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Makers of Nesting Dolls Turn to State for Assistance
Published: March 17, 2009 (Issue # 1457)
SEMYONOV, Nizhny Novgorod Region — The state will place about 1 billion rubles ($28.4 million) in orders for crafts such as nesting dolls and hand-painted dishes and could reduce taxes to support craft makers whose sales have plummeted, the Industry and Trade Ministry said last week Thursday.
Ministries, state agencies, the White House and the Kremlin will all make large purchases of matryoshki and khokhloma dishes to be used mainly for gifts, a spokeswoman for the ministry said.
The measures were announced at a meeting on Wednesday between Industry and Trade Minister Viktor Khristenko and 20 souvenir makers.
One of the main measures of support should be state orders, Khristenko said at the meeting, according to a statement on the ministry’s web site Thursday. “We still have to work out the regulatory documents ... and draw up a list of the products the state will buy,” he said.
The state will also help the producers sell their crafts at crafts fairs both at home and abroad.
Speaking earlier this month, prior to Khristenko’s announcement, Alexei Polikarpov was apologetic during an interview in his cold, dimly lit office on the outskirts of Semyonov, the heart of Russia’s nesting doll industry. With sales of the country’s most famous souvenir diving, Polikarpov cut production, leaving fewer wood chips to heat his shop.
Across town at the Khokhloma Painting Plant, the country’s largest matryoshka producer, the situation was no better. Salaries were slashed along with output as the iconic wooden figures piled up on storeroom shelves.
Crafts makers in Semyonov, a town of about 25,000 people 70 kilometers north of Nizhny Novgorod, have been particularly hard hit by the economic crisis. Polikarpov said he saw domestic demand fall 30 percent in November compared with a year earlier, while foreign sales sunk by as much as 60 percent.
In January and February, domestic demand was halved.
“We get fewer orders from souvenir shops, companies and private clients,” Polikarpov said sadly. His company, Dyuna, had almost no sales in December, despite the traditionally lucrative New Year’s holidays.
Polikarpov used to sell 400,000 rubles ($11,300) worth of dolls per month in Russia and had exports of $10,000 to $15,000 — mainly to Britain, Argentina and the United States. Pages:  [2 ]


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Mark Siebert, CEO of iFranchise Group, a leading franchise consulting firm based in the Chicago area, has seen an uptick in the number of their clients who are part of a currently â€œhotâ€ trend in franchising: mobile or vehicle-based concepts.
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TORONTO— BlackBerry says it is laying off an unspecified number of employees globally as it makes changes to the operations responsible for making its smartphones. The Waterloo, Ontario- based company said in a statement Saturday that the job cuts will affect people who make the hardware, software and applications for its phones, including devices such as the...» Read More
Investors are anticipating Apple's Q1 earnings for a read on its smartphone business, reports CNBC's Jon Fortt. The bear case for Apple, with Paul Hickey, Bespoke Investment Group co-founder.
CNBC's Jon Fortt reports there may be a new level of demand elasticity in Apple's iPhone. How to play Apple ahead of its Q1 earnings release, with Shaw Wu, Sterne Agee senior tech analyst.
RIM shares rose two percent in pre-market trading after releasing a new system to allow its biggest customers to use its new line of BlackBerry 10 smartphones on their own networks.
A new trend has begun to sweep the digital world, bearing witness to tablets shrinking at the same time that smartphones are getting bigger.
Is Apple having an innovation problem? CNBC's Herb Greenberg and Jay Yarow, Business Insider, offer insight.
Peter Chou, CEO of Taiwan smartphone company HTC, will on Monday launch what he hopes will be a major boost to both a backward tech sector in Myanmar, his country of birth, and to his company's share of one of the few untapped mobile markets: a phone that locals can use out of the box.
Samsung Electronics is looking to supply chips to more Chinese and other emerging smartphone makers to counter any fall-off in demand from Apple.
Rob Enderle, Principal Analyst at the Enderle Group says Nvidia's portable gaming system Project Shield is one of the game changers at this year's Consumer Electronics Show.
Call it phablet, phonelet, tweener or super smartphone, but the clunky mobile phone - closer in size to a tablet than the smartphone of a couple of years back - is here to stay.
Samsung is expected to widen its lead over Apple in global smartphone sales, helped by a broad product lineup, a market researcher firm said Friday.
Most television will be streamed over the Internet in the coming years, said Anthony Wood, CEO of Roku. The question is how streaming content will get to your TV and who will deliver it.
Struggling Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia has settled its patent dispute with BlackBerry maker Research in Motion in return for payments, as it tries to exploit its trove of technology patents to boost its finances.
Ericsson, the world's biggest telecom network equipment maker, will take an 8 billion crown($1.2 billion)charge on its ST-Ericsson venture.
Late Tuesday night Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer posted a revealing tweet. If a photo speaks a thousand words, here's what this one tells us.
The China release of its iPhone 5 on Friday should win Apple some traction in the world's biggest smartphone market, but its longer-term hopes may depend on new technology being tested by China's top telecoms carrier.
You've probably never heard of this Chinese smartphone company, but it's making phones that are in high demand. Could it be the next Apple?
Apple's rank in China's smartphone market, which is set to become the world's largest this year, fell to No.6 in the third quarter as it faces tougher competition from Chinese brands, according to research.
Samsung is likely accelerating the launch of its next-generation Galaxy smartphone- which may come with an unbreakable screen.
Apple iPad and iPad mini tablets would lose some market share to devices running on Google Android platform.
Nokia will partner with China Mobile to launch a version of its new flagship Lumia smartphone tailored for the world's largest cellular market, the Finnish company said on Wednesday.


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Nokia just announced that the company is suing HTC, RIM and Viewsonic for patent infringements in the US and Germany. Nokia states that infringements have been made to 45 of their patents covering proprietary technologies. These patents protect Nokia’s hardware designs on antennas, radios, and power management, as well as software features like multitasking, navigation, app stores, retrieving email attachments on mobile, “conversational” message display, dynamic menus, and certain types of data encryption.
Hit View Post to see the press release.
Read more: via
Nokia takes new steps to protect its innovations and intellectual property
Patent suits filed against HTC, RIM and Viewsonic in the US and Germany
Espoo, Finland – Nokia has filed claims in the United States and Germany alleging that products from HTC, RIM and Viewsonic infringe a number of Nokia patents.
“Nokia is a leader in many technologies needed for great mobile products,” said Louise Pentland, chief legal officer at Nokia. “We have already licensed our standards essential patents to more than 40 companies. Though we’d prefer to avoid litigation, Nokia had to file these actions to end the unauthorized use of our proprietary innovations and technologies, which have not been widely licensed.”
Nokia’s actions include a complaint to the US International Trade Commission (ITC) against HTC, suits against HTC and Viewsonic in the Federal District Court of Delaware, US, against HTC and RIM in the Regional Court in Dusseldorf, Germany and against all three companies in the Regional Courts in Mannheim and Munich, Germany. In total, 45 Nokia patents are in suit in one or more of the actions.
Nokia proprietary innovations protected by these patents are being used by the companies to enable hardware capabilities such as dual function antennas, power management and multimode radios, as well as to enhance software features including application stores, multitasking, navigation, conversational message display, dynamic menus, data encryption and retrieval of email attachments on a mobile device.
“Many of these inventions are fundamental to Nokia products,” Pentland concluded. “We’d rather that other companies respect our intellectual property and compete using their own innovations, but as these actions show, we will not tolerate the unauthorized use of our inventions.”
Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications whose products have become an integral part of the lives of people around the world. Every day, more than 1.3 billion people use their Nokia to capture and share experiences, access information, find their way or simply to speak to one another. Nokia’s technological and design innovations have made its brand one of the most recognized in the world.
During the last two decades, Nokia has invested over EUR 45 billion in research and development and built the wireless industry’s strongest and broadest IPR portfolio, with around 10,000 patent families. Nokia is a world leader in the development of handheld device and mobile communications technologies, which is also demonstrated by Nokia’s strong patent position.
For more information, visit http://www.nokia.com/about-nokia
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Spotify now lets you find your favorite tunes by lyrics, a handy feature that Apple Music picked up two years ago via the iOS 12 software update. The service gained weekly music charts, too.
According to Spotify designer Lin Wang, lyric search is now live in Spotify for iOS and Android. This feature comes more than two years after Apple Music picked it it. As of 2018’s iOS 12, the Music app’s search feature supports lyrics, letting you type a few of the words to find a song.
According to Spotify’s announcement today, weekly music charts are now available on the service as well. Billed as “a new way for artists and their fans to celebrate milestones on Spotify,” these expanded charts gives you an insight into new album releases and latest hit singles that are having the most impact in the world each week.
Spotify on Twitter shared its first weekly album chart.
— Spotify Charts (@spotifycharts) October 5, 2020
From the announcement:
The Weekly Top 50 will celebrate the biggest albums and tracks in the world each week, Friday through Thursday, consisting of a US Weekly Album Chart, Global Weekly Album Chart, US Weekly Song Chart and Global Weekly Song Chart, published every Monday.
The US Top 10 Debuts and Global Top 10 Debuts lists capture the biggest new releases on Spotify, Friday through Sunday. These lists incorporate data from the first 72 hours a song or album is live, giving an exciting early take on new music.
You may follow the @SpotifyCharts Twitter account for new charts every Monday.
According to the Swedish music-streaming leader, market-specific versions of each of these charts are in the works and will be coming soon. Spotify also redesigned its collaborative playlists recently to be easier to use. Spotify, along with Epic Games and other major developers, is part of the so-called Coalition for App Fairness that its members formed in order to fight back against Apple’s policies in terms of App Store sales and revenue sharing.


