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Swrve Introduces In-App Conversation Features
Swrve, provider of a mobile engagement platform, today added functionality to its Conversations feature that will help marketers more efficiently connect with customers via mobile applications. According to Alan Tam, senior director of product marketing at Swrve, the enhancements will simplify and accelerate for marketers the process of building "meaningful, contextual engagement points at the right mobile moments."
Swrve's cloud-based marketing platform includes tools designed to help enterprises drive customer engagement in their mobile applications. The platform enables data orchestration, predictive modeling, and A/B testing and aims to sharpen the quality of audience targeting and segmentation, push-notifications and in-app messaging.
Swrve integrates with enterprise marketing and CRM systems, Tam points out, allowing companies to leverage first- and third-party data to create "meaningful focal points of interaction." Based on these recorded interactions, "all the behavioral data that's going on within the app can also be funnelled back, so [companies] can improve and further optimize [their other] marketing channels." If done properly, the process can increase campaign ROI in other channels (such as email and the Web), while enabling greater visibility into the activity of mobile users.
The Conversations function, added to Swrve's platform late last year, allows companies to craft messages within the app and contact customers with enticing options in "real time." Users can leverage templates to reach customers with photos, videos, surveys, announcements, promotions, and more.
"We're at an inflection point in the market, where it's no longer about just being able to broadcast a message, which was what the first release of conversations was focused on," Tam says. "The second release is really [about] distilling that conversation, optimizing for the user experience."
Newly added today are interactive messages and measured responses; simplified user training options and video tutorials; templates that enable immediate customer feedback and surveys; templates designed to drive access permission settings opt-ins; and cross-promotional calls to action.
According to Tam, personalizing native permission settings to highlight the value of opting into agreements has been effective in increasing in-app engagement. "We've seen an increase of over 200 percent of [customers] turning on those opt-in communications, from push notifications, to messaging, to contacts, and camera," Tam says.
Tam also highlights the value of "real-time" surveys: "One of the greatest challenges of feedback in the mobile-centric world is that it's often delayed, and because it's delayed, it's not meaningful. The industry average for email customer surveys is less than 1 percent."
RyanAir, a client of Swrve's, has already seen benefits from the survey capabilities, Tam notes. Via its app, the airline pushes out a survey to users as soon as their flight lands at its destination. The survey asks participants to rate their experience using one of three emojis. Since implementing the new capabilities, response rates have risen from .07 percent to upwards of 60 percent, indicating that 89 percent of them were satisfied with the flight.
Dara Brady, head of digital at Ryanair, said in a statement that Swrve's Conversations helps the airline remain "adaptive to customer preferences":
"Conversations enables us to target our customers, and allows us interact with them in ways that are appealing and convenient for them. Mobile is a key element in travel today and we're engaging travelers where they want to spend their time—on mobile. Being adaptive to customer preferences is part of what sets RyanAir apart and keeps that satisfaction rating so high."
Swrve Adds Salesforce Marketing Cloud Integration
The integration allows marketers to deliver omnichannel mobile marketing and personalized customer journeys.
Swrve Introduces Predictive Marketing Suite
Swrve's latest offering uses behavioral data to empower marketers to send relevant and timely push notifications.
Swrve Brings Mobile Engagement to Windows 10
Swrve is bringing its Mobile Engagement Platform to the Microsoft Windows 10 community.
Swrve Launches Premium Analytics
Swrve Premium Analytics delivers new levels of mobile insight for marketers.


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In the fall of last year the company introduced a branded sage extract for cognitive health in the US market. The UK-based company says it is now in the final process of developing its second branded extract, a new chamomile offering positioned as a better sleep aid.
Different chamomile species chosen
Sibelius has chosen a different species, known as Roman Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile or Anthemis nobilis L.). The company says the extract is one of the oldest known medicinal herbs and possesses strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and relaxation properties, according to a 2013 Portuguese study.
Traditional use of the ingredient includes respiratory complaints, skin inflammation, gastrointestinal discomfort and sleep disorders. The company said that while it is often confused with the more common German chamomile (M. camomilla L.), its phytochemical profile is distinct, and potentially offers greater efficacy.
Sibelius product manager Loukiana Chatzinasiou said the company uses a proprietary screening technology it has now branded as Chronoscreen to determine the precise bioactivity of candidate compounds and raw materials such as the Roman Chamomile. This ability to precisely delineate what these bioactive ingredients are doing at the cellular level sets the company’s product development pipeline apart, she said.
“Using this platform we have screened more than 300 different herbal ingredients,” she said.
The platform uses a well researched model organism, C. elegans. The soil nematode was first proposed as a model organism in 1965 by South African geneticist and Nobel Prize laureate Sydney Brenner. This nematode offered great potential for genetic analysis, partly because of its rapid (3-day) life cycle, small size (1.5-mm-long adult), and ease of laboratory cultivation.
Approach speeds Sibelius' pathway to market
This soil nematode has been used in anti-aging research, which has helped direct product development in the supplement industry. But Chatzinasiou said Sibelius is using it as a way to cast a wider net in product development, and to quickly see what are the best candidates for a deeper look. Sibelius uses its screening technology to see what natural compounds are doing at an epigenetic level.
“We can quickly see how the different extracts we apply affect the different genes of the worm. We look at which ones are up regulated or down regulated. Then we can match those genes with human genes. About 70% of the genetic code of C. elegans matches up with the human genome,” she said.
After promising product development candidates are identified, Chatzinasiou said the platform can then be used to fine tune an extract before commencing in vitro and in vivo pilot studies. That could cut costs and speed the pathway to market.
“It helps us to optimize the dose and to use that dose for further trials,” she said.

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Findel has completed the sale of its online sports business Kitbag.
The Hyde-based home shopping and education supplies company will receive £11.55m for Kitbag from Fanatics, the US market leader for licenced sports merchandise.
Kitbag is a specialist sports retailer which operates through its own online platform Kitbag.com, and also manages officially-licensed club or sports organisation retail outlets, including online, physical stores and event-retail on a white-label basis. Its partners are a wide range of the leading names in sport.
The 500 staff at the company’s headquarters in Manchester, are being told; ‘it’s business as usual, but with lots of exciting new opportunities ahead.’
Chief Executive Andy Anson said: “The process of identifying the best strategic option for Kitbag has been comprehensive but it’s clear that Fanatics represents the best home for this business.
“Kitbag and Fanatics are complementary propositions. Fanatics’ focus has been to grow and develop business in the US, while the majority of Kitbag’s presence is in Europe and the rest of the world. As a consequence, the globalisation of all the major sports we serve together creates fantastic opportunities for future growth and expansion.
“Kitbag will, in effect, be operating as the international arm of Fanatics and we will undoubtedly be a much stronger business under Fanatics’ ownership.”
David Sugden, Executive Chairman of Findel, said: "We believe that this transaction represents a good outcome for all concerned.
"As Kitbag builds upon its strengthened position, it will benefit from the expertise and international presence in this marketplace that Fanatics offers.
"As for Findel, this deal will strengthen our balance sheet and significantly reduce our average working capital requirement, which is consistent with our ambition to focus our resources more fully on driving growth within our core home shopping and education businesses."
Doug Mack, CEO of Fanatics, added: "We could not be more excited to work with the Kitbag team to build upon their multi-channel capabilities, expertise in soccer and strong portfolio of partners to accelerate both our U.S. and international growth.
"Fanatics and Kitbag are a nearly perfect complement, creating a complete platform for sports fans, leagues, teams and manufacturers globally, which will grow the licensed sports industry."
For the year ended 27 March 2015, Kitbag reported a loss before tax and exceptional items of £1.2m. The loss before tax was £2.2m.
This substantial reduction in losses was driven by a combination of top-line growth of 11.7 per cent and the renegotiation of unprofitable contracts.
The gross assets of Kitbag as at 27 March 2015 were £33.7m. The sale is expected to produce a marginal loss upon disposal for Findel.


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The logo of Google Play is seen on a screen.
Alexander Pohl | NurPhoto | Getty Images
On Sept. 10, a judge ruled Apple can’t prohibit developers from giving consumers links to pay for in-app purchases outside of the App Store, bypassing Apple’s 30% fee. While the judge didn’t find Apple monopolistic, the company’s shares declined 3% on the news and Google dipped as much as 2%.
Epic sued Google in 2020 for similar allegations. That case has not yet gone to trial and it’s unclear when it will. Google is in a slightly different position than Apple, though. Android allows third-party app stores while Apple’s iOS does not, but the Google Play Store, like Apple’s App Store, doesn’t currently let developers link out to other payment methods.
Google doesn’t break out its Play Store revenue. However, a recently unsealed court…


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In the June issue of Entrepreneur magazine, Melting Pot was featured as a “Top Food Franchise” among over 400 leading restaurant brands. Melting Pot has offered its guests a truly memorable dining experience for more than 40 years. As an award-winning franchise business, the brand continues to grow on a national and international scale, and as part of that expansion, it’s imperative that the brand stays ahead of foodie trends to keep its menu innovative so guests keep coming back for more.
“In 2015, we saw diners crave customizable offerings in the food and beverage space,” said Mike Lester, president of Melting Pot, Inc. “This year, we are continuing to see customers interested in menus that cater to interactive experiences with menus and cocktails that present vibrant and relevant options. Restaurant brands need to listen to their prospective and current customers by offering personalized options that target customer’s desires.”
The brand has plans for aggressive growth over the next several years, and is currently seeking new franchisees in select markets nationwide, including: Houston, Texas; Los Angeles, California; South Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Des Moines, Iowa; Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York; and Charleston, South Carolina. On the international front, Melting Pot is focusing its expansion efforts in target markets across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Indonesia, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.
To see the complete listing of “Top Food Franchises,” be sure to check out the June issue of Entrepreneur magazine.


