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Small, Noisy, Crawly and Delicious Crickets
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Kevin Bachhuber unzips the vinyl panel of a large square tent and peels back the insulated fabric that reveals a Mylar-laced chamber. Inside are some really noisy inhabitants.
These inhabitants are in plastic storage bins – the same ones you buy at any discount store – whose lids have been partially cut open and screened. As you look inside the bins, their contents wiggle, jump, crawl and, yes, chirp.
Welcome to Big Cricket Farms, the first indoor farm in the country designed to breed crickets specifically for human consumption. The company, working with the Youngstown Business Incubator, has garnered press coverage in New Scientist magazine.
“This is not a company we’d typically work with,” says Jim Cossler, CEO of the incubator. “But these are extremely bright young kids and that’s what we need in this area.”
Cossler says Bachhuber and his partners were in town last year, reached out to the incubator and the team just “fell in love with Youngstown,” he says. “Plus, it’s a unique, novel business that’s received some national press.”
It’s young people such as Bachhuber who provide the lifeblood of the city’s future, Cossler says. “It’s exactly the thing that will make Youngstown prosper. Folks all across the country realize it’s a cool place to start a business.”
Big Cricket is leasing office space in the incubator building. Just seven weeks into operations, it also occupies an old warehouse that’s chirping with activity.
“These have the capacity for 200,000 to 250,000 full-grown crickets,” Bachhuber says as he points to one of the four tents housed in a once-abandoned warehouse along Marshall Street in Youngstown. “Crickets like it between 80 degrees and 88 degrees,” he says, “and humidity about 90%.”
Big Cricket Farms breeds and nurtures the insects until they’re between six and eight weeks old, the age when crickets are “at their maximum tastiness,” Bachhuber says. Then the crickets are frozen and shipped to a processor where they are ground into flour and baked into products such as chips, health bars and cookies.
Why? Because crickets are rich in protein and present a healthful alternative to the traditional ingredients you find at the grocery store, Bachhuber says.
“In 2006, I went to Thailand, and it’s a staple part of the diet there,” Bachhuber says. “When I came back, I was disappointed you couldn’t get this kind of food here.”
Big Cricket Farms leaped into business after the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations issued a 206-page report late last year that touted the benefits of edible insect cultivation. The objective of the study was to “raise awareness of the many valuable roles that insects play in sustaining nature and human life and will also serve to document the contribution insects already make to diversifying diets and improving food security,” the paper says.
Bacchuber took that study to heart. “The report basically said, ‘Hey, Western World, everybody else is doing this. Maybe you should, too,” he says. “That’s been the mobilization point.”
Less than two months ago, Bacchuber and his partner, Jaci Ampulski, director of operations, relocated from California to set up shop in the Mahoning Valley. “I’m from Green Bay originally,” he says. “We were in California most recently, but we came here – we liked it here better.”
Bachhuber was looking for a “Rust Belt” town with a declining population to start the business, he says, and fell in love with Youngstown. “It’s one of those Rust Belt cities that’s clearly coming back, if it hasn’t already.”
Organizations such as the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and the Youngstown Business Incubator are the type of groups that Bachhuber says is pointing the city in the right direction. He’s s since moved to the Wick Park neighborhood.
There’s real money in the cricket business, Bachhuber says. Crickets sold for animal feed, for example, make up a $60 billion a year industry. A consulting firm in San Francisco, Tiny Farms, helped Big Cricket with its initial business plan. “I’m a lifelong urban gardener,” he says. “Crickets are pretty simple, but we have a set of expert entomologists that we talk to all the time.”
Raising crickets is also cost-efficient, Bachhuber says as he looks inside one of the bins. “It takes two pounds of feed to make one pound of crickets versus 25 pounds for one pound of cow,” he points out. “It takes one gallon of water versus 2,000 gallons of water” to support other livestock.
Big Cricket Farms is in business to specifically satisfy the human palate. “Crickets have a slightly nutty taste to them,” Bacchuber says, but that can change depending on what the insects eat. “If you feed them apples and rosemary, then you get apple and rosemary-flavored crickets,” he says.
He projects there’ll be about 8,400 breeders in the next round, enough to begin harvesting weekly. By next year, the operation could raise as many as 25 million crickets per month.
To start, Big Cricket Farms holds about 5,000 breeder crickets spread over two plastic bins, replete with food and watering jugs. Each bin contains a dish of shredded coconut, where the crickets prefer to lay their eggs. The eggs are then incubated at another grow tent in separate bins.
“Including babies, we probably have between one-quarter million and a million crickets,” he says, as he displays a bin of minuscule crickets just hatched within the last 48 hours.
A pound of crickets sells for roughly $4.50, and it takes four pounds to make a single pound of cricket flour, Bachhuber says. “That’s not a bad ratio,” he remarks.
His company exceeds all the regulations that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has in place for such an operation, he adds.
Bachhuber envisions more growth for Big Cricket Farms in the coming months, and already he and Ampulski have plans to move into a larger, 5,000-square-foot building nearby.
“It would be easier to control operations and we would use this warehouse for a research facility, where we would let Youngstown State University grad students and undergraduates do research,” he says.
Pictured: Kevin Bachhuber at his Youngstown cricket warehouse.
Editor's Note: This story first appeared in the MidJune edition of The Business Journal, in subscribers' mailboxes this week.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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When Marvel announced that The New Mutants would have a panel during [email protected], many assumed the movie would be coming to Disney+ so people could see it already. That was not the case as it ended up setting a new theatrical release on August 28, with many fans wondering if that release date will end up happening. As we ponder about the future, director Josh Boone did state that he isn't against his movie debuting digitally.
During an interview with ComicBook.com, Boone said that he would prefer The New Mutants have a theatrical release but said that if Disney were to suggest a release on digital services, he would not oppose that notion. It's not just Disney+ that the company has after all since they also own Hulu, which is home to a number of exclusive shows like The Runaways, among other things.
"So obviously if we can do it theaters, that's always my first choice. But like Disney came to me and said they were gonna stream it I'd be like awesome. Then everybody can watch it. It'd be great."
Most companies have resorted to VOD releases due to the current pandemic preventing people from leaving their homes. I mean, people can go to the grocery or pick up a DVD, maybe even a video game but the safest thing to do right now is to stay at home. Considering how Disney did release Artemis Fowl on Disney+, many assumed that would happen to The New Mutants but it's clear that they know this movie can make them money.
The New Mutants will be coming to theaters (hopefully) on August 28.

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A Samsung smartphone carrying the model number SM-Z200F and manufactured in Indonesia has been officially certified today (September 16, 2016) by the Directorate General of Resources and Equipment of Post and Information (DG SDPPI), the local authority under whose purview that falls.
The Samsung Z2 which is known to have the model number SM-Z200F had earlier landed the Indonesian agency on August 22 for evaluation and testing. The status of the Z2 changed yesterday after completion of the testing and was indicated as awaiting approval. However, that approval did drop today.
One spectacular thing about the certification is that it was listed that the Samsung Z2 is locally manufactured in Indonesia. Samsung opened a smartphone assembly plant in Jakarta, Indonesia sometime in February last year to help serve the fast-growing Indonesian market. The plant known locally as PT Samsung Electronics Indonesia (Sein) produces low-cost smartphones for the local market, so it is just apt that the Tizen-powered Z2 with an amazing price tag is manufactured there.
All these are indicators that the Samsung Z2 may like launch anytime soon in Indonesia. to further buttress that point, the Tizen Z2 with model number SM-Z200F / DD (SM-Z200FZKDXID, has been listed in Samsung Indonesia's official website perhaps in preparation for its looming launch. It is said that the alphabets XID that ends the model number indicates that the device is specifically manufactured to be sold in the Indonesian region. Whenever, the 4G-enabled device launch it is likely to continue the under $100 price tag which had been its hallmark since it was announced last month.


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SXSW’s Sydney Festival Will Make Vivid Look Like a Busted Light Bulb
In case you hadn’t heard, South by Southwest (SXSW), the world’s premier futurist conference and festival, will this year be leaving Austin, Texas – the city it’s called home for the last 36 years – and setting up shop in Man of Many’s own backyard of Sydney. Now the organisers have announced some details, giving us a better idea of just what the massive festival’s Sydney edition will have in store when it brings together the cream of the crop across tech, innovation, gaming, music, film and culture from October 15-22, 2023.
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According to the announcements, SXSW’s first foray below the equator will see events spread over some of Sydney’s most walkable corners, including Haymarket, Darling Harbour, Ultimo, Chippendale and more. Within that footprint, the festival will utilise venues like ICC Sydney, UTS, The Powerhouse Museum and more to host over 400 keynotes, presentations, panels, workshops and mentor sessions with “inspiring thinkers and leaders”.
Organisers promise all of this will transform the city into “a vibrant, interconnected hub of event formats including festivals, performances, premieres, exhibitions, meet-ups, speakers, pitches and networking opportunities, with ideas and surprises to uncover on every street corner.” Sounds fun.
What Does SXSW Sydney Have in Store?
But what exactly will SXSW offer to draw in potential punters? Well, there’s a trio of entertainment festivals covering music, film, and gaming that’s sure to entice. To start with, the SXSW Sydney 2023 Music Festival has already secured a number of international acts, including Connie Cconstance (UK), Ekkstacy (Canada), Los Bitchos (UK), Otoboke Beaver (Japan), and Redveil (USA) with more to be announced.
This will be complemented by the SXSW Sydney Screen Festival, which promises to be a “future-focused program of film, episodic content, digital, XR and social content premieres, showcasing screen-culture’s diversity in the Asia-Pacific and beyond.” If you’re a film buff there’ll be plenty to keep you occupied, including red carpet premieres, immersive screen experiences, Q&As and panel discussions with creators and industry professionals.
Finally, with the gaming industry now thoroughly dwarfing those of music and film, the newly announced SXSW Sydney Gaming Festival will likely be a must-see as it promises to “celebrate the future of the industry and embrace the power and potential of games” via product launches, hands-on play, stage sessions, performances, screenings, unique exhibitions and social events.
As is the expansive nature of SXSW, the event will also feature a range of technology and innovation exhibitions designed to showcase the Asia-Pacific’s most innovative and emerging tech and entertainment companies. Plus – in what will likely be the largest drawcard for many SXSW attendees – the festival will feature a number of keynote speakers. The first to be announced is futurist, author, and founder and CEO of the Future Today Institute, Amy Webb. Last year, Forbes named her ‘one of the five women changing the world’, so she’s bound to provide some fascinating insights into where the world is headed.
If you’d like to head along to SXSW Sydney when it lands in October you’ll need to get yourself a badge. These come in a range of varieties, each of which provides a particular level of access to events across the festival. Be warned though, they don’t come cheap, starting from AUD$895. Platinum and Industry badges are currently available for early bird purchase and can be accessed via the link below.


