caused by palm oil.
“Moreover, EU nations that produce competing oilseeds such as rapeseed do so much less efficiently, producing a quarter to one tenth as much oil per unit of land while using more fertilizer and pesticides. This is why the International Union for the Conservation of Nature recently warned that a ban on palm oil would not stop deforestation but instead lead to greater consumption of land-intensive rapeseed, soy and sunflower to keep up with rising demand.”
Mohamad argues that Malaysia would not “overlook” environmental issues within trade talks “with anyone, whether the UK or EU”, but argues it is wrong to ban one commodity.
“This blatant hypocrisy is a form of modern colonialism that has no place in today’s world. By using trade as a weapon, the EU is in effect bullying poorer regions of the world.”
He argues that deals should be struck that incentivise sustainable palm oil production “rather than pursuing boycotts and protectionism”.
“A post-Brexit Britain would be free to follow such a course even if Europe doesn’t,” he adds. “We hope to avoid a trade war with Europe. But if one transpires, that doesn’t mean the UK has to get caught in the crossfire.”
Main image: Getty


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If Hugo Chavez can be credited with any contribution whatsoever to mankind, it will be in the numerous entries in the next compendium of psychiatric ailments. Hell at this point he should have his own edition. ‘The DSM V HC’ Multiple sustained delusions.
Below find a segment from Fausta’s blog but please click over and read the whole thing. Fausta is your premiere site for Hugo watchers.
Chávez threatens Toyota, GM
Another day, another lunacy:
Venezuela’s President Threatens Toyota, GM
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, beset by a recession that is hurting his popularity, has turned his sights on international car companies, threatening them with nationalization and pledging to ramp up government intervention in their local businesses.The populist leader has threatened to expropriate Toyota Motor Corp.’s local assembly plant if the Japanese car maker doesn’t produce more vehicles designed for rural areas and transfer new technologies and manufacturing methods to its local unit. He said other car companies were also guilty of not transferring enough technology, mentioning Fiat SpA of Italy, which controls Chrysler Group LLC, and General Motors Co.
And who’s going to take over the Toyota plant? The Chinese!
The president ordered his trade minister, Eduardo Saman, to inspect the Toyota plant. He said if the inspection shows Toyota isn’t producing what he thinks it should and isn’t transferring technology, the government may consider taking over its plant and have a Chinese company operate it.“We’ll take it, we’ll expropriate it, we’ll pay them what it is worth and immediately call on the Chinese,” Mr. Chávez said in a televised address late Wednesday.


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Nearest Support: $10.60
Catalyst: Q3 Results, Mulally News Shares of Ford Motor Co. ( F) are swinging in a wide range this afternoon following a barrage of fundamental data and news that the firm's CEO, Alan Mulally, will stay on at the Detroit automaker through 2014. Ford booked the best October car sales in more than a decade this morning, prompting more buying after yesterday's earnings release launched shares more than 7.7% in yesterday's trading session. While shares are giving back a bit today, they're not at risk of reversing those gains. Ford's earnings sparked a big gap higher at yesterday's open, sending shares through previous resistance at $10.60 -- now, that price is acting as a support level for shares. While that breakout makes Ford buyable here, shares are still a lot closer to their next resistance level at $11.20 than they are to that support level; that means there's a lot of risk in buying now. I'd recommend waiting for that risk to diminish before jumping onboard.


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It looks like not only Realme but also its parent company OPPO will release their first tablet in the near future.
- What is known
- When to expect
What is known
This was reported by a Chinese insider digital chat on its Weibo page. He even posted an image illustrating the front panel of the novelty. The tablet will receive a large 12.6-inch display. By the way, the recently released Huawei MatePad Pro (2021) received a screen of the same size.
The OPPO tablet will have thin bezels and a special version of ColorOS that is optimized for the big screen. The shell will receive an application bar at the bottom of the screen, large iPadOS-style widgets, as well as integration with OPPO smartphones and headphones.
When to expect
There is no exact release date for the tablet yet, but most likely, the novelty will be released before the end of this year. It will compete with Xiaomi Mi Pad 5 and Honor Tab V7 Pro.


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If you won’t be sharing gifts with family this year, maybe you’d like to share with others?
Respond Now, the helping agency in Chicago Heights, is going to spread cheer to approximately 700 children this year by presenting them with gift cards from Target or Walmart.
Sue Perkins of Flossmoor, who is heading up the Christmas program, said the annual gift give-away has been happening for 49 years until this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We know that the gifts provided (by Respond Now) are often the only . . .
You have reached content available exclusively to Homewood-Flossmoor Chronicle digital subscribers.


