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Yesterday as fallout from the lawsuit Gary Friedrich filed against Marvel following the release of the big budget Ghost Rider movie in 2007, Marvel has filed a counter suit on the now broke 69 year old creator for $17,000 for recompense they claim he owed in money made selling prints of his own creation.
Friedrich claims he was owed money as the creator of GR (in 1972′s Marvel Spotlight #5) and that he’s been denied by the comics giant. Sadly his point has been disproved due to the evidence presented of checks he signed as ‘work for hire’ that meant the rights reverted to the company through the small print. Unfortunately this whole legal hoohah has been to Friedrich’s cost and Marvel/Disney’s company lawyers seem set to make an example of him in a move so bastardly it would make Wolfram and Hart wince.
Here’s the skinny below from CBR:
Marvel figures that Friedrich made $17,000 from “the distribution and sale of goods depicting the Ghost Rider character appearing in Marvel Spotlight, Vol. 1, No. 5,”. Marvel is demanding this money under threat of a counter-suit. Marvel also wants him to stop selling Ghost Rider merchandise and even calling himself the creator of Ghost Rider if there’s anything in it for him.
30 Days of Night Creator Steve Niles asked the comics community to band together on twitter with a donation campaign on behalf of Friedrich, who is now not only broke and in ill health, but also on the verge of a serious reaming by Marvel’s legal vulture squad. Niles reached out to other pros and so far has received a modest amount of responses.
Jack Kirby, Steve Gerber and Alan Moore have all famously had run ins with Marvel over creators rights issues, something that became such an issue that artist Neal Adams helped found the Comic Creators Guild in a unionization move in 1978. But stiffing creators wasn’t limited to Marvel, DC were as guilty and Adam’s Guild through lobbying efforts helped Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster receive decades-overdue credit and some financial remuneration from the Superman publisher.
Luckily most modern creators are savvy enough to negotiate with a company over rights issues before handing them original material, and this is off the back of such previous disputes as the ones aforementioned.
To help take action:
A Support Gary Friedrich Facebook Page has sprung up and already has 960 Likes; Marvel is getting called a bunch of jerks (and much worse) in forums and comments all over the Internet, and a fan even wrote anopen letter to Ghost Rider star Nicolas Cage, asking him to pay the $17,000 himself. This has now become a petition at Change.org (where the Jack Kirby petition now has more than 800 signatures, by the way).
And we at BAD HAVEN would just like to add; Marvel, you’ve always fucked creators, and we appreciate that as a corp your required to try and hang onto shit that will make you mega money. But you’ve never fucked anyone this bad. Take Disney’s hand out of your ass and do the right thing.
Tags: gary friedrich


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Sacramento considers changing big-box rules
The Sacramento City Council will consider at Tuesday night’s meeting a repeal of rules that hamper the creation of new big-box stores.
Since 2006, the city has required stores larger than 90,000 square feet and using 10 percent gross floor area for groceries to obtain a conditional use permit and to prepare an economic impact analysis.
The city of Sacramento is considering removing at least some of the hurdles because when these big retailers respond by simply setting up shop right outside of the city limits, Sacramento loses sales tax revenue.
Since the city adopted its superstore ordinance, none of these super larger stores have opened their doors within the city limits, according to a staff report.
Instead, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has opened three stores just outside of Sacramento — in West Sacramento, south Sacramento and Elk Grove.
As proposed, the city would eliminate the requirement of an economic impact analysis. The council also will consider alternatives. One would require that economic analysis for only superstores in certain older neighborhoods of the city, the staff report said.
Another option would keep the ordinance, but have exceptions for existing stores that expand by no more than 25 percent and for proposed stores in existing planned unit developments.
The city staff recommends that the council eliminate the requirement for an economic impact analysis.
Residents, labor and business interests all have strong opinions on the issue. Some 100 members of the public attended a city workshop last spring. In July a potential compromise was discussed with labor, business and neighborhoods, but no agreement was reached, the staff report said.
Concerned in part about the effect on small businesses, some neighborhood residents proposed having neighborhood and business associations make the decisions about large stores.
Some businesses and labor groups, meanwhile, support dropping the ordinance.
“This loss of tax revenue and jobs comes at a great price to the city of Sacramento, as they are critical to funding the city’s public services,” a group of business and labor organizations said in an issued statement. “Each large-format store, which typically anchors shopping centers with a number of other businesses, creates approximately 300 new jobs and up to $700,000 in annual tax revenue.”
Kelly Johnson covers retail, insurance, marketing and media, manufacturing and distribution, sports business, nonprofits and education for the Sacramento Business Journal.
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Certified Collectibles Group (CCG), a long-time major player in grading services for coins, paper money, comic books, magazines and concert posters, will begin authenticating and grading sports cards and memorabilia.
On Monday, CCG announced they would soon begin accepting submissions of Pokémon TCG and Magic: The Gathering cards, but added to that on Tuesday by also revealing plans to hire sports trading card experts to launch a division that will compete with established grading firms such as Beckett, PSA and SGC.
“The sports card market is clearly very vibrant, and there is obvious demand for third-party authentication and grading,” Max Spiegel, the company’s Senior Vice-President of Sales and Marketing told Sports Collectors Daily Tuesday evening. “We believe we can add significant value to sports card collectors and dealers through third-party grading distinguished by accuracy, consistency and integrity.”
Based in Sarasota, FL, CCG has over 350 employees worldwide with offices in the United Kingdom, Germany and China, along with a global network of submission centers and authorized dealers.
The company’s other divisions, including NGC (coins), PMG (paper money) and comic books, magazines and concert posters (CGC) have certified nearly 60 million collectibles since 1987. It was the first collectible company to provide comic book grading and encapsulation.
The new sports division will be known as Certified Sports Guaranty (CSG). Company officials say it will use “cutting-edge technology and operational excellence” in its effort to gain a foothold in the sports memorabilia market. It will grade both vintage and modern sports trading cards.
In addition to having multiple graders examine each card, CSG says it will utilize “advanced authentication and grading equipment, including devices that perform ultra-microscopic inspections and precisely calculate centering.”
Grading is done on a 10-point scale with half grades.
Once encapsulated, cards are then imaged in high-resolution. The images, along with certification details, are available at no charge in a searchable database.
“The establishment of CSG presents an incredible opportunity for the world’s top sports card experts to build a new grading service backed by a company and ownership team that have a proven track record of success in the collectibles industry,” the company stated in a news release.
A start date hasn’t been established yet and CCG isn’t saying how many authentication and grading professionals it intends to hire.
“We are going to build a world-class team of graders before we decide on an official start date,” Spiegel stated. “We can’t put a timeframe on that process. We will take as much time as necessary to build the strongest team.”
The authentication/grading positions being offered are full time with benefits. They say ideal candidates “will be well-known and highly respected throughout the hobby.”
“I am ready to make very compelling offers to the world’s top sports card experts,” said Steven R. Eichenbaum, CEO of CCG.
“We will hire as many qualified candidates as we can find,” Spiegel added. “We intend to pair the best technology with the best talent to grade sports cards and memorabilia. We plan to replicate the technology, expertise and processes that have made us the leader in third-party grading services for coins, tokens, medals, paper money, comic books, magazines and concert posters.”
CCG listed several qualifications including:
- Comprehensive knowledge of both vintage and modern sports cards across all major US sports
- Expansive expertise as it relates to card printing, including printing processes, variants and errors
- Outstanding abilities to detect counterfeit and altered cards as well as accurately and consistently grade cards
- The highest level of integrity
- A strong desire to grow as well as train and lead other team members
- A willingness to travel domestically and internationally as needed
While the company does anticipate offering authentication and grading for memorabilia, Spiegel says those plans won’t be announced until a grading team has been hired.
The company has posted job openings for graders on its website.


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SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Fla. – Parts of the Dadeland Mall in Miami-Dade county were evacuated Friday afternoon after a strong smell of gas permeated the mall's food court.
Fire Rescue crews received the call for a possible gas leak at 12:48 p.m.
Customers in the food court were the first to be evacuated before shoppers in the popular mall's west wing were also told to move outside.
Photos sent to Local 10 showed shoppers standing outside the Macy's department store.
An employee working at a store far removed from the food court expressed that they had also smelled gas.
After an investigation, no gas leak was found and the mall was reopened for business.


