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WWDC 2020: Apple may announce switch from Intel to ARM processors, here’s what it means
A lot has been talked about it on the web since weeks so we thought of breaking it down for you, telling you what exactly it will mean for the iPhone maker.
At the upcoming WWDC 2020 developer's conference, Apple is expected to make a big announcement for MacBooks. We're not talking about the next version of macOS but Apple's switch from Intel processors to ARM. A lot has been talked about it on the web since weeks so we thought of breaking it down for you, telling you what exactly it will mean for the iPhone maker.
If you aren't aware, Apple announced its move from PowerPC to Intel back in 2005 when Steve Jobs took the stage. The company will not do the same thing but with Intel on the other side of the goodbye waving hand. Right now, all the MacBook and Mac desktop devices are based on Intel processors. These have a different architecture (Complex Instruction Set Architecture) than the x86 ARM processors (Reduced Instruction Set Computer).
What it means for Apple is that its MacBook and other Mac devices will result in better power efficiency and better computing performance. Another impact will be on Apple's dependability on Intel processor launch timeline. Usually, Apple would rely on Intel processor launches so it can work on the processors for its Mac devices. And lately, the chipmaker has been delaying the launches, making things difficult for Apple. However, this should relieve Apple from that issue.
In February this year, Apple Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that ARM-based Macs are going to come in 2021 and that the Apple-designed Mac chips will have eight performance cores and four (or more) energy-efficient cores. Kuo also claimed that Apple may launch its first ARM-based laptop, one without a Intel chip, next year. According to Kuo, the new Mac is going to come within a year or a year and half and will feature an in-house processor that's not developed by Intel.


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Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. reported a decline in profit in the second quarter and said separately that CFO Michael McClellan is stepping down due to personal reasons requiring him to be near his family.
The Israeli drugmaker is looking for a replacement, and McClellan is expected to remain in the role through the announcement of the company's third-quarter earnings to aid with the transition.
Teva said its non-GAAP net income attributable to ordinary shareholders for the second quarter amounted to 60 cents per share, down 23.1% year over year from 78 cents per share.
The S&P Global Market Intelligence consensus normalized EPS estimate for the quarter was 58 cents.
The company said its non-GAAP net income attributable to ordinary shareholders totaled $653.0 million, a decline of 17.8% from $794.0 million in the prior-year period.
Net revenue fell 7.7% on an annual basis to $4.34 billion from $4.70 billion, and research and development expenses declined year over year to $276.0 million from $290.0 million.
The GAAP net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders came to $689.0 million, or a loss of 63 cents per share, compared with a loss of $241.0 million, or a loss of 24 cents per share, in the prior-year period.
Year-to-date through June 30, the company's non-GAAP net income attributable to ordinary shareholders totaled $1.20 per share, a decline from $1.71 per share in the prior-year period.
Non-GAAP net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was $1.31 billion, a fall from $1.75 billion in the prior-year period.
Year-to-date net revenue fell 11.6% year over year to $8.63 billion from $9.77 billion.
In reporting results, the company said it forecasts non-GAAP EPS in the range of $2.20 to $2.50 for the full year, an affirmation of the previous expectation.
For the full year, the S&P Global Market Intelligence consensus normalized EPS estimate is $2.38.
The company also expects revenue in the range of $17.00 billion to $17.40 billion for the full year, steady with the previous forecast.

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Posted on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011 by Angie Han
Fans of monster movies and/or the Criterion Collection probably recall that a couple of months back, rumors began surfacing of a Criterion Collection release of Godzilla — an unusual, though not unprecedented, pick by a video distributor that generally favors artsy pictures over genre flicks. So today’s news won’t come as a surprise, but rather a welcome update. Criterion has officially confirmed a January release for their Godzilla Blu-ray/DVD, and has unveiled a list of the special features we can look forward to. More details after the jump.


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BEIJING (Reuters) – China, the world’s top producer of rare earth elements, last year also emerged as the biggest importer of the group of minerals used in everything from ceramics to consumer electronics, analysts said on Wednesday.
China has for years been the world’s biggest rare earths exporter, raising shipments overseas by 4 percent year-on-year to more than 53,000 tonnes in 2018, and its emergence as the top importer as well is a sudden and surprising development.
The country imported 41,400 tonnes of rare earth oxides and oxide equivalents in 2018, up 167 percent year-on-year, as a crackdown on illegal production reduced domestic output, according to a report by consultancy Adamas Intelligence.
Shipments were primarily in the form of mineral and chemical concentrates from Myanmar and the United States, Adamas managing director Ryan Castilloux said.
In the case of at least seven key rare earths — including praseodymium, used in magnets, and yttrium, used in ceramics — China was a net importer in 2018 for the first time in more than 30 years, Castilloux told Reuters.


