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Roblox is especially popular among young players. However, a new investigation digs into how these underage users are being swindled out of thousands of dollars by other children, some as young as 13.
The investigation was published on IGN by journalist Luke Winkie. He visited different forums, Discord servers, and subreddits dedicated to Roblox scams or as they call it, “beams”. Here are the key takeaways from the article.
Who is scamming underage Roblox players?
- It turned out that many scammers are children themselves. For example, one of them said he was only 13 years old and claimed to make around €2,000 a week.
- When Winkie didn’t belive it, the hacker agreed to make a voice call to confirm his age and even asked the journalist to share a link to his Discord name, so he could “get more buyers.”
- This scammer also bragged about spending money on his friends and buying an expensive gaming PC for €2,600.
- And it seems that parents still have no idea what their kid does: “They ask where I get the money for everything. I just make excuses and they believe me.”
- Another 13-year-old scammer claimed to be making about $10,000 a week. To prove his words, he showed Winkie his recent “trophies” — two rare items worth about $11,000.
What schemes do Roblox scammers use?
- One scammer said to have scripted a tool called “pin cracker”, which auto-unverifies other users’ emails and gives them access to passwords, IP addresses, and other user data.
- Others use basic phishing schemes. They find young players who wear rare, expensive in-game items and then trick them into handing over those virtual stuff.
- “You just have to be good with your words,” one scammer said, noting that it is not that hard to convince underage players to click a phishing link and enter their personal info.
- For example, a young girl spent 240 AUD she received for her 11th birthday on Roblox cosmetics. She then wanted to sell some of those items to get rarer ones, but was tricked into clicking on a phishing link that gave a scammer access to her inventory.
- There are even money laundering schemes that help clean up stolen stuff. Hackers use the RBXFlip website, aka “The Original Roblox Casino”, where two players bet on their rare items, with a special algorithm flipping a coin to determine the winner.
- The thing is that it is impossible to track a stolen item once it goes through RBXFlip. So two scammers play against each other and then sell the cleaned items.
Roblox is a constant subject of controversy. Quintin Smith of People Make Games released two investigations: one about the ways the platform is exploiting young developers and another about black markets that trick kids into gambling real money.


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Vertically integrated cannabis dispensary franchisor and operator Item 9 Labs Corp. INLB reported on Tuesday its fiscal third quarter operating and financial results for the nine months ended June 30, 2022.
Financial Highlights for Nine Months Ended June 30
- Revenue totaled $17.8 million, representing an increase of $1.9 million, or 12%, compared with $15.8 million for the same period last year.
- Gross profit was $6.7 million, a decrease of $0.6 million, or 9%, compared with $7.3 million for the same period last year.
- Total operating expenses were $15.4 million, an increase of $8 million, compared with $7.4 million for the same period last year.
- Operating loss was $8.8 million, a decrease of $8.7 million, compared with an operating loss of $0.1 million for the same period last year.
- Adjusted EBITDA came in negative at $3.9 million versus positive EBITDA of $1.7 million for the same period last year.
- Net loss attributable to the company was $12.7 million, or $0.13 per share, compared with $1.9 million, or $0.03 per share, for the same period last year.
- Ended period with roughly $120.53 million in total assets and 42.02 million in total liabilities.
Recent Business Highlights
- Signed a definitive agreement to acquire Sessions Cannabis, one of Canada's cannabis retail franchisors.
- Dispensary franchise Unity Rd. opened the first non-tribal, state-licensed medical cannabis establishment in the state of South Dakota, in a suburb of Sioux Falls.
- The cannabis franchise continued expansion in Colorado with a new store opening in July 2022 in North Denver and recently received license approval to open a dispensary in the Cherry Creek neighborhood of Denver.
"Our team has made great strides in rolling out our retail franchise [Unity Rd.] into additional markets, as exemplified by our recent openings in North Denver and South Dakota as well as our pending acquisition in Canada," Andrew Bowden, the company's CEO, said.
- Item 9 Labs Nears Completion Of Cannabis Cultivation And Lab Facility In Pahrump, Nevada
- Item 9 Labs' Unity Rd. Ranks 6th In The "Best Cannabis Dispensaries To Work For" By Cannabis Business Times
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GM Files Lawsuit Against Ford Over the Word “Cruise”
General Motors filed a lawsuit against Ford for using the word “cruise” in BlueCruise. GM has both “Super Cruise” and its subsidiary Cruise trademarked. If you’re not familiar with GM’s Cruise you’re not alone. Cruise is GM’s autonomous vehicle subsidiary it acquired in 2016.
What is BlueCruise, Super Cruise, and Cruise?
Super Cruise is GM’s hands-free feature used in the 2021 Cadillac Escalade. It will be available in the GMC Hummer and Sierra, Chevy Silverado pickups, and other models in the near future. Ford introduced its BlueCruise hands-free driving feature in April.
Apparently, GM, Cruise, and Ford have been “engaged in protracted discussions” over the BlueCruise name. GM says that BlueCruise is too close to both Cruise and Super Cruise trademarks. GM has been using the Super Cruise name since its release in 2017 Cadillacs but has referenced the name since 2012.
“Ford’s decision to rebrand by using a core mark used by GM and Cruise will inevitably cause confusion between the parties, the affiliation, connection, or association between them, and/or origin, sponsorship, or approval of their goods and services,” states the lawsuit. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California is where the lawsuit was filed.
“BlueCruise was chosen for the Blue Oval’s next evolution of Ford’s Intelligent Adaptive Cruise Control”
“We think GM Cruise’s claim is meritless and frivolous,” Ford says in a statement to The Hill. “Drivers for decades have understood what cruise control is. Every automaker offers it, and ‘cruise’ is common shorthand for the capability. That’s why BlueCruise was chosen as the name for the Blue Oval’s next evolution of Ford’s Intelligent Adaptive Cruise Control. It incorporates hands-free Blue Zones and other advanced cruise-control features.”
Ford’s statement went on to say that GM has never found a problem with other companies using cruise in their trademarks and driving systems. The lawsuit says that “Ford insisted on using the ‘BlueCruise’ name despite Cruise’s preexisting rights.”
GM wants Ford to stop using BlueCruise, and mmonetary damages
Besides wanting Ford to stop using the BlueCruise name, it is asking for monetary damages. “While GM had hoped to resolve the trademark infringement matter with Ford amicably, we were left with no choice but to vigorously defend our brands and protect the equity our products and technology have earned over several years in the market,” GM said according to Reuters.
Interestingly, doing a US Patent and Trademark search for “BlueCruise” turns up nothing. It seems odd that Ford wouldn’t have trademarked the word before it was released. Maybe because it is a made-up compound word Ford didn’t feel it needed to trademark it? It will be interesting to see how this plays out.


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The cryptocurrency exchange platform giant Binance is collaborating with Southeast Asia’s venture capital giant Vertex Ventures to establish a fiat-to-crypto exchange service.
As per the press release of Accesswire published on October 23, the Vertex Ventures, in order to launch the platform, it declared a plan to collaborate with the firm Binance. As per Bloomberg, the details of the deal are not publicly disclosed. The Vertex Ventures China, Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India and as well as Binance are all part of the partnership.
The fiat-to-crypto exchange platform is to be launched before the end of this year. The venture capital giant, apart from Singapore, is planning to establish such platforms over the whole of Southeast Asia.
This investment is adding a boost to the growth of Binance into Singapore and other places by helping to advance the company’s drive in Singapore and other places.
The CFO of Binance said that Vertex has experience in the field of investment as they have investment experts, as well as a good record of lifting startups, involve innovation that helps to address practical issues. To support the innovation in the fintech space, they have the mission to build up the blockchain system and to coordinate with the stakeholders in Singapore.
For Vertex (an oldest venture capital giant) investment in the cryptocurrency market is opening a way to the new industry, making its way to see institutional money backing projects.
Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital Ventures, the billionaire BTC Champion have also invested in a crypto custodian startup, BitGo Holdings Inc.
Binance, a firm founded in 2017, has major experiences with authorities in Hong Kong, Japan, and most freshly in New York. It helps users to swap their virtual currency into Singapore dollar.
As many popular names are popping up in the market, there are many questions arising about the uncertain regulations and the stability of the market. Since its late December high graph at $20,000, BTC has lost nearly 67% of its market value.


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By Diane Bartz
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The U.S. Justice Department on Monday questioned a Verizon (NYSE:VZ) executive about the company's decision to always pre-install Google's Chrome browser with Google search on its mobile phones, as the government sought to show that Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL)'s Google broke antitrust law to maintain its dominance in online search.
Brian Higgins, a 28-year Verizon veteran who was on a team from 2017 to 2023 that struck deals with Google to pick software to preload onto the carrier's phones, testified in a federal court in Washington: «To the best of my knowledge, I believe it is pre-installed all the time.»
The government argues Google's $10 billion in payments annually to mobile carriers and others helped the California-based tech giant win powerful default positions on smartphones and elsewhere, which fed data into other lucrative parts of its business, such as online advertising.
In the first week of one of the biggest U.S. antitrust trials in decades, James Kolotouros, a Google executive responsible for negotiating the company's agreements with Android device makers and carriers, testified Google pressed Android smartphone makers to have Google as the default search engine and other apps pre-installed on their machines.
Antonio Rangel, who teaches behavioral biology at the California Institute of Technology, testified last week that people are likely to stick with defaults like search engines or map apps on computers and mobile phones. This would show why Google would want to pay to have the default, or exclusive, position to win more search queries and make higher profits advertising on them.
In response, Google lawyer John Schmidtlein showed the court data indicating that usersRead more on investing.com


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This article that I found on Yahoo Finance was very interesting. One reason I found it to be interesting was because as the price per gallon of gas has gone up, demand has not gone down. Doesn’t this go against the rules of supply and demand that we have learned? Over the past month gas prices have gone up more than 10% and motorists are still buying it. The Energy Department released some figures that the demand for gasoline has raised about 2% from over a year ago. Why do you think demand keeps going up?
Another interesting point was that diesel fuel has gone up roughly 36% from a year ago, but the trucking industry is still thriving. Why? Some say it is because of fuel surcharges and a strong demand from the retail and manufacturing sectors. This is very good for the trucking industry as long as they can keep covering their fuel costs.
One last bit of information that I thought was interesting was the fact that gas prices would have to climb another $1 per gallon to reach all time highs. For our sake, let’s hope this doesn’t happen!