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Dover (DOV) to Release Earnings on Tuesday
Dover (NYSE:DOV) will post its quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Tuesday, January 29th. Analysts expect Dover to post earnings of $1.29 per share for the quarter. Individual that are interested in registering for the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.
NYSE DOV opened at $79.48 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.59 billion, a PE ratio of 19.72, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.39. Dover has a 1-year low of $65.83 and a 1-year high of $90.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.
Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Zacks Investment Research upgraded Dover from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 11th. UBS Group upgraded Dover from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $76.35 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 10th. Wolfe Research upgraded Dover from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 8th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Dover from an “overweight” rating to an “equal” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $94.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Dover from $97.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.18.
Dover Corporation provides equipment and components, specialty systems, consumable supplies, software and digital solutions, and support services worldwide. The company operates in three segments: Engineered Systems, Fluids, and Refrigeration & Food Equipment. The Engineered Systems segment offers precision marking and coding, digital textile printing, soldering and dispensing equipment, and related consumables and services; and automation components, including manual clamps, power clamps, rotary and linear mechanical indexers, conveyors, pick and place units, glove ports, and manipulators, as well as end-of-arm robotic grippers, slides, and end effectors for fast-moving consumer goods, digital textile printing, vehicle service, environmental solutions, and industrials end markets.
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Canopy Growth stock took an 11% tumble after the Canadian company said last week that it sold less marijuana in its March quarter than in the December period—and at narrower profit margins.
Canada’s legalization last October was supposed to light the fuse of a once-in-a-lifetime growth industry, with Canopy Growth (ticker: CGC) and its $15 billion market-capitalization at the fore.
Constellation Brands (STZ)—the Corona maker that owns a 38% stake in Canopy— had predicted Canopy sales could hit a C$1 billion annual run rate by March 2020, fueled by recreational sales in Canada and medical sales abroad. But net sales of marijuana decelerated in Canopy’s March 2019 period, to about C$70 million, including international sales of less than C$2 million, Canopy said late Thursday. Another C$24 million in revenue came from products other than marijuana. On a 16% gross margin, Canopy’s operating loss widened to $98 million, and that’s using the company’s chosen measure, which excludes interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, acquisitions, and $93 million worth of stock-based compensation.
None of these numbers were what Wall Street expected. Canopy Growth stock started falling Friday and fell 11% to a low of about $38 per share Monday morning, before rebounding to close the day slightly up at $40.57 per share.
In an interview with Barron’s on Monday, Canopy Growth CEO Bruce Linton said his company’s performance in March resulted from its investment in production capacity and intellectual property. Gross margins would have been much higher without the overhead of new properties that hadn’t yet yielded their first crop.
Since the start of 2018, Canopy has expanded its production space from 600,000 square feet to 4.8 million. “We’ve taken five quarters to create an eight-times bigger platform,” Linton said. “That decreases margins in the short term, but means we have a massive number later.”
Canopy is just about done with its capital spending, Linton said. “Now we’re using,” he said, “and as you use, your margins go up.” On Friday’s conference call, Linton said Canopy’s gross margin could rise above 40% within a year.
Read our recent feature: The Next Threat to Big Marijuana Companies Comes From Way South of the Border
One of Canopy’s key investments has been a bottling plant for the cannabis-infused beverages it plans to sell when Canada allows such products at the end of this year. No other Canadian producer will have products like Canopy’s Tweed-brand drinks, Linton said.
“You’ll come to Canada and say ‘I want to buy a Tweed and tonic,’” he added.
Meanwhile, sales of recreational pot have been bottlenecked by a scarcity of retail outlets, especially in the populous province of Ontario, where the stores will be government operated. Alberta has almost 150 places to buy cannabis, already. Ontario only has 25.
Asked about the $93 million worth of stock-based compensation Canopy shelled out, Linton said Canopy distributes shares broadly among its employees, and the stock’s gains have resulted in the large (if noncash) expense on the company’s income statement.
“If we didn’t hand stock out to everyone, it would be a much smaller number,” he said. “But it would be a much worse company.”
Write to Bill Alpert at email@example.com


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Assassin’s Creed’s upcoming entry will still have DRM, but it wont be annoying, bitchy, intrusive, or otherwise invasive. It will simply do a one-time activation and then it will never be spoken of again. Ubisoft in recent releases has been heavily criticized for using Always Online DRM even on singleplayer games, players of From Dust being affected quite heavily and getting a lot of backlash.
If Ubisoft has half a spine, they will do this for all their titles which have been given annoying DRM mechanics since they’ve realized their mistake in punishing paying customers. I remember when you could just put in 697f- vshb-55ep-pl34 when installing it and that was the end of the problem. Assassin’s Creed Revelations comes out at the end of this month.


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Watch out for fraud when using mobile payment apps
TULSA, Okla. — Peer-to-peer payment apps are becoming more popular, perhaps to pay a colleague for lunch, or send money to a friend.
However, one victim, who asked us to call her Wendy to protect her identity, says she is being as careful as possible but has lost hundreds of dollars to a scammer.
“We were rushing to get ready to go on our trip, when I got a call from my bank, at least the number display said it was my bank,” she says. “I was told that someone fraudulently used my Venmo account to hack my bank account. I use Venmo a lot so I answered some of your questions. I’m ashamed to say that scammers used that information to pay themselves $1,500 with a Venmo transfer.”
“A great way for scammers is to try to get you to send them money through Venmo or PayPal or Zelle, because it’s just like writing a check to criminals,” says University of Tulsa professor Tyler Moore, a cybersecurity expert. .
Sometimes these criminals will hack a friend’s account first, and use that information to lure you.
“The hook comes from someone you know because their account has been compromised,” says Moore.
The hacked friend’s information can give your information to scammers, which can lead to fake emails, texts or social media messages, which are used to scam you out of money, sometimes a lot of money.
To protect yourself when using money transfer apps, only use them to pay people you know personally, and only after double-checking with them first.
- Enable additional security settings, such as multi-factor authentication, PIN number requirement or fingerprint recognition
- Link the transfer app to a credit card, which provides more fraud protection
- Check your account after you make a transfer to make sure it went through
- And make sure you have the right number for the company’s customer service department, in case you need help quickly.
- Get the number directly from their website, not by searching online.
- Keep in mind that cyber fraudsters can also spoof this number, which can lead to even more expensive rip-offs
- Another important reminder, only use these peer-to-peer money apps for personal purposes.
- If an online business insists on using one of these apps, the Better Business Bureau says it could be a warning sign of a scam.
Contact the problem solvers:
- [email protected]
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere —


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NEW BEDFORD — Dr. Jane Lubchenco announced Wednesday that she is leaving NOAA in two months, and some of her local critics said that this will be a chance to truly repair the agency in the eyes of the fishing industry.
Lubchenco's nearly four years at the helm of the department that regulates commercial fishing were filled with friction, controversy and lawsuits over fishery management.
"Her resignation marks the end of four of the most trying years that commercial fishing have ever experienced," Mayor Jon Mitchell told The Standard-Times.
Read the full story at Standard-Times>>
National Fisherman Live for Feb. 27, 2014
PORTSMOUTH, NH - The New Hampshire Fish and Lobster Festival, known locally as Fishtival, invites the community to Portsmouth's Prescott Park each September to honor, celebrate and rediscover the proud tradition of small-scale, local commercial groundfishing in New Hampshire and its valuable contribution to our local food system, local economy and local culture. Now, the mission continues with the announcement of small grants available from the proceeds of the 2013 event.
In this year's Alaska Symphony of Seafood new-product contest, a distinguished panel of judges, composed of industry chefs and experts, bestowed the grand prize on Tilgner's Specialized Smoked Seafood Products for their Ruby Red Ole World Scottish Style Cold Smoked Sockeye Salmon.Read more...


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TrueAbility raises $2M in funding
Updated 7:30 pm, Monday, July 29, 2013
San Antonio-based tech startup TrueAbility Inc. said Monday it has raised an additional $2 million from investors, bringing the total amount the company has raised to $2.75 million.
The firm has developed a cloud-based program, AbilityScreen, that allows technology companies to test the technical competence of potential employees in a live-programming environment.
“With this funding, we will be able to move forward on building out, delivering and scaling AbilityScreen assessments for the most needed cloud technology roles,” said Luke Owen, a TrueAbility co-founder and its CEO.
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- Green Giant Makes Record-Breaking Casserole With a Side of AwarenessCheddar
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The bulk of the new money came from Austin Ventures, which claims to be the most active venture capital firm in Texas and has raised $3.9 billion of capital.
Founded by former Rackspace Hosting Inc. employees, TrueAbility is one of the highest-profile tech startups in San Antonio. It received early backing from two Rackspace co-founders, Graham Weston and Pat Condon.
TrueAbility recently got a good deal of exposure after making it to the final round of the SXSW Interactive Accelerator competition, though it didn't win its category.