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|By PR Newswire||
|January 15, 2013 02:01 PM EST||
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- ESET, the global leader in proactive digital protection with a 25 year track record of developing award-winning technology, today announced the latest release of its flagship consumer products: ESET Smart Security 6 and ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6.
Enhancements to both products include advancements in threat detection, more thorough cleaning of infected systems, and an improved user experience. ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6 is a fast and powerful antivirus solution with improved usability and upgrades to the scanning engine for better overall performance. Both products benefit from Anti-Phishing protection as well as the new ESET Social Media Scanner App, which protects users and their linked friends against attacks launched from within Facebook. ESET Smart Security 6 further extends that functionality by adding unique Anti-Theft capabilities.
"ESET has always worked to be the fastest, most accurate, and complete antivirus solution available," said Andrew Lee, CEO, ESET North America. "With the release of Version 6, we believe we have delivered on that promise while improving usability, driving value for our customers, and making it possible for people to use and enjoy their technology with confidence. Cyber security is about more than just technology. It's about helping people make good decisions."
In planning the latest product versions, ESET researched and evaluated the most prevalent security issues affecting North American customers. The findings reinforced that laptop and device theft continue to be a growing concern. A wide variety of sources identify computer theft as a leading cause of data breaches and identity fraud. Without protection, it is very unlikely that stolen computers are ever recovered.
In addition to computer theft, identity fraud remains a crucial issue. More than 11.5 million Americans were victims of identity fraud in 2011, according to Javelin Strategy & Research. Social media is also a growing factor in the threat landscape with nearly five percent of Facebook users reporting some degree of identity theft.*
ESET Social Media Scanner protects social media users from malicious content, including their profile, wall, newsfeed and private messages. Protection continues even when the user is not logged into their Facebook account. If an infection is found, a notification arrives by email, so that the user can take immediate action. ESET also helps the user's friends stay a safe distance from malicious content, checking their walls for potentially dangerous links. For more on the ESET Social Media Scanner, please visit http://www.eset.com/social-media-scanner.
ESET Anti-Theft helps locate missing devices and makes it possible to monitor activity on lost or stolen laptops, notebooks, tablets and more.
"At ESET we do not want our customers to pay extra for what we consider to be an integral part of a complete personal security solution," said Ignacio Sbampato, ESET Chief Sales and Marketing Officer. "We are among the first vendors to have added the new Anti-Theft feature into the product at no extra cost rather than offering it as a standalone application."
ESET Anti-Phishing offers increased protection against digital identity theft. According to the global Online Security Brand Tracker Survey**, worldwide protection against phishing websites is highly valued among computer users with 68 percent considering this function important. In the latest AV-Comparatives single product test ***, ESET Smart Security 6 ranked as one of the most effective products blocking almost 94 percent of threats. The dedicated Anti-Phishing module in V6 includes an extended database of phishing sites as well as verified reports by users via http://phishing.eset.com.
Both ESET Version 6 products have received the Windows® 8 Certification and use the "Windows 8 Compatible" logo. They are available in the Microsoft® Company Windows 8 Store.
Selected features and benefits of ESET Smart Security 6
Anti-Theft–Automatically monitors a missing device and displays its position on a map based on visible Wi-Fi networks in range when it comes online.
Anti-Phishing Module–Protects the user from attempts by fake websites masquerading as trustworthy ones to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords or banking and credit card details.
Personal Firewall–Prevents unauthorized users from accessing the computer and taking advantage of personal data. Users can safely go online to shop, bank and use social media.
Parental Control–Helps keep kids safe on the internet with age appropriate site categories linked to blocking controls.
Idle-State Scanning–Performs in-depth scans when the computer is not in use, aiding system performance and detecting potential inactive threats before they can cause any damage.
Selected features and benefits of both ESET NOD32 Antivirus 6 and ESET Smart Security 6
ESET Social Media Scanner–Protects the social media user and their friends from malicious content, including protection of their profile, wall, newsfeed and private messages.
Antivirus and Antispyware–Provides proactive protection against all types of online/offline threats and prevents the spread of malware to other users.
Cloud-powered Scanning–Speeds up scans by whitelisting safe files based on ESET's file reputation database.
Scan While Downloading Files–Decreases access time to downloaded files by scanning them during the download process.
*Javelin Strategy & Research, "2011 Identity Fraud Survey Report: Identity Fraud Decreases – but Remaining Frauds Cost Consumers More Time & Money." February 22, 2012.
**Online Security Brand Tracker wave 7 is a global research project measuring brand performance of leading security software products in the home user segment. The survey is representative of 1.3 billion Internet users across six continents. Its objective is to gain knowledge of the current situation and trends on key markets; obtain market information and interpretations to manage sales and marketing activities of ESET, as well as technological development of its products. The number of selected countries was 49; field work was carried out by InSites Consulting (Belgium) on online panels of respondents, with analysis conducted by United Consultants (Slovakia) throughout April– May 2012).
***AV-Comparatives, Single Product Test, January 2013: http://www.av-comparatives.org/images/docs/sp_rev_eset_201301_en.pdf
Windows® is a trademark of the Microsoft group of companies.
The ESET logo, and brand name are trademarks of ESET spol. s r.o. or ESET North America. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
ESET is on the forefront of security innovation, delivering trusted protection to make the Internet safer for businesses and consumers. IDC has recognized ESET as a top five corporate anti-malware vendor and one of the fastest growing companies in its category. Trusted by millions of users worldwide, ESET is one of the most recommended security solutions in the world. ESET NOD32 Antivirus consistently achieves the highest accolades in all types of comparative testing, and powers the virus and spyware detection in ESET Smart Security, ESET Cybersecurity for Mac, ESET Endpoint Security and ESET Endpoint Antivirus. ESET has global headquarters in Bratislava (Slovakia), with regional distribution centers in San Diego (U.S.), Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Singapore; with offices in Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Prague (Czech Republic). ESET has malware research centers in Bratislava, San Diego, Buenos Aires, Singapore, Prague, Kosice (Slovakia), Krakow (Poland), Montreal (Canada), Moscow (Russia), and an extensive partner network for 180 countries. For more information, visit http://www.eset.com/us or call +1 (619) 876-5400.
There is an ever-growing explosion of new devices that are connected to the Internet using “cloud” solutions. This rapid growth is creating a massive new demand for efficient access to data. And it’s not just about connecting to that data anymore. This new demand is bringing new issues and challenges and it is important for companies to scale for the coming growth. And with that scaling comes the need for greater security, gathering and data analysis, storage, connectivity and, of course, the...
May. 6, 2016 01:45 PM EDT Reads: 1,366
The IETF draft standard for M2M certificates is a security solution specifically designed for the demanding needs of IoT/M2M applications. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Brian Romansky, VP of Strategic Technology at TrustPoint Innovation, will explain how M2M certificates can efficiently enable confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity on highly constrained devices.
May. 6, 2016 01:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,405
trust and privacy in their ecosystem. Assurance and protection of device identity, secure data encryption and authentication are the key security challenges organizations are trying to address when integrating IoT devices. This holds true for IoT applications in a wide range of industries, for example, healthcare, consumer devices, and manufacturing. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Lancen LaChance, vice president of product management, IoT solutions at GlobalSign, will teach IoT developers how t...
May. 6, 2016 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 836
When it comes to IoT in the enterprise, namely the commercial building and hospitality markets, a benefit not getting the attention it deserves is energy efficiency, and IoT's direct impact on a cleaner, greener environment when installed in smart buildings. Until now clean technology was offered piecemeal and led with point solutions that require significant systems integration to orchestrate and deploy. There didn't exist a 'top down' approach that can manage and monitor the way a Smart Buildi...
May. 6, 2016 10:53 AM EDT Reads: 193
So, you bought into the current machine learning craze and went on to collect millions/billions of records from this promising new data source. Now, what do you do with them? Too often, the abundance of data quickly turns into an abundance of problems. How do you extract that "magic essence" from your data without falling into the common pitfalls? In her session at @ThingsExpo, Natalia Ponomareva, Software Engineer at Google, will provide tips on how to be successful in large scale machine lear...
May. 6, 2016 10:30 AM EDT Reads: 1,597
SYS-CON Events announced today that Peak 10, Inc., a national IT infrastructure and cloud services provider, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Peak 10 provides reliable, tailored data center and network services, cloud and managed services. Its solutions are designed to scale and adapt to customers’ changing business needs, enabling them to lower costs, improve performance and focus inter...
May. 6, 2016 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,528
Digital payments using wearable devices such as smart watches, fitness trackers, and payment wristbands are an increasing area of focus for industry participants, and consumer acceptance from early trials and deployments has encouraged some of the biggest names in technology and banking to continue their push to drive growth in this nascent market. Wearable payment systems may utilize near field communication (NFC), radio frequency identification (RFID), or quick response (QR) codes and barcodes...
May. 6, 2016 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,107
You think you know what’s in your data. But do you? Most organizations are now aware of the business intelligence represented by their data. Data science stands to take this to a level you never thought of – literally. The techniques of data science, when used with the capabilities of Big Data technologies, can make connections you had not yet imagined, helping you discover new insights and ask new questions of your data. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Sarbjit Sarkaria, data science team lead ...
May. 6, 2016 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,318
SYS-CON Events announced today that Ericsson has been named “Gold Sponsor” of SYS-CON's @ThingsExpo, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York, New York. Ericsson is a world leader in the rapidly changing environment of communications technology – providing equipment, software and services to enable transformation through mobility. Some 40 percent of global mobile traffic runs through networks we have supplied. More than 1 billion subscribers around the world re...
May. 6, 2016 09:15 AM EDT Reads: 1,445
We're entering the post-smartphone era, where wearable gadgets from watches and fitness bands to glasses and health aids will power the next technological revolution. With mass adoption of wearable devices comes a new data ecosystem that must be protected. Wearables open new pathways that facilitate the tracking, sharing and storing of consumers’ personal health, location and daily activity data. Consumers have some idea of the data these devices capture, but most don’t realize how revealing and...
May. 6, 2016 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 828
The demand for organizations to expand their infrastructure to multiple IT environments like the cloud, on-premise, mobile, bring your own device (BYOD) and the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to grow. As this hybrid infrastructure increases, the challenge to monitor the security of these systems increases in volume and complexity. In his session at 18th Cloud Expo, Stephen Coty, Chief Security Evangelist at Alert Logic, will show how properly configured and managed security architecture can...
May. 6, 2016 08:45 AM EDT Reads: 682
The IoTs will challenge the status quo of how IT and development organizations operate. Or will it? Certainly the fog layer of IoT requires special insights about data ontology, security and transactional integrity. But the developmental challenges are the same: People, Process and Platform. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Craig Sproule, CEO of Metavine, will demonstrate how to move beyond today's coding paradigm and share the must-have mindsets for removing complexity from the development proc...
May. 6, 2016 07:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,090
Artificial Intelligence has the potential to massively disrupt IoT. In his session at 18th Cloud Expo, AJ Abdallat, CEO of Beyond AI, will discuss what the five main drivers are in Artificial Intelligence that could shape the future of the Internet of Things. AJ Abdallat is CEO of Beyond AI. He has over 20 years of management experience in the fields of artificial intelligence, sensors, instruments, devices and software for telecommunications, life sciences, environmental monitoring, process...
May. 6, 2016 06:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,538
In his session at @ThingsExpo, Chris Klein, CEO and Co-founder of Rachio, will discuss next generation communities that are using IoT to create more sustainable, intelligent communities. One example is Sterling Ranch, a 10,000 home development that – with the help of Siemens – will integrate IoT technology into the community to provide residents with energy and water savings as well as intelligent security. Everything from stop lights to sprinkler systems to building infrastructures will run ef...
May. 6, 2016 04:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,357
We’ve worked with dozens of early adopters across numerous industries and will debunk common misperceptions, which starts with understanding that many of the connected products we’ll use over the next 5 years are already products, they’re just not yet connected. With an IoT product, time-in-market provides much more essential feedback than ever before. Innovation comes from what you do with the data that the connected product provides in order to enhance the customer experience and optimize busi...
May. 6, 2016 02:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,450
Manufacturers are embracing the Industrial Internet the same way consumers are leveraging Fitbits – to improve overall health and wellness. Both can provide consistent measurement, visibility, and suggest performance improvements customized to help reach goals. Fitbit users can view real-time data and make adjustments to increase their activity. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Mark Bernardo Professional Services Leader, Americas, at GE Digital, will discuss how leveraging the Industrial Interne...
May. 6, 2016 01:45 AM EDT Reads: 1,457
The increasing popularity of the Internet of Things necessitates that our physical and cognitive relationship with wearable technology will change rapidly in the near future. This advent means logging has become a thing of the past. Before, it was on us to track our own data, but now that data is automatically available. What does this mean for mHealth and the "connected" body? In her session at @ThingsExpo, Lisa Calkins, CEO and co-founder of Amadeus Consulting, will discuss the impact of wea...
May. 6, 2016 01:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,289
Increasing IoT connectivity is forcing enterprises to find elegant solutions to organize and visualize all incoming data from these connected devices with re-configurable dashboard widgets to effectively allow rapid decision-making for everything from immediate actions in tactical situations to strategic analysis and reporting. In his session at 18th Cloud Expo, Shikhir Singh, Senior Developer Relations Manager at Sencha, will discuss how to create HTML5 dashboards that interact with IoT devic...
May. 6, 2016 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,502
Whether your IoT service is connecting cars, homes, appliances, wearable, cameras or other devices, one question hangs in the balance – how do you actually make money from this service? The ability to turn your IoT service into profit requires the ability to create a monetization strategy that is flexible, scalable and working for you in real-time. It must be a transparent, smoothly implemented strategy that all stakeholders – from customers to the board – will be able to understand and comprehe...
May. 5, 2016 11:30 PM EDT Reads: 1,397
A critical component of any IoT project is the back-end systems that capture data from remote IoT devices and structure it in a way to answer useful questions. Traditional data warehouse and analytical systems are mature technologies that can be used to handle large data sets, but they are not well suited to many IoT-scale products and the need for real-time insights. At Fuze, we have developed a backend platform as part of our mobility-oriented cloud service that uses Big Data-based approache...
May. 5, 2016 04:00 PM EDT Reads: 817


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Scarr’s Pizza is Planning a Second Location at a Midtown Food Hall
Out of nowhere, news that Scarr’s Pizza is expanding to include a second city location this spring.
Eater had the scoop yesterday, citing the website of the architecture firm Le Whit, which lists the pizzeria as client. The new location is similarly small – 250 square-feet, but “reiterating the restaurant’s current branding” with its “retro diner look and feel, pairing graffiti art and hip-hop allusions with classic wood siding, Formica countertops and diner stools.”
In fact, it’ll take up space inside a forthcoming midtown food hall from the folks behind Dekalb Market.
Owner Scarr Pimetel founded his namesake pizzeria at 22 Orchard Street back in 2016. It’s been a popular draw since opening.