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Chase, Capital One and Barclaycard Commit to Isis
Isis today announced that it has signed its first financial institutions. Chase, Capital One, and Barclaycard have decided to back the Isis mobile wallet product. Customers of these banks will be able to add their credit, debit, and prepaid cards using the Isis mobile payment program. Isis is the joint venture created by AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA, and Verizon Wireless. It is expected to launch about mid year.
There's a whole new kind of 5G being launched and talked about in the US in 2022: C Band. It's much faster than existing "nationwide" 5G, yet has better coverage than hard-to-find mmWave 5G.
Dec 1, 2021
Samsung today announced the Galaxy A13 5G, its most affordable 5G phone yet at $250. Typically, the two most affordable phones in Samsung's annual lineup are the A1x and A0x models, leaving the new Galaxy A03s as possibly the only model in Samsung's 2022 US lineup without 5G.
Nov 17, 2021
Motorola has announced a new moto g power , just ten months after announcing the last one. The new moto g power (2022) has two key upgrades over the old 2021 model: a display with 90 Hz refresh, and a 50 megapixel main camera.
Oct 7, 2021
Motorola today announced the moto g pure , the company's latest entry-level phone. The phone will be sold by essentially every carrier in the US, including Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Cricket, Metro, Boost, US Cellular, and Xfinity.
Oct 5, 2021
The FCC today started Auction 110, the third in a series of auctions to sell licenses for valuable C-band (mid-band) radio frequencies that offer a good mix of data speeds and coverage when deployed for 5G networks. All three major US wireless carriers have registered and qualified to bid in the auction.


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Outsourcing Expands Role of Distributors
Outsourcing Expands Role of Distributors
By Richard McCaffery, Staff Writer
Distributors and resellers are attracting more business from systems integrators, which are increasingly turning to companies such as Ingram Micro Inc. and Tech Data Corp. to obtain computer products and services, industry officials said.
Some integrators are even going a step further outsourcing procurement functions to distributors and resellers better equipped to handle inventory, configuration and shipping.
Integrators that have expanded their partnerships with distributors and resellers include OAO Corp., Software Spectrum and Unisys Federal Systems. Others, such as American Management Systems, are leveraging relationships with distributors more as their contracts expand.
"I would definitely say this is a breakthrough year for us and systems integrators," said Shelly Talbott, Ingram Micro's vice president of sales, who heads Ingram Micro's outsourcing unit in Santa Ana, Calif.
Ingram Micro's Affiniti division, which was created just over a year ago and broke off as a separate unit in January, handles outsourcing for government and commercial integrators and resellers. It offers integrators and resellers services such as product acquisition, configuration, end user returns and even customer billing.
"The message is, reduce your cost structure and focus on what your real value is," said Talbott. "It's not stocking product and configuring boxes."
Ingram Micro Inc. of Santa Ana, Calif., is the computer industry's leading distributor. It has 12,000 employees and 1998 revenue of $22 billion.
Other channel companies, such as Tech Data Corp. of Clearwater, Fla., MicroAge Inc. of Tempe, Ariz., and Merisel Inc. of El Segundo, Calif., are spreading their wings, expanding service offerings and targeting integrators. Many distributors, however, cannot talk about their outsourcing agreements with vendors and resellers because of non-disclosure agreements.
Three years ago, OAO Corp. had no relationship with Ingram Micro, said Jay Jones, OAO's vice president of enterprise solutions. Today, Ingram Micro helps Jones move $6 million to $10 million worth of equipment each month.
Jones is in charge of worldwide product sales for the Greenbelt, Md., company's Outsourcing Desktop Initiative contract. Under the ODIN contract, OAO provides NASA with desktop computers, maintenance and networking services.
NASA outsourced the IT management of about 25,000 seats to OAO. In turn, OAO has outsourced procurement functions for ODIN to reseller Government Micro Resources Inc. of Manassas, Va. Ingram Micro is OAO's distribution partner on the ODIN deal.
"OAO has a strategy where we have gone out and learned the [distributor] business," Jones said. "It has literally saved OAO millions of dollars."
That is because OAO does not have to hold inventory, which can be risky and expensive. OAO gets the latest product updates, prices and does not have to deal with shipping, asset tracking or any other distribution headaches, Jones said.
"The systems integrators don't really understand the distributor model," said Jones, who believes many integrators will have to form strategic relationships with distributors to provide their customers a full range of services.
Overall, it has been a rough year for distributors and many resellers. Analysts blame the weakness on increased competition, price wars, overcapacity and falling computer prices.
Behind much of this is the success of Dell Computer Corp., Round Rock, Texas. The company has done so well with its direct-sales model that distributors and resellers have had to scramble to add value to services they provide.
Outsourcing is an option that is paying off for Ingram. On the commercial side, more than half of Ingram's integrator customers outsource some procurement operations to Ingram. Things are moving a bit slower on the government side, Talbott said, where fewer than half of its integrator customers outsource distribution functions.
Companies like OAO are ahead of the curve, Talbott said.
Consider Software Spectrum Inc., a software services company that sells more than 27,000 software products.
Early this month, Software Spectrum outsourced a slew of operations to Ingram, such as product acquisition, storage, end-user return and configuration. Ingram handles the Garland, Texas, company's operations from its own warehouse, which allowed Software Spectrum to close its facility. "We do all of that for them," Talbott said.
MicroAge Federal, an integration and reselling business, also relies on outsourcing. MicroAge Federal is an independent franchise of MicroAge Inc., the Arizona integrator and reseller. Last September, MicroAge Federal won a $15 million contract to provide 9,200 desktops to the Department of Agriculture.
How does a small company like MicroAge Federal do it? "I do a lot of outsourcing," said Patrick Neven, MicroAge Federal's president. Tech Data provides integration services like final assembly, configuration, custom software loading, packaging and shipping.
Could Neven fulfill the Agriculture contract without a distribution partner? "The answer is you can always do it yourself, but at the same speed, quality and at the same price? No," he said.
MicroAge Federal had sales of $53 million in 1998 and is profitable. "You make money if you cut overhead," he said.
Tech Data has ramped up its outsourcing services in the last six months, said Terry Bazzone, Tech Data Corp.'s vice president and general manager of strategic business development.
The distributor has talked to the major systems integrators about outsourcing procurement operations, expanded its outsourcing services and increased its government integrator sales force.
Interest has increased, Bazzone said. "To be competitive, I think the integrators will need to partner more with the distribution channel," she said. "Integrators are facing more competition."
But many integrators are still figuring out the role distributors play and how to use them. Many are rightfully reluctant to outsource services they have provided for years, such as product ordering and configuration, industry officials said. However, that does not mean they are not listening.
American Management Systems of Fairfax, Va., used to buy its employees personal computers from local stores across the United States. Today MicroAge helps the integrator, which has 8,100 employees, buy 400 to 500 PCs a quarter at annual savings of up to 15 percent.
Patrick Reardon, AMS' director of data networking, said his unit is leveraging relationships with distributors more as contracts get bigger, customer expectations increase and the breadth of products in the marketplace skyrockets.
AMS has looked into outsourcing some procurement operations, Reardon said, though he stressed it is early in the process and no decisions have been made.
Nevertheless, distributors are becoming more important to integrators, he said. "The trend obviously is upward."
Many integrators have been getting out of the reseller game because selling computer products is a low-margin business, made worse by falling computer prices. BTG Inc. of Fairfax, Va., for example, sold its reseller division to Government Technology Services Inc. in February 1998 for $23 million so it could focus on higher-end integration services.
But many integrators consider reselling a vital part of the services they provide.
Reselling "is low margin. That's a fact," said Jones of OAO. "But we do it because that is what the customer wants." Jones said he does not want to have to tell customers to find a reseller when they need a product.
Unisys Federal Systems, a division of Unisys Corp. of Blue Bell, Pa., first tapped distributors for its reselling business in June 1997. Like OAO, Unisys did not want to turn away customers looking to buy products.
"If everyone got out of the reselling business, then what you'd be doing is tossing the customer's problem back to the customer," said G. Lee Myers, vice president of Unisys Federal's Volume Technology Practice. "That is not what you want to do.
So Unisys Federal started Select IT, which gives its government customers access to the latest products and prices without forcing Unisys to hold inventory or act like a distributor. It is all accomplished electronically, Myers said.
Unisys' distributor partners for the program are Ingram Micro, Tech Data, Merisel, MicroAge and Insight Enterprises Inc., Tempe Ariz.
"We're looking into 27 warehouses and more than $4 billion worth of inventory," Myers said.
Select IT is a profitable and growing business for Unisys, said Myers, who declined to break out numbers for the program. He did say product sales represent 30 percent of Unisys Federal's 1998 revenue of $1 billion, and Select IT is a portion of that 30 percent.
Unisys Federal expects to channel more of its product sales through the same electronic-commerce system that powers Select IT, Myers said.
"If you do it right, you can make money," he said.


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Before the Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, Taylor Swift’s appearance was a significant part of the story. This was her 13th NFL game since she and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce revealed their relationship to the public in September. Sports-gambling websites went so far as to accept bets on how often CBS would show Swift during the Super Bowl broadcast. According to the Houston Chronicle, Swift was shown onscreen for 53 seconds throughout the game. That airtime had an estimated worth of $12.4 million, calculated based on the cost of a 30-second commercial, which was $7 million for the 2024 Super Bowl. Swift was then seen on the field hugging Travis Kelce after the Super Bowl contest.
The appearance of Swift was a deal for the NFL and CBS due to her attendance being without charge. Indeed, companies and brands paid large amounts in the past for the star power they would receive by partnering with a celebrity. Verizon reportedly paid Beyoncé $30 million to appear in its 60-second Super Bowl commercial. There have also been notable and expensive appearances in the past, for example; Larry David’s 30-second commercial for FTX in 2022 and Ben Affleck’s 30-second ad for Dunkin’ in 2023. These celebrities were each paid about $10 million, according to sources that spoke to CNN. In addition, the likelihood of this Super Bowl drawing record-breaking viewership was anticipated due to Swift’s popularity.
The results of the projected record-breaking viewership were expected to be revealed on Tuesday. Some of the increased viewership can be attributed directly to Swift’s popularity, if it does break viewership records. Before the Super Bowl, a Seton Hall Sports Poll surveyed over 1,500 respondents. The poll results showed that 21% of them indicated someone in their household planned to watch the Super Bowl because they expected Swift to be there. Among respondents between 18 and 34, the number rose to 41%. The growth of the Chiefs’ fan base was also discussed by Clark Hunt, the Chiefs’ owner, who noted that it had “been a very interesting, very fun year having the two of them dating, the attention that’s been focused on the Chiefs” in an interview on CNBC in January.


