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Sony Focusing On PS4, VR In This Week's State Of Play Stream
Sony has announced that it's hosting another State of Play livestream this week, with an emphasis on current hardware. In other words, don't go into the stream expecting to learn anything new about PlayStation 5.
The State of Play starts at 1 p.m. Pacific this Thursday on Sony's official Twitch and YouTube channels and will run about 40 minutes. Sony says viewers will get some new information on several PS4 and PSVR games, in addition to updates on some of the third-party and indie titles that were shown during the June 11 State of Play.
"There won’t be any updates around hardware, business, preorders, or dates either," Sony said on a related blog post. "On Thursday, our focus is squarely on showcasing some cool upcoming games coming to the broader PlayStation ecosystem. Should be fun!"


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Shifting Global Data Protection Regulations Create Uncertainty for Businesses
October 2020 by IntSights
Privacy Shield, a popular mechanism allowing US companies to transfer and store EU personal data, is down and out. A draft of China’s controversial new data privacy law is in. The UK is out of the EU, which impacts GDPR. Brazil’s new data protection plan is officially in. And Californians vote in November to toughen the nation’s strictest data protection rules. Confused?
For any business that collects personal data on its customers and does business across state or national boundaries, the regulatory landscape can be a dizzying patchwork, in which the rules are different everywhere and are constantly changing.
To help clarify and explain the current state of data privacy regulations around the globe, here are some of the latest developments relative to China, the US, Europe, and South America.
Brexit and the European Union
Let’s start with the European Union, which pioneered strict data privacy protections. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was adopted in 2016 and started enforcement in May 2018. It gave individuals control over how organizations collect, transfer, and store their personal data. Citizens can ask that their data be deleted or, if there is an error, that it be corrected. The UK’s withdrawal from the EU has thrown the rules for data transfer between UK and EU into question, and, as of today, there is no clear answer on how existing data use and transfer agreements will be handled.
The current transition period, during which GDPR rules still apply in the UK, expires at the end of January, and negotiations are underway to reach a permanent agreement. The most likely, but certainly not guaranteed, outcome is that the UK will simply adopt its own version of GDPR. But organizations should also prepare contingency plans in case no agreement is reached and companies need to implement their own data transfer arrangements to satisfy GDPR requirements.
Privacy Shield and the United States
Organizations on both sides of the Atlantic must now review their network of vendor relationships to check which are reliant on Privacy Shield, and then put a new data transfer mechanism in place, most likely SCCs.
In the absence of a national strategy, California has taken the lead and adopted strict GDPR-like data protection regulations. Several other states have adopted similar regulations, and more are expected to follow suit. So the smart move for companies collecting or storing customer data in the US is to make sure that data protection and information privacy policies comply with California’s rules as a baseline.
A further strengthening of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is on the ballot this November. The current regulation, which went into effect on January 1, 2020, enables Californians to find out what personal information a business is collecting and gives consumers the ability to opt out of the sale of their personal information. Residents can also sue companies that don’t safeguard their personal data. Proposition 24 would also allow Californians to opt out of data collection entirely.
On September 18, President Jair Bolsonaro signed the Brazilian General Data Protection Law, Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (LGPD), which applies to organizations in Brazil as well as non-Brazilian companies that process personal data for the purpose of offering or supplying goods and services to individuals in Brazil. With some minor variations, LGPD aligns closely with GDPR, so companies that are GDPR compliant should have a better chance of meeting the requirements of the LGPD.
China has issued a draft of probably the most consequential and provocative data protection regulation due to the fact that it includes practices and standards that scrutinize not only personal data use but also surveillance. Added to the possible contention of the draft is the current trade dispute between the US and China.
On the surface, China’s comprehensive new regulations are long overdue. China has been behind the curve when it comes to adopting GDPR-style data protection rules. Instead, China was operating under a patchwork of multiple regulations.
The new law would tighten regulations for accessing and sharing data, create new management responsibilities for data entities, and promote the use of government data. Entities that require access to Chinese user data will need to comply with strict new data security requirements, such as establishing managing bodies and completing regular risk assessments.
Current measures that counter the Chinese regulation in an attempt to protect personal information, such as the US “Clean Network” initiative, which imposes tough restrictions on Chinese hardware and software vendors, have further agitated the environment. In response to US measures, China’s draft regulation promises “corresponding measures” against countries that limit data flows and technology investment into China.
Article 32 of the draft regulation states: “Where public security departments and national departments need to consult data in order to lawfully safeguard national security and investigate a crime…relevant organizations and individuals shall grant cooperation.” The concern is that the regulations could require non-Chinese/foreign companies to turn over customer data to the Chinese government.
How Can Businesses Comply with the Global Spectrum of Regulations? No matter which jurisdiction a company falls under, there are best practices that all companies should follow in order to protect customer data.
For example, companies should practice minimal data collection – in other words, only collect the data you need in order to conduct business-as-usual activities. A good understanding of the BAUs will enable a company to limit the data required to conduct business. Companies should also build customer consent into any data collection activities.
It is vital that companies enforce a strict security policy on any data they store, process, or transmit. Organizations should make every effort to protect data through data classification, encryption, and data loss prevention. Those security measures should be undertaken across on-premises and cloud environments. In addition to traditional reactive security tools like anti-virus, organizations should also deploy newer, more sophisticated approaches, such as threat intelligence and attack surface analysis, to fully understand their data threat exposure.
Education is also important; this includes anti-phishing and data hygiene training for employees, as well as education for customers about security and privacy. Companies should extend security and privacy policies across the entire vendor ecosystem of third parties, contractors and consultants. Cyber Threat Intelligence and Data Privacy Adhering to varying data privacy regulations in different geographies can make any security or compliance practitioner’s head spin. Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI) can empower these teams to proactively assess their organization’s risk and liabilities and help them avoid falling out of compliance.
CTI can be deployed in order to align threat intelligence with an organization’s cybersecurity framework. A good CTI solution can measure compliance with regulatory requirements and it can align with global privacy laws and regulations, ensuring security stacks can handle the rigor of current and forthcoming requirements. To learn how the IntSights External Threat Protection (ETP) Suite provides solutions that help security and compliance teams achieve these goals, click here.

domain: news


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Fijian business owners gather for Inaugural Business Summit
April 15, 2019 5:14 pm
About 100 Fijian businesses owners gathered in Suva this afternoon for the inaugural Business Summit.
Facilitated by the Fiji Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the forum is expected to bridge the gap in the business sphere working with government and business owners in a more conducive environment for better private sector growth.
Chamber President – Dr. Nur Bano Ali in her opening address highlighted the importance of business processes being more facilitative.
Dr. Ali singled out the Fiji Revenue and Customs Services for hampering business processes with continued delays.
Dr. Ali says that SMEs continue to be the most challenged and there is an urgent need for the FRCS to aim for real time engagement.
The Fiji Chamber President also noted that the Business Summit will be a platform to address the rumors on liquidity and the devaluation of the Fijian dollar.
Dr. Ali also called on the FRCS to be more inclusive and facilitative.
Meanwhile the Minister for Trade is expected to address the summit along with the Reserve Bank Governor Ariff Ali and the Fiji Revenue and Customs Service CEO Visvanath Das.


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Chang spoke to the publication during a pre-press briefing of MSI's collaboration to outfit the company's gaming motherboard setup with Killer Technology's E2200 Ethernet tech.
"[Steam Box] is kind of expanding the PC landscape in terms of slowly pushing the gap between the average console users that may not ever want to touch a PC versus some of the hardcore PC gamers that will never want to touch a console," Chang said.
Valve is expected to begin distributing Steam Box prototypes within the next three to four months. The company has already announced mini PC manufacturer Xi3 as one of its partners. Xi3 is currently taking pre-orders for the Piston, one of the Steam Box prototypes shown at CES 2013.
"If we can get more users to accept the fact that 'hey you can buy a PC and have incremental upgrades that would have a big impact on gaming performance,'" Chang said, "and if people can actually realize that, then that would expand the PC gaming market by several magnitudes."
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Some may argue that Apple’s new iPhones look just like their predecessor, but that won’t stop people from rushing out to buy one on Sept. 20, according to one analyst. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has been known for his accurate Apple predictions, said in a note to investors that Apple is likely to sell between 6 and 8 million new iPhones during the launch weekend, reports Apple Insider. Comparatively, the iPhone 5 racked up 5 million sales during its first weekend last September and the Galaxy S4 reached 10 million sales after a month on the market.
Kuo also predicts that Apple won’t reveal its sales figures until the opening weekend is over so that it can combine iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s sales into one number. Although the 5s is Apple’s new flagship, the analyst predicts that it will only account for between 35 and 45 percent of Apple’s sales because of supply constraints.
MORE: How to Use iOS 7
The iPhone 5c is predicted to snag between 55 and 65 percent of Apple’s launch weekend sales, especially since it targets those shopping for a slightly less expensive phone. At the same time, Kuo acknowledges that the iPhone 5c isn’t meant to be a budget iPhone, but rather an iPhone 5 replacement. An even lower pricing point for the iPhone 5c could be too appealing for consumers -- to the point that it harms iPhone 5s sales, says the KGI analyst.
Apple’s iPhone 5s and iPhone 5s will be available for Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile when it launches on Sept. 20. The new flagship 5s comes with a speedier A7 processor and a motion coprocessor for contextual computing. Apple has also placed a fingerprint sensor in the home button to abolish the need for password-unlocking your iPhone. The iPhone 5c comes with the same internals as the iPhone 5, but Apple has swapped out the aluminum brushed back for a plastic rear shell available in multiple bright colors.
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Following close consultation with exhibitors, partners and associations, Messe Düsseldorf has decided to scratch all currently planned dates for its events in Düsseldorf until April 2021.
As a result, Interpack, scheduled to run from 25 February - 3 March, has once again been cancelled.
Messe Düsseldorf said that the first show that will be held in 2021 is its international boat trade fair ‘boot Düsseldorf,’ which has been rescheduled for 17 to 25 April 2021. Six other trade shows, including drupa, EuroCIS and Interpack, will revert to their usual cycles.
The current Covid-19 infection situation, existing travel restrictions and the legal framework have prompted Messe Düsseldorf to reassess the situation, said Wolfram N. Diener, CEO of Messe Düsseldorf. Moreover, under a decision taken by the German federal and state governments on 25 November 2020, trade fairs continue to be prohibited.
Moreover, each industry sector, he said, has its individual preparation period and deadline for trade fair participation, which had to be taken into consideration for this decision.
“Ultimately, feedback from our exhibitors has shown that the uncertainty is too great, and we are thus unable to host an Interpack event that would meet the standards of a leading international trade fair."
Indeed, the Italian Packaging Machinery Manufacturers’ Association UCIMA had in November already protested against holding the Interpack show from 25 February to 3 March 2021, calling it ‘inconceivable’ to organise such a major exhibition in just a few months’ time, given the resurgence of the Coronavirus and soaring number of cases across the continent.
“An international exhibition like Interpack requires very substantial investments, not just in economic terms but also in R&D and marketing activities,” argued Luciano Sottile, a member of UCIMA’s board of directors. “For this reason, we believe it is impossible to ensure an adequate return on the investment if the presence of a sufficient number of high-quality visitors cannot be guaranteed.”
Cancelling the fair will now eliminate these problems, and allow customers and partners to reliably plan for 2021, said Messe Düsseldorf. It added that it, too, had been severely affected by the pandemic. “Therefore, our decision is, of course, also based on the costs and benefits.”