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Wednesday NEWSRUSH Featuring Supreme X The Smurfs.
Image credit: Supreme.
It’s CULTED with your morning NEWSRUSH for Wednesday 30 September.
First up, Extinction Rebellion have issued an open letter to the fashion industry calling for the industry to reduce its carbon footprint. The letter marks the start of a new campaign, called Fashion Act Now, which launches during Paris Fashion Week. Fashion Act Now will target the industry’s overconsumption and the fashion week format.
In other news, Donatella Versace has shut down rumours that Burberry’s Riccardo Tisci will be moving to Versace. Rumours have been rife in the UK and Europe but speaking to WWD, Donatella “firmly denied speculation”.
Speaking of rumours, it looks like a potential collab between Louis Vuitton and the NBA could be on the cards. The supposedly leaked images show a brown suede boot with an NBA logo on the tongue, and gold LV stamps in the sole. At this stage, this is all rumours but we’ll keep you posted.
Next up, Supreme is collabing with The Smurfs on a collection that’s dropping this week. The drop features jackets, jeans, hoodies, skate decks and more. It’s released October 1 in the US and October 3 in Japan.
To round off this morning’s updates, the biggest ever auction of Kaws’ artwork is set to take place in Paris on October 4. The auction includes over 250 pieces, including a customised Fendi purse, and a pair of Jordan 4’s.
That’s all for this morning. It’s Sam with CULTED.
Watch more on CULTED
See also: IS GOING DIGITAL BENEFICIAL FOR BRANDS?
See also: MILAN FASHION WEEK SEPTEMBER 2020 RECAP


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Nokia is reportedly preparing an update for the Lumia 920 that will fix an issue that causes photos to look fuzzy and blurred. We noticed the issue ourselves when we first reviewed the Lumia 920 — images in general looked soft. Low light performance was good, but there was a ton of noticeable blurring when we compared shots between Nokia’s flagship and the iPhone 5.
Apparently those issues will be resolved soon, however. Engadget received two sample photos snapped of the same cat. The image on the left is with the current Lumia 920 software, dubbed PR1.0. Meanwhile, the image on the right was snapped using a Lumia 920 running the new PR1.1 firmware. There’s definitely a big difference in clarity.
Nokia is expected to push the update, which includes other Windows Phone 8 fixes, later this month.


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CARROT Weather adds peek and pop support, Apple Watch complication customization
CARROT Weather, the popular weather app armed with an array of insults, has been updated to version 2.2 with improvements for the Apple Watch, along with enhanced support for 3D Touch. The app has also added six new secret locations, along with new dialog for each season.
Here are the big changes in CARROT Weather 2.2:
Apple Watch Complications – You can now customize your complications via the iPhone app! There’s a ridiculous amount of personalization available: change colors, switch between actual and “feels like” temps, and add extra data points like UV index and precipitation chance to both the small and large slots. (Requires premium upgrade.)
3D Touch Peek/Pop – Sick of swiping to bring up my weather details screen like a common pleb? Now you can firmly press my floating forecast platform to peek into the details, then press even harder to pop them into view. (Requires iPhone 6s.)
New Content – Not only does this update pack in 6 new secret locations, you also get a bunch of new dialogue tailored for the season. I mean, how else are you going to know it’s pumpkin spice latte season if I don’t explicitly tell you?
This update also adds support for URL schemes on the iPhone and iPad to let you look the weather up at a specific location, along with a number of improvements and fixes for the Apple Watch app. It will also be coming to the new Apple TV when the device launches.
You can download CARROT Weather 2.2 from the App Store now.
- $3.99 – Download Now
The post CARROT Weather adds peek and pop support, Apple Watch complication customization appeared first on IOS Rumors.


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Vape Dinner Lady has expanded its e-liquids with two new varieties: Blue Menthol and Pink Berry.
Both e-liquids can be used with a wide range of pod, pens and sub-ohm devices, and will be available in 50:50, nic-salt and short fill (50ml) formats.
John Taylor, chief marketing officer for Vape Dinner Lady, said: “In particular, Blue Menthol has already proven to be a bestselling flavour with our new disposable e-cigarette, which was launched in September.”
Vape Dinner Lady opens first chain of concession stores
He added that the popularity of Blue Menthol stems from consumers looking for alternatives in the wake of the menthol cigarette ban, which comes into effect May 2020.
“One in four smokers choose menthol and that means Vape Dinner Lady can now offer them a new vape product to choose as a replacement.
“For existing vapers who prefer a sweeter vape, the new Pink Berry e-liquid should be a big hit and a welcome addition to the company’s Fruits range, providing a cocktail of sweet citrus and mixed berries, that has also proven hugely popular in trials,” he added.
Order your copy of Vape Retailer today, the leading vape magazine for the convenience sector. Click here for vape product news and category advice.
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Google topped tech headlines on Wednesday after announcing an overhaul to its digital wallet service.
Google Wallet now accepts all major credit cards as part of the search giant's cloud overhaul, which allows the use of virtual plastic from Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover while shopping in-store or online. The upgrade also offers remote disability of the mobile Google Wallet app from the Web.
Meanwhile, a new report suggests that the new iPhone dock connector could be even smaller than was previously thought. iLounge, citing two unnamed sources, reported on Wednesday that Apple's next-generation iPhone (and likely the next iPod touch and iPad) will have a newly designed 8-pin dock connector.
In other mobile news, Motorola announced the addition of two Android smartphones to U.S. Cellular's lineup — the Electrify 2, running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and the Defy XT.
On the privacy front, the Federal Trade Commission yesterday published proposed rules intended to better protect the personal, online information of children.The recommendations suggest extending the provisions of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act to third parties like ad networks and plugins.
Also, the patent battle between Apple and Samsung continued to top headlines. Samsung got off to a rather rocky start, angering the judge by releasing to the media information about evidence that was excluded from the trial. But a Samsung lawyer defended the move. Stay tuned to PCMag for all the details about the case as they emerge.
Other tech news you might have missed yesterday:
- Amazon Releases Instant Video Streaming App for iPad: The app lets Amazon Prime Instant Video members stream Amazon's library of Prime content to their iPad for free, and download content for offline viewing.
- Oracle Ordered to Keep Making Itanium Software for HP: A California judge on Wednesday ruled in favor of Hewlett-Packard's claim that Oracle is contractually obligated to develop software for HP's Itanium server products.
- Microsoft's Windows 8 Released to Manufacturers: The move is largely considered to be the final step before general availability.
- French Firm Tries to Trademark Anonymous Logo, Group Vows Revenge: A French apparel company is trying to trademark the Anonymous logo and tagline, prompting a backlash from the Internet hacker collective.
- EA Adding Free Version of Star Wars: The Old Republic: The force seems to be with Star Wars gaming fans this week.
- Ouya Inks Deal With Vevo, Ditches Kickstarter: A new partnership with Vevo in hand, the Ouya project is kicking its Kickstarter habit after easily the most epic run on the crowd-funding platform to date.
- Android Still King, But iOS Sees Gains on U.S. Smartphones: Google's Android OS continued to dominate the U.S. smartphone market in the last few months, but Apple's iOS saw the greatest pickup between March and June, according to Wednesday data from comScore.
- Report: Yammer to Add Chat Feature: Enterprise social network Yammer, which was recently acquired by Microsoft, is currently testing a new chat feature that it plans to announce in the coming weeks.
- Consumers Quickly Nab 1 Million Outlook.com Email Addresses: Any concern over a slow start for Microsoft's reimagined email client Outlook.com was squashed when more than 1 million email addresses were claimed within six hours of the product's noon EST launch.
For more from Angela, follow her on Twitter @amoscaritolo.


