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China, like many other countries around the globe, hopes to reduce air pollution through the increased use of electric cars. Last year, thanks to favorable government policies designed to increase both manufacturing and consumer sales, the country sold more electric cars than the U.S. for the first time, according to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
What’s fueling the mainland’s surge in electric car sales? A combination of local and national subsidies for one thing, reports Adam Minter
. For example, he cites the D2 model manufactured by Xindayang, an electric-vehicle maker. Ordinarily, the vehicle designed for “urban dwellers who drive short distances and don't generally use the highway,” would cost buyers $20,000, but national subsidies have chopped that price by half.
Local incentives can apply, as well. Take the BYD Qin plug-in hybrid-electric vehicle, which is manufactured by Shenzhen-based BYD. Local buyers can receive a subsidy of $5,600 that combined with national subsidies, reduces the car’s $60,000 sticker shock by a third, Minter notes.
In addition to subsidies, the Chinese government also has extended other favorable policies to stimulate activity on new energy vehicles (NEV). Apparently, they’re working. According to data released
by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China quadrupled its output last year of new energy vehicles (NEVs) to almost 380,000.
On Jan. 1 this year, a national policy went into effect that allows a Beijing resident to buy a new energy car without first having to obtain a license plate through the capital city’s lottery system. The waiting period for plates can take up to five years. The first 60,000 license plates will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, according to Qian Ruisha
WHAT IS AN EV?
The term “electric vehicles” includes commercial approaches such as pure battery-powered vehicles, plug-in hybrids, hybrid internal combustion/battery, range extending, and fuel cell vehicles, as well as vehicles powered by developmental sources such as supercapacitors and flywheel-powered. According
to BCC Research analyst Donald Saxman, nearly all electric vehicle batteries are one of three systems: lead-acid, nickel metal hydride, or lithium-ion (including lithium polymer).
HYBRID POWER SOURCES
The nomenclature used in the electric vehicle industry has changed over the last 10 years, Saxman notes. “’Electric vehicles’ now include the ‘hybrid’ electric vehicles (HEVs) as well as ‘plug-in hybrid vehicles’ (PHEVs), which can be recharged using utility electric power. Finally, there’s the ‘pure’ EVs without internal combustion engines at all,” he says. “Then there are fuel-cell-powered vehicles that also use electric motors, and are usually considered EVs. Even fuel-cell-powered vehicles will need high-capacity, rapid-charge batteries.”
CHINESE EV BATTERY AND FUEL CELL INCENTIVES AND SUBSIDIES
Saxman explains that the Chinese government is aggressively promoting the use of EV and HEV to control air pollution and enhance technological and business advantages. So far, he says, the result “has been a series of somewhat fragmented but ultimately effective programs.”
“In 2009, the national government ‘mandated’ an unrealistic goal that 10% of domestic autos use some form of alternative fuel by 2012. Meanwhile, joint military-industrial ministries promoted ‘Plan 863’ (State High-Tech Development Plan), which specifically funds EV and HEV R&D under the 863 Electric Drive Fuel Cell Vehicle Project. Direct incentives to automakers (with the expectation that savings would be passed along to the consumer) have proved effective,” Saxman explains. “In 2012, a 100% tax exemption for pure battery- or fuel cell-powered vehicles was announced. HEVs received a 50% auto tax reduction.”
More recently, he continues, the Chinese began the “Energy Saving and New Energy Car Industry Development Plan” with a goal to increase annual production of pure EV and plug-in hybrid EVs to 500,000 by 2015 and over 5 million by 2020. In mid-2013, China’s State Council announced that the energy saving sector will be a key pillar of the economy by 2015. The majority of environmental protection industries are expected to receive government funding in an effort to stimulate innovation in a wide range of technologies addressing air, water and soil pollution.
From a global market perspective, the electric vehicle market totaled over $58.6 billion in 2013 and should reach more than $73 billion, according
to BCC Research’s Saxman. With an anticipated five-year compound annual growth rate of 8.5% between 2014 and 2019, the global market should total $109.8 billion in the end year.
Saxman says, “Much of this value and growth will result from passenger vehicle type of EVs. BCC Research anticipates a $73.5 billion annual passenger EV market by 2019 under a consensus scenario. An optimistic but still possible scenario could see a market worth more than $83.6 billion by 2019 (based on a 10.6% CAGR). The consensus scenario is based on the sale of over 2 million passenger EVs annually by 2019.”


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CHINA: Guangzhou Zhujiang Brewery to raise finance - report
Guangzhou Zhujiang Brewery is planning to raise up to CNY2.21bn (US$350m) via a share issue in order to expand capacity in China's growing beer market, according to local reports.
Guangzhou Zhujiang Brewery intends to use the funds raised to expand production capacity at its Nanshu brewery in Guangzhou province and its Meizhou brewery in Hunan province, according to local reports, which cited a company filing. The brewer is 24%-owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev.
China's beer market has continued to expand strongly, according to the latest available figures. In October, Tsingtao Brewery said that the country's beer market increased by 8.6% in volume for the first nine months of 2011.
However, concerns about the Chinese economy have grown. In November, SABMiller's joint-venture in the country, China Resources Enterprise, said: "The uncertainties surrounding the global economy have affected consumer sentiment in China, which in turn has put pressure on the Group's consumer goods business in the near term."
For many observers, yesterday's speculation linking Anheuser-Busch InBev to a move for control of Grupo Modelo has come a bit sooner than expected. But, it has always been expected....
A fresh round of speculation has kicked off over whether Anheuser-Busch InBev will finally gets its paws on Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo....
- Diageo Q4 & FY - Preview
- Is Diageo approaching its "Et tu, Brute" Moment?
- Has Diageo added Beer to its 'Non-Core' List?
- Diageo " knew United Spirits would be complicated”
- Focus - Diageo's FY Performance by Region
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- Global gin insights - market data, product innovation and consumer trends research
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domain: news


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The new deal, which has been under negotiation for nearly two years, upgrades a previous agreement signed in 1997 that was mainly focused on liberalising trade in industrial goods.
The EU is Mexico's third biggest trade partner in goods, while Mexico is the EU's 13th biggest.
Additional details about the agreement will still need to be hashed out before it becomes official.
The wide-reaching deal will simplify the customs process and eliminate tariffs for "practically all" goods traded between EU-member nations and Mexico, according to an announcement posted Saturday by the European Commission.
The deal marks a move by Mexico to pivot away from its reliance on trade with the United States.
Tariffs on chocolate and pasta, now as much as 30% and 20% respectively, will be removed completely and trade barriers will also be lifted on cheeses such as Gorgonzola and Roquefort.
The EU-Mexico Global Agreement will make all trade in goods between the EU and Mexico duty-free, including in the agricultural sector.
A government statement says tariffs will be scrapped on Mexican orange juice, tuna, honey, agave syrup, fruits and vegetables, among others.
The deal includes a comprehensive trade and sustainable development chapter, setting the highest standards of labor, safety, environmental and consumer protection. It also incorporates commitments on tackling corruption in both the public and private sectors, and to climate change targets established under the Paris Climate Agreement. In December 2017 the European Union has also concluded a free trade agreement with Japan.
Saturday's announcement came as talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) continue and six weeks after Mexico and 10 other Pacific Rim countries formally entered into a revised Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact.


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China has placed tighter controls on <"https://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/heparin">heparin manufacturing following the discovery that heparin ingredients sourced from that country had been replaced with a substance derived from animal cartilage. Tainted heparin manufactured by Baxter International has been blamed for over 700 serious reactions and 19 deaths in the United States, while heparin made by another company has sickened at least 80 people in Germany.
Baxter recalled nearly all its heparin injections in the US after some patients experienced extreme allergic reactions, including difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, excessive sweating, and rapidly falling blood pressure that was life threatening after being administered the products. There have been similar recalls of Chinese-sourced heparin in Germany and Japan. Earlier this week, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed that it had found chondroitin sulfate in samples of the active ingredient used in Baxter heparin. The FDA said the chondroitin sulfate was molecularly changed to mimic heparin’s blood-clotting properties. However, the agency has not yet determined if the chondroitin sulfate was responsible to the deaths and reactions associated with Baxter heparin.
Baxter gets some of that active ingredient from Changzhou SPL, a Chinese plant partially owned by Wisconsin-based Scientific Protein Laboratories LLC. The FDA said it had found contaminated crude heparin at that plant. Changzhou buys its crude heparin from two companies, called consolidators, that gather it from workshops that make it from pig intestines. Many workshops that make crude heparin are unregulated family operations. Baxter has said that its investigators have not been able to get permission from the Chinese to visit these operations, and the FDA has not yet done inspections on any of these facilities either.
While the FDA maintains that it has not yet determined if the ingredient substitution was intentional, several sources told The New York Times that it was likely not accidental. Some heparin producers in China also sell chondroitin sulfate, which can be derived from pig cartilage. It costs a fraction of the ingredient usually used in heparin, and producers may have used it in an attempt to cut costs.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration issued an order in a notice seen Friday on its Web site that requires heparin producers to obtain the raw chemicals used to make the drug from registered suppliers. Raw heparin suppliers, meanwhile, are required to improve their management and tests on their products, it said. This was a reversal of the Chinese government’s earlier position, as the agency had earlier insisted that ensuring the quality of exported chemicals like heparin was the responsibility of importers and importing countries.
The news of heparin contamination comes almost one year after some pets in the US died as the result of a pet food ingredient shipped from China that contained toxic levels of melamine, which was added to make it appear higher in protein. In Panama around the same time, 120 people died because an unlicensed Chinese chemical plant sold a cheap counterfeit ingredient, diethylene glycol, that was mixed into cold medicine imported to that country. Diethylene glycol contamination also resulted in a recall of Chinese-made toothpaste in the US over the summer.


