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Monday, December 24, 2012
How much will we spend this year? And what's the best-selling Christmas song of all time? Find the answers below.
We know that there were three Wise Men, 12 days of Christmas and that Santa delivers all his presents around the world in one night. But did you know... $23,439.38 How much it would cost to buy your "true love" all the gifts in the 12 Day of Christmas . 12.9 billion hours, $447 billion How many hours Americans were expected to spend shopping, wrapping and returning gifts last year. That was about 42 hours and $688.87 per person. Get your postman/postwoman a gift According to Hallmark, Christmas is the largest card-sending occasion . Nearly 1.5 billion cards are sent to friends and family every Christmas Season. (That's actually down 400 million cards since 2004.) $983 million The value of U.S. imports of Christmas tree ornaments from …
Sunday, December 23, 2012
A weak storm front expected to bring up to two inches of snow starting Monday night.
Cross your fingers. As of Sunday, weather projections indicate a storm front entering the region that could give us—gasp—a white Christmas. According to the National Weather Service, there is a 20 percent chance of snow on Tuesday, with a temperature ultimately reaching 38 degrees. Stephen Pellettiere, with Ion Weather based at the Morristown Municipal Airport, said current projections appear to have the small storm begin producing at about 9 p.m. on Christmas Eve, tapering off at the latest 6 a.m. Tuesday morning. "A little storm is passing to our south," he said. "There's a tenth of an inch of moisture, which translates to about an inch of snow." Some areas, including southern Morris County, could see as much as two inches of the white …
Saturday, December 22, 2012
A look at the hot toys for tots this holiday season.
Every holiday season, the mailbox fills with the latest toy catalogs. Children peruse the pages as they scribble their lists, daydreaming about what they will find under the tree come Christmas morning. Parents pull out their pocketbooks, spending hard-earned cash as they anticipate the joy on those little faces. What will be the runaway favorites this year is always a guess, but here are some of the latest trends, mixed with tried-and-true perennial favorites. jChews Smartphone teether by Jellystone No tears for parents or babies. Babies love nothing more than to gum Mom and Dad’s cell phone, but now they’ll be too intrigued with their own smartphone to chew on. The Jellystone smartphone teether comes in seven funky colors and is BPA …
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Jewish Festival of Lights begins at sundown Saturday; historic house tour in Nutley and elsewhere
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- Paul Milo
Thursday, December 6, 2012
The past week has featured a slew of holiday events celebrating the arrival of Santa Claus, a plethora of holiday tree lightings and a chill in the air making the season feel more like the holiday season. Here are a few events around Essex scheduled for this weekend: Christmas Bazaar Saturday, Dec. 8, Noon Little Zion Methodist Church 154 Stephens St., Belleville FREE Gifts and baked goods, reasonably priced. Sponsored by church school staff. PICTURES WITH SANTA (For your child or pet) Sunday, Dec. 9, 1 p.m. 74 Franklin Ave., Nutley $10 Have a picture taken of your child or pet with Santa. Verona Senior Club Christmas Party Today, Dec. 7, Noon The party will be held at Ravello, 138 Eagle Rock Ave., East Hanover. Entertainment will be …
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Newark Museum Exhibit Highlights a Holiday Past.
The Christmas season, circa 1891, wasn’t all that different from the Yuletide celebrated today. Newspapers were stuffed with ads for holiday bargains, kids breathlessly awaited the arrival of Santa. A tree brimming with ornaments likely stood in the parlor. Not everything was precisely the same, however. The traditional holiday meal back then might also have included such delicacies as stewed oysters and (yum!) fried celery. Along with stockings on Christmas Eve, youngsters might also have put out wooden shoes to be filled with candy by a certain jolly old elf. The Newark Museum is currently hosting an exhibit that transports visitors back to that Christmas past called “Christmas in the Ballantine House: Feasting with Family and Friends…


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Scheme Support supports teachers and schools by embedding the right teaching content for them. Through collating every product on the market, Scheme Support is a simple, no-nonsense guide to sourcing the best scheme of work from over 24 subject categories.
Articles about Scheme Support:
- September 7, 2021 Ideas Powered Fund has helped 8000 European SMEs – and yours can be next! (Sponsored)
- September 6, 2021 London-based OLIO nabs €36.2 million to take a bite out of food waste
- September 3, 2021 ‘Purpose banking’ for startups: How to incorporate your values into your finances?
- August 24, 2021 UK-based phos secures €2 million for its contactless payment acceptance solution for mobile
- August 13, 2021 Can entrepreneurs lead the future of mental wellbeing services?
- August 12, 2021 Ireland-based Zipp Mobility nabs €1.3 million to support e-scooter expansion plans
- August 6, 2021 Weekly VC Overview: All 100+ European startup funding rounds we tracked this week (August 2-6)
- July 12, 2021 “We were the very first operator to include a swappable battery”: Interview with e-scooter startup Wind’s co-founder and CEO, Eric Wang
- June 17, 2021 Hybrid Work Series, Part 3: How can companies adjust to the new trend? (Interviews with CEOs)
- June 9, 2021 How can you scale your smart city startup in Europe? Here are 5 top tips!
- May 26, 2021 Did you know that EU funds are available for your business now? (Sponsored)
- May 25, 2021 Paris-based Epsor raises €20 million to become market leader in employee savings sector
- May 21, 2021 London-based Koalaa secures €145K from the British Design Fund to take its soft prosthetics to children & adults worldwide
- May 10, 2021 “Startups are key to the twin digital and green transition”: Interview with Helen Kopman, Deputy Head of Unit for Digital Innovation & Blockchain, European Commission
- May 4, 2021 Malta-based holistic health and fitness app Few raises €250K
- April 23, 2021 Endeavour Vision closes new fund at over €311 million to invest in healthtech across Europe & the US
- April 21, 2021 Find a co-founder for your agrifood startup: Last chance to apply for EIT Food’s TeamUp programme! (Sponsored)
- March 31, 2021 French mobility companies Smoove and Zoov merge to help cities shift from cars to bikes

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Alcohol Sales Okayed For UGA Football Games in 2024
Cheers! Alcohol sales at UGA football games are coming! The general public will be allowed to purchase beer and seltzers at Sanford Stadium at University of Georgia football games when the new season begins in the fall.
Alcohol has already been available in premium areas of the stadium, but the decision to allow alcohol sales to the general public was just announced today. Alcohol sales will also start next season at soccer and volleyball games at UGA. They started selling beer at men’s and women’s basketball games at Stegeman Coliseum as well as at baseball games at Foley Field during the 2021-2022 season.
UGA and Auburn University were the only two schools in the SEC not allowing beer sales to the general public at home football games. Auburn hasn’t announced whether it will allow alcohol sales now as well.
Today’s announcement from UGA comes five years after the SEC lifted the ban on alcohol sales at conference events.
Athletic Director Josh Brooks announced the change to the Georgia Athletic Association board of directors at its meeting at the Georgia Center today.
“It wasn’t a race to just do something without proper preparation. By having a couple of years to sell it at Stegeman and do it at baseball last year, we were able to work through some of the logistical challenges of it and be better prepared,” said Brooks.
Georgia’s Official Sponsors Include:
- Dos Equis
- Twisted Tea
- Creature Comforts
- Bud Light
- Coors Light
- Miller Lite
Domestic beer has been sold at UGA events for $8, while craft and premium beer is $9.
Brooks said officials try to make concession prices family-friendly, but that won’t necessarily be the case with alcohol sales.
“This isn’t something that I feel that price or making it cheap is important. This is a luxury item, not a necessity item. It’s not something that we value price. It will be fair and in line with most of our peers,” said Brooks.
UGA’s first home football game will be Saturday, September 7 versus the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles.


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A new survey conducted by Morning Consult for U.S. Travel Association reveals the inbound pre-departure testing requirement imposed by the federal government is having a devastating impact on travelers’ likelihood of visiting the United States this summer and remains a major barrier to economic recovery.
A survey of vaccinated international travelers in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Japan, and India found that pre-departure testing requirements are a deterrent to travel and are making it significantly less likely that people will choose to visit the U.S.
Nearly half of respondents (47%) who are unlikely to travel abroad in the next 12 months cited pre-departure testing requirements as a reason.
More than half of international travelers (54%) said the added uncertainty of potentially having to cancel a trip due to U.S. pre-departure testing requirements would have a big impact on their likelihood to visit the U.S.
A large majority of adults surveyed (71%) agree they prioritize traveling to destinations without cumbersome entry requirements, including 29% who strongly agree.
AN OPPORTUNITY TO SAVE THE SUMMER TRAVEL SEASON
Despite the bleak projections for inbound travel, there is still time for the Biden administration to save the summer travel season and accelerate recovery for travel businesses. Forty-six percent of international travelers would be more likely to visit the United States if pre-departure testing requirements for vaccinated adults were lifted. If the removal of the pre-departure testing requirement would bring an increase of just 20% more visitors this summer, it would mean an additional half a million visitors each month and $2 billion in valuable U.S. travel exports. Throughout the summer, that spending could directly support approximately 40,000 U.S. jobs.
This is particularly urgent as international arrivals to the U.S. are still far below pre-pandemic levels and are not projected to recover to 2019 levels until 2024.
“Before the pandemic, travel was the second-largest U.S. industry export and generated a positive trade balance of $53 billion,” said U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow. “Inbound travel is critical to reducing the overall trade deficit, but the pre-departure testing requirement remains an unnecessary hurdle to regaining visitors and competing for global tourism dollars.
“While other countries with a similar case, vaccination and hospital rates have removed their testing requirements and have begun rebuilding their travel economies, the U.S. is at a competitive disadvantage and risks a prolonged period of recovery.”
With abundant health and safety tools in place, practically all other sectors of the U.S. economy—including domestic air travel—are operating without a federal requirement for testing; international inbound air travel remains a key exception. The Morning Consult survey follows a May 5 letter which more than 260 travel and business organizations urgently called on White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha to repeal the pre-departure testing requirement for vaccinated international air travelers.
“Many foreign governments with similar infection, vaccination, and hospitalization rates—including the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada— have eliminated pre-departure testing requirements for vaccinated travelers. Further, since the federal government does not require negative tests for entry at our land-border ports of entry with Canada and Mexico, it no longer makes sense to keep a pre-departure COVID-19 testing requirement in place for vaccinated inbound international air travelers to the U.S.” the letter read.
U.S. Travel Association urged the Biden administration to repeal the pre-departure testing requirement for vaccinated international air travelers quickly and accelerate recovery for this critical segment of the U.S. economy.


