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The days when cars and buses trundled along High Street were ended by the move to pedestrianisation, but the debate hasn’t really stopped.
Next year will see new plans tabled for parking charges - another issue that has spanned the decades - but, in many ways, the Lang Toun has seen it all before.
December 1962 saw an experiment launched which took traffic out of the High Street, and the area handed over entirely to shoppers.
Councillors also opted to try it out on the busiest weekend of the year - right before Christmas.
Only “invalid carriages” - Blue Badge holders would be the modern equivalent - and lorries making deliveries were allowed in.
Everyone else was told to park up and walk.
And it seemed to work.
Reported the Fife Free Press: “With pedestrians having a field day, the first reaction from police, town officials and most local traders was ‘a great success.’
“Only grocery stores complained of trade being down.”
Barriers went up at noon on Friday to ban vehicles from the High Street until 5:00pm
On Saturday the ban started at 10:00am and, from then on, shoppers took over the entire street - roadway and all - until traffic started flowing again at tea-time.
The experiment, planned to alleviate congestion on High Street, was praised by Kirkcaldy’s Mr R.J. Brand, Depute Burgh Engineer.
“As far as we know, up to now there has been a vey good reaction to the experiment
“But, we have not had any detailed reaction from shopkeepers yet and, until we do, we cannot give a final verdict.”
Motorists seemed to find parking spaces without too much difficulty, although many faced a rather longer walk than usual from their cars with many using the Nicol Street car park or the Esplanade.
Multiple stores in the High Street were well pleased with the results of the experiment, reporting an increase in sales and one notching up record sales for the year
Grocery stores and shops were disappointed as many customers stayed away rather than trail heavy bags to cars parked some distance away
At Marks & Spencer M&S business was “very good” while trade at Woolworths and Littlewoods was also up.It was a similar picture at British Home Stores which claimed “a record day for sales.”At Barnet & Morton: Miss Jessie Hutt, manageress, concurred - “we had a marvellous weekend - and the experiment was also welcomed by Beveridge’s outfitters where Mis Susan Ramsay said: “We think it is an advantage to having a traffic free High Street
“There are certainly more people about and over the two days we were busier than we were last year, especially on the Friday
“Some customers said if it was enforced they would come into town more often.”
At the Co-Op, R. Young, managing secretary, had reservations, but said: “It was much more pleasant for shoppers.”
Less enthusiastic were the town’s grocers.
Robert Fernie said all such shops were pretty quiet on Friday, while Saturday saw no difference to their trade. He felt the car parks were filled by locals rather than visitors.
Wm Low manager Kenneth Conaly found it “ a bit disappointing” noting that customers would just not carry bags of shopping to cars parked some distance away.
Twenty years on, one question remains - would a traffic free High Street work now in a town centre which looks vey different?


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Bilateral trade and economic cooperation with Sri Lanka.
Deputy Minister and Trade Representative of Ukraine, Taras Kachka, discussed with State Minister of Regional Cooperation of Sri Lanka, Tharaka Balasuriya, the possibility of strengthening trade and economic relations between the two countries. The participants noted that bilateral trade in goods between Ukraine and Sri Lanka shows an increasing trend. For 6 months of 2021, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $ 28.59 million. In particular, exports increased by 12.8% compared to the same period last year

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Convicted paedophile running a toy shop and model making workshops in the school holidays... and it's perfectly legal
- Stephen Maxwell Murray was convicted of indecent assault in 1991
- He later worked at a comic book store in Melbourne
- He now works at an anime toy store in the city called Animasia
- But Murray is not breaking any laws because there are no laws that stop convicted paedophiles from working in shops with young customers
- Victorian Attorney General Martin Pakula has called for a review of the working with children laws in relation to the Sex Offenders Registration Act
A convicted paedophile is reportedly working in a toy shop and a legal loophole in child protection laws means he is not breaking any rules.
Stephen Maxwell Murray, who was convicted in 1991 in the Preston Magistrates Court on three counts of indecent assault and one of supplying liquor to a minor, has been working at the Melbourne store Animasia for at least four years, the Herald Sun reports.
He was sentenced to six months in prison in 1991.
He later worked in a comic store called The Crypt in Melbourne before he was allegedly sacked by owner Carmel Barbara due to public outcry about his hiring.
Convicted paedophile Stephen Maxwell Murray has reportedly worked at the Animasia toy shop for four years
Ms Barbara continued to employ Murray after finding about his past conviction but said she wanted to ‘give him a chance,’ the Sunday Herald Sun reported in 2005.
He now works at Animasia In Carlton, in Melbourne’s north, where he reportedly sells Japanese anime-inspired toys and runs model workshops in the school holidays.
It is not illegal for Murray to work at the store because there are no laws that stop convicted paedophiles from working in shops with young customers.
When Daily Mail Australia called Animasia, the owner of the store did not wish to comment and said Murray was not there.
Victorian Attorney General Martin Pakula told Daily Mail Australia: ‘Like any parent I'm extremely concerned at the prospect of this happening.’ Mr Pakula has asked the Department of Justice and Regulation to review the definition of child related employment under the Sex Offenders Registration Act.
He said the act ‘already includes commercial services and business activities, child photography, talent or beauty competitions - to ensure it covers relevant employment which involves contact with children that poses a threat to them.’
On a web forum called Gunpla Builders Australia a colleague of Murray's at the Animasia store posted in 2011: 'Animasia @ Grattan Street is finally online after 10,000 years of hiding under a rock! [sic].'
It is not illegal for Murray to work at the store because there are no laws that stop convicted paedophiles from working in shops with young customers
The shop describes itself as an 'Anime speciality store that specialises in Gundams and Mecha'
The worker added: 'Just FYI...Steven still won't participate with the internet revolution because he's still busy playing with his Godzilla and Mothra figures...LOL...However, rest assured that this thread has been officially endorsed and approved by Steven himself.'
The shop describes itself as an 'Anime speciality store that specialises in Gundams and Mecha.'
In Victoria, legislation called the Working With Children Check attempts to help protect children from physical and sexual harm by screening people’s criminal records and professional conduct.
Those deemed to pose an ‘unjustifiable risk to children from working with or caring for them’ are banned from child-related work.
The Working with Children Act 2005 defines who needs a check and it is an organisations responsibility to determine which of their workers need it and to ensure their checks are valid.
Victorian Attorney General Martin Pakula told Daily Mail Australia: 'Like any parent I'm extremely concerned at the prospect of this happening'
The Act defines ‘direct contact’ with a child as involving ‘physical contact; or face to face oral communication; or physically being within eyeshot.’
However, the WWC Check does not assess a person’s suitability to work with or care for children in a particular role.
‘It is the responsibility of organisations to assess if a worker is suitable to work with children and continue monitoring their behaviour around children,’ the Victorian government’s Working With Children website said.
‘Organisations should be vigilant at all times by doing thorough reference checks and establishing sound, ongoing supervision practices so that children are safe from harm.’
The Sex Offenders Registration Act - which captures all persons convicted of a relevant sexual offences against children - prohibits registrants from working in child related employment (whether employed, volunteering, an officer of a body corporate or a member of a partnership) but not retail stores that young people may visit.
The penalty for a registrant working in such child related employment is two years imprisonment.
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NIGERIA – The Federal Government has prohibited the importation of refined sugar and its derivatives from the nation’s Free Trade Zones (FTZs) into the Nigerian Customs Territory.
According to reports by This Day, the move is aimed to protect the sugar industry, which is governed by the Nigerian Sugar Master Plan (NSMP).
The NSMP provides a framework for motivating investment in the local production of refined sugar by securing the Nigerian Sugar market for investors in the Backward Integration Program (BIP).
It does this by providing import sugar allocations for raw sugar to recognised investors based on the performance on the BIP and guided recognition of their installed refining capacity.
NSMP’s main objectives are to raise local production of sugar to enable the country attain self-sufficiency; stem the tide of unbridled importation; create huge number of job opportunities and to contribute to the production of ethanol and generation of electricity.
With the provision of enterprises in the FTZs to export 100% of their output to the Nigerian Customs Territory, the government has termed it as a real potential threat to the goals of NSMP.
“In order to protect our national interest and ensure the returns in the Federal Government’s investment in the NSMP are realised, importation of refined sugar and all other sugar derivatives from the Free Trade Zones into the Nigerian Customs Territory are here prohibited.”Nigerian Ports Authority
To this end the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment has issued a ban directive conveyed in a letter by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Lagos Port Complex, Apapa, Lagos.
“It has recently come to our notice that due to the recent location of a Sugar Refinery in a Free Trade Zone, refined sugar is being imported into the Nigerian Customs Territory under the concession granted to enterprises in the Free Trade Zones to export 100% of their output to the Nigerian Customs Territory, and this is real potential threat to the goals of the Nigerian Sugar Master Plan (NSMP),” NPA said.
“In order to protect our national interest and ensure the returns in the Federal Government’s investment in the NSMP are realised, and in line with extant laws and regulations of the Federal Government of Nigeria, importation of refined sugar and all other sugar derivatives from the Free Trade Zones into the Nigerian Customs Territory are here prohibited by the Honourable Minister, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment,” the NPA letter stated.
A Free Trade Zone is a category of the special economic zone in Nigeria. It is areas where goods may be landed, manufactured, handled, stored, or perhaps reconfigured and re-exported under specific customs regulation. The goods processed from the zones are not subject to customs duty, indicates Mondaq.
The recent move by the government comes days after the Central Bank of Nigeria hinted of plans to halt foreign currency for sugar and wheat imports, as the country tries to conserve national foreign reserves.
In 2015, the bank listed 41 items that had been placed on its FX restriction list, citing that the move was necessary to conserve the nation’s foreign reserve and boost local production of the items on the restriction list.
The list has been growing ever since and some of the food items on it are margarine, poultry and eggs, rice, maize and dairy products.
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Small Business Saturday returns this Saturday, a day giving shoppers, both local residents and possibly some from outside, an opportunity to support smaller establishments.
Erica Caldwell, shopper at Author’s Note bookstore at 519 Main St. in Medina, said Small Business Saturday is expected to be a big day for the store, in its second year on Main Street.
“Medina also has the Olde Tyme Christmas party throughout the day and the Parade of Lights in the evening, so many people come downtown,” she said while standing behind the counter.
Small Business Saturday is a national day recognizing small businesses. Established in 2010 by American Express, the day encourages consumers to “shop small” on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to support local businesses.
Much of the focus of Small Business Saturday, which is supported by the region’s chambers of commerce, is to remind local consumers that small businesses are vital to the local economy.
Small Business Saturday was the catalyst for the general “Shop Small” movement, which encourages consumers to patronize small businesses.
“I think everyone benefits from it (Small Business Saturday), between the things that the village is doing to bring people down and the fact that it’s Small Business Saturday that makes people realize how important it is it is to support local small businesses.”
The store plans to offer a make-and-take children’s craft kit for about a dollar each, Caldwell said.
“It’s going to be something they buy and take away. We don’t do that in the store. We just don’t have the space in here because it’s busy… It’s a busy day so we need the space in the store for customers,” she said.
Mary Lewis, owner of Creekside Floral & Design, 509 Main St. said Small Business Saturday makes a difference.
“We probably have easily 60 to 75 people in terms of foot traffic coming through, if not more,” she said. “I think people really want to support small (businesses). They really enjoy getting downtown and staying local. We have a few special offers in store that day. I think that’s the point. There’s usually so much going on that day.”
On the downside, the store also gets a lot of people from outside of Medina on Small Business Saturday, Lewis, who’s been on Main Street for 16 or 17 years.
“Black Friday is really nothing. I feel like those are more of a big store,” she said, referring to the popular shopping event the day after Thanksgiving.
Sandy Chappius, co-owner of Chap’s Elba Diner, 5 S. Main St. in Elba, said the last two or three years have been strange in terms of traffic at the Saturday small business diner. That was due to COVID-19, she said.
“We hope that this year, as we are almost at the end of this COVID situation, we will meet stronger,” she said. “We hope to get back to normal. We’re hoping that Saturday sales will increase because hopefully on Saturday people will want to visit small shops and eat, so hopefully they’ll come. We hope it influences us,” she said.
In Batavia, Jeremy Liles, owner of Oliver’s Candies, said he is more focused on an event called Plaid Friday (this Friday) and is working with the county chamber of commerce to encourage people to shop locally.
“We make discounts for everyone who wears plaid on Friday. We have been working with the Chamber of Commerce for a while. We’re trying to extend the small business season from a Saturday,” he said. “For small businesses, we want people to shop with us for more than a day.”
Plaid Friday was conceived a few years ago in Oakland, California, to encourage holiday shoppers to slow down and shop locally at small businesses, rather than join the frenzy of the traditional Black Friday rush at large retailers. The initiative celebrates the diversity, uniqueness and creativity of independent local businesses by supporting them during the busiest shopping season of the year.
Liles said a multi-day event like Plaid Friday would culminate in Small Business Saturday and continue with Cyber Monday the following week.
“We’re trying to lure people to our website and our Amazon store,” he said.
“The chamber is more about fulfilling the meaning of shop-small, small business and hosting a small business season versus Small Business Saturday and thinking local,” he said.