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The 618 shopping carnival almost attracted the participation of all people, and the time was just near the summer vacation. Many online education institutions chose to join the game. This year, Akasso, Global Online School, Zhengbao Distance Education, NetEase Cloud Classroom, New Oriental Online, 51CTO, Hujiang Online School , Gordon Education, 3 Classes, Hixue.com, etc. have launched big promotion activities, but compared with previous years, this year’s 618 has been very different.
The advertisement is quiet and self-broadcast into a boom
This year’s 618 came to an end, but it was very different from previous years.
“Double Eleven in the south and 618 in the north”, these two shopping carnivals deeply interpret the festival marketing capabilities of the e-commerce business and also demonstrate the strong consumption power of the Chinese people. Whenever these two major festivals approach, brand owners are gearing up to show off their skills, all kinds of advertisements are overwhelming, and all kinds of propaganda earn enough attention.
In previous years, educational institutions were also an important member, but this year, the advertising of educational institutions has become quiet.
On the one hand, this is due to the policy supervision this year, on the other hand, it is also the reduction of marketing expenses under the predicament of brand survival. At the end of February this year, CCTV’s channels quietly withdrew the advertisements of Yuanjiao, Job Gang and other institutions; since March, the advertisements of online education institutions have gradually disappeared in outdoor advertising occasions such as elevators and bus stations; in May, the market supervision of Beijing Haidian District The Administration and the Education Commission of Haidian District issued the “Reminders on the Key Contents of Advertisements in the Education and Training Industry”, which mentioned that words such as famous teachers, famous schools, first-line, and enrollment rates should not be used for publicity. On the 26th, Chen Xiangdong, founder and CEO of Gaotu Group Said that Gaotu has completely stopped the information flow; in June, the Guilin Education Bureau stated that it would strengthen the supervision of the official accounts of off-campus training institutions…
Obviously, almost all of the conventional channels for educational institutions in previous years have been blocked. Statistics show that during the period from May 1st to May 26th, 2020, the average daily investment amount of several head institutions such as Xueersi Online School, Ape Guidance, Homework Gang, and Gaotu reached 7-8 million yuan; and From May 1 to May 26 this year, this figure was updated to 1 to 2 million yuan, a sharp decrease of 85.71% year-on-year.
article links：There is no more gunpowder, the summer war is tight
Reprint indicated source：Spark Global Limited information


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New concerns surrounding re-export from Belarus
The Russian phytosanitary service is worrying about the re-export from Belarus again. On the 9th of November the California inspection discovered thrips in a party of potted plants and cucumbers. The potted plants were of Dutch origin. Russia is mainly concerned about the Belarus inspections, which are thought to be insufficient. According to the phytosanitary service the risk of products not meeting the demands after transit through Belarus has risen. Besides these phytosanitary risks the inspection isn't convinced that Belarus isn't putting illegal products through transit. In recent months there have been multiple reports of parties intercepted that had had their paperwork tampered with. Products with forged documents, in which seasons weren't taken into account, are being intercepted more and more often. What stands out is that there are new trade flows occurring according to the documents: mushrooms from Turkey and Morocco or radish from South Africa are examples.
Russia already stopped 1000 tonnes of illegal product
The Russian inspection has already stopped 1000 tonnes of boycotted product. Between September 2014 and September 2015 404.8 tonnes was destroyed. Another 777 tonnes was sent back to Kazakhstan, Belarus and other countries. 4 million roubles (61,000 dollars) worth of fines were handed out to exporters.
Cucumbers off Russian shelves?
According to official figures the prices in Russia in October have risen considerable. Whereas cucumbers were still 29 cents per kilo a week ago, the average price now is around 2.18 Euro. In smaller stores the prices are close to three Euro for a kilo of cucumbers. On the internet growers are thought to be offering the vegetable for up to 7.63 per kilo. According to a Russian newspaper a shortage of cucumber is the main cause of the sharp increase in prices. The cucumbers are currently only grown in greenhouses, on request. Supermarkets are queuing up for the new harvest. Growers in the warmer regions of the country ended the season a few weeks ago, those stocks are now gone. The situation is the same in various states. The prices in Krasnodar, Russia's growing region are also rising due to shortages.
Area in Moscow region grown considerably
The agricultural area in the region Moscow has grown by over 160,000 hectares since 2013, around 10% of the total area. At the start of 2013 61% of the land in the region was fields. At the end of the year this will be 74%.
The Russian authorities encourage land owners to use their property for agriculture, said governor Andrei Vorobyov. The region introduced a number of measures to stimulate agriculture a number of years ago. Less tax is paid on agricultural land (0.3% instead of 1.5%). Fines can also be issued for land that isn't being used for its intended purpose, and can be up to 10% of the cadastral value. After three years the authorities can even start a procedure to take over the land in court. Owners of unused land will be forced to sell or lease their land.
A footnote in agricultural statistics is that part of the land is used as a pasture. "Despite this, growth in the agrarian sector, especially against a background of stagnation in other sectors, has cause unused land to be taken back into use." According to regional vice president Denis Butsaev the grain production has doubled since 2013 (to 41,000 tonnes), the potato cultivation has increased by 28% (to 885,000 tonnes) and the cultivation of vegetables has risen by 30% (to 635,000 tonnes).
Yet there still aren't enough private investors in the region. Local authorities have to create the right circumstances to attract them. The programme "Agriculture of the Moscow suburbs" gives a financial stimulant. The region compensates investors 20% of the capital costs for building and modernising agrarian facilities."Belarus is self sufficient"
Besides Belarus exporting part of the harvest, part is stored for the winter months. At the moment the country has around 400 storage locations. During the winter months the capital Minsk is the main buyer of fruits and vegetables, says the director of Partizanskoye. The company sells around half of the fruits and vegetables in the two million strong capital. Other countries also see that there is good domestic demand, as the consumer prefers washed products according to the company. This is why a washing production line was bought two years ago.
Prices in the Ukraine rise quickly; fight for the consumer
According to the director if the Ukrainian association for supermarket supplier there is a fight going on for the consumers, as he said in an interview with the Ukrainian website Golos.ua. "Yes, the prices for fruits and vegetables are rising, but it is uncertain whether the fruits and vegetables will be equally expensive in all stores. There are hundreds of suppliers of fruit and vegetable, it's difficult to negotiate with all of them, the prices aren't going up equally." According to the director there is a fight going on with the consumer, in which companies who can't avoid increasing the price raise it, whilst companies which some financial breathing space keep the price low. Products are also consciously being stored in expectation of even higher prices.


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HMD Global is gearing up to launch the next-generation Nokia 1, Nokia 7 Plus, Nokia 9 and Nokia 3310 4G at the MWC 2018. According to reports, the company will also showcase Nokia 4 at the upcoming event. The company will unveil the smartphones and also announce the roadmap for 2018 on February 25.
The main highlight of the Nokia 4 will be the integration of a Snapdragon 450 processor. Dubbed to replace Nokia 3, the rumored Nokia 4 initially appeared in APK tear-down with Nokia 1, Nokia 7 Plus and Nokia 8 Sirocco. Moreover, the new Nokia-branded handsets will be loaded with Android Oreo, which helps you to work with all the latest features such as picture-in-picture mode and improved power saving capabilities.
Based on the reports, the Nokia 3310 4G with model number TA-1048 has cleared the FCC in the US. The approval of the FCC is required before launching new smartphones. Even though the phone was already launched in January, the new model will be a global variant.
The Nokia 3310 4G will carry a dual-SIM slot with a dedicated slot for MicroSD card. The reports indicate that the phone has been labelled as a GSM/WCDMA/LTE Mobile Phone in the listing. Hence, the device should be the feature phone and not a smartphone.
As of this writing, we don’t have any information about the features, specifications, and price of the forthcoming smartphones. We will continue to keep track of the developments and provide you with updates. Stay tuned.


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(WOAY)- An Arizona-based plant is recalling more than 6.5 million pounds of raw beef products due to possible salmonella contamination, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service news release.
The raw, non-intact beef items, including ground beef, were packaged on various dates from July 26, 2018 to Sept. 7, 2018.
The products subject to recall bear establishment number “EST. 267” inside the USDA mark of inspection. These items were shipped to retail locations and institutions nationwide.
An investigation into illnesses associated with the products has identified 57 people from 16 states who were sickened. Illness onset dates range from Aug. 5 to Sept. 6, 2018.


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Two propositions on the ballot Tuesday night regarding the sale of alcohol in Lumberton passed by a solid majority. Proposition 1, which called for the sale of mixed beverages in restaurants, passed with 66% of the vote. Proposition 2, which would make it legal for vendors to sell beer and wine, passed with 61% of people in favor.
Longhorn Liquor, located 6 inches outside of the Lumberton city limits, is one of the only alcohol suppliers for the area.
"We have over 6 people that deliver to us and it's such a wide selection," Longhorn owner Dennis Williams told us.
But now that voters have decided to allow the sale of beer and wine inside the city, Longhorn may soon see more competition. But that doesn't seem to worry Williams.
"It's going to let the hotels, if they choose to start selling, that'll be another place for us to pick up a new client," he said.
With no property tax in Lumberton, many people think sales tax on alcohol will help raise money for the city. They also hope it will attract more restaurants wanting to sell spirits. One Japanese steakhouse on Highway 96 plans to take advantage. But not every restaurant in Lumberton is ready to jump at the chance to sell alcohol. Bill Carden, the owner of Novrozsky's hamburgers says he doesn't think it's worth it.
"I think my good church following might frown on me a little bit and I respect them for their reasons for not selling it, so I'm going to continue to be alcohol free for now," Carden said.
Carden sells beer at his Novrozsky's locations in Silsbee and Orange, but says those sales account for less than 1% of his revenue.
"I don't think a lot of people are going to just run in and buy beer just because I start selling it, none of them have come up to me and said 'Bill, I'm going to quit eating here since you're not going to sell beer',"he said.
So Carden is just going to continue with business as usual. So is Williams, who remains optimistic about the future, saying, "It's going to bring awareness to Lumberton that we've grown up; we've reached the next step in helping our city grow."
This is the 8th time the city of Lumberton has voted on alcohol sales since 1973. It was rejected the last time it was brought up back in 2007.
Restaurants and other businesses looking to sell alcohol in Lumberton first have to apply for a certificate with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, and then with the city. But they can't begin that process until the City Council officially certifies the election results on Monday.


