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TV sales globally are rebounding this year and growth is expected to expand until 2017, analyst Futuresource says.
Worldwide shipments fell six per cent last year, but overall are now back on track to make up that lost ground.
Simon Bryant, head of consumer electronics at Futuresource, said the global picture remains encouraging, with four per cent compounded annual growth expected until 2017.
"In 2017, annual shipments will exceed 270 million units, and emerging markets account for 67 per cent of that," Bryant said.
Developed markets are continuing to shrink but emerging markets will go on growing until 2017, he added.
Flat-panel sales, for example, are becoming saturated, and the next improvement on HD video, called 4K, is still several years away from rapid expansion, according to Futuresource.
3D had been an attempt to invigorate the market which had largely fallen flat, it noted.
Neil Sawyer claims he has 'never seen so many conversations about a new method of investing in workplace technology'
Infrastructure provider says international sales now make up 51 per cent of its revenue
Suzanne Chappell of TMS plans sailing venture after selling Oxfordshire-based TMS to acquisitive Chess
Withdrawal of credit insurance by some providers a 'reflection' of current challenge facing IT sector, according to MD Steve Soper


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MONSON – Everyone who has ever made beer in their kitchen with a 5-gallon home brew kit dreams about expanding someday.
For Tree House Brewing Co., someday is right now.
The small craft-brewery at 160 East Hill Road, founded six years ago by Dean Rohan, Jonathan Weisbach, Damien Goudreau, & Nathan Lanier, on Saturday celebrated the start of construction of its new facility with a ceremonial ground breaking.
By January, Tree House Brewing will be housed inside a 9,000-square-foot facility that is capable of producing 900 gallons at a time, roughly six times its present capacity
More beer is, of course, welcome news for the fans of the brewery that literally wait in line outside the retail store on Saturdays mornings for the chance to purchase beer.
“People will drive all this way to come here. It’s worth it,” said Parker Siddall of Indiana, who was first in line. Siddall stopped in Monson while crisscrossing New England to visit different craft breweries. He called Tree House Brewing a must-see location on his personal brewery tour.
The new facility will be on the other side of the road and just down the street from its current operation at Koran Farms.
Joined by State Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, Monson Selectman John Morrell, and Richard Bonnano, president of the Massachusetts Farm Bureau Federation, the Tree House owners staged a ceremonial ground breaking.
Brewer presented the brewery with an official proclamation from the state senate congratulating them on their expansion.
A ground breaking ceremony at a brewery gave Brewer the opportunity to make a joke or two at the expense of his last name.
“My name is Brewer and I like beer,” he said. When introduced to Lanier the head brewer, the senator expressed a mock outrage and said “I’m the head Brewer.”
Kim Goudreau said the expansion will allow Tree House to go from making 5 barrels, or 150 gallons of beer, at a time to 30 barrels or 900 gallons at a time.
“We’re going to a set up six times our size,” she said.
Rohan said Tree House started six years ago with small batches of beer being made in Lanier’s kitchen. Conditions were somewhat cramped and not exactly optimal for making beer or maintaining proper sanitation.
Thee years ago, Damien and Kim Goudreau bought house in Brimfield and offered them space in the barn. “Damien was like ‘I got a beautiful stove in the barn. Let’s brew there!’”
They were located in Brimfield for two years before zoning disputes with the town led them to relocate to Monson to the Koran Farm, the 100-year-old family farm owned by Kim Goudreau’s parents.
The brewing operation is in a cramped garage that is part of the farm’s farm stand. The retail store is in a rectangular shed just next door.
The new facility will have a retail operation in the front and the brewery in the rear.
Construction equipment is busy clearing the property and a foundation will be poured shortly, said co-owner Damien Goudreau. The building will be up within two months, but it will take another three install all the plumbing and electrical, and then to install the brewing equipment.
He said Tree House is the only farm brewer in the state that is “off the grid,” or is not connected to town water or sewer.
The beer is made with well water that is pumped right out of the ground on the property, and he said it is a key ingredient in the final product.
“We could give our recipes to another brewer and it would not turn out the same,” he said.
As he says this, a man passing by on a bicycle shouts "That's the best beer in Massachusetts!"
Rohan said that in the three years that they have been selling beer, Tree House Brewing has emerged as the little brewer that could.
Let that sink in for a moment: A tiny little brewery that makes 150 gallons at a time is rated the 55th best beer in the world. The entire world.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Rohan said.
Nathan Lanier, the head brewer, said they have all achieved the dreams and aspirations of everyone who has purchased home-brewing kit.
Making beer for your job is night-and-day different from making beer as a hobby, he said.
"It's different from the romantic vision everyone has; It's a lot of hard work," he said.
That's not to say that he doesn't enjoy it, he said. A labor of love still involved labor.
“We love the hard work.”