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With the mysterious monolith appearing and disappearing in both Utah, and now Romania, theorists are going crazy trying to solve the origins of the metal pillar.
Looking to make use of this extra media exposure, McDonald’s has just jokingly pointed out that the large object looks like some of its Drive-Thru ordering machines. In a tweet, the fast-food chain has edited the pillar with a speaker, LCD screen and McDonald’s Golden Arches logo. The tweet has also brought in some banter from Oreo, calling out the customary broken McFlurry machine and Oreo McFlurry. Read below for some of the comical tweets brought on by McDonald’s photoshopped monolith Drive-Thru machine.
In other entertainment news, Pharrell launches the podcasting network OTHERtoneMedia.
Source: Read Full Article


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Start-up food makers and newcomer brands are shaking up the food industry thanks to their close relationship with rapidly emerging consumer demands. Multinational giants are steadily losing ground to smaller brands, as people are seeking out products they view as authentic. The story behind a product is also rising in importance.
Tell your story
Technology plays a vital role in spurring a fundamental shift on how consumers interact with the brands they support and trust, as well as lowering barriers of entry to the global market for start-ups. Transparency and authenticity have gone mainstream. People nowadays want to stay informed on the food they consume, where it’s from, how it’s made.
Consumers today are always online, demanding sophisticated flavours from all over the world, changing how people shop, as well as supermarket ranging and procurement strategies. “Ethnic” food is now global food. People expect food and flavor options that draw inspiration from cultures and culinary traditions around the world.
Taste and nutrition
Consumers no longer expect a trade-off between taste and nutrition. Products must meet high sensory expectations, while always taking health and nutrition into account. No wonder then that “no added sugar” labels are making a comeback, as people are starting to pay close attention to their sugar intake.
Consumer packaged goods for snacking are entering a new stage as “family” suggestions, driven by demand from millennial consumers in particular, who are looking for fresh, nutritious options for themselves and the childrens’ snacks. This trend is reflected in the changing layout of grocery stores, with retailers dedicating more space to packaged fresh and/or traditional snacks.
That is what a newly-founded Greek company brings to the table. “Filema”, which is Greek for “a treat given out of love”, is a company established in early 2019 in Athens, that sets its own bar too high: “We are here to make and offer extraordinary products. We are continually concentrating on innovating […] We believe that we need to own and create the best product so as to participate in markets where we can make a huge contribution”. That bold claim seems to have resonated with consumers beyond Greek borders, as in the few months of its existence “Filema” goods, mainly breadsticks and honey bars, are already reaching european markets.


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Is Texting the Future of Customer Service?
A startup that lets users text brands directly is making waves
Unless you’re a lover of sweet, sweet jazz Muzak (Ed. note: guilty), holding for customer service help has approximately zero redeemable qualities.
Which is why a new startup that just raised $2.5 million wants to permanently eliminate hold times by allowing consumers to text message with brands directly.
Here are four reasons why Teckst’s plan to directly connect consumers with businesses like airlines, cable providers and e-commerce retailers is the future of customer service.
No waiting, instant gratification
In addition to eliminating seemingly never-ending phone-hold times, Teckst will also get rid of back-and-forth email chains and live-chats that lead nowhere. We’ve become accustomed to having everything on-demand, and there’s no going back.
Everything is recorded
The days of hunting around for a pen are over, as text chains and important information sent via Teckst will be recorded by default. While emails also have that quality, millennials (i.e., the next generation of customers requiring service) prefer texting over other forms of communication: they are 78% more likely to open texts than emails, according to Teckst.
It saves companies and consumers cash
In addition to saving time, texting also saves money. Customers don’t have to worry about using up minutes or racking up charges with a lengthy call, while businesses are freed of having to pay employees to sit on the other end.
Phones are becoming retail centers
With more and more people purchasing items directly from their phones with a few touchscreen taps, it stands to reason they’ll expect to receive customer service in the same way.
Just don’t do it while you’re driving.
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
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Farmers have criticised the government's plan to boost the Seasonal Workers Pilot to 10,000 as it 'falls woefully short' of the required 70,000 workers.
The pilot has been expanded from 2,5000 to 10,000 in a bid to boost the workforce on UK farms following concerns over a lack of migrant labour.
The scheme, first announced in 2018, gives farming businesses the opportunity to employ migrant workers for up to six months.
But UK farming unions have maintained that approximately 70,000 seasonal visas are needed after the end of free movement, not 10,000.
This number would ensure vacancies in the likes of soft fruit, vegetable and ornamental sectors are filled.
NFU Scotland said Scottish food and farming sectors will be 'put at risk' by the government's proposal.
President Andrew McCornick said: “Whilst a continued scheme for seasonal agricultural workers is welcome, it is a deep disappointment that government has ignored recommendations from the industry preferring to believe that an increased allowance of 10,000 will satisfy seasonal needs across the UK.”
Soft fruit production in the UK has grown dramatically, increasing by 185% between 1998 and 2018.
The UK requires tens of thousands of seasonal agricultural workers every year and the Office for National Statistics has stated that 99% of these workers come from countries within the EU.
NFU President Minette Batters said: “We are urging government to commit to delivering a full scheme for 2021, which will enable us to recruit the 70,000 seasonal workers needed on British fruit, veg and flower farms.
“It is ironic that the government on the one hand is encouraging more people to increase the amount of fruit and veg in diets, yet on the other hand making it harder for that fruit and veg to be produced in Britain.”
The Seasonal Workers Pilot is designed to test the effectiveness of the UK's immigration system at supporting growers during peak production periods, whilst maintaining robust immigration control.
It will allow farms to hire workers for a period of up to six months and will continue to run until the end of 2020.
The former Seasonal Agricultural Workers Scheme (SAWS) closed in 2013.
In other news, the NFU called out Home Secretary Priti Patel's new point-based immigration system for 'failing to recognise farming's needs'.
The union expressed concern over the government's failure to provide an entry route for industry jobs such as pickers, packers, meat processors and vets.


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The board of directors of St Albans Cooperative Creamery (SACC) has voted unanimously to recommend to its membership a merger with Dairy Farmers of America (DFA).
Vermont-based SACC said the merger proposal reflects a desire to position SACC members “for a secure, long-term future amid rapidly changing market dynamics”.
The proposed merger requires approval by SACC’s members, who will be asked to vote during a special meeting in late July.
DFA said the merger provides its members with established customer relationships, investments in critical hauling and manufacturing assets in the northeast of the US and increased milk marketing activities in the region. SACC has been a member cooperative of DFA since 2003.
“DFA and St Albans have always had closely aligned philosophies and values, with both cooperatives focused on providing value to members and committed to preserving the northeast tradition of family dairy farming for years to come,” said Brad Keating, senior vice president and chief operating officer of DFA’s northeast area.
Harold J Howrigan, chairman of the SACC board of directors, said: “Our board has been working nearly two years to strategically plan for the future of our members.
“With increasing shifts in customer needs, an imbalance in supply and demand and a volatile milk price cycle, it is clear change is needed for our cooperative; however, with change comes great opportunity.
“DFA offers increased value to our members with the ability to make continued investments in operations, a clear vision for the future and the depth of leadership to carry out that vision.”
Leon Berthiaume, SACC chief executive officer, added: “I have seen the dairy industry evolve and the continued need for dairy farmers to work together. DFA has been a strategic partner and I am very enthusiastic about what they will bring to our members, community and state.”
Last year, DFA secured a deal to acquire Agropur’s facility in Saint Paul, Minnesota, to expand its extended shelf-life capabilities and introduce aseptic processing into its portfolio.
Cargill will appoint Brian Sikes as its president and chief executive officer on 1 January 2023. The soon-to-be CEO, currently holding the chief operating officer title, has worked at Cargill for 31 years. Dave MacLennan, who has served as Cargill’s CEO since 2013, will assume the role of executive chair of the company’s board of directors.
Comforting colors, feel-good flavors, and unique food and beverage experiences will resonate most with consumers in the new year, according to ADM’s latest Flavor and Color Outlook. ADM anticipates that 2023 will be the year of self-expression, and the company identified four trends that are sure to stand out.
Nestlé’s Nespresso brand will pilot home-compostable coffee capsules on the Nespresso Original system in France and Switzerland from spring 2023 before further launches in several other European countries within a year. The paper-based capsules are touted as a breakthrough in packaging technology after three years of R&D.


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A new Mobile Recharge Search for India, with MobiKwik as one of its local partners, has been recently introduced by Google. MobiKwik guarantees an easier and quicker online recharge for Indian users with this association.
You can now easily look for MobiKwik mobile prepayments from Google Search, compare them and recharge them. Simply search Google Search for “prepaid mobile reload” and you’ll find options to reload your mobile number.
You will see prepaid mobile plans available, including offers from MobiKwik and other payment services once you fill out your mobile number and your mobile providers. Google Search offers your mobile phone to reload for signed users on the Google Search app, desktop, and mobile devices.
India is the 97% mobile prepaid market — a billion Indians like to pay while they go— buying minutes for conversation or data packs twice a month at least. In all cases, therefore, Indians were looking for the best-prepaid charge and now, the Mobile Recharge search experience allows users to do so in a more structured way and to forward them for the best recharge plans to Mobikwik. Working with Google adds momentum to MobiKwik, which makes it easier for Indian people to use this case of payment in their daily lives.
The first use case of MobiKwik Recharge we started at the start of 2009 was MobiKwik Wallet. “To build affordable and accessible financial services for a billion Indians,” said Upasana Taku, Co-Founder, MobiKwik. The simplification of the case for recharging complies with our mission.