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Apple has quietly dropped the iPod from its online store, spelling the end of an era for the MP3 player which changed the way we listen to music and kickstarted Apple’s route to world domination.
The iPod Nano and iPod Shuffle have been discontinued, leaving the iPod Touch, which is technically a simplified iPhone and not a standalone music player, with 32GB or 128GB of storage.
The first iPod was launched in 2001, and was part of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ vision to carry 1,000 songs in your pocket. Though far from the first MP3 player, it became the product that defined the industry, before falling victim to the rise of the smartphone.
The early iPods were expensive and compatible only with Apple’s Mac, meaning only a relatively small proportion of MP3 player-buying consumers could use them. The millionth iPod device was sold on 23 June 2003, after just over 18 months on sale, but the device’s popularity picked up significantly once Apple added Windows compatibility to both iPod devices and its iTunes software.
The iPod’s clickwheel, the capacitive circle featured in the second generation model onwards, was the brainwave of Apple’s British chief design officer Sir Jony Ive, and was praised for the way it facilitated scrolling quickly through long playlists.
The release of new higher-capacity models and expensive advertising campaigns propelled the iPod into the stratosphere, proving that Apple’s first proper consumer electronic device had been a smart move. To date, the iPod has shifted more than 390m units, peaking around 2008.
The decline of the iPod was brought about by the launch of the first iPhone in 2007. As consumers began buying smartphones with inbuilt music players and eventually opted to stream tracks instead of downloading them, there was little to no use for a separate device. Sales have been steadily falling for the last nine years, and now Apple has pulled the plug on the iPod as we knew it.
IPOD: A HISTORY
The Classic: 1st gen released 2001, 6th gen discontinued in 2014
The Mini: 1st gen released 2004, 2nd gen discontinued 2005
The Nano: 1st gen released 2005, 7th gen discontinued 2017
The Shuffle: 1st gen released 2005, 4th gen discontinued 2017
The Touch: 1st gen released 2007 – present
The iPod ran a lengthy 16-year race, but it’s now been relegated to the great tech scrap heap in the sky of once-innovative products. Before streaming and even DVDs there where VHS cassettes, first introduced in 1976. The format eventually fell out of favour and the last company to manufacture the cassettes, Funai, stopped making them in 2016.
The Sony Walkman, which popularised the portable music player and went on to spawn the Discman, MiniDisc and MP3 players, went on sale in 1979 before eventually dying in 2010.
Like the personal music player, the humble camera has also had a rough ride. Evolving from the original analogue models to the point-and-shoot and disposable units of the ’80s and ’90s, widespread print photography was largely killed off by the influx of cheap digital cameras in the early 2000s, which in turn were killed off by smartphones. In the world of consumer electronics, nothing is sacred.


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UK producer responsibility regime recast
A suite of consultations from government seeking to reframe how we manage and handle packaging in the future will have implications for the future management of waste...
The consultations, which include a root and branch reform of the UK packaging producer responsibility system and a new plastic packaging tax, proposes a major departure from the status quo. The deadline for responses is 12 May.
The premise of producer responsibility is that manufacturers assume responsibility for the management and costs associated with the collection, treatment and recycling of their products when they become waste. The existing producer responsibility system for packaging in the UK represented one of the lowest cost regimes in Europe with only 10% of end of life costs being picked up by producers.
Concerns around the governance of the UK system, alongside the low financial contributions from producers, increasing public concern regarding plastic and new recently agreed European requirements has led to a very detailed, complex root and branch review of the system.
Government has confirmed that decisions made on the governance of the packaging system, will shape future reforms of the UK regimes for waste electronics and batteries which will be reviewed later this year, and consulted on in 2020.
It is difficult to summarise the content in a blog – nearly 200 questions are asked in just two of the consultations – but some of the key aspects of the proposals include:
- Producers to be responsible 100% of costs at end of life, including costs associated with littering, flytipping, communications to the public.
- Producers that produce more environmentally friendly packaging will face lower compliance costs than others via modulated fees.
- Rather than sharing responsibility for the cost of compliance along the supply chain, the government is exploring a single point of compliance, either the brand/importer or seller.
- Online platforms to be defined as a new type of producer and assume responsibility for the packaging they facilitate the sale of.
- Clear labelling to consumers as to what can or cannot be easily recycled.
- A potential departure from the competitive producer compliance scheme structure, with options including a single management body or a new system based on deposit returns.
- A new packaging tax for any plastic packaging which does not contain at least 30% recycled packaging. Currently it is proposed that this will impact unfilled packaging.
techUK is working closely with members to consider the proposals in detail. But even if you do not wish to engage in the consultation in detail, we are interested in views from members on the following questions:
- Is a single point of obligation (compliance), e.g. Brand Owner, or Seller/Importer, desirable? Which would you prefer?
- Does a placed on the market deposit-based system, where producers pay an amount when placing products on the market and recover a returnable deposit based on proof of recycling, have any merit?
- Could the development of an approved list of materials based on recyclability underpin modulated fees or a deposit-based system?
- Should online market places be obligated for products that they ‘facilitate for sale’ in the UK?
- Should recycling and waste targets be set on a nation by nation basis (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) and would you be able to provide nation specific placed on the market data?
- Do you have strong views on the future governance model that should be adopted? What in your view are the pros and cons of the various models proposed?
If you have views, we are happy to arrange a call or accept written contributions to inform the techUK response. Deadline for comments is Friday 5 April. For a more detailed briefing on the consultations please contact susanne.baker@techUK.org or join techUK’s Waste and Resources Mailing List.
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Apple buys a Canadian artificial intelligence startup, a new chip could promises to decrease costs and reduce the environmental footprint of AI, Citrix angers its partners and clients as rumours of new pricing and product bundling hit the street and are tech layoffs the “new normal?”
All this and more on the “how to lose friends and influence people” edition of Hashtag Trending. I’m your host, Jim Love, CIO of IT World Canada and TechNewsDay in the US.
Apple has acquired DarwinAI, a Canadian artificial intelligence startup focused on using AI for quality inspections in manufacturing. The acquisition highlights Apple’s growing investments in generative AI technology, an area the iPhone maker has said will be a major focus area.
While Apple has been tight-lipped about its specific plans, CEO Tim Cook recently teased that the company will share more details on its generative AI initiatives later this year. Cook described generative AI as a “huge opportunity” for Apple.
The DarwinAI deal follows Apple researchers publishing an academic paper just yesterday exploring multimodal large language models – focusing on computer vision and pattern recognition – Apples clearly has some deep research going on.
Though the financial terms were not disclosed, Apple confirmed the acquisition with its standard statement about buying smaller tech firms from time to time. But the move signals Apple is ramping up its AI capabilities, likely to integrate generative AI across its hardware, software and services offerings.
As one of the world’s most valuable companies, Apple’s moves in the generative AI space are worth watching.
While tech giants like Nvidia and Intel dominate the headlines in artificial intelligence hardware, a startup called Groq is quietly positioning itself as a powerful new player in this chip design and manufacturing for AI.
This is not Elon Musk’s AI chat bot, which is spelled G R O K. This is G R O Q – the names are similar, but this is a totally different company.
Based in Mountain View, California, Groq has developed specialized AI chips it calls “language processing units” or LPUs. The company, backed by investors like Tiger Global and Lee Fixel’s Addition, claims these LPU chips can run AI models 10 times faster than conventional hardware at just one-tenth the cost.
As the recent explosion in generative AI drives skyrocketing demand for computing power, Groq’s founder and CEO Jonathan Ross says his startup’s technology could reshape the economics of the industry. He estimates that while OpenAI has projected needing $7 trillion for a new chip business, Groq could achieve similar capabilities for just $700 billion thanks to its more efficient chips.
With about 4,500 LPU chips already deployed and plans for 1.5 million by the end of next year, Groq is betting big that its technology will be a key enabler as AI goes mainstream across industries. The company is not only selling cloud access to developers, but also pitching its hardware directly to enterprises running their own data centers.
So while Nvidia’s annual conference next week will likely capture outsized attention, this Silicon Valley startup could emerge as an unexpected disruption in AI’s critical chips race.
As concerns grow over the technology’s immense capital requirements and carbon footprint, Groq represents a tantalizing prospect – bringing the same cutting-edge AI capabilities at a fraction of the cost and environmental impact.
There are emerging reports that Citrix has made sweeping changes to its partner program that have left many in the channel stunned and outraged.
According to sources briefed on the new arrangements, Citrix plans to double the price for monthly partner licenses starting September 1st, unless partners commit to paying for an entire year upfront. The impacted products will be bundled into a new “Citrix Universal for CSP” offering.
Citrix has reportedly justified the price hike by claiming a flexible monthly model introduces too much cost uncertainty. But partners who were present at the unveiling described the atmosphere as “stunned silence followed by anger and disbelief” over the changes.
Not only will monthly licenses essentially double in price, but Citrix is also alleged to be slashing rebates paid to its channel partners. This one-two punch could force many to raise prices for customers or shift focus to rival services like Microsoft’s Windows 365 Cloud PCs.
And if those two weren’t enough, Citrix is also rumoured to be unveiling a new “Platform License” that many see as adopting the same controversial bundling strategy employed by semiconductor giant Broadcom after their takeover of VMWare
The Platform License is reported to be an invitation-only offering that bundles all of Citrix’s existing products like its virtual desktop infrastructure, application delivery controllers, analytics tools and more.
This mirrors the recent moves by Broadcom after acquiring VMware, where it stopped selling certain VMware offerings individually in order to drive adoption of more comprehensive bundles.
The reported moves come as Citrix’s parent Cloud Software Group is facing intensified competition, including VMware’s desktop virtualization products potentially being spun out under new Broadcom ownership.
With over 2 million active Citrix subscribers, the pricing shakeup could trigger a significant disruption across the virtual desktop infrastructure space.
Citrix has so far declined to confirm or deny these changes, leaving partners anxiously awaiting official word on the controversial new program.
One thing is for certain. If you are dependent on partner support and Citrix is a critical part of your technology stack, it would be worth having a discussion with your support partner and also looking at your alternatives – not as a panic decision, but to take the time to educate yourself in advance of potential cost and support impacts.
The tech industry is facing a harsh new reality – mass layoffs may becoming the norm, not the exception.
According to an article in TechSpot in this first quarter of 2024, an astonishing 209 tech companies have already cut over 50,000 employees, according to data tracked by Layoffs.fyi. This comes on the heels of nearly 270,000 tech workers losing their jobs in 2023.
And it’s not just startups feeling the squeeze. Industry giants like Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta have all implemented major workforce reductions in recent months. If these numbers are correct, this is second only to the dot-com bust of 2001.
While companies initially blamed over-hiring during the pandemic and inflation, that story is wearing thin this year as many of the big tech companies sit on significant cash reserves. Experts suggest the real reason for the layoffs is that it props up stock prices.
Not only are jobs insecure, but generous tech salaries and benefits appear to be stagnating after years of increases. According to compensation data, an entry-level AI role still commands six figures, but raises are no longer a given.
For tech workers accustomed to being heavily recruited, the landscape has shifted drastically. Some are leaving the industry entirely or settling for less lucrative positions with fewer perks.
With companies continuing to prioritize cost-cutting to please Wall Street, the new normal of cyclical layoffs looks poised to persist across Silicon Valley and beyond. As one professor warns – tech employees and investors have largely accepted this harsh reality, so the job cuts are likely here to stay for some time.
We did a story on the weekend edition where we talked about how some cybersecurity pros are now moonlighting on the dark web to find new employment or to make up for what they feel are inadequate wages.
I want to stress that I’ve had to let people go not so our shareholders could make more, but to try to ensure the survival of the company. It’s been agonizing and I think, no matter how we tried to handle it, it angered employees – even when I explained I hadn’t taken a salary in a year.
Imagine the resentment that is building in companies that have huge cash reserves, but are letting people go for no other reason that a few percentage points on their stock price in the short run. This is not a recipe for employee engagement and, while we don’t condone it in any circumstance, it’s also causing employees to take actions which might ultimately damage the tech industry.
We are smart people. There has to be a better way to handle this.
That’s our show for today.
Thank you to all of the people who got back to me in my attempt to do a census of our listeners. I have to say that Western Canada rocks! We got twice the response from the West and I answered every email that had a question or a comment personally. If I somehow missed you, my apologies, but you folks were great!
And if listeners in Toronto and Montreal and the east coast would like to redeem yourselves, here’s how to do it. Simply send me an email with hashtag yes in the subject line, include your position and the city you are in. The results are confidential, will never be shared except as a summary to report to potential sponsors so we can get the funding we need to continue the podcast.
Send it to firstname.lastname@example.org
Subject line hashtag yes. Job title. City.
That’s all it takes to help ensure that we can keep bringing you this podcast.
Hashtag Trending goes to air five days a week with a daily news show and on the weekends we have an interview show we creatively named the Weekend Edition.
We love your comments you can also send those to email@example.com
Thanks for listening and have a Marvelous Monday.
The post Apple buys Canadian AI startup: Hashtag Trending for Monday March 18, 2024 first appeared on IT World Canada.