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Aptoide announced today an investment round of $4Million, led by e.ventures, followed by Gobi Partners, Golden Gate Ventures and Portugal Ventures.
By bringing together key stakeholders from Europe, China and Southeast Asia through this investment, Aptoide wants to accelerate growth in strategic markets and build important relationships with regional partners.
Founded in 2011, Aptoide is an Android marketplace for applications with multiple stores managed by partners and clients. Available on all Android platforms, it offers not only a main store, but also the possibility for any user to create and manage a store.
With over 100 million active users per year, Aptoide has more than 500,000 applications available for download. In December 2015, Aptoid reached the milestone of 2 billion downloads.
The company is headquartered in Lisbon, with regional offices in Singapore and Shenzhen (China). With this investment, Aptoide will focus its efforts on globalization, with emphasis on Latin America and Southeast Asia. It will work with Chinese device manufacturers to include Aptoide as the application store to their end users.
All these partnerships are strategic, according to Paulo Trezentos, CEO at Aptoide:
Over the past few years, Aptoide achieved strong user retention. By expanding to some of the most important markets in the world and building strategic relationships with key partners, we believe Aptoide will be able to deliver quality applications to more users worldwide.
e.ventures will “help Aptoide to strengthen its position as the app store that leads a rapidly growing market“, according to Director Christian Leybold.
For Gobi Partners, as Director Thomas G. Tsao stated, “China and Southeast Asia are two of the largest mobile markets in the world, both for manufacturers and for consumers. By working closely with OEMs and local telecommunication operators, we believe Aptoide will be available to more users.”
Managing Director of Golden Gate Ventures, Jeffrey Paine, believes that “in an emerging market such as Asia, mobile phone users need an alternative app store, enabling them to discover and interact with products created by local developers. On the other hand, local programmers need a direct channel to reach users and to monetize more effectively. Aptoide has consistently listened to its users and working tirelessly to give them what they want.”
This investment is a further validation of the work the Portuguese entrepreneurs have been doing. That’s the conviction of Marco Fernandes, CEO & Chairman at Portugal Ventures:
The international investment round now held by Aptoide is a proof that entrepreneurs and national startups reached a level of development comparable to the best. (…) For Portugal Ventures it is very important to see the results of the strategic investment in Portuguese tech startups promoted by young Portuguese.
Before this round, Aptoide received an investment of around one million euros from Portugal Ventures in 2013, through the “Call For Entrepreneurship” initiative.


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Adobe has just published a study on businesses experiencing hypergrowth They surveyed over 1,000 marketers at companies experiencing hypergrowth about the main factors that enabled their companies to achieve that success. 42% of those polled were women, 25% were small businesses, and 61% were medium businesses. Among our findings were the following:
- According to 63% of marketers, creativity and design were the top contributors to hypergrowth success.
- Over 50% of companies experiencing hypergrowth focused their resources on social media and visual content.
- Over 50% of marketers found that content auditing, setting measurable goals, and building content calendars were the top steps for scaling content production during hypergrowth.


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The success of specific Web sites has only upped the ante, leaving gay and lesbian magazines no choice but to develop their own sites, enter into content-sharing deals with other sites or risk being swallowed by cash-rich dot-coms.
"The biggest growth in the gay magazine sector is from magazines targeting groups with special interests within the entire gay marketplace, and their success is cutting into the bottom lines of more general-focused gay magazines," says Todd Evans, president-CEO of Westfield, N.J.-based Rivendell Marketing Co., a gay media rep company currently representing 237 gay and lesbian magazines and newspapers.
Mr. Evans says Rivendell research shows total spending in gay print media reached more than $155 million last year, a 29% increase from 1998.
But the fact remains that while specialized titles, such as Instinct, which takes a semi-risque, humorous approach to the gay male lifestyle, and Hero, which focuses on gay men in relationships, are growing, total ad spending in the gay print category is not increasing, say media buyers.
"We're not seeing more dollars spent by advertisers to reach gays and lesbians," says Dan Binder, VP-director of investment at Leo Group's Starcom Worldwide, Chicago. "Fragmentation continues to be a big theme in the gay print sector, like elsewhere in print."
The steep competition in the category has not deterred many publishers from launching new magazines or expanding their publishing schedules this year, however.
For instance, Hero will publish its first-ever wedding guide for gay men in August, which "is expected to be a sellout," says Paul Horne, Hero's editorial director.
The magazine has an advertising and content-sharing partnership with the online gay Web site Gay.com, which he says has helped boost its circulation. Hero's advertisers include such mainstream advertisers as United Airlines, Merck & Co., Prudential Securities and Kraft Foods.
Also, Empire, a free New York area glossy magazine targeting upscale gay men, launched this spring. Based on its positive reception, Empire expects to become a quarterly, says Matthew Bank, publisher of Two Queens, which has produced the free weekly New York newspaper HX since 1991.
Instinct, unaudited so far, is printing 60,000 copies each month, and advertising revenues have increased more than 25% over last year, says Publisher J.R. Pratts, who launched the magazine in late 1997 in Studio City, Calif.
"Everyone told us there was no room for more magazines, but we found a niche by being a little more fun, more risque. We're the Maxim of gay men's magazines," he says. Instinct will visit 23 cities this summer in a grass-roots subscription promotion, he adds.
Another newcomer is Alternative Family, an Oak Park, Ill.-based magazine that targets gay and lesbian parents and claims a 75% female readership. The unaudited magazine, which publishes every other month, refuses all alcohol and tobacco ads. Advertisers include Subaru of America; Mitchell Gold, a New York-based furniture company; and Working Assets Long Distance, says Publisher Paul Obis. The magazine claims 12,000 subscribers.
"There are between 2 [million] and 5 million gay parents in the U.S., and this number is expected to grow," Mr. Obis says. "Household income of readers is $92,000, which should be a sought-after market for advertisers."
Advertisers, including R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Anheuser-Busch, Miller Brewing Co., AT&T Corp., Subaru and Olivia Travel, continue to be pillars for national gay magazines, while dot-com companies advertising gay-targeted Web sites are a growing ad category along with technology and men's fashion.
U.S. automotive advertisers, including General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co., continue to be elusive for most national gay magazines.
"You'd think that women don't buy cars in America to talk to some of the U.S. car manufacturers," says Heather Findlay, publisher of one of the nation's two leading lesbian-targeted magazines -- Girlfriends, a San Francisco-based monthly. "Gay women are just as successful and loyal as gay men, but many advertisers have been slow to recognize their power."
FORMERLY CALLED `DENEUVE'
Advertising revenue at crosstown rival Curve (known as Deneuve until a lawsuit forced a name change in 1996) increased 18% last year, says Publisher Frances Stevens, citing "alcohol, travel and gay Web sites" as the biggest advertisers for the eight-times-a-year magazine. She says the magazine, which is unaudited, prints 75,000 copies with each press run.
"We see a lot of potential for more advertising and circulation as our brand becomes more widely known because we offer a tremendous value for advertisers and readers," Ms. Stevens says.
While gay magazines have mushroomed, several titles have folded over the last couple of years. Examples include B1G2, a monthly for gay African-Americans; the national monthly gay men's magazine Alex; San Francisco's gay men's entertainment-scene magazine Cream Puff, and HX for Her, Two Queens' attempt to create a free weekly for lesbians. The newspaper failed due to lack of interest from advertisers, despite a passionate following among readers, Mr. Bank says.
The fact that many of the newer gay magazines aren't audited rankles existing, audited publications. "A lot of these smaller magazines and start-ups don't really have the numbers they claim," says Doug Shingleton, associate publisher of New York-based Genre, a monthly launched in 1991 with a circulation of 43,713, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
GAY WEB SITES
Despite the fact that gay-targeted Web sites are indirectly creating more competition by vying for advertisers' gay media dollars, the growth of gay Web sites are proving to be a good thing for gay magazines, say publishers.
Most gay magazine publishers have established their own Web sites that serve as thriving channels for driving subscriptions and offering alternative content.
Earlier this year, PlanetOut acquired The Advocate and Out. Now, the ad sales forces of Advocate, with a circulation of 88,000 and a political and issue focus, and Out, with a circulation of 115,000 and an emphasis on lifestyle and travel, are approaching advertisers as "a consolidated force, rather than going up against each other," says Joe Landry, publisher of both magazines.
Ms. Findlay says she has received offers by more than one dot-com company to acquire Girlfriends, which claims an unaudited circulation of 32,000. The company prefers to remain independent, she says.
Similarly, Mr. Horne and his partner, Hero Publisher Sam Francis, say gay media companies have indicated they might want to acquire Hero, but the executives want "to remain independent for now.
"PlanetOut now owns the two largest gay magazines, and everyone's wondering if they're all going to cross-pollinate until they become a singular voice," Mr. Horne says. "It will be interesting to watch how [Out and Advocate] reinvent themselves under new management."
Free local and regional publications are thriving in many markets, partly due to support from national advertisers such as Miller and RJR.
In an effort to increase advertiser reach, 85,000-circ MetroSource, a New York-based quarterly distributed free in that city, last fall launched a $4.95 national version.
One example of the boom in regional publications is QSF, which started in 1995 as a San Francisco-based listings monthly. In the last year, the magazine has moved into gay bookstores in New York, Miami and Chicago. Publisher Don Tuthill attributes the magazine's success to high-quality content that interests people outside its home area.
The magazine's experience also suggests there is room for success for dual-gender gay magazines, since QSF provides a wide array of entertainment options. "We have about 23% women among our readers, and we think there's a lot of room to grow with them with a single product," Mr. Tuthill says.
This fall QSF plans to launch a travel magazine called Passport, and its Web site (qsanfrancisco.com) is thriving as an annex for more "perishable content," such as film and entertainment reviews, he says.