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Krafton, the prominent South Korean video game company renowned for games such as PUBG: Battlegrounds, is making its foray into the blockchain realm with Settlus. Built on the Cosmos platform, Settlus is a blockchain specifically designed to streamline transparent settlement processes for content creators.
According to the website, the testnet is slated for launch in early 2024.
- Josh Lee, the founder of Cosmos-based DEX Osmosis, was the first to reveal on September 4 that Krafton is gearing up to introduce a blockchain chain.
- The development was further confirmed by Cosmos-based app-chain called Noble’s co-founder ‘Jelena.’
- The exec added that Krafton is reportedly building an app chain on Cosmos and plans to use Circle’s USDC stablecoin as the primary currency for creator settlements.
- In March 2022, Krafton disclosed a collaboration with Solana Labs and said it would focus on the “development and operation of blockchain and NFT-based games and services.”
- However, no products have been launched by the video game developer since that announcement.
- Besides, Krafton’s partnership with Solana was reported to be a memorandum of understanding (MOU), indicating that the company retains the option to discontinue the partnership without facing any legal consequences.
- The Cosmos Network is a decentralized network of independent, scalable, and interoperable blockchains developed to enable communication between distributed ledgers without relying on a centralized server.
- In April this year, blockchain scaling startup Dymension rolled out the world’s first IBC-enabled EVM rollup on testnet in collaboration with Evmos Core Teams and Celestia in a bid to enhance the Cosmos ecosystem.


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The company based in Pavia company transfers a minority stake to the Marchesini Group and focuses on the new challenges of Smart Manufacturing.
After more than twenty years of fruitful and consolidated collaboration, SEA Vision sells 48% of its shares to the Bologna-based company, a world leader in the design and production of packaging machines: the operation underlies a long-term strategic agreement.
In fact, SEA Vision is a growing company – both in terms of human resources (further hirings are expected this year) and in terms turnover: the 32 million euros of the previous year are expected to grow by 40% in 2018. The company will also maintain its headquarters in Pavia, and has recently purchased a new area to build the new and larger company headquarter. The entry of Marchesini in SEA Vision will allow sharing the specific know-how developed over the years, to seize the opportunities offered by the fourth industrial revolution. The goal is to produce packaging machines always more integrated with inspection systems, in order to provide customers with products that can be classified as technological 4.0 products.
“Marchesini Group has recognized the high technical value of our applications in the industrial field, I am proud of this” – said SEA Vision President Luigi Carrioli. “This operation will give us a further boost to develop new technologies and products in the industry 4.0 “. The managing director Michele Cei said: «I am excited to drive SEA Vision in this strategic partnership towards new markets and increasingly complex challenges, with the support of a world leader in the packaging lines sector».
SEA Vision will remain technically and commercially independent and will still be managed by its founders — Luigi Carrioli and Michele Cei — assisted by the Sales Director Marco Baietti and the CFO Matteo Boiardi, backed in the Board of Directors by Maurizio Marchesini (President of the Marchesini Group), Pietro Cassani (CEO) and Pietro Tomasi (Sales Director).
In the pictures: Luigi Carrioli and Michele Cei, SEA Vision founders


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Greek consumer prices decreased by 0.3% last month, while the yearly deflation progress decelerated from a 0.7% fall in July, as confirmed by ELSTAT.
August's figure has been been the slowest deflation figure since March of last year. Greece's EU-corresponding deflation rate also declined to -0.2% last month, compared to July's -0.8% rate. In a Reuter's poll, economists forecasted a -0.6% rate.
The nation has been in a deflation mechanism for the past 18 months, due to wage decreases and pensions, along with its serious recession. Greece's deflation figure marked its swiftest mark last November; consumer prices held a 2.9% year-on-year decrease.
- More than eight-fold coverage for the new Greek 5-year bond
- Factors of flight and repatriation: The example of Greek Brain Drainers living in the United Kingdom
- WTCC: Greece is a global example of safe opening of tourism
- German press: While the Eu is fumbling tourism, Greece surges ahead
- The game's afoot for airlines ahead of Greece's tourism opening


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It’s almost time for Sony’s PlayStation Showcase, in which the company will provide a look at a bunch of games that are coming to PlayStation 5 and PS VR2. It’s likely to be a meatier affair than the State of Play streams Sony occasionally runs. The showcase will last for just over an hour and you’ll be able to watch it below at 4PM ET.
This is just the second PlayStation Showcase to date. The previous edition, which took place in 2021, was a spicy stream packed with big reveals, including Marvel’s Spider-Man 2. Insomniac’s upcoming title will star both Peter Parker and Miles Morales as playable characters, and it’s slated to hit PS5 this fall. It’s a safe bet that we’ll learn more about the game during today’s showcase.
As for what else to expect, Square Enix has confirmed that a demo for Final Fantasy XVI is on the way before the timed PS5 exclusive arrives in June. We may find out the release date for the demo as well as more details about the game. In the meantime, be sure to check out our Final Fantasy XVI preview.
We could learn more about Naughty Dog’s multiplayer game that’s set in the universe of The Last of Us. With Sony placing a bigger onus on live service games (titles that are continually updated for years to keep players hooked), starting that push in earnest now with one of its highest-profile franchises makes sense.
Elsewhere, rumors have been swirling that a Metal Gear Solid 3 remake is in the works, and Sony may opt to announce that today. We might get a peek at Bloober Team’s remake of Silent Hill 2 as well, since that’s a PS5 exclusive.
Sony just announced that PS VR2 is selling at a faster pace than its first virtual reality headset, so expect the company to try and keep up that momentum with reveals of a major title or two (confirmation of Half-Life Alyx for PS VR2 would go over well). On top of that, Sony is promising news on the indie front, so perhaps the long-delayed Little Devil Inside will pop up.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/watch-the-playstation-showcase-here-at-4pm-et-190006173.html?src=rss


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Automate Forward: Top Three Exhibitors
Ending last Friday, Automate Forward didn't fail to provide a worthy platform for the world's best companies and products.
The event contained many highlights, including an excellent final day keynote speech from Andrew Ng on end-to-end workflow to build deep learning-powered visual inspection. Having scoured every product and booth on display, we thought we’d leave you with the top three exhibitors we visited.
Inspired by human vision, Paris-based Prophesee says its technology uses a patented sensor design and AI algorithms that mimic the eye and brain to reveal what was invisible until now using standard frame-based technology. They call this design event-based vision, offering technology that is “fundamentally different from the traditional image sensors” and a “paradigm shift in computer vision.”
Prophesee’s machine vision systems can operate in areas such as autonomous vehicles, industrial automation, IoT, security and surveillance, and AR/VR. One early application was in medical devices that restore vision to the blind. Using the booth as a base from which to showcase its event-based vision technology, some of the products included the Metavision® Packaged Sensor, the Century Arks Silkyevcam and the Image Visioncam EB, both of which are powered by Prophesee.
In 2019, inVision added Prophesee’s event-based vision reference system Onboard, to their “Top Innovation” list. More recently, it was announced that FRAMOS, a leading supplier of embedded vision solutions and 3D cameras for industrial applications, had become a global distribution and ecosystem partner for Prophesee’s Metavision® line of advanced vision products.
Founded in 2015, Zivid is a Norwegian, “pure-play” provider of industrial 3D machine vision cameras and vision software for autonomous industrial robot cells, collaborative robot (cobot) cells and other industrial automation systems. The company’s primary hardware products are the Zivid Two and Zivid One+ 3D colour cameras. They are supported by companion software products like the Zivid Software Development Kit (SDK) and the Zivid Studio, a graphical user interface (GUI).
Primarily on display at the booth was the Zivid Two, which the company calls “probably the best 3D camera in the world”. It achieves high resolution and precision point clouds of small, densely packed or highly detailed objects, distinguishing features smaller than 5 mm. Palm-sized, 880g in weight, with a 60ms acquisition time and native colour 3D point clouds, it’s easy to see why the company is so confident. Its quality lends itself to applications such as bin picking, piece picking and machine tending.
Zivid won the “Top Innovation” award by inVISION for the Zivid 3D camera in 2018, the Red Dot “Product Design Winner” award 2018, as well as being named a gold-level honouree for the Vision Systems Designs Innovators Award in 2018. With the Zivid two released in November 2020, there’ll be high hopes for it to follow in its predecessor’s footprints.
Kitov AI is an Israeli company that develop fully automated visual inspection solutions for a broad range of product lines and markets. Founded in 2014 as a spin-off of RTC Vision, which had been developing advanced computer vision algorithms for over a decade, Kitov aimed to develop a universal system that can be intuitively trained by a non-expert to inspect almost any product and to effectively replace humans at the tedious task of finding and judging defects across production lines.
Products on show at its booth included Kitov One, a Smart 3D, universal system robot that the company claim can inspect “virtually any product”. Leveraging advanced 3D computer vision and deep-learning algorithms, Kitov One supports complex 3D structures, numerous materials, and complete inspection specifications. Inspecting all sorts of materials, including labels, screws, connectors, ports and reading 1D and 2D barcodes with a cycle time between a minimum of a few seconds and a maximum of minutes, it’s worth watching it in action.
If my word isn’t enough, Kitov One received a platinum-level award for innovation by the Vision Systems Design Magazine 2018 in recognition of its breakthrough technology. The company recently announced it was collaborating with Capvidia NA (Houston, TX) to develop the CAD2SCAN, a process for using the digital 3D CAD model to automate visual inspection in production. The project is part of a $7.45 million Israel-U.S. industrial R&D foundation project.
Whilst there were many wonderful exhibitors and products on show during Automate Forward, we thought Kitov AI, Zivid and Prophesee were the most exciting. It is a coincidence they are all involved in the vision-side of the industry – perhaps they know how to paint a picture better than others. They probably ought to.
You can find more information about Kitov AI, Zivid and Prophesee on their respective websites.
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A notable Rockstar Games insider has revealed why development on GTA 6 was “rebooted” as fans thirst for official news about the long-anticipated game.
GTA 6 is one of, if not the most, hyped video game of all time with millions of fans worldwide anticipating its release. Still, despite recent excitement following a slew of leaked footage, fans have been left wondering when the game will finally be officially revealed.
As it turns out, fans may have even longer to wait as insider Adrien Perea claimed that GTA 6 will finally release in 2025. The reason for this delay, however, could stem from the fact development of the game had to be rebooted.
Rockstar insider explains why GTA 6 was “rebooted”
First, citing a report from Bloomberg, Tez2 reiterated that the game was initially codenamed ‘Project Americas’ and was supposed to feature more cities in South America before being changed to just Vice City to reduce crunch.
“VI was in full development prior to RDR2’s release, but it was rebooted around the time RDR2 released,” he said. “Rockstar submitted a patent and one of its inventors didn’t join Rockstar Games until 2019. Since then, Rockstar recruited more Animation R&D team developers than usual.”
In 2019, Rockstar filed a patent entitled ‘System And Method For Virtual Navigation In A Gaming Environment.’ Part of it details NPCs having “specific characteristics for traversing the road nodes,” which could lead to more realistic drivers in the game.
According to Tez2, most of these new devs specialize in Machine Learning techniques and the leaked footage from earlier in September showcases the animation team’s effort.
“While the crunch concerns were surely part of the reasons behind the ‘reboot,’ Rockstar probably required new Animation tech as well. So the reboot happened due to a multitude of reasons that all worked in favor of Rockstar,” Tez2 concluded.
Of course, take everything with a grain of salt, but it’s important to note that Tez2 does have a solid track record of leaks. If it’s accurate, we’ll have to see if Rockstar’s decision to reboot development was worth it, especially if the game only releases in 2025.