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Thanksgiving dinner is eaten and the Iron Bowl played; the holiday season and an entire weekend lie ahead. So just imagine...no early morning wake-up calls, no crowds, no newspaper flyers, no coupons, no sold-out signs. Now that's the civilized way to start the shopping season.
Become part of a new national movement. The first ever Small Business Saturday -- spearheaded by American Express and joined by advocates from New York City to Facebook -- is a time to patronize independently-owned, community-based shops. It will be observed two days after Thanksgiving, on Nov. 27.
It's a day to support the local businesses that create jobs, boost the economy and preserve neighborhoods around the country. Small Business Saturday is a national movement to drive shoppers to local merchants across the U.S.
What a great idea!
There is nothing small about the idea and I'm not the only one who thinks so. As of today, over 700,000 people "Like" the official Facebook page, and American Express is donating a dollar for each one of them (up to one million) to Girls Inc., the nonprofit focused on cultivating confidence, self-esteem and entrepreneurship among girls across the country (it reached almost a million of them last year).
The company is also crediting $25 to the first 100,000 card holders who register their cards online and pledge to spend at least $25 at a small business on November 27.
Facebook offered $100 in free advertising to 10,000 small businesses.
And New York was the first city to officially declare November 27 Small Business Day.
Still not convinced? Consider this...
- For every $100 spent at small, local businesses, $68 returns to the community.
- Small businesses employ half of all private sector employees.
- Small businesses represent 99.7% of all employer firms.
- For every year over the last decade, 60% to 80% of new jobs were generated by small businesses.
Wherever your plans take you on Saturday, November 27, carve out some time to support the small businesses in your community.
And spread the word.


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Cannabis has enjoyed an image overhaul of which most politicians could only dream. Almost ten years ago, the drug was upgraded to Class B – yet today, bottles of cannabis-derived cannabidiol (CBD oil) can be bought in Holland & Barret for £19.99, with a few drops under the tongue being touted as a balm for insomnia, epilepsy and more. CBD oil (as opposed to the THC found in cannabis, which remains illegal in the UK) is non-psychoactive – in other words, it won’t get you high. According to the Cannabis Trades Association UK, the number of CBD consumers rose from 125,000 in 2017 to 250,000 in 2018.
Since the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) ruled in 2016 that CBD products could be sold in the UK, providing claims are not made about their medical benefits, cannabis has stopped lurking in the shadows.. Despite what the MHRA says, some proponents insist it possesses anti-inflammatory properties and offers relief from pain, anxiety and depression.


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EVGA has made its departure from the GPU market, citing Nvidia as one of the reasons. The shocking end for EVGA, though, has left some of its partners seeking other options.
For example, many have been wondering about the future of the Kingpin sub-brand, and now, it seems that Kingpin is open to other options. Which GPU brand will jump on the opportunity?
When one door closes, a window opens, or so it seems. Last week, EVGA decided to leave the graphics cards business behind, starting an ongoing controversy. Nvidia responded to the situation in a rather reserved manner, and some rumors claim that EVGA had other (financial) reasons to call it quits. One way or another, it left behind some of its collaborators, such as the premium Kingpin sub-brand that specializes in cooling solutions for heavy overclocking.
Vince Lucido, the owner of Kingpin, made a post on Facebook as a response to the EVGA situation. Lucido thanked industry friends and colleagues and then went on to say, “The news isn’t received well, of course, and I’m mostly sorry for the fans and people that are passionate about our brand and everything that we have done here over the years at EVGA.”
In a subtle way, Lucido indicated that the enthusiast brand is open to new adventures, saying that it will continue on if it was meant to. We don’t know about any specifics yet, but there would certainly be some manufacturers that Kingpin could collaborate with in order to target the high-end enthusiast overclocking segment.
As noted by Tom’s Hardware, Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI are the three top contenders here, seeing as all three brands have a strong history of overclocking. Whether this collaboration would include just some of the top graphics cards in the next generation, or perhaps other components too, the potential is there, and Kingpin is open to it.
EVGA has made it clear that it won’t be making its own versions of the upcoming Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-Series, but other brands will, undoubtedly, release custom flavors of the cards that will push the limits a little higher. Perhaps we might see some of these models bear the Kingpin title.
- Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti vs. RTX 4070: comparing Nvidia’s midrange GPUs
- Intel’s upcoming iGPU might destroy both Nvidia and Apple M2
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Home > News > Regional
Tuesday March 18, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Tuesday March 18, 2014 MYT 8:30:05 AM
HABITUAL speedsters, watch out – new cameras that “know” your average speed are up and running.
Unlike with the spot speed cameras in use here since 1992, motorists will have a much harder time evading the new technology, which calculates a vehicle’s average speed over a stretch to determine if it is breaching the speed limit.
Police installed the first set of so-called “average speed cameras” as a trial at Changi Coastal Road last November, and they were switched on in January. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network
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New Zealand PM to attend cricket final over Lee funeral
Activist or apolitical king?
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Educate young on what Asean is, says Dr Chandra
Eco World Investment to launch UK projects
Iran warns that Arab military intervention on Houthis ‘dangerous’
Bakery chain pulls 'Lee Kuan Yew' bun following uproar
Singapore reopens queue for Lee Kuan Yew mourners
Nestlé rewards consumers with biggest promotion ever
The great South Australian adventure
Living away from Malaysia can trigger a lot of different longings
An editor should be a writer’s biggest fan, but not in an undiscerning way
Consumers likely to hold back on purchase due to GST, say developers
Amazon in talks to buy online luxury retailer Net-a-Porter: Forbes
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It was a 1920s-themed evening at the Food Manufacture Excellence Awards (FMEAs) last month, as hundreds of guests put on their glad rags to celebrate the leading lights of the food and drink manufacturing sector.
The awards, which were held at London’s Hilton on Park Lane on November 1 and hosted by former England Rugby Union World Cup winner and TV personality Matt Dawson, were a glittering array of 1920s elegance and sophistication, worthy of this dynamic sector.
Each of the six category awards presented celebrated excellence in its many forms: from product and process innovation, to category management, staff development and sustainability initiatives.
In addition to the main category awards, there were awards for the Environment Initiative of the Year, Supply Chain Initiative of the Year and Training Programme of the Year.
For the second year, The Me and My Factory Editor’s Choice award was made to a manager from a shortlist of companies interviewed and published within the magazine over the previous year as part of the Me and My Factory series of articles. And, to identify the stars of tomorrow, there was a Young Talent of the Year award.
Chosen from across all entries, the Judges’ Star Performer award was given to the company that, in the judges’ opinion, has been involved in an activity that deserved particular recognition – be it in the field of manufacturing, marketing or staff development.
Greatest innovation over the past year
A Small/Medium-sized Enterprise Innovation of the Year award, meanwhile, was presented to the company (typically with less than £10M turnover and fewer than 100 employees) that the judges believed had shown the greatest innovation over the past year through new product development, process innovation or marketing.
The night came to a climax with an overall winner being crowned Food Manufacture Company of the Year.
Attendees at the awards were encouraged to offer their congratulations via the dedicated Twitter hashtag #FoodManAwards.
Further extensive coverage, including video interviews with a selection of the winners, is available at foodmanufacture.co.uk videos. Or visit the FMEA website to read the full list of shortlisted candidates and winners.
To find out more about this year's winners, click the next image in this photogallery.