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Unity has added Vivox to its holdings, today announcing that it has acquired the maker of in-game voice-and-text communication technology.
While Vivox will be a wholly owned subsidiary of the engine maker, Unity has said the outfit will continue to operate independently. Additionally, the existing Vivox staff including founder and CEO Rob Seaver will stay on with Unity as the division continues to operate out of Framingham, Massachusetts.
"It has always been our mission to provide game developers the easiest communications services for their games, regardless of platform, scale, or size," Seaver said. "Unity touches more than 3 billion devices worldwide and over half of all mobile games are made on Unity, which means our partnership gives developers across the globe an easy entry point into building the creation of their dreams. We're thrilled to become part of the Unity team."
Vivox was founded in 2005. The company says its technology has more than 100 million monthly active users, and has been integrated into more than 125 games, including hits like Fortnite, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, League of Legends, and World of Tanks.


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As part of 'Brand India Campaign' to counter the multinational companies' (MNCs) propaganda against the Indian generic drugs in the African countries, Union Commerce Ministry will organize an 'Indo-Africa Pharma Business Meet' at Hyderabad from September 17 to 19.
A 32-member Indian trade delegation, headed by senior commerce ministry officials, is currently visiting South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana and Zambia as part of this campaign.
A large number of importers, buyers and drug regulatory officials from various African countries have been invited by the ministry to attend the meeting which will be another attempt by the Indian government to allay any fears among the African countries about the quality of Indian generic drugs.
Pharmexcil executive director Dr P V Appaji said that 70 to 80 delegates from major African countries like South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Benin, Guinea, Libya, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia etc. will be invited for this brand building exercise.
The brand building campaign will be part of the Indian government's aggressive campaign against the MNCs' propaganda against generic drugs in the African countries. The meeting will be a major platform for the Indian pharma industry and the government to allay any fears among the African countries about the quality of Indian generic drugs.
The total imports of drugs and pharmaceuticals of African Region is around US$ 5,000 mn and India's share is 20.66 per cent with about US$1,005 mn of exports in 2007-08. There exists a huge potential for the Indian pharma exporters to enhance their export performance to African countries, Dr Appaji said.
There will be technical sessions during the three-day meeting, where drug regulatory officials of various African countries will make presentations on drug regulatory systems in their respective countries. Emphasis will be on one-to-one meetings with the buyers. Besides, plant visits will also be organized for the drug regulatory authorities of various African countries.
Exhibition will also be organized by the Indian pharma exporters, to showcase the strength and quality of Indian generic drugs.
Main objective of the Indian government's aggressive 'Brand India Campaign' is to desist the African countries from introducing laws in their countries under which the generic drugs will be treated as counterfeit drugs. Under the influence of the MNCs propaganda, some African countries like Kenya and Uganda had recently come out with draft Bills under which even generic drugs will be classified as counterfeit drugs. India is concerned over the development because of the fact that apart from Kenya and Uganda, other African countries are also intending to follow suit which will put the Indian pharma industry in great trouble as Indian companies are the major exporters of generic drugs to several African countries.


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Posts Tagged «console gaming»
The EFF, ESA go to war over abandonware, multiplayer gaming rights April 9, 2015 at 4:55 pm
The EFF and ESA have filed opposing claims with the Library of Congress over the future of multiplayer gaming support. The EFF wants players to have the right to support games after the online servers go dark. The ESA doesn’t.
AMD’s Mantle benchmarked: The biggest innovation in gaming since DirectX 9 February 3, 2014 at 7:36 am
AMD’s Mantle is finally ready to break cover and we’ve got got performance figures to cover a range of scenarios, from multi-GPU configurations to ultra-mobile devices. Is this the leverage AMD has needed to break free from Intel and Nvidia?
Can Valve make the Steam Box affordable? March 12, 2013 at 10:30 am
Back in January at CES 2013, the world got a good look at a prototype of Valve’s upcoming Steam Box. The little cube PC, created by manufacturer Xi3, is essentially a PC gaming rig with modern specs, but aimed at the living room. However, as the pre-orders begin at $999, it seems unlikely that Valve can offer a powerful Steam Box at a console price.


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PSFK’s professional-grade research platform, featuring access to our full-report library and on-demand research services.Take me to PSFK iQ
Laura Jones, product marketing manager for Google Shopping, spoke at PSFK’s launch event for our Future of Retail Report about the Google Hangout she spearheaded with legendary fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg. By tapping into the joy of shopping in the real world, Jones says, she was able to replicate the same feelings online:
We’re looking to the real world and online and thinking about how to build a cross-platform experience that draws inspiration from the simplicity and fun of real-world shopping, but uses technology to dramatically enhance that.
Learn more about PSFK's Future of Retail report here.
Video kindly sponsored by Revel Systems.


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Evansville Native and Fashion Designer Halston in the Spotlight
In today's edition of "Did you know?" one of America's most famous fashion designers grew up in the Tri-State. He is also back in the spotlight thanks to a new limited series now streaming on Netflix. Yes, Halston lived in Evansville when he was a kid.


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Gurnaphics Card: NVIDIA's Face Works
Faces are everywhere in games. NVIDIA noticed this and has been on a 20-year odyssey to make faces more facey and less unfacey (while making boobs less booby, if you'll remember the elf-lady Dawn). Every few years they push out more facey and less unfacey face tech and make it gurn for our fetishistic graphicsface pleasure. Last night at NVIDIA's GPU Technology Conference, NVIDIA founder Jen-Hsun Huang showed off Face Works, the latest iteration. Want to see how less unfacey games faces can be?
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Sports Direct appear to have jumped the gun by selling the new West Ham 2016/2017 home shirt a full twenty fours before a big launch by the club at the new club store in Stratford.
West Ham fan, Cameron Green from Southend posted images on twitter this afternoon showing Sports Direct selling the home shirt for £44.99, a full tenner cheaper than the Official club website and shop.
The Hammers are planning a big launch event tomorrow at 7pm at the new club store outside the former Olympic Stadium. A number of first team players are expected to attend along side five hundred invited supporters with the whole event will be broadcast live on West Ham’s youtube channel. It appears that Newcastle owner Mike Ashley has spoilt some of the wow factor of tomorrow’s big reveal.
Never let it be said that Mike Ashley doesn’t continue to live up to his reputation as a utter turniphead (I use the term because I’m not supposed to say anything rude on here)
This “person” Ashley needs to be hung,drawn and quartered,very slowly.I’m glad Newcastle are in the Championship because Sullivan and Gold facing him could turn very ugly!
West hams own fault for releasing a product to a competetor (especially mike ashley!) before releasing it themselves. What a pair of plonkers.


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Tag "droid fighter"
We first caught wind of the Droid Fighter back in February, in a leaked Verizon inventory shot. Obviously we’re past the rumored April 12th launch date, but there’s still some credibility
Recently, a Motorola device was leaked under the name Droid Fighter, which we expect will be hitting Verizon sooner or later. Now another Motorola device has been leaked out somewhere in
A new Motorola handset found its way onto the internet yesterday and reports peg this unannounced smartphone as the Droid Fighter. Expected to hit Verizon in mid-April, the device looks
Two of Verizon’s upcoming spring handsets have been leaked online, giving us a pair of new Android smartphones to look forward to seeing. Thanks to the guys at Droid Life we now


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For the past few years, we’ve been constantly hearing rumors that Xiaomi – a Chinese OEM that’s very popular in Asia – plans to bring its sleek yet affordable smartphones to the US.
Back in April, Xiaomi’s new global chief Wang Xiang, said in an interview following the Mi 6 flagship’s launch, that the company’s phones are bound to make it into the US in two years, if not sooner.
But many people remained skeptical. After all, last year former Xiaomi executive Hugo Barra made a similar statements in 2016, saying that the company has plans to enter the US in the near future. And even as Xiaomi made its first appearance at the CES trade show earlier this year in Las Vegas, it wasn’t to launch any smartphones. Instead, the company unveiled a China-only white color variant of the Mi MIX phablet, as well as a TV and a router.
Well, a new report coming out of Bloomberg today reveals that like Huawei, Xiaomi is also in talks with two US carries about selling their products on the US market. The unnamed sources revealed that both Chinese companies are currently in the process of negotiating with Verizon and AT&T, among others. However, discussions are still fluid, so there is a big chance nothing will materialize in the end.
Xiaomi has been skittish about entering the US smartphone market and with good reason. The majority of Americans haven’t heard of Xiaomi. On top of that, the company’s model of selling its phones directly through its website wouldn’t translate well in the US, where most customers buy a phone through a carrier.
That’s why Xiaomi needs to strike a deal with one or more of the country’s largest carriers. But bringing a device to their network usually implies customization and tedious testing, and that’s something Xiaomi has been reluctant to do so far. But if the information brought us by Bloomberg is correct, Xiaomi seems to have seized a window of opportunity.
Xiaomi says it hasn’t rushed into the US is that it doesn’t want to disappoint the fans it does have there. So if the company does make it stateside in 2018, expect a slower start with middle-range devices such as the Mi 5X arriving first on the market, hopefully, followed by flagships like the upcoming Mi 7.
Xiaomi wouldn’t be the first Chinese company trying to penetrate the competitive smartphone market. ZTE, for example, managed to do quite well for itself. The smartphone maker is selling its Axon M smartphone through AT&T and has a number of other lower-end devices available through carriers like T-Mobile and Verizon.