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After clinching the title of the most confused car in the history of automobiles, the Suzuki Kizashi has finally gotten rid of all the twisted tales of the past and preparing itself a clearer future.
As per Suzuki's claims in January, the Kizashi should have been unveiled at the New York Auto show. But it seems that the actual launch was slated only for November (here we go again!). Suzuki now says that the Kizashi Concept will debut at Los Angeles Auto Show in Nov 09' and at the same time appear in dealerships in various parts of the world.
Development and testing of the car may have been over by now, thanks to the considerable number of spyshots and crash-tests that propped up last year. It will be manufactured in a brand new plant in Japan.
Suzuki Kizashi was being developed to compete with cars such as the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. The car will be built on a short platform with a wheelbase longer than Toyota Camry for more interior space.
The most likely engine options are 2.3L and 3.6L petrol engines, as well as a 2.0L turbodiesel unit for European & Asian markets.The optional extras will include AWD (all-wheel drive) option and a paddle-shift six-speed automatic gearbox.


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Actress Shilpa Shetty has got the sacred symbol, swastika, inked on her left wrist.
Shilpa Shetty walked the ramp in hues of gold and ivory painting a story of opulence and elegance.
Shilpa Shetty will be penning a book that is based on health and nutrition.
After working on fitness DVDs, Bollywood actress and fitness enthusiast Shilpa Shetty is now writing a book on heath and nutrition.
Shilpa Shetty is excited about sister Shamita’s small screen debut as contestant on “Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa”.
Shilpa Shetty hates shopping in India because of this ‘selfie’ culture as it kills her shopping experience.
Shilpa Shetty says the ancient Indian practice of staying fit should not be mixed with politics.
Actress Shamita Shetty has finally joined the micro-blogging site Twitter.
Shilpa Shetty said yoga has nothing to do with religion, but is a pure science.
Juhi Chawla, Shilpa Shetty and Amrita Rao took part in various yoga sessions and urged their fans to follow them.
Shilpa Shetty, who has been a yoga follower for almost 14 years, says the practise brings discipline and happiness in life.
Shilpa Shetty apologized for skipping the birthday of her mother, Sunanda Shetty.
Shilpa Shetty had a lovely day with family and friends at what seemed to be some kind of formal gathering.
Shilpa Shetty has turned into a radio jockey to talk about Bollywood with the people in London.
This is not the first that a celebrated actor has been involved in such a ‘racist’ controversy.


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The actress replaced
Fans searching for Lily Collins and "downloads," "free app downloads" and "nude pictures" run the highest risk of landing on a website designed to steal passwords or other personal information, McAfee reported.
Musician Avril Lavigne, who has a new album due out this fall, was the second most popular figure used by hackers to lead fans to bad links.
Musicians, especially young female pop stars, are popular lures for such online threats, McAfee found. Eight of the top 20 cyber celebrities cited are musicians -- including
"Mad Men" star John Hamm was the only male to make the top ten.
Cyrus, whose provocative performance during
"Cyber criminals prey on consumers' addiction to breaking news and leverage this behavior to lead them to unsafe sites that can severely infect their computers and devices and steal personal information," said Paula Greve, McAfee's director of web security research, said in a statement.
McAfee cautions against sites that prompt users to download anything before offering access to content. It also advises fans to stick to established news sites for breaking news to avoid falling prey to hackers.
McAfee's 2013 Most Dangerous Cyber Celebrities are as follows:
- Lily Collins
- Avril Lavigne
- Sandra Bullock
- Katy Perry
- Britney Spears
- Jon Hamm
- Adriana Lima


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A clothing retailer in France is under fire after ripping and throwing out unsold clothes outside of their store. People criticizing the company say they could have given the unsold clothes to those who need them.
The criticism began when a shopper posted pictures of the unsold clothes sitting in front of the store. The clothes appear to have been ripped before they were placed outside. The shopper, Nathalie Beauval, posted pictures of the clothes on her FB page. One of the images shows the clothes hanging from the shutter door. Another image shows a jacket that has been ripped on both sides.
The post, in which she explains that she finds it disappointing that the employees threw away the clothes when there is people that need them, has over 1,000 replies and 20,000 shares. Users have seen the images and taken their criticism to social media sites such as Twitter. Nathalie is one of many who have shared images of unsold clothes sitting outside stores or in dumpsters in recent years.
It is not the first time that a store has been criticized for throwing away unsold clothes. Some have even been criticized for ripping and throwing away unsold clothes with the tags still on them. In 2013, Abercrombie & Fitch was criticized for allegedly throwing out unsold clothes with defects that could have been donated. H&M and Walmart have also been criticized for destroying unsold clothing.
The criticism against Celio, the store seen in Nathalie’s images, has led to the company releasing a response on Twitter. In the post, the company defends what it has done, explaining that the clothes were unusable because they had tears and holes. The company adds that their policy is to destroy the unusable clothes.
Employees at the store told local media that the clothes had water damage, which meant that they could not be sold or donated. The company has also said it works with a charity and usually donates discontinued stock.
According to recent estimates, more than 80 billion clothing items are made and sold around the world. That means billions of used or unsold clothes are thrown away. Celio has said that the clothes were unusable but the images continue to draw criticism as the weather is currently very cold in the country. Nathalie also mentioned in her post that there are homeless people sleeping near the store.


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Taco Bell is giving away a free Doritos Locos taco to anyone who wants it on Wednesday.
The fast-food chain is giving away one free Doritos Locos taco per customer on Wednesday from 2 p.m.-6 p.m., as part of their Steal a Base, Steal a Taco promotion during the World Series.
The free tacos are thanks to Houston Astros outfielder Cameron Maybin who stole a base in the top of the 11th inning in game two of the World Series on Oct. 25th.
Of course, Maybin celebrated the moment afterwards on Twitter with a gif of Oprah.
“What’s better than a win in extra innings? Free @tacobell! Proud to be America’s #StealABaseStealATaco guy. You ALL get free tacos on 11/1!” Maybin tweeted.
Taco Bell also tweeted about the big moment.
The free Doritos Locos taco is limited to one per person at participating locations only.


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Samsung has unveiled its fourth-generation V-NAND technology and several SSDs made possible by the new tech.
Latest from Liam Tung
In line with popular green sentiments, EMC has announced the release of a new version of its flagship product, Symmetrix, with major improvements to energy efficiency.
Ohio State's administrative services department has been criticised for its flawed security practices, which for a number of years had allowed unencrypted backup tapes to be stored overnight in an employees car.
Google launches flash storage and a new load balancing option on its Cloud Platform.
EMC today announced it will sell flash-based solid state drives for the first time, which are currently 30 times more expensive than conventional drives.
Western Digital's new My Passport SSD range is available today from $100.
Samsung's new portable SSD drives are available today from $130.
Google outlines its wish list for hard disk drives that don't exist today but which would be better suited to its needs in the cloud.
Breaking up is hard to do, but it seems it's the season for it with rumours that Symantec is once again weighing up whether to split its storage and security businesses.
Apple has a new idea to keep data safe for those moments when an iPhone can't connect to iCloud.


