text:
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Advances in technology and changes in consumer tastes have caused antennas, eight-tracks, cassette decks and CD players to disappear from their once-familiar places in our cars and trucks.
The next thing to go might be the speakers.
But thumping bass, rich midrange and soaring highs will still be there. They’ll just be coming from the car itself.
Continental, a German auto-components supplier, has developed technology that makes parts of the car’s interior vibrate to create high-fidelity audio on a par with any premium sound system on the road now.
The approach turns the rear window into a subwoofer. The windshield, floor, dashboard and seat frames produce the midrange. And the A-pillars — the posts between the windshield and the doors — become your tweeters, said Dominik Haefele, the leader of the team that developed the technology.
The result is something like an enhanced version of surround sound. “It’s a 3-D immersive sound, and you’re experiencing the music in a very different way,” Mr. Haefele said. “You’re in the sound. You feel it all around you, like you’re adding another dimension to it.”
The key components are transducers — small devices that use a magnet wrapped in a copper coil to convert electrical energy into mechanical energy. Run current through the wires, and the transducer vibrates. Continental has figured out a way to implant transducers in a car’s interior and use them to turn interior panels into speakers.
Mr. Haefele said the concept wasn’t that different from how a violin works. “When you draw the bow across the strings, they vibrate, and the vibrations are transmitted through the bridge to the body of the violin, which is what makes the sound you hear,” he said.
On a cold afternoon at Continental’s research lab north of Detroit, Mr. Haefele slid behind the wheel of a black Mercedes-Benz C-Class equipped with the system. He cranked up “Oh Yeah,” the funky 1985 hit made famous in the movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” and the song’s distinctive bass throbbed from all directions.
“You can’t tell where it’s coming from,” Mr. Haefele shouted.
Switching to Marvin Gaye’s classic “Heard It Through the Grapevine,” he pointed to the A-pillars. Tambourine and guitar riffs rang out crisply as Mr. Gaye crooned about the anguish of his betrayal.
The system, which Continental calls Ac2ated Sound, should begin appearing by 2021, Mr. Haefele said. He declined to name the carmakers that will offer it, although Mercedes, BMW and Audi are all big customers — and frequent adopters — of Continental’s technology.
The company envisions creating a basic sound system with five transducers, a midprice system with eight and a high-end system with 10. Continental also sees the system providing a new way of selling and upgrading in-car audio, Mr. Haefele said. Carmakers could build all their models with 10 transducers, and turn on only those the customer paid for. The owner could later buy an upgrade that would power up additional transducers and turn a basic audio system into a premium version.
But such integration of the sound system into a car’s interior does present some complications.
In the case of an accident, a damaged A-pillar or windshield would have to be replaced to restore sound quality, Mr. Haefele said. “But this is very similar to conventional speaker systems where the speakers are integrated into the A-pillars,” he said. Something like a chipped or nicked windshield should not affect audio quality, he said.
James Grace, a senior director at Cox Automotive who previously worked in automotive interiors, said the biggest challenge for developing speakerless audio systems would probably be eliminating the vibrations, hums and rattles that so often emanate from interior parts, and properly integrating the sound-producing parts with the rest of the car.
“Interior parts are not typically made to produce high-quality audio,” he said, but added that it was a “pretty clever idea.”
And it’s not the only audio innovation on the horizon. Bose, the speaker and headphone company, is working on technology that blocks out music, navigation commands and other background noise from phone calls made from inside the car. The system, called ClearVoice, is based on the same type of noise-canceling technology Bose uses in its headphones. The company does not have a target date for making the system commercially available.
In a similar vein, Faurecia, a French company that makes auto seats and interiors, is developing noise-canceling technology that would enable one occupant to make a phone call undisturbed while another continued to listen to music. Faurecia calls it “audio cocoon” technology, but most Americans of a certain age may prefer to think of it as the kind the TV spy Maxwell Smart once used — a “cone of silence.” Faurecia demonstrated the audio cocoon at the International C.E.S. expo in January as part of an auto interior of the future that it is developing.
And while voice-assistant technology is already making inroads, Kia, the South Korean automaker, is working on a way to make interacting with your sound system less noisy: At C.E.S., Kia demonstrated technology that allows drivers to control the car’s audio, climate and other systems using hand gestures.
Few in-car technologies have backgrounds as unlikely as Continental’s Ac2ated Sound. It germinated not from an effort to improve automotive audio but as part of a bid to reduce weight. Automakers of all stripes, searching for better fuel economy, strive to reduce weight whenever they design a new model. Most of the reductions come from hundreds of small changes that save a pound here and two pounds there. A Continental acoustics team wondered it if would be possible to turn a dashboard into a speaker.
The idea wasn’t totally far-fetched: Some cars already have transducers that create extra engine sounds inside the cabin, for drivers who just need to hear the roar of horsepower. Once the team got rolling, it tested different parts and settled on the ones that made the most sense.
The windshield and rear window are stiff and heavy, so they are most appropriate for lower frequencies. A-pillars have smaller, thinner parts that are better for high-pitched sounds.
By tuning the correct parts, Continental reproduced the experience of a top-of-the-line audio system — which can exceed 20 pounds — with parts that weigh just two.
“It was,” Mr. Haefele said, “a little like setting up an orchestra.”
SEE MY OPTIONS
- Marshall Voice smart speakers with Amazon Alexa launching October 2, Google Assistant versions coming later this year
- Sbode M400 Bluetooth speaker review: Waterproof, lightweight, and ready to rock anywhere
- Owl Car Cam review: An expensive LTE-powered dashcam with quite a few flaws
- We drove an $81,000 Porsche Macan GTS to see if it’s a sports car in an SUV body — here’s the verdict
- Q Acoustics’ Concept 300 speakers banish vibrations with sci-fi stands
- Zulu Audio Wearable Bluetooth Speakers Review: Audio that moves with you
- Chris Digital In-Car Assistant hands-on review
- Technology is disrupting the way we work, but it’s not all doom and gloom
- Google app v8.13 beta prepares car-specific settings, new app shortcut to Assistant, and more [APK Teardown]
- Harman Kardon unveils more Google Assistant speakers, plus new soundbars with Chromecast built in
- This Hearing Aid Can Translate For You—and Track Steps Too
- [Update: Now on sale] Harman Kardon unveils more Google Assistant speakers, plus new soundbars with Chromecast built in
- Analysis: Nike's self-lacing shoes are a lesson in the Internet of Things
- 2019 Volkswagen Jetta GLI first drive
- WIRED’S Predictions for Bots, Blockchains, Crispr, and More
- 2019 Genesis G70 first drive review: A worthy sport sedan challenger
- We drove an $81,000 Porsche Macan GTS to see if it’s the performance SUV we’ve all been waiting for — here’s the verdict
- 2019 Fiat 124 Spider Abarth first drive review
- The EE Pocket-lint Gadget Awards 2018 winners revealed
- We drove a $246,000 Bentley Bentayga SUV to see if it’s ready to do battle with Rolls-Royce and Lamborghini. Here’s the verdict
Speakers Might Be the Next Thing in Your Car to Go the Way of the 8-Track have 1641 words, post on www.nytimes.com at March 22, 2018. This is cached page on Talk Vietnam. If you want remove this page, please contact us.


text:
GA specialists A2A Simulations are developing a 'V-Tail' Beech Bonanza.
A2A founder Scott Gentile made the announcement in a YouTube video released this afternoon.
In the video, Gentile revealed intricate details of the development process, including the real-world flight testing process A2A have developed in order to develop their flight models.
Hinting at the depth of the flight modelling being attempted, Gentile told viewers "the Bonanza V-Tail pilot has more in common with a warbird pilot than a Comanche pilot.
"Next time you look at a V-Tail Bonanza sitting on the ramp, understand it isn't just unique looking -- it flies differently than any other aircraft in the air."
In addition to the Bonanza announcement, Gentile also revealed the company has been developing a brand new Accu-sim physics engine, as well as 'intelligent installers' for P3D version 4 and a new store front and loyalty programme.
Also hinted at was a 'secret project' of which details are yet to be revealed; the only hint in the video is a black background with a ticking clock and some intercom 'chatter' -- perhaps hinting at some form of flight instruction module.
Watch the full video below.

domain: news


text:
The Elder Scrolls New Launch Celebration Infographic
Bethesda and Zenimax are celebrating tomorrow’s worldwide launch of The Elder Scrolls Online with a new infographic. The image highlights stats and facts about the game, plus a little about its creation. Check it out below, and also make sure to enter our ESO giveaway before launch!
Articles You May Enjoy
- RiotZone Purifies With Fire
- Mail.Ru has launched a new update for RiotZone with a new battle, mission, and adjustments for newbies and veterans alike.