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Connectivity has always been at the core of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. Whether tapping a local ethernet connection for Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) monitoring or deploying gateways and backhauling data over a cellular network, connectivity starts the IoT solution journey.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is humanity’s new frontier. Often viewed as the next wave of human evolution, AI has now officially taken center stage after enduring years of policy, technological, and investment setbacks that led to multiple AI winters. However, with the increasing inclusion of AI in our daily lives, humanity is concerned with major ethical issues brought by this development, as demonstrated by the dispute over the use of facial recognition technologies in public security in China,
The COVID-19 pandemic has produced a chain of events unlike anything we have seen in our lifetimes. Our daily routines have been flooded with uncertainty, both at home and at work. This has resulted in questions about the future state of our global economy.
TechCrunch | Jan. 21, 2022, 4:15 p.m.
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The tech giant says the complaint fails to offer "plausible antitrust claims."Read Full Article
The Verge | Jan. 21, 2022, 3:36 p.m.
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge When a pop-cultural icon like Ozzy Osbourne announces an NFT collection, you can count on the project getting publicity. The launch of the “CryptoBatz” collection, a series of 9,666 digital bats, received coverage in outlets like Billboard, Rolling Stone, NME, Hypebeast, and Business Insider, among others.But just two days after the tokens were minted, supporters are being targeted by a phishing scam that drains cryptocurrency from their wallets, playing off a bad link shared by the project’s official Twitter account.Like the majority of NFT projects, CryptoBatz uses Discord as a place to organize its community. The official CryptoBatz Discord is now accessed through the short link discord.gg/cryptobatz. But previously, the project used a slightly different vanity URL at discord.gg/cryptobatznft.When the project switched to the new URL, scammers set up a fake Discord server at the old one. But neither CryptoBatz nor Ozzy Osbourne took the precaution of deleting tweets referencing the previous URL, meaning that old tweets from Osbourne himself were left directing followers to a server now controlled by scammers. One tweet from CryptoBatz, posted on December 31st, 2021, received more than 4,000 retweets and hundreds of replies. The tweet was only removed on January 21st after CryptoBatz was contacted by The Verge. On clicking the scam link, the invite panel for the fake Discord showed the total number of members as 1,330, an indication of the number of people who could potentially have been fooled by the scam.Inside the server, a bot spoofing community management service Collab Land asked users to verify their crypto assets to participate in the server — but directed users to a phishing site where they were prompted to connect their cryptocurrency wallets.A representative of Collab Land declined to comment. Tim Silman, a nonprofit employee, is one person who lost money through the scam. Silman estimates that around $300–400 in ETH was drained from his wallet after he visited the fake Discord server through a link posted on the CryptoBatz website.“I’ve seen at least a dozen people on Twitter voicing this same issue,” Silman told The Verge. “If you look at the transactions on Etherscan, others lost a lot more than me.”An Ethereum wallet address Silman indicated was linked to the scammers had received a series of incoming transactions totaling 14.6 ETH ($40,895) on January 20th and sent it onwards to a wallet containing more than $150,000.The project had been slow to remove the bad links, even when informed, Silman said.“I tagged them a few times in various tweets, as have a few other people, but no response,” he said. “This is an expensive lesson, I suppose.”Even as the fake link remained present in a prominent tweet, the CryptoBatz project continued to hype the public token mint. As of January 21st, CryptoBatz NFTs were being resold on OpenSea for around 1.8 ETH ($5,046).“This is an expensive lesson I suppose”Asked whether the project should accept responsibility for leaving the old link online, Sutter Systems, developers of the CryptoBatz NFT, laid blame for the scam squarely with Discord. In an email statement to The Verge, Sutter Systems co-founder “Jepeggi” emphasized that the compromise was only possible because of the easy setup and maintenance of the scam Discord instance.“Although we feel very sorry for the people that have fallen prey to these scams, we cannot take responsibility for the actions of scammers exploiting Discord — a platform that we have absolutely no control over,” Jepeggi said. “In our opinion this situation and hundreds of others that have taken place across other projects in the NFT space could have easily been prevented if Discord just had a better response/support/fraud team in place to help big projects like ours.”Discord said that it was aware of the incident and in contact with the affected team.“Our Trust & Safety team is in touch with the server owners and are investigating the incident,” said Peter Day, senior manager for corporate communications at Discord. “Our team takes action when we become aware of attacks like this one, including banning users and shutting down servers.”Read Full Article
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Most anyone who’s moved to a new apartment has had the same experience: whatever broadband provider everyone else in the building has, you have. This kind of lock-in could become less common if a new proposal from the FCC is adopted, preventing revenue-sharing between providers and building owners and opening the door to competitors. It’s […]Read Full Article
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From Being the Ricardos to Sound of Metal, these are the movies to commit an evening to.Read Full Article
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The Information | Jan. 21, 2022, 3 p.m.
Birds chirp and wind rustles through leaves—the sounds of early fall.“Man, it’s beautiful out here,” remarks a deep, crackly male voice. “All the trees, the green. The leaves are just starting to turn colors.“What are you looking at me like that for?” he continues, chuckling. “No, I know that look. You are up to something naughty.“Whoa, whoa, hang on,” he says with mock resignation. “There are people over by the edge of the lake. You don’t think they’re going to see us?”The birds continue to sing. Leaves crinkle.“Wow, OK.” The voice deepens. “If you want to.”I hit pause on this audio narration and take a deep breath, glancing over at my officemates in The Information’s New York newsroom. I hope nobody can see me blushing, as I stream the audio clip “On the Lake” on Quinn, the three-year-old audio erotica app founded by Caroline Spiegel, a 24-year-old Stanford University dropout and the younger sister of Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel.The mystery man I’m listening to goes by the name of Bad Influence, and he is one of Quinn’s most popular creators. In real life, B.I., as I’ll call him, lives in Brooklyn, working behind the camera in the (traditional) film industry. He stumbled across the world of audio porn through an open casting call, and is now one of Quinn’s most popular creators. His top episode, a 10-minute steamy reunion called “Rough Return,” has been played over 33,000 times.While some of B.I.’s relatives and close friends know about his career as an audio porn performer, he prefers to keep an air of mystery around his actual identity. “I think that sometimes it’s better for my listeners to imagine me exactly how they’d like,” he says.Read Full Article
The Information | Jan. 21, 2022, 3 p.m.
This is Parentverse, The Information Weekend’s advice column for tech-savvy parents. Email us your questions at email@example.com. Or, if you don’t mind sharing them with your fellow subscribers, post them in the comments below.Dear Parentverse: My 8-year-old loves the game Animal Crossing, and she keeps pestering me about getting her these cards that unlock characters in the game. I have no idea what she is talking about, and when I Googled, all I found were links to something called amiibos that seem like non-fungible tokens for kids. I honestly don’t know what to think. What is an amiibo card, and is it something I should worry about her playing with? Is she trying to become an NFT collector?—Feeling Old in ConnecticutRead Full Article
The Information | Jan. 21, 2022, 3 p.m.
TJ Keasal has been dressing up her videogame characters in new-release Nikes and Adidas since she was in middle school. Long before Fortnite let players outfit their avatars, Keasal, a 32-year-old Michigan native, would win tokens in games like NBA Live and use them to upgrade her players’ on-court style with whatever was hottest at the time, be it Air Jordan 11s or Kobe Bryant Crazy 8s.So when she started seeing chatter on sneakerhead Twitter that people were buying sneaker non-fungible tokens and displaying them as profile pictures on their social media pages, a sense of familiarity kicked in. “Back in the day, we didn’t think of them as NFTs,” said Keasal, who doles out advice on how to build a sneaker collection to her 28,000 YouTube subscribers. But “if we’re into these brands in real life, we’re going to be into them in Web3.”That is the theory, at least, behind major shoe brands’ recent moves into the metaverse. Last month, Nike acquired RTFKT, which creates, sells and stores virtual goods, for an undisclosed sum. Four days later, Adidas dropped 30,000 NFTs in a four-way collaboration with crypto stars Bored Ape Yacht Club, Punks Comic and Gmoney. The NFTs featured avatars of each collaborator decked out in Adidas apparel and the brand’s original shell-toe Superstars. This month, sneaker resale site StockX announced its own digital goods marketplace, Vault NFTs, which lets users buy a digital version of a limited edition sneaker (although there is heated debate on sneaker sites about how these transactions will actually work).Read Full Article