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EDIT – NEXA’s social media handle has now revealed which is the “SUV For Adventure” and it isn’t the Jimny but the S-Cross. The S-Cross is already on sale via NEXA and this was just a social media marketing campaign for it. I guess the wait for the Jimny continues. Monday morning blues, eh?
Maruti Suzuki has teased an upcoming car on the social media handle of NEXA. The caption reads, “This just in! A wild adventurous ride has been spotted making its way through different terrains! The one question is, what car is this?”
There is a high possibility that this teaser is meant for the Maruti Jimny. The Jimny was launched globally a couple of years back and it has become super popular. In fact, the waiting period in some countries can give some tough competition to the Mahindra Thar’s waiting period here in India!
The automaker has been developing a 5-door version of the Jimny but this is still some time away, and won’t be introduced before 2022. However, looking at the success of the Thar, we think Maruti will first launch the 3-door version here, since it is anyway manufactured in India.
The Maruti Jimny will come with the same engine that powers the S-Cross, Ciaz, Ertiga, XL6 and Vitara Brezza. This is a 1.5-litre petrol engine that makes 105 PS of power and gets either a 5-speed MT or 4-speed AT. The compact SUV also gets an ALLGRIP 4WD system.
We really hope the teaser is actually for the Jimny though. It could just be the new Grand Vitara too. It was even suggested by someone that this could be a limited edition of one of Maruti’s existing crossovers/compact SUVs but we’d be happy to be proven wrong here!
If Maruti does end up launching the 3-door Jimny, expect the pricing to be lower than the Thar by a couple of lakhs. The Jimny is smaller in size and it comes with all the basic features that you’d need in a vehicle these days. A starting price of Rs. 8.99 lakhs (ex-showroom) would be sweet, no? Being a niche product, the vehicle will be available through Maruti’s NEXA chain of dealerships.


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Console launches, much like elected officials, never quite live up to their promises. When Sony and Microsoft spoke of all the revolutionary features that would be present on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, we knew we should remain cautiously optimistic until they were actually sitting in our living rooms. As expected, a few of those features weren’t finished in time for launch, but at least for the PS4, Sony says they aren’t dead yet.
When Sony revealed the PS4 in early 2013, the console was supposedly going to allow gamers to put their consoles into “suspend mode” while playing a game, keeping the console in a low-power state, and then seamlessly jump back in when they were ready to play again. PS4 owners would also be able to let their friends take their place in a gaming session over the Internet from a second PS4. Neither of these are currently possible.
“Our team has been working on it,” President of Sony’s Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida told Kotaku at E3 in regards to a friend taking control of your game. “There are some things that we announced in February of last year that were not planned for the launch timeframe.”
When asked about suspending a game and resuming from sleep mode, the answer was similar: “It’s not ready yet.”
Yoshida says that the team is hard at work on the unreleased features, but he doesn’t know for sure when they’ll see the light of day.


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If September was worrying for Fraser Valley realtors, October saw them breathing a sigh of relief.
Home sales are still down from their highs, but they bounced back from the sharp declines at the end of the summer.
The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board released numbers this week showing sales were down eight per cent in October, compared to the same month in 2011.
However, that's a 23 per cent increase over September's sales.
"This is a marked improvement over September," said Scott Olson, president of the FVREB. "Our sales increased at the same time as our inventory dropped improving our supply-demand conditions."
Across the region - from North Delta to Abbotsford and Mission - sales dipped 7.3 per cent for detached houses, 4.6 per cent for townhouses, and 16.7 per cent for condos between October this year and October in 2011.
While the FVREB showed some increases in the prices for a "benchmark" home, average prices slid 3.2 per cent in a month, and were 0.8 per cent lower than a year ago.
Year to date sales are down by nine per cent.
In Langley, the situation was different, with the average prices of houses holding steady or increasing month-to-month, while the average prices of apartments and townhouses slid in year-to-year calculations.
The average price for a house in Langley last month was $559,141, down 0.3 per cent over a year, but up 5.4 per cent from a month before.
Townhouse averages slipped to $431,357, down 7.8 per cent over the year, with almost all of that decline in the last month.
Condo prices slid 6.2 per cent year-over-year to $212,158, but remained 3.9 per cent above September's prices.
The culprit for the declines in sales, especially in September, may be the changes to mortgage rules introduced by the federal government in July.
Those rules essentially banned most homeowners from taking out mortgages longer than 25 years, which increased the average monthly payment needed to buy a home.
Vancouver and other markets across the country have also seen some slowdown in sales as a result of the changes.


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Huawei Mate X2 smartphone is no longer available on the Vmall website. It’s a bit of shocking news for Huawei fans as the company has discontinued the dynamic foldable’s lifeline suddenly from its official online stores. However, the company may have made this change due to the lack of Kirin 9000 inventory that this foldable phone uses.
So far, the Mate X2 has remained one of the most advanced folding smartphones. Its unique design and amazing characteristics have gained a lot of attention from consumers in the meantime.
Besides, the company has kept renovating the phone and its features with the latest upgrades. But as of now, the manufacturer has removed the Huawei Mate X2 folding phone from the official Vmall channels.
This is not the first time that the Chinese tech maker has removed its devices from the online shopping platform. The company has also taken the same removal step for the Mate 40 series.
However, Huawei has later introduced the refurbished Mate 40 Pro 5G handsets on the Vmall shelves. Hence, we could expect the return of the respective folding phone on the online shopping surface.
It’s also possible that the phone could use Snapdragon chipset for future models but nothing is certain at the moment.
Although, there is no information regarding the future availability of the Mate X2 smartphone on the Vmall website. Yet, we will keep updating you with the latest tweaks on this matter.
Huawei Mate X2 – Key specs and details
The Mate X2 foldable comes with a new in-ward folding design set-up. It includes two displays: an 8-inch panel and a 6.45 OLED display cover.
Further, it powers a 5nm processed Kirin 9000 processor with an octa-core CPU and 24-core Mali-G78 GPU. Eventually, the high-end chipset offers better gaming and performance experience to users.
Speaking of the optical system, the phone holds a quad-camera framework at the backend with a 50MP ultra-vision shooter, a 16MP cinematic lens, a 12MP telephoto sensor, and an 8MP super zoom camera. On the front side, the phone holds a 16MP mini cam for selfie purposes.
Together, these fascinating elements have exceeded the popularity rate and booking orders of 600,000. Though at this point, Mate X2 fame is at a halt and doesn’t specify any further details. Stay tuned, for more updates.


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It’s no doubt that Facebook is the popular social networking platform out there. The platform has seen tremendous growth over the years. Still on Facebook, its messenger platform seems to be growing very fast. Just last week, I told you that the number of downloads Facebook messenger has seen from the play store alone passed the 1 billion mark.
Facebook’s CEO was quoted last week saying that Messenger has 700 million registered users. Keep in mind these are registered users and not active users. This makes a lot of sense as you do not expect everyone who downloads the app to use it frequently.
Getting to the 700 million mark is quite a significant growth for the app given that it just had about 600 million registered users back in march this year. To grow by 100 million in just a couple of months is amazing if you ask me. Facebook hopes to grow this number even more in the future.


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Despite all the excitement about mobile advertising in the press this year, the price of mobile ads remains very low.
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July 24, 2016


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The move is an unprecedented one in India’s internet ecosystem, underlining the importance being given to experienced operators by founders as companies scale.
The company is exploring a divestment as Zomato co-founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal is not keen on ceding a lot more stake to Ant Financial, which already owns 28% of the company, said these sources.
Food delivery company has hired psychiatrist Rohit Garg to counsel employees 2-3 times a week.
The carnival will be held across three cities in India -- Delhi, Pune and Bengaluru, Zomato said in a statement.
According to Mohit Gupta, CEO-Food Delivery at Zomato, the company will be the first to hit the 100 city mark and will continue to invest heavily to lead geographical penetration, in the food delivery market in India.
The company’s diversification plan is is simply to double down on food business — from supplying clean ingredients to restaurants to delivering food to customers and beyond.
The deal would value the Gurgaon-based company at around $2 billion.
While Zomato did not specify the number of restaurants, the exercise is being carried out across all 34 cities where the firm has presence.
"I worked with Rohit while I was at Bain, and learned a lot from him in my time there. Rohit has played an instrumental role in driving growth at all of the previous organizations he's been at, and we’re thrilled to leverage his knowledge and experience to strengthen our Ad sales business globally.” said, Deepinder Goyal, founder, and CEO of Zomato.
The paid subscription service would offer a dish and upto two complimentary drinks at partner-restaurants to customers while dining out, a company release said.
Sameer’s appointment at Zomato will be effective July after his latest stint at GE serving as the CFO for its South Asia business
The Gurgaon-based firm will open subscription for the program on April 27th for the last time, CEO Deepinder Goyal said in a blog post.
A large part of the growth has come from the online ordering and subscription-based businesses for Zomato in FY18. Online ordering now forms about 30% of the overall revenues growing from the 18% share in had in FY17.
This is however not the actual annual revenue of the firm for FY18 whose financials will be filed by the company after the year end.
As many as 40% of the total subscriptions sold were through referrals, says the company
Stating that the company has been going through some rough times in the last two years, he said "now that the company is in good shape, I think its a good time".
As part of the programme, subscribers will get access to complimentary food and drinks at over 1,200 top-rated restaurant partners, when they place an order.