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Singapore-based fintech company, YouTrip, renowned for its multi-currency digital wallet, has successfully garnered $50 million in its Series B funding round. With Lightspeed Ventures taking the lead in this financing endeavor, YouTrip’s cumulative funding now stands at an impressive $100 million. This follows the firm’s previous capital influxes of $30 million in 2021 and $25.5 million in 2019.
Since its inception in 2018, YouTrip has made significant strides in the financial sector, primarily catering to avid travelers. The company introduced a pioneering multi-currency payments app, complemented by a pre-paid Mastercard. Currently, its operations extend beyond Singapore to encompass Thailand as well.
With an affirmation of operational profitability, YouTrip’s roadmap includes channeling the new funds to facilitate its workforce expansion. The firm aims to onboard 100 new talents in the wake of its impending foray into burgeoning Southeast Asian markets. Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam are on the company’s radar for its upcoming launches.
As per the recent data, YouTrip’s annual payment processing has skyrocketed to $10 billion. A significant proportion of this transaction volume emanates from the consumer-centric vertical of their operations. Additionally, YouTrip’s recent venture into the B2B sphere with their spend management solution, YouBiz, launched in May of the preceding year, has seen rapid adoption. The product has already attracted over 3,000 small business enterprises.
Reflecting on the company’s journey and the recent funding milestone, CEO Caecilia Chu commented, “In the prevailing economic climate, it’s pivotal to demonstrate to our investors, and internally, that we’re anchored by a robust business model. Our vision is to scale sustainably and to solidify our footprint across the region.”


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Digital currency retailer expresscoin has launched a Canadian branch of its business, in the first phase of its expansion beyond the US market.
Expresscoin, which is based in Santa Monica, California, offers customers the opportunity to buy bitcoin, litecoin, dogecoin and blackcoin with debit cards, while importing wallet addresses from other services into their accounts.
Its Android app lets users manage their accounts and wallets, and track both orders and balances from their mobile devices.
The firm’s CMO and co-founder Joseph Hsieh told CoinDesk:
“This is our first step into another market other than the United States. We thought that if we can get our process and make headway in the US market, then other countries should be a lot easier. [The move into Canada] is part of our overall mission to make bitcoin (and other digital currencies) accessible to the mass consumer audience.”
There had been a lot of demand from potential customers in Canada, as well as other markets, but the minimal language barrier proved a key deciding factor, he explained.
“Moving beyond that, it’s interesting, because bitcoin may seem big to those of us in the industry, [but] it’s still very small and early.”
Fast, easy payments
Notably, the Canadian arm of the company will allow customers to purchase digital currencies using standard debit cards via DebitWay – a service which accepts all cards issued from the most popular banking networks.
DebitWay allows merchants access to INTERAC online payment services. This, in turn, lets consumers securely pay for goods and services online, in real-time and directly from their bank account.
Fast transaction times have meant expresscoin has had to up its game in terms of customer service, said Hsieh.
“Because it’s near real-time,” he explained, “we have to up our customer response times and be right there when customers need us or have any problems. […] If you were to make a wire transfer, the customer can tolerate a longer response time since the wire transfer still needs to clear, but with INTERAC, we expect and want to be there when problems happen.”
As recently as 19th June, Canada amended existing laws to allow the regulation of “virtual currencies”, which likely includes bitcoin.
Although further legal moves are necessary before the bill is enforceable, some businesses in the digital currency space are likely to face new reporting and licensing issues. However, being regulated may bring advantages, such as easier access to the traditional banking system.
CoinDesk asked Hsieh if the new legislation affected his company’s decision to move into the Canadian arena.
“The process [of setting up the Canadian side of the business] took several months,” he said. “So it wasn’t a direct [cause] of us going into Canada, just a convenient coincidence that they are making it easier for bitcoin startups and companies. We’ve been registered with FINTRAC (Canadian’s version of FinCen) for a while, as it was a requirement from our banking relationship and DebitWay.”
Noted wallet service Blockchain provides an overview of bitcoin and bitcoin-related services for new consumers on its sister site Bitcoin.com. Significantly, expresscoin features on the site as a go-to company for the purchase of bitcoin.
“Our inclusion in Bitcoin.com is based on our strong relationship with Blockchain,” said Hsieh. “We know Dan Held [the company’s director of product] very well, [and] worked with him in the past on some advertising initiatives in ZeroBlock.”
“Blockchain is a preferred wallet for our consumers. We don’t have an in-house wallet system (yet), because we don’t want to be custodians of users’ private keys.”
Expresscoin’s expansion into Canada follows its formal launch in early June. For more on the company and its aims in the bitcoin industry, read our most recent report.
Canadian flag image via Shutterstock


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SAN FRANCISCO -- Back in 1981, when Tom Dwelle was flying fighter jets, the oil business founded by his grandfather and expanded by his father into one of California's largest independents was sold to a Canadian company. Today, the retired Air Force officer is getting some of that business back.
Dwelle and his three brothers have their own oil business, Auburn-based Nella Oil Co., a fast-growing Northern California petroleum wholesaler-retailer that's expanding rapidly in the East Bay. Nella's latest acquisition, from Tesoro Petroleum Corp., is 23 of the more than 300 gas stations that were part of the Dwelle family's original company -- the Beacon Oil Co., now long vanished in a series of refining industry mergers, reports the East Bay Business Times.
"We had no clue that we could get these locations back," Dwelle said. "It's going to be a big homecoming."
"Four or five are the originals, for sure," said Dwelle, who owns Nella and Flyers LLC, a convenience store developer, in a closely held partnership with his brothers, all pilots. Some of the employees at those stores began with Beacon Oil, Dwelle said. Others joined after the Dwelles sold Beacon.
Beacon was created in 1931 in Hanford by Dwelle's grandfather, Walter Allen, and became a major independent refiner-retailer under his father, Thomas Dwelle. "We built a lot of these stores and certainly ran all of them at one point," Dwelle said.
The "homecoming" increases Nella's gas station count to 67. Most operate as Chevron, Exxon or Shell outlets in Northern California. Nella operates Flyers convenience stores at many of its stations, including Fairfield, Antioch and San Leandro.
With a $25 million purchase of Olympian JV of South San Francisco last spring, Nella acquired 37 Commercial Fueling Network sites and four nonattendant cardlock stations, including outlets in Richmond, Oakland, Hayward and San Leandro, Calif. Nella supplies nearly 50 independent dealers in Northern and Central California and is a branded wholesale-retail distributor for Exxon, Chevron and Shell fuels.
The return of the gas stations to their original owner's family comes as a footnote to the mergers and consolidations that have dramatically changed the oil business in the East Bay and across the globe. The stations that started as Beacons have changed owners five times in the past 20 years ? twice in the past two years. Beacon Oil was sold in 1981 to Ultramar, a Canadian subsidiary of the British Ultramar Oil Co. PLC.
The Dwelle brothers formed their own company in 1979, while two were serving as career military pilots and a third worked in Beacon's marketing. After the parent Ultramar was bought in a hostile takeover in 1992, its North American operations were spun off as the independent Ultramar Corp.
Ultramar merged in 1996 with Texas' Diamond Shamrock to form Ultramar Diamond Shamrock Corp. Valero Energy Corp. bought UDS for $6 billion in 2001 and, as a condition of antitrust regulators' approval, was ordered to sell UDS' Golden Eagle refinery -- bought from Tosco Corp. in 2000 ? and 70 retail outlets in Northern owned by Ultramar. Sixteen of those stations are in the East Bay. Sixty-eight are Beacon branded and two sell gas under the Tesoro banner.
Tesoro bought the Golden Eagle package earlier this year and, to reduce debt, is selling 23 stations to the Nella-Flyers partnership and 47 others to a joint venture of USA Petroleum Corp. of Agoura Hills and Green Valley Gas LLC, owned by the Moller family, for $67 million.
To reduce debt, Tesoro is selling a $110 million Minneapolis-area pipeline system and its marine services unit as well as the Northern California gas stations. "We purchased, basically, a third of them," Dwelle said. "We formed a coalition with USA Petroleum."
The deal, which doesn't require regulatory approval, is expected to close by the end of the year. USA will add the 47 stations to its roster of 130 self-service gas outlets and convenience stores in 13 states. Although the Dwelle brothers bought back some of the stations, they won't regain the Beacon brand name. Valero retains the brand name. "Under the terms of the agreement, the buyers will need to work with Valero on rebranding within a certain amount of time," Tesoro spokeswoman Tara Ford said.


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The application of QR codes has been a conundrum for quite some time. Now, a team of researchers at the University of South Dakota and South Dakota School Of Mines & Technology may have finally found a real use for them: to combat counterfeit goods.
Created from tiny nanoparticles combined with blue and green fluorescence ink, the team has concocted a QR code mixture that remains invisible until illuminated under infra-red light. The entire process is known as up-conversion, whereby the nanoparticles absorb photons at a non-visible wavelength and emit them in a visible wavelength. The code can later be scanned like a normal QR code with a quick point and snap with a smartphone.
Designed using computer-aided design (CAD), the QR code can then be printed onto any surface with an aerosol jet printer. With the potential to be used in the production of banknotes – fake goods and notes cost government and industries billions of pounds each year – the researchers say the added complexity in production means the level of security is higher than ever.
But it doesn’t stop there. As lead author of the study, Jeevan Meruga, says; “The QR code is tough to counterfeit. We can also change our parameters to make it even more difficult to counterfeit, such as controlling the intensity of the up-converting light or using inks with a higher weight percentage of nanoparticles.” He continues, “We can take the level of security from covert to forensic by simply adding a microscopic message in the QR code, in a different coloured up-converting ink, which then requires a microscope to read the QR code.”
KODAKCoin got me thinking - have many other companies pivoted to the blockchain business? Turns out, there are a lot of them from iced tea to burgers, and you could be unknowingly living a cryptocurrency life.
In this week’s episode of Learn Something, we open the history books and find 10 little-known technology firsts. I guarantee these will surprise you!
The Emotion Engineer is back tonight at 5pm GMT - playing SSX 3 on PlayStation 2 to a sweet 00s Emo soundtrack, as requested by one lovely Twitch viewer.
Blue Monday is not a thing – your mental health is important every day. PR campaigns that suggest it's OK to feel down one day in January don’t help, so here are my own ways to support my mental state.
Facebook’s plans to change how the news feed works, making businesses, brands and media posts less visible, are a mixed bag of good and bad news.
In this week’s episode of the top 100 ranking podcast Learn Something… Robot strippers, voice-enabled smart toilets and other super strange gadgets shown at CES 2018.
Watch the first every Emotion Engineer stream on Twitch - the channel dedicated to PlayStation 2 gaming - live today at 5pm GMT.
When it comes to weird technology, Consumer Electronics Show is the place for it. Here are the 10 weirdest from CES 2018.
CES 2018 is here and I got the chance to sit down with Steve Koenig - Senior Director of market research at the Consumer Technology Association, to find out the future of gadgets…
In this week’s episode of the top 100 ranking Learn Something podcast - CES 2018 and the future of consumer technology.
I am the Founder and Editor-in-chief of New Rising Media. You can follow me on Twitter @MrJasonEngland.