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Lenovo’s American sales keep fallingBy
Lenovo can’t seem to get many Americans to accept the idea of buying computers from a Chinese company. Today China’s No. 1 PC maker came out with its quarterly numbers and they show that Lenovo’s shipments of PCs in the Americas dropped 4% in the quarter ending Dec. 31. This despite an intense effort by the company to convince Americans that it’s okay to buy from Lenovo, which acquired the old IBM PC division in 2005. A year ago, Lenovo launched with great fanfare a line of new, low-cost computers designed for American users, especially small and midsized businesses. Lenovo also announced that the new computers wouldn’t have the letters IBM or the word Think, even though Lenovo had rights to them thanks to its IBM acquisition.
At the time, lots of observers were upbeat about Lenovo’s chances. In the BW story that I wrote then, I quoted one analyst saying that the new Lenovo computers “should be great.” Maybe they are, but so far Lenovo’s position in the U.S. hasn’t improved. It’s been almost a year since Lenovo launched this effort to win hearts and minds of Americans, and not only hasn’t Lenovo boosted sales, it seems to have lost more ground. One reason might be hesitation on the part of some buyers to purchase PCs before the launch of Vista, but that didn’t seem to hurt HP, which enjoyed double-digit growth in the U.S. last quarter. Meanwhile, according to market research firm IDC, “Lenovo continues to struggle with declining volume” in the U.S. Some other disappointing news for Lenovo: Sales in Asia-Pacific (excluding Greater China) dropped 1%. That’s significant because the company has been trying to reduce its reliance on revenue from its home base in China. Another part of the diversification strategy has been a push beyond PCs into cell phones, but there are problems there, too. Lenovo announced that its mobile handset division suffered a 6% drop in sales for the quarter.
The Lenovo folks are trying to put a good spin on this, of course. Sentence three of the company’s statement to the press boasts that the company’s overall sales grew approximately 8%, “ahead of the industry average of approximately 7 percent.” One problem. According to IDC, that’s not quite true. In mid-January, IDC announced market figures for the same period. First words of that press release: “Worldwide PC shipments grew by 8.7% in the fourth quarter of 2006.” In other words, Lenovo's sales actually were worse than the industry average.
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Seafood supply companies underperform significantly when it comes to policy and actions in favour to gender equality, compared to public facing companies in retail, food service and hospitality.
In late 2020, the WSI organisation undertook a benchmarking study among 53 large-scale seafood stakeholders and measured the intensity of their gender focus policy and actions. The investigation clearly shows far better performance by consumer facing companies than their suppliers along the value chain.
According to the WSI experts, “It is clear from the analysis that gender equality has reached the consciousness of retailers and wholesalers, large scale aquaculture feed producers and global hospitality players who performed well across all the parameters measured. Seafood companies, on the other hand, had consistently lower scores, and clearly much work needs to be done, to ensure that the importance of gender inclusion and equality is understood.”
The study looked at how the seafood industry addresses gender equality and sought to identify best practices on gender equality performance, reporting and communication. The information was gathered from publicly available information on company websites between June and October 2020 and based on current reporting frameworks such as those used by the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, the Asian Seafood Improvement Collaborative, GRI Standards, the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, and SDG 5, the Sustainable Development Goal on Gender Equality.
The reach of the study was broad in terms of both supply chain sector and geography, and covered companies in 19 countries, from Australia to the USA, many of whom operate worldwide. The performance of 53 companies was analysed, including 36 major seafood producers and processors, 10 retail and wholesale chains, 4 aquaculture feed companies and 3 large food service companies.
Five main areas were addressed in the analysis of publicly available information: gender equality policies, action plans, targets and achievements; monitoring indicators; gender diversity governance; external stakeholder engagement on gender issues; and how gender equality is promoted and communicated internally and externally.
“Key Findings reinforced the need for the seafood industry to improve management practices globally. Almost half (43%) of the seafood companies list no gender content on their websites or in company reports, indicating strongly that they do nothing in the field. Of the other half, they somehow communicate about gender equality, but less than one-third (30%) take real action. Feminism washing where there is a gap between the discourse and the reality is on its way.”
On the positive side, 100% of the retailers and wholesalers, aquaculture feed producers and hospitality/ food service companies analysed are going beyond their policies and codes of conduct, to implement meaningful action measures to bring gender parity into the workplace.
Other findings of interest include the discovery that gender equality is not front and centre in companies’ reporting structures, but is mainly disclosed under sustainability, as seen from a social perspective. In addition, very few seafood companies are making SDG 5 a priority.
In the retail category, Walmart, Sainsbury’s and Metro came in first, second and third place respectively, in terms of the number of gender related activities reported, and Sodexo and Compass took the top two slots amongst food service companies.
Some consumers’ facing companies start requesting efforts in this field from their suppliers, in the form of new gender equality commitments specified in their suppliers code of conducts (Walmart, Kroger, Metro Group, etc.)
“By sharing our research findings, we hope to provide a wake-up call for the global seafood industry, and to act as both a catalyst and an accelerator for change, to ensure that the importance of gender equality in society and in the workplace is acknowledged and celebrated.”
A further aim is to identify potential partnerships with NGOs focussed on the equality and empowerment of women in the industry.
“The results of this study rings a bell with the sustainability debate 20 years ago. At that time sustainability of marine resource was seriously taken into account by consumers’ facing companies including the retailers and hospitality companies and negligibly by producers. We are confident that industry stakeholders will wake up as well on gender issues as they did for environmental ones. Consumers and even more so employees’ confidence is at stake.”
The full analysis, which provides a detailed breakdown of the benchmarking study results, is available from WSI.