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When we first heard that the coffee giant Starbucks would be switching up its ice, we figured that this was no big deal at all. Who could honestly care about such a minor thing?
However, it turns out that there are a number of patrons who are not pleased with what is taking place. As it turns out, they are pivoting away from the classic cubes.
This has a lot of folks upset and we can see why, now that we have had a moment to ponder on it. In case you are wondering, this move has not been made across the board just yet. According to CBS News, it is only happening in select locations for now. Perhaps this is why so many people are raising a fuss now. They are trying their best to keep this from happening everywhere.
“As we continue to innovate and make investments in the Starbucks Experience for our partners (baristas) and customers, we are introducing new machines that make nugget ice to select stores this year,” a Starbucks spokesperson said, according to KTLA.
That is not all that the company had to say when it comes to the change, either. “Like many of our recent investments, this machine allows partners to focus on delivering the Starbucks Experience while hand-crafting the same delicious, high-quality iced beverages our customers have come to expect from Starbucks,” the spokesperson continued.
Clearly, they believe that this change is being made for the best. The change is going to be made over the course of multiple years as well. As of now, the plan is to roll out the new ice cubes slowly and give a higher level of priority to the locations that are consistently fielding a higher amount of cold beverage orders.
New special ice (we are 1 of 3 cafe stores testing the new ice). What do you guys think? It looks like the ice at sonic.
by u/Cupcake_Great in starbucks
This makes sense to us but probably comes as little solace to the people who are not down for the change in the first place. The main difference comes into play because the nugget cubes are denser and smaller than the typical cubes.
Of course, a debate has broken out online over it after a photo of the new ice was shared on Reddit.
Where do you stand on this one? Do you care about the change or is it much ado about nothing?SKM: below-content placeholder


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Are You Afraid of Web Accessibility Lawsuits?
If you’ve been ignoring web accessibility and ADA compliance it’s time to wake up because Web Accessibility Lawsuits are coming for your site.
Image Source: AccessiBe
If you think this post title is just clickbait — you’re wrong, and you should be afraid!
Frankly, we should all be concerned about delivering a good web experience to people with disabilities, but the fact is — most of us haven’t been. Even as part of a web development company, we were late on board to addressing ADA compliance.
Being ignorant, however, isn’t going to keep web accessibility lawsuits from putting a strangle hold on your business.
From global brands to small local businesses, everyone with a website is starting to feel the looming threat of web accessibility lawsuits.
According to analysis by Seyfarth Shaw, more than 11,000 ADA Title III lawsuits were filed in federal courts in 2019, a 400% increase compared to just six years earlier.
Winn-Dixie was the first such lawsuit to be taken to trial. In that case, according to Forbes.com, a federal judge determined the grocery store failed to make its website accessible to people with significant visual impairment. As a result, the company allocated $250,000 to update their site. This was a landmark win for this particular plaintiff, who has filed nearly 70 other known lawsuits claiming business websites failed to comply with American with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards.
This case has set the standard for web accessibility lawsuits.
Let me be clear, if you go to trial for an ADA compliance suit — you are almost certainly going to lose.
The precedence has been set and this precedence has led to a tsunami of web accessibility lawsuits. It’s not just big brands who are being targeted. As you can see from the landmark case mentioned above, that plaintiff has filed 70 other know lawsuits! The number of plaintiffs filing web accessibility lawsuits has increased exponentially over the past year, including small businesses and stand-alone eCommerce stores. Colorado Bag & Baggage, a small business, was forced to pay a plaintiff $4,000 in damages plus up to $100,000 in the plaintiff’s legal fees.
Mounting legal precedent led Forbes.com to write, “times are changing and online businesses have a greater responsibility than ever to prioritize their website accessibility. When companies essentially deny equal access because their website is incompatible with a screen reader – or has other accessibility issues, the companies also become vulnerable to lawsuits.” Source ~ Accessibe
Why Haven’t I Heard About ADA Compliance? Is it really that important?
Every industry has to comply with web accessibility regulations, yet not all fields have been affected equally. I’ve personally heard many website owners say things like; “that’s something only big companies have to worry about.”
I can assure you that it’s not.
To date the industries most impacted by web accessibility lawsuits are:
- eCommerce businesses
- Restaurants and food industry
- Automotive Industry
- Finance Industry
- Healthcare Industry
While many of the cases that make the news are Bigger Companies, it’s mostly small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that have been hit with thousands of lawsuits and demand letters relating to website accessibility over the past 2 years. This increase in cases has triggered an alarm prompting the National Retail Federation to issue a warning to businesses urging them to start taking web accessibility seriously.
Over the past 6 months, we’ve fielded dozens of calls from SB eCommerce store owners seeking help because they are already caught up in web accessibility lawsuits.
Smaller businesses are more vulnerable to being targeted by unfair lawsuits because they don’t have the budgets to make their websites ADA and WCAG compliant. ~ Small Biz Trends
Costs can run into the tens of thousands for SMBs to make their sites compliant, so businesses often back burner website accessibility. Large corporations like Target—who in 2008 paid a $6 million settlement on a lawsuit brought by the National Federation of the Blind—can handle the extra effort and expense of making their websites compliant. But, can your small business afford a settlement like that? Can your business even afford to pay the legal expense to remedy the complaint and pay legal fees on top of that?
The Transition to a Web Accessible Future isn’t Painless
For many website owners all of this litigation is coming as an attack of opportunity on businesses everywhere. The truth is, all businesses should have been helping to shape the path to a web accessible to people with disabilities. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates nearly 1-in-5 Americans has a disability. That’s more than 60 million people.
That’s 60 million people that most of us didn’t really consider when shaping the online space. It’s also a significant amount of potential customers that online businesses didn’t consider.
Today, by the power of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), every business website has to be accessible to people with disabilities. The Law prohibits discrimination based on disability by places of “public accommodation”, meaning websites or brick-and-mortar facilities. People with disabilities, specifically those who are blind or visually impaired, have been filing lawsuits against businesses over website accessibility issues, and many of them were winning. From 2017 to 2018, the number of federal website accessibility lawsuits nearly tripled, from 814 to 2258, according to the law firm Seyfarth Shaw, which states that this figure is on track to be slightly higher this year.
Unfortunately, now it is too late to be on the forefront of a transition rooted in good will. Right now, awareness of web accessibility lawsuits are growing and many businesses are left grasping for a viable solution to remedy issues that are costing thousands of dollars.
Experts say these lawsuits are typically settled for between a couple of thousand dollars and $20,000, but could cost much more if defendants chose to fight in court. ~Source: FLA
Small businesses every day are feeling the pain of web accessibility in the form of lawsuits, and no business is immune.
Oh, Shit! Is my Website ADA Compliant!?
If this is all coming as a surprise or sounding a bit urgent and you’re left wondering if your site is compliant or if you’re vulnerable, take a breath — it may not be too late for you. If you haven’t been hit with a web accessibility lawsuit, look at this as a great opportunity to get ahead of this thing before it does happen to you. This isn’t a matter of if, it’s just a matter of when.
When it comes to the accessibility of websites, the most commonly used and referenced standards are the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). They were originally developed in 2008 by W3C, an international organization dedicated to web development standards. The US government uses these guidelines for its own websites (like ADA.gov). Title II of the ADA requires state and local government services to be accessible.
WCAG introduces 4 principles for web content and design. They state that for a website to be “accessible”, it must be:
- Perceivable — This principle includes guidelines such as providing text alternatives for non-text content. For example, you should have “alt text” for product photos to accommodate for blind or vision-impaired visitors.
- Operable — This principle says you should ensure your site can be effectively used by all people. For instance, a user should be able to reasonably navigate your site using just their keyboard (without a mouse).
- Understandable — This principle states (among other things) that your site should be rendered in such a way that things like the language used can be programmatically determined (by browser accessibility plugins and other tools). It also suggests that a site should behave predictably. For example, merely changing focus on a part of a page doesn’t cause unexpected changes to the content.
- Robust — According to this principle, content should be implemented in a way that it can be interpreted reliably by assistive technologies. Basic adherence to this guideline includes having valid code markup so the content can be parsed by a machine.
Is Your Web Design Agency Responsible for Compliance?
This is a great question! I can tell you, as an owner of a web design agency, that’s additional liability that no agency wants to take on. I can also tell you that our attorneys advised us to steer clear of this and recommend a 3rd party provider who specializes solely in this type of compliance.
This is a very tricky issue for businesses and web developers alike. While many web agencies can and do take on web accessibility issues, most will recommend a 3rd party solution that specializes in this type of compliance.
Because traditional techniques for building a website to meet accessibility requirements can be extremely costly, requiring thousands of dollars and weeks of coding. Retrofitting an existing site can be just as expensive. Plus, manual updates are required every time new content is added to the site.
The current alternatives out there are:
1. Manual web accessibility coding work – mostly expensive ($5000 -$15,000 per project), slow and doesn’t provide an ongoing solution.
2. Web accessibility plugin- achieves only 20% compliance making you vulnerable to lawsuits since it does not abide by the legislative guidelines.
Those options, as you can imagine, leave 99% of businesses without a feasible solution, making them: Easy targets for lawsuits and prevents them from helping people with disabilities.
Is Your eCommerce Host like BigCommerce or Shopify Responsible?
Another great question. Here is what BigCommerce has to say about that:
Does using BigCommerce mean my site is ADA compliant?
Merely using an ecommerce platform (like BigCommerce) for your website is not sufficient to ensure ADA compliance. While we offer the tools to help support compliance, we cannot force a merchant to implement an ADA-compliant site. Poorly formatted content, implementing customizations, and changing its design are among the actions that can potentially make an otherwise compliant site non-compliant.
BigCommerce is constantly working to improve the accessibility of its templates and themes, but ultimately, ensuring that a site is ADA compliant is the responsibility of the merchant.
How Do I Make My Website ADA Compliant?
Web accessibility is a considerably new concept. Most people are familiar with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), but some don’t know that they are exposed to the risk of lawsuits. If you’ve made it this far, you now know the risks involved and that (you the website owner) is responsible.
As an owner in a website design company, I feel that it is my responsibility to help get the urgent word out about issues such as this. If you’ve ever been involved in a lawsuit — you know how costly and emotionally draining it can be. I strongly urge all small business owners to take web accessibility lawsuits seriously. More importantly take action solve this issue to avoid receiving a demand letter and getting into legal litigation that could be very costly in terms of time and money.
So where does that leave you?
● Do nothing… However, you could be at risk of a lawsuit and we DON’T recommend this!
● Take your website offline… But now you don’t have a business
● Hire an ADA compliance company like SiteImprove ($5k+/month) or AudioEye ($10k+/year)
● Use a “Free Plugin” service that only provides 20-50% coverage on compliance
Over the past 6-8 months, my team has been actively explored all of these options seeking solutions that work for businesses both small and large. There are plenty of online tools to test your site for compliance and there are plenty of services and plugins you can use to help get your site in compliance.
I’m not going to waste your time referencing a bunch of different tools that only work with about 20% efficiency. I will also be fully transparent and let you know that my company has partnered with Accessibe in our effort to assist businesses with compliance.
So, yes, if you check out Accessibe and like what they’re offering we could get a commission if you use our link.
Who is Accessibe and Why Would I Use Them?
Accessibe is an AI automated system that can achieve full ADA compliance within 48 hours and provides 24/7 automatic maintenance.
This is by far the most simple, automated and affordable solution that we have found. After reviewing their system and using it on our own website, we have decided to offer the same solution to all of our clients. Take 3 minutes from your busy day and watch this video to see how easy and effective it is.
Their yearly service price is $490 per domain. Learn more about AccessiBe
Although there will be a cost to this it’s going to be a lot less than having to deal with the legal mess of a lawsuit or even one of the compliance companies that I noted above.
If you want to take a deep dive into this technology for your own due diligence, download the tech sheet here.
I believe most of us want to do the right thing and that making sure that all websites are ADA compliant certainly is the right thing to do. That being said, we’re all motivated by fear and web accessibility lawsuits are very real and something all businesses should fear. Compliance is inevitable, be proactive and protect your business while making the internet a better place.