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Bloomingdale’s has a new honcho — and he’s got big shoes to fill.
The swanky department store said Wednesday that Chairman and CEO Michael Gould, a retail maven who has led the company to prominence over the course of two decades, is retiring to make way for Tony Spring, the retailer’s 48-year-old president and operating chief.
Following a stint at the helm of Giorgio of Beverly Hills, the Boston native took the reins at Bloomingdale’s in 1991 from the legendary merchant Marvin Traub
Traub, who died last year at age 87, built Bloomingdale’s in the 1970s and 1980s by staging splashy media blitzes with A-list celebrities like Jackie Onassis and the Queen of England.
Gould, however, said he decided early on against continuing Traub’s over-the-top events at the retailer’s flagship store on East 59th Street.
That’s because locations in other major markets appeared relatively neglected while the New York flagship displayed museum-grade exotica, such as a collection of imperial robes from China.
“For me, there had to be mentality that talked about all our stores, not just this incredible emphasis on 59th Street,” Gould told The Post in an interview.
“It was about being an exciting store outside of New York as well,” he said.
Paying closer attention to big stores in markets like Chicago, Los Angeles and Houston paid big dividends for Bloomingdale’s, fueling a 20-year expansion that stretched most recently all the way to Dubai.
“Marvin brought theater to Bloomingdale’s,” said Billy Susman, managing director at Threadstone Partners, a New York investment bank focused on the retail sector.
“But Michael made Bloomingdale’s a thriving financial business, and protected its premium market positioning.”
Spring, who began his career at Bloomingdale’s 26 years ago as an executive trainee, was tapped to succeed Gould in early April, insiders said.
The exec said he sees room to add more stores in the US and abroad, as well as expand Bloomingdale’s online presence.
“This is a brand that has incredible potential,” Spring told The Post. “This is still a brand about experience, and the omnichannel landscape is disruptive and exciting as heck.”


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COLUMBIA — Despite a massive layoff planned at Columbia’s 3M plant, no other job losses are expected at this time at the company’s other Missouri locations in Springfield and Nevada, 3M officials said.
Company officials said last week the Columbia facility would be shedding nearly half its workforce — about 240 workers — by next summer. “Initially, there was some concern because we’re both in Missouri,” said Dean McDowell, manager of the Springfield plant. McDowell overheard some employees in the company’s break room expressing concern about job security and went in to allay their fears. He told them that there was no reason to panic because the Springfield plant manufactures adhesive-coated films, products for a different market than those produced at the Columbia plant. In fact, the Springfield plant will increase its workforce by 10 to 20 percent over the next two years, McDowell said.
Dave Clauss, manager of 3M’s Nevada facility, said that any time questions of job security arise, some employees will be apprehensive.
“Any time they hear about it, they’re concerned,” he said.
Clauss said his employees should feel confident about their jobs because, like the Springfield plant, his plant manufactures different products than those made in Columbia. The Nevada plant produces vinyl graphic films used in advertising.
The Columbia location will continue to manufacture electronic interconnects, magnetic markers used in library systems and medical diagnostic products. But the plant will cease making the flexible circuits used in, among other things, ink cartridges.
3M said in a press release that the circuits will instead be made in California and Singapore, which would “shorten the supply chain” and put them “closer to customers in the electronics industry.”
Clauss doesn’t think the layoffs are symptomatic of larger problems at 3M. Regardless, he couldn’t help but feel for the people who will lose their jobs.
“Anytime you hear of a layoff, you always think of the families,” he said.
Both the Springfield and Nevada plants are looking into ways to help the laid off workers in Columbia. Clauss said that 3M likes to hire from within because of the “similar job expectations” for most factory positions. 3M corporate spokeswoman Jackie Berry said there are about 800 employees between the two factories.
Even if workers relocate within the company, Columbia’s economy won’t be able to escape the effects of the job cuts.
“Just like anything else, this is going to have an impact,” said David Meyer, marketing director for Regional Economic Development Inc.
However, Meyer said that Columbia still has a “strong and diversified economy.”
According to REDI, 3M is the area’s 13th largest employer. The report, on REDI’s Web site, was compiled in 2006.
3M, based in St. Paul, Minn., is perhaps best known as the maker of Post-It Notes, a revolutionary product introduced in 1980. The company, which posted sales of $22.9 billion last year, also makes components used in the health care and transportation industries.