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Total personal household debt in the U.S. rose to a record-high $13.54 trillion in the last quarter of 2018, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. It marked the eighth straight quarter in which consumer debt hit an all-time high in our country and the 18th consecutive quarter in which the debt level increased from the previous one, American Banker notes.
Total household personal debt in the U.S. is now $869 billion higher than it was at the outset of “The Great Recession” in the summer of 2008 The debt level is also roughly 21 percent higher than when it hit a post-financial crisis low in the second quarter of 2013.
Here, we examine a few of the factors which are causing consumer debt levels in New York and throughout the country to increase. If you believe that you have taken on too much credit and need debt relief, don’t wait to act. Contact experienced New York bankruptcy attorney Michael H. Schwartz today. He can provide a free and confidential consultation and help you to understand all of your legal options.
What Is Driving Household Debt in America?
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York issues a quarterly report on household debt in the U.S. based on its Consumer Credit Panel, which it describes as a “nationally representative sample drawn from anonymized Equifax credit data.” The goal of the report is to give a snapshot of household trends in borrowing and indebtedness, including identifying the factors which are driving debt in the U.S.
Mortgage debt is widely blamed as the cause of the financial crisis that rocked the U.S. in the late 2000s. According to the New York Fed’s latest report, housing debt in the country remains high. However, different factors appear to be fueling the current rise in total household debt: Student loans, auto loans, and credit card debt. Let’s take a closer look at how we can assist you.
More Americans are borrowing more money than ever before to buy and lease vehicles, according to the New York Fed.
In 2018 alone, auto loan originations in the U.S. reached $584 billion, the highest level in the 19 years in which the New York Fed has tracked such data. As with student loans, statistics indicate that Americans are struggling to make their auto loan payments. More than seven million Americans were delinquent (more than 90 days behind) on their auto loan payments in the last quarter of 2018.
“That is more than a million more troubled borrowers than there had been at the end of 2010 when the overall delinquency rates were at their worst since auto loans are now more prevalent,” the New York Fed states. “The substantial and growing number of distressed borrowers suggests that not all Americans have benefitted from the strong labor market and warrants continued monitoring and analysis of this sector.”
Credit Card Debt
Bloomberg reports that 480 million credit cards are now in circulation in the U.S., and consumers are using those cards to rack up high levels of debt. Total credit card debt in our country increased by $26 billion in the last quarter of 2018 and reached a record high of $870 billion, according to the New York Fed. Even though credit card debt still accounts for a lower portion of total household debt in the U.S. than mortgages, student loans, and auto loans, the increase in credit card debt in the last quarter of 2018 outpaced those other categories.
“The increase in credit card balances … marks the first time [that] credit card balances re-touched the 2008 nominal peak,” the New York Fed’s quarterly report states.
An increasing number of Americans are finding it hard to pay their credit card bills, too. Bloomberg reports that 37 million credit card accounts were delinquent in the final quarter of 2018. Over the course of a year, the number of delinquent credit card accounts in the U.S. rose by roughly two million.
Are You Facing Financial Stress contact: Michael H. Schwartz, P.C.; www.NYLegalHelp.com
If you feel overwhelmed by debt, you should talk with the only Westchester County consumer Bankruptcy Attorney rated “AV” by Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™, the gold standard in attorney ratings; Metro New York Super Lawyer by Find Law.com; Top Rated Lawyer by Legal Leaders; Top Attorney Lawyer by Avvo.com and quoted by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Fios1 News.
Michael H. Schwartz is the largest filer of bankruptcy cases for people living in Westchester and Rockland counties in New York. A graduate of New York Law School, Michael has been licensed to practice in New York State courts since 1983. He is also licensed to practice in the U.S. Bankruptcy and District Courts for the Southern, Eastern and Northern Districts of New York and the District of New Jersey as well as the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. He is a graduate of Max Gardner’s Bankruptcy and Veterans’ Boot Camps. Several media outlets have reported on his cases or sought his insights, including The New York Times.


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A -- Z
The C&W Department constructed the Lawrence College Bansra Gali Bypass Road in 2012 for Rs173.7 million
The tour will include panel discussions and regional workshops
Khan is Pakistan’s foremost fashion designer who founded the first Luxury Pret brand in 1984
They said that peer pressure was the main cause
The police registered separate cases under the relevant laws.
It was booked by an individual identified as Dr Abrar Hussain
Doctors and social workers spoke about safe food practices and ways to minimise effects of allergy
KMC allegedly sells/allots 245 acres playground illegally
Speakers call for improving ties with Tehran.
The police intercepted Mir Asif at Adiala Road


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The Central Station Hotel in Memphis, and the Harpeth Hotel in Franklin, Tenn., are more than 200 miles apart, but they share common strategies when it comes to making a splash in their respective cities for weddings. Both boutique properties opened in late 2019, and debuted in highly competitive wedding markets.
(BELOW) One of the tabletop trends observed by Kimberly Elder at the Harpeth Hotel prior to the coronavirus shutdown was the use of thinner velvet table linen (pictured), adding a textured touch to traditional wedding setups. Photo courtesy Harpeth Hotel
Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has temporarily shut down their wedding, catering, events and F&B operations, but both hotels remain open for overnight guests. Here, catering professionals at each property offer tips for making an impact through well-defined points of difference that worked before the coronavirus shutdown; and should continue to be successful once weddings return.
The Harpeth can host weddings up to 225 people and offers an extensive catering menu for clients, but they also go one step further by recreating a couple’s favorite childhood foods using original recipes if available.
“Couples today want something special from their past, such as family recipes and/or favorite local dishes, which is why we create custom menus featuring foods closer to home, which, here in Tennessee, can be items like shrimp and grits, biscuits, jam, marmalades, and country and smoked meats,” says Kimberly Elder, director of sales at the Harpeth.
Custom cocktails are another differentiator defining the Harpeth’s wedding identity—particularly in spirits-heavy Tennessee—since “couples here want two separate cocktails passed at the beginning of the reception and on display at the bar that distinguish each of them. One of our first weddings had a bride requesting a Blackberry Smash signature drink, which had bourbon, lemon, simple syrup, mint and blackberry. The groom countered with a signature Old Fashioned, made with bourbon, orange and Demerara sugar,” notes Will Friedrichs, director of F&B at the Harpeth.
Couples today also want to know the origin of ingredients on their wedding menu. While farm-to-table is nothing new, the Harpeth further refines that factor by highlighting every farm, ranch, and artisan providing ingredients for menus, many of which are familiar names to local couples. For example, the Harpeth lists 13 nearby farms, coffee roasters, dairies, bakeries, and more on the back of its catering menu for reference, then communicates those sources verbally to couples during tastings, which can help reinforce their choices and build trust in the hotel.
One way to build wedding business from scratch, according to Helen Nelson at Central Station Hotel in Memphis, is to offer locations with a backstory, like Central Station’s Grand Hall, which is a renovated train station built in 1914, and includes the original arrivals/departures board overlooking the room. Photo courtesy Central Station Hotel.
Central Station was originally built in 1914 as the main train station in Memphis, where it was the city’s rail travel hub for decades. During its recent transformation into a hotel, every historic element of the building was preserved, including what used to be the main waiting area for train passengers, now called the Grand Hall. The 6,000-square-foot event space is highlighted by the original, fully restored arrivals/departures board as the centerpiece of the room, giving it a historic point of reference, and appealing to couples looking for a story to tell about their wedding venue.
“We also have several unique spaces in and around the hotel that serve as a great backdrop for wedding pictures,” says Helen Nelson, director of sales and marketing at Central Station. “One favorite is our lobby speaker wall. It is a collection of antique speakers pieced together like Tetris or a puzzle, that cover the entire wall. Nobody else in Memphis has it.”
At the Harpeth, niche spaces for wedding photos are also a differentiator when competing for wedding business.
“We have a vast number of locations for wedding photographs, including our outdoor courtyard with Juliet balconies, our library, or our private lounge Willow Plunge within the lobby,” says Elder, adding that micro-niche elements within the hotel, “like our boxwood bistro walls have also been popular, with champagne glasses on display for guests to take off the wall upon arrival at a reception.”
Niche spaces like this Juliet balcony overlooking the Harpeth Hotel’s interior courtyard help attract couples looking for unique wedding photo locations. Photo courtesy Harpeth Hotel.
Those without an abundance of unique onsite spaces for wedding photos should look outside their venues for inspiration from nearby nature or landmarks, according to Elder, and incorporate those locations into their wedding program story.
While Central Station offers the Grand Hall as its one-of-a-kind wedding space in Memphis for receptions up to 500 people, Nelson says any idea couples have to customize their wedding should be assessed to encourage new business and build positive word-of-mouth among clientele. For example, the first wedding held at Central Station was “Game of Thrones” themed—a long way from the hotel’s historic train station story.
“Make it known you are not confined to tradition,” says Nelson. “We always try to customize and cater to each couple’s needs, so they don’t feel confined to a specific box. We encourage creativity and flair. This is their dream event, so we should be able to bring it to life.”
Those at both hotels say traditional weddings and receptions are well within their capabilities, but to build wedding business from scratch, every couple’s wishes should be considered, and perhaps just as important, that wedding and catering staffs are skilled, flexible and nimble enough to make those wishes a reality. While the COVID-19 pandemic keeps weddings at bay, now is a good time to expand wedding program strategies to include non-traditional wedding requests for when business reopens.
“Make it known you are not confined to tradition,” says Central Station’s Helen Nelson. “We always try to customize and cater to each couple’s needs, so they don’t feel confined to a specific box.” Photo courtesy Central Station Hotel.


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The luxury handbag authority launches a revolutionary tool designed to instantly reveal your handbag's current resale value
NEW YORK, Oct. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Rebag, the ultimate destination for buying and selling luxury handbags, launches a revolutionary tool that instantly reveals the resale value of any bag that you're eyeing, or already have in your closet: meet Clair by Rebag, the Comprehensive Luxury Appraisal Index for Resale.
The first of its kind, and five years in the making, Clair is a powerful proprietary software. It allows Rebag to generate a highly accurate offer in an instant and empowers consumers to make the most of every luxury handbag purchase. Clair determines the value of any handbag across a list of more than 50 brands and 10,000 bags. It offers consumers an exact and fully automated price that Rebag is currently willing to pay to acquire that item.
"With more and more consumers contemplating the resale value of their luxury purchases, we've created a taxonomy that provides a more transparent way for consumers to shop more wisely," says Charles Gorra, Founder and CEO of Rebag. "We've spent years gathering data and analyzing the luxury handbag market. Clair is our way of sharing that knowledge with the world - and it's only the beginning."
In an industry where pricing is notoriously shrouded in mystery, Rebag has created an easy-to-use appraisal index as well as universal codes and condition grades to serve as a common pricing reference for resellers worldwide. This industry-wide framework lifts the opaque curtain currently on the handbag resale market, allowing consumers to make smart decisions on their purchases, know the value of their purchase upfront and view handbags as a new investment category. Clair was created for everyone, not just those who shop and sell at Rebag. The tool reduces the time it takes to normally receive a price quote, eliminating the friction and hesitation consumers often feel when it comes to resale.
Clair by Rebag makes it possible to instantly check the value of luxury handbags in three easy steps: through the Rebag website or app, navigate to the Clair portal to select the handbag's brand, model, style, and size, then tell Clair a bit more about the color and condition, and it will instantly generate your handbag's resale value.
Receiving an appraisal from Clair doesn't lock consumers in to buy or sell through Rebag; in fact, it only opens more possibilities. Once customers have seen the future of their handbag, they can decide to hold onto the investment for posterity, consign it, sell/trade it in through Rebag or even buy more of them - the options are endless.
It's hard to imagine ever falling out of love, but the reality is, we've all got unwanted baggage. Want to know the real value of your handbag? Just ask Clair. Clair by Rebag will be officially unveiled on October 24th and accessible for all consumers via the mobile app or website. For more information on Clair by Rebag visit rebag.com/clair.


