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CHICAGO, May 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include McGraw-Hill Financial Inc. (NYSE:MHFI), Take-Two Interactive (Nasdaq:TTWO), Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq:ATVI), Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) and Sony (NYSE:SNE).
Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513
Here are highlights from Monday's Analyst Blog:
Surprise Jump in U.S. Gasoline Supplies
The U.S. Energy Department's weekly inventory release showed that gasoline stockpiles increased unexpectedly, as domestic production and imports jumped. The report further revealed that crude and distillate supplies were down from the week-ago levels. Meanwhile, refiners scaled down their utilization rates by 0.7%.
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) Petroleum Status Report, containing data of the previous week ending Friday, outlines information regarding the weekly change in petroleum inventories held and produced by the U.S., both locally and abroad.
The report provides an overview of the level of reserves and their movements, thereby helping investors understand the demand/supply dynamics of petroleum products. It is an indicator of current oil prices and volatility that affect the businesses of the companies engaged in the oil and refining industry.
Analysis of the Data
Crude Oil: The federal government's EIA report revealed that crude inventories fell by 338,000 barrels for the week ending May 17, 2013, following a decrease of 624,000 barrels in the previous week.
The analysts surveyed by Platts – the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Financial Inc. (NYSE:MHFI) – had expected crude stocks to go down some 1.2 million barrels. A slide in domestic production led to the stockpile drawdown with the world's biggest oil consumer even as refiners reduced their utilization rates and imports spiked.
However, crude inventories at the Cushing terminal in Oklahoma – the key delivery hub for U.S. crude futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange – were up 449,000 barrels from the previous week's level to 50.17 million barrels. Stocks are currently just under the all-time high of 51.86 million barrels reached in January.
Despite the weekly inventory decrease, at 394.55 million barrels, current crude supplies are 3.2% above the year-earlier level, and exceeds the upper limit of the average for this time of the year. The crude supply cover was down from 26.5 days in the previous week to 26.1 days. In the year-ago period, the supply cover was 25.7 days.
Gasoline: Supplies of gasoline were up for the second time in as many weeks despite an improvement in domestic consumption. The rise in gasoline inventories could be attributed to spiraling production and imports.
The 3.01 million barrels gain – contrary to analysts' projections for a 200,000 barrels decrease in supply level – took gasoline stockpiles up to 220.68 million barrels. Following this build, the existing inventory level of the most widely used petroleum product is 9.8% higher than the year-earlier level and is close to the top half of the average range.
Distillate: Distillate fuel supplies (including diesel and heating oil) were down 1.05 million barrels last week, as against analysts' expectations for a 1.1 million barrels gain in inventory level. The decrease in distillate fuel stocks – the first in 6 weeks – could be attributed to stronger demand, partially offset by higher imports and production.
At 118.81 million barrels, distillate supplies are essentially flat with the year-ago level but are in the lower limit of the average range for this time of the year.
Refinery Rates: Refinery utilization was down 0.7% from the prior week to 87.3%. The analysts were expecting the refinery run rate to increase 0.7% to 88.7%.
Video Game Sales Plunge in April
Video game retail sales plunged in Apr 2013. According to market research firm NPD, sales decreased 25.0% to $495.2 million from $630.0 million reported in Apr 2012. However, sales in dollar terms were almost half from $992.5 million reported in March and declined massively from $810.0 million reported in Feb, 2013.
Software sales declined 17.0% year over year to $254.3 million in April. This was much worse than $602.4 million reported in March and $369.9 million reported in February. Although sales decline was massive in the month, NPD noted that new games launched in Apr 2013 jumped 118% in unit sales and 130.0% in dollar sales.
Injustice: Gods Among Us from Warner Bros. Interactive was the top-selling game in the month, pushing March topper BioShock Infinite from Take-Two Interactive (Nasdaq:TTWO) to the #3 position. Dead Island: Riptide from Deep Silver took the #2 spot. Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq:ATVI) had two games in the top-ten list namely Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Skylanders Giants.
Currently, both Take-Two and Activision carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Hardware sales fell a massive 42.0% year over year to $109.5 million from $221.6 million reported in March. March hardware sales were lower than $244.2 million reported in February.
Microsoft's(Nasdaq:MSFT) Xbox 360 was again the top-selling console. However, it sold just 130,000 units in April compared with 261,000 units sold in March. This was also much less than 302,000 units sold in February. On a year-over-year basis, Xbox unit sales declined 45.0%.
As per NPD data, Nintendo's 3DS handheld sales grew 52.0% year over year last month. However, PlayStation developer Sony (NYSE:SNE) did not provide any sales data.
The huge decline in hardware unit sales primarily reflects a matured console market. Moreover, customers postponed their purchases as both Sony and Microsoft are slated to release their new console hardware by the end of this year.
According to NPD, total US video game sales were $802.0 million in Apr, 2013.
We expect video game sales to remain sluggish over the next few months. Although we believe that the ongoing transition from the physical to the digital platform will ultimately benefit the video game industry (due to the cost effectiveness), low priced digital games have failed to offset the rapid decline in high-priced retail sales in recent times.
Moreover, declining software sales remain a concern. We believe that the rapid adoption of free-to-play games will continue to cannibalize retail software sales in 2013. Further, the highly fragmented video game market will continue to witness increased competitive pressures, which will hurt overall profitability.
However, we believe that the highly anticipated launch of new hardware consoles from Microsoft and Sony will boost the sagging video game retail sales market by the end of 2013.
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Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.
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SOURCE Zacks Investment Research, Inc.


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Video footage of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice dragging his unconscious fiancé out of a casino elevator came to light in February, but it took most sponsors until this month, when new film emerged showing what happened inside the elevator, to take action. Now, as the NFL deals with a major crisis and two of its biggest stars have seen their brands collapse, Fortune looks back at Rice and 11 other big-name athletes who lost endorsement deals due to scandal. Here’s the hall of shame.
In Rice's case, Vertimax, a sports equipment company, was the first to defect. It quietly dropped him in June after having initially said in February that it would wait and see. A couple of weeks ago, TMZ released video of Rice hitting his fiancé. It set off the floodgates. Dick’s Sporting Goods and Modell’s pulled his jerseys from stores. The next day, Nike said it would end its endorsement, and EA Sports said it would scrub Rice from the Madden NFL 15 video game. Rice reportedly has no remaining active endorsement deals.
As with Rice’s case, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson’s saga played out over a few days - reminding us it takes a while for sponsors to jump ship. Peterson was indicted for child abuse on September 12, a Friday. Within 30 minutes, his team had deactivated him for Sunday’s game, although it quickly changed its mind. That same night, a second case of child abuse came to light. Radisson Hotels (whose logo was all over the backdrop when Vikings owners announced the team would reinstate Peterson) quickly ended its team sponsorship with the Vikings. Within the next couple of days, both Castrol Oil, Nike and pharmaceutical company Mylan cut their ties. Wheaties removed boxes with Peterson's face from store shelves - but said it was not because of the charges. One Vikings sponsor that has not pulled out is Verizon, though on Thursday the company’s CEO put a long statement on LinkedIn expressing concern over the league’s current problems.
Along with Rice and Peterson, Michael Vick is one of few than 10 athletes that Nike has ever dropped. The Swoosh has a history of standing by its athletes, but crimes (assault, child abuse, dog-fighting) clearly trump personal scandals. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback (at the time) was indicted for running a dogfighting ring. Two days after the indictment, Nike canceled its new Vick shoe, but did not pull existing Vick products from shelves. In the next 10 days, Reebok, Rawlings, Donruss, Upper Deck and AirTran Airways all ended their relationships with Vick. Eventually, Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Vick indefinitely from the league. But Vick’s storyline improved. In 2009, after serving jail time, he returned to the NFL, and in 2011, rarest of all, Nike welcomed him back with a new endorsement contract, saying that the athlete had owned up to his “past mistakes.”
Lance Armstrong didn't just lose seven Tour de France jerseys after the news broke in 2012 that he had been taking performance-enhancing drugs. He also lost lucrative sponsorships with Nike, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Trek Bicycle Corp, FRS and Honey Stinger, among others. And it took less than a week for the companies to do it. "Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him," Nike said in a statement.
Tiger Woods's fall from grace was so public that it has become a standard example for athletes about what not to do. Experts also say the episode led sponsors to beef up the morals clauses in their athlete contracts. On Thanksgiving weekend in 2009, the first hints of the Woods scandal broke - that the pro golfer had been in a mild car accident in his home's driveway and that his wife smashed a window with a golf club. It took weeks for the full truth to come out—that Woods had cheated on his wife with scores of women. Sponsors didn’t begin leaving Woods until he broke his silence nearly a month later when he announced he’d take a break from his sport. Gillette, Accenture, AT&T, Gatorade and Tag Heuer soon ended their endorsements. Nike stuck by him, but as Fortune learned in 2011, it slashed the value of his $20 million-per-year deal in half for two years as a punishment. These days, Woods has a smaller portfolio of deals (still lucrative enough to crack the top ten of our Fortunate 50 list) with Nike, Rolex, Japanese heat-rub Kowa, and Asian wristband-maker All Custom Focus.
The all-time home run king Barry Bonds became a key figure in baseball’s steroids scandal in 2007, causing sponsors like MasterCard, KFC and Charles Schwab to cancel their endorsements. All told, Sports Illustrated reported that he lost an estimated $28 million a year in contracts. He ended his career that same year. Bonds told a grand jury that he used performance-enhancing drugs without knowing in 2004, but he was found to have obstructed justice. Bonds served one-month under house-arrest.
After the boxer’s former wife Robin Givens said in 1988 that he abused her, Mike Tyson lost millions in endorsement money from Pepsi. Over the next four months, other sponsors left, costing the heavyweight boxing champion a reported $8 to $10 million that year. He lost a deal with Eastman Kodak and a $750,000 contract with Nintendo to promote his boxing game “Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!!” (By 1989 the video game maker had renamed it “Punch-Out!!!”) Problems continued to pile on for Tyson after he was found guilty of raping an 18-year-old in 1992 and spent three years in prison.
After allegedly cheating on his pregnant wife with prostitutes, Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney saw the endorsements slip away. His biggest loss was Coca-Cola, whose U.S. executives reportedly said they were “disgusted.” But they did not end the contract until it expired in 2010. Around the same time, the soccer star also lost a deal with Asian beer brand Tiger to do commercial work. He did hold on to his deals with Nike and EA Sports.
Basketball star Kobe Bryant's image took a big hit in 2003 after a woman accused him of sexual assault. McDonald’s subsequently decided not to renew the hoops star’s three-year endorsement deal. Ultimately, authorities dropped the charges against Bryant after he reached a private settlement with the accuser. Endorsements with Sprite and Nike never ended. But one with Italian chocolate maker Ferrero SpA did. At the time, many predicted that Bryant’s clean image had been permanently tarnished. But Kobe’s endorsements soon got back on track—he signed lucrative deals with Nike, Lenovo, and Turkish Airlines. Fortune reported this summer that Bryant raked in about $20 million in endorsements in 2013 making him No. 3 on our 2014 Fortunate 50 list, up a spot from the year before.
Owner of the most Olympic gold medals in history, Phelps found himself in hot water after a photo emerged in 2008 of him smoking a bong at a party. Although he was suspended from competition for three months, he only lost a sponsorship with Kellogg's, which chose not to renew its contract. (Because its deal was going to expire at that time anyway, Phelps’s agent at Octagon, Drew Johnson, has argued to Fortune that it isn’t fair to say the brand “dropped” him.) The other mega brands behind the swimmer, like Speedo, Visa, Omega watches and Subway, all stood by him.
After President Obama announced in 2011 that US armed forces had killed Osama bin Laden, Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall sent out a flurry of tweets he would come to regret. Mendenhall, who retired this year, scolded those who celebrated bin Laden’s death. “It's amazing how people can hate a man they have never even heard speak," he said. "We've only heard one side,” he tweeted. Three days later, his most prominent sponsor, Champion, dropped its deal with him. A few months later, Mendenhall took action of his own by suing Hanesbrands, which owns Champion, for $1 million, the amount left on his contract. In the end, the two parties reached a settlement for an undisclosed amount.