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Google on Monday, 13 July, announced a $10 billion fund to “help accelerate India’s digital economy.”
Speaking at the ‘Google for India’ event, held entirely online this year, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said:
" “Today, I’m excited to announce the Google for India Digitisation Fund. Through this effort, we will invest Rs 75,000 crore, or approximately $10 billion, into India over the next 5-7 years.”"
Following Amazon’s pledge of $1 billion in January and Facebook investing $5.7 billion in Jio Platforms in April, both with the intent of tapping into India’s Medium, Small & Micro Enterprises (MSME) through digital payments, Google’s announcement is being viewed as a declaration of its intent to dig its heels deeper into India’s ‘kiraana’ economy or local businesses.
Technology industry observers have also told The Quint that the move is important as it signals Google’s intent to be firmly embedded in the fabric of India’s digital space at a time when nationalism in tech is growing and also creeping into legislation.
Today at #GoogleForIndia we announced a new $10B digitization fund to help accelerate India’s digital economy. We’re proud to support PM @narendramodi’s vision for Digital India - many thanks to Minister @rsprasad & Minister @DrRPNishank for joining us. https://t.co/H0EUFYSD1q— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) July 13, 2020
Where Google Intends to Put its Billions
Pichai also elaborated that the investments will focus on four areas important to India’s digitisation. These core areas reveal Google’s priorities in India with regards to its intended spheres of expansion.
- Enabling affordable access and information for every Indian in their own language, be it Hindi, Tamil, Punjabi or any other.
- Building new products and services that are deeply relevant to India’s unique needs.
- Empowering businesses as they continue or embark on their digital transformation.
- Fourth, leveraging technology and AI for social good, in areas like health, education, and agriculture.
The company plans to do this through a mix of equity investments, partnerships, and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments. “This is a reflection of our confidence in the future of India and its digital economy.” Pichai added.
Technology policy consultant Prasanto K Roy, senior director at FTI Consulting, said while Google’s announcement is more of an intent at present and one that will play out over five to seven years, it is evident that they, too, are keen on expanding in the MSME space like all other players.
Roy outlines a number of specific factors that could be driving Google’s announcement:
- In order to expand in India, the key is to offer services in different languages. This is reflected in the announcement.
- Stay safe and insulated from the growing surge of nationalism in technology. Especially, at a time when it is creeping into legislation and can impact Google.
- It is important for Google to be embedded in India’s digital fabric by growing services in agriculture, education and MSMEs.
- The last few months have caused several disruptions in the technology market and one that has created new opportunities such as in telehealth, online classes.
Eyeing the MSME Pie
Google’s digital payments platform GPay enjoys a strong customer base of nearly 70 million users in India. Within two years of its launch, GPay reached 67 million monthly active users (MAUs) in India in September 2019. This comprises transactions worth over $110 billion on an annualised basis, with lakhs of offline and online merchants.
“The question is, what does Google need to do in India? Unlike others, Google is the market leader and its primary focus is to now to stay invested in India and grow the market from 500 million to a billion,” Roy told The Quint.
Earlier in 2020, a day after Facebook acquired a 9.99 percent stake in Reliance Jio’s platforms on 25 April with the aim of capturing medium and small business onto its digital platform, retail giant Amazon announced it has pledged Rs 10 crore to “immediately expand” its pilot project to onboard local stores.
During Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ visit to India in January, Amazon had announced plans to invest $1 billion “to digitally enable micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and traders across India, including manufacturers, resellers, local offline shops, and brands,” according to the company’s official statement.
(1/2) Happy to announce “Local Shops on Amazon”, a program enabling local retailers & shopkeepers of all sizes to leverage Amazon’s technology & grow their footprint digitally. After a successful pilot with 5000+ stores, we are pledging Rs10 Crores to scale the program.— Gopal Pillai (@GopalPillai) April 23, 2020
“Earlier this year, we renewed our commitment to India by announcing an additional investment of $1 billion to digitally enable 10 million micro, small, and medium businesses in the country by 2025, including artisans, manufacturers, retailers, and local shops,” Gopal Pillai, VP, Seller Services, Amazon India, wrote in a company blog.
Signaling Amazon’s ambition to capitalise on the vast untapped marketplaces in India, Bezos had said, “We’re committed to being a long-term partner of India. And actions speak louder than words.”
If Amazon plans to onboard one crore small businesses by 2025, the Facebook-Jio deal is a plan to bring six crore small businesses under the umbrella of a singular platform to create a bigger e-market than that of Amazon.
“Our goal is to enable new opportunities for businesses of all sizes, but especially for the more than 60 million small businesses across India,” Facebook’s Chief Revenue Officer, David Fischer & Ajit Mohan, VP and Managing Director, India, stated as part of its official announcement.
“Amazon, Flipkart, Facebook and even The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), with plans of an e-commerce platform, are all into the ‘ kiraana’ space. Facebook wants to do with WhatsApp what China has done with WeChat, that is, turn it into a go to app for everything by integrating payments,” Roy said.
“India currently has 500 million internet users and the sense is that acquiring the next few hundred million will be centred around transactions,” Roy added.
Boosting Google’s Indian-ness
A significant thrust of Pichai’s address at ‘Google for India’ event was the focus on India specific innovations and products.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted on Monday of his meeting with Pichai earlier in the day. “We spoke on a wide range of subjects, particularly leveraging the power of technology to transform the lives of India’s farmers, youngsters and entrepreneurs,” PM Modi’s tweet said.
By merging personal experiences of growing up in India with hard business moves, Pichai’s nearly 10-minute-long address also sought to emphasise Google’s firm roots in the country.
“Growing up, technology provided a window to a world outside my own. It also brought us closer together as a family. Every evening, we were drawn to the television by Doordarshan’s special rendition of 'Sare Jahan Se Accha’,” said Pichai, adding, “I tried to explain this to my colleagues the other day, but I eventually gave up and just showed it to them on YouTube.”
During our interaction, @sundarpichai and I spoke about the new work culture that is emerging in the times of COVID-19. We discussed the challenges the global pandemic has brought to areas such as sports. We also talked about the importance of data security and cyber safety.— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 13, 2020
“When we build for India, we build for the world,” Pichai stated emphatically.
Speaking on GPay, Pichai, in a similar vein, added, “India is setting the global standard on how to digitise payments, and it’s now helping us build a global product.”
Union Electronics & IT Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, who spoke right after Pichai, also appeared to showcase Pichai’s position at Google as a symbol of India’s clout in global technology space.
“In Sundar Pichai, who is heading Google, is a very powerful symbol of the creative potential of India’s digital human resource. It is a matter of deep satisfaction for us that so many Indians today are occupying key position in various powerful digital organizations globally,” Prasad said.
. Read more on Tech and Auto by The Quint.Second Congress Legislative Party on Tuesday, Sachin Pilot InvitedWith $10Bn, Google Projects a More ‘Desi’ Face With Eye on MSMEs . Read more on Tech and Auto by The Quint.


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After 93 years of appearing on our windscreens, the car tax disc is to be axed in favour of a more modern age electronic car tax register.
Originally launched in 1921, the car tax disc will be abolished and will no longer be required to be displayed on our vehicles’ windscreen from October 10 2014.
If your car tax still has months remaining after October 1 2014, you can keep the disc displaying until it expires or remove the car tax disc from the car, depending on which you prefer.
From November 1 2014, you can also pay your car tax via Direct Debit every month, six months or annually. The Direct Debits will continue until you cancel the payments with your specific bank or tell the DVLA to stop. The changes to the car tax may result in a possible cut in the extra costs of a six month instalment of between five and 10 per cent.
If you have paid for annual or six months’ worth of car tax but no longer require it, you will be provided with a refund once you inform the DVLA. Also, if you have stated your car is off-road, the Direct Debit will automatically be stopped; however, the Direct Debit system is currently unavailable for first registration vehicles, fleet vehicles and HGVs.
People looking to renew their car tax can also renew via the phone as well as at the Post Office. You can check the tax status of your vehicle online using the DVLA’s vehicle service.
Stoneacre Motor Group’s Managing Director Shaun Foweather said: “Stoneacre Motor Group is looking forward to the more modern vehicle tax. These changes to car tax will make car handovers more streamlined, making it easier for dealerships to complete their business.”
The changes to the car tax will make it more convenient for people to pay online quickly and easily. It will also allow families that currently struggle to pay the car tax every six months or annually. Paying via Direct Debit can also ensure it is paid safely and securely, even if the customer forgets.
Unfortunately there has been speculation that the car tax changes could impact used car sales. When buying a new car privately, it seems as though the previous owner will need to reclaim the unused tax and the new owner will be responsible for the new car tax, as opposed to carrying it on.There have also been comments that some car drivers may drive an untaxed car without the car tax disc to remind them of when the vehicle tax is due. The fine for an untaxed vehicle is £80, with a rise to £1000 if the case goes to court.
Many people have suggested the only reason the DVLA has decided to make the change is to reduce their costs. It has also been recommended that the DVLA look at the refund arrangements as customers currently need full unexpired months for refunds.
Some older motorists have stated that they will miss the car tax disc after using the DVLA car tax disc system for so long. The car tax disc has become part of their British life, like red post boxes and driving on the left.


