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|By Business Wire||
|November 27, 2012 03:00 AM EST||
NOOK Media LLC, a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller and leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today announced its popular, free NOOK for Android and NOOK for iPad and iPhone apps are now available for download in the UK, giving British customers even more flexibility to Read What You Love, Anywhere You Like™ on a multitude of mobile devices. With free NOOK Reading Apps™, UK customers can use an iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android smartphone or tablet to easily shop the expansive NOOK Store™ (www.nook.co.uk) of over 2.5 million books, magazines, newspapers and comics, and access their digital library anywhere they go.
Smart NOOK Sync™ technology means that customers can also automatically sync their entire library on the go, including last page read, bookmarks, notes and highlights across all of their devices. Start a book on a NOOK tablet or eReader and seamlessly pick back up on an iPad, iPhone, iPod touch or Android smartphone or tablet to keep reading anytime, anywhere – all without losing the page.
“Following the successful launch of our award-winning NOOK line in the UK, we’re delighted to introduce our free NOOK Reading Apps that seamlessly bring millions of digital titles to the fingertips of customers who use Android and iOS devices, and to put our unmatched digital reading experience into the hands of even more Brits,” said Jamie Iannone, President of NOOK Media LLC. “Our popular collection of reading apps have been downloaded millions of times in the US, and now UK customers can enjoy the flexibility to shop our vast digital catalogue and enjoy titles from their NOOK Library anywhere they go, whether they’re using one of our award-winning NOOK products, an iPad, iPhone or Android device.”
Combining a fully integrated shop with NOOK’s award-winning digital reading experience, customers can browse one of the world’s largest digital bookstores featuring new releases, bestsellers, classics, and a large collection from independent publishers and self-publishing authors through NOOK’s PubIt!™ programme. UK customers can enjoy a free sample of NOOK Books™, and purchase and download titles in seconds to begin reading instantly. NOOK for Android and NOOK for iOS also offer access to the highly acclaimed NOOK Newsstand™, so customers can try digital periodicals for free for 14 days and enjoy a large and growing selection of popular newspapers and magazines by subscription or single copy purchases.
Barnes & Noble’s adoption of open standards like EPUB format and its Adobe® technology partnership allows customers to enjoy their NOOK content on a wide variety of devices and platforms. Purchased content is always safe and secure through the free NOOK Cloud™, making it easy for UK customers to access digital books, magazines and newspapers from their NOOK devices, tablets and smartphones for reading on the go.
Featuring NOOK’s award-winning digital reading platform perfectly optimised for iOS and Android devices, customers can personalise their reading experience by selecting from a variety of supported languages, professionally designed or customised themes and multiple font types and sizes. While reading a book, seamlessly search, add notes, highlights and bookmarks, look up words using the in-built British English dictionary and more. Pinch and zoom to navigate and explore even the tiniest details of popular NOOK Magazines™ and use innovative ArticleView™ to focus only on the text, and get closer to favorite superheroes and characters in NOOK Comics™ with Zoom View™, which puts the focus on individual panels for an even more immersive digital comics experience.
NOOK has recently launched a range of devices in the UK, including NOOK® HD, the ultra-light and highest-resolution 7-inch HD tablet, NOOK® HD+, the lightest and lowest priced full HD tablet, as well as the highly-acclaimed NOOK Simple Touch and NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight E Ink® eReaders. The perfect companion to NOOK devices, free NOOK Reading Apps will give even more Brits, who already own an iOS or Android-based tablet or smartphone access to one of the world’s largest digital bookstores. As part of the introduction of the free reading apps to the UK, Barnes & Noble gives new NOOK for Android and NOOK for iOS customers access to free books to begin their NOOK reading experience, and free trial subscriptions to magazines and newspapers.
More information and access to download free NOOK for Android and NOOK for iOS apps is available at http://uk.nook.com/nook-mobile-apps. Customers can also find and download NOOK for Android from the Google Play Store and NOOK for iOS in the Apple App Store.
About Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS) is a Fortune 500 company and the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products. The company operates 689 Barnes & Noble bookstores in 50 states, and one of the Web’s largest e-commerce sites, BN.com (www.bn.com). Its NOOK Media LLC subsidiary is a leader in the emerging digital reading and digital education markets. The NOOK digital business offers award-winning NOOK® products and an expansive collection of digital reading and entertainment content through the NOOK Store™ (www.nook.com), while Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC operates 667 bookstores serving over 4.6 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble is proud to be named a J.D. Power and Associated 2012 Customer Service Champion and is only one of 50 U.S. companies so named. Barnes & Noble.com is ranked the number one online retailer in customer satisfaction in the book, music and video category and a Top 10 online retailer overall in customer satisfaction according to ForeSee E-Retail Satisfaction Index (Spring Top 100 Edition).
General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company's corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com.
NOOK®, NOOK Store™, NOOK Video™, NOOK Video Apps™ are trademarks of Barnes & Noble, Inc. Other trademarks referenced in this release are the property of their respective owners.
About NOOK Media LLC
NOOK reading and entertainment products make it easy to read what you love, anywhere you like™ with a fun, easy-to-use and immersive digital reading experience. With NOOK, customers gain access to the expansive NOOK Store™ of more than 3 million digital books, plus periodicals, comics, apps, movies and TV shows, and the ability to enjoy content across a wide array of popular devices through free NOOK Reading Apps™ and NOOK Video apps, available at www.nook.com/freenookapps. NOOK owners receive Always Free NOOK Support in any of Barnes & Noble’s nearly 700 bookstores. Find NOOK devices in Barnes & Noble stores and online at www.nook.com, as well as leading retailers including Best Buy, Walmart, Target and many others. NOOK products are available in the United Kingdom through www.nook.co.uk and leading retailers.
DevOps is often described as a combination of technology and culture. Without both, DevOps isn't complete. However, applying the culture to outdated technology is a recipe for disaster; as response times grow and connections between teams are delayed by technology, the culture will die. A Nutanix Enterprise Cloud has many benefits that provide the needed base for a true DevOps paradigm.
Apr. 29, 2017 07:15 PM EDT Reads: 1,307
@GonzalezCarmen has been ranked the Number One Influencer and @ThingsExpo has been named the Number One Brand in the “M2M 2016: Top 100 Influencers and Brands” by Analytic. Onalytica analyzed tweets over the last 6 months mentioning the keywords M2M OR “Machine to Machine.” They then identified the top 100 most influential brands and individuals leading the discussion on Twitter.
Apr. 29, 2017 07:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,532
SYS-CON Events announced today that T-Mobile will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. As America's Un-carrier, T-Mobile US, Inc., is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services through leading product and service innovation. The Company's advanced nationwide 4G LTE network delivers outstanding wireless experiences to 67.4 million customers who are unwilling to compromise on ...
Apr. 29, 2017 05:15 PM EDT Reads: 1,572
With major technology companies and startups seriously embracing Cloud strategies, now is the perfect time to attend @CloudExpo | @ThingsExpo, June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY and October 31 - November 2, 2017, Santa Clara Convention Center, CA. Learn what is going on, contribute to the discussions, and ensure that your enterprise is on the right path to Digital Transformation.
Apr. 29, 2017 05:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,635
20th Cloud Expo, taking place June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world. Cloud computing is now being embraced by a majority of enterprises of all sizes. Yesterday's debate about public vs. private has transformed into the reality of hybrid cloud: a recent survey shows that 74% of enterprises have a hybrid cloud strategy.
Apr. 29, 2017 04:45 PM EDT Reads: 3,363
Data is an unusual currency; it is not restricted by the same transactional limitations as money or people. In fact, the more that you leverage your data across multiple business use cases, the more valuable it becomes to the organization. And the same can be said about the organization’s analytics. In his session at 19th Cloud Expo, Bill Schmarzo, CTO for the Big Data Practice at Dell EMC, introduced a methodology for capturing, enriching and sharing data (and analytics) across the organization...
Apr. 29, 2017 04:00 PM EDT Reads: 6,829
Five years ago development was seen as a dead-end career, now it’s anything but – with an explosion in mobile and IoT initiatives increasing the demand for skilled engineers. But apart from having a ready supply of great coders, what constitutes true ‘DevOps Royalty’? It’ll be the ability to craft resilient architectures, supportability, security everywhere across the software lifecycle. In his keynote at @DevOpsSummit at 20th Cloud Expo, Jeffrey Scheaffer, GM and SVP, Continuous Delivery Busine...
Apr. 29, 2017 03:30 PM EDT Reads: 1,343
With major technology companies and startups seriously embracing IoT strategies, now is the perfect time to attend @ThingsExpo 2016 in New York. Learn what is going on, contribute to the discussions, and ensure that your enterprise is as "IoT-Ready" as it can be! Internet of @ThingsExpo, taking place June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York, is co-located with 20th Cloud Expo and will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry p...
Apr. 29, 2017 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,645
SYS-CON Events announced today that Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR), an industry leader in automated, scalable and secure networks, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Juniper Networks challenges the status quo with products, solutions and services that transform the economics of networking. The company co-innovates with customers and partners to deliver automated, scalable and secure network...
Apr. 29, 2017 02:45 PM EDT Reads: 1,800
New competitors, disruptive technologies, and growing expectations are pushing every business to both adopt and deliver new digital services. This ‘Digital Transformation’ demands rapid delivery and continuous iteration of new competitive services via multiple channels, which in turn demands new service delivery techniques – including DevOps. In this power panel at @DevOpsSummit 20th Cloud Expo, moderated by DevOps Conference Co-Chair Andi Mann, panelists will examine how DevOps helps to meet th...
Apr. 29, 2017 01:45 PM EDT Reads: 1,837
SYS-CON Events announced today that Hitachi, the leading provider the Internet of Things and Digital Transformation, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., offers an integrated portfolio of services and solutions that enable digital transformation through enhanced data management, governance, mobility and analytics. We help globa...
Apr. 29, 2017 01:15 PM EDT Reads: 1,543
Apr. 29, 2017 12:45 PM EDT Reads: 2,645
Most technology leaders, contemporary and from the hardware era, are reshaping their businesses to do software in the hope of capturing value in IoT. Although IoT is relatively new in the market, it has already gone through many promotional terms such as IoE, IoX, SDX, Edge/Fog, Mist Compute, etc. Ultimately, irrespective of the name, it is about deriving value from independent software assets participating in an ecosystem as one comprehensive solution.
Apr. 29, 2017 12:15 PM EDT Reads: 719
The explosion of new web/cloud/IoT-based applications and the data they generate are transforming our world right before our eyes. In this rush to adopt these new technologies, organizations are often ignoring fundamental questions concerning who owns the data and failing to ask for permission to conduct invasive surveillance of their customers. Organizations that are not transparent about how their systems gather data telemetry without offering shared data ownership risk product rejection, regu...
Apr. 29, 2017 11:45 AM EDT Reads: 1,862
NHK, Japan Broadcasting, will feature the upcoming @ThingsExpo Silicon Valley in a special 'Internet of Things' and smart technology documentary that will be filmed on the expo floor between November 3 to 5, 2015, in Santa Clara. NHK is the sole public TV network in Japan equivalent to the BBC in the UK and the largest in Asia with many award-winning science and technology programs. Japanese TV is producing a documentary about IoT and Smart technology and will be covering @ThingsExpo Silicon Val...
Apr. 29, 2017 11:45 AM EDT Reads: 964
SYS-CON Events announced today that SoftLayer, an IBM Company, has been named “Gold Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 18th Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York, New York. SoftLayer, an IBM Company, provides cloud infrastructure as a service from a growing number of data centers and network points of presence around the world. SoftLayer’s customers range from Web startups to global enterprises.
Apr. 29, 2017 11:15 AM EDT Reads: 2,381
Bert Loomis was a visionary. This general session will highlight how Bert Loomis and people like him inspire us to build great things with small inventions. In their general session at 19th Cloud Expo, Harold Hannon, Architect at IBM Bluemix, and Michael O'Neill, Strategic Business Development at Nvidia, discussed the accelerating pace of AI development and how IBM Cloud and NVIDIA are partnering to bring AI capabilities to "every day," on-demand. They also reviewed two "free infrastructure" pr...
Apr. 29, 2017 07:15 AM EDT Reads: 1,774
SYS-CON Events announced today that Super Micro Computer, Inc., a global leader in compute, storage and networking technologies, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Supermicro (NASDAQ: SMCI), the leading innovator in high-performance, high-efficiency server technology, is a premier provider of advanced server Building Block Solutions® for Data Center, Cloud Computing, Enterprise IT, Hadoop/...
Apr. 29, 2017 05:30 AM EDT Reads: 2,596
Judith Hurwitz is president and CEO of Hurwitz & Associates, a Needham, Mass., research and consulting firm focused on emerging technology, including big data, cognitive computing and governance. She is co-author of the book Cognitive Computing and Big Data Analytics, published in 2015. Her Cloud Expo session, "What Is the Business Imperative for Cognitive Computing?" is scheduled for Wednesday, June 8, at 8:40 a.m. In it, she puts cognitive computing into perspective with its value to the busin...
Apr. 29, 2017 04:00 AM EDT Reads: 3,879
Apr. 29, 2017 02:30 AM EDT Reads: 9,412