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Children’s toys sold in the United States are subject to more than 100 tests and requirements to protect children from things like choking hazards or misleading age recommendations. But some items sold online don’t meet those standards, and could put kids at risk, CBS News national correspondent Errol Barnett reports.
CBS News purchased four products from third-party sellers through Amazon and had them tested at an accredited lab. According to the lab, all four samples failed safety tests.
A wooden jigsaw puzzle, marketed for kids as young as 1-year-old, included “small objects” that could be a choking hazard. Small toy trucks broke during testing, exposing “sharp points.” Flashing LED rings “separated,” exposing “the battery component.” And a brand of magnetic putty, once advertised as “Amazon’s Choice,” contained a “hazardous magnet,” stronger than what U.S. safety standards allow.
In a statement, Amazon wrote, “Safety is a top priority at Amazon. We require all products offered in our store to comply with applicable laws and regulations and have developed industry-leading tools to prevent unsafe or non-compliant products from being listed in our stores. When a concern arises, we move quickly to protect customers and work directly with sellers, brands, and government agencies.”
Aaron Muderick, founder of “Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty,” said in a business dedicated to fun, dealing with apparent knockoffs sold online is anything but.
“It’s sort of like a game of whack-a-mole,” he said. “You hit one down and another one comes right back up.”
Muderick said after he put his products up for sale on Amazon back in 2010, similar products quickly followed.
“Every single one of our unique products goes through a litany of safety testing,” Muderick said. “When someone is knocking off a product, they’re not spending that money. It is very difficult for customers to know, did this product actually pass these tests?”
His biggest concern right now is cheaper versions of his magnetic putty that use magnets that don’t meet U.S. safety standards
“The magnet needs to be a certain size that is extraordinarily unlikely that it could be swallowed,” he said. “And also limitations in how strong a magnet can be.”
Safety experts use a tube to check if pieces are small enough to create a choking hazard. While Muderick’s magnets are too big to fit inside, the magnet from a similar product does. The other concern is the magnet’s strength.
“Small magnets — if they’re swallowed — they can really just cause a lot of problems in a child’s digestive system,” said Rebecca Mond with The Toy Association, a trade group representing U.S. businesses that design, produce, license and deliver toys.
A 4-year-old Wisconsin boy reportedly had to have part of his intestines removed after swallowing small magnets from a different knockoff toy.
“Our children should not be the testing grounds for the toys,” Mond said.
Parents shopping online should look for reputable sellers they know, The Toy Association said.
“If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is,” Mond said. “Dig into the product listing a little bit deeper … Look at the reviews, and look at the product description for typos, grammatical errors.”
But Muderick said online retailers must do more to keep kids safe.
“I think we’re doing everything that we can do from our perspective but as long as these products continue to just ship in and this game of whack-a-mole sellers coming and going goes on … these products will remain on the market,” he said.
CBS News tried contacting the four companies who listed the toys we tested, but only heard back from the company who sold the toy trucks. It told us its products meet “safety standards” and passed U.S. safety tests from a lab in China, but it did not test for all of the defects found by our lab.
An Amazon spokesperson said it is investigating the products in question.


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Regulation nightmares are keeping many small business owners up at night. Red tape is either adding more costs or gumming up the hiring process. Here's what seven entrepreneurs had to say about it.
Politicians, statisticians and economists all have something to say about small business and hiring. Here's what small business owners had to say.
We asked 10 small businesspeople the one thing they'd ask President Obama to do to make it easier for them to hire. Below are edited excerpts of their conversations.
Business incubators are a critical lifeline for budding entrepreneurs. These startup boot camps provide fledgling companies training, counseling, facilities, office space and the most essential element for a small business -- access to funding. Here are seven that are on fire.
Next year still looks rocky for small business. But if you want to start a business, go for it. Some of the most successful companies got started in tough times.
On the eve of a slew of earnings this week, U.S. stocks and the economy can't seem to catch a break.
Here are the top 10 markets where Millennials represented large shares of mortgages, according to Realtor.com
A look at his brands and iconic creations
Whole Foods became the latest corporate giant to lay off workers. Here's a look at the companies that have announced the most jobs cuts this year.
Here are the best cities to crack open a cold one and celebrate Oktoberfest, according to Trulia.
Quirky declared bankruptcy two weeks ago. CNNMoney looks at the unique and not-so-unique products
Where in the world do workers toil the most? Hong Kong has the most workaholics while New York doesn't even make the cut.
From convertibles to racecars to SUVs, all sorts of vehicles came out at one or Europe's premier car shows.
Today these 11 Republican candidates want to be president of the United States. Take a look at their first jobs.
|SABMiller agrees to takeover offer from AB InBev in biggest beer deal ever|
|Warren Buffett: 'America's great now -- it's never been greater'|
|Playboy magazine to eliminate nude photos from the magazine|
|Wall Street has made Hillary Clinton a millionaire|
|DraftKings and FanDuel have best week ever|


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FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) Fort Wayne Police have asked for the public’s help to identify two men who they say broke into a vehicle earlier this month and stole a credit card before using it at several area shops and eateries.
Police were called around 2 p.m. Aug. 4 to a home in the 700 block of Candlelite Court about a theft from a vehicle. There, a man told police his vehicle was broken into sometime between 1 a.m. and noon.
The man said his credit card had been taken and he found numerous charges on it, including $200 at a Shell gas station, $100 at a Rickers gas station, $85 at a McDonalds and two visits to Walmart for a combined $80 before the card was eventually declined.
Two weeks later, police have released surveillance footage from inside one of the stores the men shopped.
Stills provided by Fort Wayne Police show one man dressed in a red shirt, shorts and white shoes, and another man dressed in a grey sweatshirt with ADIDAS across it in blue, grey athletic shorts and white shoes.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 436-STOP (436-7867).


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ZURICH Aug 7 Food group Nestle stood by its full-year outlook on Thursday and said it would launch an 8 billion Swiss franc share buyback after sales growth picked up in the second quarter.
Food groups are facing tough conditions as demand in emerging markets slows and prices in developed markets decline.
Anglo-Dutch rival Unilever blamed a slowdown in Asia for its second-quarter sales miss last month, while profits at France's Danone were hit by weak dairy sales in Europe.
Net profit at Nestle, whose brands span from KitKat chocolate bars to Nescafe coffee, fell to 4.6 billion Swiss francs ($5.07 billion) in the six months to June, short of analysts' average estimate of 5.01 billion francs in a Reuters poll, as the strong Swiss franc took its toll.
Sales growth adjusted for currency swings and acquisitions accelerated to 4.7 percent in the first half, from 4.1 percent in the year-ago period and 4.2 percent in the first quarter. (1 US dollar = 0.9078 Swiss franc) (Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz)
South Africa's Gordhan to court investors in Britain, U.S.
JOHANNESBURG, March 25 South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan embarks on a week-long non-deal investor roadshow in Britain and the United States on Monday as weak economic growth and ruling party tensions put the country's investment grade at risk.