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Calcium and Vitamin D Supplements Lower Cholesterol in Postmenopausal Women
JUNE 11, 2014
Calcium and vitamin D supplementation in postmenopausal women appears to produce higher serum vitamin D3 concentration, which in turn leads to better cholesterol levels.
A study published in the March 3, 2014, edition of Menopause found a 38% increase in average serum vitamin D3 concentration among women taking calcium and vitamin D supplements compared with placebo. Women taking the calcium and vitamin D supplements also saw an average decrease of 4.46 mg/dL in their low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, and lower triglyceride levels.


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The lineup of Apple’s Macbook are expected to be updated this year with the latest processor from Intel, a faster Skylake chipset, alongside Thunderbolt 3 with USB-C. Although the Cupertino-based giant has yet to reveal official details, more speculations regarding the hardware are circulating online.
Rumors suggest that the Macbook Air 2016 may be unveiled sometime in March at a media event with the upgrade presumably focusing on enhanced design and better specifications.
What may have added to the assumption is that the company has unveiled the refreshed versions of the 11-inch and 13-inch Macbook Air computers and launched the 12-inch MacBook around the same time last year during the “Spring Forward” event.
There are also reports claiming that it may be released to the press during the WWDC keynote in June where Apple may probably announce their iOS 10 and OS X 10.12.
For what the consumers may expect of the new version of MacBook Air, it is predicted that its current fourth generation Intel’s Haswell processor may be replaced with either Broadwell or even Skylake which may also mean that the graphics would be rendered crisper.
However, if it indeed gets Skylake, it also means that it has to be partnered with DDR4 memory and not the DDR3 memory the 2015 MacBook Pro has and may have Core i7-6560U with Iris Graphics for the built-to-order option while Core i7-6260U for the base model.
MacBook Air is also the only laptop in the series that does not have Retina display. With the previous introduction of the thin and lightweight MacBook having vivid screen resolutions, it seems like the next MacBook Air may also follow suit and also feature the same 2304 x 1440 pixel resolution.
Moreover, it may also have a support for the reversible USB Type C port that is faster than USB 3.0 and even get a thinner body dimension.
It remains to be seen if any of the assumption comes into fruition.


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EE Times reports TI's OMAP processor dominated the non-iPad tablet market in 2011 with a marketshare of 35 percent, closely followed by NVIDIA's Tegra at 34 percent.
TI’s Omap chips captured 35 percent of the non-iPad tablet market buoyed by design wins in the Amazon Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble Nook. Nvidia’s Tegra came in a close second at 34 percent claiming sockets in tablets from Acer, Asus, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and others.
Qualcomm and Intel, giants in smartphones and PCs respectively, “missed the boat” in tablets in 2011, said Sravan Kundojjala, a senior analyst for handset component technologies at Strategy Analytics in a press statement.
Likewise apps processor vendors Broadcom, ST-Ericsson, MediaTek, Marvell and Renesas “need to improve their tablet market focus in 2012 as these companies haven’t scored significant tablet design-wins so far,” he said.


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Nike drops this new set of Nike Blazers for Summer 2010 featuring a quilted, satin motif. Two different colorways are offered in this release, including a white with gold threading and silver swoosh and a more vibrant red colorway with gold accents. Both are now available through select Nike accounts, including Proper.
- Dr. Delene Musielak Named Mrs. Missouri Woman of Achievement 2021 - Tuesday, April 6, 2021
- The Doors of the Church Remain Open Even Virtually - Saturday, February 27, 2021
- Watch Go-Big Show Thursdays on TBS - Wednesday, January 13, 2021


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Sony showed up early to the truly wireless noise-canceling party in 2017, and now the company has an exciting new update: the WF-1000XM3 truly wireless earbuds. They cost $230 and look like some silly mini version of the company’s popular WH-1000XM3 noise-canceling headphones. That’s kind of the point, too. Apple’s AirPods have no noise-canceling and the excellent Jabra Elite 65t only have noise reduction. Excellent noise-canceling earbuds could be a big deal.
The new earbuds feature a new version of the same chip that makes their over-ear counterpart so powerful. Sony calls it the HD Noise Canceling Processor QN1e chip, and to help it out, the WF-1000XM3 earbuds have two more microphones than their predecessors did. There are now two in each earbud, which not only helps noise-canceling but also improves audio quality for phone calls and whatnot.
That QN1e is evidently the real star of the show, though. Sony says that it’s able to achieve a new level of noise-canceling by taking the audio that comes in from the dual-mic system and then feeding it through the QN1e chip to cancel out ambient sound. This is how all noise-canceling headphones work, but according to Sony, having a dedicated chip do the work does it better. The company says that the QN1e chip also helps improve sound quality.
But how much magic can a chip really make? Well, it’s worth considering the new truly wireless earbuds’ big sibling, the WH-1000XM3 noise-canceling headphones, which were the first Sony headphones to feature the HD Noise Canceling Processor QN1. While it’s worth wondering if the jargon-laden technology amounts a marketing gimmick, the WH-1000XM3 headphones did cancel noise better than their predecessors, the WH-1000XM2, which were already better than the popular Bose QuietComfort 35ii headphones. So by putting a version of that chip in its new truly wireless earbuds, Sony is banking on spin a little bit. Then again, in early testing, the WF-1000XM3 also cancel noise better than their predecessors, the WF-1000X.
Enough of that alphabet soup. I’ve spent a week with a preproduction set of the Sony’s new truly wireless earbuds, and I have to admit that they’re pretty slick, and they seem to do a respectable job with noise-canceling. They’re also undeniably nice-looking with a clean design that sits right outside your ear and has a touch-sensitive control on the outside of each bud. The bud itself juts out of the back side of the body, so the whole situation sort of balances in your ear canal. So far, they’ve felt pretty secure.
What I actually think is remarkable about the new Sony earbuds is how well they work just as regular wireless earbuds. Like AirPods, the new Sony buds have proximity sensors, so that they turn on as soon as they go into your ears and off when they come out. I never worried about keeping them powered on and connected to my phone, although Sony does say that the earbuds can only connect to one device at a time. Sony also makes no claims about the earbuds being waterproof, so that’s something to consider.
Sony told me that it worked hard to improve connectivity all around on the WF-1000XM3. Unlike the model from a couple years ago, these buds feature Bluetooth 5, and each one maintains an independent connection with your device. This is supposed to cut down on what I’d call the ping-pong effect that some earbuds suffer from. That’s the one where sound bounces from earbud to the other or just drops off of one side. My experience with the new approach is so far positive, but again, I’ve only had them a week.
I plan on spending more time with the WF-1000XM3 and writing a full review. I’ll be looking to see how well the noise-canceling works in a variety of situations and also to see if Sony’s promise of improved battery life really holds up. The WF-1000XM3 earbuds are supposed to get six hours of battery life with noise-canceling and eight hours without. For $230—which is $70 more than the Jabra Elite 65t, my current favorite truly wireless earbuds—the new Sony buds better keep all their promises.