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Huawei Technologies is forecast to record $108.5 billion in sales in 2018, marking a year-on-year growth of 21 percent, the company said on Thursday.
The growth rate is faster than the company recorded in 2017 which stood at 15.7 percent.
The results highlight global clients' recognition of Huawei and they are the best responses to security allegations against the company, said Guo Ping, rotating chairman of Huawei, in an internal letter.
"Our policies toward suppliers will stay unchanged. We will, in particular, unswervingly cooperate with U.S. suppliers to achieve win-win growth," Guo said.
The company did not disclose profit figures.


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Canadian software maker BlackBerry reported the results of its fourth fiscal quarter, which ended in late February. Net income received during the earnings period amounted to $51 million, whereas a year earlier a net loss of $10 million was recorded. Revenues amounted to 255 million dollars, an increase of 9%. The implementation of the software brought the company a record $248 million. Its growth was at the level of 14%. Both figures exceeded market forecasts, helped by licensing and intellectual property revenues, which jumped 71%. BlackBerry reported that since the beginning of the year its capitalization has increased by 42.5%.
Thailand GDP growth lower than forecast, says central bank19.02.2020
New York Fed: U.S. shoppers suspect spending growth slowdown17.02.2020
Euro slips on weak economic growth, yen stable despite weak Japan GDP13.02.2020
Stocks climb as market appetite improves over lowest reported new virus cases


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Xphyto Therapeutics (XPHY.C) diagnostic partner, 3a-Diagnostics GmbH, is getting onboard with the latest rush to develop a COVID-19 diagnostic kit, using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technology, which brings anticipated results in 25 minutes, according to a press release.
The test is planned for commercial launch as a CE-IVD-certified (in vitro diagnostic) product in the European Union by Q1, 2021.
“Applying 3a’s proprietary enhanced RNA technology to PCR testing was a logical next step in our product development pipeline. We are currently developing two saliva-based tests to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA. The RT-PCR test system is to be employed in a laboratory setting using minimal equipment with sample to results in less than 25 minutes. The rapid test system is a low-cost, self-administered, disposable test with sample to results in less than 15 minutes. Both systems are on track for European commercialization in Q1 2021,” said Dr. Heinrich Jehle, managing director of 3a-Diagnostics.
The final validation studies for both RNA test systems are going to take place in Germany in Q4, 2020. 3a will continue with its industrial design, product usability, labelling compliance, regulatory approval and production planning work as its doing its validation studies.
Xphyto announced an agreement signed with 3a Diagnostics on April 20, 2020, that deal with a technology purchase and licensing agreement to develop and commercialize a real-time, inexpensive, user-friendly screening test using their 3a’s pathogen-specific biosensor and Xphyto’s oral dissolvable drug delivery system.
In July, 2020, they tacked on an addition to the agreement that includes 3a’s RNA system and related intellectual property into the agreement, and also includes exclusive commercial rights for the rapid test and RT-PCR test.


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Yesterday TECNO mobile signed a partnership with one of the premium football clubs Manchester City to be their Tablet and Handset partner. The partnership is said to be a ‘multi-year agreement’ and one that will definitely be a big one for the Chinese based Afrocentric mobile phone maker in terms of getting their brand out.
Here are a few words from Tom Glick the Chief Commercial Officer for Manchester City FC
We are delighted to welcome TECNO Mobile to Manchester City’s growing repertoire of global partners. Its global focus coupled with a commitment to each of its local markets reflects our ethos and we look forward to working with them to connect with Manchester City’s global fan base.
The partnership might be an indication of how confident Tecno mobile is with their handsets and could be a strategic measure of entering into the cutthroat European market. If you were skeptical about new smartphone brands maybe this can entice you to consider a Tecno. You can learn more about a couple of their handsets in our reviews.


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Believe it or not, winter is going to quickly come to an end, and cattle markets are picking up on this.
As we pass mid-February, the seasonality in the cutout price is starting to pick up, says Anne Wasko of the Gateway Livestock Exchange, as we make it through the lull of January and February.
Check out the full Beef Market Update with host Shaun Haney as they discuss updates on the market, feed costs and carcass weights, December trade data for Canada, beef export numbers, and more! (Full summary below).
- In the U.S. right now, a little bit on the light test side
- Last week we had a nice jump — got that 5 Area price up to $160 (in the south)
- Asking levels in the north are up to that $260 delivered
- Cutout price this morning was $279.50, which is $10 higher than last week
- It looks like the cutout price is turning that corner as we start to make moves into spring
- Last week in Alberta we had a nice jump to $194 on the live average and $325 delivered dressed in Alberta
- Icing on the cake is Ontario prices are two-to-four higher at $332 delivered dressed
- Still at record carcass weights as of two weeks ago. From a data perspective — running at some pretty heavy record carcass weights
- Packers are still running at good kill levels
- There has been hedging opportunities over the past year — so not all feed waters are underwater, but spot-to-spot they are
- Hoping for better margins in 2023!
- Weather forecasts are looking better for this year. Hopefully that means a decrease in some feed costs
- If you look at the feeder market today, heading into the summer and the second half of the year — depending on the weight class that someone is buying, these markets are on fire
- We’ve gotten some December trade data since the last Beef Market Update
- For all of calendar year 2022, and total volume was 1 per cent higher. It might not seem like a big number, but it beats last year’s record
- Based on what is being forecasted for supplies going forward, 2022 could be a watermark year in terms of the volume of beef exports for Canada for quite some time
- Add the live cattle value to that, and we’re at $5.9 billion worth of exports when you add beef and cattle together. That’s 8 per cent higher than last year. These are great numbers from a demand perspective
- Our main exporting country in Canada has been Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Mexico


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Kia Philippines continues to grow despite the economic challenges presented by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. They have inaugurated their 41st dealership in the Philippines: Kia Cainta.
Plans are also under way to open five more this year, specifically in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.
Located in the heart of Rizal at Ortigas Avenue Extension, Cainta, Kia Philippines's newest dealership is run by Argani Motors, Inc. of Alice and Louie Lee.
This is all part of their Kia abides by its "Promise to Care" program, demonstrating their commitment to providing better quality and more convenience.
Manny Aligada, president of Kia Philippines, stated: "The Soluto held steady at the top with 39% of its total sales, followed by the K2500 with 17%. Despite being launched only in the last quarter of 2020, the Stonic achieved 200 unit sales in December alone en route to cornering 16% of the volume of total deliveries. Likewise, the Seltos, Sportage, Picanto, Sorento, and Carnival also contributed to total sales."
These numbers have led Aligada's growth projections for 2021 to hit not just double, but triple digits. Kia has increased their inventory of parts and vehicles by five times. The company has also used the lull caused by the pandemic to increase the skills training and certification of its dealers.
As Aligada aptly put it, "These new challenges will always be there, but Kia Philippines will remain resilient and strong-willed. After all, our Power to Surprise springs from our drive to serve." As a company dedicated to ensuring that driver enjoyment remains a top priority in the coming era of future mobility, there's nowhere to go but up for Kia Philippines.


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The nature of global trade is shifting once again. For two decades, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been locked in a stalemate between the wealthy north and the poor south as countries on either side of the global divide fail to find room for compromise. But now that seems to be changing, and new alliances are being made across age-old battle lines. Unfortunately for free trade advocates, this doesn't necessarily signal forward motion in global trade talks. Instead it will likely slow negotiations even further as two factions are replaced by many, giving rise to an increasingly multipolar world in which multilateral trade deals are even harder to come by....
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Shopify and YouTube have joined forces to give merchants and creators a new way to connect to consumers, build their businesses, and share their stories. With the launch of YouTube Shopping on Shopify, merchants can integrate their online store with one of the world’s biggest entertainment platforms – reaching over 2 billion monthly logged-in users.
The creator economy is booming and the bridge from content to commerce is getting shorter all the time. A movement of 50 million+ independent entrepreneurs, content creators, community builders and curators using social platforms to sell products and grow businesses. The creator economy is estimated to be worth $104.2 billion globally. Shopify’s partnership with YouTube will expand the opportunity for independent brands in the creator economy, providing new ways for creators and merchants to
Shimona Mehta, Managing Director, Shopify EMEA comments: “YouTube has been integral in building the creator economy over the past decade, and Shopify has helped millions of merchants quickly start, run, grow, and manage storefronts. By partnering together, we’re accelerating the next evolution of social commerce by giving creators and merchants more ways to sustainably monetise and build successful businesses, while still authentically connecting with their fans and buyers.”meaningfully connect with their communities.
Mushroom farmers like GroCycle, football fan channels like The United Stand and fitness influencers like TeamRICHEY are among the UK YouTube creators are already tapping into live shopping through YouTube.
Mark Goldbridge, presenter for The United Stand, which has amassed a community of over a million football fans, commened: “Ever since we started The United Stand seven years ago the most important thing to us has been our community and one of the best ways for our community to show their support and add an extra layer to their involvement with our channels is by purchasing and gifting the merchandise we sell through Shopify.
“Being a supporter of a channel like the United Stand means the world to us so that is why we are so grateful for every one of our amazing fans that buy a piece of merchandise from us as not only does it allow us to deepen the connection we have with our viewers but it also allows us to provide even great levels of content though the financial support it offer the channel.”
Shopify merchants can sell their full range of products on YouTube in three ways: YouTube Live lets merchants tag and pin products at key points during a livestream, and picture-in-picture playback means consumers can watch while they check out; On-demand videos allow merchants to show a curated list of products in a product shelf below on-demand videos; Store tab adds a new tab to a merchant’s YouTube channel, featuring their entire selection of products.
Because Shopify acts as a merchant’s retail operating system, product details including names, images, pricing, and shipping are kept up-to-date across channels. If a product sells out, it’s automatically removed from YouTube. Merchants can track performance of live and on-demand videos directly from their Shopify admin, with a full view of multichannel sales.
“For years, creators have built businesses around their YouTube content, often extending their entrepreneurship into building their own brands, but it hasn’t been as seamless to reach their audience with these products directly on YouTube,” said David Katz, VP of Shopping Product at YouTube. “We’re excited to partner with Shopify to help creators easily bring their stores front and centre for their communities on YouTube, who are increasingly turning to them to shop.”
Paul Rogers, Managing Director at Ecommerce Consultancy Vervaunt, said: “The level of adoption in other countries shows there is a huge interest from consumers in shopping video content, which in my opinion makes Live Shopping and Social Commerce in general a very promising new channel for ecommerce. Live Shopping connects merchants to consumers in a novel way and helps foster a relationship. We’re looking forward to seeing how UK merchants will use this new opportunity for their future success.”
Youtube Shopping builds on the existing foundation of Shopify’s partnership with Google as they extend their commerce collaboration. YouTube Shopping is available now to Shopify merchants globally.