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Photo via Apple
Apple Pay has been recently expanded to 13 more countries in Europe today. These countries include Greece, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croacia, Estonia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania and Malta. Sooner later this year, Apple Pay will be in 2 more German banks as well.
iPhone users posted Apple Pay screenshots on social media outlets and they found out that they can finally add their bank cards to Apple Wallet on their iPhones. In addition, Apple Pay started to expand in Europe and the Middle East last summer, which includes the countries Poland, Norway, Kazakhstan, Germany, Saudi Arabia Belgium, Czech Republic, Austria and Iceland.
This is a great milestone for Apple Pay’s availability because Apple CEO Tim Cook mentioned that Apple Pay will be in 40+ countries and regions by the end of this year. But the full list is not updated yet, because it was only released since today. Apple Pay has been simplifying the ways of spending your money and your wallet since its first US launch in October 2014.


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WASHINGTON — Amid volatile election-year politics that will influence the debate, Congress is reconvening with a trade agenda that has China's monetary and import policies and consumer product safety as priorities.Sens. Barack Obama (D., Ill.) and Hillary Clinton (D., N.Y.), the front-runners for their party's presidential nomination, have expressed skepticism about existing and pending trade pacts, saying they will review all deals and insist on stronger labor and environmental standards in any agreements. Both candidates have said they will scrutinize the trade relationship with China and its currency regulations."The hope is...China would be on the top of the trade agenda," Rep. Sander Levin (D., Mich.), chairman of the House Ways & Means subcommittee on trade, said in an interview.Democrats plan to introduce a comprehensive China bill, Levin said. The legislation will address issues such as currency undervaluation, allowing the application of countervailing duty laws to subsidized imports from China and preserving the use of zeroing — the method used by the U.S. to calculate antidumping duties that the World Trade Organization's appellate body has said is against global trade rules.Levin said the China bill will also seek to strengthen U.S. Customs enforcement of contaminated imports, addressing product safety concerns, as well as pirated and counterfeit products. Consumer Product Safety Commission legislation will likely seek to tighten lead jewelry standards and increase penalties for contaminated products.In addition, lawmakers are expected to consider an overhaul and expansion of a program intended to assist workers who lose their jobs because of shifts in global trade caused by free trade accords that have been championed in the White House."My instinct is that since it's an election year, Democrats will be loathe to cross a traditional ally like the unions [on issues] they feel so strongly about," said Brian Pomper, former chief international trade counsel for Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee. "Once you have [the party's presidential nominee] in a month or so, I think Democrats will be unwilling to get out in front of their nominee" in considering controversial trade deals.The House returns today and the Senate on Jan. 22, marking the second year of Democratic control of Congress and a watershed because of one of the most unpredictable White House races in decades for both Democrats and Republicans.Industry officials said Chinese apparel and textile quotas are in the forefront. Textile manufacturers and organized labor, arguing they have suffered huge job losses because of lower priced Chinese imports, plan a major effort to push the Bush administration and Congress to extend the quotas that expire at the end of the year on Chinese imports.Clothing importers and retailers, who brought in $23 billion of apparel made in China for the year ended Nov. 30, are preparing to fight any extension of the quotas because it limits sourcing options.Levin said the China quotas will be "part of the consideration," although that specific focus may not be in the legislation lawmakers introduce. "The whole issue of textile imports from China, the conditions under which they are made and the impact on other countries" will have to be considered, he said.With China in the spotlight, pending free trade deals with Colombia, South Korea and Panama might not be resolved.Levin said the South Korean pact — facing opposition because of barriers to U.S. exports of beef and autos in that nation — "needs to be renegotiated.'' And, he said, "There needs to be concrete results in Colombia in terms of the end of violence against people trying to exercise their rights."Organized labor and many lawmakers oppose the Colombian trade deal because of the assassinations of hundreds of union activists in that country that are believed to have been carried out by paramilitary groups. The Bush administration has pushed for lawmakers to support the two trade agreements, citing declines in assassinations in Colombia and touting the benefits of South Korea's market to U.S. exporters and national security implications."We hope that the broader Bush trade agenda is stopped in its tracks, particularly ones with Colombia, South Korea and Panama," said Mark Levinson, chief economist at UNITE HERE, the apparel industry's main union, which endorsed Obama last week. "We think it is clear the American public, both Democrats and Republicans, is extremely skeptical of any new trade deals before we fix the broken trade model."Levinson said the new labor and environmental template for trade agreements crafted between Congress and the Bush administration needs to be strengthened before pacts are considered.Another priority for the industry is pressing Congress to pass an extension of a trade preference program with Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia that expires at the end of February. U.S. companies receive duty free benefits under the program. Levin, who is seeking a two-year extension of the trade program with the Andean countries, said he was confident the legislation will pass with bipartisan support.
“I like everything she does,” said @lilkimthequeenbee about @parishilton at Hilton’s launch party for her collab with @boohoo. “She understands women and the certain body types. I think her clothes are so cute. It’s hot. She’s funny, but sexy at the same time, just like me.” #wwdeye (📸 @chelsealaurenla ) #parishilton #boohoo #lilkim
“It has to be authentic and real to me,” @charlotteslawrence tells WWD’s @leighen about writing her own music. “No matter what I’m singing, I have to still be able to feel it in that moment or in five years from now — I have to be able to connect to that moment: this is my story, this is a little piece of me.” Read more on wwd.com (📸: @jgreenery ) #wwdeye #charlottelawrence
To celebrate Pride 2018, @themarcjacobs released the #GratefulNotHateful campaign, a social media initiative aimed at extending Pride beyond the parade. Inspired by Jacobs’ everyday outlook, the campaign features Jacobs along with a group of models and social media stars who are members and supporters of the LGBT community, all seen wearing @marcbeauty’s Highliner Gel Eye Crayons in colors of the rainbow. Head to our Instagram stories to see close-ups of the liner. #wwdbeauty


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The friends who lived in Argentina quickly paid their shares to purchase and fix it up, but Casares stalled, knowing how much it cost in time and fees to move money from the United States to Argentina.At the time, Casares was still running his mobile-wallet start-up and had no business stake connected to Bitcoin beyond his own holdings of the virtual currency, which had become substantial.Real time exchange rates, highly accurate. 1 Bitcoin to Uruguayo Peso, 1 BTC to UYU Currency Converter.It is perhaps not surprising that Casares hails from Argentina,.American Airlines is the biggest U.S. carrier servicing Argentina, with daily flights from Buenos Aires to New York, Miami, and Dallas.
Bitcoin Currency Converter – How to Convert Bitcoin to USDAll of the Argentine Bitcoin companies were working on expanding into Venezuela, where inflation is an even greater problem.Its supply is limited (as is bitcoin, a strength of the digital currency),.
ARS - Argentine Peso Currency Exchange
Bitcoin International Currency Controls - David AylorSign up for our newsletter to get the best of The New York Times Magazine delivered to your inbox every week.On this occasion, he needed 10,000 pesos to pay a roofer who was working on his house.Convert Bitcoins to Argentine Pesos with a conversion calculator, or Bitcoins to Argentine Pesos conversion tables.
Polls showing a possible political comeback by ex-president Cristina Kirchner have pushed Argentina’s currency to new record lows. Bitcoin’s Next Big Rival?.For example, La Nacion reported that other airlines like LAN and TAM stopped selling cheap tickets and reduced ticket sales one month ago.
Should Argentina Switch to a Bitcoin Style Currency? - QuoraWhen we finally met near the Bitcoin Embassy, late at night, he was with a tough-looking friend who was joining DigiCoins to help with the physical deliveries of cash, bringing with him a motorcycle and experience handling large amounts of money.During the next two days of the conference, a steady stream of attendees who had seen or heard about the Sunday-evening conversation approached Casares, including Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn.In 1985, the new peso, its value eroded by inflation, was in turn supplanted by the austral, worth 1,000 new pesos.The last client to visit the office that Friday was Alberto Vega, a stout 37-year-old in a neatly cut suit who heads the Argentine offices of the American Bitcoin company BitPay, whose technology enables merchants to accept Bitcoin payments.On this Friday in late February, Castiglione had run around the city in his camouflage-patterned sandals, trying to distribute cash to some clients and pick it up from others.
Bitcoin - Open source P2P money
TAGS American Airlines Argentina Mauricio Macri UATP Wences Casares.A Hong Kong firm called Bitspark recently opened a shop in a mall popular with Filipino domestic workers, through which they can send money back home using Bitcoin.For Castiglione, however, money-changing means converting pesos and dollars into Bitcoin, a virtual currency, and vice versa.
Calculator to convert money in Argentine Peso (ARS) to and from Bitcoin (BTC) using up to date exchange rates.
Bitcoins in Argentina: New Short Film Show Impact ofThe Federal Reserve has had its own people looking at how to utilize the blockchain technology and potentially even Bitcoin itself.Bitcoin proponents like to say that the currency first became popular in the places that needed it least, like Europe and the United States, given how smoothly the currencies and financial services work there.
According to people involved, this network, which is still in the conceptual phase, could allow instant transfers between accounts at all the member banks and eliminate the current risks involved in having billions of dollars in limbo for days at a time.But if this were the only way to procure Bitcoins, the interest in trading them would not have exploded as it has in the United States and China, where exchanging money directly with strangers — without a trusted middleman, in other words — is not a routine part of business.Casares spent months establishing a partnership with Taringa, the most popular Argentine social network.He organized the first Bitcoin Meetup in Argentina in December 2012, though only a handful of people besides Restelli showed up at the whiskey bar where it was held.He is, as much as anyone, responsible for making Bitcoin known in both Argentina and the United States.
Originally from the Buenos Aires suburbs and a college dropout, she previously smuggled electronics into the country and sold them on the local equivalent of eBay.And tickets bought online with international credit cards, issued in Argentina, will be charged in U.S. dollars.So Castiglione was alone, his stress evident in the sweat on his forehead and the agitation on his face.Message: Global financial instability was a key catalyst for the inception of bitcoin and, following the 2008.Castiglione was so busy running around the city, trying to keep up with the competition, that he was hard to pin down.
Argentine Peso (ARS) to Bitcoin (BTC) converter rates today in currency exchange market today Wed, 06-09-2017.Inflation and corruption are two major problems afflicting Argentina who should explore Bitcoin and.