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Microsoft announced today that it is buying the professional social network, LinkedIn, for $26.2 billion. Unlike Microsoft’s other recent acquisitions, the deal promises to benefit both companies.
Microsoft has stated that LinkedIn will “retain its distinct brand, culture and independence,” with Chief Executive Jeff Weiner still running the company, but reporting to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Since redesigning its mobile app and bolstering features like Pulse articles, LinkedIn has pulled itself out of a slump and established itself as an effective service on which professionals can network. Unlike other social networks, the company generates nearly two thirds of its revenue from its talent-solutions division, which helps corporate recruiters find suitable candidates for jobs, making LinkedIn one of the most profitable social media companies.
Microsoft plans to integrate LinkedIn’s infrastructure into Office 365, its cloud based suite that offers Outlook email, Word, and other staple Microsoft features all integrated into an online account. By purchasing LinkedIn, Microsoft will have the ability give Office 365 a social sphere. And, since most professionals already use LinkedIn in some capacity, the deal will allow the social network to reach its audiences more effectively.
The integration of Microsoft and LinkedIn could help the social network more fully realize its goal of actually connecting professionals in a meaningful way while allowing the tech company to build a better online professional and social space.


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Off the pitch he classes himself as the most fashion conscious of his team – now Bury Town’s Russell Short has set up his own clothing label.
The 24-year-old right back, who has been linked to professional clubs, has launched The Loyal Love.
All of the clothes are his own designs and are made in the UK.
“I just feel the World is full of negativity,” said Russell.
“I have a big love for fashion and I just wanted to bring a positive vibe to it all.
“I am heavily influenced by designs on positivity and love.
“It has been running for about a month.
“So far it has gone really well.”
Russell said his new business venture has been welcomed by his town teammates.
“I’ve already had a few orders from them. They are keen on it as well.
“When we are on a team night out, they should all be looking a lot better,” Russell said.
His website currently offers an array of t-shirts, baseball caps and accessories. “
It’s hard work and long hours. I get inspired by the weirdest things.
“I’ll be watching TV relaxing and something will pop into my head.
“I’ll like it and I’ll will work on it until I am happy with my design.”
At the moment his designs are only available to order online.
But Russell aims to try to get them into shops in Bury St Edmunds later in the year.
“I have big plans going forward. I have plans to get it into boutiques.
“I have still got to approach them in the next couple of months.
“But at the moment I am just building the brand,” he said.
For more visit www.theloyallove.com


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An image of Microsoft's future -- delivering software-as-a-service to corporate customers -- finally is starting to develop, although the company and observers agree there are many challenges ahead.
That picture, while not ready to be hung on a wall, is being brought into focus by Microsoft's development of Windows Live consumer services; Office Live, which is targeted at small and midsize businesses (SMB); search technologies that meld locally stored and Internet-based data; and the recently introduced Dynamics CRM Live enterprise application service set to debut in 2007.
When they ship, the company plans to paint Vista and Office 2007 into the portrait, integrating Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows Vista with desktop and online search technologies, for example.
But beyond that, Microsoft is heavy on the strategy and vision.
"Today, Microsoft is doing a lot of marketing, and customers are certainly looking over their shoulders to see when Microsoft realistically will enter the [software-as-a-service] market," says Rebecca Wetteman, vice president of research at Nucleus Research. "Microsoft is a little behind the ball in the on-demand space. Having some hosted applications is not necessarily going to cut it."
For now, Microsoft plans to use its platform of applications and infrastructure software to enter into the world of services, and the company has earmarked an additional US$500 million in its fiscal 2007 budget for R&D on Internet-based services, including software and advertising-based services like those made popular by Google.
"By embracing services in most everything we do, the potential for this company to positively impact . . . the operation of business has never been greater," Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie said at the company's annual meeting for financial analysts last month.
Ozzie, who is replacing Bill Gates as he moves out of his day-to-day company duties over the next 24 months, is leading the charge toward what he calls the services transformation, a change fostered by powerful edge devices and centralized services -- and high-bandwidth pipes to connect the two.
That transformation includes going toe to toe with Google, Yahoo and others to provide consumer and corporate online services, but Ozzie says those are only a start of a stepwise process that will see first SMBs, then large corporations adopting Internet-based services, which Ozzie says will be defined by integrating desktop-based software and server applications with online services anchored by Windows Live. Users would access those services through browsers, mobile devices or rich clients, where local applications and data are augmented by one or multiple services.
Critics say before Microsoft can make that vision a reality, it has to surmount challenges that include integrating its portfolio of corporate software into its services model, explaining differences between hosted and on-demand versions of software, avoiding a cannibalization of its vast partner community, and outsmarting a growing collection of vendors offering online alternatives to traditional software.


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TWO emerging markets information services, with different marketing goals now coexist on the World Wide Web. The Emerging Markets Companion World Wide Web site, aimed at the retail market, was launched earlier this summer. The only other major player in emerging markets data on the Web is Internet Securities (ISI), which targets the professional market.
Emerging Markets Companion is marketed to individual investors, academics and government officials who don't have access to Reuters or Bloomb
James and Anthony talk about the looming Sibos event in Toronto and take a look at some recent M&A activity and blockchain developments in the capital markets.Subscribe to Weekly Wrap emails