text:
- Airbnb Superhosts are among the most successful users on the platform.
- But they have had to change how they welcome guests during the pandemic.
- Three Superhosts shared their tips for success on Airbnb during the pandemic and beyond.
Airbnb Superhosts earn a special designation on the home-sharing platform by being among the most successful and top-rated users.
But their livelihoods have looked a little bit different during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Early on, as states headed into lockdowns and travel essentially halted, Superhosts rushed to help their guests cancel reservations. Some were even forced by local governments to stop business altogether.
By late spring and the summer, things were looking up. Airbnb benefited from travelers' desire to vacation in destinations that were a drive away from population centers. The company also revealed a five-step enhanced cleaning process that it encouraged hosts to adopt to ease travelers' health and safety concerns.
Lots of new hosts have made the most of the situation. Airbnb said hosts that welcomed guests for the first time during the pandemic have earned more than $1 billion collectively. A quarter of those new hosts in the US have reached Superhost status in the past 12 months.
To qualify as a Superhost, hosts must have a rating of at least 4.8 stars out of a possible five, at least 100 nights booked at their listing, a cancellation rate of less than 1%, and a 90% response rate to customers. Hosts are evaluated for Superhost status four times a year.
Superhosts benefit from increased visibility on the Airbnb platform with a badge that designates their status, and they can also earn referral bonuses for recruiting new hosts. As a result, Airbnb said, they also often earn more than a typical host.
"The Airbnb host community has shown incredible resilience, strength, and creativity as they've adapted to the new world of travel," said Catherine Powell, the global head of hosting at Airbnb. "I am particularly impressed by the continued commitment of our Superhosts to providing exceptional hospitality and incredible experiences for guests throughout so much uncertainty."
On its February 25 earnings call, its first as a public company, CEO Brian Chesky said that recruiting new hosts onto the platform is a top priority in 2021. He added that, similar to the environment created by the Great Recession in 2008, when Airbnb was founded, the economic downturn brought on by the pandemic could boost the appeal of hosting as a source of income.
"We think now hosting is as appealing as ever before, given the economic circumstances happening in this country and around the world," Chesky said. He added that upcoming Airbnb marketing campaigns are "going to really target people that are going through a life transition," such as "people that just renovated their home, bought a new house, lost their job."
Insider spoke with three Superhosts about how they have pivoted to meet travelers' unique needs during the pandemic. They offered their advice on what new hosts can do to attract travelers and stand out from the pack.
Research your costs before committing to a location
Host Kate McCann bought Black Bear Ridge, a four-bedroom home in Fleischmanns, New York, with two friends back in 2017. They spent six months renovating it before listing it on Airbnb.
In March 2020, soon after the pandemic hit and New York went into lockdown, they were hit with a flood of cancellations that lasted through May. But the guests who had been staying at the house when the shutdowns began decided to stay there for six weeks.
After that, demand exploded. McCann and her group of friends limited travelers to groups coming from the same household and capped stays at one renter a week, leaving three days in between stays to allow for extensive cleaning.
"In general, there is a demand for longer bookings since people feel like they can work a few days in a different space, and maybe they couldn't do that before," McCann said, adding that they increased the minimum stay from two nights to three during the pandemic. "The longer people stay, the better it is for our business."
To account for longer stays, the hosts are providing extra supplies of towels and cleaning products. They are also paying their cleaners more during the pandemic than they were previously.
McCann, who lives full time in Philadelphia, said that she encourages people interested in becoming Superhosts to do thorough research before committing to a particular area.
"People who live in cities, like me and a lot of New Yorkers, we don't understand the amount of upkeep that a rural property entails," she said. "We deal with everything from thousands of dollars a winter on snowplowing to propane tanks and septic systems — just things that are a little different than getting a condo Airbnb in Manhattan, for example."
But if choices are made wisely, the profits can outweigh expenses.
"April has traditionally been our slowest month each year," McCann said, adding that April is "mud season" in this particular area of upstate New York. "But this is our busiest April ever, surpassing February, March, and May in earnings for 2021."
Turn your vacation rental into a brand of its own
Larissa Fransen and her husband, Randall, have been hosting guests in their two-bedroom Cannon Beach, Oregon, home since January 2018. They spent 18 months looking for the right home, eventually landing on a property they named The Haystack Haus because of its location minutes away from the area's famous Haystack Rock.
They bought their home with the goal of turning it into an Airbnb destination — Fransen comes from an interior-design and hospitality background, previously designing hotels and owning her own design firm, while Randall works in advertising.
Fransen said their combined experience has proved invaluable as they have grown their Airbnb business.
"There's tons of opportunities to create this amazing brand that's custom and catered to you and your interests," she said.
The couple sells branded "Haystack Haus" T-shirts, tote bags, pins, and hats. They also offer self-care kits stocked with items such as bath bombs and celebratory treats such as birthday cakes, toys, and games — depending on what guests want.
"We've gotten an influx of messages through Instagram about how to do what we've done," Fransen said, adding that consulting for other hosts has become a source of revenue for some Airbnb hosts.
For her, the best advice would be "to always focus on the guest experience and creating something that, as a host, you're proud of, and as a guest, that you would be happy to stay in also."
To accommodate different kinds of travelers, many of whom are working from home or whose children are participating in virtual schooling during the pandemic, they upgraded the Wi-Fi at the house. They also incorporated air filters and enhanced their cleaning protocols, which they're currently doing themselves.
Fransen said that demand for bookings has soared during the pandemic — up 30% to 40% in 2020 over 2019 — but that local regulations limit them to two to three renters a month. Their available dates are 100% booked through mid-October, and slots tend to fill up within 48 hours of them being listed.
Add details that stand out
Jeff Dickerson and his wife, Tracie, were in the process of building their two-bedroom treehouse in Stonecrest, Georgia, when the pandemic hit. They weren't intending to list it on Airbnb, but with the rise in travelers looking for spaces they could visit and enjoy nature, they realized they had a business opportunity on their hands.
And with their youngest son suddenly at home with them again, they had the extra help to get it done. They called the project the "Trinity Treehouse" and started hosting guests in July.
The property is adjacent to the Davidson-Arabia Mountain Nature Preserve, making it an appealing destination for city dwellers looking to get some fresh air, particularly those in nearby Atlanta. The Dickersons launched their home with Airbnb's five-step cleaning protocol in place, and they don't see those enhanced cleaning procedures and contactless check-ins going away anytime soon.
"We're going to continue to practice that because we think that that's what guests want, and that's what they expect, and that's what they deserve," Dickerson said.
They recommend creating a space that can really stand out from the crowd.
"Build on whatever natural environment that you might have around you," he said. "I think that you need to bring some authenticity and uniqueness to this process, or you're likely to get lost among a jumble of thousands of different listings."
Tracie added that bringing a welcoming touch to the hosting experience can go a long way. Guests have already come to the treehouse to celebrate occasions such as weddings and proposals.
"When you check on them, or you know why they're there, you leave a birthday card or a bottle of wine — those touches, where you're actually connecting with your guests, that's how you get 61 five-star reviews," she said.
Axel Springer, Insider Inc.'s parent company, is an investor in Airbnb.


text:
June 22nd, 2010 at 12:00pm
As workers across the country get restless, Chinese manufacturers are starting to embrace robots and automation to reduce the number of people needed. A.T. Kearney reports that U.S. new-car sales could be a lot better if more consumers had easy access to auto loans. BMW is working on a new research project in the field of “micro navigation,” a new way to help drivers and pedestrians get where they need to go. All that and more, plus a look at some of the advanced human-machine interfaces Visteon is developing.
Transcript and Story Links after the jump . . .
It’s Tuesday, June 22, 2010 and here’s the top news in the auto world!
CHINESE MFGs PUSH AUTOMATION
No sooner do wages start to go up in China than automakers react with ways to get rid of workers. Bloomberg reports that Nissan and contract manufacturers like Foxconn are putting automation and robots in their manufacturing plants to reduce the number of line workers they use. I would point out that this is going to increase the productivity and quality of Chinese manufacturing, especially if they use more robots for painting and welding cars.
AVAILABLE CREDIT HOLDS-BACK SALES (subscription required)
Car sales are recovering slowly in the American market, but A.T. Kearney reports that they could be much better if only consumers could get car loans more easily. It says that for the period of 2009 to 2014, 3.5 million consumers will be pushed into buying used cars because they can’t get loans to buy new ones. The problem affects people who do not have pristine credit ratings. If only 1 percent more buyers could get loans, that would translate into 350,000 more sales a year.
EV DEPRECIATION STUDY
A new study says EVs could be worth next to nothing on the used-car market. According to Autocar, Glass’ Guide in the UK says if batteries are sold rather than leased, the typical EV will only retain 10 percent of its value after the first five years, compared to at least 25 percent for a conventionally powered car. The study assumes that battery life will last eight years and cost £8,000 or $11,700 to replace. If batteries were leased, researchers say the cost can be offset against gas or diesel savings.
TESLA’S EXTENDED LINEUP
Tesla’s much-anticipated initial public offering could happen as early as next week, and in preparation to help sell stock, the company showed off some future product concepts to the people who might buy it. According to Autoblog, the future models include a convertible, a van and a crossover. The company revealed that it will build all the models on the same platform as the Model S. This is a real smart move and one that makes me start to think Tesla could actually succeed.
DOW KOKAM BREAKS GROUND
Yesterday construction began at the site of Dow Kokam’s new battery plant in Midland, Michigan. The event is a big deal for the state, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. And apparently it was a big deal for Washington, too, since Vice President Joe Biden was on hand for the groundbreaking ceremony. He praised the plant as a solid step towards ending our oil addiction. When completed in 2015, the $600 million facility is expected to employ around 800 people. It should be able to build 30,000 to 60,000 battery packs per year for hybrid and electric vehicles. Amazingly, the United States, which up to now has lagged far behind in battery manufacturing is about to take a big leap forward, with five new battery plants under construction in Michigan. Johnson Controls-Saft has one in Ottawa County on the West-side of the state’s Lower Peninsula. LG Chem and Compact Power have one located nearby. Fortu PowerCell is located in Muskegon and A123 Systems is setting up shop near Detroit in the suburb of Livonia.
BMW MICRO NAVIGATION (login required)
BMW started a research project that offers drivers a new way of getting around. Called microNavigation, it goes beyond the conventional maps and directions you get from your car or cell phone. Here’s an example: suppose you’re trying to go to a museum. A regular navigation system can tell you how to get there but it can’t tell you where to park or the easiest way to get to the ticket counter. The idea behind microNavigation is to fill in these blank areas. If a micro map is available for a given destination, drivers can download it in advance from their personal computer and send it to their vehicle. The information is seamlessly synced to their phone for continued navigation upon arrival at the destination. BMW hasn’t said when – or if – this technology will go into production, but it sounds like a pretty logical feature for future navigation systems, so I’d say look for it to come out in the not-too distant future.
Putting all this electronic technology in cars if fine and good, but only if it’s easy for us human beings to use. Coming up next, how one supplier is improving the human-to-machine interface.
VISTEON’S HUMAN-MACHINE INTERFACE
Putting advanced technology in cars isn’t worth it if we can’t figure out how to use it, as anyone who used early versions of BMW’s iDrive know all too well. But that complexity opens up business opportunities for suppliers to take advantage of. Visteon is one supplier working on making improvements on HMI, the human-machine interface.
Designers will like this HMI concept because the components for driver info, audio, and the center stack electronics are all in a single box, instead of being housed in different locations. That gives designers more real estate in the interior. But the real improvement Visteon was able to make was with displaying high-end graphics.
The company is also working on a more advanced version that allows you to manipulate controls and move objects between screens with the touch of a finger.
Now we just need someone to come up with a way for machines to read our minds.
And that’s it for today’s top news in the global automotive industry. Thanks for watching, we’ll see you tomorrow.