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They would like us to believe that what we can see happening right in front of our eyes is not actually real. Over the past year, our politicians in Washington have gone on the largest spending binge in U.S. history by a very wide margin, and the Federal Reserve has created the most enormous financial bubble of all time by pumping trillions upon trillions of fresh dollars into the financial markets. Of course this was going to cause very painful inflation, and prices are rising very aggressively all around us. But Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and other leaders in Washington are trying to convince us that even though they added all of this money to the system it has hardly affected the overall rate of inflation at all. They are “gaslighting” us, and it is absolutely infuriating.
If you are not familiar with the term “gaslighting”, the following is how Wikipedia defines it…
Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group covertly sows seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group, making them question their own memory, perception, or judgement.
This is precisely what they are trying to do to all of us. Everyone can see that nightmarish inflation is already here, but they are trying to manipulate us into thinking that it is not.
Just look at home prices. Everyone needs a place to live, and existing home prices have risen 23.6 percent over the past year…
The median existing-home price rose 23.6% in May from a year earlier to $350,300, a record high, NAR said. The annual price appreciation was the strongest in data going back to 1999. Median sales prices have climbed sharply since rising above $300,000 for the first time last July.
At this point, homes are absolutely flying off the market. In fact, the average time that a home stays on the market has hit a record low…
Homes are selling quickly. The typical home that sold in May spent 17 days on the market, matching the record low reached in April, NAR said.
Buyers with limited cash for down payments are struggling the most to compete. Half of existing-home buyers in April who used mortgages put at least 20% down, according to a NAR survey.
But Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell insists that everything is just fine and that the Fed is perfectly capable of keeping inflation around 2 percent…
“When Congress spends trillions of dollars and the Fed prints money, something’s got to give,” Rep. Mark Green (R., Tenn.) said. He asked Mr. Powell whether the price increases seen in recent months are “the start of something that could be as bad as the ‘70s,” when inflation reached double digits.
Mr. Powell said such a scenario is “very, very unlikely,” in part because the central bank “is strongly prepared to use its tools to keep us around 2% inflation.”
What an insane thing to say.
How can you claim that you are going to “keep us around 2% inflation” when inflation is already out of control?
As John Williams of shadowstats.com has documented, if honest numbers were being used the official rate of inflation would already be well into double digits.
Of course for certain categories we are now seeing triple digit inflation. For instance, at one point in May the price of lumber was four times higher than it was at the same time last year…
The price of lumber, which shot up to $1,600 per thousand board feet in May from $400 early last year, is making renovations more expensive – especially projects that involve kitchens cabinets, hardwood floors and additions that require framing.
But Powell just told Congress that he is not troubled by any of this…
“If you look behind the headline and look at the categories where these prices are really going up, you’ll see that it tends to be areas that are directly affected by the reopening,” Mr. Powell said in a hearing before a House subcommittee. “That’s something that we’ll go through over a period. It will then be over. And it should not leave much of a mark on the ongoing inflation process.”
These days, Powell is definitely starting to sound a lot like Frank Drebin.
We are supposed to believe that nothing out of the ordinary is happening, but meanwhile the wholesale price of chicken wings has more than tripled…
“The [wholesale] price of wings a year ago was as low as 98 cents,” per pound, Charlie Morrison, Chairman and CEO of Wingstop Restaurants Inc., told CNN Business. “Today, it’s at $3.22. So it’s a meaningful difference.”
Our leaders insist that this is perfectly normal.
Nothing to see here.
Please move along.
To me, one of the craziest examples of inflation in our economy is what is happening to used car prices.
At this point, some used vehicles are now selling for more than they sold for when they were brand new…
When it was new, the window sticker price on a typical 2019 Toyota Tacoma SR double cab pickup was just under $29,000. Two years later, dealers are paying almost $1,000 more than that to buy the same vehicle, even though it’s used. Then they’re selling it to consumers for more than $33,000.
Welcome to the wacky world of U.S. car and truck sales, where the pandemic and a global shortage of computer chips have pushed prices to record levels.
I was absolutely floored when I first read that.
We have never seen anything happen like this before in all of U.S. history.
But Fed officials are going to continue to tell you that everything is just fine in the months ahead even as economic conditions continue to go haywire all around us.
I warned that extremely painful inflation was coming in my last book, and I will be warning about it again in the new book that I will soon be releasing.
Our leaders consciously made the decision to flood the system with new money in a desperate attempt “to save the economy”, and they should just be honest with us about the consequences of that decision.
But instead, they are just going to keep trying to spin the truth for as long as they can.
Unfortunately for them, the clock is ticking, and time is not on their side.
About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available on Amazon.com. In addition to my new book, I have written four others that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe. I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Parler, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help. During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.


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Stocks fell to their lows of the day on Friday on news that Chinese trade officials are cutting short their visit to the U.S.US Marketsread more
Chinese trade negotiators suddenly canceled a visit to meet U.S. farmers after they wrapped up trade talks in Washington this week.Marketsread more
Canadian trade union Unifor said roughly 4,500 of its members have been temporarily laid off because of the GM strike so far.Autosread more
For investors taking a breather from the chaos in August, buckle up as the market is about go crazy again, Goldman Sachs warned.Marketsread more
The wearables company has reportedly retained advisers to consider exploring a sale of the business.Technologyread more
Roku shares have more than quadrupled this year, but the stock has had some rocky days of late as more players jump into streaming.Technologyread more
Walmart is the latest to pull back from the industry. Federal regulators said they will soon ban flavored e-cigarettes while some nations have outlawed the products...Health and Scienceread more
Legal experts say that California, which has pledged to sue, has a strong case that the administration's move is unlawful.Politicsread more
Solomon launched Payback Records last year as his music career was picking up.Financeread more
A group of 23 states on Friday sued to undo the Trump administration's determination that federal law bars California from setting stiff tailpipe emission standards and...Transportationread more
U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have accused Iran of orchestrating devastating strikes on Saudi oil installations over the weekend.Politicsread more
SAINT-JEAN-DE-LUZ, France — President Donald Trump said Sunday he could declare the escalating U.S.-China trade war as a national emergency if he wanted to.
"In many ways this is an emergency," Trump said at the G-7 leaders meeting of the ongoing trade battle between the world's top two economies.
"I could declare a national emergency, I think when they steal and take out and intellectual property theft anywhere from $300 billion to $500 billion a year and when we have a total lost of almost a trillion dollars a year for many years," Trump said, adding that he had no plan right now to call for a national emergency.
"Actually we are getting along very well with China right now, we are talking. I think they want to make a deal much more than I do. I'm getting a lot of money in tariffs its coming in by the billions. We've never gotten 10 cents from China, so we will see what happens."
Trump's comments come as he met with Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson kicking off Group of 7 meetings in the French seaside town of Biarritz.
Clouding the G-7 gathering, which represents the world's major industrial economies, are the tit-for-tat tariffs between Washington and Beijing.
On Friday, Trump said he would raise existing duties on $250 billion in Chinese products to 30% from 25% on Oct. 1. What's more, tariffs on another $300 billion of Chinese goods, which start to take effect on Sept. 1, will now be 15% instead of 10%.
When Trump was asked on Sunday if he had second thoughts about Friday's move to escalate the trade war with China, he said "Yup," adding: "I have second thoughts about everything."
Hours later, the White House issued a statement saying that Trump meant to say that he wished he had raised tariffs on Beijing even higher.
"His answer has been greatly misinterpreted. President Trump responded in the affirmative - because he regrets not raising the tariffs higher," White House spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham wrote in a statement.
During the bilateral with Johnson, Trump dismissed concerns that leaders at the G-7 and other U.S. allies would pressure him in ending the trade war with China.
"I think they respect the trade war, it has to happen. China has been, well I can only speak for the United States, I can't say what they are doing to the U.K. and other places, but from the standpoint of the United States what they've done is outrageous that presidents and administrations allowed them to get away with taking hundreds of billions of dollars out every year and putting it into China," Trump said.
"Our country is doing really well, we had horrible trade deals and I'm straightening them out. The biggest one by far is China," he added.
This article was updated to include a White House statement.


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UK carmakers form United Front to save suppliers from Brexit
Carmakers including Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan Motor Co. have joined with lenders to create a network to protect the industry’s supply chain from succumbing to Covid-19 and a no-deal Brexit.
Under the so-called safe harbor plan, suppliers in financial difficulty can lean on carmakers for improved payment terms, and lenders will be called upon to step in with financial assistance, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, which is organizing the network.
With Britain’s future relationship with the European Union yet to be agreed, the industry faces the specter of border chaos if the trucks criss-crossing the channel with components are held up. The SMMT‘s goal is to minimize the risk of insolvencies while staying within the boundaries of UK and EU competition law.
Also check these Vehicles
The UK left the European Union at the beginning of the year, and the transition agreement with the bloc comes to an end on Dec. 31. Without a deal, UK carmakers will face the prospect of duties being levied on exports to the EU, the largest market for UK-made cars, as well as tariffs on parts.
The erosion of the domestic supplier base is “just one potentially devastating consequence" of tariffs potentially being implemented in the midst of a worsening pandemic, the SMMT said in the statement. “Given the integrated nature of automotive supply chains and reliance on just-in-time manufacturing techniques, if one link in a chain hits trouble it can undermine all the companies involved, including vehicle manufacturers, threatening an entire sector."
The SMMT has repeatedly warned that uncertainty about the economy and the UK’s exit from the EU would weigh on carmakers that are already struggling to recover from the effects of Covid-19. Car production plunged 40% in the first eight months of the year.