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After rereading the FDA’s inspection reports (483’s) of the three Blue Bell ice cream plants this weekend, it made me wonder – other than the random inspections done by state departments of agriculture – if Blue Bell had been required to be inspected – audited – by a private auditor – the so-called third-party audit?
In nearly every major foodborne illness outbreak over the last decade – think Peanut Corporation of America Salmonella (714 sick, 9 dead) Outbreak, DeCoster Egg Salmonella Outbreak (nearly 2,000 sick) and the Jensen Farms Listeria Outbreak (147 sick, 33 dead) – retailers and/or purchasers of the peanut butter, eggs or cantaloupe required that private audits be performed – at the producer’s expense. All three of these producers got glowing audits and were eventually charged criminally with shipping tainted product.
“Someone” should ask Blue Bell for its audits over the years Listeria seemed to be ever present in at least one of its plants.
“Someone” should also call a few of the major retailers – Walmart and Kroger – and ask for the same.


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Editor's note: The original version of this article incorrectly said that the DC Comics' illustrated story featuring LeBron James would also feature Spider-Man. This is inaccurate. We apologize for the error.
Basketball star LeBron James assisted in the development of a new Powerade variation, dubbed "FLAVA23," which will be available beginning in September. In a way, it's like Michael Jordan helping create the latest Nike
Coke needs to do something. PepsiCo's
The launch will be supported by a comic book developed by Time Warner's
Coca-Cola needs to build growth in its case-volume metric. A campaign like this, which ties itself to some hot properties, should aid in this growth quest. New flavors can oftentimes add interest to a brand, but a new flavor associated with a star like LeBron James has the potential to amplify such appeal. Here's my one reservation: deal structure. I hope Coke didn't give up too much in securing this initiative; the company generates a lot of free cash, and I want as much of it as possible to power up my dividend increases.
For more on beverage industry happenings, the following will be of interest:
- Taco Bell's Blue Dew by Alyce Lomax
- Is 7-Up's New Drink a Plus? by Rich Duprey
- Sweet Chocolate, Sour Soda by W.D. Crotty
Time Warner is a Motley Fool Stock Advisor recommendations. To learn more, sign up for six months, without risk.
Fool contributor Steven Mallas owns shares of Coca-Cola, but none of the other companies mentioned.


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Domestic e-commerce platform Flipkart has announced that it will now be entering into healthcare sector, as they are launching Flipkart Health+. This is being set up to provide consumers access to convenient and affordable healthcare.
• Flipkart to enter into healthcare sector with Flipkart Health+
• The company is acquiring a majority share in Sastasundar Marketplace<....
Tags : Healthcare, e-pharmacy, Online, Flipkart Health+, SastaSundar, Artificial Intelligence,


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The subject of the coming China Meet-Up of Tuesday 18 June 2019 are the trends and developments of digitalization in Chinese society and the impact of social media on daily life. No one but Manya Koetse, China's social trend watcher and Chief Editor of What's on Weibo, will attend this meeting to share her experiences on this topic.
The Chinese social media landscape is arguably the most dynamic, unique and fascinating in the world. Social media in China has grown phenomenally with the rise of Weibo (China's answer to Twitter) and WeChat (arguably a fusion of Facebook and Whatsapp). This is because of an increasingly high internet penetration rate with just under 50% of the total Chinese population online. There are now 634 million Chinese internet users, that's over twice the population of the US. It is therefore not surprising that social media has become a key target for marketers and businesses across the globe.
|15.30||Short word of welcome by Xiaoyong Zhang, China coordinator WUR|
|15.35||Trends and developments of digitalization in Chinese society and the impact of social media on daily life by Manya Koetse, China social trend watcher and Chief editor of What's on Weibo|
|16.30||Q&A by Manya Koetse, China social trend watcher and Chief editor of What's on Weibo and Xiaoyong Zhang, China coordinator WUR|
|16.45||Drinks & bites|


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Jacksonville's Automotive Enthusiast Scene Revs Up For 904 Octane Event
Following up on its biggest event ever, Jacksonville Car Culture announced Friday a new automotive event is coming Saturday, September 4. Called 904 Octane, it will be held at WJCT Public Media in Downtown Jacksonville.
A portion of the proceeds from the cruise-in style show will benefit Hunger Fight, which produces and distributes meals to Jacksonville’s food insecure.
After a year-plus hiatus due to the pandemic, Jacksonville Car Culture saw its biggest turnout ever for its inaugural Caffeine and Octane event on July 10 at The Avenues, with parked show cars filling the lots on the east side of the mall.
September 4’s 904 Octane event will held that Saturday from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at WJCT Public Media at 100 Festival Park Ave. The cost for automotive enthusiasts to display their vehicles will be $10, with free admission for spectators.
The next Caffeine and Octane, which is free to everyone, will be held Saturday, August 14, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at The Avenues mall. The August theme will celebrate British vehicles.


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Yantai, Shandong – Wanhua posted CNY16bn ($2.4bn) revenue over the first three months in 2019, down by 8% from the same period in 2018.
During the period, Net profit dropped 46% year-on-year to CNY2.8bn, said the company’s quarterly report released in April.
Meanwhile, total asset as of the end of the quarter upped 6% year-on-year to CNY92bn. Net asset rose by 8% to CNY41bn.
In February Wanhua completed the takeover of its controlling shareholder Wanhua Chemical Industry (WCI), including its holdings in BorsodChem and other polyurethane related businesses. The Q1 report takes WCI’s 2018 financials into account for comparison.
In addition, over the first quarter the company sold 658kT MDI and other polyurethane related products, generating CNY8.2bn sales.
Currency Conversion: XE.com


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All the new pets and mounts in the Forbidden Reach in patch 10.0.7
As is usually the case with new zones, in World of Warcraft patch 10.0.7 the Forbidden Reach has added many new Battle Pets and mounts for collectors to hoard like dragons.
The running list of upcoming WoW Trading Post rewards
It's difficult to say what's coming next for the WoW Trading Post, because a huge pool of potential rewards has been datamined from patch 10.0.5 and more from the patch 10.0.7 PTR.
The best new mounts to collect in Dragonflight
One of the big features of World of Warcraft's latest expansion Dragonflight is the new Dragonriding mechanic which provides an alternative to standard mount usage and gives players the ability to fly almost immediately on the Dragon Isles.
WoW Trading Post feature will allow WoW players to earn cosmetic rewards each month
World of Warcraft players are getting a new feature with the Trading Post, which will allow them to earn currency that can be traded for an assortment of cosmetic rewards.
World of Warcraft adds a new 12-month subscription that comes with even more mounts
A new subscription option is now live in the Battle.net shop and it's a big one: a recurring 12-month subscription for $155.88 in the United States and 131.88 euros in Europe.
Five rare mounts you should try to get before Dragonflight launches
Dragonflight launches on November 28 and with it brand new zones to explore and mounts to collect. Shadowlands isn't over yet, though, and while we wait to go over to the Dragon Isles many players are looking to finish up collecting the mounts from the expansion (or taking advantage of the lull to revisit old expansions for mounts).
What wouldn’t you do for a mount in World of Warcraft?
I've helped people get all sorts of achievements over the years to get mounts in World of Warcraft.
Tips and tricks to acquiring Time-Lost Proto Drake and other mounts that require open world camping
We're officially in the pre-expansion lull, and as always many players will take advantage of the time to solo old expansions or farm rare mounts.
How to get your own Jellyfish Mount in Shadowlands Patch 9.2
The arrival of Shadowlands patch 9.2 and the new zone of Zereth Mortis has resulted in a wealth of new mounts and pets to collect.
How and where to craft mounts in Zereth Mortis
Shadowlands patch 9.2 brought World of Warcraft players to the new zone of Zereth Mortis, a land of enlightened brokers, automata, and Jiro struggling to fend off the Jailer’s Mawsworn forces, while the heroes raid the Sepulcher of the First Ones to stop Zovaal.