text:
The formal annoucement of Gary Chouest as the new majority owner of the New Orleans Hornets has once again been delayed because of Chouest's involvement in the search for a new head coach, as well as the logistics of meshing the necessary schedules involved in holding a press conference, team spokesman Harold Kaufman said Wednesday.
It will be sometime next week before Chouest is officially introduced as the team's owner.
Chouest, along with team president Hugh Weber and general manager Jeff Bower, spent Tuesday in Dallas interviewing Avery Johnson and Dwane Casey for the head coaching vacancy. The trio is expected to continue their inquiries in the coming days.
On Monday, an agreement was reached between Chouest, the team's minority owner, and majority owner George Shinn on the sale of the franchise for a yet undisclosed sum, though the Hornets have yet to officially acknowledge that a sale agreement has been reached.


text:
Some of these stories are old; I did not get around to them until now.
EPD announced [about a week ago] that the board of directors of its general partner declared an increase in the quarterly cash distribution paid to partners to $0.70 per common unit, or $2.80 per unit on an annualized basis. The quarterly distribution will be paid on Friday, February 7, 2014, to unitholders of record as of the close of business on Friday, January 31, 2014. This distribution, which represents a 6.1 percent increase over the $0.66 per unit distribution declared with respect to the fourth quarter of 2012, is the 47th distribution increase since Enterprise’s initial public offering in 1998 and the 38th consecutive quarterly increase.
I can't make this stuff up: Windows 8 is perceived by some to be so awful that a) H-P will take advantage of this by getting back into hardware and loading Windows 7 instead; and, b) some think Windows 8 explains the death spiral of the PC.
IBM's fourth-quarter net income grew 6 percent, surpassing Wall Street's expectations even though revenue declined. Its shares fell in extended trading after the results came out — and CEO Ginni Rometty said she's recommending that senior executives, including herself, forgo personal bonuses for the year.
IBM Corp. said Tuesday that it earned $6.19 billion, or $5.73 per share, in the October-December period. That's up from $5.83 billion, or $5.13 per share, in the same period a year earlier. Results benefited from tax audit settlements that lowered IBM's tax rate to 11.2 percent in the quarter, from 25.5 percent a year earlier.
IBM's adjusted earnings were $6.13 per share in the latest quarter.
Revenue fell 5.5 percent to $27.7 billion from $29.3 billion.
The IBM results were said to have spooked the market. For heaven's sake, considering the head winds, this was not a bad report. The guys wearing the visors and green glasses in the back room can probably come up with any number they wanted, but that's true every quarter. So when I see $5.73/share earnings this quarter compared with $5.13/share in the same quarter one year ago, I can't get too excited.Analysts, on average, had expected adjusted earnings of $5.99 per share on revenue of $28.27 billion, according to FactSet.
And, oh, remember -- there were six less shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas ... which really messed up UPS ... or so they say.
I think folks need to get a grip; enjoy life; and not see a crisis with each earnings report. Some days these analysts and traders seem less mature than our 7-year-old granddaughter. Okay, bad comparison. She is very, very mature. These analysts / traders seem less mature than our 10-year-old granddaughter when she stays up all night with her friends on a sleep-over. LOL.
Just this morning on NPR or some radio station, BlackBerry, announcing a new contract with DOD, said the company was in great condition, plenty of cash. Now, tonight this story: BlackBerry is selling "all" its Canadian real estate to raise cash. Doesn't sound all that healthy.
The Target breach:
The Target breach:
“We cannot estimate the costs related to the credit breach, including replacement cards and terminals, legal and settlement fees, and doubt that (Target) will have visibility on these costs for some time,” she said in a report. “We therefore expect (Target) to err on the side of prudence.”
Landes, who slashed her price target on the stock to $47 from $66, said Target may need to shoulder the cost of replacing up to 40 million cards at $10 apiece. She said it’s unlikely that Target has insurance related to potential lawsuits from banks. Target may need to replace about 50,000 of its so-called point-of-sale systems at cash registers.
While Target has cut its outlook earlier this month, the analyst said “there’s definitely further risk to (per-share profit) should Target’s fundamentals continue to be weak or deteriorate.” Every 0.5 percentage point dent in comparable sales in the U.S. versus her estimate represents about a 15-cent hit to the company’s annual per-share profit, Landes said, adding every $100 million in incremental expenses is also another 15-cent profit hit.Something doesn't "ring" true. Target says their system is now safe and yet they say they may have to replace 50,000 of its point-of-sale systems at cash registers. Something doesn't ring true.


text:
Sony unveiled a new PlayStation 3 game being developed by Sucker Punch, creators of Sly Cooper. Slated for 2008 and called Infamous, the title is set in a much darker, grittier world than that of the cartoon raccoon.
A trailer shown during Sony's E3 2007 conference gave a glimpse of a realistic, modern city, ruined by some sort of disaster. Buildings have crumbled and cars litter the streets, ablaze. Sony says Infamous is its own entry into the open-world, sandbox genre of gaming.
Dramatic music swelled while images of a police car being tossed around showed off some of the game's physics.
Stay tuned for more on Infamous.


text:
Redbeacon co-founder Ethan Anderson has written an article on the MBA Blogs section of BusinessWeek sharing what he and his two co-founders learned by applying to TechCrunch50, going through the entire process, and winning it all. He highlights five key points:
1. You need a stellar product.
2. You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.
3. Listen to feedback from those who matter.
4. You need to take risks.
5. You need to engage in a little self-promotion.
Last week CitySourced had the opportunity to present to a sellout crowd and an even larger online audience as one of the 2009 TechCrunch50 presenting companies. On their blog they’ve shared details of their experience and lessons they learned along the way in hopes of helping future presenting companies. They note everything from working until 2:00am every night for a week prior to the conference, to Robert Scoble stopping by the company’s office the day after their presentation. The full story is here.
Kijubi, one of the DemoPit companies at TechCrunch50 2009, wrote a blog post about their experience at TC50 here. As a result of the conference they received press coverage from the New York Times, the LA Times, TechCrunch and many other publications. They also note they made many connections with VC’s, angel investors, potential partners, and industry bloggers. Read their full account of the DemoPit experience here.
On September 14th and 15th energetic entrepreneurs from all over the world electrified the San Francisco Design Center at TechCrunch50 2009. The crowd was excited, poker chips were abound, and deals were announced. In the end, San Mateo, CA based Redbeacon walked away as the overall winner, but success and fun were shared by many. The Animoto recap video, as well as the list of all of the winners, is below.
Break Media, Glam Media, AIM, and Amazon Web Services are adding to the “war chest” of advertising and services given away to the startups launching at the TechCrunch50 next week. The total “war chest” is now up to $1.3 million. More details over on TechCrunch.
DotSpots, a 2008 TechCrunch50 company that drew a lot of interest, has launched into private beta. The service lets users annotate any part of a web page, from a single quote to the entire page, leave a comment and socialize it with friends. The first 500 people to sign up here will get in. More details over on TechCrunch.
We just announced our last round of expert panelists over on TechCrunch. Dick Costolo, Satish Dharmaraj, Bradley Horowitz, George Zachary and Lior Zorea will join us to judge the presenting companies. The full list of experts is here. Read more on TechCrunch.
We have posted the conference agenda for TechCrunch50. The 50 presenting companies won’t be released until the day of the conference, and many other details have not yet been announced, but this should give you a good idea of the excitement that is in store for the conference. The agenda is here.
On TechCrunch we just announced our TechCrunch50 conference partners will be giving away an aggregate of $1 million in advertising to TechCrunch50 companies. Facebook, Google (Youtube), Microsoft (Bing) and MySpace are all participating with substantial donations. We expect additional partners will join shortly.


text:
Ashapura Intimates Fashion Ltd (AIFL) plans to spend Rs 31 crore for setting up retail outlets across Mumbai and a manufacturing plant in Gujarat over next one year,says a PTI report.
The amount will be invested in unveiling ten stand-alone stores across Mumbai and setting up one more manufacturing plant in Gujarat. AIFL has already has got one manufacturing plant in Thane.
"We are planning to go for a capex of Rs 31 crore for the unveiling of 10 stores in Mumbai and setting up of a manufacturing plant in Gujarat by the end of FY 2015," AIFL Chairman and Managing Director Harshad Thakkar told PTI.
Currently, we are supplying our stuff being manufactured at our plant in Thane to multi-brand outlets across the country. However, we are planning to foray into the retail as we are planning to open 10 stand-alone retail showrooms in Mumbai by the end of the end of the FY 2015," he said.
On an average, Ashapura will be investing Rs 50 lakh per store and the money for which will come from our internal accrual, he said. The firm is already having its retail outlets in Bangalore and Kerala.
The first retail outlet of the company, which is listed on the BSE with its current market cap at over Rs 290 crore, is likely to come up at Hill Road in Mumbai on December 8.
Talking about his company's plan to set up one more manufacturing unit in Gujarat, Thakkar said, "We are under the process of acquisition of 2.25 lakh sq ft land in Gujarat for the setting up of another manufacturing plant. Once it becomes operational, it will double our production capacity."
Ashapura is looking at recruitment of 2,000 persons for its forthcoming plant in Gujarat, he added


text:
In an effort to bring shoppers both online and into their wallets, America Online Monday rolled out the first
phase of its [email protected] service, to be fully introduced across the AOL
network by October.
“We think the key to converting “window-shoppers” to online buyers is to
understand the obstacles to shopping online and provide solutions to each,”
said Katherine Borsecnik, AOL’s senior vice president of strategic businesses.
The new service gathers all of AOL’s merchants into a common storefront across all its brands. It will be marketed under the [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected] and [email protected] City brands.
AOL backs up its new service with a Chic Simple partnership announced
Monday. Fashion publisher Chic Simple will bring style and wardrobe advice
to the shopping venture.
The e-commerce service includes features such as online catalogs,
personal buying guides, and electronic wallet technology. The wallet
technology stores routinely requested credit card and shipping information
online, including 10 credit card numbers and up to 50 shipping addresses.
AOl also enlarged product image displays and added more text for merchant
The [email protected] Apparel and Kids & Babies Commerce Centers debuted Monday,
with 15 additional shopping centers scheduled to roll out throughout the
summer and early fall.
According to Internet Research Group, 30 percent of AOL
members are shopping every month, with 79 percent listed as potential
repeat buyers. The company recently topped Media Metrix’s most-visited
network rankings for June.