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The Managing Director (MD) of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Samuel Dubik Mahama, has acknowledged that the company faces operational challenges due to inadequate funds.
Recent power outages have affected parts of Accra and other regions, but Mr Mahama attributes them to maintenance issues rather than fuel-related problems.
He says the company is diligently working to resolve these challenges and restore power to affected areas.
In an interview on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, Mr Mahama expressed concern about the payment rate by electricity consumers and mentioned that the ECG actively mostly had to pursue consumers to pay their bills.
He told Selorm Adonoo on Friday “It’s true. ECG is not operating at this top level because we are not getting the requisite funds, especially from our customers.
“The rate at which we are expecting customers to be honest enough to pay for the electricity they consume it is not it’s not what we get. We have to always go out there and put the requisite manpower that we’re doing something else towards collecting.”
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22 October 2016, USA :
Finally the moment that everyone was waiting for has arrived, WhatsApp has started testing Video Calling on Windows phone for now. It’s still in beta version, but soon we’ll get to see that come into the latest update.
The Windows Phone users can update their app to see the feature getting available, but remember, the call receiver on the other end also needs to be on the Windows Phone OS, otherwise the video call won’t go through.
However, the video calling feature is yet to roll out on Android or iOS-based phones. As per reports the features will follow on these devices soon, but its unclear on any timeline.
As one clicks on the call button, on the windows phone, both Video and Voice call options appear. You can even mute or swap between the front and rear cameras during the video call.
There are lots of interesting things coming up in the latest update. A recent WhatsApp update added several new camera features for the user, reports the Independent. These new features allows a user to add emoji to the images. The update also brings a new way to add a user to group conversations and some Snapchat-like features lined up as well.
Spanish website was the first to report about the WhatsApp video calling feature. Source/Image- OneWindows.es


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RIGA - After two years of poor harvests, farmers can finally breath a sigh of relief, as not only the grain harvest is expected to be good this year, but also the fruit and berry harvest, the head of Latvian Council for Cooperation of Agriculturalist Organizations (LOSP) Edgars Treibergs told LETA.
''After two very bad years, it looks like the harvest will be a good one this year. Farmers can breath a sigh of relief,'' he said.
At the same time, he added that the situation can differ in the regions - one farm might have a better harvest, another a poorer harvest. ''It is very important to have at least an average harvest this year, because it would be very difficult for farmers to endure three poor harvests in a row,'' he added.
But he admitted that the purchase price for milk in Latvia remains lower than in other EU countries.
Commenting the discussions process on the EU's next multi-annual budget, Treibergs said that he remains optimistic. ''We are among the four countries where direct payments will not be lowered, but instead there will be an increase. Also important is funding for rural development, and it would be good if this stays at least at the current level. But we will see,'' Treibergs said.


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NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Stryker SYK, +2.04% is up more than 2 percent to $72.99, pulling back a 52-week high of $74.01. After Tuesday's closing bell, the Kalamazoo, Mich., medical device firm reported second-quarter earnings of $107.5 million, or 53 cents per share, up from its year-ago profit of $85.9 million, or 42 cents per share, and 2 cents ahead of the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson First Call. Sales jumped 22 percent in the latest three months to $891.7 million from $733.9 million in the same period a year earlier. The top-line increase was spurred by a leap of 26 percent in sales of orthopaedic implants, especially reconstructive (which includes hips, knees and shoulders), trauma and spinal products.
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Japanese express freight carrier Galaxy Airlines has confirmed it will halt all operations as a result of growing losses.
Parent company Sagawa Express says in a statement that flight operations will be suspended in October, two years after the carrier started flying. Galaxy operates on domestic routes using two Airbus A300-600 freighters.
Sagawa says in its statement that Galaxy has recorded sizeable losses since it started operating in 2006 and it has large debts. It says it and other shareholders discussed a recapitalisation but no deal could be reached.
Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport was formally informed of the planned suspension of operations today. A Japanese news agency first reported on the plans yesterday.
In addition to majority owner Sagawa, which is an express parcel delivery and logistics company, Galaxy has several minority shareholders including codeshare partner Japan Airlines (JAL). JAL owns 10% and codeshares on Galaxy’s services.
Galaxy operates its two A300-600Fs on four domestic routes, namely Osaka-Sapporo, Tokyo-Sapporo, Tokyo-Kitakyushu and Tokyo-Naha.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news


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Australia issues interim agchem sales
Australian pesticide sales amounted to at least Aus$2,282.4 million (US$2,089.6 million at the current rate) in the 12 months to June 30th 2013. Herbicides accounted for over half (55.2%) of total sales at Aus$1,258.8 million (US$1,152.5 million). Insecticides and fungicides followed with Aus$348.6 million (US$319.2 million) and Aus$169.6 million (US$155.3 million), respectively. The interim figures released by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) cover sales declarations received by November 29th 2013 and account for 98.8% of products. The APVMA expects to issue final sales figures for fiscal 2013 in March 2014. Total pesticide sales for fiscal 2012 amounted to Aus$2,474.2 million (US$2,265.2 million - Agrow No 658, p 16).


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Amazon Web Services recently launched a new service namely AWS CloudHSM. This service will help you meet regulatory, contractual and corporate compliance requirements for data security within the AWS cloud environment with the help of dedicated Hardware Security Module (HSM) appliances. The AWS CloudHSM service works in collaboration with the Amazon VPC (Virtual Private Cloud).
Amazon RDS has reduced the prices on its Single-AZ and Multi-AZ deployments, globally. Not only this, Amazon RDS has also launched a series of new features which were described later in their announcement. Amazon also announced that they have reduced the charges on Reserved Instances as well. For existent customers the whole on demand usage for customers will now automatically be charged at the new lower rates.
Google is going to step into another acquisition venture by acquiring Waze Ltd. for $1.3 billion. Waze is an Israel based navigation and traffic app. This app serves around 50 million users. This deal will be extremely monetarily beneficial for some of the Waze founders. The officials from both the parties are not yet willing to comment on this big deal.
Amazon RDS is a web service that allows web users to easily set up, operate, and scale a relational database in the Cloud. Its use in the web development sector has been highly praised as it provides DevOps the ability to seamlessly Holster Big Data into the Amazon Cloud, without worrying about storage limitations andContinue Reading
Flexible workplace IT regulations like BYOD (bring your own device) and remote working leads to high employee retention as reported by Deloitte. The shortage of skills in Australia is believed to be very real by Deloitte. This Google commissioned report also reveals that workers in this era prefer perks over pay.
Vietnam Mobile Telecom Services Company (VMS) has signed a collaborative agreement with IBM last week, with an aim to implement an end-to-end mobile solution using the cloud computing technology, particularly for VMS MobiFone subscribers. MobiFone is the name of the brand of VMS that offers mobile phone services to more than 40mn subscribers.
Amazon Redshift continues to expand its network by recently entering into the Asia Pacific (Tokyo) Region. Amazon Redshift is a product from AWS that offers a fully managed, speedy, petabyte-scale data warehousing service. Amazon Redshift has been gaining enormous popularity among its customers since its launch in February 2013.
Web performance optimization is the process by which any website improves its visibility on search engines and its overall performance. However, the term has been interchangeably used with the individual aspects of online marketing such as SEO, SEM, and SMO etc. This is more because the previous conception about Web performance optimization was only limitedContinue Reading
The tech giant IBM to buy the biggest privately held cloud computing infrastructure provider, SoftLayer Technologies Inc. This deal will augment the cloud services adoption by businesses all over the world. SoftLayer is a renowned name offering technology startups to its corporate customers. IBM will earn some huge profits with its cloud service offerings.
Are you among those people who don’t backup their personal and confidential data on a regular basis? If yes, then it’s high time to get it done before you are left with empty hands and wiped off hard drives. If you are running your business in the UK region, then the best solution to secureContinue Reading


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In the final keynote of The Deal Economy Conference, Vitamin Shoppe Inc.’s (VS) general counsel and corporate secretary, David Kastin, said that while the company’s soon-to-be parent company is on the hunt, Vitamin Shoppe itself will focus on organic growth.
Kastin told the audience on Wednesday, Nov. 20, that Vitamin Shoppe’s plans include focusing on building communities around its nearly 800 brick-and-mortar locations and customization practices.
“The biggest thing now is personalization,” said Kastin.
Though Secaucus, N.J.-based Vitamin Shoppe has previously done deals as recently as 2014, the company plans to focus on organic growth, he said. To that end, the company launched its Only Me personalized supplements service on Sept. 9.
Kastin also noted that, for Vitamin Shoppe, there’s a connection between brick-and-mortar and e-commerce, as locations connect the company to a community.
Additionally, Kastin offered color surrounding the company’s in-process sale to Franchise Group Inc., which was announced in August. The vitamin retailer is set to be acquired for $208 million by Franchise Group, formerly Liberty Tax Inc., in a deal that is anticipated to close by Dec. 16.
The transaction is a result of a 2018 activist campaign by Vintage Capital Management LLC and Shah Capital Management Inc., which together owned a more than 30% stake in the company and won a total of 5 seats on the 10-person board without a proxy fight.
Brian Kahn-led Vintage owns Franchise Group, in addition to the firm’s involvement in Vitamin Shoppe.
Kastin described the company’s settlement with Vintage and Shah as rooted in a desire to “keep an eye on the ball.”
“A lot of capital in the company would go into a proxy fight,” he said.
Looking forward, though Vitamin Shoppe is not considering deals, Franchise Group, which already has acquired three other companies in about the last year, is in the market for M&A, Kastin confirmed.
Back in June, The Deal learned that Vintage is interested in buying Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. (RRGB) instead of completing a previously-launched director fight at the restaurant chain.
Editor’s note: The original version of this article was published earlier on The Deal’s premium subscription website. For access, log in to TheDeal.com or use the form below to request a free trial.
If you’re already a subscriber, log in to view this article here.