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AllThingsD is dead. Long live WSJD.
On Jan. 1, the Wall Street Journal launched WSJD, a new online technology section that aims to fill the hole left when the paper parted ways with AllThingsD, until recently the linchpin of the Journal’s technology coverage, built by Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg.
Under the editorship of Jonathan Krim, the paper’s new tech section aims to be global in scope, with full-time dedicated staff in Asia, Europe and Israel. The Journal also announced that it will host a new tech conference, starting in October, to replace the popular AllThingsD conferences. (For their part, Swisher and Mossberg recently announced their new venture will be called Re/code.)
Krim recently spoke with Digiday about the launch of WSJD, the loss of Swisher and Mossberg, and what he predicts will be the biggest tech story of 2014. Excerpts:
Was the departure of Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg a blow to the Journal? Did the paper see that coming?
Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg are excellent journalists. I wish them all the best in their new pursuit. It made sense for both organizations — even though we owned them — to go the direction that we’ve gone.
If you type in AllThingsD.com, it redirects to the new tech vertical. Do you still own the name, and are you going to do anything with that brand going forward?
Yes, we do own it. I think we’re going to retire that specific name.
AllThingsD would cover media as well as tech. That doesn’t appear to factor in with the new site.
We have a separate bureau that works on media and advertising issues. We may well feature some of their content. There’s a lot of crossover obviously with tech. But that’s not something my team works on, per se.
How are you guys going to differentiate among a very crowded field of tech blogs and journalists?
We have a global reach that no one else has. Technology is a global story. We have a dedicated staff in places like Korea, China, Southeast Asia. We’re adding a full-time dedicated reporter in Israel. We have someone based in Paris; we have London. So we’re uniquely qualified and suited to cover the global tech story in a way that no one else can.
What will be the biggest tech stories of 2014?
First and foremost, the Snowden revelations, which started more as a national security story, has become more of a computer security and privacy story. It’s bigger than anything else right now. There’s a tremendous rethinking going on about the security of data, how data is used, who has access, the rights and expectations of users. I think it’s actually a good thing that a spotlight has been thrown on all of this.
On the enterprise side?
Cloud computing is still working its way through the system and the marketplace in ways that we are still going to be surprised by. It’s going to have a tremendous impact on the provider side and the customer side. And there are obviously numerous interesting stories just with the ongoing contest for the computer that’s in your pocket, whether it’s a smart phone or a phablet or something else. That battle continues to be fascinating.
The Journal has toyed with sponsored posts. Are we going to see more experimentation on your end with advertising products?
I would say that that’s quite likely, yes.
Do you have any traffic goals you want to hit?
We absolutely have goals internally. We’re not sharing them. Remember, too, we are a hybrid paywall and free site, so that is an important factor for us. Obviously it has an impact on traffic. Some of our competition is just totally free. Traffic is not everything for us because we’re interested in gaining audience through subscriptions.
Anything happen in the past year that surprised you?
Valuations are beginning to get somewhat surprising on some of the investment rounds startups are getting.
Are we in a bubble?
I don’t think it’s a bubble now, but I think it’s worth watching. I was here in the Valley working for another publication during the bubble years the last time around. There are some of the early signs, but we’re not there at the moment.
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President Obama has taken a stand on set-top boxes, which have become a hot topic after the FCC issued proposals aimed at opening up the set-top box market.
The Washington Post reports that Obama weighed in with his support of the agency’s proposals.
“President Obama is demanding better, cheaper versions of the cable boxes that millions of Americans use to browse their pay-TV channels, in hopes of enhancing competition,” The Post reports. “The Obama administration pressed for changes to the cable box in a letter to federal regulators Thursday night, according to multiple people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because the filing is not yet public.”
The report adds: “Obama’s move effectively throws the full weight of his office behind the Federal Communications Commission, which has taken the lead role in trying to crack open the market for TV set-top boxes. Millions of Americans pay, on average, more than $200 a year to rent their boxes from a cable or satellite provider.”
The report quotes a blog item posted today by Jeff Zients and Jason Furman, two of Obama’s top economic advisers, who wrote: “Instead of spending nearly $1,000 over four years to lease a set of behind-the-times boxes, American families will have options to own a device for much less money that will integrate everything they want — including their cable or satellite content, as well as online streaming apps — in one, easier-to-use gadget.”
The Obama administration’s stance drew a quick reaction from the Future of TV Coalition, which opposes the initiative.
In a statement today, the coalition focused on Google’s involvement in the initiative, writing: “We all agree on the goal of greater consumer choice in video devices. But we disagree strenuously (as does so much of the television ecosystem) with Google’s viewpoint that the only way to get more choice and innovation is through a FCC technology mandate that will decimate the creative industry, rip up licensing protections, tear down the value of content, and strip away consumer privacy protections. The video marketplace has never been more dynamic or competitive, and consumers have more choices for services and devices than ever before. It’s exactly the wrong time for the FCC to get into the business of designing set-top boxes and locking consumers into outdated technology.”


