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Cybercriminals Using SMS Phishing Attack to Rob Cardless ATM
Cybercriminals have devised a new way of hacking cardless ATMs using SMS-based phishing attacks.
It has become a new trend with many financial institutions to offer cardless ATM transactions, thereby allowing customers to withdraw cash using only their mobile phones. This definitely makes things easier for the customer, but it does make things easy for cybercriminals too. They add a new number to the customers’ accounts leveraging account credentials that they had stolen through phishing and then use that added device to rob customers of their money from the cardless ATMs.
Brian Krebs, in a post in his very popular website KrebsOnSecurity, writes, “Thieves are combining SMS-based phishing attacks with new “cardless” ATMs to rapidly convert phished bank account credentials into cash. Recent arrests in Ohio shed light on how this scam works.”
He adds, “In May 2018, Cincinnati, Ohio-based financial institution Fifth Third Bank began hearing complaints from customers who were receiving text messages on their phones that claimed to be from the bank, warning recipients that their accounts had been locked…The text messages contained a link to unlock their accounts and led customers to a Web site that mimicked the legitimate Fifth Third site. That phishing site prompted visitors to enter their account credentials — including usernames, passwords, one-time passcodes and PIN numbers — to unlock their accounts.”
In this incident, cybercriminals stole credentials of around 125 Fifth Third Bank customers, mostly in or around Cincinnati area and then used this stolen data to withdraw $68,000, in less than two weeks, from 17 cashless ATMs in Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio. The court documents also show that the hack and ATM robbing incidents continued through October 2018 and the hackers got away with an additional $40,000 until four men suspected of perpetrating the crime were arrested.
Krebs also recollects another incident that happened in January 2017- “In January 2017, KrebsOnSecurity told the story of a California woman who saw nearly $3,000 drained from her account via a cardless ATM operated by Chase Bank. In that incident, the thieves didn’t even need to know her ATM PIN; the thieves were able to use a phone number and mobile device they controlled and associate it with her Chase account simply by supplying her username and password.”
He notes, “As the January 2017 story illustrates, cardless ATM scams aren’t new, but they are becoming more prevalent as more banks turn to cardless ATM technology as a convenience for customers,”, and adds, “This time last year, cardless ATMs were offered mainly by the big banks, and then only at some of their ATMs. Now, many smaller regional and local banks have upgraded their cash machines to enable the new technology.”
Cardless ATMs are of course a new trend, people are just beginning to use it and the majority are just beginning to hear of it. But it would soon be a very popular thing, which means cybercriminals too would be targeting cardless ATMs in many ways, in the times to come. The best thing to do, to prevent your money from getting stolen from cardless ATMs, is to refrain from responding to requests for personal or financial information via email, text messages or in any other way over your phone. Whenever you have a doubt about a call, email or message seeking information about your account, contact your bank directly and re-confirm things.


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Microsoft for months has waged war against Google attacking the search giant for the way they do advertising. The company has also sniped at Google’s popular Chromebooks, with snarky commercials on the web and on TV. So instead of going after Microsoft using similar tactics, the maker of Android has decided to hit Mr. Softy where it hurts most: hiring away its talent. Blaise Agüera y Arcas, one of the company’s top engineers, has decided to jump ship to Google.
After being with the company for almost 8 years (joined in 2006), Agüera y Arcas explained on his blog how tough his decision was saying that it was “the hardest decision of my life.” Agüera y Arcas continued, saying Microsoft’s “leadership has been consistently good to me over these past eight years, and it has been a time filled with creativity and growth and good friends.” “It’s painful to leave behind so many wonderful ongoing projects, and even more so to leave behind such a great team.”
Regardless of the situation, this can’t be a good thing for Microsoft. It’s unusual to lose such a key senior level executive to your number one rival during such a vulnerable time, especially as the company begins to reorganize itself and transition from Steve Ballmer to a new CEO. This kind of thing could make other talent a bit uneasy joining the Windows maker. Microsoft needs to button things up on the inside first, instead of worrying about its next Scroogled ad. Google doesn’t care about those weak attacks because its leading, and its taking away talent.