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Seen and heard
A round-up of IP-related quotes, observations and opinions from the recent past …
Thank you Tesla for opening up your patents.
Slogan that formed the backdrop to the launch of the Youxia X, an electric car made in Shanghai by Chinese company Youxia, July 26
This is about the dynamics of the entire system; and a system with no rules has no future, and a system where the rules are totally ambiguous has no future… If you have an entire policy which is a kind of assurance for the participants in the system, and this entire policy is based on one notion, and this notion is totally undefined, then you have a problem.
Konstantinos Karachalios, managing director of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association, explains the introduction of its controversial new patent policy, IAM blog, August 4
We know that there has been some success at Uniloc in spinning out and developing products. They have spun out two different companies. We at Marathon have looked at opportunities in what we call the commercialisation space where there is a set of assets and maybe a team of executives that can actually build and commercialise the IP into a product. And so as we move forward, we will look at some of those opportunities and some of those might make sense to bring in-house as a wholly owned subsidiary within the combined company, only to be spun out later.
Doug Croxall, CEO of Marathon Patent Group, talks to analysts following the firm’s merger with fellow non-practising entity (NPE) Uniloc, August 17
In 2014, ZTE hired several research and development teams from BlackBerry, including interactivity, security and design teams. These hires strengthened ZTE’s technological innovation and patent accumulation, especially in the areas of man-machine communication and security technology.
Extract from a press release issued by ZTE announcing applications for 50 “core patents” covering the company’s Axon phone, August 20
We welcome the KFTC’s decision closing its review of our transaction with Nokia and we appreciate the professionalism shown by KFTC during this process. It has never been Microsoft’s intention to change its existing patent licensing policies as a result of this transaction and we are pleased to have resolved the issue by agreeing to keep our licensing rates at present levels.
A Microsoft spokesperson comments on the Korean Fair Trade Commission’s approval of the company’s acquisition of the Nokia mobile devices and services unit, IAM blog, August 28
Nokia is pleased with the decision of the Korean FTC in its investigation into the sale of our devices and services business to Microsoft. We cooperated fully with the investigation and are glad that the KFTC has supported our view that there was no reason for it to impose any conditions on us as the seller in this transaction. Nokia’s licensing practices have been reviewed by authorities around the world; none has ever asked for changes to be made and we have agreed licences with more than 80 companies on wireless standard-essential patents, for which our commitments made to license on FRAND terms remain in force. This was the last remaining regulatory review of the transaction and so with this decision it is now fully cleared around the world
Nokia comments on the Korean Fair Trade Commission’s decision to approve the sale of its mobile devices and services unit to Microsoft, IAM blog, August 28
The stock price has been so compressed and I truly believe that this is a company that made a material impact on the mobile internet … Unwired Planet was founded with the vision of bringing the ‘internet-in-your-pocket’ to the world and was the first to put an internet browser into a phone, signing a deal with AT&T in 1996. Many of these patents disclose and protect the foundational aspects of today’s most widely used mobile technologies, such as mobile internet, location-based services and e-commerce applications. Openwave did not get the credit for their contribution to the industry and deserves to get something for their work.
Boris Teksler, the recently appointed CEO of Unwired Planet, explains his decision to join the NPE, IAM blog, September 1
Concerns about patent quality and the need for claims that provide clear notice of the metes and bounds of the property right are reasonable, but they apply equally to inventions in all areas of technology. And Congress has created new and important tools to improve patent quality.
Ultimately, the arguments given by critics of “software patents” (an inartful term, since patents are not issued for software code, but rather for the invention implemented by software) are simply unpersuasive. Software-related patents have led to tremendous growth in the software industry, they are fostering open innovation and interoperability, and they are incentivizing inventive solutions to unique problems. In short: patents on software-implemented inventions are accomplishing the constitutional imperative to promote progress in the useful arts.
Excerpt from executive summary of At the Core of America’s Competitive Edge: Why Software-Implemented Inventions Are – and Must Remain – Patent Eligible, a paper written by former US Patent and Trademark Office Director David Kappos and former Senate Judiciary Committee Chief IP Counsel Aaron Cooper, September 4
At a high level, we have found that the technology and automotive industries have fared well in the early days of the post-Alice Corp. era. The companies in these sectors that we reviewed all experienced an increase in issuances for software and business methods patents in the six months following the Alice Corp. decision, versus the first half of 2014. On the other hand, the financial services sector overall saw a slight decrease in the number of issuances of the same.
Excerpt from “Software Patents Are Resilient in the Wake of Alice Corp. vs. CLS Bank”, research published on the Patent Vue blog by Envision IP, September 9
My decision is a personal one. I tend to like to do a job for about a decade and then crave a change. This is really my third decade-long job and as I enter my mid-50s, I want to make sure I have time to try a few other things that interest me while I am healthy and young enough to do them. I will continue to keep an oar on the water, though, in the IP area and will be open to limited opportunities where I think I can help. I will also continue as a board member at WiLAN, but will leave the 24/7 grind of running the company to someone else. As a general rule, I have always believed that it is healthy for occasional renewal at the top in politics and the same probably applies to running a public company like WiLAN.
WiLAN CEO Jim Skippen on his decision to stand down from his position, IAM blog, September 11


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Lot 57 Jade 'Longevity' Ruyi Sceptre. Photo: Sotheby's
Do you have an interest in making your own pottery or crafting other fired art pieces? Join the parent and child ceramics workshop that is being offered at the Altmar-Parish-Williamstown Central School District beginning May 28. Continue reading → The post Ceramics Workshop Offered at APW Junior/Senior High School appeared first on Oswego County Today .
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Ceramics Workshop Offered at APW Junior/Senior High School
Functional and sculpted ceramics by Grady Stultz are part of the annual senior art exhibit at Bethel College May 3 to 19 in the Fine Arts Center Gallery.
See more here:
Ceramics by resident part of Bethel College art exhibit
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union will impose punitive duties on Chinese imports of ceramic tableware and kitchenware to counter what it says is dumping at artificially low prices to crowd out local …
Seoul (The Korea Herald/ANN) – Ceramic pieces made by artist Yi Yoon-shin are among the most sought-after dinnerware among Koreans.
See more here:
Artist behind ceramics on 'The Kimchi Chronicles' holds show
(MENAFN) RAK Ceramics, a worldwide ceramic manufacturer, announced that its net profits rose 9 percent to USD14.77 million in the first three months of 2013, reported Gulf News. The company …
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UAE- USD14.77m net profits for RAK Ceramics during Q1
The Longaberger Co. plans to begin making some of its pottery products in Buffalo under a partnership with Niagara Ceramics that is expected to create about 22 new jobs locally.
Longaberger to make pottery in Buffalo
Click on the photo to view the full gallery. OLD GREENWICH, CONN
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Westchester Glass Club Collectors Glass & Ceramics Show And Sale
JINJIANG, Fujian Province, China, May 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — China Ceramics Co., Ltd.
Almost nine out of 10 people in Russia are worried about bacteria on ceramic surfaces in public places such as hospitals, gyms and shops, according to new research carried out for Microban.


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Posted: Jan 11, 2013 7:35 AM by Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. trade deficit expanded in November to its widest point in seven months, driven by a surge in imports that outpaced modest growth in exports.
The Commerce Department says the deficit widened 15.8 percent to $48.7 billion in November from October. U.S. exports increased 1 percent to $182.6 billion, while imports grew 3.8 percent to $231.3 billion.
U.S. exports to Europe, a region struggling with a prolonged debt crisis, fell 1.3 percent. The jump in imports was led by gains in shipments of cell phones, including Apple's new iPhone.
A wider trade deficit acts as a drag on U.S. growth. It typically means the U.S. is earning less on overseas sales while spending more on foreign products.
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Jockey Christophe Soumillon sprinted to the finish line in a photo-finish to reclaim the Dubai World Cup crown for the second straight year.
The 11th Edition of the Award will recognise and honour the best projects, programmes and initiatives that contribute towards the empowerment of societies through the values of Tolerance and Knowledge Management in the world of sports
TOKYO: Japan’s exports declined in March as shipments to China dropped more than 9 per cent, pulling the nation’s trade surplus sharply lower. The data released Wednesday by the Finance Ministry was more or less in line with forecasts. The report followed two days of trade talks
Businesses across the eurozone stumbled into the second quarter as demand remained weak despite more modest price rises, surveys showed on Thursday. Growth stuttered in Germany and forward-looking indicators in its Purchasing Managers’ Index suggest a contraction among manufacturers
Amazon.com said it would shut its China online store by July 18, as the US e-commerce giant focuses on the lucrative businesses of selling overseas goods and cloud services in the world’s most populous nation. The move underscores how entrenched, home-grown e-commerce rivals have made it difficult for Amazon’s marketplace
Ford Motor’s shift in production at a Michigan plant to trucks from less profitable cars will lead to a more than $1 billion improvement in operating earnings, an official at the No. 2 US automaker said. The increase in earnings, before interest and taxes,