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Lander’s Rural Water House ditches coin for plastic
“In an effort to be more efficient, the payment system at the Rural Water house is soon changing to credit card only.” said a post on City of Lander’s Facebook page yesterday.
Community members voiced several concerns about prices going up, not having a credit/debit card, and how long the switch will take, just to name a few.
Lance Hopkin with City of Lander Public Works helped us tackle those concerns.
Why the change?
The current system is measured in seconds instead of gallons. Varied amounts of water are being dispensed to customers because of that. The new system measures gallons which allows water expenditures to be metered and accounted for.
What if I don’t have a credit/debit card?
Prepaid credit cards can be purchased at local retailers like Safeway. Lance also shared, City Hall will buyback water cards with balances on them and all credit cards will be accepted.
Are rates going to change and will there be a fee?
There is no plan to change the water rates and no credit card fee will be associated with the changeover on September 1st, 2019.
How long will the Rural Water House be out of commission for the switch?
They do not expect it to be down for more than a day or two. Lance noted the new system will be built up with the old one still in place to keep the impact minimal. Updates will be shared to the City of Lander’s Facebook page and signs posted at the Rural Water House.
If anyone has additional questions or concerns, Lance encourages you to reach out to Public Works.
Have a news tip or an awesome photo you’d like to share?
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Ever since the passing of Satoru Iwata this year, fans have speculated on the future of Nintendo Direct, the popular series of videos Nintendo created to announce upcoming games for their hardware. After naming Tatsumi Kimishima as the President of Nintendo Co. Ltd. this week, Nintendo released a statement today confirming they will continue to produce Nintendo Direct videos in the future to IGN. Nintendo said the following to IGN in regards to future Nintendo Directs:
“Nintendo Directs will continue,” “but we have no details to provide now on who will be featured or the topics that will be covered.”
At this time, we do not know who will be the face of Nintendo Direct or if there will be any other significant changes to the presentations. We will likely have to wait until Nintendo announces a new Nintendo Direct to see what will unfold. If anymore breaking news is released, we will let you know about it here on the site.
Are you happy Nintendo confirmed the continuation of Nintendo Direct? What are you thoughts on the series going forward? Do you think Nintendo Direct will retain the usual style it had before or do you think there will be changes made to them with Tatsumi Kimishima in charge as Nintendo’s new president? Share your thoughts and reactions to Nintendo’s latest statement with us.


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Trillion Buck Tall Tech Corporations Will Exercise China Virus Scam to Win Over The US
There are a mighty many Lesser Scams occurring inside the Extensive Scam that is the China Virus shutdowns.
Below the all-encompassing fraud umbrella of Democrats murdering our $22 trillion economy for a flu – with a thought to un-elect President Donald Trump – a entire bunch other major chicanery is going on.
One amongst the hugest beneficiaries of the insensible shutdowns – is the Tall Tech firms and their mega-rich person executives.
Governments beget mandated we never, ever trot away our homes. What else then is there to carry out but utilize never-ending hours handing our data, our lives – and our economy – over to homely Tall Tech?
Tall Tech Consolidating Energy And Profits as Small Corporations Deemed ‘Unessential’ Are Shut Down
It’s been a preposterously worthwhile six months for Tall Tech.
Tall Tech Earnings Surge Correct through Pandemic Whereas Financial system Slumps:
“The largest U.S. abilities firms are thriving in a plague that has increased dependence on their merchandise and products and companies, while hammering considerable of the relief of the economy.”
The Winners in a Pandemic Financial system: Tall Tech:
“It has been a bleak 365 days for many companies within the U.S., and consultants warn that as a lot as a third of all American slight companies could well per chance terminate for just all the procedure during the pandemic….
“The tech giants — Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Netflix — beget viewed fundamental features because the sector has long gone nearly entirely online for working, training and even socializing.”
Here is from Would per chance – excellent midway (to this level) during the insensible Shutdown.
American Billionaires Obtained $434 Billion Richer Correct during the Pandemic:
“Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Facebook’s Impress Zuckerberg had the excellent features, with Bezos adding $34.6 billion to his wealth and Zuckerberg adding $25 billion….”
And here’s the set aside it will get hilarious. And by hilarious – I mean ridiculously faulty.
We learned very early on that the World Health Organization (WHO) is a unconditionally owned subsidiary of Communist China – the birthplace of the China Virus.
As Prolonged As Communist China Controls The World Health Organization, It’s Completely Unreliable
Donald Trump finally likes the United States – so he did this:
The US Is Halting Funding to the WHO. What Does this Really Point out?
It methodology Trump likes the United States. And he realizes the ChiComms – who don’t love the United States – have the WHO.
The ChiComms – are making an strive to cancel US.
Democrats are helping them cancel us – with their insensible shutdowns.
Tall Tech is profiting mightily from the insensible shutdowns – they most continuously’re already in mattress with the ChiComms – so obviously this:
Facebook, Amazon, Google and Extra Met with WHO to Figure Out The formulation to Discontinuance Coronavirus Misinformation
Any data that capabilities to an in the case of this shutdown idiocy – is dubbed by Tall Tech as “misinformation”…and erased.
Twitter, Facebook, Google’s YouTube Determined to Raze Countering Coronavirus Belief
World Health Organization Companions with Google to Discontinuance Spread of Coronavirus Misinformation
Facebook and Instagram Censor Coronavirus Speak Deemed Irascible:
“Facebook and Instagram will level customers to data from the World Health Organization and censor nonofficial data it deems tainted with a thought to fight coronavirus-associated misinformation.”
There’s nothing extra Orwellian than “nonofficial data.”
Facebook, Microsoft, TikTok Partner with WHO for Coronavirus Hackathon:
“Facebook, Microsoft, TikTok and several other tech firms are partnering with the World Health Organization….”
Trump Points Bans on China’s TikTok, WeChat, Stoking Tension with Beijing:
“The hugely favorite TikTok has attain below fire from U.S. lawmakers and the administration over nationwide security considerations surrounding data sequence.”
ChiComm Crony Tall Tech, obviously, couldn’t care much less.
World Health Organization Is Linking Coronavirus to Climate Exchange
Thanks to course. Scams and scammers of a feather – flock together.
And once we sooner or later stop being quite this insensible – and close the nonsense shutdowns? Issues will excellent proceed to recover for Tall Tech.
Because they’ll be the excellent ones left with any money.
This too is from Would per chance – excellent midway (to this level) during the insensible shutdowns.
100,000 Businesses Hang Completely Collapsed Below Pandemic Lockdowns
So we are in a position to safely settle the tally now could well per chance be now no longer decrease than twice that – as this terrible avalanche accumulates measurement and hasten the additional down the mountain it will get.
All of which clears extra and extra of the world – for money-flush Tall Tech.
Amazon already sells generally every part. We’re within the strategy of murdering loads of of thousands of their opponents.
Amazon and the relief of Tall Tech will follow it the low-label the a giant number of smoldering ruins that were once thriving American slight companies.
Or just beget the voids created – with Tall Tech replicas.
Death of Retail? Abandoned Stores Change into Amazon Success Companies
The methodology ahead for The US is set a half of dozen Tall Tech firms – owning factual about every part in The US.
Which brings us to the authorities dispute.
Tall Tech has already mass-polluted our constitutional republic with their extensive campaign contributions – and their ensuing cronyism.
Creeping Tech Cronyism
Cronyism In Action: Authorities’s Cosy Ties To Tall Tech
How Did Tall Tech Gain So Tall? Extensive Authorities Cronyism
Have confidence how despicable this is potentially – when they have the lion a part of The US.
The crown jewel of Tall Tech cronyism – is Community Neutrality.
It is an all-encompassing Cyber net strength preserve terminate by authorities – and the gift that retains on giving to Tall Tech.
Amongst the a giant number of authorities blessings Gain Neutrality bestows upon Tall Tech? It turns the nation’s Cyber net Service Suppliers (ISPs) – into Tall Tech’s slaves.
Tall Tech quite obviously uses Tall Bandwidth. Gain Neutrality – outlaws ISPs charging Tall Tech a penny for its Tall Bandwidth.
We the Buyers will pay orders-of-magnitude extra for our little connections – to subsidize Tall Tech’s Tall Bandwidth Tall Cronyism.
Tall Tech spent the final fifteen-or-so years bribing Democrats – making an strive to ranking Gain Neutrality imposed. And truly succeeded for a 365 days below Tall Tech uber-crony Barack Obama – till Trump fortunately undid it.
But in most as a lot as date years – Tall Tech started spreading their unimaginable wealth spherical.
Tech Corporations Aren’t Exact Donating to Democrats: A Stare at Silicon Valley’s Contributions to Republican Campaigns
Which has already paid some mighty dividends.
And finally quickly an even bigger, badder Tall Tech – will preserve watch over a mighty plurality (or extra) of our entire economy.
And they’ll longer be asking Democrats and Republicans for mighty cronyisms love Gain Neutrality.
They’ll be ordering them to whisper.


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According to eBay and PayPal (a subsidiary of eBay), Thanksgiving 2012 brought a 2.5-fold in the global volume of mobile transactions over the same day of 2011. Also, the number of customers that used tablets or smartphones to shop this Thanksgiving was 164% higher than last year.
Google Play’s Cyber Weekend promotion: Movies, TV series, music and more on sale
With Black Friday come and gone, holiday shoppers are now eagerly waiting for Cyber Monday to arrive. But you don’t have to wait until Monday to start enjoying the Cyber Weekend offers on Google Play. Following the discount treatment that many apps and games are getting, you’ll find that there are more deals to be had on Google’s online store.
T-Mobile Black Friday sale: Galaxy Note 2 for $199, HTC One S for free, and loads more
Trust T-Mobile to reveal its Black Friday promotion in the 11th hour, but at least the details are now here for folks who have been waiting to see what crazy hot deals the carrier has up its sleeve. Can you say cheaper Galaxy Note 2?
Google Play holds huge Black Friday promotion, has tens of discounted apps up for grabs
We’ve seen a variety of Black Friday Android deals so far, and we have collected them, including the best available offers, in a handy guide to help you out when deciding what discounted Android gear to get this coming Friday.
Details on AT&T Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales
As you probably already know, the next few days are some of the busiest shopping days of the year. Luckily, if you're looking to see what this year's AT&T Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are offering, you don't even need to step into a store.
Fuhu Nabi 2 kids’ tablet $129 in Walmart Black Friday deal
Although traditionally Black Friday sales happen on Fridays (duh!), it has become a custom for retailers to try to kick off the deals earlier so as to get better media coverage and more attention from compulsive shoppers.
Verizon Black Friday 2012 offer includes free “Cranberry” Droid RAZR, Galaxy Nexus and $99 Galaxy Tab 2 7.0
In case you’re planning to buy a new Android handset and/or tablet this week, which happens to include Black Friday 2012, you may want to check out all the available offers from carriers and electronic retailers before you decide.


text: Twitter and eToro have signed a deal which will allow users to trade assets through the social trading app. Through the partnership, users will be able to view market charts and buy and sell stocks and crypto. This is not Twitter’s first foray into finance: the platform already includes a feature that allows customers to view the market data of a company. The new move means that customers can click a button to trade a specific financial instrument. Yoni Assia, CEO of eToro, says he believes the partnership will enable the companies to reach new audiences and “connect better the brands of Twitter and eToro.” Twitter recently merged with a shell company, X Corp, and CEO Elon Musk has spoken previously about his desire to turn the app into a single super app that offers a range of services.