text:
Need some cleats? How about a new pair of tennis shoes? Is your baseball bat starting to lose that pop it had when you bought it brand new?
If so, Pam and Vince Magallanes are here for you.
Not to sound like an annoying car commercial, but the couple really is here for the people of Marion.
When they came to town nearly two years ago to be near their grandchildren, they weren’t sure if they would stay put. But Marion, and the grandchildren no doubt, have won the couple over.
Instead of just blending in, the two opened up Family Sports, a sporting goods consignment and retail shop, located on the corner of Main and Cedar streets, with a little bit of everything.
“We’re not going anywhere,” Pam Magallanes said. “We’re here for the community.”
And the community has noticed.
There are few places in town to buy cleats, baseball bats, and sports memorabilia.
Bait also has been a popular seller at the store.
While the stock is not where the Magallanes’ want it to be right now, they have big plans.
The two are in the process of becoming authorized dealers for Nike, Adidas, Under Armor, and others, and currently are authorized dealers for Olympia Sports.
“We try and capture the best deals we can,” Pam said.
Pam and Vince are both retired military and have lived in big cities.
They’ve experienced it all when it comes to choosing a place to live, and Marion has been a perfect fit for the two.
Their son, Shawn Nguyen, and daughter-in-law Tiodora Escalante live near the reservoir with the Magallanes’ four grandchildren, Damien, Brian, Brianna, and Brandon.
Pam and Vince have realized Marion is a great place to watch their grandchildren grow up.
“It’s a different world,” Pam said of large cities such as Glendale, Ariz., where the couple used to live. “It’s no place to raise kids.”
“We want to become a part of the community,” Vince said.
And what better way than to open a store that appeals to a lot of people in town?
Pam said she noticed the residents of Marion were into sports, so opening up a sporting goods store made sense.
They got the idea in January of 2007, put a business plan together, and opened this past June.
The couple realizes there are other stores in town that can produce some of the items they have, but their businesses do not focus 100 percent on sporting goods and memorabilia.
“We aren’t looking to tread on their territory,” Pam said.
They just want to be here for the convenience of the Marion shopper.
If a young softball player wears out her cleats, or a wrestler breaks his headgear, the Magallanes’ want the parents to be able to drive down the street to Family Sports instead of traveling to Newton or Wichita.
But the two also have another reason for opening the store.
They want to encourage children of all ages to stay active and participate in sports as much as they can.
“It’s important for them to live healthy lifestyles,” Pam said.
So the Magallanes keep working toward their goal of being able to provide products and services for everyone in Marion.
After being open for more than a month and watching bait fly off the shelves, the couple is looking forward to something else.
“I’m ready for football season,” Vince said.
He won’t find too many people in Marion who disagree.


text:
- Subscribe NowLimited Time Offer
After Target: Major data breach at retailer Michaels
Send this story to a friend
And next with the data breach: Michaels Stores Inc. The Texas-based arts-and-crafts chain, the largest in the nation, announced Thursday the personal information of some 3 million customers may have been stolen between June 26, 2013 and Feb. 27, 2014. You read those dates correctly.
The Michaels breach also affected the company's affiliate, Aaron Brothers, a rental store chain, Michaels executives said, according to our own affiliate, the Dallas Business Journal.
“After weeks of analysis, we have discovered evidence confirming that systems of Michaels stores in the United States and our subsidiary, Aaron Brothers, were attacked by criminals using highly sophisticated malware that had not been encountered previously by either of the security firms,” Michaels CEO Chuck Rubin said in a letter sent to customers Thursday. “We want you to know we have identified and fully contained the incident, and we can assure you the malware no longer presents a threat to customers while shopping at Michaels or Aaron Brothers.”
The company is working with two independent security firms and federal law enforcement authorities — read the Secret Service — in the investigation of the theft.
Bob Niedt edits and produces content for our digital operation.
- Most popular
- Work begins on Whole Foods-anchored H Street redevelopment
- Leidos CEO Krone to rethink approach to engineering, trim real estate
- Loudoun eyes three county venues for possible Olympic sites
- Arlington's Privia Health lands $400M to begin national expansion
- Cash infusion to bring 4 more &pizza locations to D.C. area
- Under Jair Lynch and MacFarlane, Half Street to be replanned
- GSA gives D.C., Maryland and Virginia a shot at a major federal agency
- Problem for Carr Properties' gateway Courthouse project? Bank on it
- 8 things to start your Thursday
- USIS contract losses push parent company dangerously close to default
Project Manager Plano-Coudon, LLC | Baltimore, MD
Retail Sales Rep Verizon Wireless | Baileys Crossroads, VA
Senior Accountant - Fantastic Career Progression Robert Half Finance & Accounting U.S | Washington, DC
Database Engineer Robert Half Technology | Adelphi, MD


text:
Maja Pawinska Sims 11 Dec 2018 // 7:00AM GMT
MUNICH — Technology agency Schwartz Public Relations has won the consumer, B2B and corporate account for growing Chinese smartphone operator OnePlus in Germany after a four-way competitive pitch.
The five-year-old Shenzen-based brand, known for its high-quality, affordable Android smartphones, opens its first office in Germany this week, as part of a new focus on the market.
The brief covers consumer and B2B product PR for OnePlus’ annual flagship phone launches, as well as brand-building and reputation management and corporate communication. Influencer relations will play a part in the programme, as OnePlus wants to gain more traction among lifestyle and sports influencers.
Thought leadership, especially with regard to the company being a successful Chinese export and its viewpoint on the mobile market, will also feature. Schwartz has a track record of working with Chinese brands in Germany, as Alibaba is another client.
Managing director Christoph Schwartz told the Holmes Report: “It’s a fantastic client – OnePlus is now often referred to as the hottest smartphone brand in Germany, so it’s a really interesting account for us.”
OnePlus also recently handed its UK account to The Academy. Harvard is no longer working with the brand in the UK after winning the account to launch the OnePlus 6 at the start of this year.


text:
Early this weekend, GameStop broke the street date for Activision's Modern Warfare 2. The retailer said it had special permission to break the official November 10 date because of smaller, "mom and pop" stores that had already broken the date. However, it seems Activision did no such thing.
A company spokesperson told both Joystiq and Kotaku that Activision did not give any retailer permission to sell the title early and went on to reiterate the official street date.
"Activision has not given any retailer permission to sell Modern Warfare 2 prior to the Nov. 10 street date. The company fully supports the Nov.10 street date."
GameStop has since said the decision to sell Modern Warfare 2 before November 10 was a corporate one. Chris Olivera, vice president for corporate communications at GameStop's Grapevine, Texas headquarters contacted Kotaku on Sunday night to confirm that the company had made an executive decision to release the game in markets where the street date had already been broken.


text:
Tuscaloosa Police have released surveillance video of a man they say stole prescription painkillers from a CVS pharmacy on Saturday.
The man entered the store at 3302 15th St. at 4:37 p.m. Employees told officers that he walked to the pharmacy at the back of the store and placed a bag on the counter. He said that there was a gun in the bag and demanded Oxycontin pills, said Tuscaloosa Police spokesman Sgt. Brent Blankley. The man then demanded money from the cashier at the front of the store before leaving.
Anyone who recognizes the suspect is asked to call TPD’s Criminal Investigations Division at 205-248-4520 or CrimeStoppers at 205-752-STOP(7867).


text:
These hideous animals won’t die until the Sun explodes
Check out this hideousness! It might look like the bag from a 1940s vacuum cleaner with legs. But what it lacks in “design” it certainly makes up for in longevity. This is a tardigrade, an animal you’ve probably never heard of, but it’s a resilient beast that’s not likely to die as long as Earth keeps spinning. Long after humans and all other animals are wiped out by some sort of monstrous cataclysm, these tiny monsters who also survived the dinosaurs will still live to tell the tale. If they could talk, that is.
Trending right now:
Did Samsung just accidentally reveal the Galaxy Note 8 early?
New leaks show one iPhone 8 that’s stunning – and one that’s really not
Fresh leak shows that Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8 may still have some secrets left
SOURCE: READ MORE
You may be interested
Vedanta Q1 profit more than doubles to Rs 1525 crore – Economic Timesdoyelteam - Jul 25, 2017
Economic TimesNEW DELHI: Mining firm Vedanta on Tuesday reported more than doubling of consolidated net profit to Rs 1,525 crore…
Can Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio force rural India to do what other telecom companies couldn’t? – Zee Businessdoyelteam - Jul 25, 2017
Zee BusinessManaging Director, Reliance Industries Ltd, Mukesh Ambani at RIL annual general meeting. Image Source: RIL/Youtube. By Yoshita Rao. Updated:…
Joint exercise by Coast Guard of India and Bangladesh – Outlook Indiadoyelteam - Jul 25, 2017
Outlook Indiakolkata, Jul 25 A joint exercise by the Coast Guard of India and Bangladesh to increase synergy and coordination…