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DieHard, the Sears brand famous for its car batteries, is set to be sold to Advance Auto Parts in a $200 million deal that’s expected to close today.
Calling DieHard an “iconic American brand” with the “highest brand awareness and regard of any automotive battery brand in North America,” Advance Auto Parts president and CEO Tom Greco said in a statement that “DieHard will help differentiate Advance, drive increased DIY customer traffic, and build a unique value proposition for our professional customers and independent car quest partners.”
Transformco, the Sears and Kmart parent company that succeeded Sears Holdings following its October 2018 bankruptcy, will retain the rights to sell some DieHard products in Sears stores under the deal. Advance is also giving Transformco an “exclusive royalty-free, perpetual license” to develop, market and sell non-automotive DieHard products.
“DieHard revolutionized the automotive battery category when it launched in 1967, and has continued to be a leader in the category,” said Peter Boutros, president of Transformco’s Kenmore, Craftsman and DieHard business unit, in a statement. The acquisition by Advance “will complement our plans to introduce new DieHard products in non-automotive categories such as sporting goods, lawn and garden, authentic workwear and other exciting new categories.”
Last month, Reuters reported that Sears won a $250 million lifeline from lenders including billionaire owner Eddie Lampert’s hedge fund. It also announced at the time that it would be closing 96 more stores, lowering the number of Sears locations to a mere 182. ESL Investments acquired Sears in January for $5.3 billion in a quest to save the retailer from dissolution. This all-cash $200 million deal will provide another influx of cash for the beleaguered company.
At its peak, the 126-year-old department store operated over 4,000 locations under the Sears and Kmart brands. Roughly 600 total are left, including offshoots like Kmart discount stores and Sears Hometown.
In October, it was reported that Sears was exploring potential assets to sell off, including DieHard. Another Sears brand, Craftsman, was sold to Stanley Black & Decker in March 2017 for $900 million. The tool brand is now sold at home improvement retailers such as Lowe’s.
Sears was last profitable in 2010, according to CNBC. Since 2011, the retailer, which was once the top department store in the country, has lost more than $11 billion.


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IFX Expo International 2017 in Cyprus has started early in the morning, opened the doors of the Grand Resort Hotel in Limassol to exhibitors. Conference attendees have decided to go right to it and started negotiations, meetings, socializing and drinking cocktails in the business atmosphere. The opening ceremony has been held under the exhibition organizers speeches, then a few of the guests took the floor.
\r\n You can find the most popular and helpful Forex related articles here. All the articles are composed by professional currency traders, analysts and strategists. Reading articles on some specific topic is a good way to raise the level of your trading education for free. You can also share your comments and opinions with other users.
One of the most important events of the financial industry this year - iFX EXPO 2017 Cyprus - will start on May 23 and finish on May 25. This exhibition is a unique opportunity for serious representatives of the financial and Forex industry to negotiate directly and to establish or consolidate the necessary business connections.
Representatives of the investment companies, which belongs to the Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman LetterOne (L1), announced today that the company is going to invest about $3 billion in retailers. According to the plan, the L1 will start with Europe, further it is expected the UK and then the emerging markets. Russia is not included in this list.
European air giant Airbus Group today reported that it will merge with its airline division which is engaged in construction of aircrafts. The company intends to get rid of bureaucracy, simplify the brand and abandon the inconvenient corporate scheme. These methods will allow to prepare for competition more qualitatively.
Yesterday's events in the stock market for Deutsche Bank became a real shock. The cost of the bank's stocks fell by 7.5%. Due to the market excitements about financial status, it has been achieved a minimum of 1983. Deutsche Bank has already managed to deny the information that it requested help of of Berlin, in order to reduce the amount of financial claims from the US regulator, but Germany refused.
Swedish company Ericsson, which produces telecommunications equipment, is going to close its latest facilities in Sweden and dismiss more than 3 thousand of employees to cut costs. Two months ago, Ericsson announced that it will continue to reduce costs on the background of difficult market conditions. In 2014, the corporation has launched a program of costs reduction by $1.1 billion.
Oracle Corporation, the largest software manufacturer for organizations and the second in the US software developer, said that it expects quarterly profit below the analysts' forecasts. Weakness of traditional software sales was stronger than the growth of cloud division. First quarter of the fiscal year, which ended on August 31 showed that the total profitability of cloud services has increased by 59% to $969 million.
South Korean company Samsung Electronics on Monday lost $14 billion on markets sentiments that losses of the company because of smartphones Galaxy Note 7 reviews will be more serious than expected. Last week, the US Federal Aviation Administration has banned useage of Galaxy Note 7 smartphone on board the aircraft, as there is a danger of ignition the smartphone while recharging.
A single space communication operator based on the corporation "Gonets" will be put into operation by the end of 2017. This was stated by Nicholas Testoyedov, chairman of the JSC "Information Satellite Systems" named after Academician Reshetnev.
Apple Inc. may soon pay a large fine. It was accused of illegally receiving support and tax violations in Ireland, according to Euronews. According to some sources close to the dossier, Dublin provided a very favorable tax conditions to Apple in exchange for an increase of new jobs in country.


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Two retail-chain CEOs are fighting over Martha Stewart like rival high-school quarterbacks sparring over a homecoming queen.
Last week, he testified in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan that he thought he had an exclusive deal with the domestic diva to sell her bed linens, pots and pans, furniture and other items. He told the court that in December 2011 Ms. Stewart called to say she'd also struck a deal with J.C. Penney. "I was completely shocked and blown away," he said. "I was literally sick to my stomach."
What did he think was going to happen? Did he forget she served five months in prison, starting in October 2004, for lying to the Feds about her alleged insider stock trades? Did he not know that at one point, she tried to repair her reputation with street cred, boasting of the prison handle, "M. Diddy"? There is simply no such thing as an exclusive deal with anyone named "M. Diddy."
Ms. Stewart indeed staged a comeback following her incarceration, but at the moment she's staging a comeback down. Stock of her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia—which once traded above $35 a share—was trading Friday for $2.48. Last week, her company reported declining earnings and an 8.6% drop in sales for the fourth quarter.
I frankly don't understand the appeal of Martha Stewart Living products, which got their big start at the peg-legged, has-been retailers Kmart and Sears. It's a testament to Ms. Stewart's cunning that the company is still around.
J.C. Penney Chief Executive Ron Johnson sees Ms. Stewart's housewares as part of his master plan to transform J.C. Penney. He became CEO of the struggling retailer in November 2011. And what was one of the first things he did? He blew nearly $40 million on a 17% stake in Martha Stewart's company. He paid $3.50 a share for a stock that is down nearly 30% today.
"The opportunity to work with Martha…is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," the star-struck CEO boasted in a news release in December 2011. "The Martha Stewart brand embodies quality, beauty, inspiration and possibility, and we intend for Martha Stewart stores to be a key centerpiece of our new strategy."
Mr. Johnson is a former Target executive who later ran Apple's successful retail strategy. J.C. Penney's board wooed him with a compensation package valued at $52.6 million for his two months of work in 2011, mostly in stock awards. He has since run off J.C. Penney customers with one misstep after the next and laid off 19,000 employees.
Mr. Johnson took the witness stand on Friday, and Ms. Stewart is expected to testify this week. "Martha Stewart's influence on home was greater than any one designer in the apparel industry," Mr. Johnson told the court. "I thought our middle-class customers would be very responsive."
Mr. Johnson appears to have spelled out his plan in an August 2011 email, now in the court record: "She wants to do it. I need to propose a deal so she [Ms. Stewart] can go to Terry L. at Macy's and break their agreement."
The Wall Street Journal last week reported that J.C. Penney has lost about $4.3 billion in sales in the 12 months since Mr. Johnson cut back on discounts and rolled out his idea of putting boutique stores within J.C. Penney stores, including what Penney's website says is "Martha Stewart Home … Coming soon."


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Although no one would believe any news dated fro the 1st of April, but Verizon has chosen the date for the pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge from 1st of April.
However, the carrier has yet to mention when the phone will actually become available.
It may be added that Verizon is one of the first US carriers to reveal any specific dates regarding the Samsung's flagship for 2015.
Other major carriers like Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T have however announced that they’ll eventually carry the devices, but these carriers only allow users to pre-register for them so far. With that said, we couldn't imagine it will be too much longer until the other carriers hop on-board with pre-orders dates.
View the video below for a run-down on the newly unveiled Samsung Galaxy S6:
Read more at Android Authority
You may follow us on Twitter or like our Facebook page to keep yourself updated on all latest Tech News and Solutions


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The North American Meat Institute raised questions about a study claiming to find an association between red meat and processed meat consumption and deaths from heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
The study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), reported that dietary factors were associated with an estimated 318,656 deaths from diabetes, stroke or heart disease representing 45.4 percent of all such deaths; and the highest proportion of those deaths were “estimated” to be related to excess sodium intake, insufficient consumption of nuts and seeds; high intake of processed meats and low intake of seafood omega-3 fats.
But the JAMA Dietary Factors and Mortality Study is flawed because it is based on the authors’ assumptions about which foods are good and which are bad, KatieRose McCullough, Ph.D., director of regulatory and scientific affairs for NAMI said in a statement.
“For instance, the researchers begin by saying ANY intake of processed meat is “suboptimal,” she explained. “Based on that logic, if someone indicates they consume any processed meats and then later dies of a heart attack, the authors’ analysis will automatically say that processed meat was a contributor. It is a study designed to reach a particular conclusion.”
According to the article, researchers used “comparative risk assessment models, leveraging multiple data sources including nationally representative data on population demographics, dietary habits and mortality, to approximate the number and fraction of [cardiometabolic] deaths in the United States related to suboptimal diet.” Researchers also focused on only 10 foods, including fruits, vegetables, nuts/seeds, whole grains, unprocessed red meats, processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), polyunsaturated fats, seafood omega-3 fats, and sodium.
“The narrow focus of the research also raises red flags,” McCullough said. “The authors chose to evaluate only 10 foods and nutrients, which is a small sliver of the American diet. We eat foods in combination with each other — not in isolation — and lifestyle factors such as exercise, smoking, body weight, among others, all contribute to health outcomes. Zeroing in on the “suspect” without looking at the complete picture is not credible science.”
McCullough noted that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans say that red and processed meat can be part of a healthy diet, and most Americans already consume meat at recommended levels. She added that the Scientific Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee found that people who follow the Mediterranean Diet eat twice as many processed meats as those who follow the dietary guidelines — something the authors overlooked, she said.
“Both fresh red meat and products such as ham, bacon, salami and other favorites are nutrient dense foods that offer substantial nutritional benefits,” McCullough said. “Encouraging reduced consumption below the very appropriate levels consumed today stands to harm the public health and place Americans at risk of nutrition deficiencies.”