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Spotify Ltd. executives have met with U.S. regulators scrutinizing the music company’s plan to skip a traditional share sale and list directly on the New York Stock Exchange, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Senior Spotify executives met with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission officials last month, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private meetings. Regulators asked for the meeting to get details on the plan by the world’s largest paid music streaming service to do an end-run around an initial public offering -- the conventional route to listing shares. The company has remained in touch with SEC officials since the meeting, the people said.
Spotify aims to list late this year or early next on the New York Stock Exchange. With a stream of cash from its more than 60 million paying subscribers and awareness among investors, the company isn’t seeking to raise money or make itself known to potential stockholders -- key IPO objectives. A direct listing also avoids underwriting fees and restrictions on stock sales by current owners, and doesn’t dilute the holdings of executives and investors.
It also introduces uncertainty, since underwriters in a typical IPO set a price based on investor feedback and have buyers lined up. Even then, some new issues crater. Just a handful of companies have done direct listings over the past decade on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Spotify would be the biggest, and the first for the New York Stock Exchange.
While standard share sales can move quickly through approval, it’s common for SEC staff to spend more time examining offerings that involve new types of structures or products. It’s possible regulators simply want a better understanding of how Spotify’s listing will work. The agency declined to comment.
The company’s plan poses an early test for how far SEC Chairman Jay Clayton is willing to go to boost new U.S. listings.
The agency has been weighing a proposed rule change at the New York Stock Exchange that would allow the listing to go forward. Clayton, a former Wall Street deals lawyer who took over the agency in May, has for months decried a two-decade decline in the number of public companies as “a serious issue for our markets and the country.”
While he hasn’t yet laid out a comprehensive policy agenda, he’s widely expected to craft rules that would encourage more companies to go public and do so sooner.
Spotify has hiredGoldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Allen & Co. to assess its options. The company has already raised more than $1 billion in equity and obtained a $1 billion convertible loan from investors led by TPG in March 2016.
The conversion was tied to a public offering, with the terms growing more favorable to TPG the longer that takes. By choosing a direct listing instead, Spotify will have to reach a new agreement with the private-equity company.
Spotify’s equity was valued at $8.5 billion two years ago when it raised $526 million. The company would be one of the largest consumer technology providers to go public in recent years.
The music-streaming company’s unusual approach to going public is reminiscent of Google’s 2004 IPO, when the tech giant chose a rarely used Dutch-auction format. That approach, which also let Google pay its underwriters less, also drew SEC scrutiny. The complicated share sale suffered from a series of missteps.
Among online music companies, Spotify has thrived while Pandora Media Inc. and SoundCloud Ltd. have struggled. Pandora has had four chief executive officers in the past two years and is raising money by selling a large minority stake to satellite radio company Sirius XM Holdings Inc. SoundCloud just fired 40 percent of its workforce and sold a majority stake to a pair of financial firms. Even Apple Inc., Spotify’s biggest competitive threat, is a distant second in paid streaming.
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Spotify has grown from 20 million subscribers in two years and had more than 140 million people using the service between the free and paid options as of July. The company reported sales of 2.93 billion euros ($3.45 billion) in 2016, up 52 percent from a year earlier, and its growth has lifted the entire music industry. Record sales have grown two years in a row for the first time since the late 1990s.
Spotify will still have to convince investors that streaming music is a good business. The company lost 539 million euros last year despite its growth. It pays out more than 80 percent of revenue in royalties to music rights holders and streaming-delivery costs, leaving little margin for investments in technology and new staff.
The company has dabbled in podcasting and video, content that could bring in new customers and advertisers while reducing the share of sales that go to the music industry, but hasn’t made a commitment to those areas.
Before going public, Spotify must also sign a long-term licensing agreement with Warner Music Group, the smallest of the three major record labels. Vivendi SA’s Universal Music Group and Sony Corp.’s music division signed new deals with Spotify earlier this year.
— With assistance by Benjamin Bain, and Annie Massa


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More than 70,000 industry professionals converged on McCormick Place in Chicago, during the celebration of the 100th National Restaurant Association Show, which took place May 18-21.
This year the Association is celebrating its Centennial anniversary as well as the 100th edition of the convention. Dawn Sweeney, NRA’s President and CEO, officially opened the National Restaurant Association Show Saturday, May 18, during a cake-cutting celebration of the occasion. She was joined by Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and restaurateur Ted Balestreri, the 100th anniversary chair.
Show attendees participated in the many festivities honoring the Association’s history and plans for the next 100 years during the Show.
Manufacturers and suppliers displayed their newest products and services across more than 700,000 square feet of exhibit space, along with the newest technology and innovation in the marketplace.
Attendees at the National Restaurant Association Show also had an overview of what the future of dining will be like by attending several sessions, including the Signature ’19 and SuperSession panels.
At the National Restaurant Association’s 100th Restaurant Show, the new ServSuccess program was launched, a new, comprehensive career-development initiative that consists of online education, training, certification and assessments.
Its goal is to prepare the industry’s workforce for professional advancement and career opportunities. It also will help employers to recruit and retain great employees for their businesses.
“ServSuccess empowers people and businesses to aim for and achieve even higher levels of career success in the foodservice industry,” said Sweeney. “By validating their skills and knowledge, employees will be able to use their years of experience to jumpstart their professional advancement. For restaurant operators, it provides training and workforce solutions that grow business and service to their communities.”
The Show also presented a panel of women leaders talking about the challenges and obstacles they had to overcome to achieve industry success.
Abasto Media was present at the event, which was attended by dozens of representatives of Hispanic food products brands.
According to statistics of the Association, restaurant industry sales are expected to reach $ 863 billion in 2019, where the presence of Hispanic foods in restaurant menus grows every day.


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Today marks the 30th anniversary of a musical format many of us grew up with: the compact disc. It's been three decades since the first CD went on sale in Japan. The shiny discs came to dominate music industry sales, but their popularity has faded in the digital age they helped unleash. The CD is just the latest musical format to rise and fall in roughly the same 30-year cycle.
Compact discs had been pressed before 1982, but the first CD to officially go on sale was Billy Joel's 52nd Street.
The CD was supposed to have the last word when it came to convenience and sound quality. And for a while, it did. The CD dominated record sales for more than two decades — from the late 1980s until just last year, when sales of digital tracks finally surpassed those of physical albums. It's a cycle that has played out many times in the history of the music industry, with remarkable consistency.
Sam Brylawski, the former head of the recorded sound division at the Library of Congress, says, "If you look at the last 110, 115 years, the major formats all have about 20 to 30 years of primacy."
He says one of the biggest factors driving this cycle is a desire on the part of manufacturers to sell new players every generation or so. "The real money — the real profits — for companies have been in the sales of hardware. That is to say, machines that play back recordings." ...


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CD Projekt is one of the best-known video game companies out there, being behind major games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077. The latter game, though, had something of a messy launch back in 2020, shipping with major problems on last-gen consoles.
But even if the PS4 and Xbox One versions of Cyberpunk 2077 left many disgruntled, the game was still a pretty good experience on PC and the latest consoles, leaving many wanting more content for what was one of the biggest video games of 2020.
And in a recent earnings call for CD Projekt Group, the company’s vice president Michal Nowakowski said the company is “fully committed to developing the Cyberpunk IP further, beyond this particular Cyberpunk expansion”, which of course may sound great to CD Projekt Red (the developer behind the Cyberpunk 2077 game) fans out there.
You see, we already know the game is getting an expansion titled “Phantom Liberty” sometime in 2023 – but it sure sounds like the Polish outfit might be gearing up to make a sequel to Cyberpunk 2077, one which might be concurrently developed with the next Witcher game as one Forbes contributor has pointed out.
This is because Nowakowski also added that “we definitely want to continue to build upon what was built right now – with new stories, new experiences, new content, basically. Not just the video game format…”.
The last bit obviously referring to Edgerunners – an anime adaptation of Cyberpunk 2077 coming to Netflix in the near future.
It may be due to this and the game’s recent patch, plus a Steam sale (and the promise of more content to come) that Cyberpunk 2077 has enjoyed a surge in popularity recently.
Actually, the number of concurrent players on Steam reached 37,000 recently as was reported on Eurogamer, surpassing the likes of Elden Ring and more than double the number of players the game had on Steam in mid-August.
So despite it’s been a bumpy road for Cyberpunk 2077 since launch players who jump onboard now will obviously get a much better version of the game, with more content yet to come according to CD Projekt in the future.