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Recent China research
|China Weekly: Car sales improve, but luxury brands face potholes, 21 May 2013|
|Xi fights graft to strengthen the regime, Jonathan Fenby, 21 May 2013|
|China Weekly: A China case study: Bottled water adds to food safety problems, 14 May 2013|
|China Weekly: China’s White Goods: Survival of the biggest, 9 May 2013|
See all our China research >>
Recent blog posts
Watch the clouds,
20 May 2013
China’s food safety – and the trust deficit,
7 May 2013
Rising confrontations and the China Dream,
2 May 2013
China’s regional policy dilemma deepens,
10 Apr 2013
See all China Blog posts >>
Yuan internalisation: curb your enthusiasm
Remember all that excitement last year about the internationalization of the yuan as deposits in Hong Kong doubled from their level at the end of 2010 and the visiting Vice-Premier Li Keqiang promised three dozen regulatory changes to boost Rmb business. Western companies lined up to issue dim sum bonds. Trade settlements in yuan were, it was believed, bound to be boosted by the Mainland’s global commerce. As usual when there is an upside to be glimpsed from China, exuberance took over.
Now reality is exerting itself. After rising all year, yuan deposits in Hong Kong dropped in December as importers paid suppliers in yuan. Also, expectations of strong appreciation were dimmed by China’s worries about the impact on exports of the downturn in Europe which may well lead to the currency staying flat through the first half of this year.
As Trusted Source’s chief economist Larry Brainard pointed out in a report in June, the rapid growth in offshore yuan deposits in Hong Kong was driven by the asymmetry in trade settlements permitted under 2010 reforms of China’s FX regulations. Since it is matched by a similar rise in China’s official foreign exchange reserves, it simply swells the Mainland’s treasure trove even further. Beijing may reckon that the internationalization of the yuan increases its leverage in international financial reform discussions, but does it really want a fresh channel to raising reserves that mire it even more deeply in the dollar trap? There is a conspiracy theory that the whole policy is a dodge by frustrated reformers using it to force change in China’s domestic financial system, but that is a pretty tortuous notion.
Indeed, one may ask how far Beijing wants to push the process. Two well-placed sources have told us recently that full internationalization is “a 10-year thing” or will be a matter for the Sixth Generation of China’s leaders, who take office in 2022. The key issue remains the incompatibility between internationalization and currency controls, and Beijing shows no signs of wavering on the latter. Plans announced by the National Reform and Development Commission this week to boost Shanghai as an international financial hub by 2015 point in the opposite direction.
The plan would make the daily yuan mid-point published by the central bank in the onshore yuan market the benchmark for foreign as well as domestic yuan trading markets, thereby asserting Beijing’s control over Hong Kong and preventing market-driven variations. The government-backed Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (Shibor) would be the benchmark for all yuan credit everywhere. In other words, for all the talk, control remains the central concern, as so often in an economy driven by politics. As for internationalization, expect the evaporation of euphoria.


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Lego Marvel Super Heroes is still a few months away from its fall release and we don’t even have a full playable figure list yet, but it has already scored a promotion that is becoming rarer and rarer at online retailer Amazon.com.
The promotion offers anyone who pre-orders Lego Marvel Super Heroes prior to the game’s unconfirmed October 22 release date a $10 credit toward a future purchase at Amazon. The credit will not be applicable toward Kindle books, Gift Cards, and Amazon Appstore for Android apps, but it will be good toward just about anything else at the mega site that is shipped and sold by Amazon.
In order to take advantage of the Lego Marvel Super Heroes Amazon promotion, you must pre-order the game for any platform other than Nintendo DS. This includes Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PS Vita, Wii U, 3DS, and the PC. The price varies by platform, but all versions are applicable for free shipping on top of the $10 promotional credit.
Click here to pre-order Lego Marvel Super Heroes for the platform of your choice at Amazon to earn the $10 credit.


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Industry case study: Australian postal and parcel delivery relevance to food and grocery industry
A March 2015 report from IBISWorld estimated that between 2015 – 2020 Australia’s online grocery sales industry will grow by 13.6 per cent annually. With sales increasing, delivery of product is a a major area for potential growth.
Beyond online grocery shopping in itself, some of Australia’s largest supermarkets have corporate relationships within the delivery industry. For example, in April 2015 Coles parent company group Wesfarmers has expanded its subsidiary Officeworks with a logistics delivery service by launching its MailMan in-store parcel delivery service. In February 2015, eBay announced a new partnership which has resulted in shoppers now being able to accept delivery of their online products from Woolworths.
So what does Australia’s product delivery industry currently look like and how will it potentially impact the Australian food industry?
- According to eBay research, one in five online shoppers in Australia buy online at least once a week but almost half are not allowed to receive deliveries at home.
- As part of the same research performed by eBay, the online auction service found that 23 per cent of Australians have taken a holiday or worked from home just to receive an online delivery.
- Half (49 per cent) re-direct personal online deliveries because they are at work, according to the eBay research.
- In 2014 Australians spent $16.4 billion on online retail.
- According to IBISWorld, online grocery sales in Australia between 2014 – 15 created AUD$2.0 billion in revenue
- IBISWorld also says online grocery profit in Australia between 2014 -15 amounted to AUD$79.9 million.
Companies to know about
Australia Post (AusPost)
Although in September 2015 AusPost announced a AUD$22 million loss for the financial year ending the 30 June 2015, parcel deliveries now account for more than half of the organisation’s revenue.
Australia Post now appears to be moving forward from its latest results and heavily focusing on its parcel delivery service just launching a new advertising campaign centered around the tagline ‘We Love Delivering’. In 2014 it also launched a US parcel service, allowing Australians to purchase from US companies which do not ship to Australia. Australia Post collects and forwards on the purchase.
Kogan.com is the largest online department store in Australia. It sells everything from electronics to groceries, all under the guidance of its young founder Ruslan Kogan. The Wall Street Journal estimates the company was being worth over $400 million.
Coles supermarket group parent company, Wesfarmers, has created a new delivery service within its Officeworks stores. As previously mentioned, in April 2015 Officeworks launched ‘Mailman’ allowing customers to send and receive mail and parcels through its stores.
The service appeals to customers on the basis that Officeworks stores are open much earlier and much later than Australian Post stores, along with weekend opening hours. Address labels can also be purchased online anytime.
Woolworths and Ebay
In February 2014 it was announced that eBay, Woolworths and its retail chain Big W would partner so that eBay purchases could be picked up from 90 Woolworths and Big W stores.
The program has expanded since launch and there are now stores across the east coast reaching between Tasmania and Queensland.
By the end of the year, eBay said that more Queensland metro stores will be opened which will see 60% of eBay buyers (about 5 million shoppers) in Australia living near a Woolworths or Big W collection point
DHL Express, an arm of Germany’s Deutsche Post, is considered the world’s largest global logistics company. DHL Express says it currently owns half the air express market coming in and out of Australia.
In July 2015 the Australian division of DHL Express announced it would be a trialing a new “On Demand Delivery” system which would see customers have a great say in exactly how their parcel is delivered. Customers would for example have the choice to leave parcels with their neighbours.
Pakman Parcel Box
Pakman Parcel Box is a secure mailbox which is large enough for most parcels to fit inside. Once registered and installed like a normal letter box, owners are instructed to provide the unit’s passcode to delivery services so products can be safely delivered.
Currently sold through Bunnings Warehouse and is owned by Mayo Hardware, which also owns the highly successful MasterLock brand.
Although the standard old letterbox prevails in Australian homes, Mayo Hardware have been investing in the Pakman Parcel Box with television commercials and spots on weekday morning television talk shows.
Over half of Australians say they would spend more with a retailer who offers a loyalty program over...
The Australian Advertising Standards Board (ASB) has decided a McCain pizza advertisement is in brea...
High-level talks at James Cook University this week will help shape the future of aquaculture in n...
IN the same way many household appliances are rated for their energy efficiency, food will have mand...
Australian Organic - the leading organic industry body in the country – is today officially releasi...
AmazonFresh looks like it may be readying itself to enter Australia, advertising for a software deve...
The Restaurant Gift Card and The Pub and Bar Gift Card launch exclusively in Woolworths at a time w...
Woolworths says it is preparing for the rumoured entry of AmazonFresh into Australia in 2017 by alre...


text: ByPeter Strozniak Timken Co. President and CEO James W. Griffith says the company will close two plants, sell another, and lay off 1,500 of its 20,500 employees in a corporate wide strategy to improve manufacturing productivity. "This is not a reduction in capacity," Griffith says. "This is learning to be leaner, be more productive, generate the same amount of sales with fewer assets, and be more efficient about it at the same time." Griffith says this transformation in its worldwide manufacturing operations will reduce plant-floor space by more than 1 million sq ft while maintaining its current capacity, and cut inventory by more than $25 million. Timken also plans to develop focused factories for each product line and implement Six Sigma lean manufacturing practices. "While we had a couple of good sales years in a row, we have not met earnings target," says Griffith. "This is specifically targeted to improving the earnings capabilities of the company." Timken anticipates the restructuring will save the company about $50 million annually by fourth quarter of 2002. The company expects to make a public announcement about which plants will be closed and which factory will be sold in about two weeks.