text:
Nissan will launch two new sedans this year.
The only time you want to see someone driving down the road with their feet hanging out of the bottom of their car is on an episode of The Flintstones. But for hundreds of Nissan Altima owners that scene could very well become reality as they continue to report that rusted-out floorboards in their vehicles put their toes entirely … [More]
Two hours after Stacie Lopez wandered away from her mom, she was dropped off in the middle of a Cudahy street, about 13 miles away by a man in a white Nissan Altima, police said.
Chevrolet has struggled to become a player in the mid-sized sedan segment, which accounts for sales of about 2.4 million vehicles annually and is dominated by the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Nissan Altima and Ford Fusion. Those four nameplates account for more that 60% of the mid-sized sedan...
Well, it’s well into 2015, and time for another Nissan Altima review. My Casamigos hampered research tells me TTAC has done a review of the Altima every year since 2006, except for 2011. Go ahead, search for Nissan Altima, I’ll wait....Show More Summary
Vehicles Affected: Approximately 625,000 model-year 2013-15 Nissan Altima vehicles manufactured March 1, 2013, to Dec. 31, 2014. This is an expansion of a previous recall and the number of vehicles affected could change. "Nissan is continuing to investigate the number...
Nissan expanded an October recall on its Altima sedan, adding vehicles from model years 2014 and 2015 to the 220,000 vehicles recalled from MY 2013. Continue reading Nissan expands Altima hood latch recall to 625k cars Nissan expands Altima hood latch recall to 625k cars originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 06 Mar 2015 13:31:00 EST. Show More Summary
Nissan is expanding an earlier recall of its popular Altima sedans to fix a flaw that can cause the hood to fly open while the car is being driven.
Five months after Nissan first issued a recall of its most popular vehicle for hood latch issues, the car maker is adding more than 640,000 Altima sedans to the list. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports in a notice [PDF] that Nissan has recalled an additional 625,000 model year 2013 to 2015 Altima sedans that may … [More]
The company is still investigating the failures to determine a root cause.
By Bernie Woodall DETROIT (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co expanded the North American recall of its top-selling Altima sedan to about 878,000 vehicles because a secondary hood latch may fail and cause the hood to fly up while the car is in motion, according to a company filing with U.S. Show More Summary
Redesigned for the 2013 model year, but built on the same Nissan D platform, the fifth-generation Altima, marked the beginning of a successful era for the Japanese automaker in North America’s crowded midsize segment. After lagging far...Show More Summary
The 2016 model year refresh for the Nissan Altima likely includes some major changes. It's possible the design could get a sportier look, and some tech updates are potentially on the way too. Fuel economy might even see a boost. The tweaks are all to keep the sedan's sales number growing in the midsize market. Show More Summary
The Nissan Altima has had a slow start in Australia since launching in late 2013, with last year's sales only amounting to a 3.6 percent share of the total midsize car market - roughly the same as what the equally-unloved Skoda Octavia enjoys. Show More Summary
Product-planning exec Pierre Loing promises big mid-cycle changes to help the Altima remain competitive in the midsize segment.
"In one of the most competitive classes in the car market, the generally capable 2015 Nissan Altima is hamstrung by subpar drivability — an unrefined transmission and associated engine noise," says Cars.com reviewer Joe Wiesenfelder. Check out his review for...
There's no doubt many families consider Nissan's popular midsize sedan when shopping for a car. After a full redesign for 2013, not much about the Altima has changed for the 2015 model year aside from some technology and convenience feature...
A Queens man has been charged with murder after police say he intentionally drove a Nissan Altima into a crowd of people outside a catering hall, killing one and critically injuring two others. Kevin Weekes, 20, is also charged with assault and reckless endangerment following the horrific crash, which occurred around 10:30 p.m. Show More Summary
Turns out Mama June is a sugar mama... buying the guy who molested her daughter a car.June plunked down around $25,000 CASH at a car dealership in Macon, GA for 2 used Nissan Altimas... an '07 and an '09. The pic shows a smiling June with her hand…
KUWAIT CITY—It’s been a busy week for Canada’s home-grown jihadis. Monday, October 20: Martin Rouleau, a French-Canadian convert to Islam, ran down two Canadian soldiers with his Nissan Altima, then led the RCMP on a chase that ended...Show More Summary


text:
Kobo Glo Hacked (Again) – Now Runs Android
Kobo doesn’t have a large hacking community to support it but what the hackers lack in mass they more than make up for in inventiveness.
One such hacker is reporting that they have Android running on his Kobo Glo. SyreKron posted a proof of concept photo over on Mobileread a couple days ago. For the record, this is not the Kobo Glo’s normal home screen:
This hack, which has been attempted on other Kobo hardware like the Mini without success, is based on the extracted firmware from a Tolino Shine. That 6″ ereader runs Android, and apparently it has enough hardware in common with the Kobo Glo that the code could be ported over with minimal effort.
The Shine runs Android 2.3, and it has a frontlight, touchscreen, internal storage, a microSD card slot, and Wifi. And like the Kobo Glo, it is intended strictly as an ereader.
Of course, the firmware for the Shine isn’t worth much unless you root it and gain access to the underlying Android, which is exactly what someone has done. Yes, there are now at least 2 hackers playing with Android on a Kobo Glo:
Pretty cool, huh?
This is the second replacement firmware hack for the Kobo Glo that has been discovered in the past few months. Back in September I psoted about a firmware hack that turned the Kobo Glo and the Kobo Mini into Linux tablets.
This hack is much more useful, IMO. While it will probably reduce battery life it also offers readers the opportunity to load other reading apps besides Kobo.


text:
Monday, September 26, 2022
Published 1 Month Ago on Wednesday, Aug 17 2022 By Reuters
China’s top internet watchdog said on Friday tech giants such as Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group have submitted details of algorithms used in some of their products, complying with a drive by authorities to tighten oversight of platform algorithms.
The rules are part of a broad regulatory crackdown by Beijing against its once free-wheeling technology sector. State media had accused internet platforms of using algorithms to invade user privacy and influencing their choices.
The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) published a list of 30 algorithms used in some of the country’s most popular apps, including Alibaba’s Taobao，Tencent’s Wechat，Meituan and ByteDance’s Douyin, with brief descriptions of their use and gave them classification numbers.
It was the first list it published since China in March passed new regulations for algorithm recommendation services and launched a filing system requiring firms to companies to disclose they used in their apps.
The CAC’s list, for instance, said the Taobao app had logged with it a recommendation algorithm that crunched each user’s visit and search history to recommend them products and services, while Meituan had provided details of the algorithm it used to estimate delivery times and match riders.
Other companies on the list included Chinese online search giant Baidu, short video platform Kuaishou and microblogging site Sina’s Weibo.
Inside Telecom provides you with an extensive list of content covering all aspects of the Tech industry. Keep an eye on our Breaking News section to stay informed and updated with our daily articles.
Web 3 simply refers to the next version of the internet, which supports decentralized protocols and promises to lessen reliance on major tech firms, and grants ownership to the very people that use it. Having said that, how central is individuality in Web3? Web3, while still a vague concept, represents the read/write/own version of the […]
Stay tuned with our weekly newsletter on all telecom and tech related news.
© Copyright 2022, All Rights Reserved


text:
Toronto allows ice cream and food trucks to operate this summer
TORONTO -- Amid a pandemic that has changed much in the city, summer in Toronto will have at least one familiar feature this year.
City officials said Wednesday that all licensed food and ice cream trucks will be allowed to operate starting today.
“Today I am happy to announce that after a review of the emergency measures regulations and recent changes, all licensed street food vending, food trucks and ice cream trucks in the City of Toronto are permitted to operate as of today,” Mayor John Tory said at a media briefing.
He noted that the change comes “just in time” for the summer season.
Tory said that all operators must adhere to physical distancing requirements for the public and proper health and safety measures for staff.
“Just like visits to other businesses, residents visiting street food vendors and food or ice cream trucks should maintain a distance of at least two metres or six feet from others while waiting in line,” Tory said.
Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto medical officer of health, said that social distancing is the primary health concern around the reopening if the trucks.
“With food trucks, because they operate in the outdoors – we also know that the risk of COVID-19 is significantly reduced when you’re in that large outdoor space compared to say, for example, an indoor environment,” de Villa said.
Tory called the move “good news” for the city’s growing mobile food industry.
There are currently 177 non-motorized food carts and 325 motorized refreshment vehicles, including 75 hot dog carts licensed by the city.
Vendors can renew or obtain new licenses by emailing Municipal Licensing & Standards.
Plan in the works for patios
Tory also said that he knows restaurants and bars are “eagerly awaiting” news about when they might be able to reopen in some way for dine-in service and said the city is working with the province to try and make that happen.
“We are working with the province and public health to figure out both the timeline and under what conditions these businesses can re-open their dining areas safely and we’re continuing to work on a plan to help open up more patio space for restaurants and our bars,” Tory said.
“We are in active discussions with the province on some of the regulatory aspects of that patio plan and anticipate providing more details to you in the next few days, an initiative that I believe will be of scale and therefore very helpful to businesses which are struggling in the sector.”
Earlier Wednesday, Premier Doug Ford said that a decision on reopening restaurant patios will be made “within the week.”


text:
AIRLINK PROMOTES NEW ROUTE WITH SPECIAL FARES
(Posted 26th January 2021)
Airlink, South Africa’s independent regional airline, is offering customers a special inaugural fare to celebrate the launch of its new direct service between Cape Town and Harare, which will commence on 03rd of March 2021.
The new route, which will address demand for direct services between the two cities, is the latest in a series of Airlink connections across its Southern African network.
The special inaugural fare between Cape Town and Harare starts from R 2725 one way and R 5292 return, including all taxes and is open for sale and valid for travel throughout March 2021, in W class. Terms and Conditions apply.
“We will launch with three return flights a week, increasing to daily flights from 1 April 2021 to provide customers with more choices and greater convenience,” explained Airlink Managing Director and CEO, Rodger Foster.
Airlink had intended to commence the service in mid-January, but changes to South Africa’s curfew obliged them to revise its schedule, which unfortunately also pushed back the launch of the new service to 03rd of March.
“We apologise to ticket-holders for the postponement and any inconvenience or disruption to their business and travel plans,” added Mr Foster.
Existing ticket-holders have the choice of routing via Johannesburg or changing their date of travel for the direct service.
With the land borders between the two countries temporarily closed under the latest COVID-19 restrictions, air travel is the only alternative for families, tourists and business travellers.
“At Airlink, we have been looking forward to launching this important new route, which will provide convenience to business and leisure travellers, saving them precious hours transferring via Johannesburg and also limiting their exposure to potential touch-points, which is a key consideration as we adjust our travelling habits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Airlink’s unique service on the route will also support trade, commerce and tourism between the two cities and their respective markets at a time when it is desperately needed,” added Mr Foster.
The north-bound flights will depart from Cape Town during the mid-morning, with the south-bound flight leaving Harare in the early-afternoon, ensuring passengers have sufficient time to travel from the airport to their homes or places of accommodation before the 21h00 curfew which is in place in South Africa. The new service is one of several Airlink flights connecting Cape Town with other destinations.
Airlink’s great value for money Economy Class fares include a 20kg free economy class checked in luggage allowance plus a 15kg sporting equipment allowance. Onboard, their customers are treated to a complimentary light meal, refreshments, generous leg room and a choice of aisle or window seat (Airlink flights do not have middle seats).
Experience more https://www.flyairlink.com/profile/airlink-profile#businessclass
Flight Schedule (from 03rd of March 2021) Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays
From 01st of April 2021 the service will operate daily.
Cape Town – Harare
Flight 4Z 382, will depart Cape Town daily at 09h45, arriving in Harare at 13h05.
Harare – Cape Town
Flight 4Z 383, will depart Harare daily at 13h50 arriving in Cape Town at 17h10.
COVID-19 Health and Safety onboard Airlink flights
During these stressful times, health and safety remains Airllink’s primary concern. Their aircraft are equipped with High Efficiency Particulate Air Filters (HEPA), which effectively block 99.97% of particulates, including Coronavirus molecules. These HEPA filters continually sterilise the air in aircraft cabins, which is renewed entirely every three minutes.
Zimbabwe and South African Biosecurity and Travel regulations
Please check with the appropriate Zimbabwe Government authority for the latest regulations for travel from and returning to Zimbabwe.
South Africa has also introduced additional measures for international travellers arriving in the country. Click here for information on these requirements.
Please note that all arriving travellers are now required to provide a negative Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) COVID-19 test certificate, issued by an accredited laboratory in line with World Health Organisation standards, no more than 72 hours before the date of travel.
South African Authorities reserve the right to verify the authenticity of presented PCR test certificates.
Arriving travellers unable to produce a valid certificate will be required to quarantine, at their own cost, for 10 days.
For customers flying from South Africa to Zimbabwe, there are some important steps and items passengers will need to follow before and as they proceed through any South African airport. Click here for information on these.