domain: news


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The pandemic continues to cause unprecedented disruption across industries worldwide.
Get detailed insights regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the market.
We expect the global polyurethane (PU) foam market to exhibit a CAGR of 6.81% during 2021-2026.
Sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic had led to the implementation of stringent lockdown regulations across several nations resulting in temporary halt in numerous construction activities, thereby negatively impacting the market for PU foam.
Significant growth in the construction industry, along with the rising adoption of flexible and semi-rigid polyurethane foams for coatings, paints, and adhesives in residential and commercial complexes, are currently driving the global polyurethane (PU) foam market.
Based on the product type, the market has been bifurcated into flexible foam, rigid foam, and spray foam. Currently, flexible foam holds the majority of the total market share.
Based on the end-use industry, the market has been divided into bedding and furniture, building and construction, electronics, automotive, packaging, footwear, and others. The bedding and furniture industry currently exhibits a clear dominance in the market.
On a regional level, the market has been segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa, where Asia Pacific currently dominates the global market.
Some of the major players in the global polyurethane (PU) foam market include BASF SE, Covestro AG, Foamcraft Inc., Future Foam Inc., Huntsman International LLC. (Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited), Recticel NV/SA, Rogers Corporation, Saint-Gobain S.A., Sekisui Chemical Co. Ltd., The Dow Chemical Company, Tosoh Corporation, UFP Technologies Inc., Wanhua Chemical Group Co. Ltd., etc.
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On April 19, 2021 Shanghai auto show officially opened. But before the start, many car companies can’t wait to release their new cars in advance and rush to the “Shanghai beach”. Geely krypton 001, Ford Mustang mach-e, BAIC polar fox alpha s, Mercedes Benz EQS and other heavyweight electric vehicles have launched pre-sale or officially launched on the eve of the auto show, involving independent brands, joint venture brands, luxury brands and new forces of car manufacturing. With the launch of many new cars, focusing on the direction of new energy, the “war” of 2021 Shanghai auto show has started ahead of schedule.
Middle and high end new energy market scuffle
Tesla Model 3’s sales in China are rising, which also shows the huge potential of domestic 200000-400000 yuan high-end new energy vehicle market. Therefore, on the eve of this year’s Shanghai auto show, some independent brands and joint venture brands also aim at this market and launch new electric vehicles.
On the evening of April 15, Geely’s brand new pure electric brand krypton officially completed the brand launch, and the brand’s first mass production model krypton 001 also started booking. After subsidy, the price range was 281000-360000 yuan, and delivery was started before October 1. On April 16, another high-end brand of Geely, linker, officially released its new plug-in hybrid linker 05 PHEV and started pre-sale with a pre-sale price of 230000 yuan.
“In recent years, Geely’s overall sales volume has been ranked first among its own brands, but the new energy sector is relatively weak, inferior to BYD and other competitors. In this case, Geely will put the release time of heavy electric vehicle models before this year’s Shanghai auto show, which is conducive to obtaining higher attention. ” Zhang Xiang, an auto industry analyst, said.
In fact, Geely is not the only independent brand that has chosen to put the launch time of new electric vehicles on the eve of the auto show. On April 16, the brand new W6 model of Weima automobile was officially launched, with a total of five models, including 520km and 620km models, with a subsidy price of RMB 169800-259800.
As one of the new car building forces, Weima automobile is located in the second echelon of the industry, with sales volume lower than that of Weilai, and basically in the same range as Xiaopeng and ideal. According to the data, last year, Weilai, ideal, Xiaopeng and Weima delivered 43700, 32600, 27000 and 22400 new cars respectively.
In addition to independent brands, some foreign brands also choose to launch heavy models on the eve of Shanghai auto show. On April 13, Ford’s medium-sized pure electric SUV Mustang mach-e started pre-sale in China, with a price range of 265000-379900 yuan. This pure electric SUV based on Ford’s world’s first high-performance pure electric platform will be produced by Changan Ford, and the benchmark model is Tesla Model y. In recent years, Ford has not developed smoothly in China. For Mustang mach-e listed this time, Ford China has high hopes and plans to build a separate exhibition hall for it and sell it directly. It is understood that Ford China will open Mustang mach-e city direct experience stores in 20 core cities in China this year.
It is worth mentioning that while brands are competing to show their “muscles” on the eve of Shanghai auto show, some new cars of auto companies have also aroused doubts. Among them, Mazda, which has been absent in the field of new energy vehicles, finally made its debut on April 17 with its first pure electric car, Chang’an Mazda cx-30ev. It is understood that the range of this model is 450 km. However, in the case that the electrification platform architecture has become the direction of many new energy vehicles, the cx-30ev of Chang’an Mazda, which is based on the fuel model, still continues the idea of “replacing oil with electricity” and becomes the “slot point”. Industry insiders believe that this model is more like Mazda’s transitional product for balancing the “double points” policy.
Automatic driving station position C
Although automatic driving (auxiliary driving) has become a hot area for car companies, few models have taken automatic driving as the core selling point before. But on the eve of this year’s Shanghai auto show, new cars focusing on high-level automatic driving function began to emerge.
On April 17, the world’s first mass production model carrying 3 lidar, alpha s Huawei Hi, jointly built by Jihu and Huawei, was officially unveiled. It is divided into basic version and high-level version, with pre-sale prices of 388900 yuan and 429900 yuan respectively.
It is understood that Alfa S HUAWEI HI version of the HUAWEI ADS high level autopilot system, HUAWEI has the highest level of automatic driving ability, can achieve the whole process of the vehicle’s own judgement of road conditions and automatic driving, in the actual road, unlimited access to manual driving, providing direct, left turn, unprotected turn and other functions.
It is worth noting that if Alfa S can deliver mass production before Tesla FSD is officially released, it will become the world’s first mass production vehicle with automatic city driving capability. HUAWEI ADS will also be the first city automatic driving system to achieve mass production application in the world.
Coincidentally, on April 14, Xiaopeng P5, the world’s first mass-produced lidar intelligent car, was officially released. With the help of the hardware solution of 32 sensors and a group of high precision positioning unit (GNSS + IMU), Xiaopeng P5 can support the vehicle to realize xpilot 3.5 automatic driving assistance.
In addition, Weima W6, which launched on April 16, also claims to be the first to realize L4 level driverless. According to the official introduction, Weima W6 has two abilities: havp (autonomous learning parking) and pavp (high-precision map parking). Havp is suitable for fixed parking spaces such as residential buildings and companies, and vehicles can find their own way to park only once.
Shen Hui, founder of Weima automobile, revealed that the company has started the L5 limited scene automatic driving project, and will realize the L5 level unmanned driving in some scenes next year. Weima users will be able to experience the L5 level unmanned driving in limited scenes through new product carrying and OTA push.
Behind the competition of auto companies for “automatic driving license”, is the accelerated maturity of this field. CICC recently released a report saying that with the dividends of technological progress such as computing chips, core sensors and high-precision maps, the commercialization process of high-level automatic driving has been accelerated, and it is expected that it will be implemented in scenarios such as commercial vehicles on expressways and urban passenger cars.
Mercedes Benz Audi racing pure electric transformation
Not only independent brands and joint venture brands, but also luxury brands such as Mercedes Benz and Audi make frequent moves on the eve of Shanghai auto show, aiming to speed up the electric transformation by launching new models.
On April 16, Mercedes Benz EQS was officially released. As the flagship model of Mercedes Benz EQ family, EQS is positioned as a pure electric large vehicle. It is the first model built for Mercedes Benz’s new EVA platform, equipped with a new “mbux hyperscreen” system, and the wlpt range is 770 km.
As a first-line luxury brand, Mercedes Benz’s layout in China’s pure electric vehicle market is still in its infancy. In November 2019, Mercedes Benz officially launched its first pure electric vehicle EQC in the Chinese market. However, so far, Mercedes Benz has not disclosed the sales data of EQC.
According to the plan, from this year, Mercedes Benz’s AMG, Maybach and G-class cars will all launch new electric models. In the Chinese market, in addition to the release of EQS this year, two pure tram models of Benz EQA and EQB will also be put into production in Beijing Benz, and the domestic production of EQE will also be put on the agenda.
As another first-line luxury brand, on April 16, FAW Volkswagen Audi brought e-tron models. This time, it launched three models with a price range of 546800-648800 yuan, which was significantly lower than that of imported models. At the same time, in order to further expand the pure electric vehicle product line, FAW Volkswagen Audi e-tron Sportback is also on the market. The price of e-tron Sportback 55 Quattro luxury model is 658800 yuan, and the price of e-tron Sportback 55 Quattro model is 718800 yuan.
At present, in addition to the e-tron, Audi’s q2l e-tron and A6L TFSI E and other electric vehicles have been domestically produced in FAW Volkswagen. According to the plan, Audi will launch nine new energy models to the Chinese market together with its joint venture partners this year; by next year, Audi’s new energy product lineup in China will increase to 12.
Economist song Qinghui said that this year is a critical year for the transformation of luxury brands such as Mercedes Benz and Audi into electric vehicles. In terms of the Chinese market, which car company’s new electric models are more popular in the market will be able to take more initiative in the new round of competition.
According to the data, BBA (Mercedes Benz, BMW and Audi), a first-line luxury brand, accounted for as much as 2 / 3 of the domestic luxury car market last year. Among them, BMW won the champion of luxury car sales with 777400 vehicles (including BMW and mini), Mercedes Benz ranked second with 774400 vehicles (excluding smart), and Audi ranked third with 726300 vehicles.
Beijing Business Daily reporter Liu Yang Pu Zhenyu
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Harley-Davidson can’t ride into its future fast enough.
Shares of the iconic motorcycle maker fell 8.5% in early trading Tuesday after a nasty fourth quarter earnings miss and cautious outlook for 2019. As with much of 2018, the company continued to deal with aging motorcycle riders putting off new bike purchases and the youth of America sidestepping bike ownership.
Cost pressures related to new tariffs from the Trump administration’s global trade war also weighed on Harley-Davidson’s bottom line.
Harley-Davidson CEO Matthew Levatich told Yahoo Finance that the industry challenges seen in 2018 in the U.S. will “persist” into 2019. But he is hopeful that a host of new, electric motorcycles set for release starting in 2019 will begin to alter how investors view the company’s long-term sales and profit potential. And, how millennials view the king of bikes.
Yahoo Finance by the numbers: Harley-Davidson’s fourth quarter adjusted earnings came in at 17 cents a share, missing analyst forecasts for 29 cents a share. Total sales tallied $955.6 million, below estimates for $1.05 billion. Harley’s sales dropped in three of its five geographic regions, paced by a 10.1% decline in the U.S. Sales in Latin America and Canada rose 2.7% and 2.4%, respectively.
Harley-Davidson forecast 2019 motorcycle shipments of 217,000 to 222,000. In 2018, Harley reached shipments of 228,000. Operating profit margins are pegged in a range of 8% to 9% versus 8.5% in 2018.
State of the industry: Without question, the U.S. motorcycle industry is undergoing one of the most turbulent periods in its long history. Harley-Davidson has thrown the kitchen sink at trying to chart a profitable path through the industry’s challenges. Some efforts include downsizing U.S. manufacturing capacity, investing more in R&D to develop new electric bikes and revamping its marketing messages to target younger riders.
But the ascent back to the top of the mountain won’t happen overnight for Harley and its rivals.
Interest among consumers to buy a new bike remains below peak, according to new research from UBS. The investment bank surveyed 2,100 U.S. adults who are at least 21 years old.
“As Harley's average buyer age moves further into their 50s, that view that they are too old to ride may become more of a headwind for HOG. Interestingly, looking at the data, 'unlikely' motorcycle buyers are almost entirely 'extremely unlikely' to purchase a motorcycle in the next 12 months,” writes the report’s lead author Robin Farley.
On tap: Harley-Davidson is hardly taking the rough road of the past few years sitting down when it comes to product. The company plans to release 100 new “high impact” bikes by 2027 as part of an effort to attract new riders, which Levatich views as essential for turning around its fortunes. Several of those will be of the electric variety that target younger folks that may live in cramped cities and who need turnkey transportation.
The company’s first electric bike dubbed the Livewire will debut later this year for a shade under $30,000. Levatich says he is happy with pre-orders for the bike. Meanwhile, this week the company showed off two other, smaller electric bikes that will debut beyond 2020.
“We don’t typically show product like that in development,” Levatich explained, adding that the positive response to the bikes on social media is pushing the company to get the bikes to market quicker.
Bottom line: The next 12 months for Harley-Davidson won’t be easy by any stretch of the imagination. So investors will have to balance that reality with a host of positives on the company, including a cash position of more than $1.2 billion and a clear pivot toward bikes that may attract the next generation.
Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @BrianSozzi
Read Yahoo Finance’s Exclusives:


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Local entrepreneurs launch V-Market online vegan grocery store
Entrepreneurs Christian Santarrosa and Jodelis Nieves announced the launch of V-Market, a Puerto Rico-based fully vegan virtual supermarket.
The married couple has been developing the concept for more than two years and due to the pandemic, decided to initially launch an online supermarket.
“We’re the first supermarket in Puerto Rico whose merchandise is fully plant-based without animal ingredients,” said Santarrosa.
“Unlike vegan health foods, V-Market focuses on food, not supplements. The idea is for the consumer to acquire all the products they find in a traditional supermarket, but free of cruelty and ingredients of animal origin, and with a ‘next day ‘delivery service to the entire island,” he said.
The couple has been leading a vegan lifestyle for five years, and through the online grocery store, “the client will be able to access the platform through their mobile device or from their computer and choose the foods or products of their preference with ease and confidence,” said Santarrosa.
Meanwhle, Nieves said “as a company we try to read the labels to ensure that the products are free of animal ingredients. So, we invite all consumers to enjoy our products, since people don’t necessarily have to be vegan to make good decisions regarding their health.”


