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Debitum Network is readying to be the newest blockchain-powered small business lending platform on the market.
The company is set to launch its solution in less than two weeks, on Sept. 3, reports in Busiweek said on Wednesday (Aug. 22). Debitum, based in Lithuania, aims to reach investors from across the globe that, once authenticated, can begin immediately investing in short-term small business loans.
Blockchain and smart contract technology provide security to financing transactions, which are made public, the company explains on its website. Investors can finance an array of loan products, including factoring, business loans, guarantees and stock.
Users can make investments, withdrawals and deposits in both fiat and cryptocurrency. The company’s proprietary cryptocurrency, DEB, is used to pay for services on the Debitum platform.
In addition to investors and small business borrowers, third-party service providers can join the platform to participate in the process by offering risk mitigation, debt collection, insurance and other tools.
Other alternative small business lenders are integrating blockchain into their offerings. Last year, Populous launched in the U.K., using distributed ledger technology and smart contracts to facilitate invoice financing for small businesses.
In France, BNP Paribas, Société Générale and other financial services players created Liquidshare, a consortium aimed at exploring the use of blockchain in the small business lending arena.
“With the launch of Liquidshare, we will use the great potential of the blockchain technology to become a key player in the post-trade industry,” the group’s CEO Thibaud de Maintenant said in a statement. “Supported by shareholders across the European financial market ecosystem, this initiative is the first of its kind.”
Société Générale, along with Deutsche Bank, HSBC and others, is part of another blockchain consortium, the Digital Trade Chain Consortium, which deploys IBM’s blockchain technology for use in cross-border and domestic small business payments.


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The Container Store deploys Lucas Systems’ voice-picking solution in Dallas-area DC
Pittsburgh — Lucas Systems, a provider of voice directed warehouse applications, announced that The Container Store has installed Jennifer VoicePlus for voice picking in the retailer’s Dallas- area, 1.1 million-sq.-ft. distribution center.
Distribution Center employees who work with Jennifer every day had a big part in selecting our voice system. As a company, it is very important that any new technology we install be something that is going to make life better for our employees, in addition to the company, our stores, and customers,” said Christy Parra, logistics systems director, The Container Store.
According to Parra, employees at the distribution facility preferred Jennifer’s human voice, the easy, five-minute voice training process, and the rich voice-enabled help functions.
“We also liked the ability to tailor what the user hears, not just for ease of use and efficiency, but also to keep things fun and interesting,” Parra said. “Since installing Jennifer in September, we’ve seen steady increases in picking productivity, in addition to a sharp reduction in training time for new employees.”
The Jennifer VoicePlus application integrates with The Container Store’s Catalyst warehouse management system and supports order picking for both direct-to-consumer fulfillment, as well as for store replenishment. It includes the flexibility to use speech recognition and barcode scanning interchangeably using a standard multi-modal mobile computer (the lightweight Motorola MC3190).
In addition to voice picking, Jennifer’s Engage Management Services Console gives DC supervisors increased visibility into real-time operational information and the tools they need to effectively plan and manage their work making their work easier and more efficient.
Apple tops Fortune’s most admired list
NEW YORK — Fortune has released its 2012 list of the most admired companies, and it should come as no surprise that Apple topped the list. Even with the passing of Steve Jobs, the company didn’t miss a beat delivering products that are still in high demand, increasing sales and delivering soaring profits for its investors.
Also on the list were a number of retailers including third-ranked Amazon.com, 20th-ranked Costco Wholesale, 24th-ranked Wal-Mart Stores, 25th-ranked Target, 28th-ranked Whole Foods Market and 41st ranked eBay.
Fortune conducted the survey in 2011 among top executives, directors and securities analysts in 58 industries. Companies were selected based on such criteria as financial soundness, long-term investment value, people management, social responsibility, use of assets, quality of management, quality of products and services, and innovation and competitiveness.
The full list of 358 companies, and their rankings, can be viewed here.
Macy’s names new board member
CINCINNATI — Paul Varga, chairman and CEO of Brown-Forman Corp., has been elected to the Macys Inc. board of directors.
Varga is a dynamic business leader and strategic thinker with an impressive track record in building and marketing global brands, said Terry Lundgren, Macys Inc. chairman, president and CEO. He will be an important addition to our board as we continue to develop Macy’s and Bloomingdales as distinct brands and destinations for shoppers domestically and internationally. Given that Paul began with Brown-Forman as a summer intern and worked his way up the organization’s ranks, he also is an advocate for strong management development environments, which is a hallmark of Macys Inc.
The addition of Varga brings the size of Macys Inc.s board of directors to 11 members. It will return to 10 members after the annual meeting of shareholders on May 18, when Joseph Pichler, former chairman of The Kroger Company, retires from the board after more than 14 years of service.
Varga was named president and chief executive officer of Brown-Forman, one of the world’s 10 largest wine and spirits producers, in August 2005 and became chairman of the company in August 2007. He has been a member of Brown-Formans board of directors since 2003.
Varga joined Brown-Forman in 1986 as a summer intern. He was promoted to a variety of positions within the corporation, ranging from on-premise marketing to managing the Jack Daniel’s brand. He was promoted to senior vice president and chief marketing officer in 2000. Prior to becoming chief executive officer of the corporation, Varga served as president and chief executive officer of the company’s Brown-Forman Beverages subsidiary.
Varga earned his bachelor’s of business administration degree in finance from the University of Kentucky in 1985, and his MBA from Purdue University in 1987.

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- Hero Electric counts the likes of Ola Electric, Hero MotoCorp-backed Ather Energy, Okinawa, Simple Energy, and TVS Motors are among the competitors.
- This time around, they are targeting a bigger amount and are exploring options to raise to $200 million or anywhere between $200 million and $300 million.
- With the Modi government’s emphasis on making the country self-dependent in the energy sector, various initiatives like Make-in-India, Atma Nirbhar Bharat are turning out to be game-changer.
Hero Motocorp, which has taken a progressive approach towards India’s electric vehicle revolution unlike its peers Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki, has decided to raise 200-300 million dollars to finance the project. Given the Indian government’s push towards electric vehicles (especially two wheelers where India can take lead because in four wheelers the United States and Europe raced ahead), many players have entered in the two wheelers market.
Hero Electric counts the likes of Ola Electric, Hero MotoCorp-backed Ather Energy, Okinawa, Simple Energy, and TVS Motors are among the competitors. However, Hero has very long experience in catering efficient two wheelers to the middle income segment, and it will utilise that to repeat the story in EVs as well.
To finance this EV venture, Hero will raise money. This time around, they are targeting a bigger amount and are exploring options to raise to $200 million or anywhere between $200 million and $300 million. “The proceeds will go towards capacity building, product development and marketing costs,” said one of the persons cited above, as per a report by Moneycontrol.
Previously, the country’s largest electric two-wheeler company has revealed astounding data about the exponential rise in the sale of its electric vehicles. According to the data available by the company, between the 45-day window of October 1 and November 15, 2021, the company sold 24,000 units of electric two-wheelers in the country.
The number of sold vehicles is doubled if we compare it to year-on-year terms. During the same period in the year 2020, Hero was able to sell only 11,399 electric vehicles in the country. According to Sohinder Gill, CEO at Hero Electric described customers’ awareness towards the environment as a key factor behind the upsurge in sales.
Various other factors like rising fuel prices, the revival of the economy, emergence from the pandemic, a rising preference for electric two-wheelers, level playing fields for smaller electric vehicle sellers are one of the main reasons behind the rising sale of electric vehicles in India.
As reported by the TFI, India is on the cusp of the electric vehicle revolution. Hero Motocorp, the world’s largest manufacturer of two-wheelers, is set to enter the electric vehicle market with the first launch by March 2022, and aims to democratize access just like it did in the case of EVs. Hero Electric had recently in June, 2021 closed its first part of Series B funding to expand capacity and invest in newer technologies.
The Indian EV industry is currently witnessing its best growth phase owing to conducive policies and rising fuel prices, thereby leading to a phenomenal growth in customer demand.
Naveen Munjal, MD, Hero Electric, said, “For any company to scale and meet market demand seeking investments are a continuous process. As a market leader and the No. 1 EV brand, Hero is committed to lead the EV transformation in the country and grow as the segment grows.”
With the Modi government’s emphasis on making the country self-dependent in the energy sector, various initiatives like Make-in-India, Atma Nirbhar Bharat are turning out to be game-changer. Moreover, the government’s insistence on providing result-based incentives (PLI scheme) is helping the electric vehicle industry to not sit idle and improve their efficiency daily. Hero’s success is a shining example of that.


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Britains fastest growing Scarf website www.VitoRoad.com has today announced the their top ten selling scarves of the season with the top 3 places all taken by green scarves.
CEO Trina Davies commented “We keep up to date with the fashion world and Pantone announced way back in December that Emerald was the colour of 2013. However we have found that Green more widely has been dominant.”
Trina continued “We did see a slight increase in floral shades selling when the sun finally came out for a week or two but the Greens seem to fit this seasons weathers fitful nature so much better. Out top selling silk scarf has opened such a lead it would probably be our best seller of the year if we stopped selling it today – demand has been difficult to keep pace with. We have even introduced a waiting list when it has been out of stock.”
Other colours doing well included Gold, Black and Purple, Trina joked “It may be that these strong colours are adding some brightness into the summer, hopefully the sun will shine soon or we will have a lot of floral scarves in our autumn sale!
Top Ten Sellers @ www.Vitoroad.com since 01/04/2013:
Vitoroad.com was founded in 2012 by mother of three Trina Davies.
Trina started the company along with her husband Neil after he was made redundant by KPMG.