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Mountain Dew announced over the summer that the brand would honor brand athlete and NBA MVP Russell Westbrook with a truly unique fashion outfit for his wardrobe: the first ever Triple-Double Breasted Suit. And just in time for tipoff of the 2017-2018 NBA season, the suit has arrived.
Created by American menswear designer Mark McNairy, the Triple-Double Breasted Suit pays homage to Russ’ record breaking season and “Don’t Do They” mentality – whether on the court dropping 50 point triple doubles, or off the court sporting flashy post-game outfits.
The suit includes several unique style elements that pay tribute to his historic campaign, including:
– Don’t Do They: Russ’ iconic rallying cry from his ASW commercial is featured on the underside of the jacket collar as a bold “THEY” crossed out in green
– 42: Russ’ season-defining tripe double record is emblazoned on the jacket breast pocket
– Camo Pattern: DEW has a history with camo as does McNairy which made camo an obvious color choice.
The suit will be delivered to Russ as a gift from the DEW brand this week.


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Plant-based dishes, 'wonky' veg and 'calming' ingredients are among six food trends to watch in 2017, according to market research firm Mintel. The company is also predicting a greater focus on restaurants cutting food waste and a rise in cheap, healthy options.
'Worst hotel' makes turnaround?
Britannia Hotels has more than doubled its profits to £33m in the past year despite being voted the UK's 'worst hotel chain' four years in a row. The company said it was investing in its properties and purchasing new sites to survive in an 'increasingly competitive' UK hotel market.
Curry industry 'betrayal'
The founder of the British Curry Awards has accused Theresa May of 'betraying' the industry after she backtracked on calls to relax visa rules for Indian chefs. Enam Ali warned that the future of the UK curry industry remains 'at risk' due to an ongoing shortage of skilled staff.
Accor's youth appeal
AccorHotels is continuing to target the millennial market by buying a 30 per cent stake in German boutique brand 25hours Hotels. Accor will help the seven-strong group, which focuses on young, urban travellers, to expand in Europe and worldwide.
The weakened pound could see American tourists spend an extra £1bn in the UK next year, according to booking site Travelzoo. The company said it had seen a 35 per cent rise in US searches for UK destinations as travellers sought to take advantage of currency fluctuations following the Brexit vote.
For a full rundown of this week's news click here.


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The number of lifestyle magazines published this past year grew to 264 from 206 in 2003, according to the 17th edition of the National Directory of Magazines published by Oxbridge Communications.
Directory editor Deborah Striplin attributed the 28 percent growth to a tendency after the 9/11 attack for people to stay home or close to it. They also tend to participate in activities that increase their sense of self and community.
“It's a carpe diem attitude — a desire to live the good life now,” she said.
Four new lifestyle titles reflect this trend. Cottage Living, for instance, emphasizes the relaxed lifestyle a second home or even a primary residence can bring.
Then there is Vodka Magazine, a guide to urban living, cocktails and cultural trends for the new bohemian lifestyle. Articles within espouse a downtown social life and gear to explore urban living. The Green Magazine is an upscale golf lifestyle publication aimed at a multicultural audience.
Even Canada is witness to this trend. Good Life in Vancouver launched to offer views on how to garner wealth and have fun.
The directory lists titles published in the United States and Canada from September to September.
Another booming category is crafts. Magazines in this niche are up 25 percent to 129 this year from 103 in 2003. Golf titles were up 24 percent to 135 from 109. And political science and politics magazines were up 23 percent to 128 titles from 104.
Meanwhile, management titles declined 25 percent to 95 this year from 127 in 2003. News magazines dropped 24 percent to 57 from 75. History magazines fell 23 percent to 128 titles from 166.
At 971 titles, college student and alumni publications was the largest magazine category in 2004, the Oxbridge directory said. Medicine was next, at 965. Religion/theology had 724 titles published this year.
This year's directory lists 1,477 titles available in print and online formats, up from 1,033 in 2003. Also, the number of Internet-only magazines grew to 168 from 124 last year. The directory lists a total 18,821 titles, of which 1,174 are new.


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The Lavin Agency is a speakers bureau, based in New York City and Toronto. We exclusively represent leading thinkers, writers, and doers who inspire ideas and dialogue that make the world a better place.
When Twitter announced the ability to upload a new Facebook-esque header image, among other tweaks, MacArthur was one of the first early adopters to make use of the new features. “What this new [Twitter] design does well,” she writes in a recent Fast Company article, “is to give brands a better opportunity to market their products and services.” In the article, she gives three suggestions for using Twitter to your brand’s fullest potential which include: updating your profile picture, creating a new header image, and making an effort to upload more photos and videos that correspond with your tweets. “Your profile page is your bona fide business card in the social media world,” she adds, noting that “sprucing up your page” can do wonders for your brand. In her keynotes, she keeps companies ahead of the curve; helping audiences cut through the media clutter and dig up the best tactics to enhance their online strategy.
In a recent blog post, Samuel confesses that she “[uses] email response time as an indicator of someone’s intrinsic worthiness as a human being.” The unfortunate truth is that you don’t want to be too fast, or too slow. “Non-responders are rude and unreliable,” says Samuel, whereas “instant responders are clearly people with too much time on their hands.” While it may not seem like it, your online activity is inextricably linked to your offline life. Samuel’s opinions on the delicate balance that exists between your online and offline life can be found in her blog posts for The Atlantic, The Harvard Business Review and Oprah.com. She helps companies in all industries learn how to manage their online presence in her keynotes and in her popular TEDx Talks.
In this interview, internet speaker and Yahoo! News correspondent Virginia Heffernanargues that companies need to take their social media and online content management seriously—and that means hiring someone based on their merit and experience in the field, rather than simply handing off the task to the newest or youngest team member.
In the wake of the Facebook privacy leaks, it’s important to think not just about corporate responsibility—but personal responsibility. In this video, social media speaker Rahaf Harfoush discusses the delicate balancing act of participation vs. discretion in social media.
Open technology speaker David Eaves argues that the Internet brings us together and also tears us apart—and that’s a good thing. In his recent Vancouver Sun opinion article he says that the communities which form online can act as both positive and negative agents of socialization.
“We are in the midst of an exciting era for community building,” he says, “we just need to focus our attention on ensuring that those who are in desperate need of community have access to the tools that help foster them.
"The Web appears to be the single most important technology that has ever been invented. We have been the generation lucky enough to witness its inception, and we are now the ones responsible for its protection."
Internet speaker Alexandra Samuel’s TEDx talk, “Ten Reasons to Stop Apologizing for your Online Life”, is an impassioned argument for the value of online activities. It even inspired a teacher in Singapore to teach her advice in class. While many criticize the internet as a ‘distraction’, or as ‘not real’, Samuel makes the case that the internet is as real as the physical world and that the internet is not something separate from our ‘real’ lives—it’s now an inextricable part of us.
"The language of the Internet is English. And that is absolutely contributing to the disappearance of languages. On the other hand, modern technology allows linguists to capture and store endangered languages."
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Lavin speaker Jared Diamond, speaking at The Los Angeles Museum of Natural History.
Even though it’s known as the world wide web, the internet has a decidedly American and English-language bias, says Virginia Heffernan. Filmed at The Lavin Agency offices in New York City. (Virginia, formerly of The New York Times, is now Yahoo’s new National Correspondent!)