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Back in November 2021, ten people lost their lives during a Travis Scott performance in Houston.
The fatal storm at the Scott Astroworld Music Festival also resulted in hundreds of injuries – and lawsuits filed by the families of the victims will soon have Scott in front of a judge to answer for his role in the incident.
Not surprisingly, the rapper stepped away from the limelight in the wake of the concert.
Kylie Jenner, who is currently pregnant with her second child by Scott, also took a long break from social media.
The cosmetics mogul returned to Instagram just before the holiday, but she was either solo or surrounded by family in all her photos.
Travis was nowhere to be found and Kylie did not respond to questions from fans about the status of her relationship.
That, of course, was enough to make the rumor mill run.
Fans speculated that Travis and Kylie had turned up, and they took her silence as a sort of tacit confirmation.
After all, it would not be the first time these two had resigned.
They broke up earlier due to rumors that Travis had been unfaithful to Kylie while on tour.
This time, however, it seems that the rumors of rupture were completely unfounded.
This afternoon, Travis appeared on Kylie’s Instagram page for the first time since the tragedy.
And judging from the picture, it seems like everything is fine in Scott and Jenner’s small family unit.
As you can see, Kylie and Travis’ daughter embraced Stormi for their latest photo – and with good reason.
“Our baby is 4,” Kylie said to the photo.
“Happy birthday to the girl who changed my whole world.”
Now, almost everything Kylie posts goes viral, but this image exploded like few others, garnering over eight million likes in the first six hours online.
And of course, Kylie’s family was quick to join the chorus of those who wished Stormi the happiest birthday:
“4! A drunk adult,” joked Kendall Jenner.
“Happy Birthday precious Stormi !!! I love you !!!” Kris Jenner chimed in.
Khloe Kardashian responded with a series of crying emojis, which we suspect is her way of saying she’s sorry about how fast Stormi is growing up,
Yes, it’s hard to believe that Kylie became a mother four years ago.
But for those currently sharing in Khloe’s depression, fear not.
Kylie is about to become a mother again soon, and while she has been tight with the details, scouts on social media have been able to jigsaw a few relevant facts.
First of all, it looks like Kylie is getting another girl!
She has not given any kind of announcement, but Kendall and Khloe were recently seen buying pink baby clothes, which is a kind of dead giveaway.
As for Kylie’s due date and other important details, we suppose we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
The important thing right now is that mother is healthy and she gets the most out of the time she gets to spend with her eldest daughter – and her loving partner.


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The Tanger Outlets at The Arches in Deer Park is an ambitious project. It will be the first regional mall of its size to be built in three decades. Moreover, it is shaping into a retail village with a network of walkways, smaller piazzas, and buildings featuring colorful facades, terra-cotta tile roofs, and columns.
The $440 million outdoor mall spans 800,000 square feet and is set to open on Thursday. It aims to provide an upscale atmosphere and offers outlet center discounts in a shopping destination for tourists and locals.
Even though the country is experiencing a deteriorating economy, the developers believe they are opening reasonably soon. According to Steven B. Tanger, president and CO of Tanger Factory Outlet Centers Inc., people are in NEED of a bargain during bad times.
Experts predict that The Arches will thrive during the economic downturn. This is because customers are constantly looking to find a bargain deal. Moreover, this outdoor lifestyle center and the mall will attract customers from nearby malls (situated within 22 miles) and sister outlet centers (located 35 miles east).
Owing to the presence of unique attractions, such as the first Neiman Marcus outlet and a 16-screen digital cinema, including an IMAX theater, makes this mall a distinctive spot.
The Arches is expected to bring exposure to other shopping centers as it will pull customers from competing malls.
Concerns about cannibalizing existing retail centers have been raised, but the unique destination will attract new customers. Ultimately, this will help bring new business. In a 2006 study, executives in the commercial real estate sector suggested that Long Island needs to be more detailed. However, with the introduction of the Arches, there might be a shift in the perspectives.
Suffolk County, which relies heavily on sales tax revenues, notices that the shopping center has the potential to bring income. Almost half the budget comes from these taxes. The County lowered its forecast for sales tax revenue in 2008. Morgo stated that the money is generated from individuals not residing in the County.
A vital aspect of The Arch’s design is attention to detail. This is why all buildings out of the 14 are different. Tanger has also prioritized sustainability, pursued LEED certification, and incorporated various environmental features such as automatic sinks and toilets to avoid water wastage. High-efficiency heating and air conditioning were also included to reduce electricity bills.
The Arches were redeveloped on a brownfield site where over 50% of construction waste was recycled. During the construction, cast stone and Venetian plaster finish were used to ensure that the overall aesthetic of The Arches is upscale.
Moreover, it had elements like shutters, street lamps, and translucent plastic panels that provided natural light to the walkways. This also protected the shoppers from being exposed to the elements.
The large central fountain is one of the main attractions, which will be transformed into an outdoor ice skating rink in November. The mall will also offer Wi-Fi access and plans to open with over 70% occupancy, with additional retailers expected to lease spaces shortly.
Transportation to the center has been enhanced, with Long Island Bus making stops for three bus lines. Tanger also offered a free shuttle bus to meet Long Island Rail Road trains that arrive at the Deer Park station.
While the development of The Arches faced resistance from residents regarding increased traffic, Steve Bellone highlights the importance of taxes paid by the locals. The Arches developers received tax incentives, approximately 60% cut during the opening. This will gradually transition into full taxation after 10 years.
Bellone stated that the mall is expected to generate over $10 million in additional tax revenue despite these incentives. Moreover, he stated that economic development is crucial. It will reduce the tax burden on residents. Projects like these bring a significant positive impact. As a result, the town will keep thriving and remain vibrant.
The company behind The Arches, Tanger, already manages 33 shopping centers. This mall features a variety of stores, including popular brands like Kate Spade, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, and many more.
Patricia Norins is a strategic storyteller in the retail industry. With nearly 30 years of experience, she expertly combines innovative marketing strategies and industry knowledge to effectively convey brand stories. Coming from a fourth-generation retailer family, Patricia has a deep-rooted passion for retail real estate and has pioneered concepts such as adding retail to common areas and creating specialty leasing programs. In addition to her professional achievements, she actively mentors and contributes to the community, including co-teaching MBA classes.


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Kim Kardashian and Katy Perry shared the spotlight at the Givenchy show during Paris Fashion Week on Sunday. Although the ladies were a few seats apart in the front row, they were able to link up for a laugh-filled chat and pose for cute pictures with Kanye West. As it turns out, Kim and Katy have more in common than their love of Givenchy and relationships with hot musicians.
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Earlier this year, Katy inked a deal for a video game inspired by her personality. The app is being created by Glu Mobile, the same company behind Kim’s lucrative hit, Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. According to reports, the app may have earned Kim a sweet $30 million payday.
Read More: Kim Kardashian Shares Her Beauty Secrets
Kim’s appearance with Katy is just the latest in a string of moments she’s shared with other celebrities during her big week in Paris. On Thursday, Kim twinned out with Jared Leto at the popular Balmain events after both stars got the Internet talking about their new blonde locks.
Read Here: Kim Kardashian Debuts a New Look
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[contentblock id=3 img=adsense.png]She totally one-upped Jared’s hair game, though, since she opted for a lighter hue over the weekend. Even with all the time at salons and fashion shows, Kim has managed to give Kanye a lot of attention: on Friday, the husband and wife shared sweet PDA during a picture-perfect stroll. Keep reading to see the stars get social at the Givenchy show.


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NIGERIA – Dangote Flour Mills Plc (DFM) has demonstrated a high level of corporate governance that drives confidence and supports numbers, as contained in its recent financials for the nine-month ended September 30, 2017 released to the investing public.
The release was, among other reasons, to allow investors plan their investment and forecast the company’s performance.
The scorecard revealed the company’s commitment, aggressiveness and sustaining profitability that had reflected in its outstanding numbers that continues to support price.
Also, the single-mindedness of the company’s management in creating value for its stakeholders at all levels of operations continues to drive profitability.
From a modest start as a division of Dangote Industries Limited in 1999, DFM was incorporated and commenced operations as a public limited liability company on January 1, 2006. It was listed on the NSE in 2008.
It sustained considerable growth and regular dividend payment over the years until 2012 when Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) sold the majority equity stake to Tiger Brands Limited, South Africa’s largest food company.
However, barely two years after the acquisition, Tiger Brands in 2014 wrote off about half of its investment in the former DFM.
Tiger Brands impaired DFM’s value by 849 million rand, about $82 million, because of what it described as “underperformance” and “excess milling capacity that continues to increase in the Nigerian flour market.”
After nearly four years of successive losses and impairing of assets and with losses and frustrations building up on all sides, Tiger Brands, which had just then renamed DFM as TBCG, in November 2015 announced that it would no longer extend funding to the struggling Nigerian subsidiary.
In December 2015, Dangote Industries Limited repurchased the majority equity stake in its erstwhile subsidiary, Dangote Flour Mills Plc.
Few months after the re-acquisition, Dangote Flour Mills returned to profitability in its half year result of 2016, posting a profit before tax (PBT) of N2.64 billion, compared to a loss of N9.55 billion posted in the corresponding period of 2015.
The company has, since then, continued to grow its profit quarterly. For the third quarter ended September 30, 2017, the board of Dangote Flour Mills Plc, reported a growth of 359.35 per cent in its profit after tax.
According to the result, turnover and profit recorded three-digit growth, despite an equally significant increase in cost of sales and administrative expenses, just as foreign exchange gain was double that of preceding third-quarter.
In a company’s result showed profit after tax increased by 359.35 per cent from N2.84 billion to N13.05 billion, translating to Earnings Per Share of N2.55.
Revenue from sales for the period grew by 101.16 per cent to N100.28 billion from N49.85 billion, cost of sales gulped all of N77.03 billion, a rise from N35.82 billion, leaving gross profit of N23.2 billion, up from N14.03 billion.
Other incomje streams also soared from N68.23 million to N3.05 billion, distribution and administrative expenses stood at N10.97 billion, up from N5.63 billion; operating profit before foreign exchange gain rose from N8.46 billion to N15.32 billion, while gain on sale of assets held for sale, stood at N3.74 billion.
Underlying fundamentals indicated considerable improvements in the intrinsic business strengths of the group.
Operating profit increased from N4.71 billion to N19.07 billion while finance costs rose slightly to N2. 56 billion in the third quarter of 2017, as against the previous N2.294 billion. Interest income soared from N228.8 million to N1.50 billion.
The company reported cumulative profit of N307.038 million, a significant improvement from the loss of N20.18 billion in the third quarter of last year.
Dangote Flour recorded gain that rose to 49.37 per cent to close at N9.53 per share to be the best performing stock in the month of October, 2017.
The executive director, Sales and Marketing, Halima Dangote attributed success recorded by Dangote Flour Mills to change in leadership and product innovation.
She highlighted strategic and bold moves by the company to grow its market equity in Africa by re-launching a new and improved pasta product, ‘Ecccellente’ with a great taste and in new pack.
She said, “The new improved and affordable pasta, is expected to reduce the dependency on rice consumption by Nigerians.”
Also, chairman, Dangote Flour Mills, Mr. Asue Ighodalo, said the latest earnings report underscored that DFM is stronger, better sophisticated and more focused.
According to him, since the takeover, the new board and management have taken several steps to reposition the company through expansion to drive growth while continuously focused on increasing shareholders value and offerings to customers.
He reiterated the commitments of the group to further invest in the growth of its businesses within and outside Nigeria noting that the Dangote Group believes in job and wealth creation.
Group chief executive officer, Dangote Flour Mills, Thabo Mabe said the return to profitability was due to several strategies adopted by the company to increase market share and create value for shareholders.
He added that the flour-milling group is driven by the vision to put its products on the table of every Nigerian.