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Lucky Stars and festive feel across Colac Otway
December 3, 2018
Lucky stars are waiting to be found in Colac and Apollo Bay shops from now until Christmas, with the launch of Colac Otway Shire’s Christmas campaign to promote festive shopping in the shire.
Colac Otway Shire Council will also provide decorations to businesses in ten communities across the shire, helping share season’s greetings to even our smallest towns.
Colac Otway Shire Mayor Jason Schram said the return of the Lucky Star Competition, with $50 to be won in Colac and Apollo Bay each week leading up to Christmas, was part of a joint initiative between Council and local businesses.
“Council has been working alongside the Apollo Bay Chamber of Commerce, Colac Chamber of Commerce and local business people in the lead-up to the Christmas shopping season to host the competition and decorate businesses across the shire,” Cr Schram said.
“Decorations include chair wraps, stickers for the footpath and banners for shop windows with a design developed by the Colac Herald and printed by CPS, all in consultation with an enthusiastic working group of local traders.
“There is no cost to traders and this year’s reusable decorations are just the start, with plans for banners and more in the future,” he said.
“There will be a consistent festive design and theme in Colac, Apollo Bay, Forrest, Gellibrand, Skenes Creek, Beeac, Barongarook, Cororooke, Lavers Hill and Pirron Yallock.
“Council and traders are working together to help spread some Christmas cheer across the shire and encourage people to enjoy their Christmas shopping.”
Cr Schram said the reintroduction of the Lucky Star Competition would also encourage families to enjoy their shopping experience, with a chance for kids to win $50 each week leading up to Christmas in Colac and Apollo Bay.
“There will be a Lucky Star hidden in a business in the two shopping centres; and locations change each week,” he said.
“Children who find a star can enter online or ask an adult to help them enter at www.surveymonkey.com/r/2018LuckyStar for their chance to win.
“Council would like to thank all the traders who have been involved in the Christmas decoration initiative and looks forward to start announcing winners of our Lucky Star winners next week.”


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Apple is considering to let users choose third-party web browsers, music and mail applications as their default options.
CEO of developer Mobicip was interviewed in November by a US investigator who asked about the company's interactions with Apple.
TikTok downloads reaches all-time high, Google surpasses Facebook first time in 5 years in Q4 2019: Report
Google had six of the top 20 App Store apps in the quarter, including YouTube, Google Maps, Gmail, and Google Chrome.
The event is scheduled to take place in New York city on Monday, 2 December.
This bug reportedly activated the camera in the background while scrolling through Facebook Feed.
Mindfulness is the ability to stay aware of your surroundings and thoughts and accepting them as they are.
The bug affected 155 countries and on average, apps saw a 50 percent decrease in ratings in these countries.
Apple is the latest foreign company to catch heat in relation to the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
"We always try to keep our prices as low as possible. Fortunately, we were able to lower the price of the iPhone this year," said Cook.
Apple Arcade will be available to users on the App Store at a price of Rs 99 per month
The new Grace Period option in the App Store will be an opt-in on the developer's part.
Subscriptions for the Apple Arcade video game subscription service will start at $5 per month: Report
The service is expected to be launched alongside iOS 13 and iPadOS in September this year.
Currently, Apple users have to open the app on their devices manually to play music on Spotify.
Android's Google Play Store accounted $1.43 billion while Apple's App Store saw $1.22 billion.
Apple says that worldwide government agencies filed a total of 29,183 requests for information.
Apple charges a 30 percent fee for in-app purchases made through the App Store.
Spotify has said that Apple's App Store policies make it unduly difficult to compete for paying subscribers.
Apple has maintained that its tight control of the store allows it to protect user privacy.
The download limit increase could be helpful if you absolutely need an app when you're away from WiFi.
Apple has defended its practices saying developers decide what they want to charge from a set of price tiers.


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Windows 10 has kick-started 2016 with astonishing numbers as Microsoft reveals that its much fancied operating system is now installed on more than 200 million devices that have been in use for at least once in December. Windows 10, also, has become the fastest growing version of Windows, outperforming Windows 8 by nearly 400% and the highly successful Windows 7 by nearly 140%.
The holiday season has bought sweet surprise for Microsoft with more than 40% of new Windows 10 devices becoming active since Black Friday. Also, the US retail PC share for Windows 10 grew 16 points to 62% compared to the prior four weeks while the Windows 10 mix of PCs rose to 87% from 58% prior to the holiday.
Announcing Windows 10 impressive stats, Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s lead marketing Executive for the Windows and devices group, mentioned in a blog post,
“We are also seeing accelerating and unprecedented demand for Windows 10 among enterprise and education customers. As of today, more than 76% of our enterprise customers are in active pilots of Windows 10, and we now have over 22 million devices running Windows 10 across enterprise and education customers”
December 2015 saw more time spent on Windows than ever
Microsoft says that the month of December 2015 saw the highest engagement on Windows ever with users spending more than 11 Billion Hours on Windows 10 alone.
Some other notable figures reported by Microsoft include,
- In December more than 44.5 billion minutes were spent on Microsoft Edge
- Users have asked more than 2.5 billion questions to Cortana since launch
- Around 30% more Bing search queries per Windows 10 device vs. prior versions of Windows
- Over 82 billion photos viewed within the Windows 10 Photo app
- Gamers on Windows 10 have spent over 4 billion hours. Also, Gamers have streamed more than 6.6 million hours of Xbox One games to Windows 10 PCs
The spectacular numbers of Windows 10 are seen as a result of a sustained push from Microsoft in asking its users to adopt its latest operating system. The fact that the Windows 10 upgrade is free has also allowed users to try the new operating system.
Soon, with Windows 10 becoming a recommended update, the numbers may just improve


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Hasbro has tapped Bennett Schneir as its film arm’s top creative executive as the toymaker moves forward with a six-film deal at Universal.
The former ImageMovers exec will serve as senior VP, managing director of motion pictures for Hasbro and specifically oversee at least four pics with Universal based on properties such as Monopoly, Candy Land, Clue, Ouija, Battleship, Magic: The Gathering and Stretch Armstrong. He will be the liaison between Hasbro and the studio.
Hasbro and U already are developing Monopoly with Ridley Scott’s Scott Free. Toy company’s next pics, “Transformers 2” and “G.I. Joe,” will be distribbed by Paramount.
U would like to start developing pics immediately with the goal of releasing a Hasbro pic by 2010 or 2011, said Donna Langley, prexy of production at U.
Schneir will be based in Los Angeles on the U lot and report to John Frescotti, chief marketing office of Hasbro.
Hasbro, based in Pawtucket, R.I., has been looking to get more pics into production based on its popular toy lines after “Transformers” hit big at the B.O. last summer; it brokered the production pact with U in February.
“Our goal is to deliver more fantastic cinematic experiences, similar to what we did along with DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures with Transformers,” said John Frascotti, Hasbro’s global chief marketing officer.
Hasbro retains all merchandising rights and will share consumer products revenue generated from the films with U.
U approved of Hasbro’s choice.
“Developing Hasbro toys and games into films requires a very keen and imaginative sense of story as well as a grasp of marketable concepts,” Langley said of Schneir’s abilities.
Schneir most recently was VP of creative affairs for Robert Zemeckis’ ImageMovers Digital, where he worked on many of the company’s Disney-related projects as part of the company’s 10-year deal with the Mouse. He also produced the CG-animated toon “Monster House,” distribbed by Sony.


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Posted Wed Nov 4, 2009 at 07:00 AM PST by Mike Attebery
Apple has been out talking to TV networks in recent weeks, trying to round up support for a subscription service which would deliver unlimited TV for only $30 monthly.
Apple and TV are two words that just don’t seem to go together well. With the knowledge well in hand that their previous television integration just didn’t work out, Apple is looking to start something new. The service Apple is proposing is just what consumers have been wanting for a long time.
The plan, according to Apple, is to offer television content through iTunes at a subscription rate, rather than making people pay per download. The structure would seem to be similar to that of the current Netflix arrangement, but the service would require iTunes. This would present a bit of a problem from the convenience side, especially if the files aren’t easily streamable or require a set-top to play on a TV.
The other question from a consumer standpoint is that of fidelity. $30 for unlimited 1080p downloads/streams of television show would be well worth it if enough broadcasters were on board. $30 for unlimited standard definition content on the other hand doesn’t look quite as nice.
Networks are hesitant to jump on board either way, as they see that this could be seen as a move away from cable services, which would certainly upset relationships with companies like Comcast. Additionally, the shows would be presented on iTunes in an ad free format, meaning a complete zero in advertising revenue.
Source: All Things Digital
The latest news on all things 4K Ultra HD, blu-ray and Gear.