text:
News by Topic
- Search Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Loyalty Marketing
- Mobile Marketing
- Social Marketing
- Viral Marketing
- Trends & Ideas
- Internet Marketing 101
Facebook mobile ads CTR 13x that of desktop and cheaper
In the first quarterly earnings reports since its public listing two months ago, social network Facebook is expected to post disappointing numbers. However, a new study by AdParlor reveals there could be better news ahead from Facebook's mobile ad offerings.
Ahead of the eagerly awaited quarterly earnings report, AdParlor has released findings from their analysis of over 200 million ad impressions across mobile and non-mobile placements on Facebook.
Results show that mobile advertising on the social network is cheaper and performs better than ads served to desktop.
Specifically, AdParlor found that click-through rates on mobile ads were 13x those on desktop ads and 15x higher on mobile ad campaigns than non-mobile ad campaigns.
"We believe that mobile advertising presents a powerful tool for advertisers and a huge revenue growth opportunity for Facebook," said Hussein Fazal, CEO of AdParlor.
Other findings from the report include:
- Average CTR for mobile ads is 1.32% compared with 0.086% for non-mobile ads.
- Cost-per-click for mobile ads is approximately 30% cheaper than non-mobile ads - $0.42 compared with $0.60).
- For every 1,000 Fans AdParlor drove from mobile to a brand's page, that page received an average of 10.5 comments vs. 8.5 comments from Fans referred from a non-mobile ad.
- Android outperformed iPhone and Blackberry with a CTR of 1.23% compared to 0.76% apiece for the other two - a 62% increase.
According to AdParlor's Special Report, "The State of Facebook Mobile Advertising", "The difference in engagement between mobile and non-mobile users is very interesting. It seems that clicking on links, watching videos, viewing photos and posting are all easier on desktop than mobile - but commenting and liking posts are easier on mobile. This data is extremely important for a brand as they think about their engagement goals and decide where to place advertising."
- Multitasking activity during TV viewing has little to do with the show being watched
- 65% of shoppers still rely on visits to physical stores during online shopping journey
- Internet ad revenues hit landmark high in first half of 2014
- Report: Product placements can recoup commercial losses
- Study highlights consumer behavior in tablet purchase journey
- Britain leads Europe's online shopping boom
- YouGov: Mobile commerce confidence grows among consumers
- Study finds the moments ads will most likely garner attention
Featured White Papers
- 5 Ways to Ensure your Social Brand Gets Noticed
In the world of social sponsorships today the key to success is not just awareness but recognition. The path to...
- How Marketers Can Earn Respect at the Revenue Table
Your CEO might not care how many emails you sent last week, but they do care about revenue. To earn...
- How to Create a More Social Business
Download this whitepaper to learn about the current state of social media adoption and see where the most innovative companies...
- The Definitive Guide to Duplicate Listings
In the Local SEO biz, we spend a lot of time dealing with duplicate business listings. Duplicate records of your...


text:
Bonneville International Corp. has sold its Bonneville Telecommunications Co. to Broadcast International Inc. of Salt Lake City. Broadcast provides satellite-delivered background music and point-of-purchase advertising and video-conferencing for retail store chains.
As recently as Jan. 22, Charles McQuinn, president of BTC denied that his company would be acquired. "In fact the exact opposite is true," McQuinn told IMD. "We've talked to every one of our competitors about buying them... [they
Bill Murphy, CTO of Blackstone, once again joins the podcast to discuss the private equity firm's new offices, designed to house its innovations team.Subscribe to Weekly Wrap emails


text:
News From : DagangHalal.com (08 Jun 2009)
Indonesia’s Agriculture Ministry says it has evaluated halal certifying bodies in New Zealand and recognises none of them.
The New Zealand Herald newspaper reports the move is threatening millions of dollars worth of meat exports from New Zealand.
It says Indonesia has blocked meat shipments and set a deadline of October 1 for New Zealand to fix the halal certification at the 60 meatworks listed to export to New Zealand’s largest regional Muslim near-neighbour.
Earlier, reports Geoff Thompson from Jakarta, Indonesia’s Agriculture Minister had reportedly said Australian beef certifying bodies must meet new Islamic halal guidelines or Australian beef imports will be banned.
Approved by clerics
But Indonesia’s council of clerics, which decides proper halal practices, says that all of Australia’s certifying bodies have been approved.
Indonesia’s state-owned news agency, Antara, reported the Minister said Australian halal certifying bodies had to meet new standards set by the Indonesian Islamic clerics council, known as the MUI.
But the deputy director of the MUI’s Food, Drug and Cosmetics Division, Lukmanul Hakim says that while three Australian halal certifiers had been suspended, all eight have now been approved.
Source:Radio Australia News


text:
Apple blogger John Gruber called Apple’s butterfly keyboard “the worst product in Apple records” on Wednesday in his Daring Fireball blog. “MacBooks should have the excellent keyboards within the industry; alternatively, they are the worst. They’re doing lasting damage to the recognition of the MacBook emblem,” Gruber said in his weblog submit.
Gruber’s remarks were made in reaction to an editorial in The Wall Street Journal that changed into written with a malfunctioning third-technology butterfly keyboard on a 2018 MacBook Air and published without correcting the typos that resulted.
Spoiler alert: The piece is nearly illegible because of all of the typos, highlighting how bad Apple’s butterfly keyboard may be.
I wrote a comparable piece nearly a year ago with my refurbished 2016 MacBook Pro that got here with a 2d-era butterfly keyboard that refused to type the letter “G,” except I pressed very tough at the “G” key. Indeed, the letter “G” is missing in nearly every phrase, which can make the piece tough to examine.
In fact, I wrote that piece on a substitute butterfly keyboard – a repair executed by using Apple below assurance – after the original defective keyboard on my MacBook Pro confirmed comparable troubles, like keystrokes that refused to sign up, or when they did, registered as double strokes. After a second repair, I haven’t experienced any problems…Up to now.
Apple’s keyboard can be a trouble for those who depend on computers and keyboards for a living. The hassle was being connected to dust and particles, and the company advised that human beings smooth out their keyboards with compressed air.
The organization addressed the problem in June 2018 with an unfastened keyboard repair application when cleaning did not work. And the issue turned into supposedly addressed on a hardware stage with the third-generation butterfly keyboards – the identical generation that become used to write The Wall Street Journal article – with a skinny film that was reputedly designed to save you dirt and particles from affecting keys. Apple made no mention of the film’s purpose to save you dust and particles from gathering below the keys, but it’s confirmed up in the past Apple patents.
On Wednesday, Apple posted its first-ever apology to MacBook customers who are experiencing troubles with their keyboards. The company instructed Business Insider that people who are nevertheless having keyboard problems should get in touch with Apple Support, the corporation’s customer service hotline.
Indeed, Apple’s butterfly keyboard isn’t the enterprise’s maximum famous innovation. It became designed to allow for the ultra-narrow design on Apple’s Mac laptops, which can be fantastically skinny. But it truly comes at a charge.
Some Mac users have complained that Apple’s butterfly keyboard is uncomfortable to type on, as the keys have very little “tour” – the space it takes to press a key. I can attest that it’s not as at ease as an everyday keyboard. However, it’s now not a deal-breaker for my part.
Others have complained that the butterfly keyboard is likewise loud. I can attest that the butterfly keyboard is plenty louder than preceding non-butterfly Mac pc keyboards or maximum different laptop keyboards.
With all this said, not every Mac person with a butterfly keyboard experiences troubles like missing or phantom double keystrokes. Apple said, “The enormous majority of Mac notebook customers have a fantastic experience with the brand new keyboard” in its apology on Wednesday.
My colleague Ben Gilbert who sold a 2018 MacBook Air when it changed into released in November, hasn’t skilled any troubles along with his butterfly keyboard. Furthermore, Ben actually likes the shallow journey on his MacBook Air’s keyboard, as he says it lets him type faster. As for the loud typing noise, Ben says, “I do not find it loud. I find it clicky.”