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NEW YORK, August 15, 2023 – Inc. revealed today that Abstrakt Marketing Group ranks No. 4,246 on the 2023 Inc. 5000, its annual list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. The prestigious ranking gives a data-driven look at the most successful companies within the economy’s most dynamic segment: its independent, entrepreneurial businesses. Facebook, Chobani, Under Armour, Microsoft, Patagonia, and many other household name brands gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000.
This year, two Abstrakt companies are represented on the Inc 5000 list. This is the 9th time Abstrakt Marketing Group has been named. The company ranked 4,246th on the overall list, 61st in Missouri, and 400th fastest-growing company in the Advertising & Marketing category.
Abstrakt Cloud Solutions, a subsidiary of Abstrakt Marketing Group, also cracked the list for the first time this year, residing in the No. 345 spot. Abstrakt Cloud Solutions specializes in Salesforce consulting services and product solutions for both businesses new to the platform and/or need guidance on using it. President of Abstrakt Cloud Solutions, Chris Gooding, says:
“We are honored to have been recognized as one of the fastest-growing companies in the country this year. We have grown so much since getting our start in 2017, and cracking the top 500 on this prestigious list shows the dedication and hard work of our entire team. While this is our first time being named, we will strive to remain on it. I am so excited to share this news with my own team and our clients because they are both the reason we made the list.”
The Inc. 5000 class of 2023 represents companies that have driven rapid revenue growth while navigating inflationary pressure, the rising costs of capital, and seemingly intractable hiring challenges. Among this year’s top 500 companies, the average median three-year revenue growth rate ticked up to an astonishing 2,238 percent. In all, this year’s Inc. 5000 companies have added 1,187,266 jobs to the economy over the past three years.
“Running a business has only gotten harder since the end of the pandemic,” says Inc. Editor-in-Chief, Scott Omelianuk. “To make the Inc. 5000—with the fast growth that requires—is truly an accomplishment. Inc. is thrilled to honor the companies that are building our future.”
The award is just the latest in a long list of accolades for Abstrakt Marketing Group this year. So far in 2023, the company has been named in the St. Louis Post Dispatch’s Top Workplaces, Telly Awards, and St. Louis Business Journal Best Places to Work, among others.
To see the full list of this year’s Inc 5000 winners, please go to www.inc.com/inc5000.


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Stonemont Financial Group, a private real estate investment firm specializing in industrial development and net lease assets, announced today that it closed on two land acquisitions in Central Florida that paves the way for two major Class A distribution centers expected to draw interest from leading players in the e-commerce and logistics arenas.
Totaling 1.33 million square feet, the projects in Groveland and Ocala are both being developed on a speculative basis and will deliver in early 2023. The size and scope of the two projects is a key differentiator due to the limited availability of bulk industrial sites in Central Florida that are in demand by retailers, e-commerce users and third-party logistics providers struggling to keep up with the region’s rapid job and population growth.
Stonemont is co-developing Groveland Turnpike Center with CA Ventures on a 74-acre site at 7453 Republic Drive, just two miles from Florida’s Turnpike and within a two-hour drive of nine and a half million people. The Class A development consists of one cross-dock facility totaling 876,750 square feet with a 36’ clear height, 180 loading doors, 435 auto parking stalls for future employees, 252 full-size trailer parking stalls, LED warehouse lighting, and two points of access to Republic Drive. The project includes other state-of-the-art features tailored for a variety of logistics and e-commerce-based businesses and is one of only a handful of bulk cross-dock facilities greater than 750,000 square feet currently available for lease in the state of Florida.
In Ocala, Stonemont is co-developing Topline Logistics Center with US Capital Development, a 457,054-square-foot Class A cross-dock facility at the intersection of NW 35th Avenue and NW 21st Street. The state-of-the-art building features a 36’ clear height, 97 loading doors, 384 auto parking stalls for employees, 153 trailer parking stalls and LED warehouse lighting. The development offers direct access to Interstate 75, which carries 75% of all cargo traffic coming into Florida. Ocala is one of the state’s fastest growing industrial markets due to its equidistant location between Orlando, Tampa and Jacksonville, with other large users such as Amazon, Chewy and FedEx also recently building new distribution hubs nearby. The project fills a strategic void of users trying to serve the three large cities from one bulk distribution center.
Stonemont currently has over 4 million square feet of industrial space under construction across the state of Florida, and recently closed on other new ground-up projects in Tampa, Port St. Lucie and Lakeland over the last month.
“Stonemont’s significant investment in these two projects reflects our belief that Central Florida will be one of the national epicenters for e-commerce traffic and activity in the decade ahead,” said Zack Markwell, managing principal and CEO at Stonemont Financial Group. “The limited supply of 400,000+ SF bulk distribution centers across the region presents considerable opportunity for our team to meet market demand by utilizing Stonemont’s proven blueprint for developing large-scale speculative industrial properties that create operational efficiencies and boost overall productivity for e-commerce and logistics users.”
“Groveland and Ocala both provide access to top-tier infrastructure networks and strong labor pools, making them natural choices for the next phase of our Florida expansion,” said Avery Dorr, vice president at Stonemont. “We are excited to continue our growth across the state of Florida through partnering with qualified developers and executing on our own developments. We anticipate achieving full lease-up on both projects before construction wraps up next year.”
Cushman & Wakefield is overseeing leasing for the Ocala project and JLL is overseeing the leasing for the Groveland project. Frampton Construction is serving as the general contractor for Topline Logistics Center (Ocala) and HGR Construction is serving as general contractor for the Groveland Turnpike Center.
According to a new report from JLL, over three million square feet of new industrial product delivered in the Orlando industrial market in 2021, with more than 2.6 million square feet of space currently under construction. The market ended the year with a record high for average asking rates ($7.32/PSF) as continued inbound migration and relative affordability continue to fuel economic growth and development.
Stonemont’s ability to source and capitalize premium speculative development opportunities in markets with high barriers to entry have enabled the firm to grow its industrial portfolio exponentially over the last 24 months, with 15 million square feet of Class A product currently under construction. Headquartered in Atlanta, Stonemont recently opened new office locations in Charlotte, Chicago and Dallas.


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CINCINNATI — … has got to be Tucker Rocky’s renewed focus on the V-twin aftermarket business.
Tucker Rocky President Steve Johnson told Powersports Business the national distributor is “pushing a restart button” on Biker’s Choice, its V-twin arm. The restart includes additional resources for that business group as well as the addition of Charlie Hadayia Jr. to its management staff. Hadayia, an industry veteran, is probably best known for his many years at one of the V-twin industry’s prominent brands, S&S Cycle.
Johnson noted Hadayia, who was just recently hired, will handle business development duties for Biker’s Choice while Director Richard Schafer will work on product and inventory. The latter is especially key for the brand’s growth in the market.
Refocusing on the V-twin market for Tucker Rocky only makes sense as Harley-Davidson’s market share continues to rise. The manufacturer recently stated its share in the industry’s heavyweight bike market (651cc-plus) had risen to 55 percent.
Find out more on the changes at Biker’s Choice in an upcoming edition of Powersports Business.


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Artificial Solutions’ patents valued to 1,6 Billion SEK
Artificial Solutions International AB (“Artificial Solutions” or the “Company”) has invested significant amounts in R&D and in patenting its unique technology in Natural Language Interaction (NLI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) technologies in recent years.
An updated intellectual property valuation analysis by OxFirst Ltd. shows that the valuation has risen to over SEK 1,6 billion, up from SEK 1,4 billion in 2019.
The patents are cited by some of the most influential companies in the Conversational AI space, including Apple, Nuance, Google and IBM, confirming Artificial Solutions as a leading innovator in the Conversational AI sector.
A cited citation is also referred to as a forward citation.
“Our technology is used by world leading companies to create the best customer experiences possible in a plethora of languages. We power the largest multilingual Conversational AI-project in Europe and our clients achieve outstanding customer loyalty scores with higher levels of automation they originally thought possible” says Per Ottosson, CEO of Artificial Solutions.
Artificial Solutions has significantly more forward citations than the average peer in Software (305 vs. 33). Forward citations indicate that newer patents acknowledge the importance of a foundational patent in the space.
The valuation considers how the scope and influence of Artificial Solutions´ intellectual property has expanded and bases its conclusion on the patents overall market opportunity combined with the potential opportunities in the Conversational AI market.
Our patents cited by Apple, Nuance, Google and IBM are key components within Artificial Solutions platform, Teneo to develop bots and conversational IVR’s. With Artificial Solutions customers can add Teneo to any existing conversational AI development and expand with functionality, such as any of Teneo´s 86 languages.
The product is delivered as a Cloud based SaaS service to global businesses such as Telefonica Germany, HelloFresh, AT&T, Medtronic and Škoda, part of Volkswagen Group.