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Sony Xperia Z1 (Honami) teaser video revealed
Sony has already confirmed that it’s going to officially announce its next-generation flagship smartphone on September 4 – by repeatedly posting teaser images of it. Now, the Japanese company has also released a short video that allows us to see more of the upcoming handset.
The video reconfirms that the smartphone – codenamed Honami – is waterproof, comes with G lens branding, and is pretty thin. Its final name is still a mystery, but it could be Xperia Z1. In any case, Sony is letting us now that “the best [it has] is about to get even better” with the new handset.
If previous rumors are correct, the new Xperia will feature Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, a 5 inch Full HD display, quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 20MP rear camera, and a 3,300 mAh battery.
Sony will probably want to sell the Honami / Z1 in many markets around the world. Until now, only EE (in the UK) has confirmed its interest in the new device. We’ll let you know more on this as soon as further details arrive.
September 4 is also the day when Samsung will unveil a new high-end Android device, too – namely the Galaxy Note III (plus the Galaxy Gear smartwatch – but this isn’t an Xperia Z1 competitor anyway).
Via Xperia Blog


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Singapore: The Singapore International Jewellery Expo (SIJE) 2017 will be held at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore, on 6 – 9 July 2017. Featuring more than 200 exhibitors from 25 countries, the expo will showcase exquisite jewellery from manufacturers and designers from all over the world.
The abundance of natural gems and resources in Asian countries, coupled with the 5% increase in the number of high net worth individuals in Singapore to 105,100 in 2016, provides an unparalleled opportunity for tapping into Asia’s fast developing jewellery market. SIJE 2016 will continue to be the affluent hub to showcase fine collections of luxury gem pieces to the well-heeled in Singapore as well as traders and high net worth buyers from China and India; the two most competitive markets in Asia.
Buyers will have an opportunity to gain insider’s advice at the Expo regarding the market for these precious gems. International experts are on the scene as SIJE 2017 has a special focus on gemstone investment, owing to increased demand and rapid decrease in supply. There is a shortage of supply of the rarest and best quality gems in the market. Gems like rubies, sapphires, and emeralds are taking center stage again, while newer gems like spinels, tsavorites, tanzanites, and other varieties of tourmalines are fast gaining popularity.
SIJE is also celebrating women in honor of their faithful attendance every year. Consequently, the Expo has partnered with communities and organizations helping women, such as Soul Rich Woman – a collaboration of like-minded and forward-thinking women raising the importance of health and happy lifestyles.


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A veterinarian hailing from Texas claims that his Apple Watch alerted him to a life-changing heart condition in its early stages, all thanks to the AFib detection feature.
CBS Austin reports that Dr. Ray Emerson was alerted with an irregular heartbeat notification from his Apple Watch. Emerson was unaware that he had any heart irregularities until the device brought it to his attention. He then promptly visited his doctor for atrial defibrillation, confirmed it with an EKG and had surgery to repair the condition.
St. David Medical Center’s Dr. Jason Zagrodsky, a heart specialist mentions that people regularly visit him saying that their Apple Watch has notified them of potential health problems.
The Apple Watch sends a pop-up notification whenever it measures irregular heartbeats that could be atrial fibrillation. The device will then recommend the user to see his or her physician for further evaluation.
Irregular heartbeat detection is a feature that began with the Apple Watch 1 and later models.


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NVIDIA used a recent graphics conference to demonstrate Project Logan, the low-power version of the Kepler GPU that it’s developing for smartphones and tablets. The GPU maker says that, when it ships, Project Logan will enable graphics capabilities for mobile devices that are on par with the most powerful desktop- and console-based gaming systems.
Using GPUs to maximize computing performance per watt is a critical aspect in HPC today. And as the HPC community marches toward exascale computing, the use of GPU and co-processor architectures will be critical to goosing performance while keeping the electricity bill manageable.
Likewise, power efficiency is also a big deal in the consumer gaming market, which faces similar trade-offs between processing power on the one hand and power and cooling demands on the other.
With Project Logan, NVIDIA says it’s taking the energy efficiency lessons it learned in the development of its HPC-focused Kepler GPU architecture and applying them to the booming consumer mobile space.
As NVIDIA explains in this blog post, Project Logan is a Kepler GPU combined with “a new low-power inter-unit interconnect and extensive new optimizations” that are specifically designed for mobile devices.
This approach gives developers access to (almost) the same level of high-quality graphics rendering available in NVIDIA’s top-of-the-line GeForce GTX Titan GPU–including the utilization of tessellation, compute-based deferred rendering, advanced anti-aliasing, and post-processing algorithms–but at a fraction of the power consumption.
To demonstrate the graphics capability of Project Logan, the folks at NVIDIA showed how the low-power chip can render “Ira,” a fictional character that NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang first utilized to demonstrate the high-level rendering capabilities of Titan at a conference earlier this year. But instead of rendering Ira from a full desktop, NVIDIA rendered the head from a tablet during the demo at the Siggraph conference last month in Anaheim, California.
The amazing bit is that Logan is able to render Ira with almost all of the rendering techniques used in Titan, but while drawing only 2-3 watts instead of the full complement of 250 watts. NVIDIA says that Project Logan uses less than one-third the power of GPUs used in tablets such as the iPad 4, giving it lots of room to scale the graphics engine to deliver higher levels of detail.
Project Logan has only been running in the NVIDIA for several weeks, but the company is optimistic about the product’s future. “Having a Kepler core at the heart of Logan means we have both the programmability and performance to do high-end character rendering. This means game developers can develop awesome character for desktop or bring them to mobile,” NVIDIA says in the video.