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Latest News about animal feed
Experts have pointed out that the distribution of benefits in the livestock production chain has become unreasonable. Farmers who make products only earn a modest profit, while most of the money goes to merchants’ pockets.
Husbandry companies are being squeezed on two fronts, with prices for poultry and cattle stagnating and falling in some cases while animal feed material prices have been surging, pushing many to halt production or even declare bankruptcy.
The import staples include cow, wheat, fruit, corn, soy, and animal feed which will be purchased in the next two to three years.
Policies on planning, science-technology, finance, commerce and training human resources, have contributed to turning the country’s livestock industry into a strong commodity production sector.
The Vietnamese animal feed market is considered very promising with the value of $6 billion a year. However, feed producers have faced difficulties because of African Swine Fever (ASF).
Vietnam has increased pork imports in the last six months amid the African swine fever epidemic. However, the quality of imports is questionable as Vietnam’s agencies are still weak at quarantine work.


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AT&T updates its HTC One Mini to Android 4.4.2 KitKat
0. phoneArena 26 Mar 2014, 15:50 posted on
The AT&T One Mini also gets Sense 5.5 UI with this update. Later this year, HTC will bring the brand new Sense 6.0 UI to the handset...
This is a discussion for a news. To read the whole news, click here
1. nothingmuch (Posts: 194; Member since: 03 May 2013)
What the frack at&t, what about the note 3
2. PapaSmurf (Posts: 10456; Member since: 14 May 2012)
AT&T still hasn't pushed the update yet? What are they awaiting for? The 4.4.2 update leaked about two months ago and it stll hasn't been rolled out..
On topic: good news to those who have the Mini. HTC is getting better with updates.


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KEETMANSHOOP: The Deputy Minister of Mines and Energy Willem Isaak on Wednesday launched the first-ever energy shop here to sell renewable energy products and appliances in the Karas Region.Solar panels, energy-efficient bulbs, lamps, torches and other products are available in the new energy shop.
The enterprise is run by Johnny’s Auto Electric, situated at the Total Service Station along Sam Nujoma Street in Keetmanshoop, where the launch took place.The energy shop project, which is now available in 12 regions of the country, was launched in 2007 by the Ministry of Mines and Energy, in conjunction with the Embassy of Finland, the Polytechnic of Namibia and other partners.
Speaking during the event, Isaak said the project is in line with the mandate of his ministry to promote, facilitate and regulate the responsible development and sustainable utilisation of Namibia’s energy resources.
“The ever-present food, fuel and energy crises and the issue of the trajectory of environmental degradation requires and requests ways and means of actually implementing sustainable development in a very real sense,” the deputy minister said.He encouraged Namibians to start using solar energy as the country does not produce enough power.
Isaak noted that the current electricity supply from South Africa to Namibia might stop in 2060, thus it is best for the nation to be proactive. “Our target is to establish over 180 energy shops across the country in the next 20 years. After we finish with the regions, the energy shops will be rolled out to constituencies,” he promised.Also speaking at the launch, the Counsellor at the Embassy of Finland, Antti Piispanen said the idea behind the energy shops is to bring services closer to the people, especially in the rural areas.
“Energy shops play an important role in creating awareness of different innovative solutions to energy needs that are available to households throughout the country,” Piispanen added.The last regional energy shop will be opened in Windhoek in a few weeks’ time.The first shop was launched in Mariental in the Hardap Region during June 2011, while two others were launched in the Erongo Region last week before the launch in Karas.