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Since Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard, there has been discussion that maybe there will be more exclusive content coming to Xbox for games like Call of Duty, Overwatch, and others. In a recent podcast, the Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer brought up the idea of exclusive content like skins and even early beta access only through one platform for Call of Duty.
Talking on the official Xbox podcast hosted by Jeff Rubenstein, Phil confirmed “there will be 100% parity” on content for Call of Duty on every platform. He also said they have no goal of using Call of Duty to get customers to buy an Xbox console. Phil Spencer also talks about how he wants the community to feel included and doesn’t want anyone left out.
With the most recent Modern Warfare III Beta, the first weekend was exclusive to PlayStation and Phil Spencer also confirmed in future Betas that all platforms will have access at the same time.
Before the Activision Blizzard Acquisition, it was already confirmed that Modern Warfare III would not join Xbox Game Pass in 2023.


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Despite headwinds, interest in attractive opportunities remain
Commentary by Jim Zipursky, Chairman & CEO of Corporate Finance Associates Worldwide, a Strategic M&A Partner of TSG
Riffing on Charles Dickens: These are the best of times and the worst of times. After 12 years of unprecedented strength in the global M&A market, 2023 will be a challenging year for M&A worldwide.
Rising interest rates, soaring energy costs, inflation, labor shortages, and widespread recessionary fears are sending mixed signals to companies contemplating M&A activities.
I recently completed a trip to Europe. I met with the senior management teams of more than ten large-cap European-based, global companies. Over the last several months, I have spoken with over 100 U.S.-based senior leadership teams of companies across various industries. My meetings and interviews led me to the following thoughts as to how M&A activities will be impacted in 2023:
- Rising interest rates will negatively impact transaction values. Over the last six months, interest rates have been up 3%. This directly affects the amount of leverage buyers can place on deals and puts pressure on expected ROI, causing buyers to lower purchase offers. We have seen deal multiples down by one to two turns of EBITDA.
- Availability of capital will continue to feed the M&A machine. North American and European Private Equity (PE) groups collectively have more than $1 trillion of investible capital on their balance sheets; capital which “needs” to be deployed in the next five to 10 years. Couple this with record amounts of cash on public company balance sheets, and there is plenty of capital to support inorganic growth efforts.
- Too much money chasing too few “good” deals. PE firms and public and private companies are flush with cash, yet a constant theme we hear across industries is the lack of “quality” deals in the market. Not necessarily “bargain” deals, but opportunities where sellers and buyers have mutually reasonable value expectations.
- The recession will hit Europe harder than North America. Energy costs are a leading driver of a slow recovery in Europe. Consider electricity: in the U.S., residential electricity prices are, on average, 18¢/kwh, while in Europe, the cost is close to 40¢/kwh (with expectations that prices could increase to 80¢/kwh in 2023). Additionally, gasoline prices in Europe are 2x to 3x more than in North America. Energy costs will significantly impact European consumers and businesses, deepening the recession there. The EU vs. North American energy price disparity is tied directly to the continuing war between Ukraine and Russia.
- Many European business leaders will turn their attention to investments and acquisitions in North America. Many of the executives we met with stated the vibrancy of the consumer market in the U.S. is more attractive to them than the investments they made in Russia and China. Specifically, the per capita GDP in the USA rose by 42.7% from 2008 to 2021 while the per capita GDP in the European Union increased by just 3.2% for the same period. The per capita GDP in the U.S. in 2022 was ~$69,000 compared to ~$12,000 in China.
- The ongoing global supply chain issues will force companies to source deals more “locally.” We are seeing a trend towards “near-shoring” where companies purchase more of their products and services from suppliers and vendors, not constrained by geo-political, shipping, or related issues.
- Valuations on recurring revenue businesses will drop from their record highs. Recurring revenue businesses remain in high demand but are not impervious to valuation decreases. According to the SaaS Capital Index, valuation multiples for SaaS/recurring revenue companies declined by 50.4% from December 2021 to October 2022. Buyers are very keen to acquire businesses with recurring revenue streams, but given recessionary pressures, buyers are pricing these concerns into their offers.
- Finally, global inflation is real and will impact all consumers. We are seeing this impact across many industries. Surprisingly, restaurants have not been as heavily impacted as they continue to raise prices to match increased costs. However, leisure industries such as boating and recreational vehicles are seeing inventories increase as demand for these products decrease.
To steal a line from “Game of Thrones,” winter is coming. 2023 will see continued M&A activity, but it will become more of a buyers’ market. We expect valuations to decline, and deals will take longer to close.
Need to understand your value going into 2023?
M&A News on the Go
Sign up for TransactionWatch, TSG’s bi-weekly newsletter for payments executives covering the latest merchant acquiring M&A activity.


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So that’s good news for the Medfield platform and the couple of phones running on those chips released in other countries as well.
We take this as a hint that other Atom-running smartphone will get bumped up to ICS.
“We are pleased to announce that Android v4.0 ICS upgrade is now available on XOLO X900. We thank all our XOLO X900 customers for their patience and truly hope that the ICS upgrade will make your smartphone experience even more enjoyable.”
The update is available over the air, but you can also get it by hooking your device via USB.
We already have an Intel Atom-based device running on Ice Cream Sandwich and the performance is pretty impressive (not perfect, though). The Motorola Droid RAZR M for Europe got released with ICS and the promise of Jelly Bean.
source: Xolo via Android Authority


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The Cion Digital Blockchain Orchestration Platform accelerates integration, provides optionality, prevents technical debt from the onset, and removes friction from creating blockchain-based innovative real-time payment and financing.
The paper, published by the President's Working Group on Financial Markets, argued that regulation must address defi money laundering and terrorism financing to create broader investor protection.
Powered by their $300-million fundraise over the summer, Fireblocks is looking to drive infrastructure efforts of digital banking and crypto companies as the industry is poised for explosive growth.
Investors will be able to gain exposure to bitcoin through the fund, without direct exposure to the volatile currency that traded over $62,000 over the weekend alongside this and other pro-crypto news. On Tuesday morning, the ProShares ETF went live under the ticker BITO at around $40.
That kid who created his own $400,000 NFT project, Benyanub Ahmed, joined another successful NFT group. Together, their sales volume moved past the $5 million mark after just three weeks.
"We're aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products," Facebook said in its first public comment on Twitter. "We're working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience."
Jacobo Toll-Messia’s mission is to scale Layer 2 solutions to the point where they become viable commercial uses and he wants Nahmii to take it there.


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If you’ve been looking to
buy a new car, but have been deterred by
sky-high prices, look no further—October is one of the best months to buy a car, offering a range of money-saving deals for drivers. This is nothing to scoff at: according to U.S. News, buying a car at the right time could potentially save you thousands of dollars.
They add that it’s best to buy a car sooner rather than later, and preferably before you absolutely need to—so now’s the time to start doing your research and head over to the dealership.
October marks the auto industry "new year"
That being said, if you have been hesitating to buy, wait no longer! Given that the chip shortages are likely to
continue affecting the marketfor at least the rest of the year, it’s better to start the car-buying process earlier rather than later. Moreover, now is one of the best times to buy a new car, as we’re entering the money-saving month of October.
October is a great month to buy a car because, according to
U.S. News, the "new year" begins in October—at least in the auto industry. This is when new models begin coming in, meaning that dealerships are looking to get rid of their old models. Dealerships thus begin selling last year’s models at discounted prices beginning in the month of October.
U.S. News also recommends buying a car at the end of the month, so you may want to wait until the last week of October before buying. Retailers are more likely to offer deals on vehicles at the end of the month, provided they haven’t reached their monthly sales quota. This is especially true for car dealerships, which often have incentives to reach these sales goals and are likely to lower prices to reap the rewards.
Best time to buy a car overall
If you don’t want to buy a car this month, that’s OK—there are plenty of times when car prices tend to be lower.
Even certain days of the week are better than others. U.S. News recommends buying your car on a Monday, since it’s a quieter day, so you’ll be able to get in a test drive and properly negotiate the price.
Another good time to visit the dealership is on a long weekend, when many of the best car sales are on. This is especially true for the
Labor Dayweekend, the Fourth of July weekend, and the Memorial Day weekend (one of the all-round best times to buy a car, according to U.S. News). Note that these weekends are exceptions—normally the weekend is the worst time to hit up the dealership.
Edmunds reiterates much of this information, agreeing that the best time to buy a car is at the end of the month, as well as early in the week and during three-day weekends.
Other good times include the end of the model year—meaning the end of summer—when dealerships are transitioning to new models, or the end of a particular car’s design cycle—meaning before the car is scheduled for a redesign—when dealerships are likely to offer large discounts on the outdated designs.
Furthermore, when a model is set to be discontinued, dealerships may offer even bigger deals in an attempt to get rid of their remaining vehicles.
Best car-buying deals for this year
Other deals recommended by CR include the 2021 Chevrolet Bolt EV Premier, the 2021 Chrysler 300, the 2021 Dodge Charger, as well as many others. Check out CR’s list for further 2021 deals while you’re taking advantage of October deals this month.