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AT&T Mobility is considering selling the Muve Music business it acquired via its $1.2 billion purchase of Leap Wireless and Leap's prepaid Cricket brand, according to a New York Times report.
AT&T Mobility is preparing to unveil its new prepaid strategy that stems from the carrier's recent acquisition of regional prepaid provider Leap Wireless, which operates under the Cricket brand. And according to a source familiar with the company's plans, AT&T will launch a refreshed service currently dubbed "New Cricket" with pricing plans that are almost identical to AT&T's current Aio Wireless prepaid offering.
AT&T Mobility plans to launch an upgraded version of the Cricket prepaid brand in the second quarter, according to AT&T CFO John Stephens. AT&T closed on its $1.2 billion acquisition of Leap Wireless' Cricket brand and 4.5 million customers last month.
AT&T Mobility surprised the market by reporting 625,000 postpaid subscriber net additions in the first quarter, more than analysts had expected and the carrier's best first-quarter postpaid performance in five years.
AT&T is poised to complete its acquisition of Cricket provider Leap Wireless and Leap's 4.57 million customers. The transaction is the latest in a long line of consolidation in the wireless industry that has removed players ranging from MetroPCS to Clearwire to Alltel.
AT&T Mobility does not have any current plans to alter or change Cricket provider Leap Wireless' Muve Music service. The FCC just blessed AT&T's takeover of Leap, and along with the 4.57 million total customers Leap had as of Feb. 28, Muve is one of its key assets.
AT&T's acquisition of Leap Wireless and its Cricket brand has now received FCC approval, but it will be a few months before AT&T aggressively promotes what it has dubbed the "new Cricket," according to financial analysts.
Sprint launched a new no-contract offering dubbed "Sprint Prepaid" to go offer the prepaid market, a brand that will stand apart from Sprint's existing Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile prepaid brands. The brand's introduction comes amid intensifying competition in the no-contract market.
The FCC approved AT&T's acquisition of Leap Wireless, the last hurdle the Tier 1 carrier needed to overcome to gain control of the regional prepaid provider and its Cricket brand. AT&T has vowed to retain the Cricket brand and compete aggressively on price in the prepaid market using the brand.
The following charts the top U.S. wireless carriers in the fourth quarter of 2013 by subscriber base, according to research firm Strategy Analytics, and includes major metrics--such as churn, ARPU and revenue--of each carrier. The subscriber figures include both retail and wholesale customers. As the fourth-quarter reporting season comes to a close, it's time to start parsing the information to see which carriers slipped and which managed to get ahead.


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Arena STEM, a new retail edutainment concept opened its first U.S. location at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus. The flagship store will be located on level two near Nordstrom.
Arena STEM is a new and innovative concept that provides an interactive environment for kids and young adults to play, learn, and engage with science and technology. The 40,000 sq. foot facility offers hands-on experiences with real-life models, racetracks, events, contests, and classes that include 3-D drawing, robotics, model making, and more.
“More and more STEM curriculum has become an integral component of education in the United States and a gateway to STEM-related jobs,” said Arena STEM co-founder Sergei Manevich, who designed and developed the concept. “Arena STEM is a fun environment that utilizes STEM principles and fosters self-expression, critical thinking, and innovation.”
“Arena STEM will provide our guests a unique experience that engages them in a new and different way,” says Jay Daly, senior general manager of Westfield Garden State Plaza. “We are excited to welcome them to Westfield Garden State Plaza as we continue to expand the ways people can shop, dine, work, and play at the center.”
For more information on Arena STEM and center operations, hours, and services, shoppers can visit westfield.com/gardenstateplaza.
Arena STEM, co-founded in the U.S. by Sergei Manevich & Lenny Lozinsky, is a new and innovative edutainment concept in a retail setting, focused on activities in the technical sciences of Science, Technology, Education, and Mathematics combined with sports and hobbies. It offers people of all ages the ability to interact with the products sold through real-life models, tracks, events, contests, and classes that include 3-D drawing, robotics, model making, and more. Area STEM is supported by Starta Ventures’ partners, Alexey Girin and Serge Milman.
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March 4, 2024
Vigoss, an apparel brand known for its denim roots, has announced a new licensing partnership with Intimateco, an intimates manufacturer. The collaboration, facilitated by licensing agency, Starwood Brands, will bring a new line of Vigoss intimates and sleepwear for women to the market.
“Intimateco’s expertise in the intimates market and commitment to quality align perfectly with our brand values, and we are confident that they will create a collection that our customers will love,” says David Kubressi, chief executive officer, Vigoss.
The new Vigoss intimates line is designed to provide comfort and style for all-day wear, using soft, breathable fabrics.
“We are excited to be partnering with Vigoss to launch their new intimates and sleep line,” says Eli Levy, president, Intimateco. “Vigoss is a brand we have always admired, and we are confident that our design and manufacturing expertise will result in a truly successful and meaningful collection.”
The Vigoss intimates line will be available for purchase online and at select retailers nationwide, and launching in department stores such as Nordstrom and Dillard’s as well as specialty shops.
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License Global is the leading news source for the brand licensing industry, delivering award-winning editorial content including news, trends, analysis, and special reports about the global consumer product and retail marketplace.
Through its print edition, website, daily e-newsletter and event publications, License Global reaches more than 150,000 executives and professionals in all major markets. The magazine also serves as the official publication for the sector’s trade events, which include Licensing Expo, Brand Licensing Europe, Licensing Expo Japan, Licensing Expo Shanghai and the Licensing Leadership Summit.
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Moped gang threaten cashiers at supermarkets in Belsize Park and Kilburn
Two attacks on shop staff within 15 minutes
05 December, 2017 — By William McLennan
MOPED raiders armed with a large knife targeted two Camden supermarkets last night, threatening staff and demanding they empty the tills in a 15-minute crime spree.
In the first attack at around 9:20pm, a suspect jumped over the counter at a Tesco store in England’s Lane, Belsize Park, and waved the knife at staff before making off on the back of a moped with handfuls of cash.
Around 15 minutes later it is believed the same men repeated the crime at a store in Kilburn High Road, again threatening staff until they opened the tills.
One customer at the England’s Lane Tesco, who asked not to be named, said: “I was at the till and my items had just been bagged up when this guy in a grey tracksuit and hoody and dark mask jumped over the till and took out a kitchen knife, it was about 20cm.
“He was swinging it at the cashier and telling them to open the till. The cashiers tried to confine him to the area behind the counter. One cashier threw a plastic crate at the guy, but he kept on swinging the knife at them, threatening to stab them.”
She said that most customers were able to flee the shop while the robbery was still in process, adding: “Everyone calmly exited. It was a very British situation.”
Detectives believe the two robberies are linked. No arrests have been made.
Concerns have previously been raised about the increasingly violent attacks that in recent weeks have seen hammer-wielding moped robbers target customers in cafés and bars.
Labour Assembly Member Andrew Dismore told police chiefs at City Hall last month: “The concern I have is we have now seen this new trend of business premises, shops, cafés, being besieged, broken into and stormed by moped-enabled villains.
“It seems to me that the moped thieves are becoming more inventive, more aggressive, more brazen, more violent and consequently as this constituent indicates, more frightening.”


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BattleTech Kickstarter Announced for Fall 2015
Hot off the success of their previous Kickstarter, Shadowrun Hong Kong, Hairbrained Schemes has announced plans to launch a new Kickstarter campaign for BATTLETECH. Jordan Weisman, creator of BattleTech and MechWarrior, is excited to bring this mech franchise back to the turn-based PC genre for the first time in over two decades.
Steeped in the feudal political intrigue of the BattleTech universe, the game will feature an open-ended Mercenaries-style campaign that blends RPG ‘Mech and MechWarrior management with modern turn-based tactics.
Shadowrun Hong Kong is set to launch on August 20, 2015. BattleTech will begin its Kickstarter campaign sometime in the fall.
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My sense is, if it’s a consumer product at Google that’s not making money, unless it’s going to get to 100 million users it’s not worth doing.Early Google Reader product manager Nick Baum • Discussing why Google likely killed the product. Another readon why it took a hit? Most likely, Google didn’t want to invest anything extra into the product, which may have exposed Google to any number of future privacy lawsuits regarding compliance issues. (That’s something startups don’t have to worry about to such a high degree, but Google, with many millions of users, does.) And while the service was quite large, it likely wasn’t worth the investment to put anything further into it. In other cases where this happened, Google eventually spun off the service, but with Reader so intertwined into the Google experience, it would have been difficult. (ht The Verge)
We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months.Google is shutting down Google Reader, because they are stupid.
Our partners and users do not have the right to take down videos from YouTube unless they contain content which is copyright infringing, which is why we have reinstated the videos.A statement from Google • Regarding the reinstatement of a fan-shot video NASCAR took down Saturday, using YouTube’s DMCA copyright claims—which they claimed they did in an effort to respect the privacy of those injured. In other words, Google totally overruled NASCAR in the case, which, according to PaidContent’s Mathew Ingram, is relatively rare, as Google often has little recourse in such cases due to the way the Digital Millennium Copyright Act works. “The fact that Google acted quickly to put the content back up is admirable,” he explains, “but it shouldn’t have to do this, and there are no doubt many other important cases in which it hasn’t that don’t involve something as attention-getting as a race-car crash.” Daytona International Speedway, meanwhile, managed to repair the damaged section of fence in time for Sunday’s race.