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Samsung was the big winner as the western European tablet market showed no signs of slowing down in 2011's fourth quarter.
The vendor currently enjoys a clear second spot in the market-share rankings and also saw an impressive boost in average selling prices (ASPs) during last year's closing months.
Figures from market watcher Context find that tablet sales through western European distributors rose 160 per cent year on year in November, and 209 per cent the following month.
In December, Apple held a 68 per cent slice of the distribution market, still a long way ahead of second-placed Samsung, with seven per cent. Asus held a little over five per cent. During Q4, Apple punted 661,000 iPads through the region's distributors.
During the quarter both Acer and Asus swallowed price declines of about €20 (£16.70) per unit, with ASPs standing at €346 and €368 respectively.
Salman Chaudhry, mobile analyst at Context, told ChannelWeb that, with the next generation of Galaxy Tab models, Samsung has tried to create a "premium" product that is held in the same reverence as the market leader.
"[Asus and Acer] are now competing on price, rather than spec, whereas Samsung is doing the same thing as Apple," he said. "They have attached a premium to their product."
The Korean giant saw ASPs through western European distributors grow from €365 to €402 over the course of Q4. Chaudhry indicated that Apple invariably maintains steady ASPs.
During the whole of 2011, the regional tablet market grew by 250 per cent, and the analyst is expecting more strong growth next year. But Chaudhry believes the launch of the Amazon Kindle Fire could pressurise the margins of all but the top two vendors in 2012.
Infrastructure provider says international sales now make up 51 per cent of its revenue
Suzanne Chappell of TMS plans sailing venture after selling Oxfordshire-based TMS to acquisitive Chess
Withdrawal of credit insurance by some providers a 'reflection' of current challenge facing IT sector, according to MD Steve Soper
SMART's UK managing director joins Lenovo to boost SMB business


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The world of drugs isn’t easy. One day you’re a patent challenger, the next you’re a patent defender.
The Wall Street Journal reported today that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, an Israeli company that became wealthy by challenging patents and manufacturing generic drugs, is now trying to safeguard a patent it holds on a drug called Copaxone. The Journal called it a case of Teva “getting a taste of its own tactics.”
Peter Drucker viewed patents as significant in the world of business, but he emphasized that they were often of secondary importance. In fact, patents can give companies a false sense of security, allowing upstarts—like Teva—to come in and steal market share. Take the chemical industry in the 1920s. “Anyone who then tried to pick a winner would have chosen Allied Chemical, which emerged from World War I as a very big company with an almost impregnable patent position in the major areas,” Drucker wrote in Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices. “Yet Allied Chemical never succeeded in building on its strengths. It had neither management nor strategy, and floundered.”
[EXPAND More]Even a company with a solid patent should resist the temptation to squeeze too much money out of it. This, according to Drucker, was the sin of “mispricing a new product by charging ‘what the market will bear.’” In Managing in a Time of Great Change, Drucker explained why this was a mistake, even if your company has a patent. “Given enough incentive, a potential competitor will find away around the strongest patent,” Drucker maintained. “The Japanese have the world’s fax-machine market today because the Americans who invented the machine, developed it and first produced it charged what the market would bear—the highest price they could get.”
A better model to follow was that of DuPont. “In the mid-1940s, it offered its new and patented nylon on the world market for the price at which it would have to be sold five years hence to maintain itself against competition,” Drucker said. “This was some two-fifths lower than the price DuPont could then have gotten from the manufacturers of women’s hosiery and underwear.” As a result, DuPont not only created a huge market but remained its leader, too.
What do you think: Can patents be bad for the patent holder? [/EXPAND]


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Nationally, home prices on the rise
Home prices are up by about 4.3 percent nationally, according to the respected Case-Shiller Home Price Index, whose newest figures were published Wednesday.
Case-Shiller analyzes prices in the 20 largest metro areas. The Triangle isn’t included, but Case-Shiller readings from Charlotte and Atlanta and other surveys of the Triangle suggest that the Triangle fits with the modest upward trend.
The index value for the Queen City rose by 4.1 percent between October 2011 and October 2012, and by 4.9 percent for Atlanta. The index is a month or more behind other price reports partly because it relies on extensive statistical analysis. Unlike most others, it compares each home sale in a given month with the price the last time that home was sold.
The median home sold in the Triangle in November fetched $197,600, up 6.2 percent from November 2011, according to the Triangle Multiple Listing Service.
Chris Bagley covers the legal-services industry, transportation and utilities. Follow him on Twitter @TriBizLaw
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A new musical could soon come to life on TikTok, WhatsApp users are flocking to Signal and Fiverr will run its first-ever Super Bowl Ad!
Save the date, Twitter is bringing back verification this January. Oh, and it shut own Periscope too. How was your week?
Tamagotchi never dies, 2020 in one word and a new test for 3-way live streams on Instagram. How was your week?
Twitter does Twitter best, Salesforce bought Slack and Apple could be working on a matte black MacBook. Are you ready?
Instagram brought Pinned Comments to everyone, Google Plus is officially dead (again) and LinkedIn has a new audio feature.
LinkedIn is #OpenToWork, Facebook changes its algorithm again, Lego gets into pop art, and India bans TikTok.
KFC could be launching its own gaming system, Instagram is bringing its TikTok clone to more countries and TikTok announces TikTok for Business.
Adobe launches Free Photoshop Camera app for iOS and Android, YouTube introduces a new "shoppable" ad format and Twitter now lets you share audio tweets.
Pornhub invites everyone to keep it SFW when WFH, Twitter is testing Reactions again and Hublot launched a new smartwatch powered by Wear OS.
Facebook is testing a new email marketing tool, Google adds anxiety disorder self-assessment to Search, and LEGO has a new Lamborghini for you.
Welcome to this week's top social media news: You can now schedule tweets natively, Instagram rolls out IGTV ads and Nike is about to drop a new 'Be True' AF1.
Facebook rolls out Rooms globally, Instagram debuted Guides and one of the most exciting sneaker collabs is dropping next week.
Welcome to this week's top social media news: Instagram introduced a new sticker, Nike celebrates 30 years of Air Max 90, and Facebook acquired GIPHY!
Welcome to this week's top social media news: Instagram Camera gets an update, Banksy is back and Tinder said it will launch in-app video chat!
Did you notice something different on Instagram? The app has just …
Welcome to this week's top social media news: Facebook launched a Zoom killer, WhatsApp support group calls with up to 8 participants and Google Meet is now free for everyone.
Welcome to this week's top social media news: Facebook adds new care reactions, IKEA has a special "stay at home" catalog and you can now watch Netflix for free on YouTube.
Welcome to this week's top social media news: Apple and Creativity during the pandemic, Facebook Quiet Mode, TikTok voiceover and more.
Welcome to this week's top social media news: unskippable ads for good, a Facebook app just for couples and the new iOS 14 and its "app preview" feature.