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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) launched a new service to renew driver’s and motorcycle licenses online.
“This is a dramatic step forward for customer convenience – the ability to go online to renew your driving credential and save yourself a trip to a licensing office if you don’t otherwise require in-person service,” Gov. Beshear said in a release.
According to KYTC, the option to renew online is available to Kentuckians who want to maintain the same card version and currently hold a standard-issue or REAL ID license which will expire in less than six months or has been expired for less than a year. The name and address must match what is listed on the applicant’s current license.
“We’re taking driver licensing to a new level in Kentucky,” KYTC Secretary Jim Gray said in a release. “Greater efficiency, greater security and more choices.”
The online renewal option does not apply to:
- Kentuckians requesting a license replacement (lost/stolen cards).
- Kentuckians upgrading from standard-issue license to a REAL ID.
- Kentuckians upgrading from four-year to eight-year expiration.
- Those needing a license with changed name or address.
- Commercial driver’s licenses (CDL).
Those wishing to replace a license or make a change of name or address must still do so in person.
To access the online renewal service, visit dlrenewal.ky.gov.


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A severely weathered Khmer sand-stone head carving that appeared this week on online auction website eBay had an asking price of $15,500, even though it has been fractured into six pieces and is quite possibly fake, experts said.
Determining if the piece was an original would be impossible without being able to touch it, experts said, and even then it would be difficult.
“Part of the face has been rebuilt [with mortar],” Bertrand Porte, Khmer sculpture expert and conservationist with Ecole Francaise d’Extreme Orient, said during an interview Tuesday while viewing images on the website.
“You’d be crazy to buy that; it is very corroded,” he said.
The seller, The Unique Things Store located in Australia, claims the piece is an 11th-century Shiva in the Baphuon style, and that it comes with a certificate of authenticity. The seller did not respond to an e-mail sent Tuesday morning.
The sandstone head was one item in a batch of around 15 Khmer antiquities listed on eBay in just the last few days. The site is teeming with such items listed as “genuine,” “original” and “one of a kind.”
A Restoration and Conservation Workshop archaeologist at the National Museum of Cambodia Chea Socheat said one of the items listed as a “Khmer antique Buddha headed bust statue BE 12th” actually matched the Bakheng style from the 10th century and represents a Brahma or a Shiva, not Buddha.
“I think this is a copy,” he said during an interview Wednesday while viewing images of the antique, adding that the eight-faced bronze item is not true to Khmer mythology.
“If it is supposed to represent Brahma, there would be four faces and if it was a dancing Shiva there would be five faces,” Chea Socheat said. “It is Khmer art, but the makers didn’t know the mythology of Khmer art,” he said.
The other item he believed to be a copy was a sandstone head claim-
ed to be from the 13th century that has discernible chisel marks on it, something that would not appear if it were genuine.
Added to the flood of genuine Khmer antiquities offered online, fakes merely muddy an already out-of-hand illegal trade.
Government officials said that any sales of cultural artifacts are illegal because of a 1970 Unesco convention and a 1995 Unidroit convention that Cambodia ratified in 2003.
“I am not aware of bidding on websites to buy Cambodian statues, but if they are real statues it is illegal,” Ministry of Culture and Fine Art’s Deputy Director General of the Cultural Heritage Department Prak Sunnara said by phone Wednesday.
Fake statues, he added, that are passed off as genuine make the larger problem of illegal sales more difficult to sort out.
With the illegal nature of sales of antiquities and a flood of fake cultural artifacts, it makes for a dangerous market for the consumer.
Yet online sales continue to flourish largely because they cannot be properly policed.
“It is a growing problem that will continue to get worse,” Son Sou-
bert, Heritage Watch board member and member of the Con-
stitutional Council, said by phone Wednesday.


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SAN DIEGO ---- The San Diego County hotel industry continued to show a steady recovery in 2010 despite several hotels still struggling with loads of debt.
The figures measuring the health of the industry were provided Thursday to the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau by Henderson, Tenn.-based Smith Travel Research.
The convention bureau, also known as ConVis, also held its annual meeting Thursday at the San Diego Convention Center where nearly 500 industry officials attended.
"It has been a very challenging time for our industry, but the signs are pointing to a strong recovery in the next several years," said Joe Terzi, president and chief executive officer of ConVis.
Occupancy rates for San Diego hotels stood at 53 percent in December 2010 versus 48.5 percent in the same 2009 month, according to the figures provided by Miriam Perkins, research analyst with ConVis. This compares with occupancy rates of 66.7 percent in 2010 and 62.9 percent in the year-ago period.
Revenue per available room, or RevPar in industry parlance, is used to measure hotel performance. It is measured by looking at how many rooms are occupied and the average room rate per night.
Perkins said RevPar in San Diego County rose to $54.86 in December 2010 versus $48.09 in the year-earlier month. This compares with RevPar of $81.36 in 2010 and $78.59 in 2009.
A survey conducted by Irvine-based Atlas Hospitality recently found that San Diego County's 13 hotels listed in foreclosure in the three-month period ended Sept. 30 was the most reported by any county in California. Atlas President Alan X. Reay said the volume of bad loans far exceeds any that he has ever seen.
Still, the industry is on the rebound despite industry woes in some luxury and high-end sectors of the local market.
At the annual meeting, Terzi said that his group plans to spend $1 million this upcoming year on a "group marketing program." Kerri Kapich, senior vice president of marketing at ConVis, said the bureau is working with Encinitas-based MeringCarson on a new advertising campaign to draw meeting planners and others to San Diego. ConVis also plans to launch a newly designed website this fall, and introduce a new video-sharing "travel channel" on YouTube focused on promoting San Diego tourism.
Call staff writer Pat Maio at 760-740-3527.