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Siemens Tyneside plant ‘saved’ by Chinese
But what Chinese, how much are they paying, and don't you think the plan looks a bit flaky?
UK trade and industry secretary Peter Mandelson is poised to announce a face-saving deal that will keep Siemens' unviable Tyneside semiconductor fab open, according to reports this weekend. But from the sound of it, the proposed 'rescue' promises to be expensive, and of dubious value in the long term.
Siemens Semiconductor has been hit badly by the collapse of memory prices, and earlier this year announced the £1 billion Tyneside plant, which was opened only relatively recently, would close if a buyer couldn't be found.
Despite the infinite improbability factor involved in the concept of anyone today wanting to buy a state of the art manufacturing plant that built not quite state of the art DRAM (which was Siemens' problem, basically), Mandelson set off in pursuit of a buyer. And now, apparently, he's found one. But only sort of.
The plant is to be run as a joint venture between Siemens and an as yet unnamed Chinese company. The Chinese get 51 per cent, Siemens 49 per cent. The plant is going to switch from DRAM to telecommunications semiconductors, the idea being that the mysterious Chinese company will gain experience of the manufacturing process in order to construct factories in mainland China producing components for mobile phones.
pot the 'ah, buts…' dear readers. There aren't that many Chinese companies with substantial amounts of money to invest overseas, and the expression "with the aid of major government financial incentives" therefore springs to mind (Siemens, bless 'em, already had some of these).
Then there's the class of product to be manufactured - the phrase "expensive retooling" plus associated "major government financial incentives" drifts across our path. And of course, if one studies Siemens' global investment history over the past few years one will find that the company already has major telecommunications, wireless and semiconductor investments and joint ventures in mainland China.
Several of these appear on the surface to be driving in the same direction as the radically remodelled Tyneside plant will. So how long do you reckon it will last? And do you think Peter Mandelson is going to tell us how much this cost the mystery new majority owner, Siemens and the British government?


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India’s Finance Ministry is considering an amnesty program for residents with illicit stash of gold, as part of an effort to crack down on tax evasion and cut its dependence on imports, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Under the proposition made to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government plans to ask people with unaccounted holdings of the metal to declare it to tax authorities and pay levies, penalty, the people said, asking not to be identified citing rules on speaking to the media. The proposal is at an early stage and authorities are seeking feedback from concerned officials, they said.
Modi unveiled three state-backed plans in 2015 to try to tap the world’s largest private gold stash of about 25,000 tons held by households and institutions to trim physical demand, and reduce imports by providing people with alternative avenues for investment. The programs failed to generate interest as a section of the people didn’t want to part with their gold, usually in the form of jewellery and worn on special occasions, while others feared being penalized by tax authorities.
Consumers who declare their hoard will need to deposit some of the legalized gold with the government for a few years, they said. The administration had planned a similar program last year, the Mint reported on October 30. The tax office had denied any plans for an amnesty then.
Any proposal for an amnesty is fraught with risks as the country’s top court has ruled that Indians cannot claim absolute amnesty following criticism that such programs penalize honest tax payers. A finance ministry spokesman was not immediately available for a comment.
Gold has soared almost 30% to a record this year as the pandemic drove demand for havens amid a weaker dollar and low interest rates. With more stimulus on the horizon, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has said that bullion is the currency of last resort and forecasts a surge to $2,300 an ounce.
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- Sumitomo Mitsui, 4 Others Sought Info on IDBI Sale
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and one other global bank are among five potential investors that have sought information from the Centre about the sale of state equity in IDBI Bank through a formal query process that closed on November 10, people familiar with the matter told ET.Flipkart may go in for $700m Esop Buyback
Walmart-owned homegrown ecommerce marketplace Flipkart is likely to facilitate a $700 million employee stock buyback as part of digital payments platform PhonePe’s new financing round, multiple sources briefed on the matter told ET.Falling Input Costs may Cool Prices of Essentials, Apparel
Prices of groceries, daily essentials and apparel are likely to fall over the next two quarters as input costs are expected to decline, spurring sales in the process, according to consumer goods makers.
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Kate Middleton has been a massive boost not just to the Royal Family’s popularity but also to the finances of its charitable arm, the Royal Collection (£4m pounds in wedding china, £10m in ticket sales to see her wedding dress) so no surprise that Kate’s people have now applied to the Intellectual Property Office to trademark her royal title, the Duchess of Cambridge, so that it can be used on "a wide range of goods and services" which specifically include clothing, footwear and headgear.
The latest revelation will add fuel to speculation that a special range of baby clothes will be produced to mark the birth of the royal baby, expected in early July.
However, any “Duchess of Cambridge” branding would be used solely for charitable fund raising. Kate’s title is to be trademarked as part of the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, and will be used purely to raise money for a wide variety of charities, according to Richard Eden, writing in The Telegraph.
A spokesman said of the new application, “We included clothing in case we choose, for example, to make T-shirts in years to come, for marathon runners, etc."
However, the Royal Collection has previously suggested it might yet create a range of baby clothes to celebrate the birth of the future heir to the throne.
Since Kate Middleton joined the Royal family, the money raised by the Royal Collection has shot up.
The Royal Collection (RC) made £10million from entry tickets to view Kate Middleton's wedding dress which went on display for 73 days at Buckingham Palace last year.
The trust's CEO Jonathan Marsdon said when the RC annual report was published, "The marriage of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in April 2011 provided the best possible start to the year."
Overall, the Royal Collection’s income soared almost £8.5 million to £50.2 million in 2011/12.
The report said that more than 190,000 items of wedding-related merchandise were sold during the year, at a value of almost £4 million.
The success of their charities has enabled the three young members of the Royal family to give almost £1.2 million in grants to charities helping military veterans, disadvantaged children and wildlife.
Their tour of Canada and the United States also gave their fundraising a huge boost, including around £1 million raised by a polo match in California, some of which has been given to charities in Britain.


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McDonald's officially rolled out its all-day breakfast options nationally on Tuesday.
But the menu will depend on where you live, as the company will only offer select breakfast sandwich items in different locations.
“All Day Breakfast will have a limited menu that focuses on either McMuffin or Biscuit items. This decision is made at the local level based on customer preference,” the company said on its website.
McDonald's said the limited all-day breakfast menu is due to the fact that there aren’t enough grills to be rotating through both morning and day-time menus.
Aside from breakfast sandwiches, each market menu will also include hotcake platters, sausage burritos and sides.
The restaurant says customers will also be able to mix breakfast items with lunch and dinner options.
McDonald’s tested out the all-day breakfast menu in certain markets for several months before rolling out the menu nationally.


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At the company's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, SanDisk announced today the imminent release of the single largest-capacity MicroSD card ever created. This tiny storage medium offers an unprecedented 128 GB of space, but don't expect it to come cheap.
The 128GB SanDisk Ultra microSDXC™ UHS-I memory card provides desktop computer amounts of storage in your mobile device—thousands of hours of music and hundreds of hours of video. The need for cloud storage options to supplement the paltry 16 - 32 GB of local hard drive space have suddenly become a moot point. This breakthrough marks a magnitude increase in storage since the first Micro SD card hit the market a decade ago with just 128 MB of space
"Until now, consumers had to spread out their content between multiple products because the memory on those devices was not able to hold enough data in one place," explained Stuart Robinson, the director of Handset Component Technologies, Strategy Analytics, said in a press release. "This 128GB microSD card is going to be popular as the preferred removable storage option, giving users fast, secure and reliable access to their personal data archives." What's more, the new MicroSD card will include access to a new version of the SanDisk Memory Zone app which enables users to view, access, and backup locally stored files from a mobile device's internal storage, transferring them to the the new card.
The new line of Ultra microSDXC cards will span from 8GB to 128GB and run between $30 and $200 when they go on sale tomorrow at BestBuy.com and Amazon.com.