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Apple News will now offer its local news experience in three additional cities in the US: Charlotte,Miami, and Washington, D.C. Each experience is curated by Apple News editors and features coverage of topics that are important to local communities, from restaurant openings and real estate trends to big policy decisions. Local news offerings in Apple News provide readers with access to top publications, including Axios Charlotte, the Charlotte Observer, Eater Miami, the Miami Herald, DCist, Washingtonian, the Washington Post, and more.
“At Apple News, we know that access to trusted local news is critical for communities, and an important resource for a national audience as well,” said Lauren Kern, editor-in-chief of Apple News. “We are committed to working with local publishers across the country to support their journalism and offer our users local coverage in the cities and regions they care about.”
Apple News first introduced curated local news experiences for the Bay Area, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco in 2020, and earlier this year, added offerings for Sacramento, San Antonio, and San Diego. Apple News plans to expand its local news feature to additional cities and regions over time to highlight the work of local publishers to the millions of readers across the country who use Apple News each day. Every Thursday, Apple News editors curate a “Read Local” collection of the best stories that week from local publications, available to all News users right in the Today feed of the News app.
About Apple News
Apple believes access to trusted news and information is vital, and supporting the future of the publishing industry is essential. Apple News delivers quality journalism from a variety of top publications, coverage of top news stories curated by Apple News editors, plus personalized news experiences for a growing number of cities and regions, including the Bay Area, Charlotte, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Apple News+ provides subscribers unlimited access to hundreds of the world’s best magazines and newspapers — from The Wall Street Journal, to People, The New Yorker, and National Geographic — and a catalog of professionally narrated audio stories so subscribers can enjoy some of the best stories hands-free. Apple News is available in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia and is the most used news app in these countries. More information is available at apple.com/apple-news.
(Pocket-lint) – Rotolight launched a Kickstarter campaign on October 12th 2021, and managed to smash it’s target in just over 30 minutes. Continuing to break the $350,000 mark in the first seven days and becoming what it claims to be the most backed LED lighting product in Kickstarter history. So, what is it people are so excited about?
Rotolight is a British company that specialises in LED lighting products for photographers and filmmakers, typically it makes very large and very expensive lighting for studios and film sets. Rotolight says the Neo 3 is the brightest on-camera LED light ever produced and the larger Aeos 2 is the thinnest and lightest 1×1 panel ever made.
Combining this with features like app control, built-in touchscreens and the ability to use as a high-speed RGB flash and it starts to become clear why people are flocking to this campaign. What’s more, the pricing is very reasonable, by professional lighting standards. With the Neo 3 tiers starting at £352 ($479) and the Aeos 2 at £845 ($1154).
Rotolight is guaranteeing that backers will receive its kits and accessories by March 2022. So, if you need a light that’s good enough to shine on Keira Knightley’s face, you might want to head on over to the Rotolight Kickstarter page before it increases in price after the campaign closes on 16th November 2021.
A year after introducing the first M1-based Macs to the market, Apple has already upgraded its Apple Silicon chip. Here’s how the M1 Pro and M1 Max compare against the original, and how it impacts the Mac lineup.
Apple’s introduction of new Mac models using M1 chips, including the 13-inch MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini, heralded a sea change for the company, as it transitioned away from Intel processors. The launch, which would start a two-year schedule for Apple to shift its entire Mac product line over to, was a resounding success, with Apple’s new chip faring extremely well against its competition.
This summary was featured in Documented’s Early Arrival newsletter. You can subscribe to receive it in your inbox three times per week here.
Three activist groups compiled a report detailing the surveillance tools the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has implemented at the U.S.-Mexico border under the Biden administration. The so-called digital border wall is secured with technology, including surveillance towers, drones, cameras and automated license plate readers. Biometrics, such as DNA, facial and voice recognition and iris scans, can be used to watch individuals. Phone and vehicle surveillance technologies are also in place. And CBP One, a new mobile application, may also be used to gather personal information and biometrics on asylum seekers before they come to the U.S. Deanna Garcia for Documented.
In other federal immigration news…
Officials Expand Where Immigration Agents Can’t Make Arrests
On Wednesday, the Biden administration issued a new policy that expands the list of locations, labeled as “sensitive,” in which ICE officers and border agents can’t make arrests. These places include domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, and playgrounds. This is the Biden administration’s latest effort to reform immigration enforcement focusing on “serious” targets instead of causing fear by administering unfocused arrests and detentions within the U.S. The new policy comes months after a memo restricted arrests in courthouses and weeks after another policy that barred worksite raids, which became common in the Trump era. BuzzFeed News
Biden Spending $100 Billion on Immigration
The Biden administration announced Thursday it plans on setting aside roughly $100 billion for immigration issues in its $1.75 trillion social spending package. The House meanwhile released its own plan for providing legal status to undocumented individuals. In a statement, the White House said the framework would “reform our broken immigration system” and includes provisions aimed at “reducing backlogs, expanding legal representation, and making the asylum system and border processing more efficient and humane.” The House released a draft text of its bill, which included an arrangement to allow undocumented immigrants, who arrived in the U.S. by 2020, to apply for legal status. The bill also includes a plan to recover about 226,000 unused visas. The Hill
Apple charges forward to 2030 carbon neutral goal, adding 9 gigawatts of clean power and doubling supplier commitments
Ahead of COP26, Apple launches 10 new initiatives to support communities around the world
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today announced it has more than doubled the number of suppliers committed to using 100 percent clean energy over the last year, accelerating progress toward its ambitious 2030 goal to be carbon neutral across its supply chain and products. In total, 175 Apple suppliers will transition to using renewable energy, and the company and its suppliers will bring online more than 9 gigawatts of clean power around the world. These actions will avoid over 18 million metric tons of CO2e annually — the equivalent of taking over 4 million cars off the road each year.
The company added 10 new projects for its first-of-a-kind Power for Impact initiative to bring clean energy solutions to communities around the world. These projects are designed to provide renewable power to under-resourced communities while supporting economic growth and social impact.
“Every company should be a part of the fight against climate change, and together with our suppliers and local communities, we’re demonstrating all of the opportunity and equity green innovation can bring,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “We’re acting with urgency, and we’re acting together. But time is not a renewable resource, and we must act quickly to invest in a greener and more equitable future.”
While Apple is already carbon neutral across its global operations, by 2030, every Apple device sold will have a net-zero climate impact. Since announcing this goal last year, the company has not only dramatically increased the number of its suppliers transitioning to renewable energy, but also expanded the amount of recycled material in its products and established new projects focused on environmental justice. In total, Apple has reduced its carbon emissions by 40 percent over the past five years.
“For too long, the communities most impacted by climate change haven’t had a seat at the table. That has to change, and we’re committed to being part of that change,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives. “The new projects we’re sharing will help communities by developing new local renewable projects, creating a healthier and more equitable world while advancing the fight against climate change.”
In the US, 19 suppliers in Apple’s Supplier Clean Energy Program, including Solvay, are scaling their use of renewable energy across their Apple operations, often going beyond their business with Apple. In Europe, 19 suppliers are now part of the program, including STMicroelectronics, which has started nine additional projects to deliver renewable energy for its broader operations since joining Apple’s program.
In China, 50 suppliers are now part of the program, with many maximizing their use of on-site solutions. In India, Japan, and South Korea, 31 suppliers have joined, including SK Hynix, one of the first Korean suppliers to participate.
Apple is also creating new pathways for the use of recycled materials while maintaining its high standards for sourcing, collaborating with suppliers to move toward a circular economy that eliminates the need for carbon-intensive mining and conserves resources. This includes recycled sources of gold, cobalt, aluminum, and rare earth elements, among other materials that are now part of Apple products. These advancements, along with suppliers transitioning to renewable energy, are reducing the environmental impact of the company’s products. Recent milestones include an 11 percent reduction in the carbon footprint of iPhone 13 Pro and an eight percent reduction for the 16-inch MacBook Pro, compared to previous generations.
Apple is also announcing support for 10 new renewable projects around the world through its Power for Impact program:
In the United States, Apple will work with the Oceti Sakowin Power Authority, formed by six Sioux tribes to jointly develop tribal renewable energy resources by financing, developing, constructing, and operating power generation and transmission facilities for the wholesale market. This project is on track to create a large-scale wind power development in the Midwest, and follows the organization’s participation in Apple’s Impact Accelerator, part of the company’s Racial Equity and Justice Initiative.
In South Africa, Apple is bringing renewable energy to over 3,500 households that previously lacked access. The company will also help reduce electricity costs for the Pioneer School for the Visually Impaired by funding rooftop solar installations. And in Nigeria, Apple will support the development of a solar power system to serve a primary healthcare center in the state of Ondo, as well as 200 households in the surrounding region.
In the Philippines, Apple will help fund an educational institution that provides scholarships to high-achieving, under-resourced students by offsetting electricity expenses through a new rooftop solar installation. In Thailand, Apple is participating in an effort to increase renewable energy production and battery storage to ensure reliable access to electricity, and replacing the use of polluting diesel fuel for a remote fishing village that relies on refrigerators to maintain the quality of its fish products. Apple’s work to support a program in Vietnam will provide solar electricity for 20 schools around the country, and help teach thousands of children about sustainable development and STEM.
In Colombia, Apple is helping to bring online a rooftop solar power system at the Santa Ana Hospital Infantil, and the money saved on energy bills will allow the hospital to purchase more equipment and medications. A rooftop solar installation at Ciudad Don Bosco, a nonprofit that provides educational and social services for under-resourced youth, will help the group advance its sustainable development goals.
In Israel, Apple is supporting the Nitzana Educational Eco-Village for at-risk youth with solar installations to help lower electricity costs and generate a new source of revenue for the organization.
Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. Apple’s five software platforms — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay, and iCloud. Apple’s more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it.
(Pocket-lint) – It’s been quite some time since we’ve written about a Canon PowerShot camera – because the compact camera market has been diminishing and far fewer such products are being released. Canon’s late 2021 take on the PowerShot, in the PX smart camera, is a rather turned-on-its-head idea for the brand though.
The Canon PowerShot PX is a smart camera that you charge up, place within your home, then leave to its own device so it’ll go about “capturing candid moments”. We get it: this is Canon’s idea of having a digital photographer in your home, able to automatically compose, capture and present best-pick shots back to you at the end of each week.
But we also don’t get it at all: this is an always-watching camera that’s constantly taking pictures of you and whoever is around your home. Would you really want that? It also costs £450/$500, so it’s really expensive.
The PX can rotate through 340 degrees horizontally and 110 degrees vertically to enable its all-seeing lens to always be looking for the next shot, using facial recognition to lock onto subjects and take a snap.
Its built-in rechargeable battery makes it portable so you can easily pick it up and place it elsewhere around your home – or even take it outside – for various different compositions. Using the Canon app it’s possible to see the camera’s live-view, too, so you can then manually control and shoot through the PX wirelessly.
So this is the vision of PowerShot for 2021: a supposed smart digital photographer. It’s not exactly a new idea, though, as about a decade ago Sony revealed the Party-Shot, which could rotate on a stand and automatically capture via a Cyber-shot camera… and we don’t need to tell you how that product’s life went, do we?
“I really do care about [the metaverse], and I buy into the vision,” Carmack said, before quickly adding, “I have been pretty actively arguing against every single metaverse effort that we have tried to spin up internally in the company from even pre-acquisition times.” The reason for that seeming contradiction is a somewhat ironic one, as Carmack puts it: “I have pretty good reasons to believe that setting out to build the metaverse is not actually the best way to wind up with the metaverse.”
Today, Carmack said, “The most obvious path to the metaverse is that you have one single universal app, something like Roblox.” That said, Carmack added, “I doubt a single application will get to that level of taking over everything.” That’s because a single bad decision by the creators of that walled-garden metaverse can cut off too many possibilities for users and makers. “I just don’t believe that one player—one company—winds up making all the right decisions for this,” he said.
The idea of the metaverse, Carmack says, can be “a honeypot trap for ‘architecture astronauts.'” Those are the programmers and designers who “want to only look at things from the very highest levels,” he said, while skipping the “nuts and bolts details” of how these things actually work.
These so-called architecture astronauts, Carmack said, “want to talk in high abstract terms about how we’ll have generic objects that can contain other objects that can have references to these and entitlements to that, and we can pass control from one to the other.” That kind of high-level hand-waving makes Carmack “just want to tear [his] hair out… because that’s just so not the things that are actually important when you’re building something.”
“But here we are,” Carmack continued. “Mark Zuckerberg has decided that now is the time to build the metaverse, so enormous wheels are turning and resources are flowing and the effort is definitely going to be made.”
Build products, not architecture
Carmack used his own experience creating Doom as an example of the value of concrete, product-based thinking. Rather than simply writing abstract game engines, he wrote games where “some of the technology… turned out to be reusable enough to be applied to other things,” he said. “But it was always driven by the technology itself, and the technology was what enabled the product and then almost accidentally enabled some other things after it.”
Building pure infrastructure and focusing on the “future-proofing and planning for broad generalizations of things,” on the other hand, risks “making it harder to do the things that you’re trying to do today in the name of things you hope to do tomorrow, and [then] it’s not actually there or doesn’t actually work right when you get around to wanting to do that,” he said.
To that end, Carmack spoke somewhat approvingly of concrete Meta products like Horizon Worlds and Horizon Workrooms, which can be clearly judged on how much value they’re bringing to users. Interacting with other avatars in Workrooms, in particular, can be much more enjoyable than staring at a wall of Zoom faces, Carmack said. “You’ve got to actually be using the things to make value from it,” he said. Getting Workrooms to actually work also required some detailed technical problem solving to help with unexpected audio processing and latency issues, solutions that can now be applied to many other metaverse products, he added.
But while Carmack identified some “good things” about the virtual reality co-presence possible in Horizon Worlds, he noted that it’s “a far cry from the metaverse of our visions.” While chatting with 16 people in a Worlds room is nice, he said, it’s a far cry from something like a real-world conference that could have “thousands of people milling about” and wandering into sessions and conversations at a whim. Fully creating that kind of in-person conference experience, without the need to travel long distances, is “what we’ve always been pitching is the value of VR,” he said.
With that vision in mind, Carmack said he is “laying down a gauntlet” that “we should be doing [Facebook Connect] in the metaverse” by next year’s show. “I’ll be really disappointed if I’m sitting here next year in front of a video crew and a camera in physical reality doing this talk,” he said. “I want to be walking around the halls or walking around the stage as my avatar in front of thousands of people, getting the feed across multiple platforms.”
Focusing on a mission of moving Connect into the metaverse, Carmack said, is a concrete goal that will “make sure that we’re doing something that’s valuable to at least us, and then it will very likely be valuable to a lot of other places.”
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Apple has taken down the 21.5-inch iMac from the online Apple Store, leaving customers with the choice of either the 24-inch iMac or the Intel-based 27-inch iMac.
A change that seemed inevitable with the introduction of the 24-inch iMac, Apple has quietly pulled from sale the 21.5-inch iMac. Customers visiting the online Apple Store will be able to choose from just two sizes of iMac, with the 24-inch iMac now the smallest available option in the catalog.
Apple reduced the number of storage options for the 21.5-inch iMac in March, limiting the choices to 256GB SSD and a 1TB Fusion Drive. By April, there were reports of short supplies of the 21.5-inch model, ahead of the eventual launch of the 24-inch model.
With the first Apple Silicon model’s launch, it became only a matter of time before Apple ceased sales of the 21.5-inch iMac, as part of its shift away from Intel processors. The takedown now leaves the 27-inch iMac as the last remaining Intel-based model on Apple’s virtual shelves.
It’s possible that even that larger model could disappear from the store within months. Rumors claim Apple is working on a large-screen iMac similar in concept to the 24-inch iMac, one that could replace the 27-inch Intel model entirely.
Consumers keen to acquire the 21.5-inch model may still be able to get the iMac from third-party retailers with residual stock.
The line of audio-video social networking apps is slowly climbing the ranks as they offer businesses and marketers the opportunities to connect with their target
By Vikas Malpani
The influx of mobile-based content exploded during the pandemic which brought with itself, a new wave of social media interaction and platforms that would change the communication paradigm that we know of today. In 2020, social networking applications witnessed a surge in installations – 9.6 billion downloads approximately in which, almost 45% of these were via smartphones and mobile devices. With users spending 4.2 hours daily on average on their phones, their affinity to connect via mobile-based social media led to the inception of a new digital medium – the social audio-video applications.
Today, thanks to the digital age and the social-distancing clause, building communities has now transitioned to virtual platforms – social audio-video networking apps being the latest example.
Social audio-video networking apps are the new face of community building and media platforms. Akin to real-time meetups, these virtual platforms allow people of similar causes to join hands and enrich their common passions. From career networking to entrepreneurial meetups to conspiracy theorists, there is something for everyone here.
The line of audio-video social networking apps is slowly climbing the ranks as they offer businesses and marketers the opportunities to connect with their target at a more personal level than ever before. In fact, more than $73 billion worth of investments are being made in mobile tech as well as mobile ad spend is at an all-time high of $240 billion. The numbers are massive and the opportunity is too huge to miss.
Moreover, these platforms are bringing in the monetisation factor that allows creators from all walks of life to receive their direct due for the content they made, instead of relying on indirect means like brand collaboration, etc. This will empower creators to leverage their creative assets on and outside the platform as well, reaching out to a more expansive and diverse audience.
A revolutionary front will continue to aid the conventional means of brand collaborations as well for content creators and community harbingers.
Audio-Video Social Networking Apps for Branding and Marketing
Social media has traditionally been confined to texts and emojis, from Instagram to Twitter, the social audio and video platforms add a new visual dimension that helps elevate the decree of interaction and engagement.
Social audio and video platforms allow listeners to interact with subject matter experts in real-time that allows the former to dive deeper into context and connect with the conversation at another level. This is the power of community and real-time conversations that have put this platform on the media map.
How can social audio and video platforms help elevate business marketing strategies?
Clubhouse alone has 10 million users, with an average session of 90 minutes, including the Q&A rounds. This speaks volumes about the potential of audio and video social networking apps to reinforce a marketing strategy and elevate a businesses’ standard.
Apart from the ticketing model, companies also need to boost their organic presence via community building and influencer marketing. For the same, they can hire trained spokespersons and subject matter experts to lead these conversations. These spokespersons should be excellent speakers, communicators, moderators, and knowledgeable in their matter of pursuit.
Social media has already decided to leverage this act of community building but something similar is being deployed by the social audio and video platforms as well.
How can businesses leverage audio-video social platforms?
While it is still too early for brands to take up audio-video social platforms for marketing purposes, it is never too late to identify the potential of these business models:
Sponsorship: High-performing groups with a large following can allow paid models for sponsorships and banner ads to expand the brand’s reach among its large following.
Premium membership: Connected to content monetization, the paid membership sequence will help content creators monetize their content with the help of select paid members who invested to be a part of the discussion or the community.
And much more.
We are on the cusp of a new social media marketing revolution with audio-video social media marketing platforms and leading them from the front will be the humble, yet powerful, human dialogue.
The author is co-founder and CEO of Leher App. Views expressed are personal.
SharePlay is now available in iOS 15.1, iPadOS 15.1, and tvOS 15.1, giving people the ability to share synchronized experiences right inside their FaceTime calls. You can submit your apps that support SharePlay today.
It’s also enabled in macOS 12.1 beta, so you can now build SharePlay experiences across Apple platforms using the GroupActivities entitlement, without the need for the SharePlay Development Profile.