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Even though it is 2023, the AI race between companies continues to move at a tremendous pace. And while ChatGPT has had the upper hand for a long time, it seems that may not be the case anymore. Google has launched Gemini, its largest, most powerful and capable AI model yet.
As described in a blog post Recently released, Google detailed that its Gemini AI was built from the ground up fully multimodal. The model is pre-trained from the start for different modalities.
It was then further optimized and trained to accept all kinds of outputs and distribute all kinds of outputs. This translates effectively to the AI model fully understand and respond to text, images, videos, audio, code.
Google showed the same thing when it gave the model a simple two-yarn video and showed suggestions on what to make. The same case occurred when Gemini built a code for a dot matrix pattern that was shown. The fact that the model can read videos and translate them into output is insane.
Gemini beats OpenAI’s GPT-4
In addition to showing off the multimodality, Google also released some benchmark figures comparing Gemini to OpenAI’s GPT-4 model. These include the Massive Multitask Language Understanding (MMLU) test, one of the most popular benchmarks. Surprisingly, Gemini AI defeats GPT-4 in various areas including reasoning, mathematics and even coding.
Considering how ChatGPT is heralded as the premier GPT model when it comes to AI, beating Bard is a pretty big deal that will certainly create upside waves.
Gemini AI: three different variations
Google will release Gemini AI three different models titled ‘Ultra’, ‘Pro’ and ‘Nano’. The most capable Ultra model is the most capable and made for very complex tasks. The Pro is the best model for scaling, while Nano is compact.
Google has already planned a release for Ultra next year, while the The Gemini Pro model will power Bard among other services. Gemini Nano is in the Pixel 8 phone and helps with answer suggestions and summarizing audio recordings.
Google’s Gemini AI has been trained and will be available in the English language and will be available in more than 170 countries. The ability to analyze images and sounds will be rolled out to Google Bard later.
What do you think of Google’s Gemini? Do you think it can beat GPT-4? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.


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Federal agents are pumped to do a little supplemental cleaning.
In a sweep, the Department of Justice and federal partners announced Tuesday that they are pursuing criminal and civil circumstances against more than 100 makers and marketers of dietary supplements, hoping to scrub out deceptive and unproven merchandise. The actions stick to a year-long effort to cleanse the profitable sector of products that threaten public overall health, the department mentioned.
Of note, the division said it had filed criminal charges against 6 executives of USPlabs LLC, a Dallas firm behind the popular workout supplement Jack3d and weight loss supplement OxyElite Pro. The two products, which had $ 400 million in sales among 2008 and 2013, have been stated to be made from plant extracts, but really contained synthetic stimulants made in China.


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Now strengthened with B Corp certification, Sezzle plans to continue “flipping the payments industry on its head,” by placing purpose alongside profit.
Sezzle joins purpose-driven brands including Patagonia, Allbirds and Athleta in its certification, meeting the “highest verified standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability to people and the planet.” Notably, Sezzle’s mission-driven payments platform has its greatest presence in North America, with growing segments in Asia and Europe.
“Becoming a certified B Corp empowers our entire team, but it is only the beginning. This designation ensures that we hold Sezzle to the highest of standards,” said Charlie Youakim, chief executive officer of Sezzle. “Sezzle’s key differentiator among the competition is our purpose-driven approach to business. With this designation, we will strengthen this advancement through the collective power of the B Corp community.”
Setting itself apart from other payment solutions in the market, Sezzle’s mission is to advance important environmental, social and economic causes and to financially empower the next generation. The company actively works to “go beyond finance” by supporting empowerment across multiple segments of its users’ lives and works toward creating a better world through ethical initiatives.
In a statement, Sezzle said, “employees lean into significant societal and cultural shifts, ensuring internal and external focus on positive community impacts that benefit all stakeholders and shareholders.” Moreover, according to the company, people want to work for, buy from and invest in companies they believe in.
According to the company, Sezzle users are next-generation consumers who take care to be responsible in all parts of life from how they spend to where they spend.
“We characterize our users as next-generation consumers,” Veronica Katz, chief revenue officer of Sezzle. “This does not refer only to age, although 75 percent of Sezzle users are Gen Z or Millennials who are digital mobile-first shoppers. Many Sezzle customers have tended to shy away from traditional forms of lending such as high-interest-rate credit cards. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 66 percent of Millennials and 79 percent of Gen Z have ‘subprime’ credit or no credit at all.”
Through Sezzle U, the company teaches users to be financially responsible — one of its core missions in empowering the next-generation consumers — while helping them build financial responsibility and credit with real-time purchases.
“Sezzle users are searching for a way to extend payment for purchases without the fear of financially overextending, and while learning how to budget,” said Katz. “These are shoppers that just need someone to take a chance on them — when the traditional credit institution will not. Sezzle is that perfect solution. For Sezzle users who have subprime credit and a thin credit file, largely because many are credit skeptics, who have avoided credit cards and traditional credit products, Sezzle is a financial copilot that helps users on the path to good credit while providing continuous education and support aimed at helping them boost their credit scores.”
Sezzle proposed a full list of B Corp initiatives for 2021 on a local and global scale including commitments to plant a tree for every new, active user, a promise to be carbon neutral, a full annual scholarship to the University of Minnesota to a disadvantaged student, providing free financial literacy tools via Sezzle U and creating a nonprofit fund to support causes as they arise.
These program-collaborating initiatives with brands, partners and retailers align in pursuing social good, coinciding with the company’s overarching value-based marketing strategy and dedication to its partners.
For More WWD Business News:


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Today, we are happy to announce that the Vector Watch team and our software platform are joining Fitbit, the leader in the connected health and fitness market! We believe this is an important milestone as a moment when we will start building other new and amazing products, features and experiences, incorporating our unique technology and know how with Fitbit’s experience and global community.
Our aim is to make our integration in the Fitbit family as seamless as possible with no impact on you, our customers. Our smartwatches will maintain functionalities and features. You will continue to enjoy the Vector Watch experience: a 30-day battery life smartwatch, with customizable watch-faces and dedicated streams. However, new product features (software and hardware) will not be added.
Archive for January 2017
In soccer brilliant offense shows in beautiful goals, but brilliant defense shows in the other side seeming clumsy.
— Paul Graham (@paulg) January 9, 2017
Okay, here’s a weird one: Chinese drone manufacturer DJI has reportedly bought a majority stake in famous camera brand Hasselblad. The news comes from TechCrunch and photography website Luminous Landscape, both claiming inside sources have confirmed the as-yet unannounced deal. Details are beyond sketchy, since neither company has spoken to journalists to confirm or deny the transaction so far.
“Ideas, like diseases, have been shown to spread infectiously between people before eventually dying out, and have been successfully described with epidemiological models,” the authors claim in a paper entitled Epidemiological modelling of online social network dynamics.
“Ideas are spread through communicative contact between different people who share ideas with each other. Idea manifesters ultimately lose interest with the idea and no longer manifest the idea, which can be thought of as the gain of ‘immunity’ to the idea.”
Facebook reported nearly 1.2 billion monthly active users in October, and is due to update investors on its traffic numbers at the end of the month. While desktop traffic to its websites has indeed been falling, this is at least in part due to the fact that many people now only access the network via their mobile phones.


text: Andrew Zarian and John Bubb debate the FCC regulating the internet under Title II. Is the new FCC rules on net neutrality good, or will they cause more harm than good? Pebble launches a Kickstarter for their new color smartwatch and Apple invites everyone to a March 9th event. Will Apple's smartwatch be as successful as the original iPhone? Apple is also rumored to be working on a car it can launch by 2020. Is it true or just a rumor? Andrew and John also debate whether the dress is white/gold or blue/black.


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Slovenian-based Hisense Europe opens new plant in Serbia
Valjevo, 13 September - The Slovenian-based group Hisense Europe has launched production in a new plant in Valjevo, Serbia, to produce Hisense, Gorenje and Asko double-door refrigerators. The EUR 45 million investment will bring in an additional 1,000 workers in the next three years.
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Why Nissan is abandoning the internal combustion engine in Europe
Nissan’s chief executive explained on Tuesday that his company had decided to move away from developing new internal combustion engines in Europe once a tougher set of emissions standards, known as Euro 7, would come into effect.
During an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe,” Ashwani Gupta explained some of the reasons behind the planned change, a topic he’s addressed many times in the past.
One of the main reasons for this decision, said Gupta, was related to the competitiveness of ICE cars after the introduction of Euro 7, since new technologies would have to be used for these vehicles to comply with regulations. . Another factor to consider was whether customers would be willing to pay the cost of such technology.
According to the Brussels-based Transport & Environment campaign group, the Euro 7 standards are expected to be implemented in 2025. Based on Gupta’s comments, it appears that Nissan has made a decision on how the market will behave. will develop and European consumers will behave in the future.
“If the total cost of ownership of battery electric cars at Euro 7 is lower than the total cost of ownership of ICE cars,” he said, “[then] certainly, customers will opt for battery-powered cars. That’s why we decided not to develop ICE engines, starting [from] Euro 7, for Europe.”
Gupta was also keen to point out that the decision relates to the development of new ICE engines, rather than those already on the market.
The remarks above echo comments made by Gupta during a Q&A session earlier today.
Nissan, he explained, thought customers would have to pay “a lot more” for an ICE car than an electrified car when Euro 7 was introduced. “It’s not us who decide, it is the customers who will say that the electric car is more valuable than [an] …ICE car.”
Away from Europe, Gupta said the Japanese car giant “will continue to manufacture ICE engines as long as it makes sense for the customer and for the business”.
Last November, Nissan said it would invest 2 trillion Japanese yen ($17.3 billion) over the next five years to accelerate the electrification of its product lineup.
The company said it will aim to roll out 23 new electrified models by 2030, 15 of which will be fully electric. It is aiming for a 50% electrification mix for its Nissan and Infiniti brands by the end of the decade.
Nissan is one of many well-known companies pursuing an electrification strategy. In March 2021, Volvo Cars said it planned to become a “fully electric car company” by 2030. Elsewhere, BMW Group said it wanted fully electric vehicles to make up at least 50% of its deliveries by 2030.
These measures come at a time when the world’s major economies are trying to reduce the environmental footprint of transport.
The UK, for example, wants to stop the sale of new diesel and petrol cars and vans by 2030. It will, from 2035, require all new cars and vans to have zero tailpipe emissions.
Elsewhere, the European Commission, the EU exevsutive, aims for a 100% reduction in CO2 emissions from cars and vans by 2035.
On Tuesday, Nissan also announced operating profit of 191.3 billion yen, or about $1.65 billion, for the period from April to December 2021. Net profit reached 201.3 billion yen in during the first nine months of the financial year.