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Analyst Mintel has predicted a sharp decline in sales of standalone MP3 players, which it sees falling from £381m in 2012 to £177m by 2017, although a “worst-case” scenario has been suggested that could see sales as low as £25m that year. You don’t have to look far for the culprit: smartphones, which are now functioning as the digital music player of choice for hundreds of millions of people.
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Ford Bronco Raptor Confirmed! Watch Out, Jeep Wrangler Fans
After much fanfare, Ford has confirmed a Bronco Raptor is on the way. While the regular Ford Bronco has had a bit of a slow rollout to early buyers, when will the Bronco Raptor hit the market? With a 2022 date offered by the automaker, the Raptor still might not hit garages for some time.
Get ready, the Ford Bronco Raptor isn’t just a rumor anymore
Last week, someone with access to Ford’s internal ordering system noticed that a Ford Bronco Raptor appeared in the system. The system showed two different trim levels labeled as Raptor 373A and 374A. It seems possible the 374A package would be a higher-end trim. A final third trim, 922A, appears to be four-door and called the Everglades.
After that, a series of new paint colors appeared. Eruption Green, Hot Pepper Red, Desert Sand, and Code Orange are new options for the Raptor, which Ford confirmed in the short clip released. The Desert Sand color is only for the Everglades trim.
In addition, there appear to be some new upgrades available for the 2022 Raptor. Adaptive cruise control, a heated steering wheel, and wireless charging are introduced. No confirmation about the engine details yet, though. One thing is clear: Ford is coming for the Jeep fans. The Bronco Raptor is definitely going to take some of those uninspired Wrangler drivers and make them believers.
Bronco meet Raptor. Ready for takeoff in 2022.
Fans of the Ford Bronco knew the Raptor wasn’t going to be rolling off the production line anytime soon. The Bronco has had numerous delays already, and adding a highly-anticipated new version isn’t going to speed the process up at all. The description in Ford’s sneak peek video says, “Bronco meet Raptor. Ready for takeoff in 2022. Giddy Up!” In any case, that’s probably late 2022 or early 2023 before the Ford Bronco Raptor is out in the wild.
So what can be deduced from this quick clip? The grille gives us a good hint about the size of the 2022 Raptor. The three amber lights in the grille mean the Raptor is 80 inches or wider. The amber lights are a new standard set forth by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The lights are called Front Identification Lamps, and the regular Ford Bronco does not have these lamps.
According to Ford, the 2021 Bronco is 79.3 inches wide. That’s less than an inch under the requirement for the lights. Based on the same front shot of the grille, it looks like there’s some additional plastic cladding on the front fenders.
It’s still going to be a while before this SUV is in the wild
It makes sense Ford would only offer the Raptor in a four-door option given the hobbies of the SUV. Buyers would most likely use the Raptor in an off-roading capacity. Also, Ford has been having trouble getting the regular Broncos out in any capacity. Perhaps limiting it to four-door is a method to speed up the process.
A Raptor version of the Bronco has long been asked for by fans. While it might have been one of the worst-kept car secrets as of late, it is still exciting news. Also, it might reignite the excitement some reservation-holders initially had. Hurry up and wait some more.


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Tassel loafers, Harrington jackets and seventies-era shirts with point collars, are just a few items of clothing spotted on our streets today that for those old enough, will evoke a strong sense of Déjà vu. In amongst the misery of mass retail closure during the credit crunch, something remarkable actually happened in the shopping realm. Rising from the ashes of the corporate bonfire, charity shops expanded during the recession and reached record figures of £1 billion back in 2012.
Although there are countless benefits to visiting charity shops, throughout their life span, visitors have approached these stores with the same trepidation one would usually reserve for adult video shops. Sneaking in, hopefully unnoticed, and searching for a bargain amongst the bric-a-brac on offer and occasionally finding a gem – the ideal scenario in a charity shop being that the delightful elderly woman who accepted the donations was unaware of the value of the classic Ben Sherman shirt that she put on the rack for £3.
If you walk into an Oxfam store nowadays however, you won’t be hit by that stuffy smell that used to await you at charity shop entrances; instead you’ll be greeted by a similar sense of commerce you would expect from any high street shop. The clothes are organised into easy to find sections and visiting the changing rooms is no longer a terrifying experience. It seems charity shops are officially cool.
Why the Sudden Interest in Charity Shops?
An obvious answer to this question is one of timing, as the rise of the charity shop revolution coincided with people’s disposable incomes being slashed. So it makes logical sense that people were looking to make savings in their shopping budget. But the answer could be somewhat more convoluted than that, with many possible theories circulating as to what the charity shops are doing right.
There is an argument that fashion trends have independently changed with no correlation to the financial downturn and charity shops have gotten lucky. This current fashion trend has seen things like gold watches making a comeback, mod attire being seen more and more, and bright, flashy summer shorts coming back into style – so the recession may have little to do with it after all.
Then there’s another idea that over the past ten years, charities like Oxfam have seen a shift in the demographic of people who volunteer on their tills. Traditionally, the image of charity shops is one of an army of benevolent elderly ladies serving as foot soldiers in the stores up and down the country. However, while the elderly haven’t exactly been replaced, young people have joined the ranks to bolster their CV and give back to the community at the same time. This shift of staff demographic has arguably aided the new clientele.
In any case, it’s clear that shoppers need no longer worry about concealing their identity, as they can happily visit charity shops these days without embarrassment.


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Poland (Wednesday, August 23, 2017, Gaudium Press) “Free Sundays are what all Catholics, non-Catholics and non-believers need,” Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki told Polish Radio ahead of a meeting of the Bishops Conference on Friday, which is expected to support the ban.
The idea was put forward last year by the powerful Solidarity trade union, backed by a million-strong petition, and has been batted back and forth in a parliamentary subcommittee ever since.
The clerics are careful to base their argument on quality of life rather than religious grounds. “Families don’t just need financial support, they need time for themselves,” said the Archbishop of Katowice, Wiktor Skworc.
He appealed to the government to “show some compassion for women in the form of those who have to work in supermarkets on Sundays”, and accused it of showing “contempt” for Solidarity and the bishops by delaying consideration of the ban. He also warned local MPs and senators that he expected them to vote “in line with the views of their voters,” the Wirtualna Polska website reports.
Piotr Mazurkiewicz, who writes on the economy for the heavyweight Rzeczpospolita daily, says “no one should be under any illusion” that lucrative shopping tourism from Germany and Scandinavia would be hard hit, as most foreign shoppers head to Poland at the weekend.
The government and retail groups have suggested compromises like shutting shop every other Sunday, or only after lunch, and the rival OPZZ union confederation proposes higher wages for Sunday working, but Solidarity chief Piotr Duda is holding out for “Four free Sundays a month, full stop, end of story”, Dziennik daily reports.
He has received a boost by efforts to speed up parliamentary discussions by the subcommittee overseeing the proposal, which happens to be led by former Solidarity chairman Janusz Sniadek. Mr Sniadek is confident the bill will be ready for a first reading by January, according to the Money.pl financial website.
Labour Minister Elzbieta Rafalska acknowledged in June that the bill has gained momentum, and could be passed next year, TVN 24 reports. But she advises that any shopping restrictions must be introduced “in stages” after careful consideration by parliament.
Source BBC News


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HTC First, the Facebook Home flagship, seems to have sunk
Facebook has asked operators in Europe not to go ahead with the European launch planned for this summer, as American users are not interested in Home, which replaces the Android phone’s home screen with a rolling stream of Facebook updates and images. Pre-orders for the phone will be cancelled. While some say it is “delayed indefinitely”, it seems the phone will never be launched outside the US, while Facebook goes back to the drawing board. the streaming social media interface , initially planned for the summer has been put on hold indefinitely, with sources saying it will never be launched outside the US, where it went on sale in April.
Facebook flagship sinks
Facebook Home is the social media giant’s major foray into phones, and the HTC First is its flagship, often referred to as the “Facebook Phone”.
In the UK, operator EE issued a statement making it clear that Facebook took the decision: “Following customer feedback, Facebook has decided to focus on adding new customisation features to Facebook Home over the coming months. While they are working to make a better Facebook Home experience, they have recommended holding off launching the HTC First in the UK.”
In France, Orange said the same. And in the US, the HTC’First’s future is also in doubt, with BGR reporting that AT&T has cancelled the phone.
Facebook confirmed the First isn’t coming here in a statement: “While we focus on making Home better, we are going to limit supporting new devices and think it makes a lot of sense for EE and Orange to hold off deploying the HTC First in Europe.”
Previous Facebook phone efforts at HTC have come unstuck: 2011’s HTC ChaCha and Salsa sank without trace.


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It is now less than a decade until sales of pure internal combustion engines cease in the UK and the wholesale adoption of electrification marches forward. Still seems like a long way off, doesn’t it? Yet while nearly 10 years is a decent chunk of time for us, for car makers that 2030 date will be on them in the space of a single model cycle – the blink of an eye in automotive terms.
It means that the switchover to EVs is gathering pace quicker than you might think, with the result that, like the internet in the late 1990s, battery-engined vehicles will appear to segue from novelty to necessity almost overnight. More importantly, it’s at the more ‘affordable’ end of the market that the fastest changes are now occurring. The megawatt hypercars, premium brands and ambitious start-ups funded by eccentric entrepreneurs have stolen the headlines so far, but now it’s the turn of the mainstream makers to take the baton.
Leading the charge are Hyundai and Skoda, which have both recently launched family-friendly EVs with more than a hint of SUV about them in the form of the all-new Ioniq 5 and Enyaq iV. Both promise a range of around 300 miles, pack more than 200bhp and, in mid-spec guise, will cost in the region of £40,000. Impressive, but are these the sort of numbers that will convince budget-conscious family car buyers racked with range anxiety to make the leap to lithium ion power sooner rather than later? Let’s find out.
For those of us worried that an EV future will lead to a more homogenous approach to engineering, then on paper there’s nothing here that allays those fears.
Both are essentially underpinned by their respective brand’s EV ‘skateboard’ platform, featuring a rear-mounted electric motor and a battery pack that’s laid low on the floor between the axles for optimum weight distribution and packaging. In the case of the Hyundai, it’s the E-GMP platform that will be shared with sibling firm Kia for its EV6, while the Enyaq uses the Volkswagen Group’s MEB structure that has already seen service in the Volkswagen ID 3 and Audi Q4.