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Motorola buys 20% of Silver Lake's investment
Motorola Solutions has announced it will purchase 20% of Silver Lake’s convertible notes.
Silver Lake will retain a significant position in Motorola Solutions valued at approximately $1.5 billion.
Egon Durban and Greg Mondre, Silver Lake managing partners and managing directors, will remain on the Motorola Solutions board of directors.
“We are excited to continue our partnership and remain enthusiastic long-term shareholders with Motorola Solutions and its leader Greg Brown,” said Durban and Mondre.
“The management team has delivered extraordinary shareholder value driven by a relentless focus on customers, product innovation and operational excellence. We are strong believers in the company’s expansion growth strategy focused on managed services, software and video analytics.”
“Since making its $1 billion investment in 2015, Silver Lake has been an outstanding partner,” said Greg Brown, Chairman and CEO of Motorola Solutions.
“I look forward to continuing the relationship with Egon and Greg as we continue to grow the company and drive shareholder returns.”
Additional information may be found in the Form 8-K that Motorola Solutions will file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Just before 11:25 a.m. Monday, Beaverton officers were called to a report of two men shoplifting at the Home Depot store at 13700 N.W. Science Park Drive, said Officer Pam Yazzolino, a Beaverton police spokeswoman. A customer reported that two men ran out of the store with a shopping cart full of merchandise, Yazzolino said. The men reportedly used an emergency exit on the side of the store and were loading the items into a utility trailer.
The suspects, Yazzolino said, left before police arrived, but witnesses gave police a description of the vehicle and license plate number. Police located a black Toyota 4-Runner and trailer, matching witness descriptions, near Southwest Cedar Hills Boulevard and Southwest Barnes Road.
Police discovered that many other stolen items were inside the vehicle, and the suspects told police they had storage lockers full of items, Yazzolino said. Detectives became involved in the investigation and recovered a large number of items, including two ski boats, three enclosed utility trailers, a 24-foot RV, computers and equipment from local businesses and restaurants, appliances from new residential construction sites, and tools and equipment from various construction sites.
Yazzolino said the arrests have cleared about 15 cases: two from the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office, two from the Sherwood Police Department, three from the Tigard Police Department, and eight from the Tualatin Police Department. So far, investigators have recovered $484,441 worth of merchandise and stolen items.Washington County District Attorney's Office for further charging decisions.


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Maria Gabriella Perez, the owner of Beverly Hills beauty salon Chez Gabriela Studio, will appear in Federal Court Thursday, one day after being arested for allegedly stealing credit card information from her star-studded clients, and charging almost $300,000 to their cards illegally, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Jennifer Aniston, Anne Hathaway, Liv Tyler, Melanie Griffith, Cher and jewelry designer Loree Rodkin were among the people Perez gathered information on, according to investigators, who added that the scam occurred when the credit card numbers were both electronically “skimmed” and entered manually.
Rodkin told investigators "she had spoken with several other high-profile victims who stated that, after legitimately paying for services at the studio, charges from the studio would appear on their credit cards without authorization.''
Rodkin’s card was illegally charged to the tune of $68,000, while Tyler's cards were racked up with $214,000 in fraudulent charges in 2009 from the salon, investigators said.
Perez, 51, was arrested Wednesday by Secret Service agents at her business. She faces two counts of fraud that carries a maximum prison sentence of 25 years if she is convicted.
Her attorney, Jerod Gunsberg, said his client will be exonerated of all the charges.


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Huawei has now published the first teaser for the upcoming EMUI 11. The new version of the user interface will be presented at HDC 2020.
HarmonyOS 2.0 will be one of the highlights of HDC 2020. The second big highlight, however, will be the new EMUI 11 user interface based on Android 11.
From September 10th, Huawei will set off a product fireworks display, as many groundbreaking things should be discussed for the next few years. The current situation in particular can no longer be concealed there either.