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November Is Urban Hydration’s birthday month and in celebration of this, here are some key moments in our journey, shared by our CEO Psyche Terry! Thank you to everyone who made this possible thus far!
- When Urban Hydration got its first major Target order, our co-founders Psyche and Vontoba Terry packaged the order right next to their one year old son at the time. Now, their son is 12 years old and the Target business is thriving!
- In 2022, Selena Gomez released a video showing the Urban Hydration Aloe Vera Face Mask, saying that it feels really cooling and moisturizing, a big moment for the team and company!
- When we received an order for 50,000 sugar scrubs to send in 4 weeks, we started a factory with 40 people from our church to make it happen.
We are so proud of how far we have come thus far and are excited to see what the future holds! Stay tuned for more celebrations of Urban Hydration’s birthday this month by following our socials and joining oru LUHVIE list!


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Air Jordan 11 Retro Low Grey Release is here
Soleheatonfeet confirmed the upcoming Air Jordan 11 Low Cool Grey drop. Even not the exact “Cool Grey” colorway, the low-top will arrive in varying grey tones and could look very similar to the sample floating around in 2013.
This info follows the latest official news about the super powerful Air Jordan 18 “Toro”. Jordan Brand shared an official look at the “Cool Grey” Air Jordan 11 Low, which is set to release on April 28.
Take a closer look at some of the essential details below. Be sure to check out our site for any updates about this release.
Air Jordan 11 Retro Low “Cool Grey”
Release Date: 04/28/18
Color: Medium Grey/Gunsmoke-White


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via Flickr user DigitalGlobe-Imagery
The many floods that occurred during 2011 monsoon season in Thailand have greatly devastated a large part of the country. Reports say that over 12.8 million people have been affected by this disaster. But what does this mean for the once bustling electronics production in these areas? Seagate’s CEO Stephen Luczo paints a dreary picture:
[it will be] a difficult road ahead for the industry given that many of Seagate’s own 130 or so suppliers are still under three feet of water.
This disaster is expected to leave the industry 50 million short of their 180 million HDD production target this quarter alone. By the time they regain capacity demand will have risen immensely. Prices have already shot up 20%, next year they will surely be higher.


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Due to the ongoing public health emergency, this event has been postponed until further notice.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Director of Development
Ann Arbor, MI – Calling authors, illustrators, comic book artists, and celebrities to help booksellers and comic retailers across the country by participating in the 2020 Book Industry Charitable Foundation’s Bank on Booksellers piggy bank auction. The online auction will go live for one week in June. But before that can happen, Binc needs your help.
Bank on Booksellers is Binc’s largest fundraiser that brings together authors, illustrators, and celebrities to help bookstore and comic store employees facing hardship and emergency circumstances.
This year, Binc’s ambitious goal is to raise $40,000 for the booksellers’ safety net. This online fundraising event will raise money to help booksellers experiencing homelessness, domestic violence, natural disasters, and other hardships and personal emergencies.
How does Bank on Booksellers work?
Authors, illustrators, and celebrities decorate one-of-a-kind ceramic piggy banks. These unique art objects will be auctioned off this summer from June 24th through July 1st. In 2018, the Bank on Booksellers Piggy Bank Auction was a success. Decorated pigs from authors and illustrators including Leigh Bardugo, Mac Barnett, Andrea Beaty, Anthony Doerr, Jeff Kinney, Grace Lin, Gregory Maguire James Patterson, Ann Patchett, Jason Reynolds, David Shannon, and Garth Stein. helped bring home the bacon for booksellers.
Through their bids, booksellers, bookstore owners, literary fans, publishing industry leaders, and readers raised over $25,000 in 2018—helping booksellers and comic retailers in need across the US. These proceeds support Binc’s programs helping booksellers and comic retailers in need throughout the nation.
Booksellers need your help. The same issues you read about in the news every day are the issues booksellers are facing right now—from the soaring costs of prescriptions and medical care to being unable to absorb a $400 emergency expense. The Foundation saw an almost 50% increase in financial assistance grants distributed last year, and this increased need is continuing into 2020 with more booksellers than ever finding Binc and asking for help.
“I’m excited about this year’s Bank on Booksellers piggy bank auction. It’s an absolute delight to see the creative ways authors decorate their piggy banks. But the most wonderful thing of all about the auction is knowing that every single piggy bank and every single bidder helps a bookseller in our community who needs our help and support,” said Binc Executive Director, Pam French.
Binc Director of Development said, “Who knew that piggy banks could bring together our book community in such a fun and positive way. This fundraiser brings joy to everyone who participates, whether you are creating a one of a kind masterpiece, bidding, or winning—our collective power strengthens our industry.”
Authors and illustrators who want to decorate a piggy can go to Binc’s website to find out more information bincfoundation.org/bank-on-booksellers or email the auction coordinator Rachel Barry at email@example.com.
Authors and illustrators who want to help booksellers but are not able to decorate a piggy this year can join Binc’s Author Leadership Circle. All authors are welcome to join Campaign Chair Garth Stein and a growing list of fellow authors who are a part of Binc’s Author Leadership Circle. Your annual gift today will place you in this special group of donors—and will help us reach our goal of raising $40,000 to help those in our community who need it.


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Earlier this week, Nike premiered a rare interview with the design tripartite that is HTM, where Hiroshi Fujiwara, Tinker Hatfield and Mark Parker discussed how it all started, the benefits of a small team, and HTM’s creative legacy; one that will continue on with the March announcements.
With Air Max Day just around the corner, Nike will celebrate its iconic sneaker line by inviting the world to collaborate with HTM. In a press release, Nike stated:
Through Nike’s personalization service, NIKEiD, consumers can participate in the artistic process alongside the famed trio via exclusive material and color choices. The exclusive color palettes and materials, informed by the respective designers, explore the stories that have inspired the collective for the past 14 years.
You’ll be able to choose from: an Air Max 95 ($210 USD) which features a color palette inspired by fragment design’s signature neutral hues and ability to capture the metallic beauty of mercury, an Air Max 1 ($160 USD) with a color palette inspired by the Centre Pompidou in France, the location that sparked Tinker Hatfield’s conception of visible air, and finally, the Air Max 2014 Flyknit ($265 USD) inspired by Mark Parker’s love of nature and its infinite possibility.


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TikTok owner ByteDance announced revenue of 40 billion yuan ($5.64 billion) in the first quarter of 2020, up 130 percent from the previous year.
MiraclePlus RMB Fund I, L.P., recently completed a new round of funding, with Sequoia and former JD.com CEO Richard Liu among its investors.
BlueCity Holdings Ltd, the parent company of gay dating app Blued, submitted a prospectus to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today.
Chinese cloud platform QCloud and Game engine Unity launched Unity Connected Games, a platform providing online game services, multiplayer networking services and developer services.
China’s largest classified advertising platform 58.com announced today that it has entered into a merger agreement with Quantum Bloom Group Ltd.
Beijing became strict and started conducting coronavirus check again as new infections came these days.
HeyTea issued an apology for the detection of microbial contamination in beverages sold in Nanjing stores and listed five corrective measures.
Zynn, Kuaishou's overseas short video app will return to Google's play store soon.
Tuniu Corp. (TOUR) reported Wednesday a net loss of 201.5 million yuan ($29.5 million) on revenue of 174 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 61.9%, in Q1 2020.
iQIYI, online video platform based in Beijing, announced its appointment of Kuek Yu-Chuang as vice president of international business, effective immediately.
Sina Weibo suspends its rankings of top searches and hot topics.
Arm China’s executive chairman and CEO, Allen Wu's dismissal on 10 June triggers questions about its corporate control.
UCAR Inc announced Wednesday that all 270 million shares held by Chairman Lu Zhengyao have been judicially frozen by the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court until April 2023.
WeChat added delivery services to its mini programs last week, another feature to make it a super app that almost equals an operating system.
Luckin Coffee chairman Lu Zhengyao resigned on Tuesday from the board of China Auto Rental Co., Ltd. (CAR), Tencent Finance reported.