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DNA kits are exploding, and this company wants to know more about linking genes to diet.
Did you notice this year that DNA kits for ancestry were a popular Christmas gift in 2017? There are also now other kits that offer genetic health profiles and carrier status. And there are kits that offer personalized diet and fitness plans based on your DNA results, but there has been criticism from the medical community about the value of these tests.
23andMe is one of those companies that now has collected DNA data for about two million customers searching for answers about ancestry and health. However, according to them, even though they can tell you whether or not you’re predisposed to weight issues, they don’t have enough information yet to make the call on how to use this genetic information. They say there aren’t any studies with a significant enough number of patients to connect diet to genes.
And that’s why to kick off the New Year, the company is asking for 100,000 of their customers to volunteer to participate in a study with the objective of linking DNA to the food we eat and the way we exercise. All participants will have to stick to a diet and exercise plan for three months and report the differences in their weight. Diet plans will be randomly assigned. One low carb diet, one high fiber, low animal fat diet, and one plan that says to eat as usual.
While DNA kits have been around for a little while, they seem to be experiencing higher than ever interest from consumers. And with the 2017 March on Science that started in Washington DC and was hosted in over 600 locations around the globe, and more scientists getting involved with public policy, it’s safe to say that science is “in”.
In our 2018 Top Ten Retail Food Trends, Phil Lempert discussed the rise in neuro-nutrition and biohacking, and included DNA kits as a hot trend as people look more to science for answers on how to solve the health and diet crisis in our country as well as look for ways to live longer and more youthfully.
23andMe’s study could provide groundbreaking information linking our genes to our diets. Get ready dietitians and food makers, because you may looking at a whole new area of education when it comes to guiding and providing foods for people eating for genetics.


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On the heels of the announcement last week that mega-travel center retailer Wally’s will locate its fourth gigantic store in Independence, Missouri, Buc-ee’s Ltd. has announced the opening date, Dec. 11, of its newest location in Springfield, Missouri, its first in the Show Me State.
Buc-ee’s Springfield will occupy approximately 53,000 square feet and offer 120 fueling positions. The store will offer thousands of snack, meal and drink options for travelers. Buc-ee’s signature items available include Texas barbeque, fudge, kolaches, Beaver nuggets, jerky and fresh pastries. The chain also is known for its clean bathrooms.
The company said state and local leaders it expects to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony include Springfield Mayor Ken McClure, Springfield Councilman Abe McGull and others.
After the opening of Buc-ee’s Springfield, Lake Jackson, Texas-based Buc-ee’s will operate 47 stores across Texas and the South. Since beginning its multi-state expansion in 2019, Buc-ee’s has opened travel centers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee.
“Springfield is rich with history that attracts travelers from all across the country, and we are honored to be opening our first store in the birthplace of Route 66!” said Stan Beard, director of real estate for Buc-ee’s. “We are thrilled to bring Buc-ee’s to the community and treat our road-trippers to the hospitality that Missouri is known for.”
The Springfield store will bring 200 new, permanent, full-time jobs to the area with starting pay beginning well above minimum wage, full benefits, a 6% matching 401k and three weeks of paid vacation, the company said.
Buc-ee’s was founded in Texas in 1982. Since beginning its multi-state expansion in 2019, it has opened travel centers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina and Tennessee. The Lake Jackson, Texas-based company announced plans for the first Virginia location earlier this year, and it is breaking ground in Colorado and Mississippi.
In other company news, Buc-ee’s also recently joined forces with Mercedes-Benz HPC North America LLC to launch a network of electric-vehicle (EV) charging stations at most of Buc-ee’s existing travel centers, starting with about 30 by the end of 2024.
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United Airlines remains firmly committed toward sustainability in aviation. The latest development in its eco-conscious goals includes working with Oxy Low Carbon Ventures to commercialize the production of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) with biotech firm Cemvita Factory. Cemvita looks to develop a revolutionary new way to produce SAF by using carbon dioxide and synthetic microbes. Additionally, United Airlines Ventures (UAV) recently announced an equity investment in Fulcrum, and United has invested more in SAF production than any other airline in the world.
The inviting town of Bowling Green, Kentucky, is a great destination for a bachelor party. Located about an hour from Nashville, travelers can visit Bowling Green on its own or combine the two cities for an extended bachelor party getaway. Situated in south central Kentucky’s Cave Country, it’s ideal for adventure seekers and outdoor enthusiasts.
A honeymoon can be expensive, especially if you plan a trip out of the country. Now, with the euro and the U.S. dollar reaching parity for the first time in 20 years, new low-cost airlines help make it easier to go over the pond for the honeymoon of your dreams.
At nearly 30,000 square feet, United Airlines’ newest United ClubSM now welcomes Newark Liberty International Airport travelers with its modern design, enhanced amenities, culinary offerings, locally sourced art and furniture and Manhattan skyline views. Seek airport solace at the new location in Terminal C3, near Gate C123.
Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa recently launched a new co-ed bachelor/bachelorette offer for couples looking for the ultimate pre-wedding celebration. The new Pre-Wedding in the Palace offer provides guests with an authentic Hawai’ian getaway on the Ka’anapali beachfront.


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Instagram is making new changes to its feed. It will now be recommending three to five posts that you see while scrolling through your feed.
Apps/Software December 30, 2017
There is already a lot of evidence showing that 'The Dark Tower' movie will deviate from Stephen King's books. Here is a list of all the changes known so far.
Movies/TV Shows July 15, 2016
After the dismal critical and fan reception of 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,' Warner Bros. is making some big behind-the-scenes changes to the next film in the franchise, 'Justice League.'
Movies/TV Shows June 29, 2016
Business Tech November 13, 2014
A pair of happy Telsa owners want to make the Model S even better. The owners of the electric vehicle recommended changes to the cars in a newspaper ad and Tesla Motors CEO says the company is working to implement many of the suggestions.
FUTURE TECH August 25, 2014


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In August, Saga kicks off a new chapter for our favorite characters, and it looks like they are headed to war.
In SAGA #37, finally reunited with her ever-expanding family, Hazel travels to a war-torn comet that Wreath and Landfall have been battling over for ages. To celebrate the arrival of the most epic arc yet, Fiona Staples graces this issue with a gorgeous wraparound cover!
“There’s a flood of new #1 issues out right now, but with this self-contained SAGA ‘event,’ Fiona and I hope to tell the kind of deeply emotional epic that you can only get from an ongoing series at the ripe old age of 37,” said Vaughan. “The War for Phang has huge stakes and will create permanent, real changes for Hazel and her family. Get ready.”
Saga #37 arrives in stores on August 31st.


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Paris motor show: Porsche and Audi provide the sporting thrills
911 Speedster is the last of the current model, while Audi’s LMS race car closely previews the next-gen R8
Porsche’s new 911 Speedster has a tradition that stretches right the way back to the original 356 Speedster of the 1950s
For those attending the Paris motor show and not looking to get bogged down in the petrol-diesel-hybrid-electric debate, Porsche and Audi happen to be on hand to provide some four-wheeled entertainment of a more traditional kind.
Porsche’s new 911 Speedster has a tradition that stretches right the way back to the original 356 Speedster of the 1950s, and you can think of this new open-top 911 as both a 70th birthday homage to a classic Porsche, and a way of waving good bye to the current 911-edition 911. The new 992 is just around the corner, after all, and will be coming with hybrid power…
Sorry, I said I wasn’t going to mention hybrids here. As with classic Speedster models, the 911 Speedster gets a chopped-down windscreen, and heavily-stylised rear bodywork with distinctive twin humps behind the heads of the occupants. This car comes with blood red paint, and 21-inch cross-spoke black-finished alloy wheels. There’s no roof at all — just a tonneau cover to keep the worst of the weather off. Expect it to be a hit in California.
Mechanically, it’s based on the 911 GT3, so that means a naturally-aspirated 4.0-litre engine, with 500hp, and possibly the option of a manual gearbox. Porsche will built just 1,948 examples, by way of marking the company’s 70th anniversary of its founding.
Audi drops hints
Meanwhile, Audi is dropping heavy hints about the look of the next-generation R8 supercar with its R8 LMS racing car. Designed to be raced by customers teams in such series as the Blancpain GT championship, the LMS has heavily revised aerodynamics, and a beefed-up engine and transmission, to make it more reliable when racing.
It also seems to be very much a half-way house between the current R8 and the still-unseen next-generation car. The treatment of the lights, bonnet, and grille seem to be more aggressive than on the current road car (well, this is a racing one we suppose…) and there’s definitely a sense that Audi is laying the groundwork here for its new mid-engined halo model.
Of course, that does drop us right back into the heart of the electrical debate. Last time out, Audi got close enough to putting an all-electric e-Tron R8 into production that some fully-working, fully-styled prototypes were built up. The plug was pulled (‘scuse the pun) at the last minute though, but you can safely expect Audi not to chicken out this time around.


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SAN DIEGO – Shopper engagement and loss prevention technology company Indyme Solution, LLC is rolling out a device designed to remind shoppers to practice social distancing amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
SmartDome, which looks like a dome security camera typically seen in stores, can detect people congregated in its monitored area. Upon detection, the SmartDome sends out a message saying, “For your safety, please maintain at least six feet of social distance.”
The SmartDome device is battery operated and can be installed without a technician or being attached to any wiring. It has versatile mounting options, which makes it easy to place the device in any area of the store where it is most needed.
"This health crisis demands that US technology companies rapidly innovate solutions to assist in this dynamic and evolving situation," said Joe Budano, chief executive officer of Indyme Solutions. "Our retail partners shared their health and safety challenges with us, we listened, and this simple and rapidly deployable solution promoting social distancing is the result. In situations where adding more people to the equation would only make matters worse, technology solutions like SmartDome can save lives."
When the public health threat from COVID-19 subsides, the SmartDome can be repurposed to help reduce theft and increase customer engagement.