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Andy Rubin Google’s senior vice president of mobile and digital content begins selling a wallet phone directly to U.S. consumers
Just days after Google Wallet’s sole mobile carrier, Sprint, released three new phones supporting the NFC-based wallet, Google has begun selling an unlocked version of its Galaxy Nexus Android phone for GSM networks in the United States, opening up the wallet to AT&T and T-Mobile customers, NFC Times reports.
Google opened a new devices section in its Google Play Web store, allowing customers to purchase the unlocked Galaxy Nexus.
Andy Rubin, Google’s senior vice president of mobile and digital content, wrote a blog post announcing that the phone would sell for $399 and be available in the U.S. only.
“You can use it on the GSM network of your choice, including T-Mobile and AT&T,” wrote Rubin. “It also comes preinstalled with the Google Wallet app, which lets you easily make purchases and redeem offers with a tap of your phone.”
The Galaxy Nexus includes an embedded secure chip, which enables payments and other applications. Google controls the chip, which means the company does not depend on a mobile carrier to support the wallet.
Until this past Sunday when the new Sprint phones were released, Sprint’s Nexus S 4G was the only phone that officially supported Google Wallet.
“It’s still very early days for mobile payments, and we know (it) will take time to build a mobile-commerce ecosystem, but we’re very committed to this goal and are encouraged by the progress we’ve made to date,” a Google spokesperson said earlier this week.
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Shayne Heffernan holds a Ph.D. in Economics and brings with him over 25 years of trading experience in Asia and hands on experience in Venture Capital, he has been involved in several start ups that have seen market capitalization over $500m and 1 that reached a peak market cap of $15b. He has managed and overseen start ups in Mining, Shipping, Technology and Financial Services.Read the Terms of Service
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Online e-commerce retailers like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon have recently started turning towards small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to find unique products for their marketplaces. These SMEs provide an assorted collection of products including clothing, handicrafts, accessories and jewellery among other things and in return get a platform for selling their products, plus training, infrastructure, logistical support, and technology from online retailers.
Such agreements benefit both sides. Online retailers looking for niches to drive customer interest get to push unique products and offer small brands via their marketplaces while in return SMEs get to market their goods to a worldwide audience without the need for intermediary sellers or wholesalers, increasing their exposure to customers and driving sales. Having an association with established market players, also gives credibility to SME products, increasing consumer confidence when buying.
Flipkart: The latest of Facebook’s SME tie-ups is its partnership with the National Institute of Fashion Technology, which would see the e-commerce major work with local weavers and artisans in Varanasi, especially to feature Banarasi saris to its website, reports afaqs. The partnership claims it will target about 40,000 weavers from Varanasi, 10,000 artisans from Barabanki and another 15,000 weavers in Sultanpur.
– The company had also signed an MoU with the Development Commissioner for Handlooms, as a part of which Flipkart would list products from rural Indian handloom weavers and craftsmen on its platform. According to the deal, the company would set up collection centers to collect these products and the weavers would get to sell their products under their own brand name.
– Flipkart has a similar tie-up with the FISME (Federation of Indian Micro and Small and Medium Enterprises and NCDPD (National Center for Design and Product Development) as well, which it signed in June this year. It had also signed an MoU with the Director General of Employment and Training to help Indian MSMEs scale their businesses via its platform, last month.
Paytm: One97′s consumer brand Paytm partnered with the non-profit Digital Empowerment Foundation to help self-help groups and micro-enterprises across different verticals including textiles, handicrafts, weaving etc., to monetize via its digital platform. As a part of the partnership, Paytm is started selling products from Chanderi weavers of Madhya Pradesh, brought through Chanderi Weavers Resource Integrated Information Resource Centre’s ecommerce venture, Chanderiyaan, on its website.
Amazon: The e-commerce platform partnered with the government of Karnataka for setting up an SME marketplace although further details of this deal were not further elaborated. The company currently claims to have over 9000 sellers on its platform.
Snapdeal: Also involved in the above mentioned Karnataka government partnership, Snapdeal currently runs an initiative called the Craft Collection, a platform for indigenous artisans to sell their products, in association with the NGO Ode to Earth
eBay: Small trade association including Khadi and Village Industries Commission, Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council, Jaipur Jewellers Association, Gurgaon Chamber of Commerce, Engineering Export Promotion Council and District Industries Centre among others, agreed to sell via the e commerce platform, eBay India.


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News By Tag
News By Location
Experience the new WTiN.com now!
World Textile Information Network (WTiN), the world’s leading textile manufacturing information provider, has today launched its new look vertical information portal WTiN.com
Originally launched in 2010 as WTiN Intelligence, the website has established WTiN as the recognised online source for authoritative and impartial coverage in textile manufacturing.
The new website, WTiN.com, provides easy access to much more of WTiN’s media rich content and with simplified navigation in mind is made up of eight industry-specific channels – Markets, Natural Fibres, Man-made Fibres, Fabrics, Effects, Technical Textiles, Nonwovens and Sustainability.
Each channel provides users with the latest industry news, analysis, technical reports and event information for that sector. There is also access available to company information in the Sourcing Data section PLUS an archive of WTiN’s magazines. WTiN.com also uses semantic search technology to monitor and report on news from other authoritative websites and blogs.
Mark Jarvis, managing director of WTiN, said: “Moving to this new online platform provides our users with highly focused, quality information specific to their needs. It is our mission to transform textile manufacturing news into meaningful information for our users’ businesses – and I believe the new website provides us with the platform to do this.”
To register for free access to WTiN.com, click here. (http://www.wtin.com/


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Police cordoned off the Rosengård Centrum shopping centre after the stabbing. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT
A man was knifed to death at a mall in the centre of Malmö's Rosengård district on Tuesday morning, with a suspect seized shortly afterwards in a nearby apartment.
Police were alerted shortly after 9am after a fight broke out inside Rosengård Centrum, a popular shopping mall with a supermarket, restaurants and a large number of small, locally owned shops.
Read full article on The Local


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AbelCine will host an open house event at its Burbank facility Oct. 18 to mark its 25th anniversary, featuring industry discussions and seminars, as well as raffles, refreshments and an opportunity to connect with colleagues.
The company offers cine and digital equipment sales, rental, finance and systems integration, along with equipment service and training.
Throughout the day, working professionals will present demos and panels offering insights into their personal experiences working in the field with some of the latest technologies. Guests can also participate in smaller breakout sessions to demystify advanced technological topics, and they can get their hands on the latest gear in the AbelCine showroom. AbelCine will also be offering special deals on overstock, demo and pre-owned gear.
There will also be a silent auction, as well as free prizes donated by manufacturers including Sony, Panasonic, Canon, Freefly Systems, Miller, Innerspace Cases, Switronix and K-Tek. For a fun twist, guests can see what they look like in slow motion 4K in the Phantom Photo Booth.
For more information, visit http://www.abelcine.com/r/25yearsLA


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Blog: Air cargo bomb threat has far-reaching consequences
Chris Brook-Carter | 2 November 2010
The UK's Home Secretary Theresa May has announced a review of all aspects of air freight security in the UK. The news follows Friday's discovery of a bomb on a US-bound UPS cargo plane at East Midlands airport and a similar bomb on a FedEx plane in Dubai.
It is too early to start hypothesising how this will affect industry in the UK, and the food and drink business ships only a small percentage of its imports by air. Indeed, when just-food questioned the country's retailers back in April, when the Icelandic ash cloud halted air travel, the likes of Asda and Tesco insisted that between only 1% and 2% of its food arrived by air.
However, the food and drinks logistics industry is facing the prospect of tighter security regulations and with it increased costs, at a time when rising transportation bills are already a major concern.
Although the likes of The British International Freight Association have insisted that the UK's regulations are stringent and meet high safety standards, a number of other dissenting voices can also be heard, claiming that the shipping of air freight remains the weak link in airline safety.
So whilst there have been calming calls to resist a knee-jerk reaction to the latest al-Qaeda threat, the political consequences of doing nothing remain too high. The food and drinks industry should brace itself for disruption and an inflating logistics bill.
Are you in the food or drinks logistic business? What are your thoughts on this posting?
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- Remy Cointreau's Q2 and H1 - preview
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- Future growth opportunities for global spirits
- Global Wine Market to 2019 - Market Size, Development, and Forecasts
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- Global Wine Market: News and Events September 2015


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Update PC drivers automatically using cloud technology.
CNET breaks out the most important things to know when shopping for a new television.
The increasing reach of Amazon has brick-and-mortar retailers changing their game plans. The latest is Target, who for the first time is offering free shipping.
Officially launching today, here are all the banks, apps and businesses that currently accept Apple Pay.
The update, which became available for download Monday, adds support for Apple Pay, brings back the camera roll and launches the iCloud photo library.
Running out of cloud storage and don't want to pay for more? CNET's Dan Graziano shows you how free up space in your iCloud account.
A few of the security cameras we've reviewed have come close to perfection, but we still think there's room for improvement.
The free service will be retired on December 1 as Microsoft decides to focus on its subscription plan alone.
Running out of cloud storage and don't want to buy more? Here are a few different ways to free up space in iCloud.
This handy app gives you a battery gauge, network monitor, calculator and more, all just a swipe away.
MasterCard customers can enjoy free Internet on trips to the UK without paying out a single pound, shilling or ha'penny.