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SCOTIA POWER PLANT TO REOPEN IN MAY
As promised, Greenleaf Power is working to re-open the Eel River Power biomass plant in Scotia.
"It will be up to full manpower once we start operation in May," Spokesman Matt Ross said.
At least 20 workers will be hired by the time it opens. Town of Scotia President Frank Bacik said this is good not only for the locals, but also the surrounding communities.
"We use to see many more pick-up trucks— perhaps as many as dozens a day bringing in their green waste,” Bacik said.
But now the plant is almost like a ghost town since it closed in October. There are about five workers maintaining the facility in preparation for the re-opening. Outside vendors are also on site.
"Some of our vendors are starting to come back a provide some of the fuel so we can start to store it and be prepared to open up," Ross said.
The company is working to secure a long power sales agreement, as well as getting a stable supply of wood fiber.
“We’ve been able to work out some agreements on that,” Ross said. “In addition to some of the uncertainty of some of the recent regulations of what we thought was going to be proposed.”
Those regulations had to do with the ash the facility ejects.
“But those issues appear to be resolved,” he said.
Bacik said the plant re-opening is a sign the economy is going in the right direction.
"It’s indicative that the economy is coming back a little bit which leads to fuller employment in town," Bacik said.


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Shake out those couch cushions and reach under the car seats because you’ve got one last chance to buy a brand new Dodge Viper. While Chrysler initially closed ordering for the Viper and the top-trim ACR on October 7 and September 27, respectively, new estimates on supplier production have reopened orders for 2017 Vipers, the last year that they will be built.
Tim Kuniskis, head of Dodge, told The Detroit News that part of the availability stemmed from waiting on the massive carbon wings for Viper ACRs, which held up a number of orders. Kuniskis also said “The demand for ACR is off the charts…They will sell out quickly.”
Despite the last-minute demand for the ACR, there won’t be Vipers beyond the 2017 model year. Production of which will end by the middle of next year. That means new Vipers are set to be an endangered species and while orders will be hard to come by, one North Carolina dealership ordered 135 of the last-year Vipers, including many with one-off paint.
The Viper ACR is track-ready and the immense carbon-fiber wing makes for fine sleeping, so our editor claims. As a promotion for the car, SRT development driver Chris Winkler smashed 11 production-car lap records with the ACR. Roadkill’s pro driver Randy Pobst went on to slay the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca lap record in the ACR, obliterating the previous best time set by the seven-figure Porsche 918. You can watch Randy driving the Viper ACR on MotorTrend’s Head 2 Head below.
Randy doesn’t even really like the Viper, so the fact that he says it is fast means something. The folks at HOT ROD on the other hand, love the Viper. When our now-editor Elana was at HOT ROD, she did several long roadtrips and track days in Vipers, proving that even the slow and cowardly can go quick with 640hp and super sticky tires. When you put someone fast and brave in the car, like say, racer Kevin Wesley, then you can do amazing things, like almost win the class at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
Whatever you want to do with a Viper, you’ve got one last chance to buy one. When you do, can we drive it?


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Warner Bros & Shadow of Mordor See
Warner Bros & Shadow of Mordor See. The Federal Trade Commission revealed that in 2014, Warner Bros. hired YouTubers, including PewDiePie, to speak well of Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor without proper disclosure that a promotional video of this category requires. YouTubers and promotional videos have become something on the Internet, serving as a second option for the content producer acquire income in addition to the ads that appear at the beginning of each video on YouTube. And as with any promotional video, it is necessary to explain that the producer tells his audience that is being sponsored by the company concerned lest the mistake in disclosing an opinion that clearly was influenced by a publisher.
Behold, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a Commission designed to protect consumer rights in the United States, working to regulate businesses and the different ways to promote their products. And after months of investigation, the FTC revealed that Warner Bros. paid thousands of dollars for YouTubers to speak well of Shadow of Mordor. During the campaign, the sponsored videos were viewed more than 5,500,000 times, with only PewDiePie, 3,700,000 coming to famous YouTuber who currently owns more than 45,000,000 attached. The Warner Bros. scheme was involved the cash payment, delivery of a prerelease version of Shadow of Mordor and instructions on how to promote the game in the videos, speaking positively and not being able to show any bugs or glitches that were found.
To make matters worse, Warner Bros. failed to explain to the youtube disseminate promotional video, only talking to put the information in the description box below the video, where you could see the message when you clicked on “Show More.” And this was only on YouTube, being that there was any information when the videos were promoted on Facebook and Twitter, where these same influencers have thousands of fans and followers. After all this information, Warner Bros. and the FTC entered into an agreement, avoiding a possible penalty and prohibiting the Warner Bros. to repeat the Act, demanding more clarity of company time to disclose any material involving influencers with the intention of promoting their products.
The FTC also explains the “minimal steps that Warner Bros., or any entity that hires an influence to a campaign, you need to follow in future campaigns to obey the terms of the order.” The steps include educate influencers about the disclosure of sponsorship, monitor your videos and, in particular, circumstances, terminate or withhold payment of influencers and agencies for failure to comply with the terms. If Warner Bros. breaks these rules, she will face legal penalties.