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|By Marketwired .||
|January 2, 2013 05:28 PM EST||
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwire) -- 01/02/13 -- Brands in 2013 will increasingly use digital video advertising to test creative ideas before producing expensive TV commercials, tell more engaging and multichannel stories, and improve the way they measure the effectiveness of their marketing dollars, according to a new report produced by Tremor Video Inc. Moreover, brands will use video metrics to better understand their audience and eventually end the practice of gender stereotyping that has arisen due to comparatively simple TV metrics, the report states.
"Brands in 2013 will create and run multiple ads online, assess which ones people engage with most, and use that insight to decide which creative to use for their TV ads," says Tremor Video CEO Bill Day in his company's Video Predictions 2013 report. "This approach could be used for the Super Bowl, the Oscars, or any large TV media buy where historically there has been a hope and a prayer in terms of the right creative for the right audience. We're starting to see marketers use online video strategy to ensure their bets are the right ones."
With regards to gender stereotyping, Day predicts that marketers this year will use online video to understand who is interested in their products.
In the report's video, Day says:
"Because of the relative simple nature of TV metrics, marketers had to make short-cut assumptions that all men want to look at car ads and women are the ones to target for food and cleaning products. And as we know in today's environment, that's just not true... the opportunity with online video is not to chase gender-stereotypes... but to extend your buying and your understanding. Who better to target your ad to than the people who are leaning forward... and sometimes those people look nothing like the audience you have traditionally assumed is the audience for your product. Done well, online video allows you to not be constrained -- to use a broader approach to reach all those customers, some you've reached traditionally and some you have not, in an effective way."
Tremor Video Inc. is using financial data to predict that more marketers will increase their investments in digital video advertising. The company's revenue from interactive online video ads, which give people the chance to opt in to see more content, nearly doubled from Q1 to Q4 in 2012. At the same time, mobile interactive video units grew: In Q4, 55% of the company's mobile ad revenue came from interactive units, up from 12% in Q1.
The report, consisting of a blog post and video, also predicts that brands and agencies will:
1. View TV and digital video ad channels as complementary. When shooting TV ads, brands and agencies will develop additional content designed specifically for interactive ad units. The power of touch (enabled by myriad touch-screen devices) will join sight, sound and motion as the best ways to engage an audience.
2. Jump on the transmedia bandwagon, following in the footsteps of Hollywood. With the ability to tell stories across myriad platforms, media planners will embrace agnostic planning across all screens. TV and video will rule branding to the detriment of print, outdoor, radio and online display advertising.
3. Diminish the reliance on the decades-old TV metric -- the GRP. In addition to Gross Rating Points, which assess how many times an ad has been shown to a given audience, brands will use online video metrics to arrive at an ERP for their ad campaign. Effective Rating Points, a relatively new industry term, reveal which segments of an ad campaign's broad target audience are engaging with the ads, and if they are watching them to completion.
About Tremor Video Inc.
New York-based Tremor Video Inc. is ranked 13th on The Wall Street Journal's list of the top 50 U.S. start-ups funded by venture capital. The company has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles and San Francisco, with international offices in London, Munich, Singapore and Toronto. It has two operating divisions that provide complementary media and advertising services:
Tremor Video, founded in 2005, provides video advertising services on four screens: connected TV, computers/laptops, mobile phones and tablets. On behalf of brand marketers and agencies, the company uses proprietary technology to serve video ads to the right people at the right time in brand-safe environments. It can do this through its direct relationships with hundreds of premium-quality publishers of which more than 170 have chosen Tremor Video as the only outside party to sell their digital ad inventory. Tremor Video pioneered the cost-per-engagement (CPE) pricing model, helping agencies and brands to get more for their brand-marketing dollar by making video ad units interactive and inviting. For more information, visit www.tremorvideo.com and find us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
VideoHub was founded in 2011 by Tremor Video Inc. to fill an unmet need among brand marketers, media agencies and publishers for a simple way to buy, measure, verify and analyze the effectiveness of video advertising campaigns. VideoHub is the first video ad platform to have integrated Nielsen's Online Campaign Ratings, which provide demographic ratings for online ad campaigns. Going one step further, VideoHub uses proprietary technology to analyze multiple variables that explain ad reach in the context of how, when, where and why people engage with a brand's video ad campaign. Its robust, flexible platform simplifies operations, provides actionable insights, and eliminates the need for multiple third-party products. Media agencies and publishers around the world are integrating the platform into their own operations to gain true transparency into their video advertising. VideoHub was named the Festival of Media's "MAP Hot Company of the Year 2012." For more information, visit www.videohub.com and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Embedded Video Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2192034
The WebRTC Summit 2014 New York, to be held June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York, NY, announces that its Call for Papers is open. Topics include all aspects of improving IT delivery by eliminating waste through automated business models leveraging cloud technologies. WebRTC Summit is co-located with 16th International Cloud Expo, @ThingsExpo, Big Data Expo, and DevOps Summit.
Mar. 28, 2015 11:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,471
SYS-CON Media announced today that @WebRTCSummit Blog, the largest WebRTC resource in the world, has been launched. @WebRTCSummit Blog offers top articles, news stories, and blog posts from the world's well-known experts and guarantees better exposure for its authors than any other publication. @WebRTCSummit Blog can be bookmarked ▸ Here @WebRTCSummit conference site can be bookmarked ▸ Here
Mar. 28, 2015 08:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,736
SYS-CON Events announced today that Cisco, the worldwide leader in IT that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, has been named “Gold Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Cisco makes amazing things happen by connecting the unconnected. Cisco has shaped the future of the Internet by becoming the worldwide leader in transforming how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Cisco and our partners are building the platform for the Internet of Everything by connecting the...
Mar. 28, 2015 07:00 PM EDT Reads: 5,164
Temasys has announced senior management additions to its team. Joining are David Holloway as Vice President of Commercial and Nadine Yap as Vice President of Product. Over the past 12 months Temasys has doubled in size as it adds new customers and expands the development of its Skylink platform. Skylink leads the charge to move WebRTC, traditionally seen as a desktop, browser based technology, to become a ubiquitous web communications technology on web and mobile, as well as Internet of Things compatible devices.
Mar. 28, 2015 06:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,785
SYS-CON Events announced today that robomq.io will exhibit at SYS-CON's @ThingsExpo, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. robomq.io is an interoperable and composable platform that connects any device to any application. It helps systems integrators and the solution providers build new and innovative products and service for industries requiring monitoring or intelligence from devices and sensors.
Mar. 28, 2015 06:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,420
Wearable technology was dominant at this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) , and MWC was no exception to this trend. New versions of favorites, such as the Samsung Gear (three new products were released: the Gear 2, the Gear 2 Neo and the Gear Fit), shared the limelight with new wearables like Pebble Time Steel (the new premium version of the company’s previously released smartwatch) and the LG Watch Urbane. The most dramatic difference at MWC was an emphasis on presenting wearables as fashion accessories and moving away from the original clunky technology associated with t...
Mar. 28, 2015 06:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,302
Docker is an excellent platform for organizations interested in running microservices. It offers portability and consistency between development and production environments, quick provisioning times, and a simple way to isolate services. In his session at DevOps Summit at 16th Cloud Expo, Shannon Williams, co-founder of Rancher Labs, will walk through these and other benefits of using Docker to run microservices, and provide an overview of RancherOS, a minimalist distribution of Linux designed expressly to run Docker. He will also discuss Rancher, an orchestration and service discovery platf...
Mar. 28, 2015 04:15 PM EDT Reads: 2,404
SYS-CON Events announced today that Akana, formerly SOA Software, has been named “Bronze Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo® New York, which will take place June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Akana’s comprehensive suite of API Management, API Security, Integrated SOA Governance, and Cloud Integration solutions helps businesses accelerate digital transformation by securely extending their reach across multiple channels – mobile, cloud and Internet of Things. Akana enables enterprises to share data as APIs, connect and integrate applications, drive part...
Mar. 28, 2015 04:15 PM EDT Reads: 1,482
SYS-CON Events announced today that Vitria Technology, Inc. will exhibit at SYS-CON’s @ThingsExpo, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Vitria will showcase the company’s new IoT Analytics Platform through live demonstrations at booth #330. Vitria’s IoT Analytics Platform, fully integrated and powered by an operational intelligence engine, enables customers to rapidly build and operationalize advanced analytics to deliver timely business outcomes for use cases across the industrial, enterprise, and consumer segments.
Mar. 28, 2015 03:30 PM EDT Reads: 2,142
SYS-CON Events announced today that Liaison Technologies, a leading provider of data management and integration cloud services and solutions, has been named "Silver Sponsor" of SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York, NY. Liaison Technologies is a recognized market leader in providing cloud-enabled data integration and data management solutions to break down complex information barriers, enabling enterprises to make smarter decisions, faster.
Mar. 28, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 3,408
SYS-CON Events announced today that Solgenia will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Solgenia is the global market leader in Cloud Collaboration and Cloud Infrastructure software solutions. Designed to “Bridge the Gap” between Personal and Professional Social, Mobile and Cloud user experiences, our solutions help large and medium-sized organizations dr...
Mar. 28, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,743
Cloud is not a commodity. And no matter what you call it, computing doesn’t come out of the sky. It comes from physical hardware inside brick and mortar facilities connected by hundreds of miles of networking cable. And no two clouds are built the same way. SoftLayer gives you the highest performing cloud infrastructure available. One platform that takes data centers around the world that are full of the widest range of cloud computing options, and then integrates and automates everything. Join SoftLayer on June 9 at 16th Cloud Expo to learn about IBM Cloud's SoftLayer platform, explore se...
Mar. 28, 2015 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,596
@ThingsExpo has been named the Top 5 Most Influential M2M Brand by Onalytica in the ‘Machine to Machine: Top 100 Influencers and Brands.' Onalytica analyzed the online debate on M2M by looking at over 85,000 tweets to provide the most influential individuals and brands that drive the discussion. According to Onalytica the "analysis showed a very engaged community with a lot of interactive tweets. The M2M discussion seems to be more fragmented and driven by some of the major brands present in the M2M space. This really allows some room for influential individuals to create more high value inter...
Mar. 28, 2015 12:45 PM EDT Reads: 4,621
The world's leading Cloud event, Cloud Expo has launched Microservices Journal on the SYS-CON.com portal, featuring over 19,000 original articles, news stories, features, and blog entries. DevOps Journal is focused on this critical enterprise IT topic in the world of cloud computing. Microservices Journal offers top articles, news stories, and blog posts from the world's well-known experts and guarantees better exposure for its authors than any other publication. Follow new article posts on Twitter at @MicroservicesE
Mar. 28, 2015 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,391
SYS-CON Events announced today the IoT Bootcamp – Jumpstart Your IoT Strategy, being held June 9–10, 2015, in conjunction with 16th Cloud Expo and Internet of @ThingsExpo at the Javits Center in New York City. This is your chance to jumpstart your IoT strategy. Combined with real-world scenarios and use cases, the IoT Bootcamp is not just based on presentations but includes hands-on demos and walkthroughs. We will introduce you to a variety of Do-It-Yourself IoT platforms including Arduino, Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone, Spark and Intel Edison. You will also get an overview of cloud technologies s...
Mar. 28, 2015 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,025
SYS-CON Events announced today that SafeLogic has been named “Bag Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo® New York, which will take place June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. SafeLogic provides security products for applications in mobile and server/appliance environments. SafeLogic’s flagship product CryptoComply is a FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic engine designed to secure data on servers, workstations, appliances, mobile devices, and in the Cloud.
Mar. 28, 2015 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,372
Containers and microservices have become topics of intense interest throughout the cloud developer and enterprise IT communities. Accordingly, attendees at the upcoming 16th Cloud Expo at the Javits Center in New York June 9-11 will find fresh new content in a new track called PaaS | Containers & Microservices Containers are not being considered for the first time by the cloud community, but a current era of re-consideration has pushed them to the top of the cloud agenda. With the launch of Docker's initial release in March of 2013, interest was revved up several notches. Then late last...
Mar. 28, 2015 09:15 AM EDT Reads: 2,181
SOA Software has changed its name to Akana. With roots in Web Services and SOA Governance, Akana has established itself as a leader in API Management and is expanding into cloud integration as an alternative to the traditional heavyweight enterprise service bus (ESB). The company recently announced that it achieved more than 90% year-over-year growth. As Akana, the company now addresses the evolution and diversification of SOA, unifying security, management, and DevOps across SOA, APIs, microservices, and more.
Mar. 28, 2015 08:30 AM EDT Reads: 2,015
After making a doctor’s appointment via your mobile device, you receive a calendar invite. The day of your appointment, you get a reminder with the doctor’s location and contact information. As you enter the doctor’s exam room, the medical team is equipped with the latest tablet containing your medical history – he or she makes real time updates to your medical file. At the end of your visit, you receive an electronic prescription to your preferred pharmacy and can schedule your next appointment.
Mar. 28, 2015 08:00 AM EDT Reads: 616
GENBAND has announced that SageNet is leveraging the Nuvia platform to deliver Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) to its large base of retail and enterprise customers. Nuvia’s cloud-based solution provides SageNet’s customers with a full suite of business communications and collaboration tools. Two large national SageNet retail customers have recently signed up to deploy the Nuvia platform and the company will continue to sell the service to new and existing customers. Nuvia’s capabilities include HD voice, video, multimedia messaging, mobility, conferencing, Web collaboration, deskt...
Mar. 28, 2015 01:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,412