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The business, owned by Magaly Jarrin, provides translations and wire transactions, and sells international products, apparel, spices, CDs, DVDs, food and drinks.
The majority of the products are from Ecuador and Peru.
Hours of operation are Mondays through Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sundays from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
For more information, call (860) 488-9515.
�Dental Associates, which has offices in New Milford, Danbury and Newtown, has announced the addition of Dr. Colleen L. Catera.
Dr. Catera will join the Danbury office.
The dentist formerly practiced in another dental office in Danbury.
In addition to her clinical skills, Dr. Catera has extensive experience as a managing clinical director overseeing the operation of several dental offices.
�Cruise Holidays, which has an office in New Milford, has announced the results of the 2008 Cruise Holidays Travel Trends Survey.
The survey shows customers are continuing to flock to the Caribbean, particularly taking seven-day Western Caribbean cruises, and the average cost per person per day for a 12-day Mediterranean cruise is $269.
The survey tracked actual bookings of Cruise Holidays stores in the U.S. and Canada, made through Dec. 31, 2007, with a sail date in 2008.
It also included supplemental information provided by Cruise Holidays' franchise owners and frontline agents.
The top cruise destinations for 2008 and the percentage of bookings are as follows, with the destinations 2007 ranking noted in parantheses:
Caribbean, 42.8 percent (1); Alaska, 15.5 percent (2); Mexican Riviera, 8.5 percent (3); Europe, Mediterranean, 7.9 percent (4); Hawaii, 4.4 percent (5); Bermuda, 3.6 percent (6); Panama Canal, 3.2 percent (7); Europe, Baltic, 2.3 percent (9); Trans-Atlantic, 2 percent (10); and New England/Maritime Canada, 1.8 percent (8).
The survey shows 2008 emerging destinations include South America, 22.9 percent; Australia/New Zealand, 10.1 percent; China/Asia, 9.2 percent; river cruising, 8.3 percent; Baltic, 5.5 percent.
The Business Buzz is a Spectrum feature aimed at giving local businesses a chance to announce openings, anniversaries, personnel changes and other news.
Information for Business Buzz should be mailed or dropped off to Deborah Rose at The Greater New Milford Spectrum, 45B Main St., New Milford, CT 06776; faxed to Ms. Rose at (860) 350-6794; or e-mailed to firstname.lastname@example.org.
For more information or to request coverage of a major business event, call Ms. Rose at (860) 355-7324.


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The number of Australian businesses adopting teleworking has increased despite restrictions around COVID-19 starting to ease into 2021, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) revealed.
The ABS said 30 percent of employing Australian businesses reported that they had staff currently teleworking, up from 20 percent before the COVID-19 restrictions, but also down from 43 percent reported in September 2020. The data was collected between 14 April and 21 April 2021.
Of the businesses that had staff teleworking prior to COVID-19, 27 percent increased the proportion of staff teleworking and 33 percent increased the frequency of staff teleworking.
Businesses listed under “Information Media and Telecommunications” increased the proportion of staff teleworking by 14 percent and the frequency by 13 percent. For those that already had teleworking staff before COVID-19, the proportion increased 57 percent and frequency was up 54 percent.
Among all businesses, larger ones were twice as likely as small businesses to have introduced teleworking in response to COVID-19 (40 percent compared to 21 percent). Of those already working remotely, large businesses were also more likely to have increased the proportion of staff teleworking (83 percent compared to 23 percent) as well as frequency (81 percent compared to 30 percent).
Most of the companies also reported they expect to have staff teleworking on a long-term basis, at 80 percent of the businesses with staff currently teleworking.
Among those businesses, most have reported the arrangements will stay the same (60 percent), with some expecting to see a decrease (19 percent) and completely return to the office (9 percent). Only 1 percent expected the teleworking to increase, while another 11 percent were unsure.
The ABS also collected the companies’ reported benefits of having staff teleworking, including improved staff wellbeing (45 percent); reduced overheads (27 percent); increased productivity (26 percent); improved staff retention (18 percent); and a broader recruitment pool (6 percent).
Also surveyed among companies were supply chain disruptions, with 30 percent reporting supply chain disruptions to varying extents, ranging from having some delays to being unable to obtain certain items and having a significant impact on revenue.
Most companies reported being affected to a small extent (57 percent), while 37 percent had a greater effect on their operations. Three percent said they were not affected at all.
ABS head of industry statistics John Shepherd said businesses are responding to these supply chain disruptions by changing ordering processes (62 percent), changing the way products or services are provided to customers (41 percent) and changing suppliers (39 percent).
For businesses listed under “Information Media and Telecommunications”, 25 percent reported they are currently experiencing supply chain disruptions, and of those 42 percent were affected by a small extent while 58 percent were affected by a great extent.
Finally, the ABS also reported the businesses that have been affected by COVID safe controls, including additional cleaning requirements, provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) to staff and physical distancing of customers and employees.
The report said 64 percent of the companies were adversely affected by these controls, while 21 percent were being impacted by at least one of these controls to a great extent.


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“What happens when all of Walmart’s inventory is available at your doorstep within an hour?” That question, posed by Gray Taylor, executive director of Conexxus, in a recent interview succinctly summarizes the daunting competition convenience stores face as both the retail and restaurant landscapes continue to evolve.
"Industry standards are a win for both suppliers and merchants," stated Linda Toth, managing director of Conexxus. "Using a 'write once, implement many' philosophy for base-line functionality and connectivity, suppliers can focus on innovation and other differentiating factors.
TruAge™ makes it easier and more accurate to verify a customer’s age when purchasing age-restricted products, and at the same time makes identity theft difficult. A customer’s date of birth and photo are used to verify identity. When confirming age and identity, one-time-use tokens are placed on the customer’s mobile device to confirm legal age to purchase age-restricted products.
"I am forever grateful for the technical knowledge I gained through my early days of involvement with PCATS [The Petroleum Convenience Alliance for Technology Standards], and then for the leadership of the organization to bring about change and form Conexxus to become a broader educator, industry advocate, and a place for us to exchange ideas with one another," Collupy said
“Becoming a Conexxus Diamond Sponsor is a strong endorsement of a petroleum industry group that we very much value being a part of,” said Mako Networks President Simon Gamble. “Their ecosystem of suppliers, vendors, brands and dealers working together to devise standards and promote innovative technology that’s easier to deploy and support in the C-Store environment is very much aligned with our mission in the space.”
Conexxus membership will recognize Ed Collupy, retiree from W. Capra Consulting Group, for his service and dedication to the industry by inducting him into the Conexxus Technology Hall of Fame. “I am forever grateful for the technical knowledge I gained through my early days of involvement with PCATS, and then for the leadership of the organization to bring about change and form Conexxus to become a broader educator, industry advocate, and a place for us to exchange ideas with one another,” said Ed on receiving the honor.
Given the transition's complexity, it's understandable if fuel retailers will not meet the April 17 deadline. But it's important not to be paralyzed by analysis. ...Still, industry technology trade organization Conexxus reports nearly 40% of fuel retailers will fail to achieve full compliance across their sites...
While many have used the five and a half years since the mandate was issued to install EMV readers or are in the process of complying, 31% of c-stores have not upgraded a single pump, according to the Fall 2020 Conexxus EMV Survey. With the deadline fast approaching, here are the nuts and bolts of the new liability rules, how to achieve compliance and how to use the EMV upgrade to boost value and even revenue.
The migration to chip at the pump is also still top of mind for the payments industry. According to the September 2020 Conexxus EMV Preparedness Survey, 14% of gas station owners said that all of their sites were already compliant. While 43% of smaller and independent gas stations with one to 10 sites have no EMV terminals installed yet, no survey respondents said they expected to have zero sites compliant by the liability shift date, April 2021.
The mission of the Conexxus Forecourt Payment Terminal Group is to develop and adopt standards to facilitate the integration of payment terminals on the forecourt. “The released Conexxus forecourt OPT standard is a clear example of how the industry can come together to quickly solve industry issues through contributing the base data standards as Dover Fueling Solutions has done, and Conexxus working groups dedicated to getting these enabling standards in the field,” said Conexxus Executive Director Gray Taylor.


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The Taiwan-based company wants to bring in more engineers and other professionals. The move isn't to help Apple but rather to help itself.
Imagination, purveyor of graphics chip tech to Apple, talks about the future of its GPUs with CNET.
A South Korean manufacturer is making samples of an Apple TV set based on OLED technology, a report claims.
The IPO for the world's largest smartphone display supplier did not go swimmingly on Wednesday.
The overall goal is to catch anyone using a fake or borrowed ID, but more specifically, Pegatron wants to catch underage workers before they reach the factory.
Are factory conditions at Pegatron responsible for five worker deaths? The company says no, but watchdog group China Labor Watch is concerned.
The German company, already with significant experience in car-control systems, expects cars to take over driving duties partially in 2016 and all the way by 2020.
Biel Crystal Manufactory -- which counts Apple, Samsung, HTC, and others as clients -- violates workers' rights, a Hong Kong rights group claims.
Despite expectations to the contrary, the South Korean electronics giant is growing as a display supplier to Apple, says NPD DisplaySearch.
Apple is not getting enough displays for its iPad Mini Retina from Sharp, according to an Asia-based report.