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Cadillac is in the middle of a massive marketing campaign to introduce its new Super Cruise. The semi-autonomous driving system, available only on the CT6 luxury sedan, is being billed as offering the "first true hands-free driving on the freeway."
The car company has sent CT6 sedans literally across the country, holding events in multiple U.S. cities, offering auto journalists short Super Cruise seminars followed by a turn behind the wheel.
The system is highly sophisticated. Using a combination of Lidar, high-resolution GPS and a Driver Attention System that monitors the driver, Super Cruise will allow the car -- on certain roads, under certain conditions -- to travel great distances without any steering wheel input by its operator.
The system is said by Cadillac press materials to offer "comfort and convenience," and to inspire "trust, confidence and peace of mind."
"This takes adaptive cruise control to the next level," Cadillac marketing chief Kurt Ghering told a small group of auto writers gathered near Los Angeles this month. "It's like riding a monorail."
Working in tandem with the CT6's adaptive cruise control system, the Lidar and GPS watch the road and anticipate turns, obstacles or other changes in the driving surface. Sensors posted on the steering wheel watch the driver to make sure his or her eyes are facing forward and trained on the road ahead.
The driver can turn away for extended periods -- up to four or five seconds, in most situations -- to adjust the radio, pull something from the back seat or rifle the glove compartment -- while the car maintains speed and direction.
If the driver should turn away for longer than that, nod off or fail to respond to certain warning signals, the Super Cruise system will take action.
First, if a driver's attention wanders from the road for too long, the system will produce a flashing light, audible chime or haptic sensation in the driver's seat.
Then, if the driver waits too long to acknowledge the warning signals, the system will relinquish control of the car and decline to redeploy for the duration of the drive -- exactly what happened to me the first time I drove a Tesla Model X equipped with Autopilot.


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Car giant Inchcape seeks £230m in deeply discounted rights issue
Inchcape, which has more than 100 showrooms in the UK and sells marques including Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, yesterday warned that trading conditions would remain "extremely challenging" this year as it unveiled a 19 per cent slump in full-year profits for 2008.
The company said proceeds from the rights issue would be used to cut debt – 408m at the end of last year – and delay the need to refinance existing bank facilities until the end of 2012.
Investors are being offered new shares at an 88 per cent discount to the company's share price on Wednesday night.
Results for 2008 show the group made a profit before tax and exceptional items of 190.7 million, down from 235.1m the previous year. Including one-off items, profits fell more than half to 108.2m.
Analysts remained cautious on Inchcape's prospects. In a research note, analysts at Citi said: "While a heavily discounted rights issue brings the net debt under control, the interest saving of 30 to 40m is likely to be offset by further downgrades as operationally geared emerging markets show further signs of weakening."
Inchcape, which also runs dealerships in markets as diverse as Russia and Hong Kong, has been forced to cut hundreds of jobs and introduce a pay freeze as sales of new cars go into reverse.
The company said it was braced for trading conditions to remain extremely challenging throughout 2009, with a "very weak performance" likely in the first half. Although full-year sales in 2008 rose 3.4 per cent to 6.3 billion, they fell sharply in the second half as the industry suffered an unprecedented downturn.
Few motor dealers have escaped the rout as rising unemployment and the squeeze on credit for big-ticket purchases keeps buyers away from the showrooms.
Yesterday, it was confirmed that the 2010 British International Motor Show has been cancelled as the car industry battens down the hatches.
Inchcape chief executive Andr Lacroix said: "Recent market conditions have been extremely challenging, affecting the entire car industry on a global basis. We have responded swiftly by reducing our cost base, right-sizing the business for the current environment and deleveraging the group."
On the rights issue, he said: "The level of discount that we're offering is in line with most of the rights issues done by very strong companies at the moment so there is nothing exceptional about that."
The group said it would not pay a final dividend for 2008 and did not expect to pay any dividends for the current year.


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Opinion Does being the Jack of all Trades and the master of none apply to Google? I fear so. Having oodles of cash has tempted Google into all manner of strange ventures but it’s pretty clear that some of its wacky ideas are way off kilter.
One of the most popular hardware products for modders and DIY enthusiasts is the Raspberry Pi.
A committee of the House of Commons summoned a Google executive to give testimony again today and raised the possibility that the corporation might find itself in contempt of parliament.
If you're the sort of person who enjoys using multiple operating systems, well, it is probably somewhat difficult for you to choose just one for your tablet. Enter the Ekoore Python S3, which is capable of booting three operating systems: Android, Windows 8 and Ubuntu.
The CEO of Oracle, dashing Larry Ellison, earned $96.4 million last year and it’s hard to figure out how he can make ends meet.
Together, Android and iOS make up a staggering 92.3 percent of all smartphone shipments for Q1 2013, at least according to IDC's latest worldwide quarterly mobile phone tracker.
Hardware company Dell has introduced two server products that it claims are best of class.
IBM lost a lucrative government contract because it made a bid for the work which was too low.
Western Digital has started shipping the world’s first ultraslim 2.5-inch drives, designed specifically to meet the needs of Ultrabook vendors and makers of all things thin.
Mass suing by copyright trolls could be about to be consigned to the dustbin of legal history, according to the Mail Tribune .
IBM has decided to finally lay to rest the second killer app of the PC - the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet.
Google CEO Larry Page is either an arch-manipulator of public opinion or one of the least self-aware people in human history.
It appears that things are finally starting to turn around for the IT industry, after the industry bellwether Cisco published some decent results for once.
Chipzilla's efforts to push into the mobile arena are paying off, but the fashion bag maker is still in a holding pattern waiting for Ultrabooks to take off, according to an analyst from Morgan Stanley.
Google wants Microsoft to kill its homebrew YouTube app for Windows Phone 8. T
Smartphone makers are coming up with increasingly gimmicky features and ways to distinguish their Androids from the rest of the pack.
A 29-year-old single mom from Texas was arrested after it emerged that she tried to give away (or sell) her son on Craigslist.
Aaeon's EPC-CV1 is powered by an Intel Atom N2600 x86 processor, which is somewhat of a rarity when it comes to single-board computers, as most are equipped with RISC-based ARM chips.
It is Paul Otellini’s last day at work today, as he steps down from the role of CEO to spend more time with his family and nurturing tulips in his garden.
A report claimed that Dell will announce results tomorrow that don’t match the expectations of financial analysts.


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Cristiano Ronaldo scores hattrick to earn Portugal a thrilling draw against Spain
Farrah Abrahm Arrested For Striking Security Guard
Liverpool icon Dalglish urges fans: Don't boo Coutinho on Anfield return
Novelist Philip Roth dies at 85
TI Arrested For Disorderly Conduct Outside of His Own Gated Community
McDonald's is releasing Szechuan sauce-for real
03 October 2017, 08:08 | Conrad Doyle
McDonald's then added: "In addition, after almost 20 years (and perhaps a bit of time travel) we're even doing the impossible..."
Well, a lot of absurd internet shouting led to McDonald's actually bringing the sauce back, though it was only a few jugs shipped to Roiland and a select number of fans (and then famous DJ deadmau5 bought one of the jugs for a lot of money; it's all very ridiculous).
Thus, as fans are wont to do, many started begging McDonald's to bring back the dressing.
What's more, to commemorate the special occasion, McDonald's has commissioned some fancy screenprinted artwork for each sauce, and will be giving them away to customers starting at 2pm on the special day.
McDonald's is not specifically referencing the raunchy, adult-themed cartoon in its marketing materials, and the art for the sauce container doesn't show any of the main characters.
Yesterday Rick and Morty capped off its third season with an episode in which Rick tried to murder the President of the United States.
"Ready to celebrate? We're giving away 1,000 limited-edition, hand numbered, screen-printed posters for all 10 sauces in our legendary lineup-including Szechuan Sauce".
'Sometimes, their impulsivity can get them into all sorts of hijinks, but their mad genius is their portal out of trouble. Thank goodness Rick won't have to spend nine seasons trying to fulfill his series ark.
Szechuan sauce will be available at four Chicago McDonald's: 2400 N. Lincoln Ave.; 1951 N. Western Ave.; 180 W. Adams St.; and 5200 S. Lake Park.
This Saturday, fans will get their own taste. But if there's one thing within this cold universe he's passionate about, it's the Szechuan sauce that came with McNuggets to promote the movie Mulan in the summer of 1998.
Apples for Sale: iPhone 8 and 8Plus release in India
Under the hood, the new iPhones come outfitted with Apple's new A11 Bionic chipset with hexa-core CPU and Apple designed GPU. The company is offering a flat cashback of Rs 10,000 to Jio users on purchases made via Citi Bank credit and debit cards.
Padmavati first look starring Deepika Padukone is finally out
It's the first day of Navratri and Sanjay Leela Bhansali had a ideal gift for not only his fans but also Deepika Padukone's fans. Ranveer Singh plays the role of Alaudin Khilji and Shahid Kapoor plays Deepika's onscreen husband Ratan Singh in the film.
Meghan McCain joins 'The View' as regular host
Last Friday, the program scored its second-best telecast in five months with guest co-host Anthony Scaramucci's appearance. While announcing her departure from " The View ", Behar told Bila on air, "It's great to have you here".
CVS Limiting Opioid Prescriptions
Opioid painkiller prescriptions will be limited to a seven-day supply for certain conditions, CVS Pharmacy announced Thursday. In addition, it will require the use of short-period pain relief opioids before providing extended-release opioids.
Good news for Dolphins vs. Saints
This year, we got the guys here, we just gotta figure out what's going on, why are we stumbling". What we see from the Dolphins are making fans wish they had "queasy" Joe Philbin back.
Trump lifts shipping restrictions for storm-hit Puerto Rico
But a shortage of truckers and the island's devastated infrastructure are making it tough to move aid to where it's needed most . President Donald Trump waived laws forbidding foreign ships from transporting goods between US ports and Puerto Rico Thursday.