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Hankook: 'We will become a global brand'
The Hankook Tire America Corp. dealers who gathered in Cancun, Mexico, for the company's annual dealer meeting were treated to an unexpected and candid presentation by Hyun Bum Cho.
Cho, the chief marketing officer for Hankook's parent company, Hankook Tire Co. Ltd., was direct with his comments to start the dealer meeting.
“In the long-term, we want to have 12% to 15% market share in North America,” he said. (The company says it currently has about 5% share of market in the United States.)
Cho said his company has been adding capacity at a rate of 5% to 6% per annum, which he believes is well-above the industry average. Cho also said the company is 80% certain that it will build a plant soon in the U.S,. and it is talking with various state governments in this regard.
Cho pointed out that Hankook views original equipment tire placements as very crucial to growth and to building Hankook’s brand. He told dealers that OE fitments are a better investment than running a $250 million consumer advertising campaign for brand development.
New OE fitments are in the works, with the company interested in “German premium car fitments to increase our shares. We want to be a global brand and want drivers to use out tires. We do not want to be a niche (Ferrari) tire maker.”
Cho said Hankook wants to balance its worldwide business regionally, but he also told dealers that “we like America and Canada to grow our business.”
Cho ended his remarks with a bold statement of intended growth: “We will become a global brand, and I might sound cocky, but I truly believe this.”
Goals for 2013
Hankook Tire America’s senior vice president of sales, Shawn Denlein, was also upbeat in his comments to dealers. He said the company just had a 20% sales increase to $1.2 billion in 2012 and the company also increased in market share.
Denlein said the company has set the following goals for 2013:
1. deciding on the U.S. plant;
2. enhancing the company’s “One” dealer program -- although no details were being revealed at this time;
3. increasing Hankook’s share of market to 5.4%; and
4. increasing sales to $1.4 billion.
The company is investing heavily in the launch of its Ventus S1 noble2 ultra-high performance all-season tire. The tire debuted at the 2012 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) Show, but won't become available to dealers until March. The tire is W-rated, and will be available in 40 16- through 20-inch, 30- to 55 series sizes. The line has a UTQG rating of 500/AA/A.
Hankook is also looking to increase its presence in the winter tire market. It is launching a Winter i*cept iZ T-rated tire in 14- to 18-inch rim diameters. The studless tire will come in 24 sizes.
The company also announced a second winter tire, the Winter i*Pike RS performance tire. It is T-rated and will come in 13- to 18-inch rim diameters with widths of 45- to 75-series. This studdable tire will come in 37 sizes.
Denlein echoed Cho’s comments about OE fitments. He pointed out a strong partnership with Ford and Lincoln brands in the U.S., along with Hyundai, Kia, VW, Chevrolet, GMC and Chrysler vehicles.
Hankook is continuing to expand its “behind the plate” signage program with major league baseball teams. Denlein announced that Hankook will be at 28 different ballparks, with the new additions for 2013 being the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago White Sox. Continuing with sports marketing, Hankook has added Fox college football and NFL on Fox to deliver its consumer message.
Denlein said the further addition of courtside signage at NCAA basketball events will help the company target younger consumers.
Commercial Tire Group
Turning to the truck tire side of the business, Brian Sheehey, director of sales and marketing for Hankook's Commercial Tire Group, discussed new OE fitments at Freightliner Trucks (a division of Daimler Trucks North America LLC), Navistar Inc. and Blue Bird Corp. Even as the company grows its OE fitment business, Sheehey was quick to state that “we are not going to ship tires from replacement to OEM.”
Sheehey said the company has three goals for the commercial business in 2013. The first is to increase personnel by 50% in sales, thus allowing the company to develop closer relationships with customers.
Secondly, the company wants to increase its growth through its dealers, and lastly, have a 30-day backorder fillment.
The company announced several new truck tires. The AH15 is a wide base rib tire; the DL12 multi-application drive tire due out late this year; long-haul "ultra" wide-base tires called the DL07 and TL07; and the AM15, a wide-base rib all position tire.


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My wife sent me a message a few minutes ago that Funko has officially announced their upcoming Pop! Pets line of vinyl figures. If you haven’t seen the Pop! Vinyl figures that they’ve been releasing for the past few years, you’ve been missing out on some really cool stuff. They seem to have licensed every movie or television show under the sun to make figures for, and even when you think they’ve finally done them all, they announce another show or movie that you might be excited about! I’ve got a load of my favorite characters from Star Wars, Ghostbusters and even The Karate Kid!
Now they’ve announced a new line that is sure to thrill lovers of dogs and/or cats! Certainly readers of this blog. Back in March they asked Funko fans to vote on which dog and cat breeds should be included in the first round of the Pop! Pets line, and they’ve just announced the winners!
The first series will include Siberian Husky, German Shepherd, Dachshund, French Bulldog, Labrador Retriever, Beagle, Maine Coon, Calico, and Siamese!
The Pop! Pets line releases in September, and Funko is going to make a contribution of $50,000 to the ASPCA as part of the launch, to help the ASPCA further their mission to help animals in need.


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- Gala Games’ GRIT, a Wild West-style battle royale game, will be the first Web3 game on the Epic Games Store.
- GRIT will contain custom NFT elements. Rival marketplace Steam has banned NFT games.
At the leading PC gaming marketplace, Steam decided to ban Web3 games as well NFT or Crypto Hooks last October, up-and-coming rival Epic Games Store claimed it would stay open to such games.
And now we know which game will be the first Web3 Titles appear on Epic’s platform.
Today Gala Games announced that its Wild West-style battle royale shooter will be released GRIT would be the first NFT-based game to be released through the Epic Games Store. GRIT will be a free to play online multiplayer game for Windows PC players and will contain custom NFT assets that can be purchased, resold and used within the game.
An NFT is a blockchain token that proves ownership of various items and is commonly used for digital goods such as artwork, collectibles, and in-game assets for video games. Game examples include avatars, vehicles, weapons, clothing, and virtual lots.
Gala will release 10,000 player avatars for GRIT and provide unique looks and customization items for owners. The company will be offering the avatars through a Gunslinger’s Box sale beginning this week at the publisher’s Galaverse event in Malta.
GRIT appears to be a Fortnite-like experience, pitting large numbers of players in a fight to the death at any cost, albeit with a distinctive Western aesthetic. It’s due out later in 2022 and will run on Epic Games’ own Unreal Engine.
Gala Games’ press release suggests that GRIT won’t be the company’s only game to be released on the Epic Games Store.
“Epic is a pioneer and visionary in the video game industry. Gala Games’ titles available on the Epic Game Store bring legitimacy to this new gaming genre,” Gala Games President John Osvald said in a press release. “Ease of access to Web3 games is a game changer for those gamers who haven’t seen how digital ownership can enrich the gaming experience.”
Gala Games has quickly become a prominent player in the blockchain gaming space, enlisting veteran game developers like Will Wright (The Sims) and Peter Molyneux (Fable) to create NFT-enhanced games, while also attracting NFT-savvy celebs like Signed Snoop Dogg and Steve Aoki.
Currently priced below $0.08, the GALA token has a total market cap of $555 million, according to CoinMarketCap.
Crypto finds a home at Epic Games
Epic Games is not only the company behind the Epic Games Store and the Unreal Engine, but also the developer of the leading battle royale shooter, Fortnite. The Epic Games Store had 194 million total users from late 2021, making it a sizeable launchpad for Gala and GRIT.
Valve’s Steam marketplace is currently the leading PC gaming platform and took a tough stance on games using NFTs or crypto tokens last October when it banned such games from launching on the platform.
In response, Epic Games co-founder and CEO Tim Sweeney tweeted a welcome message to the developers of such games.
“The Epic Games Store will welcome games utilizing blockchain technology provided they comply with relevant laws, disclose their terms, and are age rated by an appropriate group,” he wrote. “While Epic does not use cryptography in our games, we welcome innovation in technology and finance.”
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text: It’s not about the high. Artificially derived cannabis products can treat glaucoma and chronic pain without the trouble and expense of growing marijuana plants, which would shift the turf of clashes over medical pot. Now epilepsy drug Epidiolex is on the verge of federal approval, though it would require a long-awaited downgrade of marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug before it could be prescribed. While cannabis biotech is seeing a flood of investment, don’t expect products to bum-rush the market. Given how long FDA approvals take, backers will have to chill.


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Nintendo’s 2021 Q1 financial results have been released, showing a fall in both sales and profits despite it being a strong quarter overall. This is down to 2020 being a particularly tough year for the company to compare itself against because of the pandemic.
Net sales were reported at 322.6 billion Yen ($2.94 billion), for the three-month period ending on June 30, 2021. This represents a drop of 10 percent year-on-year for Nintendo. Net profit saw a similar drop to 92.7 billion Yen ($846 million), which is a decrease of 13 percent.
The reason this report is so much lower is that not only did Nintendo benefit from more people buying a Switch in Q1 2020 due to the pandemic, but Animal Crossing: New Horizons became a runaway success. 10.6 million copies of it were sold in this period last year.
By comparison, 2.07 million units of New Pokemon Snap were sold in Q1 2021. Other big sellers include Miitopia with 1.04 million units sold and Mario Golf: Super Rush with 1.34 million units sold. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe also helped with an additional 1.69 million units sold this year.
For the period overall, 45.29 million Switch games were sold, a drop of 10.2 percent. Nine games sold over 1 million copies each, with two of those being from third-party publishers.
When it comes to hardware sales, 4.45 million consoles were sold in Q1 2021. While that’s huge, it’s still a drop of 21.7 percent year-on-year. This is mostly down to sales of Switch Lite consoles dropping since standard model sales have risen. This is surprising given that Joy-Con drift is such a prevalent issue, but it still seems like there’s a definite preference among fans.
Since it launched, 89.04 million Switch consoles have now been shipped worldwide. Nintendo expects to shift an additional 20.5 million by the end of March 2022. This equates to roughly 85 million consoles sold and in the hands of consumers.
Digital sales for Nintendo dropped by 24.9 percent year-on-year to 75.9 billion Yen ($692 million), making up around 46.9 percent of all Switch game sales. The company says that while independent and digital-only game sales on the Nintendo eShop are steady, it’s digital sales of games that also have physical releases that have fallen. This is no doubt due to the collectability of any physical Nintendo game.
Nintendo saw massive success through the pandemic thanks mostly to Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The company is doubling down on free updates for the game this year, but there’s nothing coming out anytime soon that will achieve the same level of anticipation and sales.
However, thanks to last year’s success and the ongoing success this year, the company is looking to repurchase 1.8 million shares by September 15, 2021.