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Back To CNNMoney
Megyn Kelly opens up about famous 'feud' with Trump
During appearances on "Good Morning America" and "The Dr. Phil Show," the Fox news anchor explains the backstory to her heated exchange with President-elect Trump.
First impressions of Apple's iPhone XS and XS Max
Meet the first civilian who will orbit the moon
SpaceX to take billionaire on trip around the Moon
Audi is taking on Tesla with a new all-electric SUV
Billionaires love buying newspapers
Legendary investor Jim Rogers: 'All-time lows excite me'
An outrageous card offering 0% interest until August 2019
7 outrageous credit cards if you have excellent credit
Cards charging 0% interest until 2020
Pay off credit card balances faster using this method
Walmart wants to bring its 'everyday low prices' to health care
PlayStation Classic: Sony is getting in on the retro console craze
Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian gets yet another job


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Dubai is a hub for foreign tourists, and hotels in the city are no exception.
The city has become known for its stunning desert landscapes, and its hotels have long attracted international and domestic travelers looking for a quick escape.
But a new study suggests Dubai’s hotels may be doing more than just making the best of the desert.
According to Next Big Futures, Dubai hotels have more than doubled their occupancy over the last five years.
And the number of foreign visitors visiting the country is soaring.
The report estimates that between 2014 and 2019, there will be more than 10 million international visitors to Dubai, a number that will likely increase to as many as 40 million by 2026.
The rise in international tourism in Dubai, however, has been mostly driven by a number of factors, such as the country’s low cost of living, and the fact that the city has a burgeoning international tourist industry.
“Dubai is still a very expensive place to live,” said John Jansen, managing director of Destination Dubai, an online travel booking site.
“The average cost of a hotel room in Dubai has doubled in the last decade and is now $3,000.”
And Jansen’s company says the number and types of hotel rooms available in the country are also on the rise.
The number of rooms in hotels in Dubai is up from about 1,300 to 1,600 between 2014-2015 and 1,500 to 1.00 in 2020-21, according to the company.
And more and more international guests are visiting the city, especially since its popularity among the international tourist market has skyrocketed.
“Hotel occupancy is now at an all-time high,” said Jansen.
“And there are more and bigger rooms available than ever before.”
Dubai is the largest hotel destination in the Middle East, and it has long been the epicenter for the countrys most popular tourist attraction.
In 2012, the city hosted about 3.3 million international travelers, and according to Destination Dubai’s statistics, that number increased to 6.1 million in 2019.
The increase in foreign tourists has made it the second-most popular tourist destination in Dubai after Hong Kong, and more than twice as popular as Dubai’s neighbor, Abu Dhabi.
The Dubai hotel industry is a very different story.
For years, the industry has been plagued by corruption and abuse.
According the United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Tourism, hotels have been involved in a number the abuses, including forced labor, bribery, and theft.
But it also reported that there was no significant increase in the number or type of abuses against hotel employees.
“Our hotel workers are doing everything they can to protect themselves and their families,” said Abu Dhabi’s tourism minister, Mohammed al-Omar.
“We don’t want them to lose their jobs and that is why we have implemented all measures to ensure the safety of our employees.”
For now, Dubai’s hotel industry has seen a sharp decrease in the abuse of its workers.
But the industry is not immune from corruption either.
The hotel industry in the UAE has been the subject of a number investigations by the Ministry of Culture, according the Dubai Tourism Department.
But this investigation was dropped by the government, citing the importance of the investigation.
“There are no signs of corruption,” said Dubai Tourism Minister Mohammed al -Omar, adding that the investigation has “failed to prove anything.”
The number and type of corruption allegations surrounding the hotel industry varies between the countries and has also been a point of contention between the UAE and the United States.
In 2015, the UAE’s Tourism Ministry filed a complaint against the United State Department after a U.S. tourist who had worked in the hotel chain was caught using hotel rooms for a trip he took from Dubai to New York.
The complaint alleges that the U.s. embassy in Abu Dhabi “failed in its duty to safeguard the safety and security of its nationals,” according to The New York Times.
“Although the UAE is not a signatory to the Convention Against Corruption, its government has been known to be a signer of the convention since 2014,” the Times added.
In 2016, the Dubai government released a report that highlighted the need to address the issues plaguing the hotel sector, including “poor treatment of employees and an inadequate management structure.”
“We have to fix the problems and improve the working environment for our employees,” said Tourism Minister Abu Bakr al-Sheikh.
“It is our duty to protect our employees and to make sure that they are treated well.”
The Dubai Tourism Ministry said that while it will continue to investigate any cases of corruption, the government would not prosecute anyone involved in the issue.
But there is still much work to be done in the industry.
The Tourism Ministry has promised to improve conditions for the staff of the hotels, and there are plans to make the hotels more accessible and comfortable for tourists.
“A lot of hotels are not equipped to accommodate visitors, and we have to make a concerted effort to change this,” said Mohammad al-Al-Jur


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HARLEY DAVIDSON NEWS
|BUELL BLAST SETS NEW LAND SPEED RECORD AT BONNEVILLE NATIONAL'S SPEED WEEK
At the 59th annual Bonneville National's Speed Week, August 11-17, 2007, the JDees Performance racing team and their modified Buell Blast motorcycle set a new land speed record in the 500cc Modified Partially Streamlined – Pushrod Fuel class (MPS-PF). The average of two runs in the measured mile was 126.959 mph, beating the old record of 124.552 mph. The team now holds eight active Bonneville records with Buell motorcycles.
JDees Performance team consists of a few Harley-Davidson Motor Company and Buell Motorcycle Company employees who enjoy land speed racing in their spare time.
FULL METAL ATTRACTION OPEN HOUSE AND SWEEPSTAKES
The Full Metal Attraction Open House and Sweepstakes is taking place at participating Harley-Davidson and Buell dealerships across the country throughout September. Dealerships will be hosting Open House events for customers to rumble down and check out the new 2008 Harley-Davidson and Buell motorcycles.
While visiting the local dealerships, customers will be able to enter the Full Metal Attraction Sweepstakes for a chance to win a 2008 Harley-Davidson Dyna Fat Bob along with $10,000 in Genuine Motor Parts & Accessories and MotorClothes merchandise. There is also a chance to win a V.I.P. trip to Milwaukee to visit the new Harley-Davidson Museum, opening Summer 2008.
For more information, or to print off a Sweepstakes entry form, visit www.harley-davidson.com/openhouse.
HARLEY-DAVIDSON KANSAS CITY VEHICLE AND POWERTRAIN OPERATIONS ANNOUNCES 2007 OPEN HOUSE EVENTS
The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) and the Harley-Davidson Vehicle and Powertrain Operations in Kansas City, Mo., have established a new event tied to their annual open house. The Heartland Hope MDA event will take place Friday, Sept. 7 and Saturday, Sept. 8 at the Harley-Davidson Assembly Plant located at 11401 N. Congress, Kansas City, Mo. Harley-Davidson dealerships and their Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.) chapters from Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois are also participating in fundraising activities to support this unique event.
With more than 300,000 square feet of event and motorcycle parking space, Heartland Hope includes a broad range of exciting activities to appeal to motorcycle enthusiasts and families alike. Harley-Davidson factory tours will be offered from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 7-8. Tours are free to the public. On Friday, individuals must be age twelve or above to take the tours. However, on Saturday, there are no age restrictions.
2008 Harley-Davidson motorcycle demo rides will be available from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the location on Sept. 7-8, to those who pre-register with a valid motorcycle license and appropriate riding gear. The event is also a H.O.G. pin stop and includes food vendors and commemorative merchandise sales. Other events at the facility include the Harley-Davidson Traveling Museum, MDA fundraisers, music, children's attractions, a dyno truck, car shows, a ride-in bike show, stunt team performances and more than twenty-five various vendors.
The event wraps up at 7 p.m. on Sept. 8, with a drawing for a 2007 Harley-Davidson Street Bob motorcycle! Tickets for the raffle are available for five dollars at Harley-Davidson dealerships throughout Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois and will be available at the event. Additional details and a complete schedule of events for the Heartland Hope MDA event are available online at www.heartland-hope.com.
HARLEY-DAVIDSON 2007 MDA CONTRIBUTIONS REACH $5.1 MILLION


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Lyft Business Steps Up Expense Management
Keeping track of expenses is one of business’ most surprisingly vital functions. Sure, it’s not quite as big as managing cash flow, but managing expenses helps keep a track on profitability and helps out big at tax time. To that end, Lyft—likely looking to pull users from the Uber market wherever possible—has stepped up its support of business users by augmenting its expense management functions.
The new change, coming to Lyft Business, will offer improvements to documentation connected to the rides taken. Lyft riders can choose from several expense codes, which in turn should make it easier for the accounting back at the parent company to categorize the expenses accordingly.
A separate feature allows users to add notes, or requires users to choose specific expense codes by their managers in a bid to provide extra data for operations down the line. These new features join several other recent advances for Lyft Business, including receipt forwarding and an integration with several expense management operations including Chrome River and Expensify.
Such additions are proving useful, as Lyft actually managed to take nine percent of the corporate ride-hailing market from Uber just in the first quarter of 2018. That in turn represented at 10 percent increase in total market share from the same time in 2017 for Lyft.
David Baga, Lyft’s chief business officer, offered a defiant statement, saying “We will carry this momentum into the rest of 2018 and remain focused on making business travel easy, accessible and affordable.”
Rather, Baga hopes Lyft will carry that momentum into the rest of 2018; to simply expect to would be to deny the power of its larger competitor and the array of substitute goods (or rather, services) contained in the market. It’s certainly got momentum to start with, and its ongoing innovation likely has something to do with that. That and the recent run of terrible events that have hit Uber like the loss of London, and the various other legal challenges incoming.
Certainly, Lyft is making hay while the sun shines, but it’s also preparing for a future where Uber is back in action and out of its current woods. Only time will tell just how well this works out, but Lyft is building itself an excellent position in the meantime.