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The 2009 Agri-Marketing Conference, April 15-17, is already heating up. Here’s your chance to learn hot ways to use new media … develop stand-out creative … connect with new markets … ensure ROI.
Don’t miss some of the leading minds in marketing and business:
Scott McKain, Vice Chairman, Obsidian Enterprises, author of What Customers REALLY Want and a new book:
The Collapse of Distinction
As founder of one of the fastest growing companies in the United States, Scott McKain knows what drives business. A two-time best-selling business author, he travels the world sharing insights on enhancing client loyalty and improving revenue for visionary organizations.
Andy Cohen, Founder, Exposed Brick, and author of Follow the Other Hand
Innovation in Marketing: Challenge Assumptions
Andy Cohen wears many hats: global advisor, educator, motivational speaker and magician. But his hat, as the founder of the award-winning agency Exposed Brick, is what makes him a hot pick for NAMA. Andy empowers global brands, including American Express, Pfizer and Nestle, to think differently and create innovative solutions.International Speaking Sensation
Managing the Margins of Greatness
Get ready to see a champion. David is one of the top three winners of the World Championship of Public Speaking, a contest that includes 20,000 contestants from over 45 countries. You’ll be entertained and motivated from one of the nation’s leading orators.
To register for the 2009 Agri-Marketing Conference in Atlanta visit http://nama.org/amc/register.html


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Audinate announces new version of Dante Controller
Audinate, the market leader in digital media networking for the A/V, conferencing, public address, and broadcast industries, today announced an update to Dante Controller, the free, award-winning tool used to configure and manage Dante audio networks.
Version 3.10 of the award-winning software adds wireless support, advanced filtering and Device Lock features
PORTLAND, OREGON – 11 July 2016 – Audinate – the market leader in digital media networking for the A/V, conferencing, public address, and broadcast industries – today announced an update to Dante Controller, the free, award-winning tool used to configure and manage Dante audio networks.
Dante Controller 3.10 brings new features for end-users, allowing them to better manage larger networks with more high channel-count devices while enabling Dante Controller to take full advantage of upcoming firmware changes.
The new Dante Controller 3.10 software allows users to manage Dante networks from laptops connected via Wi-Fi. By simply connecting a wireless access point to a Dante network, adjustments can be made from any location in a facility, unencumbered by cables.
The new Advanced Filter in Dante Controller 3.10 can be used to refine the range of devices displayed, allowing users to easily narrow and refine views when managing large Dante networks. Filter parameters include device and channel names, sample rate, latency setting and lock status.
Dante Controller 3.10 supports the new Device Lock feature for Dante-enabled equipment as well as end-user applications such as Dante Virtual Soundcard and Dante Via. This feature allows users to remotely lock supporting Dante hardware and software devices using Dante Controller, employing a user-selected 4-digit PIN. When locked, a device’s configuration cannot be changed until it is unlocked with the configured PIN. This new feature provides an added layer of protection against unauthorized or unintended changes to a Dante network.
In order to support Device Lock capability, manufacturers of Dante-enabled products will need to update their firmware to the new Dante firmware release 3.10, which has recently been released to OEMs. It is anticipated that manufacturers will release this update to customers over the coming months. For more information about the availability of this firmware in specific Dante-enabled products, users are asked to contact the manufacturer of their Dante-enabled product.
Support for Device Lock is included in the latest release of Dante Virtual Soundcard, v3.10, and will be supported in the next release of Dante Via.
“Version 3.10 brings vital enhancements to the Dante platform,” says Josh Rush, VP of Marketing at Audinate. “It paves the way for future enhancements, and gives managers and operators of Dante networks more control over the systems they supervise.”
To download the latest version of Dante Controller, visit https://my.audinate.com/products/software/dante-controller


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You don’t need an Amazon Echo device to listen to Amazon’s free, ad-supported music streaming service anymore.
Amazon Music is now available for Android, iOS, Fire TV devices, and the web… at least if you’re in the US, UK, or Germany.
Amazon’s music strategy has been… complicated, to say the least.
The company has been offering a subscription music service called Amazon Music Unlimited for a few years. Pay $10 per month (or $8 for Amazon Prime members) and you can stream millions of songs for free.
A few months ago, Amazon launched a Hi-Fi version of the service called Amazon Music HD, with subscriptions running $15 per month ($13 for Prime members) for access to 24-bit/192 kHz audio.
Meanwhile, the company has been offering a smaller selection of ad-free music to Prime members since 2014 with a service called Amazon Prime Music.
The new ad-supported Amazon Music service first launched this April, but at the time it was only available on Amazon Echo devices. If you didn’t have one of Amazon’s smart speakers or displays, you were out of luck.
Now it’s available on a wider range of devices — including most phones and tablets. The web app means it should also work with most PCs. But Amazon does seem to be sticking to its own Fire TV platform for folks that want to stream music from their televisions — there are no Roku, Android TV, or Apple TV apps, for example.
Amazon isn’t the only company with an ad-supported tier. Spotify has been offering customers a choice of listening to ads or paying for a subscription since the service first launched.
Personally, I’ve been listening to Spotify’s ad-supported music streams for years… but for the past month or two I’ve been using Amazon Music Unlimited thanks to a 3-month promotion. It is nice not having the music interrupted by ads every few songs… but I find Spotify’s recommendations, playlists, and other features to be much more to my liking. I’ll probably switch back my promotional subscription ends.
Still, it’s nice to have more competition in the free, ad-supported music streaming space.


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By Samson Echenim
The Office of the Deputy Senate President and the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) are collaborating to end delays in the processing of documents for importation and clearance of charitable goods into Nigeria, as the country faces severe humanitarian concerns.
Distrust by government agencies and perceived importers dishonesty are leading to over regulation of movement of donated items and aids funds from abroad into Nigeria as the population of displaced and vulnerable persons grows by the day.
At a one-day stakeholders consultation on ease of shipping and clearing of charitable items into Nigeria in Lagos on Thursday, organised by the Office of the Deputy Senate President and the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), shippers, customs agents and non-profit organisations (NPOs) lamented that more than half of charitable items donated to charity concerns in Nigeria from organisations abroad face cumbersome documentation requirements that eventually truncate clearance of the goods. The items would later be auctioned, having been abandoned at the ports, while those who need them perish at Nigeria’s many IDPs, hospitals and orphanage homes.
At the end of the technical session, a committee made up critical stakeholders led by the Ministry of Finance and Budget and National Planning was set to develop the Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) for importation of charitable goods into Nigeria.
Other members of the committee include the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, the Federal Ministry of Health (NAFDAC), the International Non-Governmental Organisation in Nigeria forum (I-NGO), the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs Disaster Management and Social Development, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigeria Network of NGOs. The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), the Shipping Association of Nigeria (SAN) and the Seaport Terminals Operators Association of Nigeria were also conscripted into the committee.
The committee also has Obiora Madu, an astute business administration scholar and country manager, Malaysian University of Science and Technology (MUST), chairman of the technical session and Farinto Kayode, vice president of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and member, Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (CRFFN) to represent customs agents and freight forwarders in the committee.
Earlier, the deputy president of the Nigerian Senate, Ovie Omo-Agege, said the result of bureaucratic delay in the country importation and tariff exemption processes was that charitable items got entangled in high demurrage charges.
“This is sometimes caused by delays in clearing due to denial of import duty waivers by relevant government ministries/agencies, late application of necessary documents by non-profit organisations, among others. These often cause undue loss of items and financial losses,” he said in a welcome address presented by Princess Modupe Ozolua, SA to the deputy president on NGO/CSO Affairs.
He continued: “It also extends to the denial of, sometimes life-saving relief materials to places they are needed, particularly disease-ravaged areas and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) settlements. And given the present IDP crisis Nigeria now faces, the material and humanitarian losses can only be imagined.
“Charitable items are gifts donated by individuals, organisations or governments to the less privileged, usually through not-for-profit organisations, faith organisations or individuals. The items in turn come in different forms such as clothing, foodstuffs, medications, and assets and services.
“All stakeholders including Civil Society Organisations, other not-for-profit organisations, in concert with the government, must comply with necessary application processes and ensure charitable items are not used for commercial purposes. Rather they should always get to the targeted beneficiaries.
“This is critical because as it seems, import waivers on charitable items have been misused and abused not just by businessmen but also by some non-governmental organizations and civil society organizations. Further, it is also evident that these anomalies do not only affect Nigeria but also some of our neighbors whose consignments of charitable items come through Nigerian ports.”
Also speaking in a welcome address, Hassan Bello, executive secretary of the NSC said Nigerian national assembly were no more only concerned with political and constitutional affairs, but now becoming increasingly lending their hands in economic issues to activate and maintain a more robust economy.
He insisted that there must be a set of clearly mapped out procedures, easy to follow and quick to yield results for the purpose of timely delivery of charitable items donated to Nigerian organisations or foreign humanitarian organisations in Nigeria.
“Clearing of charitable items must have SOP. After many years of losing free gifts from kind organisations, we must now come together deliberate on actions to facilitate clearing of charitable items,” he said.
Also in their goodwill messages, Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe, chairman, senate committee on health and deputy chairman, senate committee on diaspora and NGOs and Kabir Idris, chairman house committee on civil societies and development partners, as well as their colleagues from both chambers, lauded the initiative, even as they provide unflinching support from the national assembly to make appropriate acts for ease of importing charitable goods into Nigeria.