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Panasonic Is Apparently Constructing a New Factory in Kansas to Manufacture Batteries for Tesla and the Rest of the EV Industry
Panasonic Energy, a major Tesla supplier, announced on Wednesday that it has chosen Kansas as the location for a new battery plant, an investment of up to $4 billion (550.6 billion), and the creation of up to 4,000 new jobs.
The move comes after Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed the company has trouble increasing output due to problems with ramping up production of its own batteries. He said that the new Tesla factories in Texas and Berlin are “gigantic money furnaces” that are losing billions of dollars.
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Panasonic Is Constructing a New Factory in Kansas
Panasonic plans to construct a plant in De Soto, Kansas, to increase output for electric vehicles and pursue improvements in battery power and performance.
In addition to their Nevada factory, the Japanese company also has one in California, where they supply Tesla.
After Kansas Governor Laura Kelly successfully lobbied the state legislature earlier this year to pass an incentive package worth up to $1 billion, Panasonic Energy, a subsidiary of Panasonic Holdings Corp., chose Kansas over Oklahoma as the site for the facility.
After Panasonic has finished investing and recruiting, the Kansas Department of Commerce said in a statement that the state would compensate Panasonic with anticipated subsidies of $829 million.
Kansas predicted the plant’s $2.5 billion in yearly economic activity would offset the state’s greatest development subsidy package.
A state official said that Panasonic’s board needed to approve the job creation and investment goals that had previously been announced. An official from Panasonic stated that no determinations had been made regarding the new plant’s production capacity, investment amount, or workforce size.
By 2029, Panasonic expects to boost battery production capacity by three to four times, with most of the increase in North America.
The 4680 model is a more powerful and larger battery that Panasonic is working to sell to Tesla, with production set to begin in Japan.
The Oklahoma Department of Commerce released a statement in which it expressed “optimism for additional prospects” to attract investment from Panasonic.
“With the increased electrification of the automotive market, expanding battery production in the United States is critical to help meet demand,” Panasonic Energy President Kazuo Tadanobu said in a statement.
Musk has called on suppliers to increase battery output, saying that it will be “the limiting factor” in increasing car production in the next two to three years.
US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel told reporters on Thursday that the decision between building the facility in Kansas or Oklahoma came “down to the wire” three weeks ago.
Musk’s Tesla is not the only company that will benefit from the plant’s research into next-generation batteries, which Emanuel says will be its primary focus.
According to Emanuel, the agreement was finalized after President Joe Biden met with Panasonic executives during his trip to Japan in May.
“This is a big move for traditionally conservative Panasonic. (South) Korean battery makers — LG and SK — have led this global battery arms race in the USA,” Simon Moores, chief executive of battery research firm Benchmark, posted on Twitter.
“Critical minerals mine and refining capacity will need to be established (to) feed what will be a new Panasonic super-site.”
To accommodate the anticipated increase in demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and to lessen exposure to supply chain risks associated with China’s manufacturing sector, other battery manufacturers have announced investments in U.S. manufacturing or begun negotiations with state officials in recent months.
South Korean battery manufacturers have revealed investment intentions of $5.5 billion in U.S. plants this year.
People familiar with the matter have indicated that China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd (CATL) ‘s main global battery supplier, has also been scouting locations in the United States.
I hope you found the information presented above to be of use. You can also look through our news section, where we normally cover all of the most recent news and happenings around the world. Visit our website if you’d like to learn more about this topic.


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Steve Jobs dreams about "freedom from porn," but there are some who actually enjoy naughty content. A few of them even decided to demonstrate their disagreement with Jobs' squeaky clean vision by dirtying up iPad ads in Berlin, Germany.
Ad-busting, as these folks are calling it, isn't exactly a new practice. It's a term that can be applied to various modifications of logos or ads—be to share an agenda or to amuse.
Here's a closer look at the iPad ad pictured above so that you can see what the cheeky Germans did:
Seems that the slight vandalism was intended to send a message of some kind, no? Either that or someone just wanted to give little old ladies walking through train stations a reason to gasp and shout that we should think of the children. [Osterhoff via Rebellen via Nerdcore]


text: Online payments specialist Corillian posted a 16% increase in fourth quarter revenues to $13.8 million. Net loss for the quarter was $39,000, compared to a net loss of $60,000 for the prior quarter. During the quarter Corillian acquired nine new customers, including six online banking and bill payment customers and sold upgrades and additional products to several existing customers, including products it began selling in August with the close of the InteliData and qbt acquisitions. Wachovia recently converted to the Corillian “Voyager” platform and “Consumer Banking” application. For complete details on Corillian’s fourth quarter results, visit CardData ([www.carddata.com]).


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Rafael Nadal takes new Kia pro_cee’d GT and Kia Sorento keys
Kia Motors and tennis are almost synonymous when it comes to Australian Open. The automaker is a major sponsor of the Australian Open until 2018. Kia also sponsors the Davis Cup. Their tennis association extends to players too having signed Andre Agassi as brand ambassador in the previous decade for the company’s corporate advertising campaign.
After the customary photo op, Rafa drove his new car, and in his words, ‘I could drive it and I had a great experience!’ In the run up to Wimbledon, 24th June – 7th July, Rafael Nadal was seen taking keys to a Kia Sorento. For the games this year, Nadal is seeded 5th, and Djokovic 1st. Andy Murray is seeded 2nd, Federer 3rd, and David Ferrer 4th. UPDATE: In a shock defeat, Steve Darcis won over Rafal Nadal in the 1st round of Wimbledon 2013.
Email - [email protected]


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Electric Cars: Often Expensive, But So What?
One of the criticisms that’s often thrown at the nascent electric vehicle (EV) industry is that in a few notable cases—think Tesla and Fisker—the cars being offered and/or developed are either comparatively impractical and/or expensive.
On Monday, Li-ion Motors, which won the Progressive Automotive X-Prize in the Side-by-Side Alternative Class for its Wave II EV this past September (a $2.5-million win, by the way), unveiled the INIZIO, which the company is describing as “the world’s first all American-made, fully electric, emission-free ‘supercar.’” It has a 145-kW electric motor that provides a 0 to 60 mph time of 3.4 seconds. It has a lithium-ion battery pack, regenerative braking, and an energy management system that provides the possibility of going 250 miles on a single charge—although one can only imagine that mashing the accelerator frequently would have a range-reducing effect, as is the case with gasoline-powered cars. The car can be fully charged in about eight hours on a 220-v outlet.
The car’s doors rotate up 90-degrees, and ingress and egress are facilitated by a hydraulic lift system that raises the car three inches. There is a digital sound system, high-definition cameras that contribute to a 360-degree view around the car, and a number of other amenities.
The car, which is to launch mid-2011, starts at $139,000.
Can’t you hear the criticism?
One thing seems to be lost. Although Henry Ford certainly put the world on wheels with affordable transportation, if you consider the early years of the auto industry—and even some of the not-so-early years—it is evident that a lot of design and technological development occurred in vehicles that were not accessible to the common driver. Spend some time at places like the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, Indiana, and you’ll see some truly magnificent vehicles that pushed boundaries—and emptied bank accounts.
Cars like the INIZIO should be celebrated as they’ll help push the technology to a place where we can all afford it.
Although the term “continuous improvement” is generally associated with another company, Honda is certainly pursuing that approach, as is evidenced by the Accord, which is now in its ninth generation.
The engineers at Munro & Associates have taken a perfectly sound BMW i3 and taken it apart. Completely apart. And they are impressed with what they’ve discovered about how the EV is engineered.
Chrysler pioneered the modern-day minivan more than 30 years ago and has been refining and improving that type of vehicle ever since.


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The FDA has very strict standards for medical devices. Manufacturers must put their devices through rigorous testing before they are approved for sale, and then must continually submit to inspections and report issues to the federal agency.
Unfortunately, as strong as the FDA can be when it comes to regulation, it is not always as strong when it comes to enforcement. If it turns out that a medical device design is defective, the agency has limited capability to make the manufacturer fix the problem.
In a recent report, reporters detailed long-running problems with an electronic heart pump known as the HeartWare Ventricular Assist Device, or HVAD. Manufactured by a company called HeartWare, the device helps the heart to pump blood, and is powered by rechargeable batteries which the patient typically wears on a belt. HeartWare got FDA approval to market the device in 2012, and it was implanted in 19,000 patients in the United States and more abroad.
Soon, reports came in about problems with the device. Some patients had blood clots that were exacerbated by the device. Others found the batteries would not recharge when they needed them. By 2014, the FDA had reports of 3,000 deaths that may have been caused by the HVAD. That same year, the FDA found the device did not meet standards and called for HeartWare to resolve the problem.
The FDA followed up in 2016 and 2018, but found the issues had not been resolved. HeartWare was acquired by medical device giant Medtronic in 2016, and Medtronic discontinued the HVAD this year.
There are still at least 2,000 Americans relying on HVADs to keep their hearts functioning properly, and twice that number in the rest of the world. The surgery to remove the device is so dangerous that medical authorities recommend avoiding it unless it becomes an immediate emergency.
This tragic story highlights some of the difficulties of protecting patients from defective medical devices. Sometimes the best way to hold manufacturers accountable for their defective products is through a lawsuit based on the legal theory of product liability.