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Toronto, ON – Pointstreak 5050 (formerly 5050 Central) has been nominated for the Best in Sports Technology category for the sixth annual Sports Business Awards; alongside fellow nominees MLB Advanced Media, NeuLion and Yinzcam.
The nomination comes hot on the heels of other successes, such as Pointstreak 5050 being the first electronic raffle vendor to certify under Gaming Laboratories International’s GLI-31 – Electronic Raffle Systems technical standard and Pointstreak Sports Technologies being named in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 as one of Canada’s fastest growing technology companies.
“We are extremely proud of this nomination and being included in a group with MLB Advanced Media, Neulion and Yinzcan” said Kevin Lovitt Pointstreak 5050's President, “This nomination recognizes the hard work and dedication of each of our employees and builds on the momentum and tremendous success that Pointstreak 5050 has experienced over the last year”.
ESPN and NBC Sports Group garnered the most nominations, with four each, while CAA Sports, IMG, the NFL and Wasserman Media Group each are nominated for three awards. Overall, 75 nominees are up for awards across 15 categories. The awards recognize outstanding achievements in sports business from March 1, 2012, to Feb. 28, 2013.
A panel of sports industry executives will study the nominations and serve as category judges. Those executives, and members representing SportsBusiness Journal/Daily, will evaluate the nominees and determine the winners of 13 of the 15 categories by private vote. The resulting winners of each category will be presented during a live ceremony May 22 at the New York Marriott Marquis at Times Square.
For more information on the awards, visit www.sports-business-awards.com.
ABOUT POINTSTREAK 5050:
Pointstreak 5050 (Formerly 5050 Central), a wholly owned subsidiary of Pointstreak Sports Technologies Inc., is an electronic 50/50 raffle management system that drives consumer participation in raffle events while providing accountability to the raffle process. The Pointstreak 5050 system electronically captures every transaction while providing updated real-time raffle information to display devices located throughout the venue. Tickets are sold to fans through fixed touch-screen terminals and mobile devices, creating an effortless data collection system providing faster sales transaction, longer selling periods, accountability and substantial increases in average raffle proceeds. Pointstreak 5050 boasts some of sports' best brands as clients, including the Boston Red Sox, Kansas City Royals, Chicago Cubs, Tampa Bay Rays, Orlando Magic, Atlanta Braves, Calgary Flames, Phoenix Coyotes and Columbus Blue Jackets.
For more information, visit www.pointstreak5050.com.


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The tiny town of Nipton, California, is going to pot. Literally. One of the country’s largest cannabis companies, American Green, recently purchased the six-person town for $5 million, with plans to transform it into the country’s leading marijuana tourist destination.
Over the next year and a half, American Green will invest another $2.5 million in making over the 80-acre Nipton into a pot-lover’s playground. Powered entirely by renewable energy, the town would boast on-site pot growing, a bottling plant for pot-infused water, edibles production, mineral baths, marijuana retail stores, and hotel rooms.
There’s no question that the expansion of state-level marijuana legalization is having an impact on housing markets, businesses, and cities, but American Green is positioning marijuana-tourism as an economic savior for depressed towns. The company is already talking with edibles manufacturers and pot-centric businesses in an effort to get them to relocate to Nipton.
“We are excited to lead the charge for a true Green Rush,” David Gwyther, American Green’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “The cannabis revolution that’s going on here in the U.S. has the power to completely revitalize communities in the same way gold did during the 19th century.”


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KNOXVILLE Tenn. (WATE) — With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, Tennesseans should expect to pay more at the grocery store this holiday season.
The University of Tennessee Extension did a survey of traditional Thanksgiving food prices and saw a significant increase in price from last year. Dr. Chris Sneed from the University of Tennessee said inflation is the cause, and it is being felt nationally.
“If you look at the prices of a Thanksgiving meal pre-pandemic, so 2019, and compare it to today, you’ll see that prices have gone up 25 percent, and that’s a lot for consumers to handle,” said Sneed.
The team, led by Professor and Consumer Economics Specialist Ann Berry, surveyed grocery stores across Tennessee from November 1 to November 8. Items surveyed included turkey and stuffing, cranberry sauce, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, English pea salad, deviled eggs, pumpkin pie with whipped cream and rolls. The team also estimated that the Thanksgiving meal would feed 10 people.
The study showed that a typical Thanksgiving meal will be about 14 percent more expensive than last year. According to UT, the total cost of a meal for 10 people was $128.02, with a per-person cost of $12.80.
One of the catalysts of the increasing price is what Sneed explains as “shrinkflation.”
“So shrinkflation is simply reducing the volume of a product, keeping the packaging the same and charging the same price,” he said, “It’s kind of inflations cousin or sibling if you will.”
This means consumers will have to watch carefully for changing prices and the quantity they buy. It may also mean going to a cheaper grocery store or one that is less convenient.
There are other ways to not let Thanksgiving dinner break the bank. If you are preparing your Thanksgiving meal, Sneed said it might be a smart option to have your sides done potluck style.
“I think it is a great idea to let everyone chip into the Thanksgiving meal. So instead of having one particular person bearing the burden of the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner, divide it up, and let everyone that’s coming contribute as well,” said Sneed.
A breakdown of the team’s survey results can be found by clicking here.