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Thanks to monster hits like Serial and This American Life, podcasting has had a bit of a renaissance in the past year, and it's also fueling National Public Radio's digital revenue.
Over the past year, NPR says it has more than doubled its podcast revenue, and the public media icon expects to see equally robust growth in 2016.
Meanwhile, it's been adding new shows like Code Switch—a program about race and identity that built a following through radio, blogs and social before becoming a podcast.
Similarly, NPR science correspondent Shankar Vedantam parlayed the popularity of his "Hidden Brain" social science news segments into a podcast of the same name, which launched in September. The science and storytelling podcast Invisibilia, launched in early 2015, is about to return for a second season.
In terms of advertisers, big-name brands like Wells Fargo and smaller names like Squarespace are buying into audio-based programming.
"We'll probably more than double this year, and, the year before, it tripled year-over-year, so we've been seeing really great growth over the past three or four years in podcasting. Just looking back, I think we're 10 times where we were three years ago," said Bryan Moffett, general manager of National Public Media, NPR's corporate underwriting division.
Still, Moffett thinks the real growth hasn't happened yet for the category.
"The growth has been great, and the evolution has been steady for the past 10 years, but I'm preparing for the hockey stick right now," he said.
Part of that is because brands are still figuring out what works, and trade organizations such as the Interactive Advertising Bureau are creating standards for publishers and advertisers.
"We work with a lot of Fortune 100 [brands] that have been buying NPR on the broadcast side for years and they need scale, but they also want quality," said Gina Garrubbo, president and CEO of National Public Media.
"It's a good combination of brands that have been on broadcast migrating to podcast and some coming back only wanting podcasts who [now want to] migrate to broadcast," Garrubbo said. "Sometimes people come in via podcast, and they can't afford the broadcast, and then they realize after they have effective results that that's probably a good place for them to be."
Wells Fargo, for instance, used to advertise with NPR broadcast in the past but then took a break in recent years. Now the brand is one of the publisher's podcast advertisers.
Conversely, Squarespace—a brand well known for advertising on podcasts—is now buying radio ads.
The crown princes of podcasting
On Tuesday, podcast measurement and advertising company Podtrac named NPR the top podcast publisher by size. The company's data measures 90 percent of the top podcasts, with 28 million unique monthly listeners in the U.S. and 38.5 million global listeners. To be included in the rankings, publishers must have at least 30 days' worth of data that can be analyzed.
According to Podtrac, NPR had 7.2 million monthly users and more than 61 million unique downloads for its 32 shows in April.
Coming in at No. 2 was the combination of This American Life and Serial, which operate independent of NPR and are produced by WBEZ and Chicago Public Media. Together, they tallied 5.6 million monthly U.S. listeners and 22.2 million downloads on Podtrac's chart.
Other top podcasts include WNYC Studios (5.5 million monthly listeners), How Stuff Works (3 million listeners) and CBS (1.5 million monthly listeners).
Here's a look at all of the Top 10 podcasts.
In terms of where consumers tune into podcasts, Apple dominates how people listen—65 percent of programs are listened to on iTunes or Apple's Podcast app. Another 16 percent of people listen on another type of mobile device, and the remaining 19 percent of folks listen from apps including Stitcher, Overcast or another desktop browser. In total, 85 percent of podcast listening takes place on mobile.
In addition to the explosion of mobile and new interest from listeners, NPR has also added mid-roll ads—popping up in the middle of podcasts—in the past year. Previously, advertisers could only run pre-roll ads that give a shout-out to brand before a program begins.
Mixing up the placement of the ad is key, explained Garrubbo.
"When it's a host-read mid-roll, our audience has a much better perceptions. It feels like less of an interruption," she said.
"I think there's a unique, emotional connection that our audience has and most audiences have to podcasts—I'm not sure if it's the audio on demand, if it's the earbuds, but there is a greater emotional connection. We've found that three-quarters of our listeners report feeling warmth and they have a more positive opinion of brands that support NPR and three-quarters of them take action in response to sponsor messages."


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The GST Council on Friday met to fix the tax rates to be levied on services. Information from wire agencies seem to suggest that financial services as well as telecom services will attract a service tax of 18 per cent and restaurants in 5-star hotels will face the highest tax slab of 28 per cent.
Lavasa pointed out that India's macro-economic fundamentals, including the Current Account Deficit, fiscal deficit, inflation and Balance of Payments, are all "very sound".
There is consumer connect with us and now getting deeper into homes with air conditioning was something like a logical extension for us, says Anil Rai Gupta.
The research note says that the potential gains to GDP — one of the most bullish growth estimates on the reform measure to date — will be underpinned by a surge in manufacturing output.
Chairman of the Godrej Group termed as "ridiculous" suggestions in some industry and business quarters that the GST roll out be pushed to October one from July one.
A nominal GDP growth rate of roughly 12% over the next three years could signal an FMCG growth rate ranging from a low of 9% to a high of 17% depending on player action.
Given where we are in terms of whether it is our product, whether it is our execution or our focus on cost and quality and the fact that we see demand parameters going up, we feel quite confident of getting into the next two-three quarters.
Gross domestic product will expand 6.8 percent in the year through March -- the slowest pace since 2014 but still among the fastest in the world -- according to the median of 29 estimates in a Bloomberg survey.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unveiled his annual budget at the Lok Sabha, saying India is a "bright spot" in the world economy.
Jaitley has one final chance to reverse the investment collapse that’s happened. A budget like the three previous ones simply won’t be good enough.
Rs 6,000 crore package announced in 2016 for textiles and apparel sector was a step in the right direction but the industry needs lot of reforms for the revival of the growth.
Demonetisation has made buyers anxious but things will settle down: Harsh Mariwala, chairman, Marico
In an interview to ET Now, Harsh Mariwala, chairman, Marico, talks about demonetisation's impact on the FMCG sector. Edited excerpts
The federation has also urged the government to provide special consideration on cashless purchase of jewellery.
Analysts divided on extent of damage; most put revised GDP growth at around 7%.
The South Korean electronics giant announced a week ago that it was discontinuing the Note 7 after a chaotic recall that saw replacement phones also catching fire.
According to a survey of corporate India by Feedback Business Consulting Services, which covered 67 companies from various sectors, GST rollout will be positive for the economy.
The much-delayed GST rollout can help boost the GDP by 100-200 bps as this will help faster and cheaper movement of goods across the country with a uniform taxation structure, said a report by Care Ratings.


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Death is coming.
When Yacht Club Games formed way back in the distant sepia-toned past (2011), there was a good amount of buzz around a studio predominantly staffed by WayForward veterans. The prospect of outstanding pixel-art gaming was then fulfilled when Shovel Knight was unveiled in 2013, with the game going on to have a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign. It then became a true evergreen title, with regular content updates — fulfilling Kickstarter stretch goals — keeping sales high years after release; it even had multiple amiibo figures. When the annals are written about Indie success stories of the 2010s, Shovel Knight will be front and centre.
Yacht Club Games has naturally grown since then, last year publishing the excellent Cyber Shadow and co-developing Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon. Yet the sheer scope and volume of Shovel Knight expansions has somewhat restricted the core development team’s ability to make something entirely new. As revealed this week, though, the studio is finally ready to start sharing its ‘next big thing’, Mina the Hollower. We’ve given an early PC build a whirl, too.
Read the full article on nintendolife.com


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After Lincoln came out with the new MKZ and Continental, it was only a matter of time before the new company nose made its way to every vehicle in the lineup. Now that the new Navigator is out of the way, it's time for Lincoln to focus on its smallest SUV, the MKC.
The 2019 Lincoln MKC is only a mid-cycle refresh -- which makes sense, since I don't believe there's an update planned in the near future for the Ford Escape, off which the MKC is based. Either way, the biggest physical update for the 2019 model year is a new nose, which you've seen on every other new Lincoln from the last year or so.
The interior isn't much, if any different. Vast expanses of black plastic cover the center stack and its many (many) physical buttons. The transmission is still controlled using buttons on the left side of the Sync 3 infotainment screen, which, by the way, includes both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The gauge cluster remains a mixture of screens and physical gauges.
The biggest update, tech-wise, is the introduction of new safety tech. Forward collision warning and autonomous emergency braking are optional, as are lane-departure warning, blind spot monitoring and active park assist (for parallel parking only).
If you want to keep things fancy, Lincoln's top-tier Black Label trim returns for the 2019 MKC. Available in three different themes, the MKC Black Label ramps up the fancy with Venetian leather, real wood trim and Alcantara suede. Reserve models can also deck out the interior with deep green leather, which sounds pretty awesome.
Two engines are available. The base 2.0-liter turbocharged I4 puts out 245 horsepower, while an uprated 2.3-liter I4 boosts output to 285 horsepower and 305 pound-feet of torque. Optioned in the right way, the MKC can tow up to 3,000 pounds.
The 2019 Lincoln MKC will be available this summer, and pricing has not yet been announced.