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CX initiatives failing in large Australian companies due to disconnect with business strategy
70% of large Australian companies are failing to align customer experience strategies with overall company strategies despite 98% believing CX is a strategic priority.
‘The State of Customer Experience Maturity in Australia 2015’, authored by analyst Thomas McCann, outlines Forrester’s findings from a recent survey assessing CX maturity. The survey included 50 CX professionals at 44 Australian companies across industries including:
- Financial services and insurance,
- telecommunications services, and
Here are some of the findings.
CX as a strategic priority
Companies view CX as a strategic priority, with most having done so for multiple years.
- 98% of respondents say CX is a strategic priority,
- 50% say it’s their top strategic priority, and
- almost 75% of firms have made it a top strategic priority for two or more years.
The report found a fundamental shift in companies’ tactical approaches to CX.
24% are focuses on either creating radical CX innovations, and a further 24% are changing their business model to align with the experience their customers want.
Those who are focusing merely on incremental improvements to CX have declined by 9% to 48% since last year.
An executive is leading CX improvements in 60% of companies this year, up by 11% from 49% in 2014.
Since last year, the number of companies whose CX is driven by a chief customer officer or a chief experience officer has increased (up 20% to 24%), while the number of companies who place this responsibility with a non-executive manager has declined (down 16% to 31%).
But the number of companies with a dedicated budget for customer experience improvement has declined by 21% to 41%. Those who do not have a dedicated budget, and are not actively considering it, has increased by 11% to 24%. The number of companies planning to spend more than last year on CX increased by just 4%.
Despite this, the number of companies planning to increase their full-time equivalents on their customer experience teams is expected to increase from last year (up by 14% to 47%).
Barriers to CX
The top three barriers to improving customer experience have all declined since last year:
- Lack of cooperation across organisations (down 18% to 39%),
- lack of urgency (down 5% to 30%), and
- lack of a clear customer experience strategy (down 11% to 26%).
Implementing customer experience management practices has not paid off for companies this year as well as it did last year.
The number who said it delivered “significant value” declined by 30% to 27%, while those who saw “some value” increased by 20% to 57%.
The report makes clear that Forrester views the overall use of measurement practices as inadequate: “only 12% reported applying all of the measurement practices necessary to consistently track CX quality across the entire enterprise”, it says.
71% of respondents say they apply some measurement practices on a systematic basis.
- Assess CX maturity levels in each business unit across the six disciplines:
- customer understanding,
- design, and
- Create a roadmap to improved CX maturity following the four-phase path:
- optimise, and
- “Recognise the good” through forums between business unit representatives to discuss achievements, goals and methods used. “In short, use this forum to help BUs take ownership of their impact on CX and provide them with frameworks, tools, and support to do their bit to win, serve, and retain customers,” the report says.


text: A set of leaked renders shows what the next generation iPad Pro family could look like, including the camera on the back which bears a striking resemblance to the iPhone 11 Pro.We suspect this triple camera would enable the versatility offered by the iPhones: giving you three distinct focal lengths for wide, ultra-wide and optical zoom effects with easy switching.Interestingly, this isn’t the first time the triple camera has been suggested. In fact, way back in August 2019, the first whispers of such a system being built into the iPad Pro were heard.@OnLeaks/iGeeksBlogWhat’s different this time is the quality of the renders on show. As digital images go, @OnLeaks has a very solid record of producing accurate 3D pictures of devices long before they’re officially announced.This particular set of images was published by iGeeksBlog in conjunction with @OnLeaks.Like the iPhone 11 Pro, the cameras are arranged in a triangle, with the LED flash above the single camera on the right, and a microphone beneath it.According to the renders, we should expect to seem this same camera unit on both the 11-inch and 12.9-inch models.Apart from that, there’s very little difference between these and the current iPad Pro models.@OnLeaks/iGeeksBlogWe still have the uniform slim bezel all the way around the display, the smart connector for keyboard attachments and the flat edges and rounded corners first introduced to the iPad in 2018.Other rumours suggest we’re also going to see better depth detection from the front facing cameras, as well as a bigger focus on AR.Speculation from an industry analyst also suggests we’re maybe going to see a Mini-LED screen in the new iPad Pro.It’s also extremely likely – if not already guaranteed – that the iPad will come with a more powerful processor than the previous model.The iPad Pro refresh is expected to be announced sometime in spring 2020, with a retail launch very soon after.


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This article is more than 1 year old
Hot, synchronous DRAM: Next-gen memory tech spec DDR5 lands
Power-sipping, phat bandwidth and dope density
Great news for anyone who wants to use Slack and Google Chrome simultaneously: The JEDEC Solid State Technology Association has formalised the spec for DDR5 SDRAM, expected to become the standard memory for most computing devices.
As expected, the new standard promises improved memory density and frequencies, and should speed memory access for multi-core CPUs.
Base data rates are doubled, with DDR4 SDRAM sticks hovering at 1,600 to 3,200 MTps, while the new DDR5 spec offers anywhere between 3,200 to 6,400. Meanwhile, burst length is doubled from eight to 16.
Similarly, density gets a boost. The DDR4 spec caps module capacity at 16GB, for a total of 32GB in a UDIMM. The JDEC DDR5 spec, however, allows module of 64GB, for a max UDIMM size of 128GB. And with support for die-stacking, vendors will be able to push that further up to a theoretical limit of 4TB.
The first DDR5 products will likely be aimed at enterprise and server customers. And it’s not uncommon for enterprise iron to support 2TB of RAM and beyond. As a result, the new DDR5 spec comes with lower power requirements — from 1.2V to 1.1V - paired with a power regulator. By itself, this isn't necessarily groundbreaking, but will undoubtedly add up when DDR5 SDRAM is deployed at scale.
Anyone looking to upgrade to DDR5 will also have to get a new motherboard. While it uses the same number of pins (288) as DDR4, the layout is different. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, however, as all generations of DDR RAM are mutually incompatible. The latest generation merely continues that tradition.
According to slides leaked last year, chipset support for DDR5 will land on Chipzilla’s Sapphire Rapids microarchitecture Intel Xeon processors, along with PCI 5.0 compatibility. This will see a release in 2021, as part of the firm’s Eagle Stream server platform.
Meanwhile, AMD is expected to introduce support around the same time with the release of its Genoa chips. Genoa will use AMD’s upcoming Zen 4 microarchitecture, and like Sapphire Rapids, will target the data center and server markets.
Consumer support for DDR5 SDRAM will likely swiftly follow — although it's not clear exactly when. ®


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DANISH logistics giant DSV reported strong results in the third quarter, driven by good performance across divisions, with growth in earnings and market share gains across most business areas.
In the first nine months of the year, gross profit grew 50 per cent, while EBIT before special items grew 75 per cent and adjusted free cash flow more than quadrupled compared to the same period last year.
Air & Sea achieved an 81 per cent increase in EBIT before special items, Solutions achieved a 104 per cent EBIT increase and Road achieved a 18 per cent EBIT increase, for the first nine months of 2022.
The integration of Agility Global Integrated Logistics is now successfully completed. On April 27 last year DSV announced plans to acquire Kuwait-based Agility GIL.
The Q3 results are the first interim financial results to overlap with the integration, which commenced on August 16, 2021.
The global economic uncertainty has increased, but DSV's flexible business model enables the company to quickly adapt to changes.
DSV has upgraded the full-year outlook range for 2022. EBIT before special items is expected to be in the range of DKK24,500 (US$3,279) - DKK25. billion (previously DKK 23 billion-25,000 billion).


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Retail sales rose in April by 0.9%, the Commerce Department reported today. Sales rose in nine of 13 retail categories, including for discretionary items such as apparel, electronics, and furniture.
Further buttressing the case for continued consumer spending strength, Walmart (WMT) reported stronger than expected same store sales for the first quarter with an increase of 5.6% (or 3% excluding fuel.) Revenue came in at $141.57 billion for the quarter, above Wall Street projections of $138.8 billion. Walmart shares are down today, however, since higher costs pushed Walmart earnings lower to $1.30 a share, below Wall Street projections of $1.48 a share.
As of 1 p.m. today, May 17, the Standard & Poor’s 500 was up 1.54% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 101%. The NASDAQ Com polite was higher by 1.94% and the NASDAQ 100 was ahead 1.79%. The small cap Russell 2000, always very sensitive to trends in the economic news, was up 2.53%.
The gain in retail sales for April isn’t as strong as it seems. The figures are not corrected for inflation, recently running at 8.3% for the month.
Walmart’s report also pointed to signs of worsening stress on lower-income consumers. The retailer’s grocery sales showed consumers switching to cheaper private-label brands in the grocery category.
And Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius reported that credit card balances are climbing and withdrawals from home equity lines of credit have picked up. Consumers’ reliance on leverage “supports spending in the short term but ultimately is not going to be a sustainable source of big increases in spending,” Hatzius told Bloomberg. “So it builds in a slowdown, sort of down the road.”