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Toy maker Hasbro announced today that, beginning in 2020, it plans to begin phasing out plastic from new product packaging, including plastic elements like polybags, elastic bands, shrink wrap, window sheets and blister packs. The company’s ambition is to eliminate virtually all plastic in packaging for new products by the end of 2022.
Hasbro eliminated wire ties in 2010 and added How2Recycle labeling in 2016. Most recently, the company launched a toy recycling program with TerraCycle. Hasbro’s Sustainability Center of Excellence is charged with driving the integration of sustainability across the business, including driving sustainable packaging design principles.
Hasbro’s Toy Recycling Program enables consumers to send used Hasbro toys and games to TerraCycle, a global product recycling company, who will recycle them into materials to be used in the construction of play spaces, flowerpots, park benches and other innovative uses. Hasbro recently announced the expansion of the program to France, Germany and Brazil, and plans to expand the program to additional markets with the goal of ensuring all Hasbro toys and games are recyclable in the major markets where it does business.
In 2018, Hasbro announced plans to begin using plant-based bio-polyethylene terephthalate for blister packs and plastic windows in its product packaging beginning next year.
The company says it will use bioPET plastic made with 30% plant-based material derived from agricultural by-products. This decision is part of Hasbro’s push to make its packaging less reliant on non-renewable resources.
Pawtucket, Rhode Island-based Hasbro was originally incorporated in 1926 and has become a multinational toy and entertainment company known for brands that include Monopoly, Mr. Potato Head, Nerf, My Little Pony, G.I. Joe, Play-Doh, and Magic: The Gathering.


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Social gaming company WinZO on Monday said it expects its ecosystem to create more than 1 lakh direct and indirect jobs over the next one year, as first reported by Economic Times.
Winzo co-founder Saumya Singh Rathore told PTI that with growth in the number of games, the company is engaging housewives, teachers and influencers for various assignments paid on a work basis and the number is expected to grow in coming years.
Rathore said the company engages 1 lakh influencers who are earning Rs 75,000 to Rs 1 lakh on an average per month. Two years ago the number was 25,000 micro influencers earning between 30,000-40,000 on monthly basis. 'We expect the numbers to double, that is to become 2 lakh within the next one year and their payout is also expected to increase 2-2.5 times,' Rathore said.
She said that some of the influencers who grew with WinZO now garnered over 10 lakh subscribers earn anywhere between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh a month.
"Two years ago WinZO was engaging with 300-400 translators. The number has now grown to be 7,000 translators across the country with Winzo adding 5 more languages and taking the number of languages to 12. We are expecting the number of translators to go up by at least 1.5 to 2 times in the next year or so. The translators earn Rs 35,000-50,000 on an average every month," Rathore said.
WinZO which recently filed a case against Google for discriminatory policies has exited from Google's Play Store and now provides its own platform where third-party game developers host their games. The platform charges commission from gaming entities in single-digit percentages.
A spree of Court cases
WinZO recently lost a trademark injunction suit filed by Baazi Games on the usage of the word Baazi.
WinZO had sued Head Digital Works Private Limited, the operator of the rummy portal A23, social gaming platform Witty Games for a trademark before the Delhi High Court. The suit is filed by WinZo seeking a permanent and mandatory injunction restraining Head Digital from infringement of trademarks, passing off, etc.
In another case, WinZO challenged the constitutional validity of the Odisha Prevention of Gambling Act, 1955. The law prohibits all forms of gaming for stakes.
Having raised $65 million in a Series C funding round in September 2021, the gaming company is on a partnership spree. A few weeks earlier, WinZo announced a partnership with Asphalt developer Gameloft.
The gaming company also partnered with Kalaari Capital to launch an investment initiative Gaming Lab to encourage and support the gaming ecosystem in the country. The Gaming Lab will invest up to $1 million in each of the investee companies across all forms of interactive apps in India. In September 2021, the company launched a standalone game developer fund with a corpus of $20 million.


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After much speculation, Electronic Arts has officially confirmed to be moving back the release date of the new BioWare-developed RPG Anthem from fall of 2018 to sometime in 2019.
First announced at E3 2017, EA presented a gameplay trailer of a new gaming property, marketed as multiplayer action-RPG in similar fashion to Bungie and Activision’s Destiny franchise. From what information is available, players will seemingly be able to interact with each other in an open world environment filled with various alien creatures, collecting equipment and rewards through a randomized drop system.
No concrete reason has been given yet as to why Anthem has been delayed, though EA chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen claims that “it’s not a delay” despite having the release date moved back. Jorgensen has so far mentioned that the company hopes to give Anthem more time to gain attention as a new franchise, as well as give developers a chance to develop the game’s story. He also claims that, contrary to a Kotaku report released recently, the game’s development is not behind schedule.
It is also possible EA has chosen to delay the release of Anthem due to the massive loot box controversy the company found itself in following the release of Star Wars Battlefront II, fearing that the blowback could negatively impact the sales of a new title. Instead, EA will be releasing a new, so far unnamed entry in its Battlefield series of games.
Overall, this will likely be a beneficial decision that might help Anthem succeed. With the fall season being a popular release time for many AAA game publishers, EA could find more success for a new property at a later date. This strategy also avoids the same pitfall the company fell into with the Titanfall 2 release which, while better received than its predecessor, did not sell quite as well due to major competition from other studios and EA itself with the release of Battlefield 1 in close proximity.


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Fitbit reported 3.6 million devices sold during the quarter, a 7 percent sequential increase. The newly introduced Fitbit Ionic and Fitbit Alta accounted for 32 percent of the quarter’s total revenue.
Fitbit Inc., San Francisco, reported $392.5 million in third-quarter revenue, amounting to a net loss of $113.4 million, after reporting a profit in the same period last year, according to financials released Nov. 1. However, this amount fell within the company’s original guidance range of $380 million to $400 million.
“We continue to execute on our transition plan by delivering on our financial guidance and product roadmap, positioning Fitbit on a path back to growth and profitability,” CEO James Park said in a media release. “We believe Fitbit Ionic delivers the best health and fitness experience in the category. It has received the highest customer ratings of any Fitbit product within the first month of sales, giving us confidence in our ability to capture share of the fast-growing smartwatch market. Ionic is also a platform for us to deliver our most powerful health and fitness tools into the market, furthering our mission to make the world healthier.”
Fitbit reported 3.6 million devices sold during the quarter, a 7 percent increase from the second quarter. New products introduced in the last calendar year, including the Fitbit Alta and Fitbit Ionic, represented 32 percent of the quarter’s total revenue. The Fitbit app was the top-downloaded health and fitness application, based on U.S. downloads, across Android and Apple platforms.
Despite a difficult late 2016 and 2017, Park is expecting Fitbit products will generate $570 million to $600 million in fourth-quarter revenue. Park delivered on his promise to launch the Ionic smartwatch prior to the holiday season; it is expected to drive fourth-quarter sales.
The company hasn’t reported more than $400 million in quarterly revenue since the fourth quarter of 2016. Park is targeting $1.61 billion to $1.64 billion in year-end 2017 revenue. The company had aimed for at least $2.4 billion in year-end 2016 and ultimately reported $2.17 billion.
Park has repeatedly called 2017 a transition year for the wearables manufacturer, based on a new business strategy focused on smartwatches and corporate partnerships.
Club Industry – http://www.clubindustry.com/news/fitbit-reports-1134-million-loss-2017-third-quarter-revenue


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SMALL GRAINS AND OTHER FIELD CROPS: The 2023 bean crop harvest is finished. Dried beans are being shipped to national retailers and exported to the French territories of Guadeloupe, Saint Lucia, and Martinique. Cotton harvest is almost finished in Tulare County. Cotton modules and bales are being transported to the gins. Harvested cotton fields are being mowed, disced, fertilized, and prepared for the next crop as growers adhere to the mandated cotton plow down. Corn silage harvest is winding down, only a few fields remain to be harvested. Corn fields that have already been harvested are being fertilized and prepared for next year’s wheat silage crop. Winter forage planting has started and will continue for the next few months. Most winter forage fields have germinated and are a few inches tall. Alfalfa is being cut, raked, and baled for dairy feed. Alfalfa is also being bagged or put into piles for haylage. Sudan grass hay is being cut, dried, and baled. Harvested fields have been tilled and pre-irrigated for winter forage and grain crops.
DECIDUOUS TREE FRUITS, NUTS, AND GRAPES: Almond, Pistachio, and Walnut harvest is complete, and the trees are moving into dormancy. Pecans are being exported to the Middle East, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Italy, and Singapore. Pistachio packing is continuing with export shipping to China, Mexico, Morocco, Spain, Vietnam, Portugal, Italy, India, Turkey, and Hong Kong. Almond packing and shipping continues to Turkey, China, India, Mexico, Japan, Philippines, New Zealand, Italy, Germany, United Arab Emirates, Korea, and Norway. Wine grape harvest continues. Table grapes are being packed and shipped to domestic retailers and exported to Mexico, Chile, Taiwan, Korea, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, Philippines, and Australia. Late variety grape vineyards remain covered with plastic to protect the fruit from precipitation. Apples are continuing to develop. Pomegranates are being harvested for both juice and fresh pack. Kiwi harvest is finished, they continue to be stored and packed for both domestic and export orders to the Dominican Republic, Australia, Peru, Japan, and Canada. Persimmon harvest continues, most varieties are being picked and sent to cold storages.
CITRUS, AVOCADOS, AND OLIVES: New citrus crops continue to develop and gain size. Some orange trees are being topped and skirted. The olive harvest has ended, and some mature olive trees are being dug for landscaping. Valencia, navel, and mandarin fruits are being picked and packed for the domestic market, as well as Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. Grapefruits are being harvested and exported to Japan and Korea. Lemons are being harvested, packed, and exported to Japan and domestic markets. Limes are being exported to New Zealand. Navels are coming in from Kern County. Navel oranges are being picked and packed for export going to Australia. Citrus growers will be utilizing micro sprinklers and drip irrigation to deliver warmer groundwater to the soil surface to raise field temperatures. Growers will also power up massive fans that sit high above their crop to prevent cold damage before harvest.
VEGETABLES, MELONS, HERBS, AND BERRIES: Blueberry nursery stock is now being received for planting. Broccoli has been planted and is growing. Roadside stands are beginning to sell citrus. Certified Producers are offering vegetables such as okra, tomatoes, onions, squash, cucumbers, and peppers for sale at local farmers’ markets. Vegetable and ornamental plants are being shipped in and inspected from Arizona; to sell in retail locations throughout the valley. Locally grown produce such as pumpkins, squash, and decorative gourds are being sold at fruit stands. Garlic is being exported to Mexico. Blueberries and black berries are now dormant. Onion seed is being exported to Brazil.
LIVESTOCK AND POULTRY: Sheep are grazing on retired cropland, harvested grain fields, and some alfalfa fields. Fall calving and lambing season has started for local beef cattle and sheep herds. The cooler weather is benefitting milk production for local dairymen. Local cattle ranchers are moving their herds from foothill locations to the mountains for better forage. Irrigated pastures are in good condition. Higher feed and fuel prices are affecting market prices. The fed-cattle price is $178/cwt this week.
TOM’S ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Local wholesale nurseries are shipping small volumes of fall nursery stock to local and out of state retail nurseries. Local wholesale citrus nurseries are shipping citrus trees, graft wood, and seed to local markets. As well as Hawaii, Arizona, Texas, the East Coast, international nurseries, Canada, and Bahamas. Vegetable and ornamental plants are being shipped in and inspected from other counties in California, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Florida to sell in our retail locations throughout the county. Bee hives continue to be moved into the state for overwintering and in preparation for spring pollination.