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Swift Headline - Latest News and Updates
As a researcher at Harvard, Shruthi Mahalingaiah has been using Apple watches to track the ovulation cycles of 70,000 women for more than two years in an unprecedentedly large study. But as a doctor, she complains that she is stuck with “dinosaur technology”.
The iPhone maker touts the Apple Watch as the “ultimate device for a healthy life”, but it is not yet something Mahalingaiah can use with her patients because there has not been enough innovation to validate and incorporate the data.
“How we practise is sometimes decades behind scientific discovery,” she said. “We have got the personalised monitoring and we’ve got this whole medical-industrial complex — but how are they going to talk to each other?”
Mahalingaiah’s problem in finding ways to integrate Apple’s technology into daily care is partly why the Apple Watch, which launched in 2015 and is worn on the wrists of more than 100m people, has largely failed to fulfil its promise that “the future of health is on your wrist”.
Tim Cook, the company’s chief executive, has repeatedly said Apple’s greatest contribution to the world will be in “health and wellness” and the Apple Watch is the most visible part of that strategy, with its array of sensors that can measure blood oxygen levels, track movement, sleep and heart rate and take an electrocardiogram.
When Apple introduced the ECG feature in 2018, Dr Richard Milani, vice-chair of cardiology at Ochsner Health, predicted that it would “turn the tide” for how patients could be monitored and treated.
He said he remembered colleagues “running to me saying: ‘I can make a diagnosis off this and don’t even need to do another test because this is clinical grade!’’’
He felt optimistic about how the management of patients with chronic heart conditions would move beyond simply “two or three office visits in a year” to a more holistic approach, involving constant monitoring of symptoms.
Milani said his team is now able to monitor data points from thousands of patients and then use artificial intelligence to predict things such as who is likely to fall in the next year — the leading cause of hip fractures, brain injury and a host of other problems for people 65 and over.
But he acknowledges that “normal doctors are not doing all this”.
Michael Breus, a clinical psychologist known as “the sleep doctor”, also believes wearables such as the Apple Watch can disrupt the traditional “passive doctor-patient relationship”. But he said that “99.9 per cent of doctors” are not on board.
The potential for data to improve preventive medicine is enormous. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says chronic diseases are the “leading driver” of America’s $3.8tn healthcare costs, and they are “often” preventable by exercise, diet and early detection.
“If all you had from people were accurate heart rate and accurate activity context throughout the day for someone’s full life, you could model whether they have hypertension, whether they have diabetes — all that,” said Dr Steven LeBoeuf, co-founder of Valencell, a maker of biometric sensors.
“The problem is, that is not accepted by the medical community and it won’t be for quite some time,” he added. “The [Food and Drug Administration] would have to approve it and then doctors have to accept it, and then they need to get reimbursed for it. That’s a long process. It’s not as straightforward as one would think.”
Apple has attempted to make some inroads, for example partnering with Johnson & Johnson, the pharmaceutical group, to study how its watch can reduce the risk of stroke. It has also worked with university researchers such as Mahalingaiah to design mass studies. And it has partnered with hospitals to look at how clinical communications can be digitised.
But critics said Apple’s efforts have not matched the promise of its marketing. Sami Inkinen, chief executive of Virta Health, a telemedicine clinic focused on type 2 diabetes, said simply giving people more information was not enough.
“It’s like selling someone a scale: it’s not very hard to tell people what percentage they are overweight,” Inkinen said. “But how do we actually change behaviour and drive results, like getting your blood sugar down, getting you off the medication and getting your weight down? For me, that is completely missing from the Apple Watch.”
A research paper published in May corroborated what others have found: “wearables are lagging behind their potential”, with “little evidence” they “bring about sustained behaviour change”.
Apple said its focus has been giving customers tools to monitor their health and that it is working with developers in the medical field to drive more personalised patient care. It pointed to a new “sharing” function that allows users to share their data with their family, caregivers or doctors.
“And while we’re still early in our journey in health, we are invigorated by stories of customers whose lives have been improved — and in their own words, saved — by the technology we design and build,” it said.
Neil Cybart, an analyst at Above Avalon, said breaking into healthcare was arguably moving away “from some of the core competencies that Apple has”.
“They are really good at coming up with a device that captures this data, but (less focused on) trying to get these large networks to embrace this and have their workflows be centred around Apple Watch,” he added.
Meanwhile, most Apple Watch buyers already identify as fit and healthy, according to research at Forrester, suggesting that the device is unlikely to be on the wrists of those who need it the most from a health perspective.
“The concern is that people who need these the most may have the least access. Even distribution is critical,” said Dr Seth Martin, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He said Apple appears more focused on adding new features to the device than on helping doctors integrate it into their practice. John Hopkins lends out Apple watches to patients so they can use its app, he added.
Carolina Milanesi, analyst at Creative Strategies, suggested that, despite its focus on health, Apple was happy enough selling the watch as a lifestyle accessory for the iPhone and was unlikely to delve more deeply into medical wearables.
“If they were really interested in making a difference in health, then they’d open the watch to work with Android,” Milanesi said. “But they’re not doing that.”
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Bitcoin posts its first purple week in a month as Ether shines, Reddit finds its crypto holdings and newly disclosed emails from Satoshi display his wonderful foresight. Those tales and extra, this week in crypto.
Troubling Week for Bitcoin
After surging previous $52,000, Bitcoin’s momentum turns out to be dropping steam, because it posted its first weekly decline in over a month, despite the fact that the dip most effective amounted to round 2%. Buyers who noticed positive aspects from the new 25% worth build up on account of the joy over the brand new US spot Bitcoin ETFs and the impending halving match, bought a few of their stacks to appreciate their earnings.
Ether Features Momentum
With positive aspects of 30% to this point this 12 months and buying and selling at a two 12 months prime of just about $3000, Ether is recently outshining Bitcoin as hypothesis grows as as to whether the second one greatest virtual asset turns into the focal point of the following wave of US spot ETFs. In the meantime, Worldcoin, co-founded by means of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, reached an all-time prime, boosted by means of AI hype and sure reviews from Nvidia, underscoring AI’s affect at the crypto business.
JPMorgan: Retail Investors Go back to Crypto
JP Morgan famous that during February, retail traders are using a surge in crypto investments achieving multi-year highs. On-chain information displays small pockets flows surpass institutional ones, factoring in new ETF inflows. The revival of retail passion displays the anticipation of key crypto occasions: the Bitcoin halving, Ethereum community improve, and doable SEC approval of spot Ethereum ETFs.
Reddit IPO Finds Crypto Investments
Social media platform Reddit filed for a public inventory providing, revealing its crypto holdings in its SEC submitting. The platform recognizes keeping cryptocurrencies and experimenting with blockchain generation, exposing them to replace possibility and regulatory concerns. Reddit invested its extra money in Bitcoin and Ether, and purchased Matic as a type of cost for gross sales of sure digital items.
USDC Got rid of from Tron
Primary stablecoin issuer, Circle will finish toughen for its USDC token at the Tron blockchain community, efficient right away. The United States-based corporate mentioned that the verdict is aligned with its efforts to make certain that USDC remained depended on, clear and secure. Tron is a blockchain extensively used for moving stablecoins, however its founder Justin Solar is dealing with regulatory issues in america.
Trump Recognizes Bitcoin
Former US President Donald Trump, who as soon as classified Bitcoin a “rip-off in opposition to the greenback,” now recognizes its rising affect. Trump mentioned on Fox Information that Bitcoin has taken on a lifetime of its personal, as he observes an expanding passion in Bitcoin and its use as a cost means.
UK: Crypto is Assets
Proposed regulation in the United Kingdom goals to formally designate cryptocurrency as a definite type of assets. The Legislation Fee of England notes this classification aligns with evolving courtroom views, and emphasizes the versatility of not unusual legislation. The proposal seeks to handle felony uncertainties and make stronger the popularity and coverage for distinctive options of sure virtual belongings.
Satoshi Expected Bitcoin Power Debate
The mysterious writer of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, warned that Bitcoin may just transform a vital power shopper in newly printed emails from 2009. Satoshi foresaw scrutiny across the power utilized in Bitcoin’s Evidence of Paintings consensus mechanism, in addition to predicting some non-financial makes use of of blockchain. The emails had been launched associated with the trial wondering Craig Wright’s declare to be Satoshi Nakamoto.
That’s what’s came about this week in crypto, see you subsequent week.


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Since 2018, reports have claimed the Chrysler 300 will cease to exist following the 2020 model year. While it’s sad to see this iconic sedan disappear, it hasn’t seen a significant update since 2011 and is more than ready for the retirement home. Chrysler recently unveiled the 2020 300, and its lack of fanfare for its rumored final model year is shocking.
Visually, the 2020 Chrysler 300 will be identical to the current model, allowing it to spend one more year catering to nostalgic buyers who crave that traditional three-box look. The only notable change for the 2020 Chrysler 200 will be its new Red S Appearance Package for the 300S. The new package will add Black Noise-colored badges, a red insert on the Chrysler wing badge, and new 20-inch Black Noise wheels.
The only other exterior update will be three new colors: Amethyst, Frostbite, and Canyon Sunset.
Other than these very mild updates, it appears as if the Chrysler 300 will ride off into the sunset quietly. No special-edition model. No wild colors. No special packages. And worst of all, no Hellcat model to send if off in a cloud of tire smoke.
Who knows, maybe Chrysler will surprise us with a limited-edition farewell model later in the 2020 model year. Stay tuned for updates.


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The banking sector is not keeping pace with Web 3.0
Crypto-native and crypto-curious businesses are creating a massive demand for transactions that is simply not being met by the traditional banking industry.
The banking industry has historically done a fairly good job of handling transactions. While cash still reigns supreme in emerging markets like India and Indonesia,
most payments in mature economies, from the United States to South Korea, are now mediated by banks. And banks have taken advantage of this business very well, with global payments revenue exceeding $2 trillion in 2019, before COVID-19 caused a slight decline. But there is a growing area of transactions that banks are unable to address – and which cry out for support.
This new frontier for commerce and payments is tied to Web 3.0, an emerging iteration of the World Wide Web that uses blockchain technology to enable decentralized token-based trade exchanges. Aiming to counter the dominance of Big Tech in today’s online environment, the Web3 Foundation describes Web 3.0 as “a decentralized and equitable Internet where users control their own data, identity and destiny”.
From a financial perspective, this means empowering individuals to exchange currencies, assets and valuable data without the need for intermediaries. An example of such exchanges is the exchange of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are unique data signatures attached to digital assets. Interest in NFTs has exploded in recent years, primarily due to their association with digital art.
Unlike cryptocurrencies, which have a common value tied to markets, the unique nature of an NFT means that it can have unique value, much like an original painting or sculpture in the physical world. This has made NFTs a popular way to prove ownership of online artwork, game assets, and other digital properties.
NFTs are perhaps best known for allowing digital artists to get impressive amounts for their artwork, with an NFT sale last year
net its creator, Murat Pak, the sum of 91.8 million dollars. More prosaically, NFTs are increasingly seen as a way to add unique value to digital products. Rock band Kings of Leon, for example, released an album last year in the form of an NFT which gave buyers access to special features, including front row seats for life.
Apps like these are driving renewed interest in blockchain-based transactions, not only from crypto-native businesses — those that use cryptocurrencies as an integral part of their value proposition — but also from what you might call actors “crypto-curious.” These are businesses that are not dependent on cryptocurrencies for their operations, but could still gain some form of competitive advantage or market differentiation from crypto applications. The NFT boom, for example, has seen art galleries around the world diversify their offerings into the digital arena.
Another example is the global hotel group, The Pavilions Hotels & Resorts, which announced in July 2021 that it would allow guests to pay for stays using any of more than 40 cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, thanks to to a partnership with the payment gateway Coindirect (a sister brand to BVNK). The move was clearly aimed at giving the Hong Kong-based company a unique selling point in the highly competitive hospitality industry. “We are proud to lead the industry and improve ourselves in the digital world with this exciting new crypto payment method,” noted founder and owner Gordon Oldham.
These crypto-curious efforts add to the momentum of blockchain-powered services, products, and collectibles. According to distributed DeFi app store, DappRadar, the blockchain industry grew over 500% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2021. Meanwhile, the NFT segment generated nearly 10 $.7 billion in transaction volume, an increase of 704% over the previous quarter. . “Space is completely evolving”
commented on DappRadar. “NFT projects are becoming more than just profile pictures.”
Enthusiasm for the growth of this sector is often tempered by concerns about its volatility, but the impressive values achieved by NFTs of works of art underscore the fact that a growing number of wealthy people view the assets as trustworthy investments. Additionally, as The Pavilions’ Managing Director for Asia, Scot Toon, pointed out, fiat currencies are not immune to price fluctuations. And the volatility of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin could be
should fall as institutional investors continue to flock to the market.
However, one barrier to the growing adoption of digital assets by businesses is the lack of support from traditional banks. Companies offering services and transactions based on digital assets still have to transact in fiat currencies with the rest of the world. These companies are calling for a service that can bridge fiat currencies and digital assets to manage payments, yield, exchanges and custody.
As the year begins, and NFTs and the metaverse feature prominently in industry forecasts, crypto-curious businesses want to embrace Web 3.0, even if traditional banks don’t see it yet.