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JLG promotes Alton to VP and GM for Cat Alliance Group
| June 17, 2008 |
JLG Industries announced the promotion of Rick Alton to the position of vice president and general manager for JLG’s Caterpillar Alliance Group (CAG). Alton will be responsible for the continued growth and expansion of the Caterpillar Alliance Group, as well as continuing to build on the successful global alliance with Caterpillar. Additionally, Alton will also continue to implement business strategies related to the CAG.
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What’s it like to be plus-size at 15?
BATON ROUGE – Teenage girls who are considered plus-sized say shopping for clothing is a frustrating and often humiliating experience, according to a recent study.
Laurel Romeo, an assistant professor in the LSU College of Agriculture’s Department of Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising, conducted in-depth interviews with 30 plus-sized pre-teens and teens, ages 12 to 17, and their family members to learn about their shopping experiences.
She also took body scans of the girls to get their precise measurements. The measurements will go into a database for a study Romeo is doing to get an accurate picture of the size of Americans.
“They had money. They wanted to purchase clothing, but they couldn’t find what they wanted in a size that fit,” Romeo said of the study participants.
Romeo said the teens and their parents reported spending full days trying on clothes, but finding little that fit or was an appropriate style. Romeo said juniors clothing typically does not have plus sizes, so they would try women’s, maternity or even the men’s section.
“They were embarrassed to shop in these sections, and they worried their peers would know they were wearing a maternity top,” she said.
According to the study, parents complained that women’s clothing had low-cut tops that were not appropriate for young girls, while the girls said the clothing in that section looked like something their teachers would wear and was not a youthful style.
Another parent reported purchasing men’s clothing and finding ways to feminize it with patches or sparkles.
Romeo said some of the girls in the study were athletes with muscular builds, which accounted for their body mass index falling into the overweight or obese category. They, too, couldn’t fit into junior-sized clothes.
“The apparel industry is still basing their sizing off of studies done in the 1940s. Industry changes need to take place,” she said.
Romeo began collecting data in 2013. The result of her study was published this year in the international Journal of Fashion Marketing and Merchandising and is the focus of an advertising campaign by Emerald Group Publishing.
“Emerald chose this study to feature because it bridges academia and industry. It is applied research over theoretical,” she said.
Romeo said plus-sized teen clothing could be an opportunity for retailers and designers to make a mark in the apparel industry.
“There is a viable market out there for the clothing,” she said. “They wanted to find clothes, had the money to buy it and even said they would have spent more if they could find it.”


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The owner of the Michael Kors brand beat analysts’ expectations with the announcement of solid growth in both sales and earnings in the third quarter on Wednesday but dampened the news by reducing its annual guidance.
Off-White and Bottega Veneta are continuing to ride high in the latest version of The Lyst Index. The Q4 report from the high-end search engine showed that Off-White is again the "hottest brand on the planet”.
This season, the Milan Fashion Week Men’s has teamed up with London, and will welcome a spate of new names and major comebacks, from Gucci to Ferragamo, to bolster its programme and make up for 11 withdrawals.
The Milan Fashion Week Men, scheduled on January 10 to 14, will be half a day longer and will feature many come-backs and new names, among them Gucci and A-Cold-Wall, compensating for no fewer than 11 withdrawals.
Aditya Birla plans to double its store count for its multi-brand luxury fashion retail chain The Collective and open 10 more stores in the coming three years with an investment of around Rs 60 crore ($9 million).


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Japanese component major to leverage Metawave’s technologies to accelerate the development and improve performance of in-vehicle millimetre-wave radar sensors
Denso Corporation has taken a stake in Metawave Corporation, a US-based startup company that develops cutting-edge, millimetre-wave radar sensing technologies to detect vehicles and pedestrians.
Metawave announced on May 15, 2018 that it had raised an additional $10 million from Denso, Toyota AI Ventures, Hyundai Motor Company, and otherstrategic investors.
Denso says it will harness Metawave’s technologies to accelerate the development of a smart automotive radar system for autonomous cars. Metawave has the core technologies for expanding radar detection range, improving recognition performance and reducing size.
To create a safe future of mobility, Denso has been working to develop sensors that serve as a vehicles’ ‘eyes’. Radar, a critical component found in nearly all autonomous cars, drastically improves the vehicle’s ability to recognize near-by conditions and objects.
A millimetre-wave radar sensor detects surrounding conditions using radio waves in the millimetre-wave band. The sensors are used in the radar systems to apply the brakes when a collision is unavoidable, and keep a certain distance from a preceding vehicle when driving. Denso’s millimetre-wave radar sensors are used in Toyota’s Alphard and Vellfire models, which were released in January 2018 in combination with a vision sensor for recognising vehicles and pedestrians.
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A global Fluoro Rubber (FKM) market research market has hit the stands much to the delight of the industry players. The report, which is released by the Market Insights, has focused on the forecast for the years leading to 2025. It has valuable data that will allow every participant in the industry to understand the nuances of it and plan their business tactics in the upcoming period.
The study has looked into the important elements of the global Fluoro Rubber (FKM) market besides providing an explanation in detail. There are four broad categories as given below:
Key Strategic Developments: The study has incorporated some key strategic developments. This included R&D, the launch of a new product, M&A, agreements, collaborations, partnerships, joint ventures, and regional operators on an international and regional perspective.


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Mumbai, May 19 (IANS) Consumer products major Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd on Tuesday said its profits during the fourth quarter of 2015 rose by 23.6 percent at Rs. 163.63 crore against Rs. 132.3 crore in the corresponding timeframe last fiscal.
Its total net income during the period under review rose nearly by 11 percent at Rs.1,028.5 crore against earnings of Rs.927.3 crore in the January-March 2014 timeframe.
“The company posted a robust volume growth of 5 percent both for the quarter and the full year in toothpaste and continued to enhance its leadership position in toothpaste category by registering a volume market share of 57.8 percent for the period January-April 2015,” the company said in a regulatory filing with the BSE.
It also said it maintained the leadership position in the toothbrush segment by registering a volume market share of 42.1 percent during Q4.
During 2014-15, the company’s net profits rose by 3.5 percent at Rs.559 crore against Rs.540 crore during 2013-14.
Total revenues during 2014-15 stood at Rs.3,982 crore – an increase of 11.3 percent compared to the total net earnings of Rs.3,579 crore during 2013-14.


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Finance leaders are forecasting economic growth for this year despite decades-high inflation readings and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
During the American Bankers Association’s Washington Summit, Wells Fargo Chief Corporate Economist Richard DeKaser said the U.S. economy will likely grow by more than 2.5 percent this year as inflation drops and more people reenter the workforce. During a March 9 BankBeat webinar, KC Mathews, chief investment officer at the $42 billion, Kansas City, Mo.-based UMB Bank, predicted 3.6 percent GDP growth this year and a 7 to 10 percent increase in the S&P 500 market. He anticipates GDP growth will fall to 2.5 percent in 2023 as interest rates rise.
Inflation still poses challenges to the economy as a shortage of goods persists and demand remains high. Readings jumped last year from 1.4 percent in January 2021 to 7 percent in December, the highest in four decades. The inflation tax in 2021 was 3.5 percent on all personal income, subtracting 3 percent from the already robust 5.7 percent growth in GDP in 2021. To tame inflation, the Federal Reserve has already signaled it will end qualitative easing this month and raise interest rates by 0.25 percent before undertaking additional hikes later this year. U.S. government debt has soared to a record $30 trillion, a debt-to-GDP ratio of 123 percent, Mathews said. He expects that debt to hold down GDP growth as politicians seeking reelection hold off on hiking taxes and cutting public spending to trim the deficit.
Echoing the predictions of other economists, DeKaser said the current Russia-Ukraine war and subsequent sanctions will only worsen the existing supply chain issues and lead to further price spikes. Mathews blamed the relative inefficiency of U.S. ports as a key reason for the current supply chain woes. Regulations on the trucking industry also hamper the flow of consumer goods, he said.
Another economic challenge is the shortage of employees in a tight labor market: There are 11.2 million job openings, contrasting sharply with the fewer than 6.4 million unemployed Americans. Also, nearly 4 million people are voluntarily quitting their jobs every month, often for other positions offering better pay, benefits or flexibility. A wave of retirements early in the pandemic didn’t help, with 1 million to 2.5 million people aged 55 and older leaving the workforce, and the sharp drop in immigration during Covid-19 compounded the shortage, Mathews added. Increased automation or loosening regulations could help ease the situation, he said.
Despite supply chain and employee shortages, numerous positive economic indicators remain. U.S. GDP has already completely recovered from the Covid-19 recession, and unemployment has returned to 2019 levels. DeKaser expects unemployment, already historically low at 3.8 percent, to decline to 3.5 percent this year as workers who left the workforce over fears of the virus return to employment. He said the record $145 trillion in American household wealth as pandemic restrictions end will boost the economy and lead to GDP gains in the years ahead as demand remains high.