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Amaya Gaming first received approval to offer PokerStars and Full Tilt gaming to players located in the state of New Jersey via online gaming sites back in September of 2015. The approval was granted on the 30th and would have a six month time frame. Amaya officially launched PokerStars on the 21st of March and now Amaya has announced they have received a renewal of approval for their operations, for an additional six months.
On Friday, Amaya announced that the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement renewed their approval for the Full Tilt and PokerStars brands to operate online within the state. The company has estimated that since launching the PokerStars NJ site, the brand has contributed to the growth of real money online poker gaming in the state.
Quickly becoming a market leader, players have responded well to the quality of the gaming software as well as the choice of games, security and integrity of the platform. PokerStars has also seen great promise within their online casino gaming option.
Rafi Ashkenazi is the Amaya Interim CEO who stated that while it is still very early, Amaya is pleased with the initial launch of PokerStars in the state. The company is also pleased with the positive working relationship that they have with the DGE. The latest approval is guaranteed for a six month term and subject to further renewals.


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Ames Department Stores Inc. today reported a second-quarter loss of $152.5 million, but store officials said the loss before non-recurring charges was significantly smaller than expected.
The loss for the discount store chain, which filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in April, was $4.15 per share. The store lost $11.1 million, or 38 cents a share, in 1989's second quarter.
Ames said this year's second-quarter loss reflected $73.1 million in non-recurring charges, including adjustment in amounts of accounts payable during the bankruptcy claims filing process, a reserve for inventory markdowns and a writedown of certain management information systems installed as part of the Zayres store consolidation.
Ames reported total sales for the quarter of $563.3 million, a 33% decline from last year's adjusted total.


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In the beverage market, developers are turning to emerging processing methods to stand out from competitors. One of those recent trends has been the proliferation of cold-brew processing for ready-to-drink (RTD) tea and coffee.
New line adds to RTD coffee portfolio, introduces creamers
February 4, 2020
Broomfield, Colo.-based STōK Cold Brew, a brand of Danone North America, is giving consumers a new way to fuel their coffee with its latest line of products: STōK Fueled Creamers and Ready-to-Drink Coffee. The new beverages are geared toward those who are looking to jump-start their day as the STōK Fueled line includes extra calories from protein, butter and MCT oil, it says.
Limited-edition spirit celebrates passion for whiskey, coffee
January 27, 2020
Jameson Irish Whiskey, a brand of New York-based Pernod Ricard USA, is offering a fresh take on coffee and whiskey with the new, limited-edition Jameson Cold Brew, an Irish Whiskey infused with natural cold brew coffee flavor.
Limited-edition Coconut Caramel, Thin Mint flavors available beginning Jan. 1
December 16, 2019
Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin' is ringing in the New Year with the return of two popular coffee flavors inspired by iconic Girl Scout Cookies. Under a licensing agreement with GSUSA, Dunkin' will bring back Coconut Caramel and Thin Mints inspired coffee flavors. The flavors will be available Jan. 1 through the beginning of spring 2020 at participating Dunkin' restaurants nationwide.
In an Insights published in September from Nielsen titled “How the Coffee Category Became a Hot Bed of Innovation for the U.S. Grocery Market,” the market research firm reports that dollar sales for ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee accounted for $3 billion for the 52 weeks ending July 27.
Ready-to-drink sub-segments cold brew, functional in vanguard
September 13, 2019
When analyzing the U.S. coffee market, data shows that the growth of the caffeine-inducing beverage category is being driven by single-serve, convenient segments: ready-to-drink (RTD) and single-cup coffee.
A lot is brewing in the March 2020 issue, from cold-brew coffee to craft beer. Check out our cover story to learn the latest about the $300 million merger that brought the Boston Beer Co. and Dogfish Head together. Our Beverage RD article uncovers the latest trends in sweeteners, while readers can get Up Close With OWYN (Only What You Need). Our Ingredient Spotlight highlights innovations in the utilization of coffee as a flavorful, functional ingredient. And our 2020 Beer Market Report is a hefty pour that you won’t want to miss. You’ll also see the latests in new products, suppliers and more. This issue is good to the last drop. Thirsty for more? Subscribe to get the latest stories delivered right to your inbox. Check back throughout the month for additional content.
Check back throughout the month for additional content.


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Old Spock slaps new Spock in this Audi ad ahead of the release of the second installment for Star Trek.
The short video has the two Vulcans battling wits in a series of challenges that quickly comes to involve cars. They are outwitted by Audi in the final scene. Hit past the jump to check it out...
There are, two allegedly official images of the new 2013 Lexus LS sedan. Only a few days before its world premiere at a special event in San Francisco on Monday, July 30, a chinese website drops these two images. Are they real? Could they be? If so, it would seem that the 2013 LS got a light facelift and not an all new version of the Lexus flagship model.
The model pictured here is the new LS 460 F Sport that Lexus has confirmed and which features a styling package with different front and rear bumpers, side skirts, and a rear diffuser with prominent tailpipes.
The differences in styling between the current model and what we see here are the front end that adopts Lexus' signature grille and a new set of headlamps, whilte at the back there's a newly designed pair of tail lights. The Japanese carmaker has said that the 2013 LS will be available as the LS 460, LS 460 L long wheelbase, LS 600h L hybrid sedan and the all-new LS 460 F SPORT.
There's not much information just yet, so to know for sure, we'll just have to wait for its Monday debut.


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The first three blog posts analyzing the results of a study conducted by Packaging World have demonstrated the the opinions of respondents concerning consumer expectations, sustainable development and trends in the packaging industry. Now all of these elements will be incorporated into more global solutions, which is the topic of the fourth and final blog post of this series.
The last in a series of four blog posts: Last August, Packaging World, in association with the company DuPont Packaging & Industrial Polymers, conducted a survey involving professionals from the packaging industry and other related sectors in order to learn about the current trends as well as those that could dominate the industry ten years from now. This blog series will highlight the key points of those results.
Even if the study was conducted on two different continents, the results were analysed and presented separately, thus facilitating the analysis of results from North America, IMS’s market.
The combination of renewable materials and intelligent solutions
When we consider the results to the preceding questions, it’s not surprising that 57 % of respondents will place the use of bio-based or renewable materials at the centre of their packaging strategy in 2022, which is an increase of 22 percentage points compared to today. The other strategy that stands out and that will be number one, tied for first in 2022, concerns smart packaging, which is found more in the food and pharmaceutical industries. If this strategy is used by only 23 % of respondents today, it will increase to 57 % in 10 years. This is an impressive leap although logical from a technological point of view.
On the other hand, other solutions will see a drop in popularity during the next decade. According to respondents, the downgauging of package material and efficient package shape and size will lose respectively 30 and 28 percentage points. The cause for this is relatively simple. Companies that currently work to reduce the volume of their packaging will not be able to reduce it indefinitely. In 10 years, we can expect them to reach the minimum, which is why companies will be using new strategies.
Back to the roots and technology: two poles that should cohabitate
Despite our obvious thirst for new technologies, electronic gadgets and interactive products, we are beginning to understand the urgency of the situation when it comes to preserving our planet and to the importance of developing sustainable solutions. It’s as if, blinded by the ultra-fast advances in technology, we had put aside our former values. In all, by combining environmentally-friendly materials and intelligent solutions, we will do nothing less than go back to the future!
However, I cannot help but highlight an apparent contradiction in these results. They announce a trend for materials with a lighter environmental footprint, but in a more global strategy axed toward the compatibility with mobile and interactive devices. However, as we already know, electronic waste is a serious threat for the environment. Let’s hope that telecommunications professionals point their strategies in the same direction as the packaging industry.


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In the state of Nevada, the legalization of marijuana has already started to have an impact as Las Vegas prosecutors have decided not to pursue any of the pending marijuana charges for possession of less than an ounce. The decision makes sense – it takes a while to get people through the court system, so why should you spend the time, money and effort to push these people through, only to have to drop the charges when the laws change on January 1st? At this point, they have decided that their efforts would be better spent working on more important cases, where real crimes were committed.
The district attorney for Clark County (where Las Vegas is located) has said that provided all of their defendants “stay out of trouble” they will be dropping all pending charges as of the first of the year. This is great news for 175 people who have been arrested for possession of less than an ounce of cannabis over the last year who likely still have charges pending. Of course, it will make only a small difference for those who are facing multiple charges at once. However, for those who were facing only charges of possession, which could have resulted in a $600 fine or jail time depending on whether or not they were a repeat offender, this makes a world of difference.
This is a major step forward – however it doesn’t mean that Las Vegas has already declared cannabis to be legal ahead of the law going into effect. In fact, police intend to continue to enforce the current marijuana laws through the end of the year – meaning you can and will likely still be arrested if you get caught with cannabis while you’re out and about over the holiday season. It’s unfortunate, but it’s just how things appear to be going. However, even if you are arrested, they will be dropping your charges at the beginning of the year – so it’s more of an inconvenience that will end up being expensive to the state both in funds and in the time lost.
Once the New Year rolls in, we can expect that law enforcement will immediately cease making arrests as the law will legalize possession of up to an ounce of cannabis flower and up to an eighth of concentrates and allow home growing of 6 plants per person (with a household maximum of 12 plants). On the other hand, public consumption will still be illegal, though instead of an arrest you will end up with a hefty $600 fine to pay off. Regulations for the taxation, cultivation and sale of retail cannabis products will be drafted by the start of 2018 at the very latest – meaning in early 2018 the first of the industry will be getting approval for licenses and soon after, residents will be able to purchase cannabis products legally.
Until then, it’s good to see that the state of Nevada is off to a good start with implementing Question 4.