text:
International and home-grown Chinese brands are seeing sales flattening as China’s economy slows. How could Mondelez deliver growth in this stagnant market? China’s rural population of over 600 million citizens has huge potential but research has consistently shown they prefer local brands above foreign ones (53% vs. 8% BCG). And reaching this vast area is notoriously difficult as traditional retail distribution points don’t exist and only 46% of people are online (in comparison to 84% in urban China).
Also, leveraging huge volumes of transactional data from partnerships with UnionPay, Alibaba and proprietary survey CCS, Carat found:
- Chinese New Year is still the most important celebration for families in rural China, they’re most likely to try new products that are recommended by friends and family.
- The majority of China’s citizens travel away from the major cities, to hometowns and villages in the hinterland. Snacking is a huge ritual during these long journeys home.
- Consumption is thriving in rural areas, but digital penetration is low with physical experiences preferred over digital ones.
- Rural audiences spend only 1.6 hours per day online vs. four hours in major cities but have 43% more engagement with OOH media.
Carat’s strategy was to “Take Oreo Home”. Through a strategic partnership with ecommerce giant Alibaba Group, Oreo could become part of local customs and culture in the heart of rural China.
A joint business partnership with retail giant, Alibaba Group, as its exclusive snacking partner allowed the agency to leverage its ecosystem of e-commerce, marketing and logistics in rural areas. Together, they created activations that had never been done before — ‘Taobao Villages’ fused e-commerce with experiential across 10,000 locations outside major cities.
To capture the excitement at the start of the celebrations, it positioned Oreo as central to the trip home for millions of Chinese by taking over key travel spots, this idea also became the central theme of the OTV creative.
By focusing on the journey and the destinations, these activations brought Oreo into rural China and into the celebrations. 600 million potential new consumers were given the chance to interact with the brand and learn how to shop online.
To begin Oreo’s journey home…
With Alibaba’s help, the brand established 10,000 new distribution points across rural China, creating village pop up stores filled with special edition Oreos.
The agency wrapped the outside of trains heading from cities to the rural areas, creating anticipation and excitement for the big trip home. Covering 37 stations and travelling over 100,000km into the heart of the Chinese countryside. It also created an “Oreo World”, complete with branded cushions, posters, window stickers and wallets.
This message was amplified in the TVC, helping scale the message and creating the context for bringing Oreo into the countryside.
To complete the Oreo journey, local experts showed visitors how to scan the QR code and access the Mondelez flagship store for direct purchase, using online exclusive offers to reward new users.
The campaign brought Oreo home as Alibaba’s most popular brand during the Chinese New Year festival.
The brand reached new consumers:
• A new retail channel established with sales delivered through the Alibaba network of 10,000 shops.
• Covering 1/3 of China and accessing 200 million new consumers in just two months.
• Increasing ecommerce traffic by an average of 366% when the campaign was live.
• Driving five million new visits to the Mondelez flagship store on Tmall.
Driving new sales:
• 150% monthly increase in Oreo ecommerce sales.
• Beating the previous record for Mondelez ecommerce sales set on 11.11 by 35%.
• 52% increase in Oreo base sales vs same period 2015.
• Overall the campaign delivered an exceptional ROI of 5:1.


text:
(7:07 p.m. EDT) -- One of two World Cup charters planned by Germany's Moltke Promotion has been cancelled after the company said that demand for the sailings has not been as great as was originally anticipated. As a result, Moltke has scrapped its One Ocean Club voyages between Europe and South America and has asked Holland America Line to change its plans for Noordam -- one of two ships (along with Westerdam) that were to be used for the sailings.
According to a statement from HAL, Werner von Moltke, managing director of Moltke Promotion, says that, although demand for the cruises has been positive, there just weren't enough cabins sold to warrant a second charter. Representatives from Moltke Production were not immediately available for comment.
Again, Westerdam will still sail its scheduled voyages to and from South Africa as planned and will operate in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth between 13 June and 10 July; in the meantime, Noordam will stay in Europe and be put into an early dry dock, which was initially slated for January 2011. Following dry dock, the ship will again be chartered by Moltke Promotion for a lengthy voyage from Northern Europe to the Mediterranean. Both ships will resume their regular HAL sailings on 26 July with Noordam departing from Barcelona and Westerdam sailing out of Rotterdam.
All passengers on the affected sailing will be refunded in full by Moltke Production.
This is the second global sporting event charter to be canceled in less than four months. In February, plans to base NCL's Norwegian Star in Vancouver as a floating hotel for the 2010 Winter Olympics were axed due to a lack of interest.
--by Ashley Kosciolek, Copy Editor


text:
SHOWTIME AND FANMIO LAUNCH DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION PLATFORMS FOR PURCHASE OF BLOCKBUSTER FLOYD MAYWEATHER VS. LOGAN PAUL BOXING EVENT
NEW YORK – May 21, 2021 – With less than three weeks until Sunday, June 6, when all-time boxing great and 2020 International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee Floyd “Money” Mayweather returns to the ring to take on social media sensation and professional boxer Logan “The Maverick” Paul in an exhibition bout, SHOWTIME and FANMIO have launched digital distribution platforms for pay-per-view purchase. The event telecast is produced and distributed by SHOWTIME PPV® and begins at a special time of 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, live from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Mayweather vs. Logan Paul is available now for pre-order for $49.99 at www.SHOWTIME.com/ppv and FANMIO.com/MayweatherVsPaul. All consumers who purchase the event via SHOWTIME.com can watch the event live through the SHOWTIME streaming service apps on Apple iOS and tvOS devices, Android Mobile, AndroidTV, Roku, FireTV, Chromecast, Xbox One, as well as online at www.SHOWTIME.com/ppv.
Fans purchasing the pay-per-view through FANMIO.com or any FANMIO Boxing app will receive an exclusive Mayweather vs. Logan Paul t-shirt included with the $49.99 purchase price. Mayweather vs. Paul can be purchased through the newly launched FANMIO Boxing app, which is available globally via smart televisions and mobile devices via Apple iOS and tvOS devices, Android Mobile, AndroidTV, FireTV, Google TV and Chromecast. To learn how to watch the blockbuster event on FANMIO, click here.
The pay-per-view will also be available for purchase in the supported SHOWTIME apps listed above and in the Sony PlayStation Store, on Sling TV and via all traditional cable and satellite pay-per-view providers. Mayweather vs. Logan Paul also will be shown at select closed-circuit locations and movie theaters.
“We’ve enjoyed a long and successful track record working with Floyd Mayweather on the biggest events in boxing and on television,” said Stephen Espinoza, President of Sports and Event Programming for SHOWTIME. “He is the greatest boxer of his generation and one of the best all-time. We are excited to present this special event, complete with two compelling professional bouts and two entertaining exhibitions. This show will have something for everyone.”
“We are thrilled to expand our platform with the new FANMIO native apps for smart TV and mobile devices making the Mayweather vs. Logan Paul fight even more accessible, increasing our reach into new countries and regions,” said Solomon Engel, CEO and Founder of FANMIO. “These apps will provide a unique viewing experience, whether it is on a smart television, phone, tablet or computer. We have already experienced a high demand for pay-per-view sales following the fight’s official announcement and anticipate that with this expansion of our platform, coupled with our new relationships with Mayweather Promotions and SHOWTIME, this event is on path to make history.”
# # #
About Mayweather vs. Logan Paul:
Mayweather vs. Logan Paul is a special exhibition bout presented by Mayweather Promotions, FANMIO and Mavathltcs that will take place on Sunday, June 6 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. The telecast, which is being produced by SHOWTIME PPV, will air live beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT and can be purchased now at SHOWTIME.com and FANMIO.com. The undercard will feature WBA Light Heavyweight Champion Jean Pascal vs. two-division world champion Badou Jack in a 12-round rematch, plus former unified super welterweight champion “Swift” Jarrett Hurd against Luis Arias in a 10-round bout and in a fourth PPV bout, former NFL star wide receiver Chad Johnson will make his boxing debut in an exhibition match against versatile fighter Brian Maxwell. Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.com.
For more information visit bit.ly/mayweatherpaul, www.SHO.com/sports, www.FANMIO.com. Follow on Twitter @FloydMayweather, @LoganPaul, @MayweatherPromo, @ShowtimeBoxing and @FANMIO and on Instagram @FloydMayweather, @LoganPaul, @MayweatherPromotions, @ShowtimeBoxing and @FANMIO.
Nicole Craig, Mayweather Promotions: (702) 807-1788
SHOWTIME Sports: 212-708-1734
Kelly Swanson, Swanson Communications/Floyd Mayweather: (202) 783-5500
Paola Argueta, Miami Dolphins/Hard Rock Stadium: (703) 663-0292
Monica Mendez, FANMIO: email@example.com
Media Credentials: https://mayweatherpromotions.com/credentials/


text:
The German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development has published a ten-point food security programme. The Federal Government’s support at EU level for the abolition of agricultural export subsidies has been well received by many development and farming organisations. However, as the director of Brot für die Welt (Bread for the World) points out, the report fails to mention that state subsidies will continue to flow into the food sector to ensure that European products can still be sold cheaply on the world market. The organisation Welthungerhilfe (World Hunger Aid) also sees the programme as a step in the right direction, but stresses that its success will depend on how the ten steps are implemented. In addition, it is feared that the FPD wants to achieve the programme’s undefined “increase in sustainable production” by means of genetic engineering.
Our German ARC members from the platform “Meine Landwirtschaft” commented in a press release (in German) on the adoption of the so-called Dess report on the future of the CAP by the European Parliament. […]
Beets, Beats and Better Bites with tasty treats, DJ tracks and dozens of tractors rumbling through the streets! What it’s the annual Wir Haben Es Satt (#WHES19) mobilization in Berlin. What’s happening – and why? […]
It is sometimes easier to find out what is being discussed in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks by following the US government coverage than waiting for European negotiators to testify in front of MEPs. The US House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means grilled trade ambassador Michael Froman on April 3. The hearing is available online, but the 441MB file runs for nearly three hours, so here are some highlights. Representative Mike Thompson complained about protected geographic indicators that (0:55): “…the EU is making it very difficult… …some of the things they have done have created harmful trade barriers…” Responding, ambassador Froman sympathised with Thompson (2:05): “…we think our system of trade marks and common names works well, and we resistant to efforts to create further geographic indications.” Summing up, Froman added (2:40): “…it’s important that we establish a regime that works for us as well.” TTIPhearinggeographic 2 by anglophonie Texan Representative Lloyd Doggett asked if the dispute procedure (ISDS) for current US bilateral trade deals had any appeal options (0:54), for which […]