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Fast 5G cellular networks are beginning to proliferate, as automakers explore what they can do so quickly.
At a test track in Weissach in southwestern Germany, sports car maker Porsche has been running Taycan electric sports cars to see how the vehicles’ 5G equipment allows them to exchange data.
Porsche is one of the few automakers that have teamed up with telecoms companies to build small local 5G networks to pilot the technology as they develop new car models. And high-speed networks are so new that automakers still need to test or, in some cases, design the equipment they need.
Manufacturers aim to use high-speed networks to do a range of things, including downloading critical software updates on the go, updating digital maps more quickly, and audible alerts about road conditions. The cars may also communicate with smart infrastructure such as traffic lights and buildings, so that the self-driving taxi knows that the stop light at the next intersection is red. They may talk to each other, perhaps to warn another car that a pedestrian is on the road or that there are some obstacles in the road, according to the “Wall Street Journal” and seen by “Al Arabiya.net”.
For his part, CEO of Porsche, Oliver Blume, said that the data collected by the company from its experimental cars will help it design chips for self-driving vehicles and advanced driver assistance programs.
“It’s important that we show how this works, especially for future product development. It’s important to develop the processors we’ll use in the future, to make sure they’re ready for 5G,” Blum added.
The development of faster cellular networks corresponds to a fundamental shift in automotive technology. In the past, cars had dozens of computer chips with built-in software that controlled individual functions such as lights, engine controls or windows. And unlike a smartphone or computer, which can be constantly updated with new features and functions, the software on these chipsets cannot be updated until the next generation of the car arrives with new parts.
But in 2012, Tesla launched its Model S that replaced distributed software with central computers that could be constantly updated over the air, completely changing the model for automotive design.
The ability to update vehicle software allows car manufacturers to constantly improve the vehicle and even provide drivers with on-demand features such as a heated steering wheel in winter or extra horsepower from the electric motor during a planned ski vacation in the mountains.
And like a smartphone, the car has become another internet-connected device. By 2025, analysts estimate that there will be 100 million connected cars on the road worldwide.
To make all this upgrading fast and reliable, though, carmakers need a super-fast network to send information to individual vehicles — a big reason why automakers are immersed in 5G networks.
For its part, Porsche, in cooperation with the global group Vodafone, has built two local 5G networks: one at its research and development center in Weissach to test technology in cars, and the other at its main plant in Zuffenhausen to develop applications for high-speed data transmission in manufacturing.
The test networks began operating in September, and Porsche is building another test network in Italy. However, Porsche did not say when it would launch a vehicle ready for the fifth generation.
Meanwhile, General Motors is working with AT&T Inc., which operates a large 5G cellular network in the United States. The automaker said in August that it would roll out 5G technology on select models in 2024.
Before the technology can be deployed more widely, car owners will have to rely on 4G and LTE networks, which they can already use today for connected car services such as GM’s OnStar service. The automaker updates OnStar maps, traffic information, and on-air infotainment systems.
“This technology will mean faster download speeds for music, videos and various maps for navigation services, but it also extends to vehicle updates,” GM said in a statement.
Stellantis NV, which owns Chrysler, said in May it had formed a joint venture with Hon Hai Precision, better known as Foxconn. The new operation, called Mobile Drive, will develop digital dashboards and displays, what automakers now call digital cockpits, and other connected car technologies for future models that will benefit from faster data transmission than 5G.
Stellantis has not yet announced when 5G technology will be included in the models of any of its 15 brands, which also include Peugeot, Jeep, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Maserati.
Toyota Motor Corporation has established a project with Japanese telecommunications company Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp to build high-capacity data networks and technology that will include the creation of 5G standards for use in the company’s connected vehicles.
Toyota envisions a range of applications for 5G networks, including over-the-air software updates and remote monitoring of self-driving vehicles that could allow anyone to control the vehicle remotely, as well as in-car multimedia applications.
Mercedes-Benz CEO Michael Hafner, who is responsible for developing the company’s core vehicle operating system, MB.OS, said Mercedes already offers cloud-based warning services with existing cellular networks, such as alerting other drivers about a pit or accident ahead of them. By sending data to the cloud, which is then widely distributed. He finds the wake-up time is so fast that 5G won’t make much difference.


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According to the French government's consumer recall website, three cat food products manufactured by Purina have been recalled over fears that they may cause cats to become violently ill.
According to the Belgian newspaper Le Soir, the pet food reportedly may cause violent diarrhoea, and even death, in some cats. Despite having been flagged by French authorities, the cat food products are still also on sale in pet stores in Belgium.
Purina’s Pro Plan Original Kitten 1-12 Months (chicken), Purina Pro Plan Sterilised Adults 1+ (salmon), and ONE Junior 1-12 months (chicken) have all been recalled from the manufacturer.
- World's largest chocolate factory: No salmonella contamination in Belgian food supply
- Cora recalls crisps due to presence of tropane alkaloids
The French recall site cites the presence of “residue (“2-CE”) from water treatment used by an ingredient supplier” as the source of contamination. The affected products were sold between November 2021 and April 2022, and do not expire until next year.
If pet-owners are using food manufactured in this period, they are advised to stop giving it to animals and throw away the cat food.


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[Funding alert] Medikabazaar raises $75M in a Series C round led by CDC Group, Creaegis, others
Mumbai-based healthtech startup Medikabazaar will use this funding to deepen its supply ecosystem and tech-led distribution channels across geographies.
B2B healthtech startuphas raised $75 million in a Series C round led by UK-based development finance institution CDC Group and PE fund Creaegis.
The round also saw participation from existing investors, including Belgium-based Ackermans & van Haaren (AvH), HealthQuad Advisors, Japan-based Rebright Partners, Continental Europe-based Kois Holdings, and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. This is one of the largest deals in the B2B healthcare space in India.
Prior to this, Medikabazaar had raised a Series B round of $15.8 million in 2019.
The Mumbai-based online marketplace for medical supplies plans to utilise the fresh capital funds to deepen its supply ecosystem and tech-led distribution channels across geographies. It also plans to expand to the Middle East, North America, and Southeast Asia.
Srini Nagarajan, CDC’s Head of South Asia, said in a statement, “Access to quality and affordable healthcare is a key component for improved development outcomes in any country, and CDC’s partnership with Medikabazaar comes at a critical juncture when collaboration is urgently needed to address India’s healthcare needs. Beyond our investment, CDC is prepared to devote its sector expertise to support Medikabazaar in scaling its operation across the country to deliver greater variety of essential medical supplies at an affordable cost to more customers."
"This partnership will have an expansive impact on improving people’s health and quality of life," he added.
Founded in 2015 by Vivek Tiwari and Ketan Malkan, Medikabazaar currently powers over 100,000 medical establishments, and more than 150,000 independent healthcare professionals globally.
It has onboarded more than 15,000 seller partners, and delivered over 500 million units of medical supplies to date.
Commenting on the funding, Founder & CEO Vivek Tiwari said,
"We are delighted to welcome Creaegis and the CDC Group on board as investors. We look forward to creating a technology-driven platform serving the healthcare ecosystem. The Series C funding has also seen our existing investors extending their trust in us as we continue on our rapid growth path in transforming the state of the health infra industry in India."
"The funds raised will enable us to enhance our international operations and deepen our presence in the Indian B2B healthtech industry," he added.
Riding on the pandemic-led boom in the healthcare infrastructure sector, Medikabazaar is targeting a 300 percent growth through FY22.
Prakash Parthasarathy, Managing Partner at Creaegis, added, “The healthcare ecosystem needs deep digital transformation to deliver efficient care and Medikabazaar has pioneered a unique digital supply chain platform to scale hospitals and clinics across the country. We look forward to building a leading next-generation company with Vivek and team and are fully committed to bringing Creaegis’ digital operating capabilities and relationships to support this journey.”
Edited by Saheli Sen Gupta


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Fashion designer L’Wren Scott has officially pulled out of of September’s New York Fashion Week to buy herself more time to finish the collection. L’Wren’s Spring 2013 collection will debut in Paris instead, but her date is not yet confirmed. It seems she may have been inspired by Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen‘s decision to do the same thing two years ago for their Spring collection of The Row.
These girls know what it means to be fashionably late!
L’Wren Scott with boyfriend Mick Jagger
Photo Credit: Evan Agostini


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Target Corp. plans to hire 200 people for its new Canton store scheduled to open in October.
The 135,000-square-foot store will be part of the planned Canton Crossing Shopping Center on Boston Street. The store will include a selection of fresh produce, fresh packaged meat and pre-packaged baked goods.
The long-awaited Target will hold job fairs two months prior to the store’s opening. Candidates can also apply online at Target.com/careers or at in-store kiosks located in all Target stores three months prior to the new store opening.


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South Australian based wine operators are invited to complete the latest South Australian Wine Industry Survey by Monday, 8 August.
Bentleys SA is asking wine businesses of South Australia to participate and contribute to the shared knowledge and ongoing development of the industry.
Following the huge vintage of last year and amidst difficult trading conditions and export challenges, the industry is again facing trying times and these industry insights at a time of such uncertainty are most needed.
The survey collects the opinions and experiences of wine industry operators in South Australia, providing insights which are then used to assist the industry with programs, initiatives, and to inform government lobbying.
The 2022 survey is conducted by Bentleys SA on behalf of the South Australian Wine Industry Association who say that the results of the survey will help business and policymakers understand industry sentiment, provide insights and key findings from across South Australia plus identify areas of opportunity and assistance. Key themes for investigation include: oversupply, ESG, inflation, environmental impacts, labour challenges and innovation.
The 2022 South Australian Wine Industry Snapshot report will be published in October. To complete the survey click here.