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Bandai Networks has announced that as of today it will offer a custom mobile service based on their popular Gundam character through KDDI’s ‘Au one avatar’ platform. Members will be able to create and update their own unique avatar from an initial choice of three characters; “Mobile soldier Gundam”, “Gundam SEED DESTINY”, and “Fmofmo” which can then also be used across several of the carriers other Au one portal destinations.
Only those who have been totally blocked-out from all media sources over the last year would wonder what an iPhone is as the so-called “Jesus Phone” has been in the mainstream headlines since even before it was officially unveiled in January. However, for a combination of reasons, there has only been mild speculation about when – or indeed how – it would become available in the Japanese market. Citing the initial lack of 3G capability, not too mention an ‘unusual’ operator revenue share arrangement, the story so far has centered around deployments in the US and Europe. Full skinny after the jump!
CyberAgent has reported consolidated results for the full year ended September 30, 2007, with net sales rising 26.4% on the previous year to 76,007 million yen, operating income rose 26.7% to 5,501 million yen, and ordinary income also rose 38.2% to 5,143 million yen on the year. These gains were driven by solid growth in site listing (search results) advertising and main portal site advertising sales in the advertising agency business, as well as sharp advances in the mobile business and commission and fee collection businesses such as the finance-related business and online game services.
Domestic market incumbant NTT DoCoMo came out with all guns blazing during their press conference at the Grand Park Hyatt in Tokyo on November 1st. For the first time ever they combined the launch for both of their upcoming 700 and 900 series models – a record 23 handsets unveiled at once – and the announcement included several new service offerings as well. Marking another notable difference from previous line-up introductions was the absence of Natsuno-san, famed ‘father of i-mode’ and always energetic MC, from the stage.
The companies flag-ship 905i-series included 10 models which will all come fully loaded with high-speed HSDPA, 1Seg digitial-tv, DCMX m-commerce, GPS, 2in1 dual-sim identity and enabled with GSM chipsets to allow global roaming complete with voice-to-text translation capabilities for English, Chinese and Japanese. Further enhancements in handset design include increased multi-media applications in motion sensor gaming, flat-rate music subscriptions and i-motion videos along with updated i-area mapping and cell broadcast emergency announcement services and Flash Lite 3 pre-installed all coming as standard features across the board.
Talk about Mega Games, wish we had seen this at TGS in Sept., Taito has announced it will release a motion sensitive music application for DoCoMo 904i-series handsets (D904i excluded) in December. Their so-called “Intuition Band” game also makes use of the built-in camera sensor and a/v output allowing ‘players’ to create their very own mobile music! It will apparently also do other instruments, such as drum tracks (not sure about vocals?), and the company will be offering a free trial version via the i-mode menu from early November.
We missed the this one somehow last week, KDDI has announced Opera Widgets will be available in December on three of their latest handsets; Toshiba W56T, Sony Ericsson W54S and Sanyo W54SA. Branded as “au one Gadget” by KDDI, the widgets provide instant access to services such as RSS feeds, game results, weather, traffic information, stocks, news, and social networking services. This is the first time Opera Widgets have shipped on mobile phones.
According to this article, American broadcasters are quietly planning to beam the stations signal to cellphones, video iPods, in-car DVD players and other gadgets that would be equipped with TV tuners. The high-quality digital tv broadcasts likely would start in 2009. The new effort could pump fresh life into stations that have steadily lost viewers to cable TV, the Web, game players and mobile phones.
Toshiba has announced that they will bring the universe of Japanese manga to the global market with the launch of MangaNovel, an on-line service that allows readers not only to download and read manga in Japanese but to post and offer for sale translations of content in other languages. Apparently the product will be used at MIT to help students study Japanese pop culture and comics.
Yet another successful event for in the massive Makuhari Messe convention center saw almost 200,000 pass through the gates for TGS 2007. Aaaah.. the chaos, the crowds, the
girls games.. how could we resist! A sunny Saturday afternoon brought out the kids – for family day – and plenty of Cosplay actors were swarming between show halls to pose down for the camera’s. But the real action, coming from every major player in the gaming world, was inside. WWJ has been on-hand for this event pretty much every year since 2002, with the first-to-web video of the Sony PSP in 2004, and this time out was perhaps the most impressive yet.
The obvious evolution on display was without a doubt the next gen. motion-sensor enabled Mega Games at the DoCoMo booth. While KDDI rolled-out the heavy armor with Metal Gear Solid and BioHazzard for mobile RPG products, the display which seems to have grabbed the most attention was from SoftBank Mobile. Thanks to Darth and the Tokyo StormTroopers, who un-leashed the new Star Wars PodRacer game, we were hooked from Go!
Nokia and G-mode announced at the Tokyo Game Show that they are collaborating to bring more mobile multiplayer games to the global market. G-mode is developing Chess a Moment, an online and turn-based chess game, based on the Nokia SNAP Mobile platform. Players can compete in up to eight live games simultaneously, and have up to 30 hours to ponder their next move. Nokia plans to distribute Chess a Moment on select Nokia handsets, and make the game available for global operator-assisted download, consumers can expect to get their hands on G-mode’s Chess a Moment in the fourth quarter of 2007.


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Celebrity Group were proud to have booked the beautiful Hollywood actress and author Gwyneth …
Beautiful and talented Pixie Lott has become the face of and “Best Friend” of the hugely popular fashion doll “Steffi Love” which has sold over 20 million units. A new TV commercial featuring Pixie will be aired on the children’s channels, such as Disney and Nickelodeon in late 2015. The Pixie Lott/Steffi Love range of fashion dolls will be in the shops in time for Christmas 2015.
Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace, stars of BBC tv’s Strictly Come Dancing, perform in the Grand Hall of the Royal Hospital Chelsea at the Ceremony of The Cheeses.
Celebrity Group were on-hand to provide Abbey National with the perfect man in Martin …
The UK Post Office is launching its biggest marketing campaign to date for its …
Exceptionally perfect synergy between Milla Jovovich and Milla Dairy Products.
“Strictly Dancing” host and presenter Tess Daly was on hand to publicise the launch of Disney’s “Dare to Dream” Christmas ice show which is running at the O2 Arena in December 2013 and January 2014.
Celebrity Group secured the world’s most respected and widely recognised football referee, Pierluigi Collina, …
Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson was engaged by Celebrity Group for the Assignment Agency in New Zealand on behalf of their client Whittakers Chocolate, New Zealand.
Hollywood superstar Al Pacino appears in the latest SKY Broadband TV commercial which has been universally acknowledged as a great production.
Rock bad-boy Iggy Pop selected by France Telecom to advertise the latest SAGEM mobile phone allowing users to download selected tracks to an inbuilt MP3 player.
Pierce Brosnan in a charming and self depricating TV commercial for SKY Broadband Ireland.
The beginning of a series of long running and highly successful TVC’s for Unilever’s Fairy brand which included Fairy Liquid, Liquitabs and dishwasher tablets all featuring celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott.
An international campaign for Unilever shown in many countries around the world. The brand is known by different names in different countries. In the UK it is known as SURE and in other countries as REXONA. The TVC was the same in each country, only the pack shot and V/O was different. This is is the German version.
Sports broadcaster Des Lynam was proposed by Celebrity Group to the advertising agency to advertise Miracle Gro garden additives. Numerous scripts were filmed in Florida and South Africa during the British Winter, where the plants were in bloom, so as to represent the British Summer.


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EatStreet has one more social media outlet on which to make its mark.
- Evers’ proposal for $100 million venture capital fund gets bipartisan support from former secretariesMay 7, 2021
- Milwaukee Business Journal: New Milwaukee venture fund, Character, launching by former Google Ventures partner – Milwaukee Business JournalMay 6, 2021
- Different ‘flavors’ of state funds of funds on tap for June 3 Entrepreneurs’ ConferenceMay 6, 2021
- Guest column: Even in the age of the Unicorn … Unicorns are still exceptionalMay 6, 2021
- InsideWis: Tech world watches as Apple and Epic Games slug it out in courtMay 6, 2021