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It was only last month that co-working aggregator WeWork was named the largest private office tenant in Manhattan, and the company isn't stopping there. More recently, WeWork has been on a somewhat of a leasing binge while developing a new solution for medium-sized businesses called HQ by WeWork. The company has also expanded its retail business, WeMRKT.
WeWork now occupies over 5.3 million square feet of Manhattan office space, surpassing JPMorgan Chase and becoming the borough’s biggest office tenant, according to a blog post by Granit Gjonbalaj, the firm’s Chief Development Officer. This milestone was reached after signing a 258,344-square-foot lease at 21 Penn Plaza, owned by long-time partner TH Real Estate. At the time of the announcement, WeWork counted over 50,000 New Yorkers as its members and had around 60 locations in the Big Apple, 50 of which were in Manhattan.
Since then, the company has inked several other leases in Manhattan, including:
Read more here
Join us in Madrid from the 13th to the 16th of November for the Property Portal Watch Conference.


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Zoom Video Communications (NASDAQ: ZM) reported lower earnings and higher revenues for the second quarter of 2023. The top line missed analysts’ estimates.
Adjusted earnings, excluding special items, dropped to $1.05 per share in the second quarter from $1.36 per share a year earlier. On an unadjusted basis, net income attributable to common stockholders was $45.7 million or $0.15 per share, compared to $316.9 million or $1.04 per share in the second quarter of 2022.
At $1.10 billion, net revenues were up 8% year-over-year. The top line slightly missed analysts’ forecasts. The company had around 204,100 enterprise customers at the end of the quarter, up 18% from the same quarter last year.
Check this space to read management/ analysts’ comments on Zoom Video’s Q2 2023 earnings
“Businesses are drawn to the Zoom platform because of our innovation and modern architecture. Our recently launched Zoom Contact Center and Zoom IQ for Sales products saw some great early wins while Zoom Phone delivered milestone results, hitting a record number of licenses sold in the quarter and reaching nearly 4 million seats, up more than 100% year over year,” said Zoom’s CEO Eric Yuan.
Looking for more insights on the earnings results? Click here to access the full transcripts of the latest earnings conference calls!
Shares of Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) were up slightly on Thursday. The stock has gained 20% year-to-date and 19% over the past three months. There is a level of optimism
Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX), a leading provider of human capital management solutions, is all set to publish operating results for the first three months of fiscal 2024. The company has
Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE: DRI) reported first quarter 2024 earnings results today. Total sales increased 11.6% to $2.73 billion compared to the same period last year. Blended same-restaurant sales were


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Balter announces sale to CUB
Balter Brewing Company has been acquired by Carlton and United Breweries as Australia’s big brewers engage in another wave of craft acquisitions.
The sale, announced today for an undisclosed sum, sees the Currumbin-based brewery join 4 Pines and Pirate Life in the existing CUB stable. If the Asahi acquisition of CUB is allowed to go ahead, they also join Green Beacon which was acquired by Asahi back in August.
Balter was launched in 2016 and its beers have since been the recipient of a host of awards under the stewardship of head brewer Scott Hargrave, a former brewer at Byron Bay and Stone & Wood. Balter brewed 4 million litres of beer in 2018.
Founders include Bede Durbidge, Josh Kerr, Sean Ronan, Joel Parkinson, Mick Fanning, brand director Stirling Howland and CEO Ant Macdonald, along with Hargrave. All will be remaining with the business following sale completion.
Matt Kirkegaard was joined by Stirling Howland, Ant Macdonald, Scott Hargrave and Mick Fanning for a special edition of Radio Brews News. Listen below.
Howland told Radio Brews News that it was a “monumental day” for the team at Balter.
“We’ve been the subject of so many buyout rumours since the very first day we started, and we’ve been sold probably 50 or so times already. It just turns out that the 51st time is actually true,” he said.
The team explained that the deal with CUB came about as a result of Balter’s exponential growth, and that its plans to grow further in the coming years required a capital injection.
“A number of factors came into play for us,” explained Howland.
“We’ve been going at a pretty crazy trajectory for a number of years now, It’s been a wonderful ride but it definitely a ride that hasn’t just been smooth sailing.
“We’ve got a hard-working engine in this business and if you rev the engine for a long period of time it can take its toll.”
He said that discussions had begun after the GABS Hottest 100 in January, when the Balter team were approached by CUB.
“We talked amongst ourselves about what it would mean.
“When you’re under the pressure that the team is, to be able to relieve that was an enticing opportunity for us.
“We’ve built this brand into something that Aussies really love and we’ve got a staff here that are the backbone and the underpinning of all that.
“We had to delve deep into what it meant for all those things and whether they’d be compromised or not.”
He said that the business was launched with the help of 46 friends and family, and along with securing the future of its staff at the business, paying their early supporters back was a key consideration in the decision making process.
“We’ve had friends and family invest in Balter since day one, when we were just an idea on paper. Without those 46 friends and family none of this would have got off the ground the way it has.
“For some of them, it was their life savings which was pretty nerve wracking for us.
“For us to be able to sit here today and be able to say we didn’t mess it up, it’s a pretty good feeling.”
When it comes to staff, Balter’s sales team will remain in place and its more than 60 existing staff have their jobs secured when it comes to the deal, said the team.
Macdonald said that the deal needed to be a “win-win” for everyone.
“We’ve been contacted for years from all multinationals and other independents and we never really entertained it,” he said.
“Nothing ever ticked all the boxes from an investor and employee perspective.
“A lot of people think the boys chipped in millions to start with but that didn’t happen, we’re the same as any other business.
“It takes a lot of money to continue to run a business at this pace, sometimes you’ve got to step back and really understand the risk, and we’ve taken a lot of risk on this business,” Macdonald explained.
He said that the deal with CUB was about futureproofing the business.
“The partnership we’ve formed with CUB [allows us to hold onto] our integrity.
“We talk a lot about de-risking the business, that’s a really important thing moving forward.
“There’s a lot of saturation in the market at the moment, there’s a lot of micro and macro economic pressures on the economy, our forecast for the next two years weren’t as buoyant as they were a year ago.
“If we can achieve all our goals as senior management, still brew the beer here, execute the brand we want and be able to pay back our family and friends and protect our staff it’s a win-win for everyone and we’re excited to grow Balter further in the future.”
The importance of independence
One of the biggest issues when it came to the announcement of New Belgium Brewing’s takeover by Kirin via a branch of Lion Australia last week, was independence.
Howland said that the team knew that some of its fans and industry followers would be disappointed by the decision.
“There’s going to be people out there that are disappointed and if they hold independence in high regard that will be the outcome and we fully respect that,” he said.
“We never stood on the soapbox of independence, and even though independence is a great thing, it’s never been the thing we’ve used to tell our story.
“Our story has purely been about good beer. The free market will always decide whether you’re full of shit or not. And were very thankful that our community believes in us and hopefully from tomorrow onwards they will continue.”
Howling said that Balter’s main focus would always be on creating good beer.
“Since we started this, we had a simple mission of good beer is for everyone.
“I think we’ve done the very best we can to deliver on that promise.
“We’ve got that amazing community that rally around us and us around them. It’s quite amazing.”
Head brewer Scott Hargrave doubled down on the sentiment, saying that the Balter team would be remaining as a separate entity from CUB in all the ways that count.
“It’s enshrined in the sale contract, we wouldn’t be talking to you right now if that wasn’t the case,” Hargrave said.
“From any point of view that you look at, when people are attracted to Balter, it’s about the beer, the brand and the culture, everything that encapsulates what Balter is.
“If you change those elements you don’t really have Balter anymore. It would be utter madness to try and mess with that.”
He said that this extended to his beers, and was his major stipulation when it came to agreeing to the deal.
“I had to feel secure in that, that my beers, my babies, were not going to be played with, and that’s not the case. If anything it means we push forward and can make more of the beer were known and loved for.
“I have no intention of changing ingredients, our relationships with our suppliers are massively important to what we do.”
Howland said that he wanted to set peoples’ minds at ease.
“In a few months time…they’ll taste the Balter beer and it will be the same delicious little morsel that they trust us to make.
“We can talk until we’re blue in the face but people will ultimately decide. It’s how they’ve decided on Balter to this point in time and we respect their decision making.
“We built our trust in our brand around the promise of delivering good beer…hopefully the proof will be in the tinny.
“It’s a pretty emotional thing for us but we’re going to show up tomorrow and show that we’re the same as we were yesterday.”
Articles published under the media release byline are news produced by the relevant business and remain unedited by Brews News.
Balter partners with Carlton & United Breweries as its extraordinary journey continues
Balter Brewing Company’s journey from small Gold Coast start-up to one of Australia’s favourite craft brewers has taken another turn, with the company set to join the CUB family.
Balter was founded in 2016 by a group of childhood friends including professional surfers Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson. Guided by a belief that good beer’s for everyone, they wanted to create a world-class beer supported by a brand that didn’t take itself too seriously.
Since then, the business has experienced strong growth and won major awards including the number 1 spot for the last two years straight in the GABS Hottest 100, Australia’s most prestigious craft beer awards.
Balter CEO and co-founder Ant Macdonald said: “We’re proud to have grown the business to this point and we see the benefits this new partnership will bring as Balter enters its next growth phase.
“This deal will help us achieve our sustainability goals, upgrade capacity and hospitality at our Gold Coast brewery and create new jobs.
“We refused to compromise on our culture or our beer as part of this deal. It’s a testament to CUB that they didn’t want us to. They have an amazing track record of allowing craft brands to thrive while keeping their identity and we’re thrilled to join the CUB stable.”
Co-founder Mick Fanning said: “From day 1 we’ve tried to not only brew the most delicious beer but create a brand that was fun and inclusive – something the Aussie public would be proud to call its own. We’re stoked Balter has connected so well with Aussies and we can’t wait to continue our journey with CUB and get good beer into the hands of more beer lovers.”
CUB CEO Peter Filipovic said: “In a few short years Balter has become a craft leader through its commitment to quality and by building a brand that appeals to all beer lovers.
“We will help manage Balter’s strong growth through our willingness to invest, our world-class beer expertise and our customer relationships. And the terms of the deal mean the Balter team is not changing and management is staying on, which will ensure the business retains its identity and everything else that helped drive its success.
“The deal also means we’re expanding our presence in Queensland, where we already have a significant economic footprint with our Yatala brewery employing more than 250 people.”