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Reports are coming in that Microsoft is planning to resurrect development for the highly-anticipated exclusive Scalebound.
According to some trademark findings, Microsoft has renewed the rights for Scalebound, pointing to a possible revival of development. The information comes from Justia trademarks (via SomosXbox), mentioning that the trademarks have been renewed by Microsoft.
That said, it doesn’t appear that Platinum Games is behind the project this time around. A user on Twitter who claims to be an industry insider, mentions that the development of Scalebound was left to an “Important close Microsoft team” indicating that news of the game should be announced soon – perhaps, in time with Microsoft’s E3 Press Briefing on June 10th.
Insider Report: Do you remember Scalebound? Development is resumed, led by and entrusted to an important "close" MS team. Info soon!
— X-Rays ♏ (@XRays_Insider) May 18, 2017
This is leading some people to believe that 343 Industries, the developers behind the popular Halo franchise, is leading the development for Scalebound. The team has already confirmed that Halo 6 will not be at this year’s E3, so it is possible that the reason for that is because the team is hard at work on a different project – perhaps Scalebound. Nothing is certain at this point, as this is just speculation, but we should hear more information about Scalebound’s future during the Microsoft E3 Press Briefing on June 10th, at 2 PM PT.
Scalebound was in development by Platinum Games who brought us titles like Nier: Automata, Vanquish, and Bayonetta. While the exact reasons for the cancellation are unclear, Microsoft canceled development of the game at the beginning of the year.
Scalebound is canceled but was scheduled to release as an exclusive for the Xbox One and Windows 10 PC.


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Sony Bans European Hardware Imports from Lik-Sang
October 20, 2006 3:23 PM
comment(s) - last by
Image courtesy Thisiswaiting.com
UK High Court rules that sales of Japanese PSPs to the region are illegal - expected to follow suit with the PS3
European gamers have been dealt yet another blow by Sony. After being informed that they would have to
wait until March 2007
to receive the PS3, followed by being
European VP Jamie MacDonald's assertation
that they "didn't mind waiting" for the console, the UK High Court has granted Sony a judgement that could set a nasty precedent for those hoping to avoid the wait by buying a PS3 from another country.
The UK High Court has ruled
that the online importer
's sales of Japanese versions of the Playstation Portable to the UK and European Economic Area are illegal. While gamers might not fret over this, it does set a rather bold precident for Sony to request a similar ruling preventing the import of their "soon to be released" (in North America and Japan) Playstation3 console.
's marketing manager, Pascal Clarysse, was
clearly annoyed by the ruling.
"Fighting multiple lawsuits in different countries at the same time and paying high premiums to expensive lawyers is an overwhelming situation for a small company like Lik-Sang. Launching separate court actions with separate claims and different judges is completely unnecessary, except for the fact that it helps reaching one single target: outspend Lik-Sang to death. 'Pay Beyond.'"
is currently exploring its legal options; but with this recent ruling against them adding to
eBay's tightening restrictions on pre-order sales
, European gamers may not see the Playstation3 through any channels until the official launch next spring.
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
RE: Justice for the buyers
10/21/2006 10:16:48 PM
Normally to get warranty for imported gods you have to send it back, which is expensive considering shipping and you may end paying taxes for a 2nd time.
If you buy stuff in US and take to Europe, for example, there is normally no warranty.
Exception is Dell and IBM, they give international warranty for Notebooks, as far I as I know.
Sony does not honor warranty outside country of sale (perhaps only inside EU they have to do that).
This was even the reason for a JVC (or Panasonic or Toshiba, I forgot) TV ad some years ago, the message was: Sony will not support you internationally, but we will....
"People Don't Respect Confidentiality in This Industry" -- Sony Computer Entertainment of America President and CEO Jack Tretton
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China's recent slowdown has raised widespread concerns that any weakening demand there for goods and raw materials from the rest of the world could weigh on the entire global economy.
But, so far, the slowdown doesn't seem to have dampened China's appetite for imported food.
Though its economy has cooled markedly from once red-hot, double-digit growth, China's transformation from an agrarian economy remains a work in progress. Slowing factory output, a recent stock market crash and the emergence of regional housing bubbles haven't diminished the No. 1 task facing Beijing's leaders: feeding 1.4 billion people.
Deng's grand experiment
Begun more than 30 years ago, China's historic economic transformation has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty, reshaped the global economy and given rise to a new world power.
It's a monumentally ambitious plan. The goal is to keep the economy growing, spread wealth from the industrial coastal cities to inland provinces and rural areas, encourage more domestic spending, spur innovation and deliver expanded social services to sparsely populated areas that lack them.
China's economy, which lay in ruins in the late 1970s after the failed Cultural Revolution, has developed faster than any in history. So far, the grand experiment with "state-sponsored" capitalism has transformed China's coastal cities and brought a marked increase in the standard of living of urban residents, including an appetite for imported food once unaffordable to most Chinese households.
Now, with growth slowing, Chinese leaders need to maintain that economic growth to satisfy consumer demand, maintain social order and preserve their political power. And in many ways, China's continued transformation over the next 30 years presents even greater challenges than the first phase of former leader Deng Xiaoping's "opening up" policy begun in 1978.
Today, many of China's rural households, especially in inland and western regions, are still waiting for the benefits of economic reforms to reach them. Outside of urban areas, the savings set aside by the top 20 percent, the so-called first income quintile, is larger than the entire annual income of the bottom 20 percent, or fifth quintile. Nearly half of China's population still lives in rural areas, according to the World Bank.
Economic opportunity in the cities is also limited by the Chinese government's household registration system, or “hukou,” which officially designates most citizens' place of residence. Without approved registration in their new home city, many new migrants are "floaters" who lose out on locally administered subsidies for education, health care and housing. That leaves many rural residents with a difficult choice: remain at home where jobs are scarce, or move to a city without registration and pay out of pocket for those services.
Changing food choices
Rising incomes are only one of the forces stoking China's demand for imported food.
The massive, ongoing migration of more than 300 million people from rural areas to gleaming new cities — by some estimates, the largest peacetime resettlement in history — is transforming the way food is supplied, prepared and served.
Younger workers in China's rapidly expanding urban centers are more likely than their parents to experiment with foreign-made foods and recipes. Those urban centers are also increasingly hosting foreign visitors and expatriates who retain their appetites for the foods they're accustomed to at home.
Lax food safety standards have produced periodic scares and also boosted demand for imported goods. China was ranked this year as one of the world's worst safety-violation offenders by American food consulting firm Food Sentry.
As a result, Chinese choices at the table have changed significantly in the last few decades, with consumption of grains and vegetables making up a smaller share of the typical household diet, as appetites have increased for meat, seafood, dairy products and eggs.
But while Chinese consumer's tastes have shifted, the nation's farmers haven't been able to keep up with demand. That's not likely to change anytime soon.
Despite its vast size, China is land poor, with only 20 acres of arable land per 100 people, according to the World Bank.
The result is a boom in demand for food imports that has been a windfall for U.S. farmers.
To feed its rising middle class, China has, often reluctantly, turned to other global food producers. In the four years after China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, and agreed to lower tariffs designed to protect local farmers from import competition, U.S. farm exports to China nearly tripled $5 billion, according to the US Department of Agriculture. As of 2013, the latest figures available, China represents a $26 billion market for U.S. grains, meat, dairy products, fibers and other goods.
While the U.S. is the top provider of Chinese food imports, it is not alone in feeding the world's most populous nation. Brazil, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Canada and Argentina are among American farmers' top competitors in supplying China with food.
"China's inability to meet all the increased demand from domestic production renders exciting opportunities to food exporting countries such as Australia," glowed a 2012 report on China's booming appetite for food imports by the Australia's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
That trend isn't likely to reverse in the short term either.
China's political leaders have several reasons to remain intently focused on raising wages, not the least because their power relies on maintaining the momentum of rising living standards to avoid social unrest. The goal of keeping incomes rising — or at least maintaining the prospect of a better standard of living — is a critical element to the regime's popular support.
The pledge was repeated in 2012 when the outgoing regime of President Hu Jintao pledged to double household incomes within a decade.
Beijing's economic policy makers are also hoping that rising disposable incomes will also help wean the economy off the heavy investments in infrastructure and state-owned companies that have been the main driver of China's economy for over a decade. Those heavy investments have left China with a massive pile of bad debt and reliance on state investment that many observers say is unsustainable over the long run.
Despite rising wages, consumer spending as a share of China's economy has been falling for the last six decades — from 76 percent of gross domestic product in 1952 to some 28 percent in 2011, according to a report this year by economists at the Demand Institute.
"That fall will soon flatten out," the authors wrote. "Without a substantial intervention, however, we believe consumption's share of China's economy is unlikely to rise substantially before 2025."
Video produced by Quin Chen, Kurumi Fukushima, Zack Guzman and Brandon Ancil Animation by Stephanie Swart


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Apple has seen its digital music sales fall as free or cheap streaming competition grows, ranging from YouTube—which is testing a new streaming service—to Spotify, which now has more than 60 million active users and 15 million premium subscribers.
Now Apple finally seems to be preparing to fend off disruption. Building on its $3 billion acquisition of Beats last year, it is “actively working to launch a completely new paid streaming music service,” 9to5Mac’s well-sourced Mark Gurman reports. This echoes previous reports, such as last November’s by the FT, that Apple could be building a new streaming service into its platforms.
As Gurman details:
Rather than merely installing the existing Beats Music app onto iPhones, Apple has decided to deeply integrate Beats into iOS, iTunes, and the Apple TV. The company is currently developing new Beats-infused versions of the Music application for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, as well as an updated iTunes application for computers that deeply integrates Beats functionality. A new Apple TV application is also in the works.
Spotify, which has built a strong community around its social music features, has been fine in weathering competition from Rhapsody, Rdio, and Beats Music itself, none of which have gained massive adoption. But Apple has a huge distribution advantage and is reportedly interested in competing on price—Gurman says Apple may charge $8 per month for its service, or 20% less than Spotify—which could quickly make it Spotify’s no. 1 competitor. (Apple declined to comment.)
Either way, a serious entry by Apple could come as the streaming music market is projected to explode. Credit Suisse forecast last year that global streaming-music subscriptions would rise from less than 20 million to almost 150 million by 2025. Streaming revenue is also expected to overtake digital and physical music sales within the next couple of years, and—the optimist’s case—may even drive industry growth again.
The key question is whether Apple can deliver. The company has broadly struggled with many of its cloud-based and social services over the years. Its iTunes Radio product has not put any major dents in Pandora. iTunes Match, another music service, is misunderstood at best. Gurman also reports “internal problems” that may have already delayed the Beats-iTunes integration.
But it would be risky to underestimate Apple here. The company sold more than 280 million iPhones, iPads, iPods, and Macs last year. If Apple can smoothly integrate streaming music into its operating systems, and make paying for a premium subscription as easy as scanning your thumbprint, it could easily be a winner.