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Timescale Database Now Available in 76 Cloud Regions
Looking for a time-series database to power applications in a specific part of the world? If so, chances are good that Timescale has you covered with its hosted Timescale Cloud offering, which was recently expanded and now is available in 76 regions across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
Timescale launched Timescale Cloud about a year ago as a fully hosted service for TimescaleDB, the open source time-series database that it also develops. The cloud expansion means that customers in far-flung parts of the world don’t have to compromise when implementing a time-series database to power real-time use cases in IoT, DevOps, IT monitoring, oil and gas, and marketing analytics, says Ajay Kulkarni, CEO of Timescale.
“As a developer, you really want your database to be co-located with your application,” Kulkarni says. “Our customers are in Japan, India, and Australia, markets you typically wouldn’t reach when you’re an early stage company like ours, but we’re reaching them because we’re essentially available in their backyard.”
Timescale is gaining traction with its time-series database, which is built on PostgreSQL. The database adopts the relational data model, and keeps time-series measurements in its own row, while allowing other fields to be added as the user sees fit. The database supports ANSI SQL, enabling developers to get started quickly. The company doesn’t disclose the number of paying customers, but the open source TimescaleDB product has been downloaded tens of millions of times and accounts for more than 500,000 active databases, according to Kulkarni.
The most common use case for the time-series database is serving real-time data to dashboards that provide customers with visibility into data flowing off sensors, IT gear, manufacturing lines, airlines, online music sales, or whatever else the customer wants to measure, Kulkarni says.
For example, Everactive, a Virginia company that manufactures battery-less sensors that run on kinetic energy, has adopted Timescale Cloud to better track data coming off sensors. Schneider Electric, Warner Music, Bosch, Samsung, and IBM are also using TimescaleDB or the company’s commercial offerings.
“As companies undergo digital transformation and they’re better able to track data in real time,” Kulkarni says. “Essentially what that means is you can, in much finer detail, measure what’s happening.”
So what’s fueling the rise of time-series databases? According to Kulkarni, traditional relational databases and newer NoSQL databases are ill-equipped to deal with the volumes of real-time data that customers want to capture, store, and analyze today. That mismatch has given rise to—and driven the growth of–the time-series database niche.
“Time-series is a hard-enough problem where having something that’s purpose-built can lead to a better experience and real efficiency for compute and storage costs,” Kulkarni says. “Typically you have your relational data in one database and time-series in some NoSQL store. With Timescale, you put it together in one database. You’re migrating to Timescale, but it lets you de-silo your data. It lets you combine them in the same place, which simplifies your stack, while also getting better performance and lower cost.”
New compression algorithms introduced with the recent launch of TimescaleDB version 1.5 deliver 15x compression, which translates into a 95x saving in storage costs, Kulkarni says.
The data is “relentless,” he says. “It piles up very quickly. And so traditional database don’t scale for these workloads, which is why you need a database like ours that lets you scale, while maintaining resource efficiency, compute efficiency, and storage efficiency.”
The company is ramping up development of TimescaleDB 2.0 in about a month. The new version will bring support for multi-node deployments, which will help companies with the biggest data demands scale the database horizontally.
Gaining visibility into real-time data via a dashboard is the driving force in many Timescale deployments, because it gives customers something they didn’t have. The next phase will be delivering predictions based on real-time data. We’re not quite there yet, Kulkarni says.
“A lot of companies today want to get there,” he says, “but they’re still laying the foundation, which is you need to first collect the data. You need a place to store and analyze the data, which is where we come in. Once you get that foundation, then I think you can build the layer on top. Right now it’s around real-time monitoring. The next step is more predictive monitoring.”


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Mobility, social media, the Internet of Things, Big Data and the cloud have caused data volumes to reach new heights. Businesses already have too much data to cope with, and it’s unlikely that the growth of ‘Big Data’ will slow down any time soon. Analyst firm IDC has said that the amount of data in the world doubles every two years, and that by 2020 there will be 44 trillion gigabytes of data stored. This data presents massive opportunities for businesses and IDC has also predicted that those organisations that analyse all relevant data and deliver actionable intelligence will see an additional $430bn (£300bn) in productivity gains by 2020 than those that don’t.
While statistics like these show the benefits of data and encourage businesses to invest in analytics and intelligence tools, fewer are considering the storage implications. Vast sums are money are also being spent on making use of the data and storage is fast becoming a critical bottleneck, yet is not being afforded the same attention. Far too many organisations continue to rely on traditional legacy storage and data management setups – static solutions which were never developed for mass data collection and choke when face with an avalanche of information.
These setups are incapable of scaling up or out on-demand and, even if they weren’t, doing so in a financially sustainable way is almost impossible. On top of that, the fact that these solutions are often based on proprietary hardware and designed to deploy from a single location design means they can’t meet many of the required standards of data security either.
An alternative way: SDS
For many businesses storage is a ticking time bomb and some are realising that an alternative way is the only way. While still a relatively new concept, Software Defined Storage (SDS) has risen to prominence over the last few years. SDS architectures are far more flexible than their legacy counterparts and are capable of scaling to meet fluctuating demand for capacity and provide a flexible and – importantly – financially sustainable architecture.
SDS also provides consistent high-performance and streamlined data flow – through, for example, automatic deduplication – which means information is instantly retrievable and high-density applications can be deployed on demand. This agility is not just what businesses want today, but it is what they need in order to meet future storage demands.
While great strides have been made in SDS, there’s more that can be done to truly ensure any investment in it represents a sustainable, future proofed, and affordable alternative. Decoupling management software from the underlying hardware systems used to manage it is the basis of SDS. However, given that there is still some confusion surrounding what SDS really means, it’s not uncommon for vendors to simply repackage their existing solutions, labelling them as SDS and then lock customers in to working with a single vendor. Yet that’s really not the point of SDS.
Of course, it can mean different things to different people and solutions range from do-it-yourself to fully-fledged scale up and scale out architectures, but one thing should be core – it should be free from the proprietary complications of its predecessor.
Taking an open source approach
As such, the next logical step is to take an open source driven approach. OpenSDS allows the software to run on a wider variety of hardware – ensuring it is 100 per cent hardware, protocol, and app agnostic. By the sheer nature of design, being ‘hardware agnostic’ means that these solutions are easy to integrate with existing infrastructure, where heavy investment has already been made and shouldn’t be wasted. In addition, these solutions are continually evolving for the better – driven by a growing collective of talented and dedicated developers and resources.
Essentially, OpenSDS allows organisations to treat their storage infrastructure in a similar way to their virtualised environments – chose a software stack and then easily swap industry standard hardware underneath as cost, scale and performance needs arise. In the same way, OpenSDS will support any ecosystem and any access protocol, while running on a wide variety of hardware configurations – whether they are all flash, all disk, or hybrid. Clearly the possibilities are huge and, if it’s done correctly, OpenSDS will allow businesses to build scalable, reliable, full featured, high performance storage infrastructures from a wide selection of low cost industry standard hardware.
As Big Data continues to rise, budgets get spent on using it effectively and legacy storage systems become increasingly overloaded, open source SDS is the only logical answer. Businesses looking to spend less and do more will quickly see the benefits of flexible, scalable infrastructure that involves no vendor lock-in. OpenSDS is revolutionising the storage industry – allowing organisations to do things they couldn’t do before while fundamentally changing the economics of the enterprise storage business. All of which can only be a good thing.
Tarkan Maner, chairman and CEO, Nexenta
Image Credit: Bildagentur Zoonar GmbH / Shutterstock


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Jesse James Relaunches West Coast Choppers
Jesse James stopped building bikes almost 4 years ago, but it looks like the quality of his craft outlives his (former) desire to take a definitive break. As Cyril Huze reports, Jesse was convinced into reviving WCC by the huge amount of support and praise his work has gathered in time, and by the fact that his creations, including apparel and other gear are still much sought after.
With more 186,000 Twitter followers and 59,000 Facebook likes, Jesse James promises that his new business will not be centered on “more and bigger” principles but on quality solely. Remembering the time when WCC grew too big in too short a time, James emphasizes that he will take his time for building the new bikes, so that the finished product would represent exactly his philosophy in this respect.
A new website has already been launched and orders for exclusive custom parts, accessories, and clothing will be available. WCC items will ship worldwide and the brand already has sales representatives in in Tokyo (Japan), Barcelona (Spain) and Amsterdam (the Netherlands).