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Apple released today the watchOS 5.1.1 software update for Apple Watch devices after pulling the watchOS 5.1 release last week due to an issue that bricked the Apple Watch 4 series.
Last week, Apple was quick to remove the watchOS 5.1 software update it developed during the past month because of multiple reports of bricked Apple Watch devices, including the latest Apple Watch Series 4 models. Therefore, users were left in the dark with either a bricked device or with an older software version.
It took the company one more week to fix the bricking issue and include the patch in the watchOS 5.1.1 (build number 16R600) software update released today, which is now available for all supported Apple Watch devices running watchOS 5.0.1 or watchOS 5.1 via OTA (Over-the-Air) updates.
How to update your Apple Watch to watchOS 5.1.1
If you have an Apple Watch device from Series 3 or Series 4, you can update it right now to today's watchOS 5.1.1 software update to receive all the new features Apple implemented in the watchOS 5.1 release that it pulled last week, including 70 new emoji characters and several other improvements.
To update your Apple Watch, you'll need an iPhone device running the iOS 12.1 software update, so make sure you've updated your iPhone before proceeding. Then, open the Watch app on your iPhone, go to General, then Software Updates, and download/install the watchOS 5.1.1 update after it's displayed on the updates page.
Please keep in mind that to successfully install a watchOS update, you must connect the Apple Watch device to its charger and allow it to be charged over 50 percent. Hopefully, the watchOS 5.1.1 update won't brick any more Apple Watch devices so that Apple can focus on adding new features and improvements to watchOS.


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Monsanto to abandon new GM crop applications in Europe
Monsanto will no longer be pursuing approvals for commercial cultivation of new genetically modified crops in Europe, subject to discussion with business partners including licensees. Rather than waiting for Europe to embrace GM crops, the company has decided to focus on the conventional seeds business in the continent, "which is very strong and growing". Monsanto will invest several hundred million dollars in Europe over a decade to expand its conventional seed production and breeding. It will pursue its "highly successful" GM crop business in the rest of the world and focus on enabling imports of GM crops into the EU.


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Thu May 23, 2019
Author: RV News Staff
Sylvan Lake RV, a dealership based in Sylvan Lake, Alberta, will be a distributor for Micro-Air’s EasyStart364 to the Canadian RV market.
“Sylvan Lake RV is proud to race the EasyStart364 into the Canadian market in a big way,” says Sylvan Lake RV owner Doug Thompson.
EasyStart is an electronic soft starter for RV rooftop and marine air conditioning, allowing starts of A/C units on low power sources like small generators and inverters, and on 30-amp power.
“We see what Micro-Air has done with the EasyStart in the U.S. and can’t imagine why we can’t do the same with Canadian marketing,” Thompson says.
Micro-Air owner Andy Spaziania says, “Dealerships are our lifeblood and, although we have a reputation for doing it well, they remove that layer of customer service from us. Distributorships boot that up to the next level as they address issue with the dealers, allowing us to focus on new product development and quality manufacturing. We are proud to announce this strategic distribution partnership."


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Well.ca, Canada?s favorite online drugstore, has just landed what is the largest investment the Maple Leaf Angels have made to date. Angels participating in the round include: Colin Webster, former CEO of Truition a JLA Ventures backed company and Jim Estill, a Research In Motion board member and CEO of Synnex. Well.ca has come a long way in just one year.
I first met Ali Asaria, Well.ca’s Founder & CEO, at last year’s Mesh Conference. Ali was at the time equipped with a less memorable domain (CanadaHomeHealth.ca), a plan (Well.ca), and TONS of enthusiasm. Our conversation touched on financing a startup and Ali cheerfully admitted he hadn’t a clue how to do it… yet.
What they have created in one year is a sight to behold. The company is running smoothly, sales are growing briskly, and the first angel financing is secured. Well.ca has over 10,000 registered customers, ships thousands of products per month, and is seeing 35% growth month over month. Why do customers keep coming back? Just in time delivery of over 10,000 products sure helps, but I am convinced it is Well.ca’s cheerful attitude and super customer friendly service.
In our first days of operation, we literally hand-filled-out postage labels to ship to our customers, and, carrying towers of boxes, I walked them over to the local post office. It?s exactly one year later ? the mesh conference is about to take place again, and we?ve grown from 2 employees to what will be 9 by the end of this month. We no longer hand-write postage labels, but we still write hand-written notes to thank every one of the thousands of new customers that have bought from our site.
Jevon and I are brimming with pride. The angel financing marks a rite of passage for Ali as an entrepreneur and for Well.ca as a company. And we can hardly wait to keep on celebrating their many future successes. Ask Ali what the best part of the adventure has been and I guarantee he’ll have this to say: “The greatest part is the group of people we have working here.” Here’s a team that is doing well and having fun:


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Apple and Hewlett-Packard are very different but have a few things in common. Both companies are not only doing very well in today’s PC market but also have played an important role in the evolution of the personal computer ecosystem — Apple more so on the PC side and HP on the printer side.
HP over the years has designed some of the best-selling and most innovative laser and ink jet printers, and has made a lot of money selling ink for those printers. Apple, as we all know, has been an innovator when it comes to its Macintosh PCs as well as the operating systems and application software that runs on those computers. But even on the PC side, HP has been innovative.
Because of the enormous success of the iPhone, people tend to associate touch in general and multitouch in particular with Apple. But it’s worth noting that HP introduced a touch-screen PC in 1983 and demonstrated its own multitouch devices before Apple introduced the iPhone. Like the iPhone and now the iPad, HP’s multitouch allowed you to use your finger to move, resize and manipulate on-screen objects.
Other similarities between the companies are that both are in the smartphone business, and HP will soon have devices that compete with Apple’s iPad. HP didn’t develop its own smartphone but recently acquired Palm not just for its phones but also for the Web OS operating system that Palm developed for its Pre and Pixi phones. HP has said it also will use the Web OS
on tablet or “slate” PCs aimed at consumers. Last week, HP announced that will also offer a Windows 7 slate PC for the business market.
But while there are similarities between the two companies, there are also some significant differences that came to mind as I listened to HP personal systems group Vice President Phil McKinney speak last week at the Always On Summit at Stanford.
Unlike Apple executives, who never talk about unannounced products and rarely even share concepts for products with the public, McKinney was happy to talk about the types of products that he thinks can make a difference. For example, during his presentation and our subsequent interview, he touted a concept product that HP has been talking about for five years but has never built — a wristwatch that provides connectivity for whatever devices you may want to use.
Although the watch he envisions would have better battery life and better reception than today’s mobile phones, the idea is similar to what some mobile phones, including the Palm Pre, Motorola Droid X and HTC Evo, now provide — a Wi-Fi hotspot to give Internet access to nearby devices. The notion is that each device we buy won’t need cellular connectivity as long as we have personal hub to get all of our devices online.
McKinney shared other ideas as well. For example, he thinks it makes sense to disengage the device from the display. He envisions a world where mobile devices don’t have their own display screens but instead wirelessly transfer still and moving images to whatever screens are nearby. As for devices, he said, “it’s more about what you carry with you in terms of storage and the apps you chose to use.”
He didn’t raise the issue of keyboards and user interfaces, but it strikes me that they, too, can be separated from devices. We’ve already seen some creative though not terribly well implemented products like the Bluetooth Laser Virtual Keyboard that projects a virtual keyboard onto a desktop. There are also roll-up keyboards but they too are very clunky. But the keyboards on most handheld devices are even harder to use, which is one reason we still need laptops and netbooks.
As far as screens are concerned, the most creative idea — and it’s an old one — is to wear eyeglasses that are actually video screens. These have been around for years and even though they seem like a good idea, there is probably a very good reason why they’ve never taken off.
I don’t think we’re anywhere near ready for mobile devices that don’t have screens or input devices, but I am intrigued by the idea. Which brings me back to HP vs. Apple. If anyone can come up with a way to make this happen, it will be one or both of these Silicon Valley companies. And if history is any indication, HP is likely to be instrumental in coming up with some of the early designs, but Apple could be the one to release a killer product that people might actually want to use.