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Turkish fruit juice brand DİMES continues to grow in international markets by expanding its cooperation with the world's leading airlines and taking part in the catering menus of the most prestigious airlines in the world. DİMES, which has steadily increased its share in the Far East market, has also become the choice of China's strongest growing airline China Eastern Airlines, the Turkish fruit juice producer said Tuesday in a statement. The cooperation between DİMES and China Eastern Airlines is an important step in terms of economic relations between Turkey and China. Within the scope of the cooperation, China Eastern Airlines, one of the world's top seven airlines with more than 110 million passengers per year, will offer DİMES products in the catering services to First Class and Business Class passengers. According to the five-year cooperation agreement, DİMES products will be available in China Eastern Airlines' online catalog.
DİMES General Manager Ozan Diren signed the cooperation agreement in Shanghai. Chinese Eastern Airlines (CEA) General Manager Li Yang Ming, Deputy General Manager Tian Niu Wen, DİMES Sales Director Selim Can Devrim, Shanghai Consul General Sabri Tunç Angılı, as well as Zhang Hong, General Manager of China Eastern Aviation Import & Export Corporation, attended the signing ceremony. In a special interview with Chinese state television CCTV, DİMES General Manager Ozan Diren stated that China Eastern Airlines gained worldwide respect thanks to its widespread domestic access as well as its strong international growth, modern aircraft fleet and qualified services. “With our products, we will be part of the flight experience offered by one of the leading brands of world aviation to its guests,” Diren said. “This is exactly what we mean by turning the fruit of the fertile lands of our country and the labor of agricultural producers into value-added products. Our cooperation is a big and important step for DİMES as well as our country's economy.” Liu Shaoyong, Chairman of the China Eastern Air Holding and Party Leadership Group Secretary, who accompanied Ozan Diren in the CCTV special interview, said they chose Turkey and DİMES, Turkey’s largest and most reliable manufacturer, to offer the best and the best quality to their customers.


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Microsoft is planning to unveil the “next generation of Windows” at an event set for June 24th. The software giant started sending out invites for a Microsoft Event a week after CEO Satya Nadella teased the announcement.
“Soon we will share one of the most significant updates to Windows of the past decade to unlock greater economic opportunity for developers and creators. I’ve been self-hosting it over the past several months, and I’m incredibly excited about the next generation of Windows. Our promise to you is this: we will create more opportunity for every Windows developer today and welcome every creator who is looking for the most innovative, new, open platform to build and distribute and monetize applications. We look forward to sharing more very soon.”Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
Microsoft is expected to announce significant changes to the Operating System, which will likely include UI changes, visual enhancements. We might also see changes to the Windows Store, like allowing developers to submit any Windows application, and rumors have suggested Microsoft will open its store up to all apps and rival payment platforms. Microsoft has been focusing on improving the basic functions of Windows, File Explorer improvements and new system file icons doing away with the Windows 95-style icons. The event invite also appears to tease a new Windows logo.
Last week, Microsoft confirmed that Windows 10X, the Operating System they built for dual-screen devices, will no longer be shipped. Instead, the company will be rolling out the best parts of Windows 10X to the main version of Windows 10.
Both Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Chief Product Officer Panos Panay will be presenting at the Microsoft event. Microsoft’s Windows event will start at 11AM ET / 6PM EAT on June 24th. TechED Africa will be covering the event, so stay tuned for the latest.


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DUBAI: Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Chairman Mohammad Al-Saqer said the 12th World Trade Chambers Conference (12WCC), held yesterday in Dubai, is an ideal platform to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the world trade congress. This came after the inaugural session of the conference, which was held in Jumeirah under the slogan 'Future Economy: The Next Generation of Chambers of Commerce', where heads and representatives of chambers of commerce from 100 countries attended.
In a statement to the press, Saqer said this conference is one of the important world conferences that discusses all issues regarding world economy, showcasing the latest experiments, experiences and studies concerning the private sector and ways to boost it. The conference discussed many important issues including the growing role of partnerships between public and private sectors, health and safety standards, business flexibility, preparedness for crises and future risks, and logistical support for the sector, and several other issues, added Saqer.
He pointed out that the conference aims to link the chambers of commerce and industry together and re-stimulate global cooperation, as well as highlighting the chambers' role in boosting the flexibility and adaptability of the business community and forming the chambers' future role.
In a similar statement, the Chamber's second vice-president, Fahd Al-Joan, said that they discussed the prospects for economic recovery after an unprecedented period of challenges due to COVID-19 pandemic. The attendees reviewed the role of the chambers regarding the digital revolution and global economic changes, and the role the chambers must play to serve its members during the next stage, added Joan. The three-day conference, organized by Dubai Chamber in cooperation with the World Federation of Chambers of Commerce of the International Chamber of Commerce, includes 40 discussion sessions and a workshop attended by 80 specialists. - KUNA


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Wednesday, 3 February 2021
11:30 – 13:00 (registration via link at bottom of the page)
European media face major challenges in the online space, ranging from disinformation and free speech to monetisation and fair competition with global platforms.
Ensuring good conditions for sustainable and independent media, and for the funding of quality content, has become a question of digital, democratic and cultural sovereignty.
More recently, the COVID19 pandemic also hit the media sector particularly hard, with news publishers and radios suffering sharp drops in revenues which have put business models at risk.
What can the DSA and DMA proposals do to support European media companies in ensuring that they can reap the benefit of their content in open, fair, transparent and inclusive markets?
During this virtual event, media professionals and policy-makers will explore online news content monetization, viable business models for the future of the media, and how the DSA and DMA can support digital journalism.
Introductions by Wout van Wijk (Executive Director at News Media Europe)
Keynote by Alexander Fanta (Journalist at Netzpolitik.org)
MEP Dace Melbarde (Vice-Chair of CULT, ECR/LV)
Ricardo Castanheira (Counselor at Representation of Portugal to the EU)
MEP Christel Schaldemose (Member of IMCO, S&D/DK)
Jan Havlík (HoU Internal Market and Competitiveness at Representation of the Czech Republic to the EU)
Conclusions Alexander Fanta
Register via this link. A Zoom link will be sent to you in the morning of the day of the webinar.


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How 2 top leaders at Google's $4.5 billion venture arm prepare tech entrepreneurs to jump into the 'screwed up' US healthcare industry
Often, the thought crosses the tech entrepreneur's mind that it might be easier to do another social or mobile venture, instead of healthcare.
30 AND UNDER: Rising stars in Los Angeles tech who find hot startup deals and manage millions of dollars
BI Prime: These are the young venture capitalists who are shaping the Los Angeles tech scene into the Silicon Valley of tomorrow.
10 new tech trends that VC investors say will completely change life and business in the next 4 years
BI PRIME: Tech investors recently laid out their predictions for which tech trends would emerge with potential for explosive growth around the year 2021. At the annual Churchill Club debate, top venture capitalists expressed optimism — and just a bit of fear — over what's to come in tech.
The 'Godfather of Silicon Valley' who put early money in Facebook, Twitter, and Airbnb says he's done giving startups piles of cash
Ron Conway, considered the "Godfather of Silicon Valley," said his investment firm, SV Angel, would not be raising a new fund.
Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson proposed a bill designed to protect against sexual harassment from venture capitalists.


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To most of you reading this, online piracy is probably a way to get your hands on the latest games, movies, music, or software without having to pay for it or go through oftentimes annoying platforms. For people in less developed parts of the world, however, online piracy is a way for people to get their hands on many of the educational tools that we in the West take for granted, either because these people can’t afford to buy them or they’re restricted by the government.
In Western countries piracy is often seen as a leisure tool, granting people unauthorized access to the latest hits and Hollywood blockbusters. However, there are also parts of the world where piracy is frequently used as a means to gather and spread knowledge. In parts of Africa, for example, where legal access to educational books and software is often restricted or unavailable. Over the years we have seen various illustrations of the educational importance of piracy in developing countries. When the e-book portal Library.nu was shut down, for instance, we were contacted by a United Nations worker in Kenya, who voiced his disappointment. “I am very concerned about the recent injunction against library.nu. The site was particularly useful for people like me working in Nairobi, a city that has no more than four bookshops with nothing but bestsellers,” the UN worker informed TF at the time. In an effort to determine how piracy affects literacy and the spread of knowledge, the African Governance and Development Institute conducted an in-depth study comparing piracy and human development data from 11 African countries.


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The Atlanta Falcons made their decision to wear their home red jerseys for Super Bowl 51, and if history is any indication of what’s to come, they’ve already lost.
Opposite to the Falcons, the Patriots will wear their white jersey for the big game on February 5th. Why is this relevant? Teams wearing white jerseys have won 11 of the last 12 Super Bowls. A whopping 91.666% percent.
According to the NFL, the “home” team in the Super Bowl alternates between the AFC and NFC each year. This year, the mostly symbolic distinction went to the Falcons, who had first choice of uniform top.
Because I know it’s killing you, the last time a conference champion wore white and lost was 2011, when the Steelers donned their road jerseys and got popped by the Packers in Super Bowl XLV.
The Falcons wore their black jerseys in their only other Super Bowl appearance — a blowout loss to the Broncos. That’s not an option here as the team discontinued those kits in 2002. This would need to be a longform blog post to break down all the jersey combinations the Patriots have worn in Super Bowls, but just know New England is 2-1 when dressed in white for the big game.
One color we saw once for the Pats and will almost certainly never see again? The red hoodie Belichick inexplicably wore on the sideline when the 18-0 Patriots fell to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII. If I’m the Falcons, I’d spend the next two weeks trying to dig that sucker up.