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Coinbase raises $75 million in funding round
Coinbase said it raised $75 million in the single largest venture capital fundraising by a bitcoin-related start-up.
Coinbase, based in San Francisco, offers a number of financial services for individuals and businesses, such as processing transactions for merchants that accept bitcoin.
Bitcoin, a digital currency created six years ago that allows for peer-to-peer transactions outside the traditional banking system, has been beset by bad news, most prominently a brutal sell off in the currency. After falling 67% in 2014, it careened down another 44% in January before stabilising.
The Series C funding round was led by the well-known Silicon Valley venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which has previously invested in Coinbase. Other VC investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, and Ribbit Capital, all of which have also previously invested in the firm.
The round included investments from several banks and individuals in financial services: USAA Bank; BBVA Ventures, the San Francisco-based investment arm of multinational BBVA Group; and the NYSE. The banks all made investments of between $1 million and $10 million, Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong said. NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s biggest mobile phone operator, is also an investor.
“We aligned with people we want to form relationships with,” Armstrong said. “The later [financing] rounds are less about the money and more about the relationships.” As for why an institution like the NYSE would want to invest in his company, Armstrong said “they want a portal into what’s happening” in the bitcoin world.
With this latest round, Coinbase has raised a total of $112 million. Armstrong declined to give a valuation for the company.
Coinbase plans to use the money to fuel its expansion. The firm has a goal of launching its services in 30 countries by the end of 2015; it operates in 19 currently.
“It is incredibly exciting,” said Tim Draper, one of the founders of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. “Finally, bitcoin is being recognized as a great vehicle for banking. It is clear that not only can bitcoin be used for remittances and stored value, but also for banking efficiency and credit card transactions.”
Glocer, who operates a family investment firm called Angelic Ventures, said he was attracted to Coinbase because he saw it as a better way to bet than investing directly in the currency. “They’re supplying the tools you need to take part in” the developing world of bitcoin. That is a world he thinks is poised to take a big slice of market share from traditional financial services companies. With bitcoin, Glocer said, “we’re seeing the reinvention of financial services, in a very interesting way.”
Despite the implications of the plunging price, the bitcoin industry has been growing rapidly. There are now more than 7.9 million online accounts, or wallets as they’re called, more than double a year ago, according to the website Coindesk. More than 82,000 merchants accept bitcoin—including most recently Microsoft —double the number a year ago, and about $335 million in capital was invested in bitcoin businesses in 2014. Since bitcoin’s start in 2009, $433 million has been invested. The single biggest funding round in 2014 went to Coinbase rival Blockchain, another services company, which raised $30.5 million in a Series A round.
The Coinbase news may signal a new front for bitcoin. Previously, the traditional banking sector kept its distance. In the past year, regulators from the Federal Reserve on down have at least made some comments about bitcoin, particularly Benjamin Lawsky , the superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services. The DFS is working on a so-called BitLicense for firms looking to offer digital-currency services in the state; the plan is seen as a template for legislation in other jurisdictions, and it may give outsiders more confidence that bitcoin’s lawless digital realm can be brought into the mainstream.
In Glocer’s mind, it is all part of the process.
“In the beginning, you get these wild speculative types, then slowly the numbers get bigger, then the suits move in,” he said, “and you wake up one day and it’s a billion-dollar business.”
Coinbase didn’t release certain information, like whether the company is currently profitable. Like many start-ups, it doesn’t release financial statements. But the company has been growing. The firm says it has 2.1 million consumer wallets, and more than 38,000 merchants that use its services, including 10 that have revenue of more than $1 billion.
Armstrong said he doesn’t worry about the price of bitcoin. “What I try to tell [my team], ‘Try to have your blinders on. Do one thing every day to move the ball, and we’ll have the last laugh on this thing.’ ”
Write to Paul Vigna at email@example.com and Michael J. Casey at firstname.lastname@example.org
This story was first published on The Wall Street Journal.


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Photo via enmoto via Flickr CC
It takes getting something in return - and more than the warm fuzzy feeling you're saving the planet - to get people to recycle mobile phones. A new study by ABI Research shows some really sad statistics, including that of the people who have recycled cell phones, only 5% will send in their mobile phone without any incentive. And for those who haven't recycled cell phones, 98% are willing if they get cash, store credit, or a tax deduction for their effort. All of this is adding up to mobile phone manufacturers having a tough time meeting goals for recycling rates. According to a press release by IDG Connect, out of the 1,000 people surveyed in the study, only 38% recycled a phone, and 70% of them received a tax deduction or other incentive.
The study is small, with 1,000 people hardly representative of an entire country. But the results align with both older studies that draw the same conclusion, as well as dismal recycling rates on record. And the success of reward-based recycling programs such as RecycleBank underscores the point.
Consumers want something in return for their phone that they don't want anymore, and giving them something such as store credit or cash, or making a charitable donation is part of that, as is making it as easy as humanly possible for them to send in or drop off their phones.
But that also makes it tough on manufacturers and recycling companies who dole out a lot of money on recycling programs. Nokia is one such company, who wants to recycle one phone for every phone they manufacture. However, according to PC Magazine, the company estimates it is recycling 5 million to 9 million phones per year while selling 108.5 million phones in the third quarter of last year alone.
"We have noticed that [offering a reward] increases the chance of people bringing back their mobile," said Saara Tahvanainen , communications manager for sustainability at Nokia. "Even if the incentive is that we give money to charities interest increases," said Tahvanainen.
Sprint hasn't been terribly successful to reach their goal either, recycling only about 30% of their mobile phones while their target is 90%.
Recycled mobile phones don't just get broken down and the useful materials harvested. Recycled phones also play a huge role in mobile activism worldwide, with excellent programs using recycled mobile phones from places like the US as a key ingredient.
Donating a phone not only keeps toxins out of landfills and increases energy efficiency by avoiding the use of recycling plants, but it also means a better life for people and wildlife in many ways. It seems it'll take more than that, however, to ramp up recycling rates.


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Rumours are circulating that Tesla is about to set up shop in Malaysia, with the basis of it all coming from SSM leaked documents.
Leaks of SSM (Companies Commission of Malaysia) documents have been circulating on WhatsApp recently, showing that Tesla Sdn Bhd has been registered with Malaysia's company commission organisation.
The rumour went into overdrive when it was also discovered that Tesla Inc has also listed Tesla Sdn Bhd as one of its subsidiaries in its FY2022 annual report filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A screenshot of this listing, along with the leaked SSM documents, has sparked many conversations speculating that Tesla will soon be officially selling their cars in Malaysia, which has excited many electric vehicles and Tesla fans.
To give the speculation more substance, Tesla Sdn Bhd also lists its business nature on the SSM document as a company that will operate as a wholesale and retailer of new motor vehicles, other service activities incidental to land transportation n.e. and maintenance and repair of motor vehicles.
This is not the first time we have seen a Tesla name on SSM, as previously, there was Tesla Services Sdn. Bhd, which was established in 2017. The company that shut down its office in Penang in 2020 was apparently in Malaysia, operating as Tesla's accounting and finance activities in EMEA and Asia Pacific.
The same company apparently asked SSM for its name to be changed to Tesla Sdn Bhd late last year, which leads to where we are now about Tesla's apparent intention of setting up shop in Malaysia.
While this speculation has undoubtedly excited many, it has also brought with it some fears, especially to those who are selling Teslas through the grey market as well as those who have bought Teslas from recon sellers.
If Tesla Inc wants to be irate about things, they could actually make a lot of moves to cut out unofficial importers, such as only being willing to support vehicles bought directly from Tesla Inc.
We will have to see, but whatever it is, we hope Tesla supports all existing customers, whether they bought the car from them or through grey importers.
Wants to live the simple life, especially when it comes to cars and bikes. That's what tech is for he reckons, to make motoring simpler


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Celebrate World FourSquare Day in Palm Coast on 4/16
World FourSquare Day is being celebrated in thousands of cities on April 16th. Palm Coast and Flagler County 4Square Day event is being held at Office Divvy between 4:30 and 6:00 PM.
4 squared = 16 ..... that is 4/16, get it? Pretty Cute!
Nearly 15,000 FourSquare fans in 1,700 cities are celebrating Four Square Day on April 16th. On twitter you can follow the Four Square Day events under the hashtag #4SqDay
A gathering is planned for Palm Coast and Flagler County for the local FourSquare users on April 16th, between 4:30PM and 6:00PM at Office Divvy.
FourSquare is a social media platform that runs on a smartphone and tablet app that helps you keep up with where your friends are at any giving point. It's a real-life game that can win you mayorships at venues, save money and unlock deals.
On April 16th, join local Palm Coast and Flagler County FourSquare users will meet eachother, chat, and have fun.
Office Divvy is located at West Pointe Plaza, 389 Palm Coast Pkwy SW, Ste 4, Palm Coast. Beer and wine, soft drinks, snacks and sweets will be provided. You'll get to receive free foursquare buttons, and a lucky winner will win a World 4SqDay t-shirt! Event is free to attend.
RSVP at the official Meetup.org page here: 4SqDay Palm Coast, or just come by at 4:30 PM on Monday, April 16th.
Call 386-445-4153 if you need directions.
If you are a Palm Coast and Flagler County business owner you can also pickup a window decal at Office Divvy to display at your business, retail, restaurant or office location to drive more engagement through foursquare.
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Office Divvy is the leading provider of Ready-to-Use Offices, Virtual Office Solutions, and Coworking facilities in Palm Coast, Florida (Flagler County). Other services include online and print marketing, social media services, phone answering and more.