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NEW YORK, NY – Indie fashion designers, rejoice. After closing tired eyes and filing for Chapter 7 last May, the indie event organization Gen Art got new life and rose, Dracula-like, thanks to an infusion from the cutting-edge media company Sandow Media.
Since 1994, Gen Art has brought together emerging talent in the world of film, fashion, art, and music. People like Zac Posen, Rebecca Taylor and Rodarte, all can credit Gen Art with having helped launch their careers to some degree.
The Wall Street Journal made the following observation, which we find interesting:
“With the advent of reality TV shows like ‘Project Runway’ and ‘America’s Next Top Model’, as well as the emergence of do-it-yourself bloggers, contemporary technology has created additional platforms and exposure for budding talent. But Adam Sandow, the CEO of Sandow Media, believes that Gen Art has the potential to be more influential than ever before.”
First up on the calendar will be Gen Art’s 16th annual Film Festival in New York City, to be held in June.


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Do you prefer direct links to content? Check out our brand new sister site at Uncanceled.news.
Do you know how unfair a story has to be to a Republican, especially a Trumpist Republican with national ambitions, for multiple Democrats to step up in his defense?
That’s where we are with the “60 Minutes” hit piece on DeSantis, which Ed covered this morning. The nutshell version: Publix, a ubiquitous supermarket chain in Florida, donated $100,000 to DeSantis and ended up partnering with the state to distribute the COVID vaccine. Smells like a quid pro quo to us, “60 Minutes” asserted. But Jared Moskowitz, the director of the Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, said that was nonsense, claiming that Publix was recommended by experts because other big-chain pharmacies weren’t ready to start vaccinating yet.
This afternoon Dave Kerner, the Democratic mayor of Palm Beach County, chimed in as well. Not only didn’t DeSantis force Publix on us, Kerner says, he asked DeSantis to expand the partnership with Publix. And he was willing to tell “60 Minutes” that.


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Bermuda Tourism in US marketing blitz
Bermuda tourism officials are travelling the US East Coast as part of a six-city marketing blitz.
Information on the Island has been presented to more than 210 travel agents in Boston, New Jersey and New York City.
“We are extremely pleased with the strong attendance and enthusiastic feedback from both travel agents and target media,” said Tourism Minister Shawn Crockwell. “Given the response received already from these events, it demonstrates that relationships with the right agencies and media are key to our success.
“All six cities that our team and partners will have visited represent essential markets in the core Northeast market, for Bermuda tourism, especially as we begin our peak tourism season.”
Department of Tourism officials were joined by representatives from the Fairmont Hamilton Princess, Fairmont Southampton, Grotto Bay Beach Resort, Newstead Belmont Hills Golf Resort & Spa, The Reefs, Pompano Beach Club, Rosedon and Rosewood Tucker’s Point.
The group will next travel to Philadelphia and Baltimore.


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Philips Electronics has announced it will nominate Frans van Houten as its next president and CEO, effective April 1, 2011. He will succeed Gerard Kleisterlee, who will retire from Philips on the same date.
“Television will change fundamentally because of connected TV sets, 3D is only a passing fad,” according to Christoph Puhl, responsible for product training at Philips Austria. One in four people buying in new TV set in Austria is getting a connected TV set.
Philips Electronics has announced the appointment of Pieter Nota as CEO of Philips Consumer Lifestyle and member of its group management, effective September 1, 2010, succeeding Andrea Ragnetti.
Philips Net TV, the connected TV platform of the Dutch consumer electronics manufacturer, is to offer direct access to on-demand movies.
Philips has launched three new ‘Canal Ready’ receivers for the French market, serving both digital terrestrial and DTH satellite viewers.
IFA 2009 – BERLIN. Visitors to this year’s consumer electronics show, which opens today (Friday, September 2), can see live 3D TV demos at the stands of Panasonic, Sony and Philips.
IFA 2009 – BERLIN. Sony is bringing its Bravia Internet Video connected TV service to Europe on Bravia TVs, Blu-ray players and home theatre systems.


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The number of new technologies gushing out of startup companies and research laboratories are lapping at the shores of the consumer marketplace at a rate that is unprecedented in human history.
In another historic first, these innovations are coming from every field — computer, medical, logistical, etc. Previous eras have seen jumps in technologies in certain fields, for example, agriculture, or metallurgy, but not simultaneously.
This rush of innovation will destroy some current technologies and business models, it may collaborate with, or even extend others. Interestingly, we may see some of these new technologies disrupting each other. It’s a natural extension of the law of technological acceleration.
As a consumer or an investor, there are two trends that you should watch:
By now, you’ve seen or heard about Amazon’s investment in drone technology. The unveiling on CBS’s 60 Minutes was an internet sensation, spreading the news virally about a fleet of aircraft delivering packages to your home, or, for the dystopians, a fleet of craft that will hunt us down and kill us.


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Apparently, I’m a few weeks behind on this trailer, so I’m going to go ahead and blame E3 for my tardiness.
From Agustín Cordes, the maker of Scratches, Asylum is an psychological horror game inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft. Cordes and developer Senscape are working hard to bring players a terrifying game that’s set in an abandoned asylum. The building itself is being touted as one of the biggest virtual buildings ever created for a video game, with over 100 rooms to explore and around 15 hours of gameplay. I’m psyched.
If exploring a long abandoned mental institute sounds like your cup of tea, you can follow Asylum on Steam Greenlight. The game is currently set for a Halloween 2013 release on PC, Mac and Linux.
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Bless Online: New Time Promo Trailer
Bless Online announces its final closed beta test in Korea with this new cinematic trailer.
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Toyota D22 SUV car:- There is always a demand for Toyota’s SUV car in India, but this year Maruti Suzuki and Toyota are going to launch their new compact SUV car Toyota D22 SUV. Regarding the launch date of the car, the company has not confirmed it. No official statement has been issued but if media reports are to be believed then people may start getting this car from Diwali.
read this also :- Top 10 best SUV cars under 10 lakh | SUV car up to 10 lakhs Best SUV Under 10 lakh in India 2022
Maruti and Toyota are preparing Toyota D22 SUV
Toyota D22 SUV car was launched by Maruti Suzuki and toyota Both are preparing together under their joint venture. Even before this, both Suzuki and Toyota have worked together on a car, but regarding this car, the companies say that this car will be a more powerful new car than all the cars made till now. Regarding this car, it is being said that both Maruti Suzuki and Toyota are going to launch it in their respective versions. Where Maruti Suzuki has named its version YFG. Toyota has named it Toyota D22 SUV.
read this also :- Top 5 Best cars under 5 lakh in 2022 | Best selling car up to Rs 5 lakh in India
Toyota D22 SUV Engine and Transmission
Not much information has been revealed about Toyota D22 SUV Engine and Transmission, but according to media reports, this car can be a self-charging hybrid car in which the latest A 1.5 liter petrol powertrain engine can be installed which was first installed on Toyota Yaris.
read this also :- Renault Kwid launches its electric car at a very low price, you will be surprised to see its features


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As of June 30, Apple’s HomePod accounted for 6% of the 50 million smart speakers sold in the United States; more than double its estimated market share.
The HomePod is still the “small” player in the US smart speaker market. Amazon seems unreachable, high up there with a 70% market share. And Google is comfortably sitting in its second place with 24%.
Just a month after its launch, Apple has already sold 3 million of its HomePod, reaching 6% of the total US market share. And that is double what the best estimation had given it back in March.
In April, analysts estimated that Apple would sell just around 2.5 million HomePods by the end of 2018. But today – and on the day Apple officially became the first US company to be valued $1 trillion – CIRP’s study confirmed the trend: HomePods are selling like hot buns.
While Amazon and Google have nothing to worry about, Apple might be the real winner considering the company is taking a healthy profit margin from the hardware. Current market prices for the devices are as follows: Amazon Echo costs $99, Google Home is currently available for $129, and the Apple HomePod costs $349.
That being said the report from CIRP shows that one-third of Amazon Echo or Google Home users own at least two of the speakers, with 10% of Echo users owning three or more.
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The internet in 2016 was very different from how it is now: Instagram stories were born and the mannequin challenge was taking over social media. 2016 also gave us one of the first major sophisticated ad fraud operations and takedowns: Methbot.
Now in 2021, the trial of Methbot’s ringmaster Aleksander Zhukov has concluded and we cannot help but look back at the five years that have passed since our orchestrated takedown of the botnet.
The Department of Justice, in their press release announcing the result of the trial, offered a brief summary of Zhukov's role in Methbot:
Aleksandr Zhukov, a Russian national, was convicted by a federal jury in Brooklyn of four counts of a superseding indictment charging him with wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and money laundering. The charges arose from Zhukov’s sophisticated scheme to defraud brands, ad platforms and others in the U.S. digital advertising industry out of more than $7 million.
At the time, Methbot was the largest botnet to defraud the advertising industry by enabling sophisticated bots to watch 300 million video ads per day on spoofed websites made to look like premium publishers. More than 6,000 premium domains were spoofed. This was arguably the beginning of a long and difficult conversation with the ad industry - business cannot go on as usual. The costs and impact to advertising budgets were too high and we needed to address the problem together.
This was only punctuated by the 3ve botnet operation two years later - 3ve surpassed Methbot in scale and sophistication, infecting 1.7 million computers, spoofing 10,000 domains and more than 12 billion fake ad requests per day. The problem was clearly getting worse and fraudsters were profiting off it. But as this trial has shown us, the way to stop them and ultimately protect the digital ecosystem is to take away their profit centers and make the legal consequences too high.
This trial has prompted all of us at HUMAN to take a look back at where we started and how the industry not only adopted the call to take ad fraud seriously, but embraced the only way to stop these attacks and fraud: all of us working together.
Collective Protection™ Security at Work
Methbot and 3ve were among the first instances of Collective Protection™ security doing its job: protecting not just customers, but the entire digital ecosystem. By creating a cross-functional industry team, we were able not only to bring to light what was happening, but to actually collaborate to take down the operations. And with the help of the FBI, we ensured that future cybercriminals knew that there are consequences to their actions.
Most recently, there was the disruption of PARETO. It was similar to Methbot in that the operators took advantage of premium ad inventory. In the case of PARETO, the operators targeted the Connected TV (CTV) ad ecosystem. The PARETO botnet was nearly one million infected Android phones pretending to be millions of people watching ads on smart TVs. PARETO-associated traffic accounted for an average of 650 million daily bid requests witnessed by HUMAN’s Advertising Integrity solution, the result of fake Roku and Android apps spoofing more than 6,000 CTV apps. We were able to disrupt the operation for not just our Advertising Integrity clients, but the whole industry by working with key industry players: Google, Roku, and The Human Collective. That’s the power of Collective Protection™ fraud detection.
The Human Collective
After seeing how important cross-industry collaboration is to defeating cybercrime, we created The Human Collective. This is a program built for companies looking to be at the forefront of fighting fraud. By working together all members can learn from each other, utilize the Human Verification Engine, and receive exclusive access to the Satori Threat Intelligence & Research team. Flagship members include Omnicom Media Group, The Trade Desk, Magnite, and Amica Mutual Insurance.
As an industry, we’ve gotten a lot better at fighting ad fraud. In 2016, we reported in the Bot Baseline Report with the ANA that advertisers will lose roughly $7.2 billion to bots. But with awareness, cross-industry collaboration, and cybersecurity solutions, we were able to bring that number down. Indeed, as programmatic advertising continues to grow, it's through our work with partners that the growth of fraud in that marketplace has reversed. In 2019, we reported that for the first time, more fraud will be stopped than succeed. Projected losses for 2019 were roughly $5.8 billion - that’s a massive decrease in just a few short years.
Methbot may officially be over, in the eyes of the internet and the law, but the work to eradicate ad fraud is far from over. Every day, fraudsters are trying to outsmart us with their sophisticated bots - especially within emerging ecosystems like CTV. The solutions of yesterday are no longer acceptable. You can’t fight fraud with just a feature. To stay ahead of the ever-changing fraud landscape, HUMAN’s Advertising Integrity utilizes a multilayered detection methodology: global threat intelligence, machine learning, continuous adaptation, and technical evidence.
A lot has changed since we took down Methbot in 2016 but one thing hasn’t: we are always protecting the advertising ecosystem. The results of this recent trial is a step in the right direction to make the internet what it should always be: human.