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Black Friday 8K TV Deals in 2021
Black Friday used to be only on one day, the day after Thanksgiving. That will be Friday, November 26 this year. However, Black Friday 8K TV deals tend to start earlier and earlier and sometimes even go beyond the day itself.
Much of the links bouncing around our networks are ad-driven or affiliate links, which can get confusing. So, we went through some of the material to give you a feel of what Black Friday is doing to 8K TV prices.
An 8K TV deal found on Tech Hive (kept up to date here) is, for example, the TCL 65-inch 6-series 8K TV available from Amazon for $1,999.00, representing a $200.99 discount from the usual price of $2,199.99
On some Walmart pages, the significant 4K TV discounts are not available for 8K TVs. You could be disappointed or see the glass half full in that 8K is still premium and doesn’t need discounting. But Black Friday is as confusing as usual, and other Walmart pages show savings, like, for example, about a SAMSUNG 85″ Class Neo QLED 8K (4320P) LED Smart TV QN85QN800 2021, retailing for $4,197.99 instead of $6,499.99.
B&H has a whopping 3,500 USD discount on the Samsung QN900A 85″ Class HDR 8K UHD Smart QLED TV, bringing the list price of $9K down to $5.5K.
Games Radar provides a list of the best retailers in the US and the UK. For the latter, they suggest well-known CE outlet Curry’s, where you can get an LG 86QNED996PB 86″ Smart 8K Ultra HD HDR QNED TV with Google Assistant & Amazon Alexa for £5k instead of £6k. Games Radar’s piece argues that older models are still worth looking into as they have more significant discounts. Some deals are pre-Black Friday. French retailer FNAC is already selling an LG 65QNED996PB 65″ 8K UHD Smart TV for 2999€ instead of 3499€, a 14% discount.
We PC focuses on the 65″ version QN800A Neo QLED 8K discussed above and the $1000 reduction available for early Black Friday directly on Samsung’s website. XDA highlights the same Samsung reductions but chooses to highlight the $3,500, which you can get off the top-of-the-range Neo QLED QN900A series.
Mat Gallagher’s piece in T3 runs through the detailed specs of the 8K TV he plans to buy on Black Friday. For example, he won’t settle for less than 120Hz to future-proof his investment. He’s looking at Toshiba, TCL, and Samsung in particular.


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Early optimism, maincrop fears
PROSPECTS for early potatoes could improve as liftings begin in earnest; the late season is reducing the chance of a clash with imports.
But maincrop prices remain under threat as planting continues apace.
Early supplies have been dug in most areas, including Scotland, this week. The first small volumes for local delivery have been trading at 45p/lb, equivalent to £990/t, says British Potato Councils (BPC) Rob Burrow.
In Kent prices topped £440/t with deliveries to London markets slightly back at £330 to £360/t. In contrast, Cornish supplies continue to ease at £200-£270/t for bagged and £250-£280/t for bulk supplies, says the BPC.
With a later season, mainstream supplies of earlies may come under less pressure from imports. Jersey had an early season by comparison, says Mr Burrow, and over half the 45,000t expected to reach mainland markets has been imported already.
Over 7000t from Brittany, due for processing, are expected to arrive from mid-June and should not compete heavily with fresh supplies. Cyprus earlies will continue, he adds.
Maincrop planting should end on all but the heaviest land by the start of June. Over 134,000ha had been planted by Wednesday as better weather helped growers get on to land.
"Its not too late for growers. Plantings continued into late June last year," adds Mr Burrow. BPC stands by its survey suggesting total plantings could rise to over 143,000ha, an increase of almost 5% on last year.
"Planting returns have been sent out and a few have come back. It wont be until early July until well have the first clear indication whether growers intentions have been carried out and how prices may be affected."
The gradual drying up of last years maincrop is seeing prices ease. Best fry, pack and bake supplies are taking the premium at between £250 to £300/t. Poorer supplies are well back at £60/t. *


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S$1.1 billion support package for workers, businesses hit by Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) restrictions
The package includes more wage subsidies under the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), rental relief and a new relief fund for market and hawker centre stallholders.
SINGAPORE: The Government will provide a S$1.1 billion support package to help workers and businesses affected by Singapore’s return to Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) restrictions.
The package includes wage subsidies under an enhanced Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) for affected sectors, rental relief for commercial properties, as well as a new relief fund for market and hawker centre stallholders.
The food delivery booster package and the e-commerce booster package will be extended, said the Ministry of Finance (MOF) on Thursday (Jul 23).
For taxi and private-hire car drivers, the COVID-19 driver relief fund will be enhanced.
To help workers affected by the tighter measures, the COVID-19 Recovery Grant – Temporary will be extended until Aug 31.
“The support package is expected to cost S$1.1 billion and will be funded by reallocation arising from one-off underutilisation due to COVID-19, and fiscal resources set aside earlier in the event of extension of support measures,” MOF said in a media release.
JSS support will be increased to 60 per cent for sectors that are required to “suspend many, if not all, of their activities” during the Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) period from Jul 22 to Aug 18.
“These include food and beverage businesses, gyms, fitness studios, performing arts organisations and arts education centres,” MOF said.
These businesses were previously eligible for 50 per cent JSS support from May 16 to Jul 11 and 10 per cent support from Jul 12 to Jul 21.
READ: Return to tighter measures needed as COVID-19 infections likely to 'rise sharply' at current transmission rates, says MOH
Sectors that are “significantly affected” by the restrictions will see their JSS support enhanced to 40 per cent.
“These include the retail sector, affected personal care services, tourist attractions, licensed hotels, cruise and regional ferry operators, MICE organisers, travel agents, museums, art galleries, cinema operators and other family entertainment centres,” MOF said.
These businesses had been eligible for 30 per cent JSS support from May 16 to Jul 11 and 10 per cent support from Jul 12 to Jul 21.
JSS support for all these affected sectors will taper off to 10 per cent from Aug 19 to 31.
RENTAL RELIEF FOR COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES
Tenants at government-owned commercial properties will receive rental relief for the full Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) period, while tenants of privately owned commercial properties will receive relief for half the period.
“The Government will provide an additional four-week rental waiver for qualifying tenants on government-owned commercial properties, and an additional two-week rental relief cash payout for qualifying tenant-occupiers and owner-occupiers of privately owned commercial properties under the rental support scheme,” MOF said.
READ: Only 'low-intensity' exercises with masks on allowed at indoor facilities during Phase 2 (Heightened Alert)
The ministry added that this system of rental relief ensures “fair burden-sharing”.
“While we encouraged landlords of commercial properties to provide rental support to affected businesses during the last Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) period, many tenants have provided feedback that not all landlords were forthcoming,” it said.
“To ensure fair burden-sharing, the Government is looking to require sharing of rental obligations between the Government, landlords and qualifying tenants.
“We recognise that there will be landlords who may face genuine hardship, and will take these landlords’ circumstances into consideration.”
BOOSTER PACKAGES, CREDIT SUPPORT
The food delivery booster package, which supports the F&B sector by defraying part of delivery costs via food delivery platforms third-party platforms, will be reintroduced for transactions made between Jul 22 and Aug 18.
“For the use of food delivery platforms, ESG (Enterprise Singapore) will fund 5 percentage points of the commission cost charged,” MOF said.
“ESG will fund 20 per cent of the delivery costs for food delivery orders through third-party logistics partners.”
READ: 'I can't stop now': Business owners hang on despite running up losses amid tighter COVID-19 restrictions
READ: 58 per cent of hawkers whose tenancies were up for renewal from April to June had rentals revised down
The e-commerce booster package, reintroduced on May 16, will also be available until Nov 16. This helps local retailers get on board local e-commerce platforms.
“Retailers will receive a one-time 80 per cent support on qualifying costs for the service fees charged by the platforms, capped at S$8,000,” MOF said.
“These platforms include Lazada, Mummy’s Market, Qoo10, Shopee and Zalora.”
Banks and finance companies will also continue to provide cashflow assistance to borrowers impacted by the tightened restrictions.
“This is facilitated by the ESG, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and industry support measures that had been recently extended,” MOF said.
“Lenders will further offer relief and restructuring options for borrowers based on their specific circumstances.”
SUPPORT FOR HAWKERS, MARKET STALLHOLDERS
The Government will introduce a new fund to help hawkers and market stallholders who will receive a one-off cash assistance of S$500 per stallholder.
This applies to stallholders of cooked food and market stalls in centres managed by the National Environment Agency (NEA) or NEA-appointed operators.
The Government previously announced on Jul 16 that stallholders in hawker centres and markets managed by the NEA or NEA-appointed operators would receive one month of subsidies for table-cleaning and centralised dishwashing services, as well as one month of rental waivers.
To support drivers of taxis and private-hire cars, the Government will enhance the COVID-19 driver relief fund from Jul 22 to the end of September.
The fund currently provides eligible drivers with S$10 per vehicle per day for 60 days from July, and S$5 per vehicle per day for the next 30 days.
As part of the support package, the COVID-19 Recovery Grant – Temporary will be made available until Aug 31.
The grant provides a payout of up to S$700 for workers placed on involuntary no-pay leave and up to S$500 for workers who have lost a minimum of 50 per cent of their incomes for at least one month as a result of tightened COVID-19 restrictions since May 16.
Existing recipients of the grant who continue to require assistance can apply for a second payout under the scheme, MOF said.