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WASHINGTON -- Legislation to renew a program of benefits for the long-term unemployed has taken another step toward likely Senate approval. That comes despite complaints from Republicans that Democrats are refusing to allow votes on possible changes.
Wednesday's vote was 61-38, one more than the 60 needed for the bill to advance in the Senate. Another test is expected later in the week, to be followed by passage.
The bill would renew benefits for the long-term unemployed, generally workers who have been off the job for more than 26 weeks. Supporters say 2.7 million workers have been affected since the program expired at the end of 2013.
Democrats began a drive to renew the program in January.
Republicans have filed dozens of proposed changes that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has refused to permit to come to a vote.
Schlafly beer trademark flap headed to trial
ST. LOUIS -- A family dispute between a prominent conservative activist in St. Louis and her beer-making nephew is headed to federal trademark court.
Phyllis Schlafly opposes her nephew Tom's efforts to trademark the name "Schlafly." The St. Louis Brewery LLC was co-founded by Tom Schlafly and has produced beer under that name since 1991.
The. St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied the brewer's request for a pretrial judgment and instead is scheduling the case for trial.
Phyllis Schlafly is a nationally known conservative activist and lawyer who worked to help defeat the proposed Equal Rights Amendment.
Allergy sufferers: FDA OKs hay fever tablet
TRENTON, N.J. -- The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that it has approved the first tablet in the U.S. for gradually reducing hay fever symptoms, an alternative to months of weekly doctor visits for uncomfortable allergy-desensitizing shots.
Oralair was approved for patients ages 10 through 65. It's made by France's Stallergenes SA, a leader in immunotherapy medicines that dissolve under the tongue.
Oralair tablets are to be taken daily starting four months before grass pollen season to reduce allergic reactions to the five most common U.S. grass types.
BlackBerry ends U.S. deal with T-Mobile
NEW YORK -- BlackBerry is ending its U.S. licensing deal with T-Mobile, saying the companies no longer have complementary strategies.
The disconnect appears to be related to a T-Mobile promotion that BlackBerry took issue with in March.
In a blog post in February, BlackBerry CEO and Executive Chair John Chen said T-Mobile had emailed an offer targeting BlackBerry users on its network asking them to switch their BlackBerry devices to a competitor's smart phone. Chen said that BlackBerry had not been told about T-Mobile's plans in advance and thanked its customers for expressing their displeasure.
German brewers hit with $319M cartel fines
BERLIN -- Germany's antitrust authority has fined a group of brewers 231.2 million euros ($319 million) for allegedly fixing the price of beer, the second round of punishments it has made in the case.
The Federal Cartel Office said Wednesday it imposed fines on six companies: Radeberger, the German unit of Danish brewer Carlsberg, Bolten, Erzquell, Frueh and Gaffel. Also fined were the regional breweries' association in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, and seven individuals who weren't identified.
The office had already announced in January fines totaling 106.5 million euros against another five companies over price fixing between 2006 and 2008. Those five breweries reached a settlement with authorities, a move that reduced their punishment.
-- from wire reports


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Prudential Downgrades First Chicago to 'Hold'
First Chicago Corp. shares were downgraded Friday by Prudential Securities Inc. in a sign of Wall Street wariness about the high-growth credit card sector of the banking industry.
George M. Salem, Prudential's banking analyst, cut his investment rating to "hold" from "buy." He is worried that intense competition will erode card-related earnings, which are nearly two-thirds of the company's total earnings.
"The credit card is too big a piece of the First Chicago pie," he said, noting that "this is the highest percentage by far of credit card earnings at any of the 40 largest bank-holding companies."
Cards Remain Strong
The downgrade of First Chicago shares represents a sharp detour from the conventional wisdom, since credit cards remain one of the strongest of banking business lines.
Booming card programs have boosted share prices of such specialists as MBNA Corp. and First USA Inc. to multiples significantly higher than the equities of conventional banks.
Credit card revenues have also boosted returns for the likes of First Chicago and Signet Banking Corp. Signet last week announced a plan to spin off its card business, which now dwarfs its other business lines.
Concern Over Rates
Recently, however, some concern has emerged about the impact of rising interest rates and competition on the profitability of the business. And with the market for consumer credit cards reaching maturity, investors are beginning to wonder how long the boom can last.
Competitive pressures and rising interest rates have undermined the stocks of major credit card issuers, most notably shares of three speciality card issuers regarded on Wall Street as "pure plays" in the business.
First USA, based in Dallas, has slumped 19.1% in price since the end of April while MBNA, in Newark, Del., is off 8%. For Avanta Corp., which is headquartered in Horsham, Pa., class A shares are down 14.6% and its class B shares are off 15.4%.
Ranking Has Been High
A year ago, these stocks ranked among the best performers in the market because of their advanced business strategies and strong growth prospects.
"Their price-to-earnings multiples had gotten elevated. Investors began to worry about the continuation of high growth of card loans and earnings per share," Mr. Salem said.
Mr. Salem noted that First Chicago's average card lending rate of 17% ranks among the highest in the industry, marking its customers as likely targets for sophisticated low-rate competitors, he said.
'Most Profitable Business'
Mr. Salem views this "lending rate risk" as akin to credit risk. Its impact could be felt even more quickly in the hotly competitive card arena, he said.
"In the final analysis, cards are the most profitable business in banking and all banks are scrambling to increase their outstandings," he said. That has pushed down introductory "teaser" card rates as low as 7% for customers willing to switch issuers.
Other analysts don't share Mr. Salem's concerns about the Chicago bank.
"Would you rather invest in a company that earns 30% on equity on 50% of its business or see them take that equity and invest it somewhere else and get back 8%?" asked Lawrence W. Cohn of PaineWebber Inc.
Neutral Rating on Shares
"We're not recommending First Chicago right now because we consider their stock fairly valued, but we think they do a terrific job in the card business," he said. Mr. Cohn has a neutral rating on the shares.
A spokeswoman for First Chicago would not comment on Mr. Salem's rating change. However, she reiterated the bank's position that it has no plans to spin off a portion of its card operations.
Mr. Salem believes First Chicago should be "viewed and valued more as a card company than a banking company" because of the huge part of earnings accounted for by its cards.
Gradual Erosion Seen
But the analyst also emphasized that "few card businesses are run as well" as First Chicago's, and that "the erosion we have seen in card profitability thus far has been gradual."
Mr. Salem sliced his earnings estimate next year for the bank to $6.15 from $7. He said he did not expect much downward pressure on the stock, which should be supported by a 4% yield and a price equal to a low 7.6 times next year's expected earnings.


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El-Quseir mentioned that Egypt is exporting its surplus of agricultural merchandise in return for international foreign money, including that citrus, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, strawberries, candy potatoes, beans, garlic, and watermelon topped the checklist of exported merchandise.
He mentioned that the whole agriculture exports reached practically 1.5 million tonnes, along with practically 747,000 tonnes of contemporary potatoes to occupy second place in agricultural exports after citrus.
Annual exports of Egyptian meals elevated by 19 p.c in 2021, recording $4.1 billion, compared to $3.45 billion in 2020, Chairman of the Food Export Council Hany Barzy mentioned in February.
In August, the agriculture minister said that Egypt exports 350 completely different agriculture merchandise to greater than 150 international locations.
El-Quseir emphasised that agriculture is chargeable for the employment of 25 p.c of the nation’s labour pressure, including that the agriculture sector’s contribution elevated to greater than 15 p.c of Egypt’s GDP.


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Published on: June 29, 2015 | Last Updated: June 29, 2015 7:31 AM MDT
There’s a reason retailers from luxury auto vehicles to specialty stores want to open shop in Calgary — the region has the highest median family income of all major centres in Canada.
In recent years that has led to robust sales in the retail sector as well as in the housing market.
A report by Statistics Canada, released recently, said Calgary had the highest median total family income (before tax) of all census metropolitan areas in 2013 at $101,260, according to data derived from personal income tax returns.
Calgary was followed by Edmonton ($98,480) and Ottawa — Gatineau ($96,710). These three have composed the top three CMAs since 2009, said the federal agency Statistics Canada said that among census agglomerations (CAs), Wood Buffalo, Alberta ($181,240), had the highest median total family income, followed by Yellowknife, the Northwest Territories ($137,860).
“This ranking has not changed since 2010. These two CAs have had the highest median total family income since this data series became available at the CA geographic level in 2001,” added the federal agency.
Meanwhile, Statistics Canada also released on Monday a study on interprovincial employees in Canada — people who had paid employment in one province but maintained their permanent residence in another.
“The number of interprovincial employees working in Alberta reached 132,000 in 2008. The number declined to about 100,000 in 2009 and 2010, and then rebounded to 111,000 in 2011. Interprovincial employees in Alberta received 3.7 per cent of total wages and salaries paid in the province that year,” said the federal agency.