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Modernization of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 was the focus of a U.S. House hearing Wednesday.
Recently in Educational Data Category
February 12, 2015
February 02, 2015
Early childhood experts are questioning the value of a new virtual preschool that offers digital learning materials and online access to teachers.
January 29, 2015
A draft of the Obama administration's "Student Digital Privacy and Innovation Act" would prohibit companies from targeting advertising to students and selling data about them, but appears to leave other issues unaddressed.
January 20, 2015
Google, a company that has been criticized for its privacy policies, has signed a pledge to protect students' online information endorsed by President Obama.
November 20, 2014
States have established data systems collecting student education data, but now need to find ways to use that information effectively, a new report finds.
October 10, 2014
The National Science Foundation awarded a $4.8 million grant for the creation of a massive repository for storing, sharing and analyzing digital learning data.
September 30, 2014
California's new student-data-privacy bill prohibits vendors from selling student information and restricts targeting advertising and the building of student profiles.
September 17, 2014
The advance of student-data-privacy legislation in California and elsewhere has attracted media attention in recent weeks.
July 30, 2014
U.S. Senators Edward Markey and Orrin Hatch introduced a bill to update FERPA with stricter restrictions on the use of students' personally identifiable information.
July 23, 2014
A new coalition of parents and activists is pressing Congress to better protect students' sensitive educational information.


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Institutional bitcoin shop NYDIG has partnered with Texas fintech firm Q2 to provide bitcoin access to Q2’s 18.3 million users.
Q2 is a behind-the-scenes player providing online banking software to over 450 small and medium-sized banks and credit unions, including Texas Security Bank, Mercantile Bank and Scotiabank. The partnership with NYDIG will allow Q2’s institutional partners to provide their customers with access to buy, sell and hold bitcoin through their bank accounts.
According to Jean Kondo, Q2’s vice president of communications, Q2’s decision to partner with NYDIG was based on client demand.
“We are excited to work with NYDIG to enable financial institutions to take advantage of this market opportunity and meet the demands of their account holders,” said Q2 executive Jonathan Price in a press statement.
NYDIG’s collaboration with Q2 is one of many recent partnerships for the institutional asset manager. The bitcoin heavyweight has hired Wall Street veterans and even made the foray into bitcoin insurance products. In May, NYDIG was tapped by Anthony Scaramucci’s SkyBridge to custody its pending bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
NYDIG CEO Robert Gutmann said the ultimate goal of the partnership is to increase bitcoin adoption.
“The work we will do together will be key to making bitcoin as easily accessible as possible through the incumbent financial institutions, enabling the continued growth of the Bitcoin network,” Gutmann said in a statement.
Correction: An earlier version of this story had an incorrect title for Jean Kondo.
CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.


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Infinite RF Holdings Inc., an urgent needs supplier of engineering-grade radio frequency (RF), microwave and millimeter-wave components and cable assemblies through their Pasternack and Fairview Microwave branded lines, announced the acquisition of L-Com Inc., a manufacturer of wired and wireless connectivity solutions with significant custom manufacturing capabilities.
Analog Devices Inc. and Linear Technology Corp. announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Analog Devices will acquire Linear Technology in a cash and stock transaction that values the combined enterprise at approximately $30 billion.
Peregrine Semiconductor Corp., founder of RF SOI (silicon on insulator) and pioneer of advanced RF solutions, announces the promotion of Takaki Murata to vice president and general manager of the high performance analog (HPA) business unit.
Skyworks Solutions Inc., an innovator of high performance analog semiconductors connecting people, places and things, announced that Mitchell J. Haws has joined Skyworks as vice president of investor relations.
Pasternack, a leading provider of RF, microwave and millimeter wave products, debuts brand new lines of waveguide bends operating from 5.85 to 90 GHz across 12 frequency bands (from C Band to W Band). These waveguide bends are commonly used in applications such as instrumentation, test benches, high efficiency RF, microwave and mm-wave transmissions, SATCOM, MILCOM, radar and telecom.
Skyworks, the largest and best performing RF semiconductor supplier, reported the first year-over-year sales decline in years, a reflection of the softness in iPhone sales. However, the company grew their mobile business in China and secured designs wins in the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) market.
Keysight Technologies Inc. announced the newest release of its high-performance, Advanced Low-Frequency Noise Analyzer (A-LFNA), which is designed to make fast, accurate and repeatable low-frequency noise measurements. The release features a new user interface and tight integration with Keysight’s WaferPro Express software—a platform that performs automated wafer-level measurements of semiconductor devices.
Qorvo®, a leading provider of innovative RF solutions that connect the world, announced that its infrastructure solutions have supported more than twenty 5G field trials with global infrastructure providers. This is a key milestone in Qorvo's strategy to support the evolving 5G ecosystem and help accelerate the deployment of 5G.
Infineon Technologies AG and Cree Inc. announced that Infineon has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Wolfspeed Power and RF division of Cree. The deal also includes the related SiC wafer substrate business for power and RF power. The purchase price for the all-cash transaction is $850 million (approximately €740 million).
Skyworks Solutions Inc., an innovator of high performance analog semiconductors connecting people, places and things, today expanded its best-in-class antenna tuning product portfolio with the addition of several new high performance solutions.


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There was undoubtedly a lot of alcohol consumed last weekend in Las Vegas by attendees of CES, the largest consumer technology trade show in the country. But only one attendee had every moment of his alcohol consumption quantified and broadcast to the world: Northeastern University graduate and Quantac co-founder Jack Sattell.
Quantac makes the Tally, a wearable device that measures alcohol diffusion through the skin to track how many drinks the wearer has consumed. Sattell, who is Quantac's chief technology officer, turned himself into an inebriated test dummy in order to showcase in real time that the product works as advertised.
A graph showing the output of Tally's sensor, and the corresponding number of drinks Sattell had consumed, was streamed on Quantac's website, and the team got the word out on Twitter with the hashtag #howdrunkisjack.
"People enjoyed it. Especially in Eureka Park there's a lot of tech that's not ready," Quantac CEO Lukas Schulte said, referring to the section of the CES showroom dedicated to early-stage startups launching new products. "Seeing it in action and that it actually works and that we're confident enough to actually display it – I think people liked it."
(Sattell had 17 drinks in four days, by the way, and is taking a week off drinking to recover, according to Quantac's Twitter account.)
Schulte and Sattell are both recent engineering graduates from Northeastern University who, fittingly, came up with the idea for Quantac while they were participating in Boston's St. Patrick's Day festivities in 2015. By early 2016, Schulte was sitting in his living room "with a bunch of electronics tied to me and I had to drink for six hours to see if it worked.”
Quantac's device is not meant to function like a breathalyzer and does not currently report blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Instead of telling people whether they're too drunk to drive, for example, Quantac focuses on the longer-term trends of a user's alcohol consumption, measuring how many standard drinks they've had recently and generally making it easier to track drinking habits.
Schulte and Sattell, along with their third co-founder Ben Lieber, incorporated Quantac in Massachusetts in June 2016. Since October, the trio has been working in New York City as part of the Techstars Connection program run in partnership with beer conglomerate AB InBev.
Schulte said the most likely path toward monetizing the Tally is to first focus on selling to the many academics who do research related to alcohol consumption. Most of that research currently depends on participants self-reporting how much alcohol they consume, a process that the Tally could make much more accurate.
“Because of CES we’ve actually gotten a decent amount of interest from these university groups and how we can help them,” Schulte said. "We went to CES and didn’t really know what to expect and all of a sudden discovered new areas of interest.”
Quantac received $20,000 upon acceptance into Techstars Connection and has exercised the option to sell the incubator a convertible note for another $100,000, Schulte said. The startup has also opened up a seed round of funding and has some money committed already, though it's hunting for more. Schulte said the team hasn't yet decided whether to stay in New York or move back to the Boston area when they graduate from Techstars in a few weeks.