text:
engagement cufflinks – Mason Art Cufflinks, This rhodium silver masterpiece is the ultimate gift for folks in the engineering and architecture professions. , Dimensions: 1″ x 1/4″, Material: liquid, rhodium silver,
Large pickups generate at least $17,000 a vehicle in pretax profit for GM, the company has indicated in disclosures to investors engagement cufflinks. By contrast, many Detroit Three sedans are so unprofitable, their manufacturers have decided not to build them anymore. Sustaining sales and pricing in the large-pickup segment will be critical in a year when most forecasters expect overall U.S. car and light truck sales to fall. Ford’s U.S. sales chief, Mark LaNeve, on Thursday called the F Series “the backbone of our franchise,” during a conference call, and added the “segment will continue to be strong, but hotly contested” in 2019..
Automakers are banking on pickup truck sales to stay strong even if U.S. interest rates continue to rise. Rising interest rates translate into higher monthly car payments and are expected to deter some buyers in 2019. GM has said 27 percent of Chevrolet and GMC trucks – which can haul trailers by day and substitute for a luxury sedan by night – sell for more than $55,000. The new Silverado was engineered with a focus on slashing weight and trimming production costs to compete with market leader Ford engagement cufflinks. However, the truck has received unflattering reviews for its utilitarian interior..
GM’s Piszar brushed aside the critics. “We’re not concerned at all,” he said. “As people see this new truck they’re blown away.”. He said the automaker has adopted a “very disciplined, very gradual” approach to ramping up production of its new truck. All versions of the new Silverado will be in dealerships in January and sales moving forward will reflect that reality, he said. The transformation of large pickups from work vehicles to substitutes for luxury sedans is most evident in the new Ram engagement cufflinks. FCA designers stuffed the new Ram 1500 with features including a 12-inch touch screen, betting customers would pay more for a fully loaded truck..
“These are all the things that customers who are paying that kind of money have come to expect,” said Jim Morrison, head of the Ram brand for North America. “It’s amazing to be able to have your cake and eat it too.”. FCA Chief Executive Mike Manley told Reuters that with the new Ram trucks and additional production capacity, the brand should be the No. 2 seller in the segment engagement cufflinks. In the fourth quarter, FCA’s Ram brand tied the Silverado at around 161,000 trucks. For all of 2017, FCA sold 500,000 Ram pickups to the Silverado’s 585,000..
The Detroit automakers on Thursday renewed their jostling over which among them is really the leader in truck sales engagement cufflinks. Ford claims its F-Series is the market leader, with 909,330 trucks sold in 2018, an increase of 1.4 percent over 2017. But collectively across its Chevrolet and GMC brands -including smaller, midsize trucks like the Chevrolet Colorado – GM sold more pickups in 2018 with 973,469 vehicles sold, an increase of 2.6 percent over 2017. Ford will start selling its midsize Ranger pickup truck this month to compete with the Colorado..


text:
On Wednesday January 20th, it was announced that the number one player in the world, Jordan Spieth, will be joining the Coca-Cola team on a multi-year deal. The deal will have Spieth making appearances in television and packaging, including other areas. Spieth’s agent, Jay Danzi, stated that “Spieth’s deal will be one of the largest the company has ever made with an athlete.” Since his wins at the Masters and the U.S. Open, Spieth has landed many endorsement deals with some of the planet’s largest companies.
The number one golfer in the world and defending FedEx champion, Jordan Spieth, is a Dallas, Texas native and is among one of the hottest names in not only golf but sports in general. Spieth played college golf at the University of Texas and was a part of a national championship team while there as well as taking home many individual awards. Just before turning 20, Spieth won his first PGA Tour event in 2013 and has been rocketing through the ranks since. This past year is when Spieth really hit his stride and has shown championship caliber play at nearly every tournament. This included victories at the Masters, U.S. Open, and eventually ending the year as the number one player in the world and FedEx Cup champions of the PGA.
It was made public this past Wednesday that Jordan Spieth has signed an endorsement deal with Coca-Cola. In signing Spieth, Coca-Cola has joined with one of the hottest athletes in the sports industry in what should pay huge dividends for both Spieth and Coca-Cola.
If your company is interested in finding out availability and booking fees for a professional Golfer like Jordan Spieth or other sports celebrities for a Keynote Speech, Charity Event, Guest Appearance, or Football Camp, call us at 1-888-246-7141.
Watch Jordan Spieth on David Letterman After His Masters Win:


text:
GulfBase Live Support
The Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) signed yesterday an agreement with Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority to expand production and the contribution of SMEs in the GDP in line with the Saudi growth plan.
The governor of the SMEs General Authority Gassan Al-Sulaiman and the JCCI Secretary General Hassan Dahlan signed the agreement at JCCI building. Dahlan highlighted the importance of cooperation between the JCCI and the SMEs General Authority. He also noted that these enterprises are crucial for developing national economy, creating jobs for Saudi youth and diversifying income.
He added that the JCCI is ready to provide training and guidance to SMEs as well as offering marketing services to them. Further, the Chamber is ready to organize exhibitions, seminars, conferences and workshops in this regard. JCCI is also ready to collaborate with the SMEs General Authority in its program aiming to classify the SMEs operating in the Saudi market.
The Chamber said Dahlan will also work on studies and surveys and will provide needed reports in cooperation with different JCCI committees.
The cooperation also include women empowerment and studying the obstacles facing youth businesses and putting plans to solve such obstacles.
Ghassan Al-Sulaiman noted earlier that financing SMEs in the Kingdom needs to increase 20 times in comparison to the current status. He added that SMEs will be included in the SR200 billion allocated to encourage private sector participation, saying that they will be financing innovative projects which will be an added value to the Saudi market.
In a day and age of fast moving technology and tech savvy generation, it is no surprise that smartphone giant iPhone is the most positively talked about brand among millennials in the UAE while Faceb
The Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) will launch the first specialised seminar on Tuesday, which is part of the annual programme for Umsiyat, an initiative promoted by the OCCI board of d
Times of Oman
Entertainment services supplied to employees, such as staff parties and retirement gifts, should not be exempt from Value Added Tax (VAT), the Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has said.
Qatar Chamber (QC) and Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced yesterday that they would intensify cooperation and collaboration in organising the “M ade in Qatar 2018” which will be held in
A Qatari woman is running a unique business of taking picture of newly-born babies from the postnatal unit at the facility of a famous private hospital in Qatar.
The government always enco


text:
RELAY ATTACK: The vulnerability relates to iPhones with a Visa card set up for Express Transit payments
A vulnerability in the way that Visa cards work with Apple Pay Express Transit mode “could enable hackers to bypass an iPhone’s Apple Pay lock screen and perform contactless payments”, researchers at the University of Birmingham and the University of Surrey have found.
“The weakness lies in the Apple Pay and Visa systems working together and does not affect other combinations, such as Mastercard in iPhones or Visa on Samsung Pay,” the researchers explain in a paper to be published at the 2022 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy.
Visa’s point of view is that it would be impractical for the vulnerability to be exploited in a real-world scenario, however, the payments network has told the BBC.
The researchers discovered the issue after they identified “a unique code broadcast by the transit gates or turnstiles” that support Apple Pay in Express Transit mode which allows users to make contactless fare payments without unlocking their iPhone or authorising the transaction via fingerprint, PIN or Face ID.
“This code […], nicknamed the ‘magic bytes’, will unlock Apple Pay,” the researchers say.
“The team found they were then able to use this code to interfere with the signals between the iPhone and an in-store card reader.
“By broadcasting the magic bytes and changing other fields in the protocol, they were able to fool the iPhone into thinking it was talking to a transit gate, whereas actually, it was talking to a shop reader.
“At the same time, the researchers’ method persuades the shop reader that the iPhone had successfully completed its user authorisation, so payments of any amount can be taken without the iPhone user’s knowledge.”
“This is a concern with a Visa system, but Visa does not believe this kind of fraud is likely to take place in the real world given the multiple layers of security in place,” Apple told the BBC.
“In the unlikely event that an unauthorised payment does occur, Visa has made it clear that their cardholders are protected by Visa’s zero liability policy.”
Researchers alert Apple and Visa to contactless payment vulnerability was written by Tom Phillips and published by NFCW.


text:
Vicious Cycle Software announced this morning that they will be launching version 2 of their Vicious Engine (V e2) at GDC 2009 in San Francisco. The original Vicious Engine ahs been used in games such as Flushed Away
and Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
. The V e2 engine will debut
in a retail game with D3 Publisher's Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard
due out tomorrow.
Vicious Cycle Software Prepares to Unleash the Second Edition of the Vicious Engine at GDC 2009
MORRISVILLE, N.C. --(Business Wire)-- Mar 02, 2009 Vicious Cycle Software, a premier developer of interactive entertainment and game development technology, has announced that Vicious Engine 2 (V e2), the second installment of their highly adaptable game development platform, will officially be launched at this year’s Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco. V e2 boasts a number of new and improved features for current generation consoles, including an updated lighting engine and modern pixel shader technology. Vicious Cycle Software is now taking appointments for the week of GDC, where it will be showcasing Ve2 at booth 5840 in the Moscone Center’s North Hall from March 25th to March 27th.
“Ve2 is the result of everything we’ve learned over the last few years, both as a provider of development solutions and as a game development studio,” said Eric Peterson, president and CEO of Vicious Cycle Software. “Vicious Engine has allowed us to continue doing what we love to do, and Ve2 will make it easy for developers both big and small to do the same no matter what platform they choose.”
The adaptable, easy-to-learn Vicious Engine has been used to design games of every style, including adventure/platformer games like Dead Head Fred and the best-selling Flushed Away, deeply addictive casual fare like Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords™ for PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, and even instructional/educational titles like Discover Babylon, INNOV8 and Ultimate Team Play.
Ve2 will make its retail debut in Vicious Cycle Software and D3Publisher’s Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard™, a third-person shooter with a sense of humor, to be released March 3rd, 2009 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system.


text:
Tod's SpA (TOD.MI)
16 Mar 2018
Latest Key Developments (Source: Significant Developments)
Italian luxury group Tod's says: revenues in the first half of the year stood at 497.6 million euros, down 3.4 percent from last year . same store sales at constant exchange rates were down by 14.3 percent in the first six months of the year . Chief Executive Diego Della Valle says development plan for the group continues, primary goal is to improve organic growth Further company coverage: [TOD.MI] (Reporting by Milan newsroom). Full Article
Tod's: Shares fall 4.9 percent after results . On Wednesday the group said Q1 sales fell due to weaker demand in China and shrinking tourist spending [ID:nL5N1886II] Further company coverage: [TOD.MI] (Reporting by Milan newsroom). Full Article
MILAN, Feb 24 Italian luxury brand Fay, part of the Tod's group, showcased its first collection under new designer Arthur Arbesser on Saturday at Milan's Fashion Week.