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Now in its fourth year, the Ora King Awards are back in 2016, with a new category specifically targeting Australian chefs.
The new Best Ora King Dish Australia category joins the program’s other awards:
- Best Ora King Ambassador New Zealand
- Best Ora King Ambassador International
- Best Ora King Dish New Zealand
- Best Ora King Dish Australia
- Best Ora King Dish USA
The awards recognise the efforts of chefs working with Ora King, The New Zealand King Salmon Co’s foodservice brand, produced exclusively for fine dining restaurants.
The Ambassador awards are decided solely by Ora King’s global team, while chefs are required to enter the Best Dish categories online, with final judging being conducted by a panel of industry experts.
During the entry period, diners in Australia can nominate their favourite Ora King dish via social media. Public nominations can be made via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram by uploading an image of the Ora King dish with the hashtag #OraKingAwards and including the name of the dish, the chef and the restaurant.
Entries are open until 31 July with judging commencing on 1 August.
The Australian semi-finalist dishes will be tasted and judged according to the following criteria:
- Dish composition
- Execution and technique
- X Factor
The three Australian Best Dish finalists win an all-expenses paid trip to New Zealand, joining chefs from the USA and around New Zealand on a bespoke culinary program.
Finalists will be announced on Monday 19 September and the overall winners are announced at the Ora King Awards ceremony and luncheon on 11 October.


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What do Ashkon Davaran (the San Francisco Giants viral video guy) and venture capitalist Larry Marcus have in common? Both were part of the divergent crowd at SF MusicTech Summit, the annual gathering of technologists and musicians, held yesterday at the Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco.
At the conference, Marcus, managing director at Walden Venture Capital, says that he is a huge believer in mobile music, and that he’s excited to see an explosion take place in social media because “music is such a social activity.”
“Music is a social and we’re going to see an explosion of more mobile music startups, especially those with social components,” Marcus said.
Music has already proven a popular business model for Marcus, who said to me at the cocktail party after the conference that he is probably the one VC with the most music-related deals in his portfolio, although he prefers to think of his deals as more mobile or social oriented. Marcus’s firm is an investor in Pandora, a provider of Internet radio services , and SoundHound, which develops a mobile app for music search. Marcus is also an angel investor and a director in RootMusic, which helps bands setup Facebook fan pages.
“Social networking is so darn important [for the music industry],” agreed Jeff Price, founder and CEO of TuneCore, a distributor of digital music and which is backed by Opus Capital. “With social networking, bands have the ability to reach millions of users.”
Both Price and Marcus participated on a panel called What Works at SF MusicTech conference. (The conference had about 800 registrants this year.) Though the two panelists are in agreement over the rise in social media and its importance in the music industry, the question is whether giant music companies are ready to embrace the technology.
“The music labels should do what they are doing in reverse. instead of saying, ‘Raise your venture capital and give me the advances,’ the music labels should turn around and give advances to the startups,” Marcus said.


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Bhushan is a FinTech enthusiast and holds a good flair in understanding financial markets. His interest in economics and finance draw his attention towards the new emerging Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency markets. He is continuously in a learning process and keeps himself motivated by sharing his acquired knowledge. In free time he reads thriller fictions novels and sometimes explore his culinary skills.
The founder of Hashed is looking for his new big investments in GameFi and believes that the virtual gaming world will unlock new economic opportunities as well as job opportunities in the market.
South Korea-based blockchain VC firm Hashed is looking to make a comeback by launching its third venture capital fund in the first half of 2023. Hashed founder and CEO Simon Seojoon Kim recently confirmed the news with Bloomberg.
As per the report, Kim is looking to set up investments in GameFi projects. This typically includes blockchain-based games that allow players to own assets within them. Kim is popular in the crypto investing world for his investments in popular startups like The Sandbox and Sky Mavis.
However, Kim faced a major setback with the collapse of the Terra ecosystem earlier this year in May 2022. In the early days of the project Terra LUNA, Kim bought 30 million LUNA tokens and lost most of his investments during the crash.
As of LUNA’s peak price on April 5, Kim’s LUNA holdings would be worth $3.6 billion. Just before a month of its crash, the total market value of LUNA had soared to a staggering $41 billion.
But despite this major setback, Kim remains overall bullish on the crypto space. Thus, he noted that he will continue to invest in some appealing crypto projects in the market. Last December 2021, Hashed raised $240 billion won. The company has already invested half of these funds raised, so far in 2022. Speaking to Bloomberg Kim said:
“In the tech sector, there’s no such thing as a portfolio that guarantees success, and we make our investments with that in mind. We believe in the community’s growth, and that has never changed.”
However, the overall VC investments in the crypto space have turned south. During the second quarter of 2022, funding in crypto firms dropped to the lowest.
Hashed Comeback: CEO Bets Big on Virtual Gaming World
Hashed CEO Simon Seojoon Kim remains very much bullish on the virtual gaming world. He believes that this industry will become increasingly connected with the real economy.
Gaming powered by blockchain and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will unleash a new gaming economy allowing players to seamlessly purchase assets in the virtual world. Kim said that could create “a vast number of jobs as assets are exchanged between the virtual and real worlds”.
Following the Terra LUNA crash in May, South Korean prosecutors unleashed a major whip on local exchanges. Interestingly, some of the local newspapers had also accused Kim of hyping the LUNA token. Some of “the assets that we invest in are experimental, and we have always kept it a rule to not make any trade recommendations,” Kim said.


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SPACs RAISE RECORD $65.7 BILLION –
Retailers can’t count on Santa
SHARP DOWNTURN IN HOLIDAY SPENDING PREDICTED
The annual holiday spending survey conducted by pollster Gallup shows that Americans will be spending an average of $805 on Christmas gifts this year, well below last year’s estimate of $942.
The survey, conducted in October, is bad news for retailers, already battered by COVID-restricted shutdowns. Gallup also reports that more than twice as many people polled (28%) say they are spending less this year, versus those who will be spending more (12%). This is the lowest October holiday spending projection that Gallup has measured since 2016.
When comparing retail sales for prior years, Gallup notes that “holiday sales typically increase year-over-year, rising 3.3% on average since 2000, with sales up more than 5% in strong years and around 2% in weak years, according to figures compiled by the National Retail Federation. Since 2000, holiday sales have only been worse in 2008 and 2009, the result of the global financial crisis.
An Audited Legacy of Quality
Weinberg & Company is consistently at the very top when it comes to the quality of our work– just check our legacy of stellar PCAOB inspection reports.
We thought we were building a leading, international accounting firm by providing Big 4 expertise with personal service at reasonable fees.
Turns out we were also building “An Audited Legacy of Quality.”
“We believe your capital is best deployed for your company’s growth, not for runaway accounting fees.”


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Corning Marks 40 Years of Clean Air Technologies
Corning Inc. recently announced it has celebrated the 40-year anniversary of its automotive ceramic substrate business and the construction of the business’ manufacturing facility in Erwin, N.Y. Corning joined the campaign for cleaner air in the early 1970s with the invention of an economical cellular ceramic substrate used in catalytic converters of automobiles, buses, and trucks. When coated with a catalyst, the ceramic substrate converts exhaust gases into harmless gases and water.
In 1973, Corning built its automotive plant (now known as Erwin Manufacturing) to produce these ceramic substrates. Today, they are a standard in the industry and found in the majority of the world’s automotive catalytic converters.
“Our substrates have helped capture billons of tons of air pollutants over the past 40 years,” said Hal Nelson, division vice president and business director of Corning Environmental Technologies. “As a result, millions of people worldwide breathe cleaner air. Employees at Erwin Manufacturing, and throughout our Environmental Technologies division, should be proud of their role in developing a business that helps improve the health of our communities.”
Corning has reportedly produced more than 1.5 billion light-duty substrates to help control mobile emissions globally since the first shipment from Erwin.
For more information, visit www.corning.com.


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The US telecom industry is now a vast empire, with most of it controlled by four houses.
Drawing parallels to the HBO epic Game of Thrones, these three strongholds are Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint.
AT&T is clearly House Lannister. With the resources historically at its disposal and its long history and usurping its competition, the lion has grown old but is still relevant.
Debatably, with its dragon-like market disrupting capabilities, Verizon is House Targaryen. Like the episodes that feature the dragons, Verizon might be quite rewarding to its viewers (stockholders), being among one of the top dividend payers in the market.
AT&T is right behind it and looks a little healthier, to be honest. As they say, a Lannister always pays his debt.
But it can be argued that the underdog T-Mobile seems to have crept on the historic champion and competitor duality of Verizon and AT&T. Like House Stark, with a loyal following and many surprises (in the market), they are slowly gaining ground.
While much of the US (like King’s Landing) might be accustomed to just two big names fighting it out everywhere, in most places more players are always a good thing (or else, things like the Red Wedding can occur). Especially, in telecom.
With both Sprint and T-Mobile forcing Verizon and AT&T to reintroduce unlimited plans early last year, 2017 ended with the two finally getting a grip on the shoddy speed issue that came with higher consumption.
Sprint is like House Baratheon. As I mentioned before, when Sprint joined hands with Stark-like T-Mobile, they did achieve some magic (much like what happened in the North.)
As the new year/season begins, all four operators seem to be offering competitive service. But what is really to be noted is that this helped the 4G LTE technology to spread throughout the nation. (much like the awareness of white walkers last season.)
Collectively, these four telecom ‘houses’ account for over 411 million connections, over 98 percent of the nationwide total.
The coming year could be exciting for the telecom sector, especially for Verizon. Historically, the big red is known for its disruptive introduction to the market, the latest being leading the LTE switch. (After all, the Lannisters did finish off the Tyrell and the Sand dynasty.)
Sprint might still be falling short of the prime three, but this year has just begun. When last year began, T-Mobile was just starting to go neck to neck with the two giants, and Sprint might emulate it. (Except I don’t see any Baratheon ever getting back up on the show.) However, unlike the Baratheons, Sprint has had enough time to prepare.
According to the FCC, the mean LTE download speed jumped more than 60% to 23.5 Mbps in the first half of FY17, from 14.4 Mbps in the first half of FY14. Much like the spread of the show.
“Although fifth generation (5G) cellular networking standards have yet to be finalized, several wireless service providers already have begun 5G trials,” read the latest FCC report on innovation and new technologies in the sector.
Can’t wait for the white-walker invasion, especially with their new undead dragon, honestly!
SIGIL COURTESY: KatSy0 on DeviantArt.
Discount store chain Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG) will be reporting third-quarter results next week. Operating nearly 20,000 stores across the US, it is one of the largest supermarket chains
Shares of Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR) were up over 1% on Thursday. The stock has dropped 13% year-to-date. The discount retailer delivered third-quarter 2023 earnings results that did not
The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) reported its third quarter 2023 earnings results today. Total company sales were $34 billion compared to $34.2 billion for the same period last year. Identical sales