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IBM teams up with Danish transport and logistics company, Maersk to develop a blockchain solution for the global trade industry. The solution is expected to save customers money by reducing paperwork and streamlining documentation across the supply chain. It is slated to be delivered by Q3 2018.
The platform will be powered by Linux’s Hyperledger Fabric 1.0, which supports the creation of smart contracts and documents for businesses and high-security transactions. It will be built on open standards for documenting trade across borders and trade zones, and will store this information immediately in a blockchain ledger.
To produce a complete solution, Maersk will depend on its network of ports and customs authorities, shippers, and freight forwarders to participate in the ledger. The company has been working with IBM for almost two years to gather data from its network so it can build a streamlined and navigable platform for recording transactions over products’ shipping life.
This just one example of how IBM leverages blockchain to enter markets from healthcare to banking. It has recently partnered with Walmart to change how it manages shipping for perishables. Now, by entering the global trade industry, it will compete with other global-trade service providers like CargoX, which also has blockchain solution for creating and storing documents used in global trade.


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Google just announced the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL at $649 and $749 (India pricing starts at ₹61,000) and judging by the flurry of professional video footage already out, it seems that Google handed out these devices to The Verge a week beforehand. More details and specs can be found at Google’s official product page.
Some initial thoughts:
1) Last year Google touted the Pixel’s lack of camera bump and inclusion of headphone jack. With both these ‘features’ going away this year, it makes them look pretty stupid.
2) Physical looks-wise, these phones are barely a marginal improvement over their not-so-noteworthy predecessors. The only impressive aspect seems to be the removal of antenna bands not only from the bottom-half but even at the sides between the glass front and back. I haven’t seen that in any smartphone, even the iPhone 8 with its glass back.
3) Not digging the quirky coloured side button.
4) IP 67 water resistance – much awaited. No wireless charging – hardly matters.
5) Google touts both phones having the same specs but that is not entirely true; the bigger phone has a much better screen ratio than the smaller one. Speaking of which, I think the smaller phone’s squarer corners look awful from the front.
6) At 6 inches, this is an even bigger phone than last year’s Pixel XL. Just goes to show how hard it is to optimise screen size with battery life. And also shows how impressive a feat of engineering the iPhone X (as well as the S8) is, with dual OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation) front cameras, a similar sized screen, and a much smaller body.
7) A DxO ratings of 98 shouldn’t be paid much attention to, but I do still think the Pixel has extended its lead in the smartphone camera segment. OIS is going to be a noticeable improvement and along with an AI-powered Portrait mode (also available in selfies), I’m quite excited to see the results.
8) As usual I’m pretty sure this will perform (and feel) better than any other Android phone with similar or better specs, and should prove to be the best Android phone to buy this year as well.


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Netflix is joining the likes of Epic Games Inc. and Spotify Technology SA SPOT, +0.06% in its latest move: testing a way for users to register and pay for the streaming service while bypassing Apple Inc.’s AAPL, +0.65% app store and hefty commission fees.
The streaming giant is the latest company to look into bypassing Apple's app store and Alphabet Inc.’s GOOG, +0.34% Google Play. Both Apple and Google take a 30% commission on all apps and in-app purchases, and the commission drops to 15% after the first year.
Netflix NFLX, -1.30% is looking into a new sign-up approach where users in some countries are no longer able to register for streaming service. They are being redirected to the mobile web version of the app and asked to enter payment details with Netflix directly. The test is running in 33 countries, not including the U.S., through the month of September, according to TechCrunch. This comes just months after Netflix in May made billing through Google Pay unavailable to new customers, though current subscribers that pay via Google Play can continue to do so until they cancel their accounts.
Companies have long complained about the heavy cut Apple and Google take in return for visibility on their platforms. Spotify does not allow new subscribers to sign up via Apple’s app store, though the app itself can still be downloaded there. The company has been especially vocal about the fees over the years, publicly speaking out and approaching U.S. and European regulators about the issue. In 2015, Spotify sent emails to its iPhone customers, urging them to pay through Spotify.com rather than through Apple’s store. “If you switch your payments to Spotify.com, there are no transaction costs and you’ll save money,” said the emails, which included step-by-step instructions on how to shut off auto-renew in iTunes and how to re-subscribe on the Spotify website. The emails said the monthly fees through Spotify.com would be $9.99 versus $12.99 through the app store.
And e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, +0.33% does not give Apple a cut of Kindle books purchased; for years, users have had to buy them through the Amazon website, not through the Kindle app.
Video game makers are pushing back, as well.
“We’ve had behind-closed-door discussions with game developers who claim that Apple and Google’s commission structure is unfair and that they may take a more public role in pushing back against the business model,” wrote Macquarie analysts, led by Ben Schachter, in a note last week.
Epic Games will be launching its hit game Fortnite for Android on its own website, and fans will only be able to download the game there, not on Google Play. Fortnite is available on Apple’s app store; Apple does not allow any third-party apps to be installed on its devices, while the setting that blocks third-party installations can be disabled on Android phones.
The pushback from companies may mean the longstanding app distribution model, as dictated by Apple and Google, needs to change, said Schachter in his note.
“We believe that the scale of the global app market and its growing importance to the platforms and the millions of app developers and publishers may lead to changes to the model,” he wrote.
Netflix shares have shot up 77% so far this year, while shares of Apple have surged up 27% and shares of Alphabet have gained 16%. The S&P 500 SPX, -0.09% has gained 7%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq COMP, +0.08% has gained 14%.


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The Motion Picture Association of America has deemed file-sharing hub Hotfile the "most blatant inducer of copyright infringement" during legal proceedings, beating even Megaupload and torrent sites.
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Filesonic, previously one of the major file-sharing websites on the internet, has been gone for the past few days with no explanation, and the main domain having suddenly changed hands.
After the takedown of MegaUpload earlier this week, popular file-sharing website Filesonic has disabled their sharing functionality and now only allows you to retrieve your own uploaded files


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We have put in place a menu architecture to grow Burger King brand from 268 restaurants to 700 restaurants and then beyond, says the CEO.
Burger King Ipo
The IPO consists of a fresh issue of Rs 450 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to 6 crore shares, aggregating Rs 360 crore. It is being sold in the price band of Rs 59-60 apiece.
Net proceeds from the fresh issue are proposed to be utilised for funding the rollout of new company-owned Burger King Restaurants and for general corporate purposes.


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The Hershey Co. has announced an expansion of its Stuarts Draft, VA, plant, which will become the company's "new peanut roasting center of excellence" for its Reese's-brand candy line. The $104 million expansion, which will add 64,000 square feet onto the plant's existing building, is expected to create 65 new jobs. The News Virginian.
The Convenience Distribution Association (CDA) is the trade organization working on behalf of convenience products distributors in the United States. Its distributor members represent more than $102 billion in U.S convenience product sales, serving a wide variety of small retail formats. Associate members include leading convenience product manufacturers, brokers, retailers, suppliers and others allied to the industry.


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Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, says, “The most lethal vehicle safety defect in America today is not the Takata airbag inflator. It’s the fuel tank behind the rear axle in the 1993-98 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 1993-01 Cherokee and 2002-07 Liberty.”
At least 19 people have been burned to death in Jeep SUVs since June 2013 when Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) was first asked to recall Jeep models that have the gas tank mounted behind the rear axle, ConsumerAffairs.com reports. The plastic gas tanks can rupture in a crash, spilling gasoline, and bursting into flames.
In a recent letter to Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) head Mark Rosekind, Ditlow wrote, “This is the recall that Chrysler never wanted to do and will never do right. As far as Fiat-Chrysler is concerned Jeeps can continue to crash and burn until they are all off the road.” NHTSA has fined Fiat Chrysler a total of $175 million in the past two years for moving too slowly on recalls or failing to report safety defects and deaths, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Ditlow is calling on officials to reopen the fuel tank investigation and come up with a remedy that saves lives, according to ConsumerAffairs.com. Ditlow’s letter highlighted three recent deaths in Jeep fires: 17-year-old Skyler Anderson and 24-year-old husband and wife Chantae and Danny Reed Jr. Skyler’s father told NHTSA at the Chrysler recall hearings that didn’t get a recall notice until more than a year after Chrysler agreed to a limited recall. The Reeds survived the crash of their Jeep, but Danny Reed was trapped when his seat back collapsed and both burned to death as Chantae tried to free her husband.
In January, the son of a Pennsylvania couple who died in a 2014 Jeep fire sued Fiat Chrysler, alleging that the Jeep was unsafe “due to its propensity to burst into flames after rear impacts.” The lawsuit also says the couple’s Jeep was part of the recall, but Fiat Chrysler did not inform them of this before the crash. They bought the vehicle used from another person. Last year, a Georgia jury awarded $150 million to the family of a 4-year-old who died in fire involving a 1999 Grand Cherokee. A judge reduced the award to $40 million and Fiat Chrysler has appealed, the Tribune reports.
FCA initially refused NHTSA’s recall request but finally negotiated a secret deal with former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, now an industry lobbyist. That deal calls for installing a trailer hitch on the Jeeps to keep the gas tank from being penetrated in a rear-end crash and exploding into flames, according to ConsumerAffairs.com. But consumers complain that dealers have told them they do not have the necessary parts. Further, critics maintain that installing a trailer hitch has never been demonstrated to be an effective remedy.
Last July, Fiat Chrysler, agreed to make trade-in offers to the Jeep owners or pay to have the hitches installed. By the end of 2015, only 35 percent of the recalled Jeeps had been repaired. Another 545,000 owners cannot be reached, or their vehicles have been scrapped, according to a report Fiat Chrysler filed with the government. A company spokesman said the company has made 15.3 million attempts to reach owners by mail, telephone calls or email, according to the Tribune.