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Americas economy today
Get the latest latin american and caribbean news from bbc news in latin america and the caribbean: breaking news, features and analysis plus audio and video content from mexico, central and south america, and the caribbean. Today, us secretary of commerce wilbur ross announced that under secretary for economic affairs karen dunn kelley will also perform the nonexclusive duties and functions of. Us economy at a glance: by industry statistics released by the bureau of economic analysis news us economy at a glance. Get the latest latin american and caribbean news from bbc news in latin america and the caribbean: latin america & caribbean economy tech science stories. The april jobs report, released on friday, brought more incrementally good news for the economy: the unemployment rate fell to 39 percent, the lowest it’s been since late 2000.
In the early 1980s, the us experienced stagflation but by 1983, the economy started to rebound why did the american economy experience such a shift. Economic snapshot for latin america may 16, 2018 recovery hits soft patch in first quarter financial volatility returns to the region available data suggest that latin america’s economy lost some steam at the start of 2018, as the region’s recovery continues to be bumpy. Find the latest us & global economic news and videos on nbcnewscom read headlines about jobs, corporations, taxes and more.
Find the economic latest news and headlines, as well as blogs and video from cnbccom. America's shortage of truck drivers could affect prices and cause delivery delays they say truckers drive the american economy watch cbs news anytime. Get the latest economic news and analysis on the us and global economy from the wall street journal, including news on the future of america’s economy looks. Get a constantly updating feed of breaking news, fun stories, pics, memes, and videos just for you market and economy news business earnings and releases.
Baby boomers are what's wrong with america's economy who offered the standard line — you can hear it from the mouth of almost any american politician today. The american economy during world war ii and above all converting america’s industrial base to produce armaments and other war materiel rather than civilian goods. The economic history of the united states is about characteristics of the british tried to crush the american economy with a many of today's us.
Us national debt clock : real time us national debt clock. The economist offers authoritative insight and opinion on international news a record of ancient rome’s economy turns up in 5 iran and america:.
- America’s economy has been made adequate again the economy is finally back to where it was before the great recession hit today, that has.
- Economy news articles and videos from foxnewscom's us section.
- Will tax cuts spur the american economy maybe with a time machine matt bai national political columnist, yahoo news corporations today.
Latest news and headlines affecting the united states economy. Edward baptist argues in his new book that slavery was integral to establishing the america as a world economic power. Lots of the economic numbers we report each week are divorced from the reality of everyday americans can you feel the difference when gross domestic product decelerates is your sleep troubled if durable-goods orders fall more than expected do you get giddy when housing starts surge but there’s. Economy market news - get the latest economy market news and headlines from forbescom.Get file


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[IEEE-bhpjobs] IBM begins shipping RFID system for e-pedigree of pharmaceuticals
esther-l at mailsnare.net
Thu Aug 16 21:22:20 EDT 2007
See http://www.newsobserver.com/1595/story/664603.html for details.
To help the pharmaceutical industry combat drug counterfeiting, IBM is
launching an electronic pedigree system Thursday that tracks medications
through the supply chain until they reach consumers.
A new law requiring that the pedigree be attached to aany mediciation
distributed in the state goes into effect in 2009 in California.
There is a requirement for drug pedigress in an FDA regulation. However,
implementation of that requirement has been stayed by a court
injunction. See http://www.rfidupdate.com/articles/index.php?id=1260
SupplyScape, Sun, and Acsis are also solution vendors.
-- Esther L., esther-L at mailsnare.net or esther-L at alumni.virginia.edu
Speaking only for myself
More information about the IEEE-bhpjobs


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Ontario 'disappointed' in U.S. decision to impose tariffs on aluminum products
Canadian and American flags fly near the Ambassador Bridge at the Canada-USA border crossing in Windsor, Ont. on Saturday, March 21, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Rob Gurdebeke
TORONTO -- The Progressive Conservative government says they are disappointed that the United States has imposed tariffs on imports of aluminum products and claims that it will “have a damaging impact on Ontario businesses, workers and consumers.”
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that his government plans on imposing a 10-per-cent tariff on Canadian aluminum imports as of Aug. 16. He claimed that Canada has been taking advantage of the United States and that American aluminum business has been “decimated.”
Later in the evening, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli issued a joint statement saying that the province does about $360 billion in two-way trade with the U.S. every year.
"We are disappointed that the U.S. has re-imposed tariffs on imports of aluminum products from Canada, particularly at a time when our trade partnership will be essential to our economic recovery,” the statement says.
“Last year, Ontario purchased $2.3 billion CAD in aluminum products from the U.S. alone, supporting hundreds of American jobs and businesses. As one of the U.S.' top customers, these tariffs hurt the mutual prosperity and security that has benefitted our two nations for centuries.”
The Ontario government also threw their support behind the federal government, who has since said they intent to impose “dollar-for-dollar countermeasures” in retaliation to the tariffs. The premier and economic development minister went on to say that Trump’s announcement undermined “the benefits of the highly integrated U.S.-Ontario trading relationship” outlined in the new Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.
“We urge (the federal government) to press the U.S. administration for immediate and permanent removal of its tariffs on Canadian aluminum, and to ensure that no other trade impediments such as quotas are introduced,” the statement reads.
Strengthening our unique trading partnership will only ensure that everyday consumers, workers and businesses can emerge from this period of economic uncertainty in a position of strength."
This isn’t the first time Ford has called out the United States government for imposing tariffs on Canadian goods.
In 2019, while in Washington, D.C., Ford said that the import tariffs hurt workers on both sides of the border.
"When we ship a part, some parts go back and forth across the border eight times," he said at the time. "And every time they go across they're getting dinged."
"To be very frank, it's hurting the U.S. more than it's even hurting Canada.”
The U.S. imposed a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian and Mexican steel and a 10 per cent levy on aluminum in 2018 as the three countries negotiated their new trade agreement.
A year later, an announcement was made saying the tariffs would be lifted.
With files from the Canadian Press


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Abstract: the United States recommended recipes and food express company Yummly announced a new round of financing in the harvest of $15 million, led by Bauer Venture investment, the company reached $100 million valuation.
recipes and food delivery company Yummly announced a new round of financing in the harvest $15 million, led by Bauer Venture investment, the company reached $100 million valuation.
Yummly was originally a gourmet recipes search site, users can search for the required food according to the taste, raw materials, price, nutrition, etc.. According to the user’s past search records, it also recommends that you may be interested in food. Yummly also has a strong social function, where you can find friends who are similar to you.
later it with the food and grocery delivery company Instacart cooperation, so that users can not only see the menu can also enjoy their own right to buy the appropriate ingredients. It can be said that this is a meal can be customized website.
imagine you learn in a delicacy website how to cook, for a delicious dish is it want to personally practice; click on the site you have ordered distribution company to make this dish the raw materials needed to quickly send to you, then you can make the horse theory combined with reality, this is much temptation to chowhound!
Yummly from the Internet to collect millions of copies of the recipe, you can not only according to the type of food ingredients, processing procedure and to filter the search results, but also from nutrition, taste, price, production time, sources, and sources of food allergy and other aspects of diet.
Yummly can calculate the nutritional value of each recipe, including calories, fat, protein and carbohydrate content information.
Yummly said it has 10 million registered users, and now the monthly number of new users registered more than 700 thousand. It is hoped that the new funds will enable them to expand their product lines and cooperate with other companies.
Yummly this round of financing in the venture investment company on the occasion of the food industry. According to research firm CB Insights data, the total amount of financing this year, food startups have more than $750 million, is likely to exceed the total amount of $1 billion last year.
, the California based company, is on this round of financing express. So far, the total amount of financing Yummly at least $24 million. Bauer Venture chairman of the board of directors will enter the Yummly Partners. Other companies involved include First Round Capital, Harrison Metal Capital and Intel Capital, etc..


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In an embarrassing situation for Tennis star Sania Mirza, she was caught 'lying' on Twitter. And smart Twitterati found it effortlessly and they didn't mince words in trolling Sania. Sania recently posted a Tweet on her micro-blogging page promoting One Plus 3T mobile. She claimed that she has been using One Plus 3T mobile for the past few months despite not really being a 'techie'.
However, what's goof up in this was that her tweet was posted from an Iphone. This was discovered by Twitteratis who trolled Sania to the hilt. Realising the mistake quickly, Sania had deleted her tweet. But the damage has already been done.
Few Tweets From Users
"Attention to details is what needs to be done!" a twitter user wrote to Sania.
Another user tweeted, "Well, @MirzaSania needs to up her #PaidTweet game!"
"You DELETED your DEVIOUS tweet. DECEITFUL," wrote a Twitter user.
"Look at the marketing stunts. This is shameful," opined another micro-blogger.
PS: Well, Sania might be a tennis ace on court, but when it comes to Twitter, she really has to up her skills. What say folks?