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Kyocera DuraPro Coming To U.S. Cellular
U.S. Cellular today announced that it will carry the Kyocera DuraPro starting February 27th for $150 before $50 mail-in rebate. The DuraPro - already offered by Sprint as the DuraXT - is water, shock, dust, and vibration resistant.
Kyocera kicked out another rugged flip phone for Sprint and called it the DuraXT. This DirectConnect-capable walkie-talkie device takes a beating and keeps competing.
Jun 10, 2012
Sprint today began offering the Kyocera DuraXT, a rugged clamshell that joins Sprint's line of tough-as-nails push-to-talk phones. The DuraXT uses Sprint's CDMA-based PTT service, called DirectConnect.
Jun 19, 2018
Yahoo today relaunched its mobile email product for smartphones on several fronts. First, the company has wholly rebuilt its mobile web app.
Nov 15, 2018
Kyocera and Verizon Wireless today announced the DuraForce Pro 2, a ruggedized smartphone that targets construction and public safety workers. The DuraForce Pro 2 is fully ruggedized thanks to its hard rubber exterior, meeting the mil-spec 810G rating.
Apr 16, 2020
Verizon is launching the Kyocera DuraXV Extreme, an update to the rugged DuraXV LTE flip phone that launched in 2017. The new model is washable (using a mild dish cleaner) and can be disinfected using alcohol (70% solution) or cleaning wipes.
No ptt ??


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The Chilterns, one of London's private luxury apartment projects unveiled this week, will come with its own private art gallery. The project located at 24 Paddington Street will also have a signature restaurant, a 24-hour hotel-style concierge service, a gymnasium and sauna as well as a private cinema.
The art gallery, which is part of the building's lobby, is set to have original pictures of the locality by fashion and portrait photographer David Bailey. While the show residence has 10 specially commissioned David Bailey prints that are framed, one can find an additional 16 of his frames on display in the gallery, which are all curated by Bailey himself. "[This gallery is] one of the most exciting and unique features of the Chilterns" said Stephen Conway, CEO of Galliard Homes, one of the developers of this project.
"The best way to see a place is to photograph it. You don't always see a place, a person, a park until you look at a photograph. So the new collection of work at The Chilterns provides my modest look at Marylebone. Keep looking until you really begin to see," said Bailey.
The Chilterns, which is 95% complete, comes with a price tag ranging between £3.8m (€4.77m, $5.44m) and £7.7m for a three-bedroom apartment. While Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had considered buying an apartment here in 2014, some of its current owners include royals from Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
The unveiling of the swanky apartments comes at a time when a recent Lloyds Bank study has said London ranked third in the list of least affordable UK cities for purchasing a house. Andrew Mason, Lloyds Bank mortgage products director, had said: "House price rises in the past three years have risen more steeply than average wage growth, making it more expensive to buy a home in the majority of UK cities."
The average price of a house in London is also said to be 10 times the average salary, because of which only 26% of people aged between 20 and 39 years are expected to own a house by 2025. This is in contrast to the year 2000, when 60% of them owned a home, according to The Independent.


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Toyota's hydrogen-powered car coming in 2015
LAS VEGAS, USA - Toyota's "car of the future," a hydrogen-powered, fuel cell vehicle (FCV) is one year away from becoming a reality.
The Japan-based car manufacturer unveiled the new concept car, a 4-seat metallic blue sedan, at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show.
The concept car, called the Toyota FCV for now, is based on an FCV prototype that has been used by Toyota for extensive on-the-road testing in North America.
The FCV sedan contains two hydrogen tanks. Hydrogen is mixed with oxygen from the air to create electricity to power the car. The output – 100 kW of horse power – allows the car to go from 0-60 miles (0-100 km/h) in about 10 seconds. On a full charge the car gets a range of 300 miles (483 km). Its only emission is water vapor.
The hydrogen tanks can produce enough energy to theoretically power a house for a week. Engineers are working on creating an external box that could be used for this purpose.
The hydrogen tanks are connected to a fuel cell, then a boost converter, then an electric motor and power control unit – making up the power train.
Toyota has been investing in fuel cell R&D for almost two decades. The major hurdle is being able to get the vehicle down to a reasonable price. The company says it has dramatically reduced the cost to build a fuel cell power train and vehicle fuel tanks. It will launch in 2015 with a 95% reduction in what it cost to build the car in 2012.
The car is set to be released first in California because the state has committed to spending US$200M to set up at least 20 new hydrogen refueling stations by 2015 and up to a hundred by 2024.
Unlike a typical electric car, refueling a hydrogen tank only takes 3-5 minutes. But unlike electric cars which you can plug in anywhere, hydrogen powered cars can only be refueled at refueling stations.
Toyota is working with the University of California Irvine’s Advanced Power and Energy Program (APEP) to help map potential locations for new hydrogen fueling stations.
Their model, which assumes users want refilling stations that are at most 6-minutes away, has produced a map that requires only 68 stations in San Francisco, Los Angeles Orange and San Diego counties, and can service about 10,000 vehicles. - Rappler.com


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PKR has unveiled a new Facebook app designed to coincide with the start of the World Series of Poker. The Fantasy Poker League app allows you to pick a team of 10 players competing in the WSOP and you can pit it against your friends. Players score points depending on how good their team happens to perform and you can even be in with the chance to win an iPad 3. Very good idea except for one snag – there are limits on who your eight can be. Namely that you can only pick one hot female poker player. One! You’re also forced to pick one PKR Pro, two legends and then four “others”. Looks like cruising to victory with Hinksy’s Hunnies is well and truly outta the window!
Betfair are following suit by launching a Euro Team Selector Facebook app designed to attract fans to the brand ahead of the upcoming tournament. The application will run via the group’s Facebook page and gives you a chance to select your team for every single game in the tournament. Roy Hodgson eat your heart out. Chris Harrison, head of UK acquisition at Betfair, told The Drum: “We wanted to create an app that would create excitement and engage our existing fan base, as well as interest new fans in the Betfair brand by bringing them to our Facebook page.”
He continued: “It allows our customers to communicate to one another, strengthening our online community, giving them a chance to show off their football expertise.”
BetVictor has appointed VCCP to handle its advertising account. CampaignLive reports that BetVictor’s new partner was chosen after a four-way pitch managed by OysterCatchers.
The app, created in association with Essence, also lets your predict other things including goal scorers, winners and yellow cards.
With social gambling set to see huge growth over the next few years these are both very savvy moves by betfair and PKR.


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Technology is changing most things in our daily lives at a searing pace and the retail power industry is no exception – as a new phone app is proving.
Globug’s app solves the old problem of assessing power usage and billing for it. Some parts of the industry still have the old system of a meter with a spinning disc which is regularly read by an inspector – but that is fast dying out.
Smart meters, which electronically measure usage, mean consumers are charged on actual consumption rather than an estimate based on past usage. The data flow provided by smart meters enabled Globug to develop its app – allowing users to monitor power usage at home and to top up their pre-pay system so they always know what they are spending.
If they see their power is getting low, they can pre-pay by debit card, credit card or internet banking – all through their smart phone app.
That, according to Luke Blincoe, general manager of Globug, fits in not only with the company’s technology drive but its accent on lower-income households – often caught out by the post-pay system if they cannot pay by the due date, triggering extra costs and sometimes starting a cycle of energy debt.
Blincoe says Globug’s pre-pay scheme is already the fastest-growing electricity retailer in New Zealand so far this year, topping the charts compiled by the New Zealand Electricity Authority for March, May and June and across the entire calendar year so far. The company now has 29,000 customers across New Zealand (up from 18,500 last year) – and is already moving on from its first customer interface, an in-home display unit indicating account balance and using coloured lights to signal when pre-paid power is running out.
The unit showed green when power is connected and the account is in surplus, orange when it is running low and red when it is about to run out. Now the app takes care of all that. Consumers can also sign up for a text or an email when their power is running low and the same information is also available on a website.
“We are seeing steep growth in people using the app on their smart phones,” says Blincoe. “It’s grown from about 3000 customers in January to about 11,000 now.
“Our customers are telling us they really value having that information at their fingertips when they want it, how they want it. It’s the modern way to work with them.”
Globug is also leading the way internationally. Even markets like Ireland – where about 40 per cent of all power is consumed on a pre-pay basis – doesn’t have an app developed like Globug’s.
“Most people think that a smart phone app would not apply to lower income groups but the plain fact is that the vast majority of our customers have smart phones. We’ve just done some research which shows this is increasingly how customers want to get their information and control their energy service – even if just to look at usage and trends over a daily, weekly or monthly period.
“So we are pretty sure that, in a fairly short time, practically all our customers will be running their power accounts over their phone – monitoring, assessing and paying for their power.”
Globug says many consumers can make savings by switching to their pre-paid system, up to as much as $300-$400 a year. That’s because Globug offers discounted prices to customers with community service cards, who pay 6.6 per cent less on average than other New Zealand consumers – but whose total savings are likely to be far greater. That’s because many power consumers pay their bills late, sparking those unwelcome extra charges.
Original post on NZ Herald