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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stocks closed higher Friday, with the major indexes all scoring weekly gains, after a stronger-than-expected consumer confidence reading offset weak August retail numbers and news that a U.K. lender is tapping the Bank of England for emergency funds.
Down more than 80 points early on, the Dow Jones Industrial Average
"The University of Michigan confidence number helped to spark the rally, the thinking being as long as consumer confidence remains relatively healthy and the Fed provides liquidity to the credit markets that any slowdown in economic growth will be temporary," said Mike Malone, trading analyst at Cowen & Co.
"That, combined with attractive valuation for equities, compels investors to be involved," said Malone.
The Dow closed 17.6 points ahead at 13,442.5, giving it a weekly advance of 2.5%.
Of the Dow's 30 components, 19 closed ahead, with Alcoa Inc.
American Express Co.
Volume at the New York Stock Exchange came to 1.2 billion shares, with declining stocks ahead of advancing issues 9 to 7. At the Nasdaq, nearly 1.6 billion shares were exchanged, and advancing stocks outpaced decliners roughly 4 to 3.
The 'R' word
Ahead of Wall Street's opening bell, stock futures extended early losses after the Commerce Department reported a 0.3% rise in retail sales in August, with all of the gains coming from cars and trucks. Excluding vehicle sales, the figure fell 0.4%. Read Economic Report.
“'The "R" word is a greater possibility.'”
"The only good news there is the prior month's numbers were revised upward, but it's still negative news and will add to growing concerns that the 'R' word is a greater possibility," said Al Goldman, chief market strategist at AG Edwards.
"A confluence of negatives this morning has brought out sellers -- a bailout by the Bank of England of the fourth-largest mortgage lender, another hike in the BOC [Bank of China] lending rate, and weaker-than-expected retail sales," said Elliot Spar, market strategist at Stifel Nicolaus & Co.
The Commerce Department reported the U.S. current account deficit narrowed to $190.8 billion in the second quarter, or 5.5% of gross domestic product. See full story.
In a separate report, the department said inventories at U.S. businesses tightened in July ahead of the August financial crunch. Read more.
Also head of the opening bell, the Federal Reserve reported an August rise in output at U.S. factories, mines and utilities, with industrial production up 0.2%. Read the full story.
The slew of reports did not alter widely held perceptions that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates at least 25 basis points at the central bank's policy-setting meeting on Tuesday.
"In total, the data had a little something for everyone, but failed to provide sufficient fodder for either the extreme hawks or doves on the FOMC [Federal Open Markets Committee] to alter the center of gravity in policy momentum toward of a quarter point cut," said analysts at Action Economics.
"I think the market has a pretty steady bid going into the Fed meeting next week on expectations rates are going to be cut," said Malone.
The bright spot to be found in the disappointing retail sales data is "it makes a Fed rate cut a lock on Tuesday," said Goldman. "This one probably closes the door on anything but a rate cut, the question is 25 or 50 basis points."
Overseas, British stocks declined after U.K. lender Northern Rock turned to the Bank of England for emergency funds, saying the global credit crunch has it struggling to raise financing. See full story.Read London Markets.
Asian stocks, however, tallied solid gains, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rising 1.5% to end at a record high. Read Asia Markets.
China lifted its benchmark interest rates as its central bank moved to cool the nation's economic growth and inflationary pressures. See full story.
On Wall Street, KKR Financial KFN gained 5.3% after the Kohlberg Kravis Roberts affiliate agreed to sell seven private-equity investments for $191 million.
Dow component Intel Corp.
And Liz Clairborne LIZ gained 0.4% after it sold four brands to Li & Fung USA for an undisclosed sum.
At the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures shed earlier gains, with gold for December falling 10 cents to close at $717.80 an ounce. Despite Friday's modest declines, gold posted a gain of $8.10 on the week. See full story.
Crude-oil futures fell 99 cents to close at $79.10 a barrel, giving it a 3.1% rise for the week. See Futures Movers.
The dollar gained 0.1% against the euro and was down 0.1% against the yen. Read Currencies.


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Massive multinational corporations are feeding you food that isn’t really food
These days, it seems the general public has accepted that GMO foods are a part of their regular diet, something which was a bit of a taboo when they were first introduced. Nobody bats an eye anymore, which is why these multinational corporations, like Monsanto, are flooding the shelves with these GMO foods.
It appears that our generation is more than happy to put food inside our bodies that is not really food; ‘food’ manufactured in a laboratory and introduced to the public as if it came from the ground naturally.
GMO foods have been shown to have serious consequences on our health
GMO foods have been linked to various health risks in multiple animal studies. The risks include issues with the immune system, infertility, accelerated aging, alterations to the gastrointestinal system and major organs and terrible regulation of insulin in the body.
Now scientists are speaking out against GMOs! And one of them is geneticist David Suzuki
Suzuki is questioning the status quo even more, not just talking about the implications that eating GMO’s have on our health. With how easily GMO’s are been added to our foods, Suzuki thinks we have all becoming unwilling participants in what he calls a huge “human experiment.”
He says that the way the food corporations are “slipping it into our food without our knowledge, without any indication that there are genetically modified organisms in our food, we are now unwittingly part of a massive experiment.”
When their GMO foods started selling like hot cakes, the food companies must have been shocked and thought that they were beneficial to people.
The FDA is no help at all!
According to Suzuki, “The FDA has said that genetically modified organisms are not much different from regular food, so they’ll be treated in the same way. The problem is this, geneticists follow the inheritance of genes, what biotechnology allows us to do is to take this organism, and move it horizontally into a totally unrelated species.”
GMOs are making us exchange genes with carrots, and this has unknown consequences
“Now David Suzuki doesn’t normally mate with a carrot and exchange genes, what biotechnology allows us to do is to switch genes from one to the other without regard to the biological constraints.”
When asked what the biggest problem he had with this, Suzuki said, “It’s very very bad science, we assume that the principles governing the inheritance of genes vertically, applies when you move genes laterally or horizontally. There’s absolutely no reason to make that conclusion.”
You can watch the entire interview in the video below:


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This #MahaMarch, BankBazaar announces Positive Unit Economics
BankBazaar, world’s first multi-brand paperless platform for instant approval on financial products, launched the third edition of its annual #MahaMarch campaign – the largest-ever month-long sale of financial products in India. Along with this campaign, the company announced a major business milestone achievement of having achieved positive unit economics, i.e., the revenue it gains per transaction is higher than the marketing and operational cost for that transaction. With this news, BankBazaar joins the ranks of the very few young companies who have achieved this milestone, and establishes itself as a stable and rapidly growing young company.
During the announcement, BankBazaar also shared its growth in unique visitors. The company used to get 7 million UVs on an average until Oct 2016, which grew to 14M UVs at the close of January 2017. Approx. 56% of the traffic to the site is through the mobile website. The company also revealed an approximately 20% reduction in cost per unique visitors via paid channels for credit cards and more than 50% less spends to get unique visitors for overall loans. Personal loans contributed the most with 67% reduction in cost here. There are also plans for growth and consolidation with the hiring of approx. 400 employees especially in the Tech and Operations functions.
Speaking about the developments, Navin Chandani, Chief Business Development Officer (CBDO), BankBazaar, said: “This is the third year we are running the #MahaMarch campaign, and every single time, we have received great response from our partners and customers. This has inspired us to come up with better offers and exclusive schemes that make purchasing financial products more rewarding experience. While Maha March is not our only campaign of the year, it has always been the best one. And this year, Maha March is even special as we crossed the milestone of having achieved positive unit economics on every transaction. So we take this opportunity to thank our partners and customers who have trusted us and have been with us and inspired us at every step of our journey. As we end this year with a bang, we look forward to more opportunities in future to engage with our partners and make our customers’ financial journey seamless and easier.”
Maha March, one of the most unique and rightly placed campaigns for financial products, is live at the tail end of the financial year when people close the biggest financial decisions of the year – be buying a home or a car or even planning an expensive holiday. Apart from the exclusive Maha March deals on BankBazaar, customers will also receive Amazon gift vouchers on every successful disbursement of credit card and loan products applied for through the marketplace. Credit cards are eligible for Amazon Gift Card worth Rs.750. Personal loans come with Amazon Gift Card worth Rs.1000; car loans with Amazon Gift Card Rs.2500; and home loans with Amazon Gift Card worth Rs.5000. With seamless, frictionless access the right product, customized products and offers, instant, paperless purchase process, end-to-end services, and the exclusive offers during the Maha March campaign to top it all, BankBazaar makes March the best time to take that step and secure their financial journey.
BankBazaar hosts the widest range of financial products from over 75+ of the biggest public and private sector banks, NBFCs, and insurance companies in India. It gets an average of 7,000,000 visitors per month. The company raised USD 80M through funding from investors such as Amazon.com, Fidelity Growth Partners, Mousse Partners, Sequoia Capital and Walden International.


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Facebook unveiled its 360-degree camera a few months back, as part of its push into virtual reality. But it also unveiled that it won't be selling them. Instead, the social media giant's plans for Surround 360 will be open source-- and they've finally been released.
All-in-all, building a Surround 360 will take four hours and will cost $30,000 in parts. But that is money well spent. The 4-megapixel lenses can shoot 4K, 6K, or 8K 360 video, and fisheye lenses on the top and bottom remove the blindspots. Post-processing will be a snap with Facebook’s image-stitching software, and the camera also offers dynamic streaming.
Facebook previously announced that the goal of making the camera open-source was simple: it wanted more 360 content. “Build it yourself, modify it, make different versions — that’s the goal. We wanted to connect the world with rich, new media. This is how we can get there faster,” said Facebook’s director of engineering on the project Brian Cabral.
Interested in the project? Set aside four hours (or more) of your time and get building!
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text: Kuoni premium travel agents on Aberdeen’s Back Wynd have won Which? recommendation for a third year running. The recognition is for Beach & Resort Holidays which they have won for the past three years but this year they also won Family Holidays recognition. Store Manager Chris said: “Kuoni have always been an award-winning travel provider but winning Which? status is extra special as this is voted for by our customers, they’ve taken the time to vote for us and we can’t thank them enough”. Kuoni re-opened their Aberdeen travel shop back in March 2022, after a short break away from the city.