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In this episode of Nutrition Asia, we place our attention on the functional foods scene in India, where two start-ups, Voll Sante Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals and Merhaki Foods and Nutrition tell their insights and experience gained in the past few years.
Both firms pointed out that the concept of functional foods was still in its infancy in India and they needed to speak the consumers’ language to convey the benefits behind their products.
As for the potential target consumers, Satya Dev Tiwari, managing director of Voll Sante Functional Foods, who counts protein beverage and DHA muesli grain flakes as some of his company’s popular products, identified the ageing population as a target group.
Whereas Sheta Mittal, cofounder and director of Merhaki Foods and Nutrition – known for its period care beverages and chocolates – said there were still many untapped areas in women’s health space.
Watch the video to find out more.


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BANGALORE, India – Freescale Semiconductor, its interest payments decreasing and its debt reduced through the funds generated through an IPO, says it is poised to invest in more R&D as it seeks to move beyond PCs to supply mobile device and “white box” manufacturers.
“Semiconductor companies now need to become much more systems-oriented,” Freescale CEO Rich Beyer said during Freescale’s technology forum here this week. “We are into an era of connected intelligence where data is ubiquitous, and these devices [such as tablets] will conform to us and not have us conform to them, as in the case of the personal computer.”
Beyer predicted the post-PC era will be characterized by a change from content creation to content consumption. That means service providers will be forced to upgrade their networks more frequently, often before the costs of these investments can be fully amortized.
Beyer also stressed that Freescale will continue to target the automotive, medical, smart grid, wireless and smart mobile devices markets.
While many chip makers are targeting design wins in the next round of tablets from Apple and others or Dell netbooks, Beyer recently said Freescale “would like to work with white-box vendors in China.” The company is betting it can collaborate with Chinese makers of what it refers to as “non-branded consumer products.”
Service providers are actually moving in the opposite direction as they reduce competition. Cellular in the US is moving to a duopoly, and cable networks are more interested in choking off competitors like Netflix than spending on infrastructure to please their captive customer bases. The only real competition would be municipal Internet, and they are working the government at the state and federal levels to choke that off. Unfortunately, the passive consumer of media described here is much less capable of working around those toll booths. Dedicated devices are much less flexible than general-purpose computing platforms (i.e. PCs).
Wireless and mobile are no doubt a growing technology. As more people go mobile, the demand of bandwidth is going to be higher in both wireless and wireline infrastructure. In addition, the smart delivery of content is crucial to the excellency of user experience. What's freescale position in in-home network?
Join our online Radio Show on Friday 11th July starting at 2:00pm Eastern, when EETimes editor of all things fun and interesting, Max Maxfield, and embedded systems expert, Jack Ganssle, will debate as to just what is, and is not, and embedded system.


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The Government of Tanzania in collaboration with Rice stakeholders in the country is committed to increasing food security in the East African region as well as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and becoming a beacon for the rice market in regional communities through implementation of the Second National Rice Development Strategy (NRDS).
This was stated on 18th May 2021 by the Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Prof. Siza Tumbo who was represented by Maregesi Geoffrey, the Agricultural Engineer from the Ministry of Agriculture, Department of Training, Extension Services and Research at the opening of the Regional conference involving various stakeholders in the value chain of the rice crop held in Dar es Salaam and organized and the Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) project of which the Sokoine University of Agriculture is a member.
“In collaboration with various stakeholders, The Ministry of Agriculture is committed to ensuring that we increase the area of rice production from 1.1 million hectares in 2018 to 2.2 million hectares by 2030 and thus increase production from 2.2 tons per current hectare to tons 4.4 by 2030 ” Stressed Engineer Maregesi.
He added that other measures that will be implemented are to strengthen marketing and trade systems, increase access to fertilizer and distribution, strengthen irrigated agriculture and promote its technologies while reducing post-harvest crop losses from 30 percent to 10 percent by 2030.
He added that rice is one of the most important food crops produced in almost all regions in the country in more than 26 districts which for the 2018 survey produces 2,219,628 million tons.
APRA Project Lead Researcher for Tanzania, Prof. Aida Isinika explaining the objectives of the regional conference to the stakeholders of the value chain of the Tanzania Rice crop during the opening of the conference.
Speaking before welcoming the official guest to open the Conference, the lead researcher and head of the APRA project on the Tanzanian side, Prof. Aida Isinika from the Sokoine University of Agriculture called on all rice crop stakeholders in the country to organize themselves to ensure Tanzania become self-sufficient in the crop and continue to be a leading rice producer for East African countries.
"We all know that Tanzania is a leader in the production of rice in this region of East Africa but we must realize that there are various countries now coming fast in increasing productivity so all stakeholders must plan for our country to become a world market leader in rice crop” stressed Prof. Isinika
Prof. Isinika said the world's largest rice producers have reached their potential productivity and are now looking at the African continent as it still has great production opportunities and so Tanzania must be more prepared to take advantage of the many opportunities available to produce and export instead of relying on imports from outside the country.
The APRA project leader thanked all the stakeholders in the value chain who agreed to participate in this important meeting which will look at all the key areas in particular and come up with resolutions on best practices that will help achieve those national goals together.
Ms. Ridda Dally, from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), giving her message during the opening of the conference.
Greeting on behalf of the other stakeholders of the conference in the value chain, the Agricultural Projects Officer of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Ms. Ridda Dally said for many years they have been working with various stakeholders as well as the government in supporting the development of rice crops in the country and will continue to participate to achieve the goals.
She said that rice is one of the crops that contribute to the development of the people and the nation that is why JICA decided to fund the task force that was preparing the first and second National Rice Development Strategy (NRDS) whose goal was to increase production of the crop so the conference will help come up with better strategies to implement the plan.
The co-ordinator of the meeting, Dr. Christopher Magomba explaining the schedule and how the meeting will be held for all three days.
The three day conference includes various stakeholders in the entire rice crop value chain in the country where on the first day they discussed Tanzania's plans and on the second and third day the conference hopes to include other stakeholders from all over the world where more than 500 will participate through the Internet.
Photo of the participants of the conference who are stakeholders in the value chain of the Rice crop in Tanzania
Read more information about the conference at East Africa Rice Conference 2021 (18-20 May 2021)
Participants from across the country following the opening of the three-day conference in Dar es Salaam
Story and Photo Credits: Calvin Edward Gwabara - SUAMEDIA


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Shopify is working to encourage more physical sales for merchants that don't have physical stores.
The Ottawa-based e-commerce software and payments hardware company has agreed to work with Vancouver-based thisopenspace, a marketplace for short-term retail space for brands or entrepreneurs to establish pop-up shops. In addition, Shopify is offering a Chip & Swipe card reader in the U.S. as a means of further enabling sales in physical settings.
"It is the physical space needed, without the high overhead costs and investments that have previously been the main factor keeping merchants away from selling their product and extending their brand into the real world," IBK Ajila, director of retail engineering at Shopify, said of the new arrangement. "We know that today's consumer is looking for a multichannel experience. They may find an item online, but want to see it in-store, and may ultimately purchase it online."
That's a pitch that Shopify hopes will resonate with merchants that test thisopenspace to gauge the success of venturing offline.
And it could work, considering between 80% and 85% of new businesses opening within the last couple of years started online, said Steve Mott, principal of BetterBuyDesign, a Stamford, Conn.-based consulting firm.
"It makes perfect sense, because about half of those merchants have actually gone into or tried POS," Mott said. "It is a great idea for Shopify to offer a de facto available infrastructure on a temporary basis."
While Shopify has created "a clever way to reduce the cost for a merchant to move into a physical presence," the challenge for Shopify e-commerce merchants will remain the same as any merchant faces, said Tim Sloane, director of emerging technologies advisory services for Boston-based Mercator Advisory Group.
"It's all location, location, location," Sloane said. "Malls are going belly-up with fewer traditional merchants or bedrock stores, so if the Shopify merchant has a product associated with people in a mall, it could be a good place for them to try."
Conversely, Shopify also serves merchants with a strong brick-and-mortar presence who decide they want to expand market share by establishing an online presence.
The company recently opened Shopify Payments, its own payment gateway, in New Zealand. The system gives merchants a payment gateway to accept credit cards, but also to use other payment options like Shopify Pay and Apple Pay. More than 300,000 Shopify merchants worldwide use Shopify Payments.
"Physical retail is not going to go away," Ajila said. "Merchants are realizing that offline selling is all about the experience."