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1. 6:00 AM: OPEN YOUR EYES!
3. Have yourself a heaping bowl of sugary cereal:
30. Art can wait. You’re just going to spend the rest of the class drawing these:
37. Good news! Throw that square pizza away because…
46. Ah… smell that? That’s the smell of fresh KOOSH:
47. Can’t you just hear these bouncing all over the place right now?
55. And doing calculator tricks:
56. But if you get bored, you can always stir up some trouble:
60. Now run home:
64. AND GET READY TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN!
- Beloved actor Gene Wilder, who starred in classics like "Willy Wonka" and "Blazing Saddles," has died at 83.
- California lawmakers have passed a bill that would require prison time for those convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious victim.
- Apple will unveil the newest iPhones on September 7. Expect a new dual-camera system and NO headphone jack 📱


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According to recent data compiled by analyst group Electronic Entertainment Design and Research, only 4% of games are profitable.
Sounds like gaming is one quarter-donated-to-a-street-Santa away from snorkeling through your dumpster, right? Unsurprisingly, no.
As it turns out, initial reports concerning the EEDAR findings in question got their words in a jumble. See, the 96% statistic came from this little number:
“Only 4% of games that make it to market actually make a profit, he says. About 60% of a game’s budget is spent reworking or redesigning a game. Armed with all this data, companies can make those tough calls early in the development process.“
According to a press release from EEDAR, that statistic should’ve read: “Only 4% of games that enter production will return a significant profit.” However, 80% of games that enter production never make it to market, which kind of throws off the curve for the rest of the class.
Of the games that actually make it to market, then, a far less pukey 20% turn a profit. And while that doesn’t exactly conjure up images of mansions and double-decker Ferraris, it’s enough to keep the industry alive and (mostly) thriving.
So, that’s that.


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After 25 years in the same location, florist Jane Wolf has weathered competition up and down Main Street and across the Victor Valley. But now her quaint Acacia Country Florist shop in Hesperia is facing a new challenge from telemarketers peddling local flowers from thousands of miles away.
"It's really put a damper on our business," said Wolf about "order takers," who typically advertise their services in phone book ads. "Small mom and pops like us are being pushed out."
According to Wolf, these telemarketing-based companies sell flowers from afar but contract through Teleflora, FTD or other legitimate online floral wire service companies. Then local floral shops, like Acacia, are contracted to create and deliver the final product. But because the system creates a layer of middlemen, customers are charged additional fees of $15 or even more.
And, she says, the quality can get lost in the shuffle. In fact, some distant flower peddlers deliver product in boxes, even to funerals and memorial services. That leaves the funeral director or family member to quickly throw together a makeshift floral arrangement.
Not surprisingly, Wolf, who also has taught floral design at Victor Valley College for the last 20 years, is an advocate of locally-owned flower shops.
"It's not just flowers thrown in a vase. We give personal attention to every item that goes out."
Often when an order comes in from a large wire service, Wolf instructs her designers to add more flowers than the official design instructions call for.
"We always make them look better than the pictures," said Terri Orton, one of Acacia's most experienced designers.
"We make sure it looks good and represents us," Wolf added.
Jane and Chuck Wolf opened Acacia Country Florist on Dec. 1, 1984. She still has a newspaper clipping of the Hesperia Chamber of Commerce grand opening celebration with her holding the couples 2-month-old son, Jason. Today, the infant Wolf is a 25-year engineer who graduated from Cal Poly Pomona. The Wolfs have two other children.
For years, Chuck would drive to the Los Angeles Flower District, load up on the freshest flowers and bring them back to the shop. Eventually, however, he went into insurance and financial planning. Today, he leaves the flowers to his wife and her staff, which collectively has more than 100 years of floral arranging experience.
"As we've grown through the years, we find what our customers in Hesperia need," Wolf said. "I'm extremely customer-conscious."
As a result, Acacia has some customers who have been with them since the beginning.
"We've done their anniversaries and birthdays," she said.
And Wolf creates innovative ways to partner with customers and community organizations such as local schools and the Boys and Girls Club. Acacia's latest partnership is with Odyssey Healthcare, a large hospice service provider. Odyssey is sponsoring "Blooms For A Cure," which will go from March 15-21. All proceeds of yellow daffodils arrangement sales at $9.95 per arrangement will got to Relay For Life, which will take place in April.
"I'm always looking at ways to get people through the front door."
Wolf and her staff believe theirs is much more than just a business. Flowers are simply an integral part of people's lives.
"We all have our hearts in it," Orton said. "It's very important to us."
While Acacia has remained small throughout the last quarter century, it's Hesperia shop continues to to create colorful statements that stay with people's lives.
"We're the best kept little secret in Hesperia," Wolf said.


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Here’s another story for the narrative of AI-music startups developing tools for humans’ creativity, rather than displacing them.
We wrote about WaveAI’s launch of a musical AI app called Alysia back in 2019, although more recently its focus has been on LyricStudio, software to help songwriters when they are coming up with lyrics.
Now it’s launching a new, complementary tool that focuses on melodies. It’s called MelodyStudio, and is capable of generating vocal melodies and chords – again, with an emphasis on the human musician being in control of what is generated, and whether they want to use it or not.
“Our AI is not designed to compete with musicians or steal the spotlight, but instead be an ally acting as a humble sage, sitting quietly in the background until you need its help,” is how CEO Dr Maya Ackerman described its role.
The business model is subscription, with a launch offer charging musicians $5.99 a month for its pro tier, with cheaper six-months and yearly options.


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MADRID, 16 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -
Aiuken Cibersecurity has closed its 2022 financial year with a turnover of 17 million euros, which represents an increase in its income of 20% compared to the previous year.
The cybersecurity company, acquired in November by Trill Impact, has registered a gross operating profit (Ebitda) of three million euros, 42% more year-on-year, according to a statement.
After its purchase by Trill, the company has strengthened its financial resources by becoming part of Allurity, a group made up of seven companies with 120 million euros in revenue, a figure that it expects to double in two years.
On behalf of Aiuken, the company expects to increase its revenues by 40% this year to 24 million euros with 4.5 million Ebitda and in the medium term (2025) reach 50 million euros billed, thanks to organic growth and acquisitions.
The company has increased its workforce by 20% last year, which already has 150 cybersecurity specialists.


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Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., which produces batteries for Tesla brand electric motor cars. Ltd (CATL) has announced that they have developed a battery of about 1.6 million kilometers or 16 years of use. Saying that they are ready for mass production, the company CEO stressed that they have not received an order so far.
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., which produces batteries for Tesla’s vehicles, according to a report in Bloomberg. Ltd (CATL) has developed a battery that lasts 16 years or about 1.6 million kilometers.
It is stated in the news that the allegations were made by the company’s CEO, Zeng Yuqun. If the claims in question reflect the truth, we can say that electric cars will become much more popular in the future.
According to the statements made by Zeng Yuqun, the company is ready for Tesla to manufacture batteries that will last 16 years or 1.6 million kilometers. However, no order requests from Tesla regarding these batteries have been received so far. Also, according to Yuqun, new generation batteries have at least 10 percent larger capacity than traditional batteries. In other words, CATL has developed a battery with a higher range as well as a long life.
According to Bloomberg’s report, the batteries used in Tesla provide a warranty of approximately 250 thousand kilometers or up to 8 years. However, new batteries developed by CATL significantly extend this warranty period. According to technical critics, the introduction of these batteries will make electric motor vehicles a reason for preference. However, it is currently uncertain when the new generation batteries will be in use.
A report in Reuters alleged that Tesla and the battery manufacturer were working on a battery with a range of about 800,000 kilometers. It was even stated that the underlying purpose of such a study was Tesla’s long-term plans in the sector. When Bloomberg asked this issue to Yuqun, he did not get a clear answer.
According to Yuqun’s statements, the automotive industry did not reach its desired level in 2020. Especially the coronavirus pandemic has seriously affected the car manufacturers’ projects. However, Yuqun states that this is a temporary process and that 2021 will offer great advantages for automobile manufacturers. However, the coronavirus pandemic has not yet been overcome, and it is important to remember that the days ahead are still pregnant with many things.


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Pension freedoms: £4.7bn withdrawn in first six months
The figures show £2.5bn has been paid out in 166,700 cash lump sum payments, with an average payment of just under £15,000.
Some £2.2bn has been paid out via 606,000 income drawdown payments, with an average payment of £3,600.
Of the money paid out, £2.85bn has been invested in 43,800 income drawdown products, while £2.17bn has been invested in around 40,600 annuities.
The data indicate retirees are acting sensibly, taking smaller pots as cash, with larger pots being used to access retirement income. In total, £5bn has been spent on nearly 84,500 regular income products, such as annuities.
Annuity sales have seen their first quarter-on-quarter increase in three years, with 22,380 worth £1.17bn purchased in the June to September period, compared with 18,200 worth £990m the previous quarter. The last time there was a quarter-on-quarter increase was Q2-Q3 2012.
Retirees are also shopping around for the best deals, with 60% changing provider when buying an income drawdown policy, compared to 40% when buying an annuity.
“The peaceful pension revolution continues. While providers continue to meet high levels of demand, it’s clear people are taking a sensible approach and considering how they will pay for their retirement,” said ABI director of long-term savings policy, Dr Yvonne Braun.
“Despite some ringing the death knell for annuities, this seems to have been premature. An increasing number of people are recognising the value of a guaranteed income, with annuity sales rising this quarter. There are also initial signs the number of people accessing their pension pot as cash is beginning to settle down, with larger pots continuing to be used to buy retirement income products.
“However, the figures also show ensuring people save enough for retirement remains our key challenge. With life expectancy increasing and final salary pension provision declining, we must now turn our attention to helping customers grow bigger pots.”