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Kate Moss turns 40 today, and is still treading the boards for designers from A(lexander McQueen) to Z. Well, to Louis Vuitton, at least. Alexander Fury celebrates the life and career of the fashion’s longest-lasting catwalker.
Like this page on Facebook for updates
Sunday 14 August 2011
Friday 12 August 2011
On the island of Tanna in Vanuatu, the Prince Philip Movement is a religious sect followed by the Yaohnanen tribe, who believe that the Queen's ill-tempered, short-fused consort is a divine being. I've never got this, but over the past decade, observing the honour(s) given in this country to the fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, I can definitely see how such misguided reverence comes about.
Thursday 11 August 2011
Kate Moss' wedding was inspired by gypsies.
Monday 08 August 2011
Just as the designer "show piece" – anything from flashing shoulder pads to glow-in-the-dark jellyfish dresses, say – is rarely seen away from the catwalk, so various hair and make-up looks are unlikely ever to make it into real life. These vary from the extreme – think anything courtesy of Pat MacGrath for John Galliano – to the more deceptively usual, the kind of thing that innocent onlookers might think they'd like to emulate but do so only at their peril.
Monday 11 July 2011
Troubled, yes, but there's no doubting John Galliano's genius. He was much missed at last week's couture shows, says Susannah Frankel
Tuesday 05 July 2011
For the first time in almost 15 years, the autumn/winter haute couture season opened in Paris yesterday with a Christian Dior show that did not feature John Galliano.
Thursday 23 June 2011
Wednesday 22 June 2011
Shamed fashion designer John Galliano cannot remember an anti-Semitic rant he is facing criminal charges over because he was out of control on drugs and pills at the time, a court heard today.
Saturday 11 June 2011
Somebody needs to tell the playwrights about an important new twist in modern-day poetics: there is no such thing as a tragic hero any more.
Wednesday 01 June 2011
As the protagonist of the very first celebrity porno, dashing West Wing star and celebrity memoirist Rob Lowe knows a thing or two about inappropriate sexual activity. But even he was shocked by the erotic hobbies of one British couple.
Tuesday 24 May 2011
Deborah Warner's production of Sheridan's 18th-century comic masterpiece is a blast. The stage is strewn with huge, leaning pieces of scenery, scrawled captions, ladders, shopping bags. A fashion show is in progress, models bearing down on the audience in torn clothes, with rough placards of character traits --"Mr Hypocrite"; "A Teasing Temper"; "Perverse and Obstinate".
Saturday 21 May 2011
Of all the festivals, it's at Cannes where the A-listers really show their style. Susannah Frankel on the red carpet triumphs and disasters
Saturday 21 May 2011
For reasons of decorum – and cash flow – and with the summer's key buys under my tan leather belt, last week seemed a good point to sit back and take stock, to reflect sagely as opposed to shop rapaciously... It may seem previous but the autumn pre-collections drop next month and, with designer fashion in such a state of flux, shopping might not unreasonably be seen as lifetime investment over and above mere instant gratification just now. Great. As if I needed another excuse.
Saturday 21 May 2011
Friday 13 May 2011
General Election 2015: Chuka Umunna on the benefits of immigration, humility – and his leader Ed Miliband
The sickening truth about food banks that the Tories don't want you to know
Migrant boat disaster: Ukip candidate mocks victims in sickening Twitter post
Nigel Farage wants the BBC to stop making programmes like Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing, and Top Gear
Global warming: Scientists say temperatures could rise by 6C by 2100 and call for action ahead of UN meeting in Paris
General Election 2015: Britain would become a 'communist dictatorship' under Ed Miliband and Nicola Sturgeon, claims wife of Michael Gove
- 1 I've been called an abusive and dangerous parent, when all I did was listen to my transgender child
- 2 Why this father didn’t hide his daughter’s heroin overdose in her obituary
- 3 Company breaks open Apple Watch to discover what it says is 'planned obsolescence'
- 4 Teaching profession headed for crisis as numbers continue to drop and working lives become 'unbearable'
- 5 The most powerful passports in the world


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MAPCO to Deploy TIO Bill Pay Kiosks in Tennessee
First phase of 37 units has been rolled out across Memphis, Nashville
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. -- MAPCO Express Inc. will deploy TIO Networks Corp.'s self-serve, bill-pay kiosks. The first phase of 37 kiosks has been rolled out across Memphis and Nashville, Tenn.
Under the agreement, MAPCO customers have the added convenience to pay bills using cash at participating stores with the option for same-day payment processing. Customers can make payments in English or Spanish with real-time processing and access to customer service.
TIO Networks, Vancouver, B.C., has partnered with a number of local and national billers including NES, MLGW, AT&T, Boost, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, Dish Networks and DirecTV, enabling MAPCO customers to pay multiple bills at one location.
TIO is a "cloud-based," bill-payment processor serving telecom, wireless, cable and utility bill issuers in North America.
"We're very excited to partner with TIO to offer our customers another piece of the full-service experience they've come to expect from MAPCO," said Tony Miller, the chain's vice president of sales and merchandising. "Giving our customers an easy, safe and convenient opportunity to pay a variety of bills was a no brainer."
"We're thrilled to enter into this partnership with one of the largest company-operated convenience store locations in the U.S.," said Hamed Shahbazi, chairman and CEO of TIO Networks. "TIO prides itself in providing the utmost in convenience and customer service to alleviate the stress many consumers associate with bill payment. Having bill pay kiosks at MAPCO locations across Tennessee makes it that much easier for customers to pay their bills on time."
MAPCO Express is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delek U.S. Holdings Inc. Based in Brentwood, Tenn., the chain operates 420 convenience stores in eight states.


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Konami sure is trying. Gotta give them that. But if YouTube likes are any indication, loads of people aren’t feeling Metal Gear Survive.
As Kotaku UK previously explained in great detail, Metal Gear Survive is a co-op stealth game in which you sneak up and kill zombies.
During the Tokyo Game Show, Konami showed off 15 minutes of gameplay (below). The clip has racked up nearly a half a million views, over a thousand likes, and over 14,000 dislikes.
Some people dig this! But lots of people aren’t exactly happy as evident by the YouTube comments and dislikes.
Not everyone, though! There are folks who are approaching the game with an open mind. Here’s a smattering of comments:
When asked about whether or not the game was his idea, Kojima recently said that he had nothing to do with it and that the game didn’t adhere to how he saw Metal Gear.
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.


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Will J&J come up with a big enough treasure trove to win an Actelion buyout?
J&J and Actelion have made it official. The pharma giant is involved in talks to acquire the Swiss biotech, which had a market cap of $16.4 billion, before word of the buyout talks first surfaced in Bloomberg.
“There can be no assurance any transaction will result from these discussions,” notes J&J $JNJ , which could easily require up to a 50% premium to complete a deal like this. Actelion’s market cap, meanwhile, surged to about $20 billion as investors bet that a deal would come through.
CEO Jean-Paul Clozel, who split away from Roche to establish the company, a specialist in pulmonary arterial hypertension, has spent years pooh-poohing talks about a potential buyout. But Actelion (SIX: ATLN) has also been a constantly cited takeover target for the likes of J&J and Sanofi, which would both be attracted by rising sales for new products Opsumit and Uptravi, which have come online as Tracleer revenue has begun to fade.
Clozel isn’t likely to give up his company without battling for a big payout. He’s squared off against a shareholders revolt in the past and stuck to his guns on the company’s R&D strategy, which has paid off handsomely.
“Similar deals have been at a 40+% premium and we view CHF240/share as a possible floor takeout value,” notes Jefferies Peter Welford today. “We still view 2H17-18E as perhaps a more likely timeline and see hurdles to an agreed deal, but the highly profitable and long lifecycle PAH franchise is likely attractive.”
“We at Actelion–the board of directors, the management, the employees–are all building a company and not thinking about being sold the next day,” Clozel told Bloomberg back in the spring. “If we want to continue to create shareholder value, the best for us is to remain independent.”
J&J management, which has its own sound reasons for paying top dollar for the company, may persuade him otherwise. But they’re also likely to take their time on getting a deal done, especially if Clozel throws up the barricades.


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2018 is soon over - and this was another year of MRAM progress - new MRAM chips are entering production, new MRAM-enhanced devices are released and we are seeing the first adoption of embedded MRAM solutions.
Here are the top 10 stories posted on MRAM-Info in 2018, ranked by popularity (i.e. how many people read the story):
- Crocus Nano Electronics successfully tests its 90 nm pMTJ STT-MRAM tech (Jan 10)
- Everspin starts to produce commercial 40nm 256Mb STT-MRAM chips (Jan 17)
- eVaderis demonstrates an innovative MRAM-based, memory-centric MCU (Jan 3)
- Tohoku University develops ultra-small ( (Feb 22)
- Everspin announces preliminary Q4 2017 financial results, is set to raise $25 million in a public offering (Feb 10)
- GlobalFoundries and eVaderis are developing an ultra-low power eMRAM based MCU reference design (Mar 2)
- ARM will launch an eMRAM compiler for Samsung's 28nm FDSOI process by the end of 2018 (Jun 24)
- Spin Transfer Technologies announces a breakthrough new STT-MRAM technology (Apr 30)
- Imec researchers deposited SOT-MRAM devices on 300 mm wafers (Jun 19)
- Mentor to support eVaderis eMRAM technology on its FastSPICE platform (Mar 28)
MRAM is clearly a technology that is slowly but surely gaining ground. it will be interesting to see what will 2019 bring us!
Posted: Dec 27,2018 by Ron Mertens


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Web users are getting more ruthless and selfish when they go online, reveals research.
The annual report into web habits by usability guru Jakob Nielsen shows people are becoming much less patient when they go online. Instead of dawdling on websites many users want simply to reach a site quickly, complete a task and leave. Most ignore efforts to make them linger and are suspicious of promotions designed to hold their attention.
Instead, many are "hot potato" driven and just want to get a specific task completed. Success rates measuring whether people achieve what they set out to do online are now about 75%, said Dr Nielsen. In 1999 this figure stood at 60%.
There were two reasons for this, he said. "The designs have become better but also users have become accustomed to that interactive environment," Dr Nielsen told BBC News. "Now, when people go online they know what they want and how to do it - People want sites to get to the point, they have very little patience, I do not think sites appreciate that yet," he added. "They still feel that their site is interesting and special and people will be happy about what they are throwing at them."
Web users were also getting very frustrated with all the extras, such as widgets and applications, being added to sites to make them more friendly.
Link: Full Article at BBC News
28 Comments - Add comment


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BUCKS COUNTY >> In lieu of its annual Restaurant Week scheduled to take place April 26 through May 2, Visit Bucks County is encouraging locals to order takeout and delivery to support the local hospitality industry as everyone focuses on staying safe, healthy and at home.
"Visit Bucks remains in full support of the restaurant community during this time and looks forward to the day when we can welcome visitors and locals to dine out. In the meantime, please join us in promoting takeout and delivery," said Visit Bucks County in a news release.
Locals can find an abundance of special offers to choose from online here. Rather than promoting select, registered restaurants, Visit Bucks County is including all county-wide restaurants in its promotion.
Order in, order local and make sure to share your food photos using the hashtag #EatInBucksCo.