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How WYLD Bikes Brought Purpose To Cycling With Bamboo Frames That Create Positive Impact
By Jessica Campbell | Nov 16, 2021
2020 was the great equaliser, the pandemic a viral meme and way of saying, “I was there, too.” While everyone’s experience of these last two years will inherently be unique, most can attest to the fact that for all the ills that accompanied lockdown, there was also an opportunity – however slight. For the first time in the midst of a culture that has come to wear the phrase “I’m too busy” like a badge of honour upon their chest, we were giving breathing room. With borders closed and regional travel off the cards, we were confronted with a new and startling reality but in this moment of respite and reflection, we turned inwards. A discerning eye was taken to our own values, to the lifestyle we perhaps wanted for ourselves but felt too removed from, as though standing outside craning our neck to get a glimpse of the most brightly-lit room in the house. And so we emerged from lockdown perhaps not shiny and new, but more grounded, motivated to honour the values at our core.
It might be a matter of circumstance, but that WYLD bikes has arrived at a time where we as consumers are now demanding greater transparency and ethical responsibility from businesses and their products can’t be underestimated. The products are, at their essence, a reflection of the values held by founders Natalie Simmons and Simon Doble. The pair, who first joined forces to found the company, Barefoot Citizens, are passionate about creating sustainably minded businesses. When Simmons left her corporate job after 25 years, she wanted to build something that would create a positive impact for people and the planet. “We believe that purpose drives people, people build communities, and communities change the world. I think Covid really highlighted this notion that we’re not just individuals coexisting on this planet, we’re also deeply connected,” says Simmons.
“People have realised that things like climate action is everyone’s responsibility and people do want to know where they’re buying their products from and transparency is becoming very important. It’s about giving people the opportunity to not only do something good for themselves, but to do something good for people and the planet,” she adds.
With a keen interest in design and building products that actually create positive impact (and don’t simply look the part), Simmons and Doble turned their attention towards the bike market. If you, like countless individuals, turned to cycling as a means of keeping fit during lockdown, you’re not alone. In 2020, bike sales increased by a staggering 990 per cent globally, a figure that shows no signs of slowing down. Our health became a priority and with the outdoors off limits for so long, when restrictions eased suddenly the routes less travelled held all the allure. “We saw an opportunity in the market to bring responsible bikes to market,” Simmons explains. “Most bikes at the moment are made of carbon steel or graphite, and we believe that bamboo bikes could replace a lot of the bikes that are currently on the market.”
Bamboo might seem an obscure choice for a bicycle, but to learn more about it is to discover that it might just be the best material you can think of when it comes to bicycle design. Aside from being one of the most natural and sustainable resources that we have that’s easy to grow and requires very little water, it’s also particularly well suited to cycling. Bamboo has a lot of flex in the bike, making it a really nice ride and it’s also far stronger than steel. The bamboo frames are wrapped in a vegetable epoxy that make it particularly sturdy, while also being far lighter. Most importantly though, buying a WYLD bike is buying a bike for life. This isn’t a model designed for those interested in trends or flash pieces that are found abandoned a year later. In contrast, WYLD bikes go the distance, something that was particularly important to its founders who look to break the cycle of disposable goods.
So, the idea of a bamboo bike was born and with it a partnership. In looking to bamboo as a sustainable alternative, WYLD bikes partnered with Ghana Bamboo Bike Initiative (GBBI), which employs women who are disadvantaged in some way – often as a result of domestic violence or poverty – and provides a means of support. With each bike being handmade in Ghana, women are provided with an opportunity to not only gain employment, but learn new skills that empower her to take herself out of the cycle of poverty into which she was born. For each frame produced, 10 bamboo seedlings are also planted in its place. “We do that not for re-harvesting purposes, but to stop the erosion of fertile land in Africa,” Simmons explains. “One of the biggest issues in West Africa is the erosion of fertile land, and that’s depleting food sources as well as income sources for people. And then we ship the bikes to Australia and obviously off-set our shipping footprint.”
The bikes are then assembled here in Australia in partnership with a number of social enterprises where training, skills development, employment, career pathways and ongoing mentorship is provided to disadvantaged and unemployed youth. In developing their confidence, skills and offering such opportunities, these young Australians can go on to find fulfilling work in the future.
Currently, there are two WYLD bikes available for purchase in two different colours and sizes. There’s a men’s frame, called Archi, and a women’s frame, called Luca, which come in tan or black with two size options available. There’s also the option of a nine, 10 or 11 gear option for each bike. “For us really it was about making sure that it’s the highest performing bike, without it being a racing or professional bike. But it’s fitted out with top-end components as well, which was really an important part for us,” Simmons explains. “The three key things we really focused on were that we built a circular economy, that the performance of the bike was top-notch and that we’re trying to contribute to this notion of the end of ‘fast fashion.’ Bikes are no different. Bikes are disposable and a lot of the cheaper made bikes last a year or two,” she adds. “It’s a bike for life.”
Already, interest in WYLD bikes has been far-reaching as Simmons admits that many a stranger has been inclined to come up and start a conversation after seeing the bamboo bicycle in the flesh. It’s already seen them look to the future, with Simmons revealing WYLD will be brining out a BMX frame and a little kid’s frame, as well as the launch of a bamboo e-bike in the New Year. Just recently, the company also collaborated with Citizen Wolf, an ethically accredited T-shirt company in Sydney, to launch its merch. In a stand against fast fashion, the supply chain has been kept short with the intention of making as many of the t-shirts, tote bags and caps here in Australia.
It’s clear, both in conversation with Simmons and in the business model of WYLD bikes itself, that every stage of development has been carefully thought out to ensure a positive impact for all involved. “Cycling was something we really believed in and we saw a huge opportunity,” says Simmons. “We just believe in building purposeful businesses that create impact, both locally and globally.”
For more information on WYLD bikes or to make a purchase, visit the official website here.
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Under the McHenry proposal, financial technology firms would be required to prove to the regulator that:
- their innovation serves a public interest,
- improves access to financial products or services,
- doesn’t pose a system risk to the financial system or consumers.
While some agencies may currently have a similar program, McHenry’s bill would add an additional layer of data sharing and reporting to Congress over time. It would also force regulators to be more attuned and involved in the marketplace. If the bill is enacted, the federal agencies would then have 60 days to identify at least three areas of existing regulation that could apply to financial innovation and what areas they would consider waiving or modifying regulation upon petition from a fintech firm. However, regulators face a tricky balance: letting companies push new products to market while protecting consumers from possible fraud.
There are some reservations regarding about the Sandbox facing overwhelming demand; Patrick Pinschmidt, former deputy assistant secretary at the Treasury Department and executive director of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, commented at a FinTech Forum in Silicon Valley on Wednesday, 21st of September; “It could conceivably become a very crowded sandbox and that’s not to say that’s a bad thing,”. There is an element of politicization if like the UK; the United States decides to “cherry pick” the most promising projects, but the “sandbox” approach is something appreciated by fintech firms. Siddhartha Sharma, Chief Technology Officer at Hedgeable has said that in the end, the consumer is the one who could really win. “From a customer’s standpoint, they get to test out and be a partner in the development of a product. Their feedback would be incorporated into the final product,” said Sharma. Hence the consumer not only shapes the future, but they also get an education about the amazing innovations that are happening.
While McHenry conceded that passing the bill this year would be difficult, he emphasizes that the introduction of this bill sparks a much needed conversation and would lay the groundwork for supportive regulations and infrastructure for the future.
Image credit to: Martin Falbisoner. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Adit Vaddi is a business development associate with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Vassar College, New York. He has a background in Economics, Accounting, Political Science and Operations (Event Management). He is from Hyderabad, India. Prior to Crowd Valley, Adit has worked as a research analyst for Baring's Private Equity Partners in Mumbai and for the IdeaSpace Foundation in Manila as well as a risk analyst for Fincare in Bangalore. On the operations side, Adit has organized and run over 30 large scale events that cater primarily to a college community. He is currently based in New York City.


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Broiler producers can reduce the risk of transferring campylobacter infection to their flocks by changing their disinfection policies, according to the bio-security company, Hysolv Animal Health UK.
Quoting research findings from the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), the company has highlighted the lasting effectiveness of chlorocresol products when used as a farm boot-dip disinfectant against Campylobacter jejuni at access points to broiler flocks.
“Twelve products that covered the main disinfectant classes used on farms were selected for testing (by APHA) and a disinfectant boot-dip model was created to simulate use through daily loading with litter to assess the effect of contact times,” said Hysolv.
“All the products were effective after a 30-minute contact time in clean boot-dips, but a shortened contact time or an increase in contamination with poultry litter resulted in some products becoming ineffective, according to the researchers. In fact, after seven days of simulated boot-dip usage, including litter loading, only chlorocresol products remained effective.”
Hysolv’s Geoff Hooper said that many farms still use cut-down drums and tubs without lids, an approach which means there is “great scope for reducing boot-borne infections and cross-contamination”.
Headline image shows Hysolv’s FootCheck footbath in which chlorocresol is the active ingredient used in its Interkokask product.
The original APHA research project – The efficacy of broiler farm boot-dip disinfectants against Campylobacter jejuni – was carried out by NH Kell, RH Davies and AB Vidal.