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Earlier this week, League President/CEO Todd Mason submitted a comment letter to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve in support of its plan to introduce FedNow, a real-time payment and settlement service. FedNow is expected to launch in 2023 or 2024 and will offer much needed competition for real-time payments services, especially for small and rural credit unions.
In his letter, Mason stated, “The Fed should use FedNow as a tool to create a fair and honest means to keep real-time payment service costs and fees in check. This is critically important to our rural credit unions and their members as well.”
CUNA has been a longtime advocate for the development of a real-time payments network. It previously submitted a comment letter endorsing the Fed’s entry, as did the Independent Community Bankers of America, the Merchant Advisory Group, Consumer Reports, and an alliance of leading technology firms including Apple, Amazon, and Google.
“Smaller institutions may not be able to afford a real-time payments platform, but FedNow will most certainly generate a check and balance on providers to ensure real-time payments are available across our nation and not just in economically affluent areas,” stated Mason.
To view Mason’s letter, click here.


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Apple to Develop Smartwatch with Micro LED Display
Tech giant Apple is reportedly working on developing next-generation Micro LED screens at Santa Clara, California
Micro LED is a complex new display technology where, each pixel emits light instead of relying on backlighting for the entire panel. This property of Micro LED provides excellent contrast, power efficiency, and viewing angles without compromising brightness or longevity. The U.S. electronics major is using a facility in California to design and manufacture prototype Micro LED screens. Engineers at the facility have reported to develop fully functional Apple Watch-sized MicroLED screens at the facility, with a view to using the technology commercially for the first time in the watch. Furthermore, Korean tech giant Samsung is also working on Micro LED. It showcased 146-inch modular TV using same technology at CES in January, 2018.
Apple is experimenting with MicroLED displays with the help of its 2014 LuxVue acquisition. LuxVue developed a high-quality displays for the company that required less power than current OLED technology. Integration of this technology can boost battery life of Apple’s devices. However, it is also reported by Bloomberg that the company faced technological challenges due to which it dropped the idea of developing LED displays in 2017. Ongoing efforts by Apple have introduced MicroLED prototype that could be launched in near future.
The project is reported to be codenamed T159 and is being led by Lynn Youngs, Apple engineer who worked on displays for the original iPhone and iPad, and who over the years has submitted a slew of display-based patents. Youngs is believed to be in charge of a team of around 300 engineers working on the development of the MicroLED screens. Samsung witnessed sales of more than US$ 20 billion from OLED displays used in the iPhone X.
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Richard Tait, Co-Founder, and CEO of Cranium on Death Hoax – Richard Tait, a successful Seattle entrepreneur, is joining the world’s largest coffee retailer. Tait co-founded game maker Cranium and built new businesses at Microsoft. He’s now senior vice president and entrepreneur in residence at Starbucks. The Seattle coffee giant’s first such post. We discovered the new role while researching Tait’s latest business, soccer-themed energy drink Golazo, which filed for bankruptcy last year.
Who is Richard Tait?
The Scotsman seemed to have survived the ordeal unscathed. Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz backed both Cranium and Golazo. After Hasbro bought Cranium for $77 million in 2008, Tait served as a consultant at Starbucks. He’s back at the coffee shop. Tait calls himself “Chief BoomBoom” at Starbucks and says he “brings startup spirit to a major organization.” Intrigued by the title and the fact that the coffee store is embracing innovation, we contacted Tait.
Tait, who joined Starbucks 11 months ago, wouldn’t discuss the role. Tait’s bio appears on the Starbucks Newsroom website under the executive team section, where it says he “helps lead future product development as part of Starbucks Innovation Lab’s steering committee.” He reports to CEO Kevin Johnson. It’s a new venture for the huge firm and startup champion.
The entrepreneur-in-residence job is widespread in venture capital organizations, where established entrepreneurs investigate new business concepts. But entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) is rare in Fortune 500 organizations. Schultz is the co-founder of Seattle venture capital firm Maveron, which has long believed in nurturing experienced entrepreneurs for interesting commercial projects.
Richard Tait’s statement on his LinkedIn page
He wrote on his LinkedIn page, “I am the first Entrepreneur in Residence at Starbucks, which I LOVE!!! Bringing the energy and passion of a startup inside the rhythm of a large corporation. Working side by side with the strategic leadership team and their functional expertise, and changing the clock speed and innovation cycle to that of a startup. I work directly for the new CEO at Starbucks Kevin Johnson. I smile when I explain my role at Starbucks, I say I am Kevin’s backpack. 🙂 Kudos to Starbucks for giving someone like me a roll like this. Changing big think by embracing small think, and ensuring innovation are embraced and applauded.”
Richard Tait’s connection with the Starbucks
Starbucks used a sentence from GeekWire co-founder John Cook’s 2011 profile on Tait for his bio. Tait spent 10 years at Microsoft starting in 1988. On LinkedIn, he called paperboy to software giant his first job. He launched 12 firm startups. Tait co-founded and operated the board game firm Cranium, which sold over 40 million games globally. In 2008, Hasbro bought “America’s smartest small firm.” Tait introduced the Real Food, Simply Delicious campaign and developed Starbucks’ health and wellness approach in 2009 and 2010.
BoomBoomBrands launched Tait’s Seattle startup incubator. He co-founded Moment, Marc Barros’ 3-year-old Seattle-based smartphone lens and case maker. This company’s third Kickstarter effort reached $500,000 last week. Tait founded the soccer-themed energy drink Golazo in 2010. In 2011, Schultz invested $3.7 million in the product. Social marketing and Seattle’s emergence as a soccer capital helped Golazo gain popularity. Tait called Seattle “soccer central USA.”
News from SNBC13.com


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Monopoly game keep growing, with help from 'Frozen’
Published 5:42 pm, Thursday, February 19, 2015
How do you keep a Depression-era board game like Monopoly growing after 80 years? Keep giving people a reason to buy a new one.
That’s been the strategy of Hasbro Inc., which has created hundreds of versions of the game in a bid for repeat shoppers. Special editions of Monopoly cover everything from the New England Patriots to “The Walking Dead” TV show. The best-selling variation currently on Amazon.com is based on Walt Disney Co.’s “Frozen.” (“Whoever collects the most cash will thaw their freezing heart and win.”)
Monopoly’s ceaseless reinvention has helped bolster demand in a era when kids are engrossed in smartphones and tablets. Sales of the product have climbed more than 15 percent in the past three years, and lately it’s been outperforming the rest of Hasbro’s board-game business. A key driver: a 2013 token contest that let people vote out one of Monopoly’s game pieces and choose a new one to take its place. After intense lobbying online, the cat replaced the iron.
“Since then, we really just started to build on that dialogue with our fan base and make sure we were listening to them and doing things with the game,” Jonathan Berkowitz, vice president of gaming marketing for Hasbro, said in an interview at last week’s Toy Fair in New York.
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Monopoly, which celebrates its 80th birthday next month, is a bright spot in Hasbro’s sluggish games category. Total sales of the products fell 4 percent last year, with classic games such as Twister contributing to the decline, the company said this month. That compares with 20 percent growth for its Boys category, a group that includes Nerf and Transformers.
Monopoly appeals more to collectors than some other games, in part because of the variety. Take Lauren Showers, a Monopoly fan in Mount Pleasant, Mich. The middle-school teacher has six types of the game.
“I just get a kick out of it,” the 23-year-old said.
Even so, the board-game business has seen “increasing volatility” over the past decade, said Sean McGowan, a toy industry analyst at Needham & Co. in New York. Mobile devices are demanding more attention, and many families don’t have time for a game that can last hours.
Hasbro has developed Monopoly computer versions and mobile apps, but it also relies on technology to gauge what to do with its board games. Berkowitz’s team uses social media accounts and quantitative studies to get feedback, as well as a “fun lab” where they test games on children, he said.
“We have a lot of kind of face-to-face testing and seeing how kids and families react to things,” Berkowitz said.
A new version called Monopoly Here and Now will replace Boardwalk and other properties with cities chosen by a BuzzFeed poll. The final list will be announced on March 19, Monopoly’s official birthday.
Even as Hasbro works harder to keep Monopoly fresh, it retains the allegiance of die-hard fans. That includes Dan Fernandez, a 63-year-old collector in Dove Creek, Colo.
Every morning, he wakes up, gets his wife off to work, feeds his pets and goes straight to his computer. There, with a cup of black coffee, Fernandez scours eBay for Monopoly memorabilia. Though his collection is focused on older versions of the product, Fernandez thinks the game is still relevant today.
“It’s just a part of American culture,” he said.
Allison Prang is a Bloomberg writer. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org


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Middle Earth Shadow of War Xbox One X Patch detailed
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Divinity: Original Sin 2 Patch 3 is HUGE!