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Forest scientists at the University of Göttingen develop plant-based, environmentally friendly material
Modern packaging has to do much more than just meet the specific requirements for transport, storage and presentation: it also has to be sustainable. But what does sustainable really mean? This means that the material must be environmentally friendly and made from renewable raw materials, be robust enough to allow reuse, and be easy to recycle at the end of its useful life. For many years, a research group at the University of Göttingen has been using its energy and expertise to investigate manufacturing processes for products made from popcorn. These products have the potential to be environmentally friendly alternatives to polystyrene or plastic. The university has now signed a license agreement with Nordgetreide for the commercial use of the process and the products for the packaging sector.
With a share of almost 40 percent, the packaging industry is still the largest consumer of plastic products. However, large manufacturers and retail chains have long since begun to rethink their packaging policies and seek more recycling. The research group Chemistry and Process Engineering of Composite Materials at the Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology at the University of Göttingen has now succeeded in developing a new type of raw material process based on its many years of experience in the field of renewable energies. The result is that three-dimensional shapes can be made from “granulated” popcorn. The big advantage of this granular material is that it comes from renewable biological sources, is environmentally friendly and sustainable. It is therefore an excellent alternative to the previously used polystyrene products.
“This new process, which is based on the technology developed in the plastics industry, enables the production of a large number of molded parts,” explains the head of the research group, Professor Alireza Kharazipour. “This is especially important when it comes to packaging as it ensures that products are transported safely, which minimizes waste. And all of this was achieved with a material that is later even biodegradable. “In addition, the new popcorn products have water-repellent properties that open up new possibilities for future applications.
Stefan Schult, managing director of Nordgetreide, which has an exclusive license, adds: “Every day we pollute our earth with more and more plastic waste, which will pollute our ecosystem for thousands of years. Our popcorn packaging is a great sustainable alternative to polystyrene, which is made from petroleum. The vegetable packaging is made from the inedible by-products of cornflakes production and can be composted without leaving any residue after use. “
The license agreement between the University and Nordgetreide was brokered by MBM ScienceBridge GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Foundation for Public Law of the University of Göttingen. The agency works for a total of nine universities and scientific institutions in Lower Saxony. MBM ScienceBridge examines scientific inventions for the possibility of a patent application and for economic potential. It then takes care of global marketing as well as negotiating, supporting and monitoring license agreements. The current portfolio includes projects in the fields of biomedicine, medical technology, measurement technology, chemistry, physics, forestry and agricultural sciences.
Professor Alireza Kharazipour
University of Göttingen
Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology
Research group chemistry and process engineering of composites
Büsgenweg 2, 37077 Göttingen
Tel .: +49 (0) 551 39-33488
E-mail: [email protected]
http: // www.


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Google has announced the availability of its Commerce Search offering, a cloud-based tool intended to enhance the accessibility of retail websites and increase conversion rates. Yet again the company is stretching into areas that mainstream software vendors have thought their own territory. Whilst this is a logical extension of its existing platform, given other recent activity this clearly indicates that Google does not wish to be dependent upon Internet advertising revenues in perpetuity. Unfortunately for Google, the current lack of functionality and relatively high price mean this is not yet a market-disrupting product.
The Google effect
In the middle of October Google announced that its Android 2 mobile operating system would provide not just location services on a mobile phone but directional services as well, effectively a free alternative to satellite navigation. The shares of two of the leading satellite navigation device providers, TomTom and Garmin, dropped on the following day. However, those vendors providing in-house e-commerce search solutions need not panic about Googles Commerce Search just yet but they do need to watch out and up their game further to fend off this potential threat to their revenues.
Moving beyond advertising
When the new Microsoft Internet search engine, Bing, was launched in June 2009 it came ready to promote sales in four areas Shopping, Local, Travel and Health and Ovum commented then that Google would also need to take action if it was to maintain its Internet advertising revenues in these areas.
By providing its e-commerce service, Google has effectively leapfrogged the Bing proposition because, if successful, those pages on e-commerce sites that people are directed to by the offering will automatically increase in the results rankings of google.com.
Supporting e-commerce is also an important avenue for many enterprise search vendors, with the most notable in this environment being Endeca, with its guided navigation facility providing dynamic filtering of results a feature that also appears in Commerce Search. The Commerce Search product appears to be an iteration of Googles existing Site Search offering, but provides enhanced support for navigation via images.
Google is touting the power of its data centres for handling traffic spikes such as seasonal surges or increases in demand after promotions. It is also offering sub-second response times as a differentiator for Commerce Search. Furthermore, Google Analytics, or reportedly any other analytics product, can be used to measure conversion rates and sales.
Much of the functionality of Commerce Search can be seen on www.google.co.uk/products, and retailers that are already providing information to the site via this route can have their products put into Commerce Search through the same feed. FTP transfer is also an available feed mechanism. At launch Google stated that Commerce Search was live on 20 customer sites.
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Warner Bros. was teasing a new game reveal in 72 hours, but now we all know what it is.
Warner Bros. Games was planning for a surprise reveal later this week, though the "surprise", as it turns out, apparently will be Hitman 2.
In November 2017, developers IO Interactive committed themselves to a new Agent 47 game, stating that "franchise firsts" and that more information would be revealed "at some point" this year. One tweet stated the reveal would be about something new regarding Hitman, with the other confirming that the announcement, whatever it was, would be made at 6pm United Kingdom on Thursday 7th June. Games website last night and was saved on Resetera. The profiles have been uploaded. However, now it's clear as day that fans of the 2016 iteration of Hitman will be getting what looks like a full-blown sequel to the game, instead of another "Season" of new content like the previous game employed.
All things considered, we will simply have to wait and see what kind of announcement IO Interactive and Warner Bros.
Hitman is a long-running franchise which has seen many ups and downs.
Hitman is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.


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The Coca-Cola Company is partnering with an Indian company to build the world’s largest plant to produce the main ingredient in PET bottles from sugar cane. Coca-Cola plans to use bioplastic-based PlantBottle packaging technology in all of its plastic bottles by 2020.
The company has sold more than 10 billion PlantBottle packages around the world since its introduction in 2009.
JBF Industries Ltd. of Mumbai, India will build the world’s largest facility to produce bio-glycol in Araraquara, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Construction on the new facility is expected to begin at the end of this year and last for 24 months. At full capacity, it is estimated the facility will produce 500,000 metric tons of bio ethylene glycol per year. Total global production of bio-glycol last year was just 30,000 metric tons. It was zero in 2009.
JBF currently operates PET manufacturing locations in India and the UAE with a new green field facility planned in Belgium. The investment in Brazil will be 100% by JBF Group through its overseas subsidiaries.
MEG (mono-ethylene glycol) makes up 30% of PET by weight, and PTA (purified terephthalic acid) makes up the other 70%. Research is under way to develop commercially viable ways to make PTA from renewable resources.


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After a decade of incredible growth, 2016 will go down in history as the year the smartphone market stopped growing.
Smartphone sales dropped 2% in major global markets last year according to a new report from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. The declines come as the industry matures, consumers show reluctance to change brands and ecosystems, and vendors focus their efforts on selling more upgrades and replacing existing devices rather than connecting with larger numbers of new buyers.
Finding success in the new smartphone economy will require a fundamental change in the tactics used by vendors to market devices and services. Early upgrade programs have become more common among carriers in recent years, but they have failed to show a significant impact on customer behavior.
Pulling consumers further into a vendor’s ecosystem is a proven way could stimulate growth. Loyalty among iPhone owners in the US was 92% in 2016. For those who also owned an iPad, that number jumped to 96%. A similar pattern is seen among Samsung smartphone owners. Their loyalty to the phone alone ranked at 67% and jumped to 74% among those who also owned a Samsung tablet.
Wearables were expected to be the next big mobile technology, promising to expand the smartphone ecosystem to the wrist. However, judging from disappointing sales results, vendors were far more excited by the potential than were consumers.
Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality & AI
The latest in cutting edge technology could stimulate future growth, but without more compelling applications for these technologies they may end up being little more than hype. The market will need to prove a satisfying combination of technology, content, and services that make consumers’ lives easier.
For companies in the mobile space, the days of business as usual are gone. If mobile manufacturers want to preserve the global brands they’ve worked so hard to build, they must blaze new trains, innovate new offerings, and nurture new partnerships. Those that fail can be assured their rivals will step up to the challenge.
Source: Kantar Worldpanel


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After only three years in China, German electronics retail giant Media Markt in 2013 joined the list of companies that have left China after years of trying, including US-based companies Best Buy and Home Depot. Not too long ago, the store, owned by Metro-group had lofty plans of 100 and more stores. In 2014 it’s a distant memory at best.
According to some analysts, the Metro-group owned chain simply didn’t understand the mechanics of the very competitive Chinese market. Some even say that they didn’t know why they were in China in the first place. What was it that went wrong. First, Media Markt didn’t understand how price-sensitive Chinese consumers are. While Media Markt focused on the consumer experience, Chinese consumers were using its stores as showrooms before buying the products they wanted online or at another retailer. In addition, other retailers, such as local competitors Gome or Suning kept their cost down by setting up shop in less fancy locations than Media Markt. Chinese competitors usually also sub-let space to brand manufacturers who bear the bulk of the risk. Media Markt’s flagship store, however, not only was fully self-operated, but also occupied too much space on one of the most expensive retail streets in China. That amounted to cost pressures and brought Media Markt’s (necessary) nationwide expansion to a screeching halt. While Suning had built 1,700 stores all over China, Media Markt had only 7. This resulted in a situation where Media Markt only made about 5 % of local Chinese competitor Suning’s revenues. As a result – according to the Financial Times – the group didn’t want to invest the several hundreds million Euros annually needed to establish a significant Chinese operation. Media Markt wanted to build a famous brand for its store, in a market where consumers are looking more towards products as brands.