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Australians burn $1.3 billion in petrol each year… just looking for parking
New research shows that Australians are spending a lot of time and money in search of a parking space, and HERE Technologies believes that connected cars will help curb the problem.
A survey of more than 1000 people found that Australians spend, on average, 14 hours per year looking for that elusive perfect parking space. The numbers show that 18- to 24-year-old drivers take more time than any other age group - one in four people in this age group spend 30 minutes and over, per week, trying to find a spot.
Some 30 per cent of participants believe it has become increasingly difficult to find parking spaces in the past year, leading 24 per cent to choose alternative forms of transport, and 25 per cent to avoid driving at all. However, 4 per cent think parking access has improved.
While younger drivers are the pickiest with their parking spots, they're also the most likely to consider solutions like alternative transport, ride-sharing, or future technology.
More than half of all under-25s surveyed (56 per cent) want an app that directs them to available parking spaces, while almost one in three (31 per cent) want to use internet connected car features to help find free parks.
"Connected car technology can provide information to drivers about parking availability and on-street parking restrictions in real-time and can even estimate how long you’ll need to factor in to find a spot, based on historical data," said Mark Whitmore, director of HERE Asia Pacific.
"Building greater awareness of on-street parking options not only helps alleviate the stress of locating parking for drivers, it also impacts pedestrians and cities on a wider scale – with limited parking causing more than 30 percent of overall inner city traffic."
"Just like online banking has eliminated the need to wait in bank queues, the inconvenience of searching for car parks will soon be a relic of the past as fully self-driving cars capable of parking themselves become widely available across Australia in as little as five years," he added.
Other findings include that the average Australian clocks up an additional 560 kilometres a year at around 40km/h looking for parking spots, burning 59 litres of fuel at an average cost of $70 per person - equating to $1.3 billion.
MORE: Connected car news


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Netflix doesn't have ads, but it's working with brands in many other ways. Here's everything we know.
Samantha Lee/Business Insider
- A debate is swirling among advertising and media execs about whether ads will come to Netflix, but the streaming giant is already working with brands in many other ways.
- You can read Business Insider’s coverage of Netflix’s marketing strategy by subscribing to BI Prime.
A debate is swirlingamong advertising and media execs about whether ads will come to Netflix.
But the streaming giant is already working with brands in other non-traditional ways to promote its original programming and platform.
Netflix solicited dozens of marketing tie-ins with major brands including Coca-Cola, Baskin-Robbins, and Burger King, to promote the third season of “Stranger Things.” It’s pursuing similar deals for other tentpole originals.
The promotional partnerships are testing people’s appetites for seeing Netflix franchises tied to other brands, as well as giving Netflix a presence in marketing channels that it can’t buy its way into, like retail spaces.
Below is a list of stories Business Insider has published that give a peek into Netflix’s marketing strategy, as well as what its competition is up to.
Have an idea for another story or a tip? Let me know [email protected].
Netflix’s marketing strategy and partnerships
- Inside Netflix’s marketing strategy for ‘Stranger Things,’ the show that supercharged its work with brands like Lyft and Coca-Cola
- ‘I thought I was getting punked’: A Baskin-Robbins marketer’s reaction to being courted by Netflix to promote ‘Stranger Things’
- Netflix and HBO are making big inroads into marketing tie-ins usually seen around tentpole movies
- How Netflix is using companies like Comcast and T-Mobile to drive its next phase of growth
- How Disney’s marketing advantage over Netflix will be its secret weapon in the streaming war
- Amazon’s head of TV and movie marketing details the studio’s turnaround effort under Jennifer Salke and its push to become more than a ‘supermarket of content’
Source: Read Full Article


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Slay! Stephany Uy Tan shares fashion tips
Catbalogan City Councilor Stephany Uy Tan was recently in New York to attend a conference.
The councilor made the most out of her trip by exploring Hong Kong during a long layover and by sharing her different “fits”.
The politiko even shared tips on how to dress appropriately for New York’s weather this time of the year.


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Talk about airing your dirty laundry!
Well now Chelsea is speaking up about her adopted mom -- and none of it is very flattering!
[Image via Instagram.]
This happens far too often!
In its S/S 2016 presentation on Tuesday Valentino showed 90 looks for its Africa-inspired collection.
Calling the collection "primitive, tribal, spiritual, yet regal," the brand featured mostly white models sporting corn-rows, and only 10 of the looks were modeled by women of African descent.
And there were only eight black models total, out of 87!
The glaring contrast between the theme and the lack of models of color upset quite a few people, who called out the famous Italian fashion label for taking inspiration from African culture without at least having more African models actually present the clothing.
With changing times, companies quite often have to rebrand with new titles, logos and tag lines to try and stay "hip" and "cool."
We guess that's why ABC Family has decided to change their name to the absurd new title "Freeform."
That's right, the network that gave you Pretty Little Liars and The Fosters will now be the Freeform channel.
They made the announcement on Twitter (below) in a video with a ton of their stars saying:
Chris Pratt and Anna Faris are perfection on the red carpet together — but now we have photographic evidence they were both always adorable
The Jurassic World and Mom stars both posted adorable throwback photos on social media this week — and it wasn't just to one up each other's cuteness!
Anna's brother Robert Faris, who is an associate professor of sociology at the University of California at Davis, was a co-collaborator in the two-year investigation of social media accounts of hundreds of eighth graders nationwide!
The CNN team also interviewed the subjects' families and social psychologists to shed more light on the social media obsession in today's teens!
But Pratt and Faris' photos just remind us of a simpler time! Check out the super cute pics (below)!
The queen of Snapchat strikes again!
This time Kylie Jenner has gifted her millions of followers with a booty pic AND advice on where to get affordable Spanx!
The 18-year-old shared a pic of herself in a beige pair that molded onto her butt like a second layer of epidermis!
She also advertised where her fans could get one just like it from Target with the caption:
"These new spanx are bomb. From target"
And when a Twitter follower called her out by saying that Kylizzle was wearing butt pads, Kylie kindly set them straight!
It's a fashion face-off — and they're keeping it in the family!
Kim Kardashian West and her four sisters are known for stealing each other's style from time to time, but the person she has to worry about most is her own mom!
Well, KJ finally responded to her shade on Monday night!!
The famous momager made it clear that her daughter stole her look first, sharing this throwback pic:
Sounds like Ariana Grande is living up the single life!
The Problem songstress was just casually hanging out with her bestie and former Victorious co-star, Liz Gillies, when the two decided to have a little fun…
And kissed on camera!
Except according to Ari, she never meant for the world to know, having accidentally uploaded it to Instagram in the wee hours of Tuesday morning only to delete it almost immediately after.
It was too late!
The 22-year-old took to Twitter, writing:


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Qualcomm is taking the wraps off its two-year effort to build computer server chips, challenging Intel’s stronghold in the fast growing datacenter market.
The smartphone semiconductor giant said Wednesday that its new server chip, called Centriq 2400, is now being tested with key customers and is expected to be commercially available in the second half of 2017.
Qualcomm’s foray into server chips is a potential threat to Intel’s most profitable business, highlighting how the two rivals are increasingly squaring off in the core markets that each dominate.
This fall, Intel won a cellular modem slot in some Apple iPhone 7 models, displacing Qualcomm on AT&T’s and T-Mobile’s networks.
It was Intel’s first significant win in mobile, lending credibility to its long-sought smartphone ambitions. Qualcomm retained Apple’s cellular business on Verizon and Sprint in the U.S., as well as in China.
Meanwhile, Qualcomm announced two years ago that it had started work on chips for the datacenter — office buildings full of connected computer servers that power the Internet cloud, big data analytics and other things. Qualcomm tapped its expertise in low-power, system-on-a-chip designs from mobile to give server makers an alternative to Intel.
Qualcomm said Wednesday that its new server chip – based on architecture licensed from ARM Holdings -- has multiple processing cores. It’s being manufactured using the most advanced semiconductor process technology.
“Qualcomm is really going to set the bar for ARM server chips,” said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research. ”It is a huge company. You know they are going to stay in it. You know they have the resources to compete.”
Qualcomm declined to name customers or what semiconductor maker would build the chips using 10 nanometer process technology.
“That means it is a leading edge chip, which is significant” said McGregor. “Typically server chips are one or two generations behind in process technology because they are so large and so complex.”
Intel is currently in volume production at 14 nanometers for server products, said William Moss, a company spokesman. It expects to launch its first 10 nanometer product in the second half of 2017.
“We operate in a highly competitive market and take all competitors seriously,” said Moss in an email. “There has been a lot of hype about ARM in the datacenter for several years, but very few deployments.”
Incompatible software has been part of the problem for ARM-based semiconductors, according to analysts. But increasingly today’s top datacenter software will work on Intel’s architecture as well as ARM designs.
Qualcomm said it has demonstrated its Centriq 2400 processor running Apache Spark and Hadoop software on Linux and Java platforms.
Cavium, Advanced Micro Devices and a handful of other semiconductor firms make ARM-based server chips for the datacenter. Intel builds datacenter chips based on a different, PC-based architecture.
Qualcomm didn’t disclose power/performance benchmarks for Centriq 2400. A spokeswoman said the metrics would be available later. Although it used ARM’s instruction set, Qualcomm said it custom designed the CPU and other features in the new chip.
“We believe our Qualcomm Centriq family of server processors will bring the right differentiated value to customers,” said Anand Chandrasekher, senior vice president of Qualcomm Datacenter Technologies, in a statement.