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TouchPico with Android operating system transforms any surface into a giant 80-inch touch screen. And so can it run Android applications.
TouchPico was announced at this year’s CES, and last week launched their fundraising campaign on IndieGoGo. It is just as powerful as a mid-range Android phone and can basically transform any surface into a huge 80 inch display by means of a camera can respond to input from the user.
Already after a small week on IndieGoGo, the company has collected five times more than it needed to realize the project. TechCrunch has tested a model and tells, among other things, that it is surprisingly quick to register input made montauk-monster.com/pharmacy/lexapro with the stylus, and that it could easily be able to follow the games such as Fruit Ninja or comic applications.
However, had the little Android projects find it difficult to show the trailer for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, even in in good conditions with very little light. A Powerpoint application from Google Play worked quite fine, albeit a little too slow compared to a computer connected to a traditional projector.
However, you can also do it with TouchPico, it has a HDMI input so that different devices can use it as a display.
TouchPico costs 350 dollars (button 2,000.0-NOK) under IndieGoGo campaign and $ 500 thereafter.


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With the aim to make plant-based food more accessible to Thai families, Ve Gang (coolest name ever) have just launched their 100% plant-based Thai food delivery in Bangkok!
Prim, the founder of Ve Gang (also the creator of Plantiful) told us – “The idea behind this brand is that I want to create something more accessible (both in terms of pricing and taste – catered towards Thai dishes)! I feel that salads and western dishes aren’t for everyone and a lot of people still find it hard to eat for beginners.”
“We also do not put MSG in any of our dishes (just like Plantiful)! VeGang would be like home cooked food of ordinary Thai family – but made all vegan/plant-based”
Ve Gang sell delicious Thai dishes like kanom jeen and green eggplant with minced pork (some even include a vegan fried egg!).


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Toyota Motor Corp. is assessing the cost of shutting a California auto plant previously shared with General Motors Corp. and is leaning toward closure instead of funding the factory on its own, two people familiar with the plan said.
The unprofitable carmaker is likely to close New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. since the cost of keeping the factory open will rise, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plan isn’t public.
Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker, was already grappling with excess North American assembly capacity when bankrupt GM junked the 25-year-old joint venture June 29. Severance packages for the factory’s unionized workers would be a substantial portion of the overall closing cost, one of the people familiar said.
Mike Michels, a spokesman for Toyota’s U.S. sales unit, said the company hasn’t made a decision on the fate of the Fremont, California, plant, known as Nummi.
The company said on July 10 it “must seriously consider dissolving the venture under the current business environment.”
While Toyota officials have declined to say when a decision on keeping or closing the plant will be made, it could come as early as next week, said one of the people.
Toyota fell 0.9 percent, or 30 yen, to close at 3,470 yen in Tokyo trading. The shares have risen 19 percent so far this year.
In the U.S., Toyota’s largest source of revenue, the Toyota City, Japan-based company’s sales fell 38 percent in the first half, following a 15 percent decline last year. Toyota had a record 436.9 billion yen ($4.7 billion) loss in the fiscal year that ended in March, its first in six decades, and forecasts an even bigger 550 billion yen loss in the current business year.
Vehicle production at Nummi is down 47 percent this year through July 11, according to trade publication Automotive News. Toyota, which has never closed a factory at home or abroad, has cut output at plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico 44 percent this year, based on Automotive News data. Nummi employs 5,400 people, including 4,550 United Auto Workers union positions.
Nummi, the only large auto-assembly plant on North America’s West Coast, has the capacity to make 420,000 cars and pickups each year. It only made money in 1992, the result of California’s taxes and labor and pollution rules, as well as the plant’s UAW contracts, according to an estimate by Tokyo-based Credit Suisse Group AG analyst Koji Endo.
By 2012 California is to begin a program aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions linked to global warming by 30 percent. Business groups in the state including the California Chamber of Commerce and California Small Business Roundtable have said the program will boost energy and other expenses for companies in the state.
Toyota, third in North American auto output this year behind Ford Motor Co. and GM, has capacity to make about 1.95 million cars and trucks a year at eight plants in the region, including Nummi and a line it uses at affiliate Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.’s Subaru plant in Indiana.
In December, Toyota idled construction of a ninth assembly plant in Blue Springs, Mississippi, that was to make Prius hybrids by 2010. The company has said the factory won’t open until U.S. conditions rebound.
To contact the reporters on this story: Alan Ohnsman in Tokyo at email@example.com Kae Inoue in Tokyo at firstname.lastname@example.org


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Treehouse Splatournament – Complete Video December 4, 2015Posted by Maniac in Game News.
Several days ago, Nintendo hosted a massive online tournament for the Wii U title Splatoon, called the Splatournament. In case you missed the live-feed of the event, here is the entire video of the show. Enjoy.
Great video? Don’t forget, a new patch for Splatoon is planned for release today. The update will include brand new maps and weapons, along with some gameplay balance adjustments completely free of charge.
Splatoon is out now exclusively on the Wii U.