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Retailer Sportsman's Warehouse Holdings will reportedly bid for up to 80% of the stores owned by Gander Mountain, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month. Sportsman's, which operates nearly 80 stores in 22 states, hasn't yet decided whether it would keep the Gander Mountain name or rebrand the stores, sources said.
Hasbro has outpaced rival Mattel in quarterly revenue for the first time in 17 years. Last year, Hasbro won the international rights to make dolls based on Disney Princess characters away from Mattel.
Hong Kong, once a shopping magnet that attracted more than 3 million tourists from mainland China every month, has seen sales and tourism slide over the past two years. Retailers in Hong Kong can revive the area's fortunes by appealing to bargain hunters, creating the right mix of interesting shops and stressing the opportunity for outdoor adventures, writes JLL executive James Assersohn.
UK supermarket chain Morrisons has added misshapen asparagus from farmers in Herefordshire, England, to its 14-item line of low-priced crooked produce. As much as 15% of the spring crop has grown in unusual shapes after warmer-than-usual early spring days caused the vegetables to sprout early.
Adidas makes about 1 million sneakers each year through automated manufacturing, but that is less than 1% of its total production. Robots still struggle with dexterous tasks, such as lacing up shoes.
The startup Desktop Metal will prototype a 3D printer that it hopes will enable easy, scalable manufacturing of metal parts. The printer uses a metal powder mixed with a flowable polymer binder, which is then put in a special microwave oven to burn off the polymer while strengthening the metal.
Online tuxedo rental service The Black Tux has opened in-store shops at six Nordstrom department stores. Customers of The Black Tux, which also operates four standalone showrooms, go online to schedule in-store consultations and fittings, and then can place orders both in-store and online.
High-end denim brand AG has opened a new store in New York City's SoHo neighborhood, in a space that combines historical architecture and high-tech touches including video walls and digital dressing-room mirrors. AG currently includes 13 stores and expects to grow to 20 by 2020.
NRF's newest ad campaign is using the emotional stories of small business owners to raise public awareness and lobby lawmakers against the proposed border adjustment tax. A commercial features chocolate maker Erin Calvo-Bacci, who must import the chocolate for her products and fears the added tax would put her out of business.
Wal-Mart has named Rent the Runway co-founder Jennifer Fleiss to lead a startup called Code Eight, the retailer's first effort developed as part of its Store No. 8 tech incubator. Code Eight will focus on creating "highly personalized, one-to-one shopping experiences," the company said.
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Mitchell Cotts Freights Kenya Limited, in collaboration with Perishable Movements Kenya Limited and Fresh Handling Kenya Limited, unveiled Kshs 30.0 million in dry cargo and cold storage facilities at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
The cold storage occupies 1,943 SQM, whereas the dry cargo storage will take up 4,174 SQM, summing up to 7,609 SQM of total space occupied by the facilities in JKIA at the landslide of the air-cargo terminal.
Both facilities are designed to provide more space to preserve horticultural products to mitigate losses incurred by exporters.
“The improvement of standards of service in the aviation industry is a shared responsibility of our stakeholders. Our shared prosperity is dependent on all the players performing at optimum levels.” – KAA CX Manager, Dominic Ngigi #VacuumCooler#KenyanExports#LongerShelfLife pic.twitter.com/To9CDTyZFU
— Kenya Airports (@KenyaAirports) January 12, 2023
The cold storage facility will use vacuum cooling technology to extend the shelf-life of export products while reducing the amount of waste generated by air cargo storage operations.
“Overall, with the installation of the vacuum cooler at our cargo terminal, we are confident it will help horticulture farmers maximize their profits. The service is expected to improve the efficiency and reliability of fresh produce exports from Kenya to international markets and will be available to customers who book their cargo through either of our partners,” Mitchell Cotts Managing Director Group Daniel Tanui said.
Consequently, the exporters will enjoy lower costs associated with cooling cargo as the technology is cheaper than other cooling methods and agents, such as dry ice, while still meeting the stringent quality requirements of international markets.
“We have invested heavily in the development of the service and are confident that it will help to increase the quality of fresh produce exports from Kenya,” added Silas Kashindi, CEO Perishable Movements Kenya Limited.
“The vacuum cooler is an innovative cooling solution that rapidly cools freshly harvested produce, preserving its freshness. It will also help reduce waste, keeping produce fresher for longer,” said Esther Kabugi, Head of Operations Fresh Handling Limited.


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If you’ve spent any time in the crypto sphere, you might have heard of DAOs–decentralized autonomous organizations. Many blockchain movers and shakers believe DAOs could be the next frontier of true blockchain innovation.
1Broker, the bitcoin-denominated trading company just announced that on Sunday, May 20th, 2018, they will upgrade their Bitcoin wallet infrastructure to be fully SegWit compatible. This is requiring deposit addresses for users to change and transactions to old addresses will no longer be credited.
Blockchain has exploded in recent years, most notably with the introduction of cryptocurrency. However, blockchain technology is much more than a digital currency. With extremely versatile applications, blockchain can provide a host of benefits to other industries from banking to travel, healthcare, and more.
Atonomi, the blockchain-based arm of leading IoT security provider CENTRI Technology, has announced the official beta launch of the Atonomi Network. Once fully tested and deployed, the Atonomi Network is intended to be the first blockchain-enabled security protocol to provide device registration, activation, validation, and reputation to secure the rapidly growing Internet of Things (IoT).
Neuromation strengthens its position in the Asian market and announces the start of cooperation with Linfinity. Under the partnership, Neuromation will process and analyze data for Linfinity’s blockchain and IoT-driven supply chain solutions.
In the world of the Internet, your IP works like a digital fingerprint. Using BitTorrent clients don’t guarantee your privacy during torrenting, and you’ll need to check your torrent IP.
Today, digital payment app Circle announced the pending availability of tokenized US dollar coins supported by developments in the CENTRE open source consumer payment framework and by a new partnership with Bitmain, which is also leading a $110 million Series E equity investment in Circle.
Orbs, the blockchain platform built for large-scale consumer applications, announced it has already raised more than $118 million to fund the development and launch of the Orbs platform, which it will bring to market in June.
Athena Bitcoin, Inc. has announced the launch of Athena.Trade, a coworking space dedicated exclusively to independent cryptocurrency traders. The aim is to foster community and collaboration in this growing area of financial markets.
Mitsubishi Corporation, Standard Chartered and Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri) — a Thailand subsidiary of MUFG Bank, today collectively announced a pilot test for payments between Singapore and Thailand with RippleNet’s xCurrent.
DX.Exchange today announced a partnership with Nasdaq, which integrates the DX.Exchange platform with NASDAQ’s matching engine. The new exchange plans to go live in June 2018.
Insurance industry businesses underwrite insurance policies relating to property, casualty, liability and other general risks. In the UK alone there are over 500 individual companies covering the full spectrum of insurances from legal to personal property.
Revain announced today they are happy to roll out the newest version of its flagship Dashboard product. Version 0.7 is expanding the platform into a new exciting direction with a view to help projects to establish the connection with its users and token-holders.
South Korea is one of the most popular cryptocurrency markets in the world. It is so popular that many have called it a crypto-crazed market. Its huge popularity has spawned worries over tax evasion, excessive speculation, and money laundering in this East Asian nation.
Robots on blockchain: INS Ecosystem announces a partnership with Pickertonn German robotics start-up to power its direct-to-consumer platform revolutionizing grocery INS Ecosystem, the direct-to-consumer retail marketplace powered by blockchain, today announced the partnership with a German robotics start-up Pickertonn, which is working in a stealth mode out of Karlsruhe, Germany.