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Often it's the 'don'ts' rather than the 'dos' that separate successful businesses from failures. Here are 5 big entrepreneurial mistakes.» Read More
LOS ANGELES-- A man arrested at Los Angeles International Airport wearing a bulletproof vest and flame-resistant pants is not cooperating with federal officials working to discover why he was headed to Boston with a suitcase full of weapons, authorities say.
LOS ANGELES-- California gas prices finally have begun to fall after a month that saw them surging by nearly 50 cents a gallon _ but a continuing refinery shutdown may keep supplies short. The AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report says the average price of regular Wednesday is less than $4.67 a gallon, down a half-cent from Tuesday.
LOS ANGELES-- Brian Wilson says he felt blindsided by a news release from his Beach Boys band mate Mike Love that ended the good vibrations on the band's 50th anniversary tour. Wilson answered Mike Love's recent explanation in The Los Angeles Times with a response in the newspaper Tuesday.
Oct 10- Activist investor Clinton Group said it will no longer push for a sale of Wet Seal Inc, which it won control of last week, but will instead focus on turning the apparel retailer around. On Friday, the investment firm managed to get four of its nominees elected to Wet Seal's eight-member board. Wet Seal also named a Clinton Group nominee as chairman on Wednesday.
SAN JOSE, Calif.-- Cypress Semiconductor Corp. said Wednesday that it completed its initial tender offer for shares of chipmaker Ramtron International Corp.. Cypress agreed to buy Colorado Springs, Colo.- based Ramtron in September for $3.10 per share, or a total of about $109.8 million, after lower bids were rebuffed by the company's board.
CARACAS, Venezuela-- A veteran of Venezuela's long-suffering political opposition compared Sunday's presidential election to a soccer game played on a hill. Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles defended a parking lot-sized goal on the downhill half while President Hugo Chavez's team manned a pixie goal on the uphill side, said Ramon Guillermo Aveledo.
Oct 10- Sutter Gold Mining Inc:. *Provides update on mining, construction activities at the Lincoln project,. *Lincoln project is on track for production in Q4 of this year, ramping up to.
CHARLESTON, W.Va.-- The average price at the pump took a big jump in West Virginia this week to $3.90 a gallon. It makes the price of gas in West Virginia almost a dime higher than the national average. While lagging California's $4.67 a gallon average, some pumps in West Virginia are inching up to the $4- a-gallon mark.
NEW YORK-- Safeway Inc. may give investors a glimpse of how the supermarket chain's new loyalty program for shoppers is impacting sales when it reports its third-quarter results Friday.
GRAPEVINE, Texas-- Spirit Airlines Inc. on Dec. 1 will open a flight attendant and pilot crew base at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as it expands operations in Texas. The low cost carrier also plans an open house in Dallas for potential flight attendants.
Oct 10- Toys R Us Inc said it will open toy departments in 24 Macy's Inc stores this holiday season as the world's largest specialty toy retailer looks to reach more shoppers in the biggest selling season of the year.
SALT LAKE CITY-- Gas prices are going down in Utah, just as they are in 30 other states. AAA reports Tuesday that the average price of gas in Utah is $3.75 per gallon. Prices in Ogden and Salt Lake City are the lowest in the state at $3.71 per gallon, while prices in Moab and St. George are the highest at $3.86 per gallon.
LAS VEGAS-- Nevada's average gas price is $3.93 per gallon after northern city prices shot up in line with California and southern cities trailed far behind. AAA says Tuesday that some northern Nevada metropolitan areas supplied by California saw their fuel prices jump 24 cents in a single week.
Oct 10- Clothing retailer Wet Seal Inc named a Clinton Group nominee as chairman of its board, after replacing four of its board members with the activist investor's nominees last week.
DANA POINT, Calif., Oct 9- A plan by Southern California Edison to reopen its crippled San Onofre nuclear power plant, whose outage has increased the chance of power cuts in the region, is not certain to be approved, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said.
Oct 10- Record-high California retail gasoline prices began to ease on Wednesday, receding from nearly $5 a gallon, even as further refinery disruptions threatened to slow the decline. The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the state dipped by a half cent to $4.666, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge website, easing from the previous day's record.
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 10- Groupon Inc launched a point-of-sale service called Breadcrumb across the United States on Wednesday as the world's largest daily deal company tries to win more restaurants as clients. Groupon acquired the business in May. Groupon is a pioneer in daily deals, which are heavily discounted online offers for local services.
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 10- Data-center company IO has raised $90 million from venture-capital backers, the company said on Wednesday, illustrating the growing profile of enterprise-oriented investments compared to consumer companies in Silicon Valley.
*Amazon has 21 movie projects, 9 TV projects in development. *Amazon to post trial videos and seek feedback. SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 10- Amazon.com Inc is producing its own movies and TV programming using the consumer tracking and data crunching skills it developed while becoming the world's largest Internet retailer.
The PIMCO Total Return Fund, the world's largest mutual fund with about $278 billion in assets, attracted roughly $6.25 billion in new money in the third quarter, according to Morningstar. Meanwhile, the DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund was second with $4.45 billion in assets.


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MOLLIE King knows all about the pressures of being in the public eye.
And while The Saturdays
singer's bandmates are busy with weddings and honeymoons, the pretty blonde has branched out and decided to join the world of modelling.
's ex will make her debut on Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model alongside leggy supermodel Elle Macpherson.
Talking exclusively to OK! Magazine, Mol said: "We are all big fans of the show so when I told them [The Saturdays] they were really excited!"
Being in a big girlband alongside former S Club Junior members Frankie Sandford and Rochelle Wiseman
meant Mollie had someone to go to for advice when she first started out in the business.
"I remember I was so nervous back then," she said.
"I had no experience apart from posing for holiday snaps."
Now, though, Una Healy's pal will advise and help direct the models on the show in order to help them win over those hard-to-please judges.
In the exclusive interview Mollie said she still gets nervous when it comes to modelling for The Saturdays and even opened up about how nasty internet comments about your physical appearance can be upsetting.
She said: "With things such as Twitter and YouTube, we're so accessible and people tear you apart. And it's always the horrible remarks you remember, not the nice ones."
For Mollie King's FULL exclusive interview buy a copy of this week's OK! Magazine.


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Samsung said the first Tizen-powered smart TVs will be revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas. The company first revealed plans to use Tizen for TVs in 2013 and last year.
The platform, earlier seen as a way to enable Samsung to compete with Google in the mobile software market, has experienced delays and a shift of focus from Samsung, which has announced plans to target emerging markets with Tizen-powered phones. Last year, Samsung launched a number of Tizen-based digital cameras and smart watches.
Samsung has also redesigned its Smart Hub UI, with the first screen displaying users’ most recent content and tailored recommendations. The Korean consumer electronics giant said it has also optimised four-direction control on its remotes to make them more responsive and had introduced simpler synchronising of content with other devices.
Samsung has highlighted key content partnerships for the new platform, including Samsung Sports Live, allowing users to watch live games while simultaneously checking team and player stats on the same screen, with deals also in place with a number of games companies. In North America Samsung has teamed up with Sony to deliver PlayStation Now, a cloud-streaming game service. Just Dance Now, a dance app, comes to the platform thanks to a partnership with Ubisoft, while Bingo Home: Race to Earth is a new casual game title tie-in with DreamWorks Animation movie Home.
According to Samsung, Tizen, a Linux-based open-source platform, will allow developers to create content for its smart TV platform more easily.
“Building our Smart Platform around Tizen is a groundbreaking step towards a much more intelligent and integrated system,” said Won Jin Lee, Executive Vice President of the Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “Tizen not only enriches the entertainment experience for our customers today, but unlocks great potential for the future in home entertainment.”
ICYMI: BCCI confirms September IPL restart digitaltveurope.com/2021/07/27/bcc… https://t.co/sheavM2VNZ
27 July 2021 @ 20:00:00 UTC
ICYMI; Former Technicolor exec Muylkens appointed MD at Zappware Belgium digitaltveurope.com/2021/07/27/for… https://t.co/GWYASi2gZZ
27 July 2021 @ 18:52:00 UTC
Over 70 8K TVs certified by 8K Association as tech increases in popularity digitaltveurope.com/2021/07/27/ove… https://t.co/y1ZtRLe5vY
27 July 2021 @ 16:59:00 UTC
Russia’s Match TV picks up EPL rights in long-term deal digitaltveurope.com/2021/07/27/rus… https://t.co/ajg4NSyfYb
27 July 2021 @ 15:59:00 UTC


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Like most of the world, Switzerland has an obesity problem. From 1992 to 2017, obesity in Switzerland rose from 5% to 11% of the population. In addition, a further 31% of the population was considered overweight, bringing the total with a weight problem to 42% of the population. The Covid-19 pandemic has added to the health challenge, according to a study by the University of St Gallen.
The recent study, presented by SRF, found average weight gain across all age groups of 3.3 kg between 2019 and 2021. Adding the most kilos were those aged 45 to 64 who added an average of 6.7 kg over the two year period.
According to University of St Gallen professor Thomas Rudolf this is a significant acceleration in weight gain. Over the 5 years between 2014 and 2019, average weight gain was 0.1 kg.
Big drivers of the recent expansion of Swiss waistlines appear to be more widespread working from home, with its easier access to refrigerators and food cupboards, combined with less exercise. Increased consumption of alcohol is also thought to have played a role.
Reduced structure around eating is probably also a contributing factor, according to nutritionist Jürg Hösli. Eating late at night is associated with increased hunger and may have driven up food consumption he thinks.
A quarter of those surveyed reported not having enough money to eat healthily. Ironically, some of the healthiest meals beat meat on price. For example, kidney beans and pulses, which contain plenty of protein and healthy fibre, something absent from meat, cost far less. In Switzerland, which has the world’s most expensive Big Mac burgers (CHF 6.50) and pricy meat, regularly opting for vegetables instead of meat could not only improve waistlines but reduce food budgets – two beef burgers bought at a Swiss supermarket cost CHF 5.20 compared to CHF 120 for a tin of Borlotti beans and CHF 115 for a tin of chickpeas.
SRF article (in German)


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This might be a joke/humor, but it’s a serious joke that could turn out into a true prediction if Steve Jobs keep magnifying the Apple iPhone technology. Apparently, the latest iPad release is actually look a lot like a big size iPhone. By logical thinking, BeGeek.fr foresee what will roll out in the next few year and make it into a kind of ‘joke’ for technology enthusiasts. Check it out below:
According to Giz, the iBoard is going to implement a ‘twenty finger multi-touch technology’, while the iMat is going to support flash. Using iMat to watch porn is guaranteed to get the ‘extreme excitement’ moment.


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In a release issued Thursday, MAS says it has cautioned the exchanges to seek authorization if trading digital tokens that are regulated under the Securities and Futures Act (SFA).
The authority states:
“If the digital tokens constitute securities or futures contracts, the exchanges must immediately cease the trading of such digital tokens until they have been authorised as an approved exchange or recognised market operator by MAS.”
MAS has further cautioned an initial coin offering (ICO) issuer to cease selling its tokens in the country. It states that the project has breached the SFA because the tokens - as they represent equity ownership in a firm - are considered securities.
The issuer has now ceased offering the token in Singapore and returned funds received from local investors, according to the statement.
There has been an increase in the number of digital token exchanges and digital token offerings in Singapore, according to Lee Boon Ngiap, assistant managing director at MAS.
“If any digital token exchange, issuer or intermediary breaches our securities laws, MAS will take firm action,” he said. “The public should be aware that there is no regulatory safeguard if they choose to trade on unregulated digital token exchanges or invest in digital tokens that fall outside the remit of MAS’ rules.”
Singapore image via Shutterstock
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