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Wednesday News: Book industry, Twitter funding, TV adaptations, and the RBG workout
Book industry looks to hold steady in turbulent time – So despite all the optimistic talk of print books and independent bookstores coming back in vogue, the book industry is still on edge. I have long thought that publishers mistakenly saw (see?) themselves as a natural monopoly, so it’s fascinating to watch the industry adapt to an environment of actual robust competition for consumer leisure time and money. And to see what the industry identifies as competition:
Publishers and booksellers say the unpredictable Republican president has opened a bull market for warnings of dystopia, whether Snyder’s book or George Orwell’s “1984,” while disrupting the reading public’s concentration and making it hard to know what will sell in the future.
Becky Anderson, owner of Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville, Illinois, said she noticed “weird little dips” in sales whenever the news was especially eventful, as if customers were “too glued to MSNBC” to think about books. Hachette Book Group CEO Michael Pietsch also believes that business has been hurt.
“People are transfixed by their newsfeed,” he said. “People are reading on their phones and on their screens in a way that I think is usurping some book reading.” – Star Tribune
Twitter confirms ‘significant’ round of funding led by Russian investment company – DST Global, which has also invested in Groupon, Zynga, and Facebook, has mad a substantial investment in Twitter. Not that this investment will answer a lot of questions about Twitter’s long-term viability, but the company continues to expand in the past year alone, both in employees (250 to 600) and applications (150K to 500K).
While the micro-blogging site did not outline the size of investment led by the Russian investment company in a blog post, reports put the deal at $400m plus another $400m in secondary funding.
Twitter plans to use the funding for product development, hiring and international expansion. . . .
Twitter continues to grow around the globe at a record pace. Just a year ago, it delivered 65m tweets a day. It currently generates more than 200m tweets a day. – The Telegraph
TV Adaptations Must Figure Out When to Go by the Book — or Risk Fan Frenzy – An interesting discussion of the recent spate of television adaptations of literary works, from The Handmaid’s Tale to I Love Dick and 13 Reasons Why, among others. Those who adapt recognize that they may want a bigger audience than just those who have read a book or series (I pretty much scarfed down three seasons of Bosch, and I still don’t have any real desire to read the books), but at the same time, they don’t want to piss off those core readers, either. To some degree those goes back to the question about Game of Thrones: at what point is the adaptation a transformative work that can stand on its own? Perhaps the longer a series runs, the more likely it is to veer from the original material? Of The Handmaid’s Tale:
When creating an alternate world like (The Handmaid’s Tale‘s) Gilead, you have to make sure it’s still believable, he points out, crediting “Game of Thrones” showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss for doing just that on their adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s fantasy novels.
For “Handmaid’s Tale,” that meant creating a world that seemed modern but off-kilter and repressive. Modern references like Uber were added to the script, and inordinate care was taken while selecting the handmaid’s otherworldly garments, which evoked the Puritan era [note: The Puritans were NOT the dull, sexually repressed people so many non-historians have made them out to be, and this false narrative frustrates what few brain cells I have left to contemplate these things). . . .
Unlike the 1970s and 1980s, when networks regularly turned bestsellers such as “Rich Man, Poor Man,” “The Thorn Birds” and “Roots” into miniseries, today’s producers are taking an increasingly open-ended approach to the literary material. – Variety
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s workout is becoming a book. Yes, really. – I am giddy with excitement over this book (I may even have to buy it in print), which will be released on October 3rd. Ginsberg trains with the book’s co-author (Bryant Johnson) two days a week, and given the current makeup of the Court, hopefully she’s earning herself another year of good health with every push-up.
While Ginsburg stars in the book, she isn’t its author. Instead, it’s co-authored by illustrator Patrick Welsh and longtime Ginsburg trainer Bryant Johnson, who now also trains Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan.
The 112-page book will feature illustrations of Ginsburg doing each exercise in her routine. She’ll be pictured in her judicial robes, with purple leggings and “her trusty sneakers,” according to publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. – Seattle Times


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Plymouth and Exeter to get car charging points
Charge points for electric cars will start appearing in Exeter and Plymouth after successful bids for government funding.
The two city councils have been awarded nearly £200,000 between them to install the charging points.
Plymouth will get 16 charging points including city centre car parks, park and ride sites, Derriford Hospital, Plymouth Life Centre and City College.
Drivers will be able to charge cars in two to three hours at the sites.
Drivers 'need confidence'
Mark Coker, councillor for transport, said: "We are committed to reducing carbon emissions and increasing the number of electric cars on our roads.
"To do that, we obviously need charging points so it's feasible for people to use their electric cars to get around the city and travel further afield."
Exeter City Councillor Rachel Sutton said: "People aren't going to buy electric vehicles unless they have the confidence that they are going to be able to recharge the batteries to get home again."
The city council is still working out how much charging will cost.
Mrs Sutton said: "I think in the car parks you will be paying for car parking, but not the electric.
"I hope they will be available in the next six months."


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GH, which has been appointed on an annual retainer following a pitch against two undisclosed agencies, will initially focus on three main areas – Puma’s sponsorship of the Jamaican Olympic Team, team sports and key athletes.
GH is to devise PR strategies that will be implemented by local agencies in six countries through which the Olympic Torch passes. Additional projects will respond to sporting developments such as key player signings or highlighting any sporting milestones of its stars.
Puma has kit supply and sponsorship deals with a number of teams and individuals including Everton and Cameroon, Arsenal footballer Robert Pires and rugby player Jason Robinson.
GH’s hire follows the completion of Shine Communications’s last project to leverage Puma’s football team sponsorship in January. Shine, which was appointed in April 2002, is not on a retainer but the agency’s associate director Greg Jones did not rule out working on future projects. Puma has yet to decide who will implement GH’s strategy in the UK.
Puma will eschew new product PR in favour of telling the story behind the brand and its involvement in sport, said GH consumer director Leigh-Ann Wilson.
‘When you think of Puma, you think of sport, but the brand positioning is sports lifestyle so we’ll look to push it into the consumer lifestyle pages,’Wilson said.


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Sears, Roebuck & Co. recently discussed merging its entire merchandising operation with rival Montgomery Ward & Co., with Sears as the surviving company, two Sears board members said Monday.
The unusual contact between the legendary Chicago retailers was first revealed earlier this month through oblique company statements that said no deal had been reached and the two firms would remain independent.
But the discussions highlight the depth of changes that top managers at Sears, the nation`s largest retailer, have been considering as they struggle to rejuvenate the company`s core business.
Although talks with Wards ended without agreement, Sears` board last week did approve one major change, agreeing to put Sears Chairman Edward A. Brennan in direct control of the Merchandise Group and assigning former chief Michael Bozic a lesser role. Sears officials cited the need to speed up the overhaul process of the retail operations begun almost two years ago.
``It was Ed`s idea,`` said Sears board member Albert V. Casey, former AMR Corp. chairman, referring to the management shakeup. He confirmed that Wards initiated the talks with Sears. Wards officials would not comment on the remarks by the Sears board members.
``Ed wants hands-on for those several departments that are now reporting directly to him,`` Casey said. He denied a report that board members had handed Brennan a six-month deadline to show improved Merchandise Group results before they would take other action.
Casey and fellow board member Donald Rumsfeld, former U.S. defense chief and former chairman and chief executive officer of G.D. Searle & Co., agreed to discuss recent events at Sears partly to clear up what Brennan has labeled ``erroneous and misleading`` reports that Sears intends to exit the retailing business and spin off its Merchandise Group operations.
In a letter circulated to employees Monday, Brennan repeated the denial, saying, ``At no time did we ever consider a spinoff or sale of the Merchandise Group.``
Neither board member would discuss how a Sears-Wards merger would have been financed or managed.
But retail experts have noted the attraction of Sears` profitable private-label credit card receivables, which amount to about $14 billion, that could be used as a financing tool for a major acquisition.
Sources said General Electric Capital Corp. would likely be interested in repeating with Sears its role as a financial backer in the 1988 buyout of Wards from Mobil Corp. The General Electric Co. subsidiary bought Ward`s credit-card operations as part of the financing of the management buyout led by Bernard Brennan, Ward`s chief executive officer and Edward Brennan`s brother.
The sources said, however, that Sears` is unlikely to want to part with its lucrative private credit-card operations. Those operations, which are separate from Sears` Discover card, are estimated to produce about $300 million a year in profit for Sears, according to Peter Siris, vice chairman of UBS Securities, who has studied the value of Sears` holdings.
Siris, who said he believes that Sears has taken many steps that should produce better profitability at the retailing giant, notes the pressure being faced by its management, which has watched Sears` stock tumble in recent weeks to new 52-week lows. Sears stock closed Monday down 37 cents at $30.37.
``Sears is a highly undervalued company at these prices, and management does feel some impetus to produce results or to undertake other activities,`` Siris said.
``All members of the board, and certainly the management, are anxious to see Sears Roebuck highly competitive and profitable, and that is what their efforts are directed toward,`` said Rumsfeld, now an official with the Chicago investment firm William Blair & Co. ``I think it is a big task to make any organization this large competitive,`` he said, while expressing confidence in the steps Sears has undertaken.
Brennan has laid out for the board several steps he intends to take to improve profits in coming months, Casey said. Among them are speeding conversion of more ``back office`` space in many Sears stores, where stock is stored, into more profitable selling space.
Brennan told board members he also will continue the conversion of Sears` stores into the new ``power format`` strategy, where, for instance, brand-name household appliances are sold next to Sears` own brands.
``Whenever you change direction, everyone wants it done yesterday,``
Casey said. ``I`ve been in seven different industries, and I know you don`t turn the leviathans around. Ed and his management team have developed this strategy, and this is a good strategy.``


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China United Airlines Company and Chinese online payment provider AliPay have entered into a strategic cooperation.
CUA and AliPay will work together on e-ticketing services for B2B and B2C businesses. Now AliPay users can log onto CUA's website with their AliPay accounts and pay for their tickets by AliPay, online banking services, or credit cards.
CUA is not the only airline to cooperate with AliPay. Hainan Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines are already partners of AliPay. Through this cooperation, not only can airlines reduce their cost of sales and improve the convenience of their ticketing service, but they also benefit from 180 million AliPay users which provide a huge potential market for airlines.