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Mobile computing, consisting of smartphones and tablets, has been the most exciting part of the computing landscape for the past several years and that promises to remain true in 2012. In fact, you could argue smartphones have replaced traditional PCs as the center of the technology market since smartphone sales overtook PC sales this year (even though the PC market continues to grow, albeit at a slower pace).
The past few years have seen some truly revolutionary steps: the acceptance of the smartphone, the introduction of the iPad and Android-based consumer tablets, and the introduction of LTE. Nonetheless, 2012 foreshadows more evolution.
Mobile operating systems have truly defined smartphones and tablets recently, and that's likely to stay the same. The first big change for next year should be the introduction of many more phones and tablets that run Android 4.0, known as Ice Cream Sandwich. The first phone based on this technology, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, is already out (here's my take), and a number of vendors have said some of their existing models will be upgraded to the new OS shortly. But 2012 is likely to see dozens of new phones and tablets all designed to run Android 4.0.
Microsoft's 2012 roadmap is also getting a lot of attention. For tablets, the company will push Windows 8, running on both traditional x86-based computers and on systems based on chips from ARM-based vendors Nvidia, Texas Instruments, and Qualcomm. Although it will run on desktops and traditional notebooks as well, Windows 8 seems very much optimized for tablets. For phones, we haven't seen many details yet, but Microsoft—which just shipped Windows Phone 7.5, known as Mango in October—is working on Windows Phone 8, called Apollo, for the later part of 2012. It may well have an interim release in between. The other OS vendors will be upgrading their systems, as well.
Research In Motion has promised a February update for its PlayBook tablet OS. That should include native email messaging and calendar clients. In the later part of 2012, RIM has promised a new OS, called BlackBerry OS 10, which combines features from the QNX-based PlayBook OS with the traditional BlackBerry ones. One particularly interesting feature promised is a "Player" that will allow some Android applications to run on BlackBerrys.
And finally, there's Apple, which, as usual, has remained very tight-lipped about its plans. The latest version of its mobile OS, iOS 5, shipped just this fall, so it would be surprising to see a major revision any time soon.
Networks and Screens
Verizon rolled out its 4G LTE service this year on a variety of phones and says its service now reaches over 186 million Americans. AT&T is in the process of rolling out its service and recently released its first LTE phones. Sprint, which has backed Wimax for 4G until now, has said it will be launching LTE in mid-2012. U.S. Cellular is also planning an LTE rollout. Of the major carriers, that leaves T-Mobile, which is promoting its HSPA+ network as 4G, as the only one without an LTE strategy.
As a result, we're likely to see a lot more LTE devices next year. So far, just about all the LTE phones and tablets run Android, but Nokia has promised an LTE Windows Phone in 2012 and other makers seem likely to follow. BlackBerry is expected to get LTE support with the BlackBerry 10 OS. Apple isn't talking, but everyone assumes LTE support is coming next year, as well.
Over the past few years, led by the iPhone 4's retina display, almost all smartphones have dramatically increased their screen resolutions. While tablets often have a higher resolution display, it is spread over a larger area so the pixel density has been notably less. In 2012, I expect many of the screen makers, and thus many of the tablet makers, to offer higher-density displays, both from traditional LCDs and Active Matrix OLED (AMOLED) screens.
Until a few years ago, no one outside of the industry cared which processors were running our mobile devices. Now, that has changed. Processors are routinely used to differentiate phones and tablets.
The vast majority of these devices run some version of the ARM architecture and the various makers of ARM-based chips compete, updating the number of cores, increasing performance and power efficiency, and enhancing integration.
Just about all of the major mobile chip vendors now have dual-core processors, but Nvidia has taken multi-processing to a new level. Its Tegra 3 chip, known as Kal-El, has four standard ARM Cortex-A9 cores plus an additional "companion core" that runs at low-power when the more powerful chips aren't needed. The Asus Transformer Prime pioneers the chip but Nvidia has said it expects new tablets and phones with Tegra 3 and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich to be out in the first quarter of 2012.
The advantage of this chip, Nvidia said, is that it allows higher-performance games and 1080p playback, all while using notably less power than its previous Tegra 2 dual-core processor. Sometime next year, the company plans an improved version known as "Tegra 3+," followed by a major upgrade known as "Wayne" in the second half of the year and a version with an integrated baseband processor known as "Grey" in 2013.
Next year, Qualcomm will introduce its Snapdragon S4 line. It will use a CPU core known as Krait, which combines the baseband processor (for controlling the radio) with the applications processor on a 28nm process and will also feature its Adreno graphics. This should include such things as integrated LTE support and lower power usage, along with notably higher performance. These will be dual-core processors with integrated basebands; Qualcomm will also offer a quad-core S4 application processor with no baseband for tablets and other mobile computing devices.
Texas Instruments' OMAP4 line has been chosen as the initial processor for the first Android 4.0 devices, as well as the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet, and has a big change planned for next year's OMAP5. This chip uses a new core from ARM called the Cortex-A15, which allows for 40-bit instructions (versus 32 in the current ARM Cortex-A9). TI has said this chip will have dual A15s running at 2 GHz or faster, as well as two Cortex-M4 cores for low-power applications and Imagination Technologies' PowerVR graphics.
Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Texas Instruments devices are used in Android phones and tablets and will be used in Windows 8 designs, as well.
But there are a number of other ARM-based vendors who sell chips for smartphones and tablets.
Samsung is already sampling its own Exynos series of processors using a 32nm process and dual Cortex-A15 cores, and is the first company to ship that core. To date, Samsung has mostly used its processors internally, rather than selling to other phone makers, but we'll see if that changes. ST-Ericsson has a new family of processors known as NovaThor, available either as separate application processor and baseband chips or an integrated solution, and has historically been quite strong at Nokia. Marvell has single, dual, and quad-core ARM chips as part of its Armada family of applications processors.
Freescale is sampling one-, two-, and four-core versions of its i.MX6 family, including a quad-core Cortex-A9 version with a 64-bit memory bus and Vivante graphics. While Freescale focuses more on "intelligent systems" and embedded markets, it has also seen success with e-book readers and low-end tablets, and will be breaking into the tablet market next year. Broadcom, which is known for its highly-integrated connectivity chips (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.), is also making a move into the smartphone category with application processors and 4G LTE basebands. A few companies that make processors based on the MIPS core (a competitor to ARM) are working on Android-compatibility versions, as well.
But it's Intel that really hopes to change the market by embracing Android 4.0 with a new design of its x86-compatible Atom chip, known as Medfield. Intel has long promised it would be a player in the phone market, but has always come up short. Through the chip's support of Android and its move to 32nm technology, Intel hopes to be more of a player in 2012, and I expect to see a big push for this at CES in January.
For the past several years, Intel's Atom has been on 45nm technology, while its Core processor line has been on new process technology. That will change over the next few years with a 32nm architecture known as Saltwell slated for 2012, a 22nm version known as Silvermont for 2013, and a 14nm version known as Airmont in 2014—all of which have multiple chips. On the 2012 32nm roadmap, Medfield is aimed at Android-based tablets and smartphones, while Clover Trail is aimed most directly at Windows 8 tablets. (Of course, you'll also see some Windows 8 tablets based on the more powerful but more power consuming Core family, using notebook style chips.)
AMD also plans a break into tablets and smartphones with Desna, a variation of its E-series processor based on the low-power Bobcat core. This was slated to be replaced in 2012 by a version known as Hondo, but AMD's roadmap is currently unclear.
And then there's Apple, which of course, hasn't announced its plans. It is widely expected, though, that its dual-core A5, based on the ARM architecture and manufactured on Samsung's 45nm process, will be replaced by a new processor called the A6, widely rumored to be on a 28nm or 32nm process with four cores. I'd be very surprised to see a new iPhone next year without a new processor.
From operating systems and processors to screens and networks, 2012 promises all sorts of changes for makers of mobile devices. Will either of the two companies that have dominated the traditional PC—Microsoft and Intel—come back and impact the smartphone and tablet market, where smaller competitors have thus far been much more successful?