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This is something we told you sometime back, (September 16 to be exact). Now, official Lumia account has also confirmed that Windows 10 will be available for all Lumia Windows Phone 8 devices.
Though, not all features will come to all the devices!! Some features like Split-screen multitasking, which will help users in making most out of their Windows Phone Phablets mayn’t be available for smaller screen devices. Though, we are not very sure of the minimum display size criteria, but it may be 4.9 inch or higher.
Coming to when one can expect Windows (Phone) 10 to hit developer preview devices, sources talk about a April-May 2015 timeline now.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!!


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Missouri reaches $4.4 billion trade agreement with China
Monday, October 24, 2011 | 10:13 a.m. CDT;
updated 2:36 p.m. CDT, Monday, October 24, 2011
JEFFERSON CITY — Gov. Jay Nixon said Missouri has reached an agreement to sell $4.4 billion worth of products to China through 2014.
Nixon said Monday that the deal includes an emphasis on selling Missouri agricultural products. The trade agreement is between the state Department of Economic Development and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.
Nixon said the agreement will increase Missouri's exports to China by more than $1 billion from 2012 to 2014. He said it is an important step for helping the state's economy.
The Missouri governor is to be in China for about a week. Nixon also is scheduled to meet with the American ambassador to China and to speak to the American Chamber of Commerce.
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Bangkok, 3 December, 2015 – Three Thai tourism representatives from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) recently won the Tourism Action Plan competition at the 2015 Global Tourism Leader Training Program for Korea’s Fellow Countries held during 11-21 November of this year at Yeungnam University, Daegu, Korea.
The Tourism Action Plan competition is a part of the training program jointly held by the Korea Tourism Organisation and Yeungnam University so to share knowledge and exchange ideas in tourism development of the country. It invited 15 countries from Southeast Asia, Latin America, and South Asia to send tourism industry representatives to join the training session.
Representatives from Thailand included Ms. Montira Prakonpan, TAT’s Chief of Policy Planning Section, Mr. Krida Srisomwong, TAT’s Chief of East Asia Marketing Action Plan Section, and Mr. Weera Bumrungsee, a member of ATTA’s Board of Directors. Their winning plan was highly applauded for having successfully acquired and applied knowledge from training sessions to initiate action plans that can really be used in practice.
The Tourism Action Plan competition was arranged at the end of the 2015 Global Tourism Leader Training Program for Korea’s Fellow Countries. The competition required representatives from each country to propose tourism plans considering four factors: current tourism situation, analysis, strategic planning and action plans.
Mr. Yuthasak Supasorn, TAT Governor said, “This is great news that the tourism action plan proposed by our representatives was awarded the top prize. We are looking at ways to turn this strategic plan into action that can strengthen the competitiveness of Thailand’s tourism, and to further the promotion of Thailand’s tourism among international travellers.”
International Public Relations Division
Tourism Authority of Thailand
Tel: +66 (0) 2250 5500 ext. 4545-48
Fax: +66 (0) 2253 7419
E-mail: [email protected]
Facebook: TAT Newsroom
Twitter: TAT Newsroom


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If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.
The pop star was shot by fashion photographer Mario Sorrenti for the PUMA ad, which promotes the brand’s new “Mayze” sneaker, a chunky, creeper-style sneaker with PUMA’s signature bold stripe and logo detailing.
PUMA says the sneaker is “made for those who embrace the spotlight, on stage and off,” just like Lipa. The accompanying campaign image features the singer wearing a vintage PUMA windbreaker over a dress and leggings (pictured above). Lipa also unveiled a second image on her Instagram, which captures her in a backstage-style set up, wearing a pair of Mayze kicks in white, plus a classic PUMA T7 track jacket, bikini and fishnet leggings.
“The Mayze is the perfect fit, it works for me on stage and off,” Lipa says in a press release. “The classic stacked sole is so versatile, I can work it into any look.”
The Mayze is the latest women’s silhouette to be introduced by PUMA. The brand says it drew from a mix of “archive inspirations and contemporary PUMA classics” to design the shoe. The sneaker is also part of PUMA’s “She Moves Us” platform, which aims to celebrate women who are moving culture and sports forward, from model Winnie Harlow and actress Cara Delevingne, to WNBA star Skylar Diggins-Smith and pro golfer Lexi Thompson.
Lipa was first announced as an ambassador for PUMA last November. The singer will continue to appear in global ad campaigns for the sportswear brand, as the newest face of the company’s women’s business.


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Where to get your goose: Fall is the season of Thanksgiving turkey in America, however, for Germans it’s St. Martin’s Day goose.
Archive for November, 2015
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts will be available to purchase at select Exchange Express stores beginning November 2015.
Submit nominations for the next AFN Stuttgart Superstar of the Month.
IMCOM change of command took place Nov. 3, 2015.
Direct-flight examples that leave right from the Stuttgart airport, for a long weekend trip to sunnier weather temperatures.
Be Safe, be seen. Tips for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists to stay safe during the winter months in Stuttgart.
CAP meetings for 2015 have begun for youth and adults to join.
Technology can be scary, knowing how to protect yourself can make online experience safe.
How do you terminate a German cell phone contract?
Service members can expect barracks beautification and improvements to continue.
MP Companies across Germany traveled to Stuttgart to compete in the D-Day Challenge.
In September and October 2015, DPTMS has supported over 800 service members from the U.S. European Command, U.S. Africa Command, Headquarters and Headquarters Company and 52nd Signal Battalion.


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Apple has pushed iOS 7 beta 4 to developers, a release that had been delayed for a week while the company took its developer site down over security concerns. The new build has several interface tweaks and refinements as the operating system heads towards an expected release to the public in September.
Apple's normal schedule of releasing developer seeds every two weeks was interrupted last week when Apple took down developer services after a security researcher claimed he had hacked into Apple's developer data base. Those services were offline while Apple said it was overhauling the security for the site, but began coming back up on Friday.
Several services remain offline, according to a new System Status page Apple set up, but iOS 7 beta 4 showed up as an over-the-air download on devices registered by developers to run iOS 7 betas.
We haven't seen release notes yet, but user reports on reddit say that iOS 7 beta 4 includes several refinements to the interface, including:
- A new arrow on the unlock screen that should clear up any confusion on which way to slide your finger to unlock it (see image below).
- Tweaks to the buttons that allow users to answer their phone or decline calls.
- The Call button on the dialer window is not longer transparent.
- Transparency on folders has been eliminated on the home screen.
- Tweaks to Spotlight searches.
The new iOS 7 beta 4 unlock screen
Image posted to imgur by a reddit member


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If you weren’t around Friday afternoon, you may have missed a recently published newspaper advertisement where AT&T bashes T-Mobile. The ad says, “The truth about T-Mobile’s network compared to AT&T. 2x more dropped calls, 2x more failed calls, 50% slower download speeds.”
It’s only been five days since that ad was published across a number of big-name newspapers and T-Mobile has just launched its own newspaper ad campaign where they fling the dirt right back at AT&T.
Three ads show a crumpled up piece of AT&T’s previous “truth about T-Mobile” ad in a corner, with T-Mobile’s messages displayed in the middle of the ad. Each ad takes some nice jabs at AT&T like their “What keeps AT&T up at night? Apparently Us,” and “Can you see the beads of sweat in this ad?” But our absolute favorite has to be their “If AT&T thought our network wasn’t great, why did they try to buy it?”
If these ads turn out to be the work of T-Mobile, then they may be one of the best responses to attack ads we’ve ever seen to date.
- 2014-04-23 T-Mobile To Offer Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 In The Summer
- 2014-04-23 LG Optimus L90 & L70 Launches On T-Mobile And MetroPCS
- 2014-04-14 T-Mobile Abolishes Consumer Overages
- 2014-04-14 T-Mobile CEO Reveals Gold Samsung Galaxy S5
- 2014-04-13 Nokia Monarch Could Be T-Mobile's Lumia 635
- 2014-03-12 AT&T CFO Skeptical About Sprint T-Mobile Merger
- 2014-03-09 AT&T Mobile Share Value Plan Price Cut
- 2014-02-09 T-Mobile Wins Lawsuit Against AT&T's Aio Wireless
- 2014-02-04 AT&T Won't Pay You To Leave T-Mobile Anymore
- 2013-03-01 AT&T Attacks T-Mobile In Newspaper Ad