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The regular season events take place in the LEC Studio in Berlin, and broadcast on Twitch and amplified by co-streamers. Then, for the Season finals, the LEC descends on a European city for some live action in an arena. Last year, the LEC Finals generated $5 million for host city Malmö in Sweden, with this year’s finals heading to Montpellier in France.
With plenty of brand partners ranging from Mastercard to KitKat, the LEC has been seen as a happy hunting ground for brands to position themselves in front of a specific audience. Here’s how the LEC enables to put brands at the heart of the gaming and esports community.
An enthralling environment with supreme talent
The LEC sees the best 10 League of Legends team in the EMEA region do battle in a season lasting three weeks. During the regular season, viewership numbers regularly exceed 200,000 for the regular season, with specific games generating over 1.7 million unique visitors.
The 234,000 average minute audience generated from the Gen Y & Gen Z demographic in the LEC is more than double than what tennis grand slams accumulate within these generations.
The live finals last year generated over 730,000 peak viewers, which made it one of the biggest esports events in 2022.
Despite the LEC being based in Europe, it still has a global reach with the competition viewed in over 200 countriesand distributed live in 15 languages.
Sitting alongside the biggest game in EMEA
League of Legends is one of the mostly played games in the world, the - biggest PC game in both Europe and North America - with LoL esports the most popular esport in the EMEA region.
Over 300 million players have downloaded the game, with 8 million players playing concurrently every day.
With that sort of backing, you can clearly see how much the LEC resonates with its audience, with the vast majority of the fan base having an incredibly strong relationship with the game – which has been around for close to 14 years.
The 2022 Summer Finals in Malmo, Sweden generated $5 million for the local economy, showcasing the spending power of Gen Y & Gen Z.
Positions brands organically in front of an incredibly engaged audience
The biggest challenge for brands to enter the esports and gaming space is to do so in an organic manner.
It may be straightforward for brands such as a Red Bull which has the brand resonance to integrate with various communities, but the LEC has managed to embrace brands such as KitKat, Santander and MasterCard with great effect.
In the case of KitKat, the Nestle brand has executed on a number of activations with LEC, ranging from its own TV advert, to a special League of Legends inspired range of chocolate, as well as most effectively, sponsoring the “breaks” amidst the action.
The success that KitKat has had with LEC has led to the brand to diving deeper in gaming, launching its own Twitter channel and going on to collaborate with Sony for PlayStation 5 activations.
Flexibility and range of brand placements
The LEC provides a great testing ground for brands to enter esports thanks to the wide range of placements and activations on offer.
From sponsoring segments, to in-game advertising to industry exclusivity and licensing – there are so many opportunities for brands to be showcased, as well as to only be visible in certain regions.
Also, with three seasons and a live finals - it is common for brands to test out brand resonance before scaling up their commitments.
Plus, many brands see the success of the LEC and want to do more, and thanks to the global structure of League of Legends esports, global brands like KitKat, Logitech and Santander were able to scale their partnerships into territories such as Brazil, LATAM or Asia.
An incredibly engaged audience
Without a question, one of the most appealing parts of the esports and gaming world is its close relationship with the community. While gamers can be quick to criticise, they are also quick to praise well-executed collaborations.
This phenomena has propelled KitKat to the forefront of success, making it the chocolate brand of choice among its target demographic and securing its position as the LEC's second most recognisable sponsor, trailing only the renowned Red Bull.
KitKat has clearly discovered the winning combination to captivate the hearts and tastebuds of gamers worldwide in the ever-changing scene of esports.


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A pair of local restaurants failed health inspections completed earlier this month.
Local Kitchen and Tap, at 3590 Old Atlanta Road Ste. 209, and Pearl of China, at 3651 Peachtree Parkway Ste. D, recently failed inspections by the Forsyth County Environmental Health Department.
Local Kitchen and Tap was given a 44 on an inspection done on April 2.
According to the report, reasons for the grade included managerial control measures not being satisfactory, raw beef patties and raw whole shell eggs were stored near ready-to-eat food, food not held at the right temperature, employees not washing hands after sweeping and before putting on gloves, employees with hair not properly restrained, knives stored in-between equipment and shelving, food storage and floors, walls and ceilings with “accumulation of dirt, food debris and grease.”
No one with the restaurant was available for comment as of press time.
In a follow-up inspection on April 13, the restaurant received a 100.
Previously, Local Kitchen and Tap earned scores of 99 on Sept. 27, 2017 and April 3, 2017.
Pearl of China received a 66 on an April 11 inspection.
In the report, the inspector found raw meats stored next to cooked food, dirty contact surfaces, food not at proper temperature, knives stored in-between equipment, as well as a “box of fortune cookies stored on top of [a] hose in mop sink.”
An official with the business said the score was due to an employee error.
The restaurant previously received scores of 94 on Oct. 12, 2017 and 90 on May 11, 2017.
Businesses that receive failing scores are revisited within 10 business days.
It did not appear the store has been re-inspected as of press time.


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WTO helping China Loot Caterpillar
Caterpillar is one excellent company. It is building new factories now in Texas, Arkansas, and North Carolina, from which it will export products made by American workers all around the world. Its excellent worldwide parts distribution network gives its used equipment a very high resale value. But on September 29 Caterpillar announced it is building its twelfth factory in China -- this one to produce mini-excavators.
Why can’t Caterpillar make a profit exporting mini-excavators to China? The answer is simple: China has a 30% tariff on all excavators. In fact it has a similar high tariff on just about every vehicle, be it a Ford car, a GMC truck, a Harley Davidson motorcycle, or a giant mining machine made by Bucyrus International.
When President Obama’s economic adviser Larry Summers was Secretary of the Treasury under President Clinton, he oversaw China’s entry to the WTO (World Trade Organization), and he let China declare all these vehicles as a “strategic sector” entitled to high protective tariffs. This error, by itself, should have disqualified Summers from ever again holding a responsible position in the United States government.
Summers, like nearly all economists, does not worry about such trivial things as unfair tariffs imposed by our trading partners. In his ivory tower, trade is always assumed to be in balance. Thus, when China puts a tariff on one of its imports, it causes the exchange rate of its currency to go up in value, which hurts the competitiveness of its exports. However, China easily found a way out of the ivory tower assumptions. It simply manipulates currency exchange rates to make its exports attractive and to keep imports expensive, thus perpetuating and increasing its trade surplus.
The Chinese government has long used these tariffs as a lever in order to loot American companies of their technology. First it forces vehicle-making companies to locate their factories in China if they want to sell to the growing Chinese market. Then it forces them to “share” their proprietary technologies with Chinese competitors. Caterpillar already has 11 factories in China. It also has two Chinese competitors – Liugong and Sany – that are producing what one expert describes as “knockoffs” of Caterpillar models, and they are exporting them to the world.
Similarly General Motors Co., as a condition for producing vehicles in China, has to share its technology with China's SAIC Motor Corporation. At first SAIC just shared production and profits with GM on GM brands produced in China. Now SAIC competes directly with GM by selling its own models in China using GM's technology. Last year, Bloomberg reported:
Some progressives are pleased that Chinese technology looting helps redistribute wealth from the rich Americans to the deserving Chinese. But they ignore the effect that this looting will have on future world growth. Recently China told foreign car companies that are already manufacturing in China that they will have to share any electric car technologies that they develop with their Chinese competitors! Just how much will car companies spend on developing more efficient vehicles when they know that they will have to “share” whatever they develop?
China’s self-created trade imbalances have given it a 10% growth rate while its victims’ economies stagnate (exports stimulate growth). China is now using its rapid growth as a lever for demanding that high tech and pharmaceutical companies move their R&D laboratories and patents to China in order to continue selling to China’s growing market.
In Ayn Rand’s book Atlas Shrugged, looters seize control of the United States economy. They stifle economic growth by forcing creators to give up their inventions to the state. We are seeing just that sort of looting on a worldwide scale right now. China is looting western companies of their technology under cover of WTO rules that let them do it.
But buried deep within the WTO rules is a solution, a rule that lets trade deficit countries impose import duties or limitations in order to bring trade into reasonable balance. We could take the profit out of protective tariffs and currency manipulation simply by imposing a scaled tariff on the goods produced by any country with which trade is chronically out of balance. A scaled tariff is one whose rate goes up when our trade deficit with a country goes up, goes down when our trade deficit goes down, and disappears when trade moves into balance.
Such a tariff would force the currency manipulating countries to open up their markets to our exports or else they would lose their access to our markets. American companies would no longer have to let China loot their technology as the price of admission to China’s markets; they would be able to produce in the United States and still sell to China.
So is the WTO worth saving? On the surface, the answer is “No.” WTO rules permit China to place 30% tariffs on vehicles. WTO rules let China manipulate currency exchange rates in order to keep its trade out of balance. WTO rules let China loot western companies of their technologies.
But there is one special WTO rule that could make the whole system work. It allows a country experiencing trade deficits to impose duties or other limitations on imports in order to bring trade into balance. It’s time that we started to take advantage of it.
The authors maintain a blog at www.idealtaxes.com, and co-authored the 2008 book, Trading Away Our Future: How to Fix Our Government-Driven Trade Deficits and Faulty Tax System Before it's Too Late, published by Ideal Taxes Association.