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Oak Creek’s Mountain Market closing Saturday
Munchies restaurant to take over entire space
April 27, 2011
Steamboat Springs — In the 30 years P.K. Baldwin has worked in the convenience store business, her dream was always to open her own store.
Barely a year after she realized her lifelong dream with Mountain Market in Oak Creek, Baldwin will close the store because of ongoing health problems.
Just five months after moving from the Oak Creek Sinclair gas station to the old Black Mountain Tavern building on Sharp Street, Baldwin will host a sale Saturday on the store's final day.
"The stress of the store is just too much for me," she said.
Munchies, a new restaurant that opened in January in the back of the market, will take over the entire building and expand its services, restaurant owner Richard Hart said.
"This will be better for me," said Hart, who also cooks the pizza, ribs, chicken wings and sandwich orders for pickup and delivery around Oak Creek and Stagecoach. "I've been really limited in what I could do here because we shared the space."
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He said that the closing surprised him but that it would give him the opportunity to nearly double his space and offer significantly more seating for the counter-service restaurant.
Hart plans to offer a few new menu items and expand his hours to stay open from noon to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and from noon to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Baldwin said in addition to her health, the existence of a medical marijuana dispensary, Mary's Medical, next door to the market presented issues that affected her business.
"The last few months have been really bad in the store with the odor," she said. "It does directly affect the sales in our store. … I don't want to deal with it."
Hart did not comment on any issues with the business next door.
Although her newfound free time will allow her to visit family and maybe go hunting with her boyfriend and Mountain Market co-owner Ralph Fox, Baldwin said she would miss the ever-interesting stream of people who captured her attention during her long career in convenience stores.
"When you've been in the business as long as I have, you've met all of them," she said. "All different kinds of people. The ones you don't want to come back and ones you don't want to leave."
"It makes me sad to have to close it."
— To reach Nicole Inglis, call 970-871-4204 or email ninglis@SteaboatToday.com
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An investigation by Consumer Reports found millions of smart TV's could be hacked. The problems affect Samsung, TCL and other brands that use the Roku TV platform.
Consumer Reports was able to show how hackers can take over your TV, changing the channels, playing offensive content and turning the volume up to full blast.
"This happens because many smart TVs have a programming interface, called an API, that lets you use for smartphone or tablet as a remote control over WiFi. In some cases, we found that this API was not properly secured and that could let a hacker control your TV," said Maria Rerecich, Consumer Reports Electronics Testing
Samsung and Roku both responded to the report, saying they take privacy and security seriously. TCL referred to Roku's response.
7 On Your Side's Michael Finney will have more on this warning tonight on ABC7 News.
LINK: Easy, expert setup tips for maximum privacy on your new device
LINK: 5 easy ways to protect your digital privacy in 2018
LINK: How to turn off smart TV snooping features
Click here for a look at more stories by Michael Finney and 7 On Your Side.
All Consumer Reports material Copyright 2017 Consumer Reports, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Consumer Reports is a not-for-profit organization which accepts no advertising. It has no commercial relationship with any advertiser or sponsor on this site. For more information visit consumer.org.


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Apple’s 12.9-inch iPad Pro with Mini-LED screen will be launched in the first quarter of 2021, according to a new report from DigiTimes. The report claims that Apple has diversified its supply chain for displays and touch panels, and that BOE has finally obtained approval to offer OLED panels for the iPhone and GIS to provide touch panels for both the iPhone and the upcoming iPad Pro.
GIS approved investments of NT $ 2.198 billion (US $ 76.3 million) and NT $ 1.421 billion proposed by its subsidiary in Chengdu, China, in August and November 2020, respectively, with the funds to focus on expanding production capacity for integrated touch modules used in tablets. said. The subsidiary will invest another $ 753 million from NT to improve production line automation. The subsidiary currently manufactures integrated touch modules for iPads and MacBooks, the sources said.
In addition to iPhones, GIS will also manufacture integrated touch modules for the 12.9-inch miniiPad Pro miniLED backlit panels, which will be launched in the first quarter of 2021.
There have been rumors for some time that Apple is preparing a 12.9-inch iPad Pro with a ‘Mini-LED’ screen, which offers a number of improvements over current iPad screens, including darker blacks, brighter bright, richer colors and better contrast. Using thousands of individual LEDs to light the screen, the technology should offer many advantages that OLED screens offer, but without the disadvantages of the technology.
Previous reports, including from well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, have indicated that the Mini-LED iPad Pro will be launched somewhere in the first half of 2021, but today’s report from DigiTimes indicates that the debut is expected in the early part of the period.
If we look beyond the next generation iPad Pro, there have been a few reports claiming that Apple wants to switch the line to OLED screen technology, although it seems unlikely that Apple will switch to ‘Mini-LED’ just shortly before switching back and OLED. One rumor claims that the OLED iPad Pro will be launched in the second half of 2021, but a more recent report claims that the change is unlikely to take place until 2022.


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Xbox 360 to Get Fallout: New Vegas DLC This Holiday Season
On the day before Fallout: New Vegas' official launch, Bethesda has announced that Xbox 360 owners can expect something a little extra in their stocking this holiday season -- some New Vegas DLC.
“We’re excited to continue the partnership between Bethesda and Microsoft, and build on the success of the game add-ons released for Fallout 3 on Xbox LIVE,” said Pete Hines, VP of Marketing and PR of Bethesda Softworks. “Fans will once again be able to continue their experience in the Fallout universe with the add-on packs planned for after the launch of the game.”
This isn't the first time Fallout DLC has been released "exclusively" on the 360. Fans were able to get first dibs on Fallout 3 add-on content on the console as well. Although no announcement has been made about the PS3 and PC versions of the downloadable content, odds are it will find its way to those platforms...eventually.


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The National Football League (NFL) has announced the release of an all-new non-fungible token (NFT) collection with a series of card-themed collectibles representing players for its upcoming draft this week.
Dubbed as the 2022 NFL Draft NFT collection, the new series will be live on the NFL’s NFT marketplace built on Polygon, which was launched in November last year. The NFTs will be sold with a starting floor price of $52 each.
The league has since used the platform to release and promote playoff game ticketing events. According to the NFL, this latest series of NFTs will also be handed out or airdropped to a select group of members that belong to the Inner Circle club, an exclusive group of fans that were pre-selected to represent each playing team on Thursday’s draft night.
According to the NFL, it has released over 500,000 NFTs linked to ticket purchases since its launch on Polygon. Of these, roughly 42% or 210,000 cars were already interacted with and used by their respective owners. The league also said that these numbers only represent those NFTs which were given out for free, and that engagement for NFTs among NFL fans remain high, with NFTs released for public sale were sold out within a mere 24 hours of launch.
While the ticketing collectible platform is still in an early phase of development, NFTs sold through it have turned out well, with some pieces going for over a few thousand dollars each. More popular NFL teams have stabilized pricing on their NFTs, with pieces ranging between $300 and $600 each.
NFL’s partnership with Polygon is among its various strategies for capturing the booming NFT market. The league also has a concurrent partnership with Dapper Labs, with which it collaborated to launch NFL All Day, which are NFTs based on in-game “Moments” captured on video and minted on the Flow blockchain. Aside from the this, the league’s players association (NFLPA) has concurrent partnerships with several crypto projects such as DraftKings, a crypto sports-betting platform, and Upland, a metaverse game platform.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.


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Small app companies are finding success with innovative new technologies, reaching foreign markets and creating jobs here at home.
Washington, DC (PRWEB) July 19, 2012
The Association for Competitive Technology (ACT), a trade association representing the app industry, today released a new study showing that 87% of the top app companies are small businesses, and that American developers are making serious inroads into the Chinese market.
The study conducted by ACT also found that app companies are finding success throughout the United States. Although California continues to be a popular home for developers, 58% of the top app makers reside outside the state. The remaining distribution of app makers is fairly evenly spread out between the Northeast (18%), South (18%) and West (15%). The study also revealed that, while the presence of Chinese app companies is growing in the U.S. marketplace, American companies occupy 22% of the top-ranked apps in China.
"The app marketplace is quickly expanding and creating opportunity all across America," said ACT executive director Morgan Reed. "The massive growth of startups and the rapid emergence of new business models demonstrate that the app economy is strong and will be an economic force for years to come. These findings confirm what we've been hearing in our meetings with app developers across the country. Small app companies are finding success with innovative new technologies, reaching foreign markets and creating jobs here at home".
ACT will be presenting these findings to Congress when Morgan Reed will be testifying at tomorrow's House Commerce Committee hearing on: Where the Jobs Are: Moving the Economy with Mobile Apps.
The full study, titled "Apps Across America," can be found at http://acton.li/OuB1Ps
Tomorrow's House Commerce Committee hearing will be webcast here, http://acton.li/NCSm6L


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Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP
on Monday announced the
discontinuation of its Netaction Software suite as part of what it described
as a “post-merger shift in software strategy.”
HP, which shelled out about $19 billion for acquire rival Compaq
Computer, said the shutdown of the Netaction product set would affect the HP
Netaction Application Server, HP Netaction Web Services Platform and HP Web
Services Registry products in its middleware portfolio.
Instead, HP announced partnership deals with Microsoft
and BEA Systems
to provide middleware services to
support .NET and J2EE environments.
With Microsoft, HP said it would partner to speed up the adoption of .NET
and the implementation of Web services in Windows-based environments. The
deal with BEA calls for HP OpenView to serve as a solution for application,
network and systems management.
The shift in focus would include an increased investment in the company’s HP
OpenView, HP Utility Data Center, and HP Opencall software suites.
The company said HP OpenView, HP Utility Data Center and HP Opencall would
redirect its current and future development and go-to-market efforts in
three software categories.
It said the OpenView infrastructure management software would be used to
support Web services initiatives as well as tighter integration between
business and operations management.
The company said it would focus the HP Utility Data Center to enable
corporate clients to deploy a self-managing, self-optimizing programmable
data center, including support for Web services.
“Our plan is to extend the software management capabilities in HP OpenView
and HP Utility Data Center to create what we’re calling a ‘management
fabric’ that will radically reduce the complexity of enterprise and service
provider operating environments,” said Nora Denzel, senior VP of HP’s
Software Global Business Unit.
The company also plans to enhance HP Opencall and IN7 telco middleware
platforms to continue the fight for market share in the wireless and
wireline service and equipment provider markets.
HP said transition program details for the discontinued Netaction products
would be made public by September 15, 2002.