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Communications service firm Plume has closed US$300 million in a new round of minority equity investment led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
The latest round of investment brings the company’s valuation to US$2.6 billion. In total, Plume has raised US$697 million to date.
Plume said that it will use the investment to drive research and development, sales and marketing, new partnerships, and acquisitions.
The company said that it has added more than 13 million new households and over 350 million new managed devices to its global cloud platform over the past two quarters. In total, more than 240 cable multiple system operators worldwide utilise Plume technologies.
Fahri Diner, Founder and CEO of Plume, said: “Our explosive growth over the last few years is explained simply: Plume has reinvented how services for smart spaces are curated, delivered at scale, and managed and supported. We’re moving beyond the limitations of the legacy approaches that couple hardware and services into a ‘box’ – choking the CSPs’ ability to introduce and scale delightful new experiences to the consumers rapidly and effectively. Our vision and ambitions are perfectly aligned with SoftBank’s, and we are thankful for their support and confidence in Plume.”
Nagraj Kashyap, Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, who joined the Plume Board of Directors, said: “The pandemic has dramatically accelerated the adoption of digital services, increasing our dependence on smart devices. Through its innovative cloud data platform, we believe Plume’s consumer-first approach provides customers with reliable connectivity in their homes and beyond. We are pleased to partner with Fahri and the team to support their ambition of reinventing services for smart spaces globally.”
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Apple's official UK iPad launch was greeted on Friday by queues of hundreds of customers at some Apple stores, following delays to the release date due to greater-than-expected demand in the US.
Several hundred customers queued outside of Apple's flagship shop in Regent Street for the web tablet, which sold more than one million units in its first 28 days of availability in the US.
Joseph Grech set a record by typing the alphabet on the tablet in 6.61 seconds. Photo credit: Guinness World Records
Shorter queues were also spotted at other Apple Stores, including an overnight queue at the Westfield shopping centre in the London suburb of White City. In the UK, Apple stores opened an hour early — at 8am — to sell the iPad. Currys and PC World are also stocking the device at 139 outlets.
On Thursday, some users reported receiving pre-ordered iPads in the post a day early, according to user updates on Twitter. However, mobile operators O2 and Orange did not activate their iPad support until Friday, meaning users had to wait a day to get full connectivity.
The iPad was initially expected to launch in the UK in late March, but the date was successively pushed back to late April, then late May, due to shortages in the US. Online sales in the UK, which were also planned for Friday, have been pushed back to 7 June.
The Regent Street store saw Stephen Fry turn up to pick up and iPad and mingle with fellow Apple fans. The queue also contained Joseph Grech, who set a record by typing the alphabet on the tablet in 6.61 seconds, according to the Guinness World Records organisation. Also in line were world's tallest married couple, Keisha and Wilco van Kleef-Bolton.
At the Westfield store, the first in the queue was a woman who had sent her son to wait overnight, a security manager for the shopping centre told ZDNet UK. The mother then took his place at 7:45am, just before the shop opened.
The iPad is initially designed primarily as a consumer device, offering the ability to function as a netbook, e-book reader, gaming device, photo frame and music player. It includes Bluetooth, 802.11n Wi-Fi, movie rentals and 10 hours of battery life, with optional mobile broadband available on higher-end models. It connects to the same popular App Store that supplies software for the iPhone.
Apple has said it intends the iPad for business use as well, with features such as built-in support for Microsoft Exchange, secure access to corporate data and a developer programme focused on enterprise needs.
Industry observers have said they expect strong sales of the device in the UK, despite criticisms including the lack of a camera, limited multitasking, lack of support for Adobe's Flash and lack of a HD video output. UK prices start at £429 before VAT for the lowest-spec iPad, a modest premium on US prices, which start at $499 (£342).
Friday saw the official retail launch of the iPad in Europe, Australia and Japan, as well as the UK. Countries outside the US are likely to make up 43 percent of iPad shipments this year, or 3.5 million units, compared with a predicted 4.7 million units in the US, said RBC analyst Mike Abramsky in a report published last week. France is expected to be the iPad's second-largest market, with 805,000 units to be sold this year, followed by the UK with 585,000 units, Abramsky predicted.
The iPad and similar devices are expected to fuel "absolutely phenomenal" mobile data growth, according to executives at the Open Mobile Summit in London this week. Apple's tablet alone is expected to spark a sixfold increase in worldwide shipments of such computers to 46 million in 2014, up from 7.6 million this year, according to a report by IDC earlier this month.
BT and O2 will both bring out medium-sized tablet devices later this year to compete with Apple's device, the communications providers have said.
Customers wait in the iPad queue at London's Westfield shopping centre. Photo credit: Karen Friar


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Google Will Announce Market Enhancements Tomorrow
We’ve been wondering all day what Google will be announcing tomorrow, and we now have enough hints to make a fairly confident prediction: they will be announcing enhancements to the Android Market.
First, one of our readers tipped us off to the fact that a couple changes are showing up in the Market tonight. In the screenshot on this post, notice the History and Search icons in the suggestions. Those icons were not there earlier today, and as far as we can remember, the suggestions only previously included terms from your Market search history, not general search suggestions.
Additionally, the timing is about right for the “new payment options” hinted at last month to be announced. We’re fairly sure those options will include carrier billing for more than T-Mobile U.S. customers, who are the only ones who can currently put app purchases on their phone bill.
Delving into the truly speculative, we hope that the Market enhancements announced tomorrow will include a web-based interface and/or media purchases via the Market, both features previewed at Google I/O.
Thanks for the tip to Thomas Riley.
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A few newly leaked photos of the HTC Ruby seem to confirm some earlier rumored specs of this future juggernaut set to launch on T-Mobile in late October. The photos,


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Red wine is well known for its heart-health benefits. But do you know what health benefits beer has to offer? Researchers have discovered that people who drank about a pint of beer per day had a 31% lower risk of heart disease. Cheers to that!
The study, published in the European Journal of Epidemiology, is an analysis of 16 studies involving over 200,000 participants. Researchers discovered that people who drank about a pint of beer per day had a 31% lower risk of heart disease. According to MyHealthNewsDaily, for those who consumed more alcohol, whether beer, wine, or liquor, their risk “surged.” Research Laboratories at the Fondazione di Ricerca e Cura “Giovanni Paolo I” in Campobasso, Italy, carried out the study.
“Alcohol in moderation can increase your HDL or good cholesterol,” American Dietetic Association registered dietician Andrea Giancoli explained. “The higher your HDL, the better your protection against heart disease.”
Giancoli also mentioned that beer may have some advantages that wine does not have. Beer contains more water, which is more filling and thus helps some people moderate their alcohol consumption.
While the findings are encouraging for beer drinkers, the researchers issued a strong warning.
“We’re talking about moderate and regular drinking,” lead researcher Augusto Di Castelnuovo explained. “I believe we can never emphasize this enough. Wine and beer are part of a way of life. One glass can be paired with healthy foods and consumed at the appropriate time, perhaps with family or friends. Binge drinking and other forms of excessive consumption have no place here.”


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MILLIONS of Americans will be impacted by a few changes to food stamp benefits this month.
The government benefits, also known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), provides no or low-income Americans funds to purchase food.
Typically, these funds are loaded onto an electronic card and can be used at most supermarkets and grocery stores.
There are more than 42million Americans who are receiving food stamps assistance, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
We unveil the changes this month that you’ll want to make a note of.
Emergency food stamps
In April, the USDA announced that an extra $1billion per month would be allocated towards the SNAP program.
This provided a boost in benefits to an estimated 25million low-income households.
How much needy Americans receive depends on family size – but $95 is the minimum households must be given.
Most read in Money
While the $95 increase was set to expire on September 30, 2021, about half of the states in the country have extended the emergency support through January.
Recently, Kansas, Texas, and Virginia announced they would be extending the emergency assistance at least through January.
Now the list of states that have extended the emergency benefits, reads as follows:
- New Jersey
- North Carolina
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- West Virginia
Buy food from farmers in New York
Those who are receiving SNAP benefits in New York will be able to make local purchases of farm goods, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced this week.
The expansion to the program will allow purchases to be made online directly from New York farmers.
In addition, SNAP beneficiaries will get FreshConnect assistance, which assists them in buying food from a community agricultural farm.
Order from 7-Eleven on Hawaii
Convenience store chain 7-Eleven’s Hawaii division is launching a new electronic benefits transfer (EBT) option, which allows SNAP claimants to securely use their funds online.
According to a statement this week, all select SNAP items can be ordered for pickup, catering, and delivery.
While you don’t need a credit or debit card, non and SNAP-eligible products can be bought using a combination of those payments and your EBT card.
The move is in partnership with Vroom Delivery.
7-Eleven’s Hawaii division operates 65 convenience stores in the state.
Moreover, 7-Eleven Hawaii claims it’s has become the first convenience store to launch online EBT payments.
These are the three discounts you can get with an EBT card.
Plus, see when food stamps are paid over the holidays.


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Capcom Lays out Lost Planet 2’s Release Schedule
When Lost Planet 2 made it’s appearance at the Sony’s E3 2009 press conference, it was already clear that the game was not a 360 exclusive. However, a previously held notion about the game’s release schedule proved to be false.
Though originally believed to be a timed-exclusive for the 360, Capcom has confirmed that Lost Planet 2 is scheduled to release simultaneously on PS3 and Xbox 360 “day and date” in Europe and the US, with the Japanese version possibly coming out a bit sooner. Lost Planet 2 was slated to hit in 2010, but Chris Kramer from Capcom USA stated that the game could possibly hit this holiday season.