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A new GPS processor due soon from SiRF Technology will render cellphone navigation as robust as that on a personal navigation device (PND), improving smartphones’ indoor GPS reception, allowing instant-on GPS acquisition and reducing battery drain, SiRF contended.
The company, whose chips power many PND devices, said its SiRFstarIV processor could appear in cellphones and PNDs as early as International CES in January.
The new processor is also targeted to digital cameras, camcorders, netbooks and gaming devices because its low-power, instant-on GPS reception would enable many CE devices to become “location aware,” said SiRF founder Kanwar Chadha.
The SiRFstarIV “keeps location always alive in a device,” Chadha said. “If you did this with traditional GPS chips, this would drain your battery.”
The feat is achieved by a new standby or sleep mode in the SiRFstarIV, which retains enough GPS information in memory to permit a device to determine its location after a quick hot start. Current GPS devices can require many seconds to boot up and acquire a GPS signal.
Digital cameras would be able to provide location stamps as well as time and date stamps, he explained, and buddy lists could issue alerts when a friend is nearby. Videos might also be geo-tagged.
“I think you are going to see more and more of these devices have location capability,” said Chadha. In a digital camera, he noted, “you take some images and then shut [the camera] off, so you can’t afford the boot-up time for location [when turning the camera back on]. It has to be instant.”
In smartphones, the processor promises improved GPS reception in three ways. A smartphone typically offers inferior navigation because its antenna is not dedicated to GPS, as in a PND, Chadha said. Also, a smartphone’s antenna might not be ideally located for GPS. Thirdly, smartphones tend to suffer from radio interference to the GPS signal. The SiRFstarIV addresses these limitations through a faster and more sensitive processor that also includes technology to remove radio interference, SiRF said.
Indoor GPS operation is improved because of the chip’s ability to retain the last GPS readings in standby mode. It also improves indoor location accuracy by applying algorithms to its readings and by using a more sensitive processor.
“It captures the data whenever it sees anything outdoors and then keeps that information alive, so when you move indoors, that information is alive. It’s not that it will always work indoors, but it works much better indoors,” said Chadha.
For the PND, SiRFstarIV also promises improvements. Chadha believes the PND of the future will include more connections to sensors in the car, and the SiRFstarIV will integrate with sensor information such as an accelerometer to detect when the car has moved.
PNDs in Asia also include TV tuners, which the chip supports through its “anti-jamming” interference technology, Chadha said.
SiRF says its new processor does not add much to the end user cost of a device. Samples of the SiRFstarIV are now shipping to device makers.


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The new screen makes reading text easier, and faster charging means you can sneak in some sleep tracking, but it would be nice not having to charge daily.
Apple is preparing to hold an “Unleashed” event, during which it is expected to reveal a host of new products. The star of the show is expected to be at least one updated MacBook Pro, which will include a new “M1X” chip. The new MacBooks will come alongside the updated MacBook Air, Pro, Mac Mini and iMac that were released with Apple’s M1 chip.
Intel Corp. Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger still hopes to win back Apple Inc. as a customer, but says Intel will have to outcompete the tech giant to do so.
Apple is about to hold its latest event, and it promises to be “Unleashed”. While the time is the same as usual, the date is strange: Apple rarely holds events on Mondays. Perhaps the most obvious is Apple’s devoted page on its website, which can be found here.
Even with minimal impact from the latest iPhone launch, the growing competitiveness of the wireless industry will be on full display when telecommunications companies start reporting quarterly results in the week ahead.
Sony OLED and LED TVs are down to all-time-low prices at Amazon for today only.
USDC, the dollar-backed stablecoin used to grease the wheels of cryptocurrency trading, has made its way into the Hedera Hashgraph ecosystem. Hashgraph, an alternative to blockchains that uses directed acyclic graphs to time-sequence transactions without bundling them into blocks, sees the introduction of USDC opening the door to large-scale development around areas like decentralized finance (DeFi). “We believe USDC is a key building block for DeFi and payments use cases in the crypto economy,” said HBAR Foundation CEO Shayne Higdon.
When it comes to Intel's recent manufacturing problems, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger places the blame squarely on his predecessors — many of whom he notes were not engineers deeply steeped in chip technology, as he is.Why it matters: Gelsinger has announced a broad plan to reinvigorate Intel by doubling down on manufacturing. However, the strategy depends on the venerable semiconductor giant recovering from recent stumbles. Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Mark
The "Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle" has materialized from your Black Mirror nightmares.
Today’s headlines: Russian crew returns from shooting the first feature film on the ISS, Apple's new MacBook Pro chips may be called the M1 Pro and M1 Max, Some UK schools will use facial recognition to speed up lunch payments.
Customers signed up to both brands will be rewarded with double data and faster broadband, in the first move since a £31 billion merger.
Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has been talking up metaverse since July and the buzzy word, first coined in a dystopian novel three decades earlier, has been referenced by other tech firms such as Microsoft. "No one company will own and operate the metaverse," Nick Clegg, Facebook's vice president of global affairs, wrote in a blog post.
Amazon is offering Sony's WH-1000XM4 headphones for $248 ($102 off) in black, blue and silver — matching the best price we've seen yet on that model.
Ikea may soon release a new Bluetooth "Vappeby" speaker with a couple of interesting twists, according to an FCC filing.
As the economy becomes increasingly digitized, cyber security concerns are rising to the top of business risks as ranked by Canadian small business owners – and for good reason. In a recent survey commissioned by RBC1, nearly half of Canada's small business owners report that they anticipate becoming a victim of a cybercrime in the next 12 months – a percentage significantly higher than seen among the general population (34%). Forty per cent of small businesses identified that having devices inf
We've got another special FLASH SALE EXCLUSIVELY FOR PHOBLOGRAPHER READERS. We're partnering with ProGrade Digital to give you 15% off the ProGrade Digital SD V90 64GB memory card! This is exclusively for Phoblographer readers. One of these cards is always in a camera that we've got in for review. And they're always reliable for photography. Below, you'll find the details on how to take advantage of this special discount.
Some of Roku's top streaming devices, the Roku Streambar and the Roku Ultra, are down to record-low prices.
Jabra's Elite 75t and 85t wireless earbuds are up to 40 percent off as part of a one-day Amazon sale.
Spotify's in-car entertainment system known as just "Car Thing," launched this spring on an invite-only basis, is now becoming more broadly available. Previously, Spotify had distributed the product for just the cost of shipping during its limited release testing period, noting that this was Spotify's first hardware and it wanted to "get things right." Now, Spotify says U.S. users who had previously signed up for the Car Thing waitlist will be offered the ability to purchase the device ahead of others.
Is the Samsung Galaxy Watch4 worth the hype?
Ditch the wires with a high-quality, rich-sounding Bluetooth set from Bose, Sony and more


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Stadion shopping center has expanded its home décor offer this April, with the opening of a new store S Dream specialized in mattresses, pillows, beds, and beddings.
The new S Dream opened on the 17th of April on the first floor of the mall, consisting of approximately 70 sqm. The brand is well known for its wide assortment and high-quality sleep products.
S Dream store chain is owned by Serbian company VAPEKS from Čačak. The company has been producing high-quality mattresses according to the latest world trends since 2010.
With the new store opening VAPEKS, today operates eight S Dream stores across Serbia and one showroom in Čačak.
Home Goods Retail Sector Staying Strong
It is no wonder that Stadion Shopping Center has decided to increase its home decor offer, considering that the home goods sector is remaining strong during the pandemic in the region.
The sale of residential properties has increased in Serbia in the past year, as well as the number of refurbishments. As people are spending more time at home, their spending has mainly been focused on home improvements, sports goods, and food.
Although online shopping is on the rise, especially for furniture and home improvement, smaller concept stores within shopping centers still allow customers to get to know the brand better and sample a selection of products.
This is a great example of how the new retail age is pushing shopping centers to change a bit their tenant mix, and how physical retail still has its place in the market.
Stadion Celebrates 8th Anniversary
On the 24-25th of April Stadion Shopping Center has celebrated its 8th-year anniversary, arranging many discounts, games, workshops, and surprises for its visitors at the mall.
Besides the special birthday program at the mall, Stadion Shopping Center arranged a gift giveaway campaign through its Instagram account called “We are celebrating 8 years“. Their Instagram followers were able to compete to win eight prizes provided by tenants Gigatron, H&M, Extra Sports, Games, Yves Rocher, Ars, Vitapur.
About Stadion Shopping Center
Stadion Shopping Center has been operating since 2013 and is located in Belgrade’s highly populated residential area Voždovac. The mall represents a 50 million EUR investment and was the first modern shopping center to be developed in the old part of Belgrade.
Spreading over approximately 75.000 sqm, the mall offers two underground garages with 984 parking spaces and a football stadium on its roof, which what makes this mall unique in the region.
The football stadium of Vozdovac, located on the 3rd floor of the mall, was built according to the current UEFA standards and is capable of holding 5,000 spectators
Stadion shopping center represents a place for excellent shopping, a place for connecting friends, a place for family entertainment…a place made for the community.