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Porsche Announces First NFT Collection During Art Basel in Miami, Porsche shall be launching its first collection NFTs.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
During Art Basel in Miami, Porsche shall be launching its first collection NFTs. Giving details, Lutz Meschke, Deputy Chairman and Member of the Executive Board for Finance and IT said, "This project is an additional element of our digitalization strategy. We've made our commitment for the long haul and our Web3 team has the autonomy to develop innovations in this dimension as well. Innovation management at Porsche also sees potential in the purchasing experience, the metaverse and the supply chain. Vehicle and sustainability issues are also being considered."
Beginning in January 2023, prospective customers shall have access to a total of 7,500 unique digital collector's items. As is common in the Web3 scene, it is possible to register in advance on an Allowlist.
"The NFT artworks enable us to take our understanding of modern luxury and the unique brand positioning of Porsche into the digital world," said Detlev von Platen, Member of the Executive Board for Sales and Marketing.
"Porsche has longstanding links to the creative arts and we're excited to take this next step at Art Basel in launching a beautiful, and of course unique, set of NFTs to allow private ownership of a piece of Porsche art. We're excited for the launch in Miami, and to witness the work of the NFT owners as their bespoke artwork develops over the course of the coming months," said Kjell Gruner, President and CEO Porsche Cars North America, Inc.


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Friday, 29 August 2014
Last updated 1 hour ago
Nov 1 2010 | 12:25pm ET
The Man Group has opened its flagship strategy to retail investors in Singapore.
The London-based firm is marketing its UCITS III-compliant Man AHL Trend fund in the city-state. Investors with at least S$20,000 to spare can invest in the strategy that makes up more than half of Man's assets.
"We don't expect a huge tsunami of money coming into the fund initially," Timothy Peach, head of sales for Southeast Asia, told Bloomberg News. "It is quite different from your typical mutual fund."
For one, you'll pay a lot more for it: Man AHL Trend will charge Singaporean retail investors a whopping 3% management fee and a 20% performance fee.
Peach told Bloomberg that Man is looking into extending the fund to other parts of Southeast Asia. But it took some three years to win approval in Singapore alone.
Aug 25 2014 | 11:21am ET
As many of you know, FINalternatives was recently acquired by the owners of Futures magazine, a firm called The Alpha Pages LLC. Today marks the soft-launch of a new sister site for both publications. As its name suggests, The Alpha Pages will cover all types of alternative investments, going far beyond the more well-known ones such as hedge funds and private equity. Read more…
Commodities/Futures magazine launched at the precipice of a revolution in the futures industry—really a revolution in the idea of risk management—that would move it from a small niche industry to ...


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According to Claremont McKenna College's Rose Institute, and Kosmont Companies, most businesses moving out of California are going to lower-cost states. CLAREMONT, Calif. -- December 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey 2022 finds that California has a higher cost of doing business than other western states. Since 2003, the annual survey has been published. It shows that 64% of California businesses have moved to other states in the last 30 years, including Arizona, Texas and Texas. "Rising home prices, rising office rents, labor cost, and burdensome new state laws are all factors to be aware of this year, as these costs continue their upward spiral." Nevada's Las Vegas is the most popular destination for California businesses looking to relocate out of California. From 1990 to 2019, there were 2,832 California-based businesses that moved to Las Vegas. New York City had 1,455 of these businesses. Other top destinations include Reno, Nevada with 1,088 businesses; Phoenix, Arizona with 883 businesses; Portland, Oregon with 868 businesses; and Austin, Texas (with 816). The cost of doing business in Southern California is higher in Los Angeles County, than Orange, San Bernardino or Riverside counties. California's minimum wage will rise to $15.50 an hour starting January 1, 2023. This is more than twice the hourly minimum wage of Texas, Idaho, or Utah. A few small cities in California were included on the list of most affordable cities to do business. These include Inland Empire cities like Yucaipa and Yucca Valley. The Survey lists the ten most expensive cities in Texas as Fort Worth, Irving, San Antonio, and San Antonio. Larry Kosmont (CEO and Chairman of Kosmont Companies) stated that California is still a great place to do business, despite the migration of businesses to western states. California's high prices make it difficult for businesses to remain in California. The Kosmont Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey Ranking is based upon seven variables, including sales tax, utility taxes, median home value, minimum wage, FBI crime index, and average office rent. In 2019, the Rose Institute and Kosmont Companies published their last survey using 2018 data.
The full survey report, list of the most and least expensive cities for doing business and full rankings of the 158 cities are available at roseinstitute.org/costofdoingbusiness.CONTACT: Kenneth Miller, EMAIL, 909-607-7575 View original content to download multimedia:URL.htmlSOURCE Claremont McKenna College


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Viewers fell in love with Angela Lansbury as she starred in the original “Murder, She Wrote” series from 1984 to 1996, and it seems Octavia Spencer won’t have a chance to revamp the beloved show after all.
According to a report, NBC has decided not to move forward with their previously-approved reboot, despite a successful pilot last fall.
Talk about a celebrity endorsement gone wrong: Octavia Spencer is suing a weight loss company, claiming it owes her $700,000 for losing 20 pounds. In response, the company says the Oscar winner undermined the company’s weight loss ad campaign.
According to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court this week, the star of “The Help” says she passed on a $3 million offer from another firm in order to sign a $1.25 million deal with Sensa Products.


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It’s no surprise that we’re seeing the first next-generation smart camera from Samsung today. Announced just minutes ago the Samsung Galaxy Camera is everything you imagine. Android powered, 3G/4G capable and offering F2.8 minimum F-stop, 16mp sensor and an amazing, 21x zoom lens.
The Android system is fully powered too with a quad-core procesor running at 1.4Ghz, 8GB of internal space and 4.8” touchscreen. To top it off, the Galaxy Camera will run the latest version of Android – 4.1 Jelly Bean.


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Walmart's omnichannel retail and e-commerce bets are paying off as the company aims to bridge physical and digital shopping experiences.
AI is artificial, but it isn't very intelligent. What if you could rent an artificial rat brain, or even better, an artificial human brain that could learn much faster? A startup is working to make that happen within 5 years.
Health tech: Researchers are working on combining sensors with off-the-shelf contact lenses for a range of medical applications.
SK Telecom will install earthquake sensors on over 8,000 radio station clusters nationwide and send the data to the Korea Meteorological Administration.


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While no one is particularly surprised by the news of Mortal Kombat being banned in Australia, gamers are no less irritated by the decision.
Initially, Warner Bros. Interactive appeared unmoved by the classification board's verdict, stating they were "extremely disappointed that Mortal Kombat, one of the world's oldest and most successful video games franchises, will not be available to mature Australian gamers." Well, it looks like the publisher has taken some time to review their options, and they've issued a new statement regarding an appeal.
That's right, Warner Bros. is appealing the ban, and interestingly enough, they've resubmitted the game without any edits. Why? Because they're arguing that the content found in Mortal Kombat is no less violent than that found in other games already on the market.
"After careful consideration Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Australia have decided to appeal to the Australian Classification Review Board against the RC (Refused Classification) decision given to Mortal Kombat," the publisher explained in their statement.
"After reviewing both the game play and the Board's original decision WBIE Australia believe the violence in the game is on par with numerous other titles readily available for sale in the Australian market. As such the company wants to exhaust all options to make the game available to Mortal Kombat fans in this country. An identical version of the game will be submitted for appeal."
Cross your fingers, folks. If all goes according to plan, Aussie gamers will be getting MK after all -- possibly uncensored, even.


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Ikea's "Tradfri" line of smart lighting starter kits had us intrigued when we tested the system out recently, but a lack of integrations with popular smart home platforms kept us from recommending them outright. Tuesday, Ikea moved to address that shortcoming by announcing that the Tradfri line will add support for Amazon Alexa, Apple HomeKit and the Google Assistant later this year.
"Making our products work with others on the market takes us one step closer to meet people's needs, making it easier to interact with your smart home products," Ikea product manager Björn Block says in the release.
Adding support for all three major smart home voice control platforms -- Siri, Alexa and the Google Assistant -- would be a significant step forward for the Tradfri line, which markets itself as a simple plug-and-play smart lighting solution designed to compete with established names like . Though the two-bulb Tradfri starter kit actually costs $10 more than the two-bulb Philips Hue White starter kit, Ikea might have an advantage with its Tradfri bulbs -- they're brighter than the Hue bulbs, come in a variety of shapes and sizes (including panels that can be incorporated into Ikea furniture), and start at just $12 a piece -- or $18 for bulbs that offer multiple color temperature settings.
Still, Philips Hue White LEDs aren't that much more expensive at $15 each, and they already work with all three of those voice platforms, along with other notable third-party services like SmartThings and IFTTT. Ikea clearly realizes that it has some catching up to do -- adding Siri, Alexa, and the Google Assistant into the equation would certainly help them hit the ground running.
There's some question of when and how it will all happen, though. Syncing up with Alexa should be simple enough, thanks to Amazon's open developer tools designed to help third parties build their own Alexa skills for the voice assistant. Google is working to help developers put its voice assistant to work, as well. HomeKit compatibility will be the toughest hurdle because Apple places strict hardware and software demands on its device partners in order to ensure the security of the platform.
It's unclear if the existing Tradfri Gateway hub that controls Tradfri bulbs was designed to meet Apple's standards from the get-go. If it wasn't, then Ikea may need to tweak the hardware and re-release the product, as manufacturers like August and Ecobee have already had to do. Ikea's team hasn't responded to my questions about the announcement just yet, but I'll update this post if and when I hear back.
Ikea claims that support for all three voice assistants will be live by this fall. Once that happens, expect us to revisit those Tradfri starter kits with an updated review.