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Updated: March 27th, 2020
Gender diversity remains a front-and-center issue throughout corporate America, though the stats are improving. In 2018, female entrepreneurs launched nearly 2,000 new businesses each day. As a result, the number of women looking to access capital is also on the rise. There was a 13% jump in the number of female entrepreneurs who applied for a business loan last year, though this amount remains approximately 33% below the number of male business owners looking to do the same.
Of course, not all small business loans are the same, and some are better suited than others for female entrepreneurs. Even though the number of female business owners applying for credit increased last year, funding amounts fell. The dynamics aren’t likely to shift until female entrepreneurs are matched with the best small business loans.
A recent report spotlighted some new trends emerging from women-owned-businesses (WOBs), including the following:
The figures reveal interesting trends in business financing for women. Female entrepreneurship is on the rise, as evidenced by the number of small businesses owned by women having ballooned by 36% last year.
This trend is reinforced by the gap in the average age of these businesses: women-owned businesses (43 months) vs. non-WOBs (52 months).
The real kicker is that women business owners’ credit scores dropped by 10 points in 2018 despite increased WOB revenues. The drop in average credit scores for women from 598 in 2017 to 588 in 2018 isn’t too steep, but it’s still lower than the average credit score for non-WOBs. It’s also an indication that clearly there is more work to be done to close the gender gap among female entrepreneurs and improve business financing options for women.
The average small business loans for women were $43,534 last year, which is almost 60% less than the average for non-WOBs. Overall, WOB earnings (annual revenue minus operating expenses) increased to nearly $230,000 in 2018, which was 13% better than the previous year. However, Women-owned-businesses tend to have lower revenues and higher expenses versus their male counterparts, and the approved loan amounts for female entrepreneurs are a direct reflection of this phenomenon.
Based on these trends, female entrepreneurs should seek out small business lenders with flexibility on features such as payments and rates. Opt for loan issuers such as Funding Circle with a digital offering that doesn’t require burdensome paperwork so there’s no delay accessing financing.
If this doesn’t sound like your typical bank, you’re right! The underwriting procedures of banks and other conventional lenders is more onerous vs. online lenders. Banks often require business applicants to have a proven sales record, healthy cash flows, and several years of operational experience. This can make it extremely difficult to get the best small business loans for women-owned companies.
You might already be feeling skittish about getting a loan. You’re not alone in that. Business owners like Kate Lester felt the same way, especially when she was turned down by her bank and it had nothing to do with her excellent credit score. As fate would have it, Kate came across Funding Circle, where her loan was funded and the process was “simple.”
Among alternative lenders, online marketplaces provide the opportunity for WOBs to attract the best small business loans for women with lenders who understand and support female entrepreneurship.
Marketplace lenders usually require much less documentation than SBA loans and will lend larger amounts than available through microloans. They approve and fund small business loans for women in days rather than months, and can offer more flexible terms. Depending on your credit risk, you may find that they charge higher interest rates versus traditional banks, the latter of which may decline you outright.
Paige Smith is a content marketing writer who specializes in writing about the intersection of business, finance, and tech. Paige regularly writes for a number of B2B industry leaders, including fintech companies, small business lenders, and business credit resource sites.


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Many years ago, eggs fell out of favor among health experts – because of the connection between high cholesterol foods and cardiovascular disease. But the science has changed course –– and eggs are being viewed in a different, nutritional light. In fact, you might even want to make them part of your healthy eating plan, in the new year. Consumer Reports’ has the bottom line, on eggs.
It’s true –– eggs are high in cholesterol. And, a large amount of cholesterol in your blood can cause plaque buildup in your arteries –– and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.
But it turns out, in healthy people, eating eggs doesn’t seem to raise the levels of cholesterol in your blood by as much as experts once thought. Nor does it seem to increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. The science now is suggesting that other things, such as your weight, your ethnicity, your genes, your age, your saturated fat intake –– those things might have more of an affect on your cholesterol levels.”
Plus, one, large, 70-calorie egg, packs an impressive assortment of vitamins, minerals and essential nutrients –– that aid in brain development, help maintain healthy skin and may play a role in reducing eye disease as you age. A combination which has given the humble egg a renewed place in refrigerators, as a cheap and healthy addition to any diet.
Eggs are nutrient dense and minimally processed, so there are good reasons to fit them into a healthful diet. Generally speaking, roughly one egg a day is a good guideline for most people –– but you may want to check with your doctor to figure out what’s best for you.
The health team at Consumer Reports also says storing eggs properly can help keep eggs safe and fresh. So don’t keep them on the door of a fridge, where temperatures can be uneven. Instead, it’s better to put them on a back shelf. And since bacteria can get in thru breaks in the shell, toss any cracked eggs you find.


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Good morning, and welcome to First Mover. I’m Brad Keoun, here to take you through the latest in crypto markets, news and insights. (Lyllah Ledesma is off this week.)
- Price point: Bitcoin slid back below $30,000, in sync with U.S. stock futures after the giant retailer Target's latest earnings report provided a fresh glimpse of consumers adjusting spending habits because of inflation.
- Market Moves: A day after the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman pledged to keep tightening monetary conditions until inflation comes down, analysts and traders from crypto to stocks and futures were assessing the economic impact – from higher mortgage rates to lower company earnings, Shaurya Malwa reports.
- Feature: It's been a couple months since the $625 million Ronin Network exploit. Blockchain data shows the cryptocurrency haul moving onto Tornado, an on-chain privacy exchange that ostensibly would help to obscure the provenance.
Bitcoin dipped to under $30,000 in European trading hours on Wednesday amid a retreat across traditional markets, as traders and analysts assessed the potential economic ramifications of U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's pledge Tuesday to keep tightening pressure on financial conditions until inflation shows signs of weakening.
Bitcoin's slide over the past few days is setting it up to extend a seven-week losing streak, which is the longest ever in a trading history that dates back to the early 2010s. The cryptocurrency has suffered from a downturn in broader markets, stricter crypto regulations, waning retail interest and systemic risks in the crypto sector.
In traditional markets, U.S. stocks were poised for declines on Wednesday based on the direction of futures trading, with weakness appearing as a disappointing earnings report from Target sent the giant retailer's shares plunging more than 22%.
Inflation is forcing consumers to spend more on food and less on discretionary items, MarketWatch reported.
By Shaurya Malwa
With bitcoin now regularly trading in sync with U.S. stocks, what happens in traditional markets and the bricks-and-mortar economy bleeds over to crypto.
Higher interest rates tend to hit the earnings of companies that borrow money to run their businesses. With rates on consumer loans such as mortgages also on the rise, households are left with lower disposable incomes, which in turn causes a ripple effect in the broader economy.
Although such scenarios could take months to play out, stock traders are already pricing in anticipated lower earnings, which lead to a drop in equity valuations. On Wednesday, S&P 500 futures dropped 0.4% while technology-heavy Nasdaq futures fell 0.6%. European markets showed nominal movement as Germany’s DAX rose less than 0.1% and the Stoxx 600 slid 0.1%.
Such market moves come after the Fed's Powell said Tuesday that the central bank remains committed to reducing inflation and could use “aggressive” measures to ensure a strong economy.
"What we need to see is inflation coming down in a clear and convincing way and we're going to keep pushing until we see that," Powell said at a Wall Street Journal event. "Achieving price stability, restoring price stability, is an unconditional need. Something we have to do because really the economy doesn't work for workers or for businesses or for anybody without price stability.”
Bitcoin has traded similarly to a risky technology stock in the past months, with correlations reaching almost 1:1 with the S&P 500. Some market observers suggest a further correction could take place if current market conditions continue.
“Markets have been expecting the hikes for some time now, and it looks like the expectations are already on the charts,” Anton Gulin, regional director at crypto exchange AAX, said in a Telegram message. “The movement of bitcoin and Nasdaq is rather correlated as well for a couple of months."
- Do Kwon Pushes On-Chain Proposal Live Even as 92% Vote 'No' in Online Poll The plan to put Terra back on track after last week’s implosion was made live this morning, but online poll results suggest the community is against the move.
- Swiss ETP Issuer 21Shares Dives Into US Market With 2 Crypto Index Funds The new funds are its first crypto products for U.S. customers and will be available only to accredited investors.
- Will a Proof-of-Stake Ethereum Lead to More Centralization? Lido’s staking protocol now holds 33% of all staked ether.
- Argo Blockchain Q1 Net Income Plunges 90% to $2.1M Bitcoin was priced in the $40,000 range for much of the first quarter, compared with nearly $60,000 in the same period a year earlier.
- USDC Hasn’t ‘Flippened’ USDT, but Trader Preferences Are Changing A Glassnode analyst suggests the collapse of the UST token has triggered a change in investors' stablecoin preferences; bitcoin holds above $30,000.
Feature: Nearly 5,505 ETH, or $10M of the $625M Ronin Exploit, Is on the Move
By Shaurya Malwa
Addresses connected to Ronin Bridge’s $625 million exploit show upward of $10 million worth of ether was on the move during Asian morning hours on Wednesday, according to blockchain data.
Starting in the wee hours on Wednesday, the address sent ether in batches of 100 to Tornado, an on-chain privacy exchange. More than 55 transactions were made, the data shows.
Tornado enhances the privacy of transactions by breaking the on-chain link between a source and a destination address. That allows exploiters and hackers to mask their addresses while withdrawing illicitly gained funds.
Today’s newsletter was edited by Brad Keoun and produced by Parikshit Mishra and Stephen Alpher.
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.