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AbbVie (ABBV) is a pharmaceutical giant that was spun off from Abbott Laboratories (ABT) in 2013. Th...
Top Trades from the Aden Sisters
04/12/2017 2:50 am EST
Investors are optimistic. Even though some of the initial excitement has worn off, investors are still feeling good about Trump's promises, which will be good for business.
As a result, trillions of dollars have been pouring into the stock market. This sentiment is essentially feeding on itself, driving stocks sharply higher. Many have watched this stock market rise in disbelief. We all know the market is overvalued and many are warning that a crash, similar to 2007-08, is just around the corner.
So why in the world would you want to buy stocks? These types of contrary opinions have always been around in every bull market we've ever seen. That's why they say, bull markets climb a wall of worry.
Meanwhile, it now looks like the stock market is finally taking a breather, following its steep rise. This is normal, but the market is so strong, this breather may not amount to much.
So continue to keep your stock positions. They're generally holding firm and they're looking good. And if stocks do dip further, we may want to buy more on weakness.
Currently, the positions we like best are Powershares QQQ Trust (QQQ), Adobe (ADBE), iShares S&P Global 100 Index (IOO) and Templeton Emerging (EMF). We also like Apple (AAPL) and iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction (ITB) but we'll wait to buy these on weakness.
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The recent furore around data and information security has put a great deal of pressure on companies to ensure they keep their systems safe from intrusion and avoid losing sensitive material, particularly when they wish to use it for marketing purposes.
Only nine per cent of consumers have confidence in brands to keep their data secure, representing a ten-year low when it comes to consumer trust, according to a report by Fujitsu released late last year.
George Gee, head of CRM at restaurant reservation service Bookatable, told Marketing Week huge organisations such as Tesco and Barclays getting it wrong highlights just how difficult keeping information safe can be.
The latter recently saw thousands of confidential files hacked and stolen, while the former has some 2,000 customer data profiles posted online by a cyber criminal.
Given the huge volume of information being processed by many firms, particularly as big data analytics begins to gain traction within the corporate world, it is clear that this issue is unlikely to be swept under the carpet.
Mr Gee suggested that ensuring all members of staff within an organisation know the best practice when handling sensitive information is one way of reducing the likelihood of embarrassing incidents.
“Obviously, our IT department has processes in place around security on laptops and computers for example, but human error will always be a factor in these situations and organisations need to limit that ” he explained.
CRM can help in that it ensures data goes through safe channels and is dealt with by the right people, suggested Mr Gee.
He also advocated that companies should not hold on to information for too long after they have utilised it, which is also a process that can be automated through the use of a CRM system.
“It limits our risk because our database is where data should be held. It is about addressing human error – your systems can be as secure as possible but, ultimately, if someone decides to email a bit of data to someone, then that [system] is flawed,” concluded the Booktable expert.


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Trime to aim high at the Hire Association Europe Trade Fair and Convention
Trime (UK) Limited, the Cambridgeshire based manufacturer and supplier of advanced LED lighting towers, are preparing to exhibit at the forthcoming Hire Association Europe Trade Fair and Convention.
Held at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena, on the 11th and 12th of October, the Trime sales and marketing team will be on hand to explain the environmental and economic benefits of supplying LED lighting to the UK hire, construction, rail and events markets.
Incorporated in May 2016, Trime UK has swiftly developed into the market leader in the supply of engine driven LED lighting sets. A number of UK and European rental organisations, along with some leading independent hire firms, have opted to invest in Trime sets. The company is managed by Paul Hay and the group CEO is Ray Caulfield. Between these two highly experienced individuals, they boast a collective 50 years in the design and supply of lighting sets, primarily to the UK and European hire markets.
On show at the convention will be their flagship model, the X-ECO. Trime have calculated that the X-ECO uses approximately £336.00 less in fuel each month, which gives rise to a reduction in C02 output by around 888kg per month. Thirteen X-ECO’s can be loaded on one single truck, meaning potentially less traffic on the already busy UK road network.
The HAE EHA Trade Fair & Convention is expected to be their biggest convention to date. The new theme of CONNECT- DISCOVER- LEARN, for this year's event promises to be at the forefront in tackling the key issues facing the hire industry including empowering women into the sector, R&D into future technologies and how the industry looks beyond Brexit.
Paul, Ray and the complete Trime team will be on hand during each day of the convention, ready to detail all the features and benefits of the X-ECO range.


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Hakkenden Season 1 & Season 2 Potentially Delayed Again
24/07/2016 1 Comment
As of yet MVM Entertainment have yet to officially confirm this but it seems like the upcoming Blu-ray and DVD releases of Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East – Season 1 and Hekkenden: Eight Dogs of the East – Season 2 have received another delay.
The first season of Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East was initally scheduled for release on the 4th July 2016 but was later pushed back to the 25th July 2016 (which is of course tomorrow); however according to listings on both Anime-On-Line and Amazon UK it seems the set will now be released on the 15th August 2016.
Meanwhile the second season of Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East, which was scheduled for a 15th August 2016 release date, has now been pushed back to the 12th September 2016 according to Amazon UK.
As mentioned MVM Entertainment have not spoken out about any release date changes but if the first season of Hakkenden has been pushed back to August then it would make sense for the second season to also be pushed back slightly. In any event if these release date alterations turn out to be turn then fans will have to wait a little bit longer for these releases.
In the meantime you can read our thoughts of Hakkenden: Eight Dogs of the East – Season 1 in our review of the DVD.


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(QVENEZUELA) Venezuela’s inflation soared to 56.2 percent in 2013 but slowed in the last two months of the year after the socialist government forced stores to cut prices, officials said Monday.
President Nicolas Maduro said the figures led to annual inflation of 56.2 percent — the highest in Latin America — which he blamed on a “parasitic capitalist economy.”
“If Venezuela was not subjected to this economic war, we would have single-digit inflation, not 56 percent,” Maduro told a news conference.
Inflation is nearly three times as high as in 2012, when it hit 20.1 percent.
Maduro ordered appliance stores in November to slash prices, sent troops to enforce the move and threatened to arrest store owners who refused to comply.
Analysts attribute the nation’s high inflation to rigid currency and price controls that were launched in 2003 by late president Hugo Chavez, who died in March this year.The government has fixed the exchange rate at 6.3 bolivars for one dollar, fuelling a black market where the US currency is obtained at nine times the official rate.
The oil-rich country, which is heavily dependent on imports, has been plagued by shortages of basic goods ranging from meat to toilet paper.
The central bank’s report lacked its usual “scarcity” index, which serves gauge of the country’s chronic shortages.
Maduro said authorities found food prices inflated by more than 3,000 percent and that, had it not been for government-subsidized food programs, “there would have been a famine.”
The central bank’s report said food prices jumped 7.5 percent in November compared to 5.6 percent a month earlier.
“As has been the case in Venezuelan history, political tension and economic destabilization mixed in the form of a real economic war against the Venezuelan people,” the central bank said.
Source: Business Insider


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Alexa had better watch out: Google, not Amazon, had the bestselling smart speaker worldwide in Q2 of 2018. The Google Home Mini had a 20 percent market share during that quarter, selling 2.3 million units. It was followed closely by the Amazon Echo Dot, at 2.2 million. Rounding out the top five were the Amazon Echo, Alibaba Tmail Genie and Google Home.
Google Home Mini was the top selling smart speaker in Q2


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So you remember the spy shots we posted last week of a mystery super car spotted by our friends over at CarMagazine? Speculators said that it was either a Lotus, McLaren or the new Noble. Well our new friends over at Fast Lane Daily have dug up the dirt on this mystery supercar.
Fast Lane Daily sources say that this baby is a new Lotus sports car that will compete with the Porsche 911 Carrera. Code named ‘Project Eagle,’ this new 2+2 sports car will be slotted between the Lotus Elise and the upcoming Lotus Esprit. The design for the ‘Project Eagle’ is expected to be based on the Lotus M250 Concept Car (see pictures after the jump) shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1999.
Power in the Lotus’ ‘Project Eagle’ will come from a V8 drivetrain sourced from Toyota. The car is expected to be out in 2008 in the UK and 2009 in the U.S. with production set at 1,500 cars annually. Price tag is expected to be $75,000.
Click through for today’s Episode of Fast Lane Daily for more.
Spy Shots: Mystery Supercar Gallery:
Lotus M250 Concept Car:
Source: Fast Lane Daily
[tags]Cars, Car, Auto, Automobile, Vehicles, Technology, Auto News, News, Automotive, Lotus[/tags]