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g src=”/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/globaleagle.jpg” alt=”Global Eagle logo” style=”margin: 5px; float: left;” width=”200″ height=”33″ />Global Eagle Entertainment has signed a multi-year strategic partnership agreement with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings to enhance internet and entertainment services across its Norwegian Cruise Line brand’s fleet of 14 ships, according to a statement.
Under the agreement, Global Eagle is implementing flexible, tiered plans for Wi-Fi, texting and video.
In the near future guests should be able to use their own devices to access an integrated portal that includes TV programming, on-demand movies, games, and special event telecasts.
Global Eagle also expects to be able to monitor usage and dynamically adjust bandwidth for each ship based on real-time demand, ensuring a consistent quality of experience (QoE) at all times.
“Under this new agreement with Global Eagle, we’re looking to expand our onboard communication and entertainment experience for our guests,” said Ross Henderson, NCL’s vice president of onboard revenue. “In addition, Global Eagle’s portal will enable us to manage our onboard revenue-producing services, entertainment and information more efficiently.”
“This new partnership agreement with NCLH is a giant step toward achieving our vision of delivering an unparalleled QoE in reliable high-speed Wi-Fi and entertainment for people on the move, whether on an airplane, cruise ship or luxury yacht,” said Ole Kristian Sivertsen, president of Global Eagle’s cruise, ferry and yacht services. “One of our key competitive advantages in the marketplace is our ability to offer end users a QoE similar to what they get at a luxury land resort.”


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Travel Employment Rises in August for 10th time in past 11 months
September 6, 2013
David Huether, senior vice president of research and economics at the U.S. Travel Association, provides analysis on Friday's Labor Department jobs report.
September 6, 2013
Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, released the following statement on departing Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.
September 5, 2013
Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, issued the following statement in response to the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) announcement that it will soon expand its Pre✓™ traveler screening program to 60 more airports nationwide.
September 4, 2013
David Huether, senior vice president of research and economics at the U.S. Travel Association, provides analysis on Wednesday's Commerce Department announcement that the trade deficit deteriorated by $4.6 billion in July 2013 to $39.1 billion.
Congestion Could Cost U.S. Economy 208,000 Jobs
August 29, 2013
If current trends continue, Labor Day-like traffic will soon plague U.S. highways on the average day of the week, according to analysis prepared for the U.S. Travel Association.
U.S. Travel Praises National Economic Council Officials' Travel and Tourism Commentary on WhiteHouse.gov
August 23, 2013
A White House blog entry posted this week extols the link between immigration reform and the benefits that America's economy and national security will realize from increased travel and tourism. The U.S. Travel Association commended the analysis offered by National Economic Council director Gene Sperling and senior policy advisor Brandon Belford.
Tennessean Susan Whitaker Named 2013 State Tourism Director of the Year
August 20, 2013
Winners of the 2013 Mercury and Destiny awards, State Tourism Director of the Year and DMO Rising Star were announced during the U.S. Travel Association's annual ESTO conference held this week in Richmond.
Entertainer Dolly Parton: “…one of the best friends that our Tennessee tourism industry has ever known…”
August 19, 2013
Susan Whitaker, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, has been named the State Tourism Director of the Year. The award is voted upon annually by the U.S. Travel Association’s National Council of State Tourism Directors.
U.S. Travel Hails Chicago Airport's Commitment to Improving Entry Efficiency While Preserving High Standard for Security
August 15, 2013
Speaking on Thursday at the unveiling of Chicago O'Hare International Airport's new Automated Passport Control capability, Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, praised the Chicago Department of Aviation and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for their collaboration in dramatically upgrading the security and efficiency of international passenger screening at O'Hare.
U.S. Travel Applauds U.S. Customs and Border Protection for Allowing More International Travelers into the Trusted Traveler Program
August 12, 2013
Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, today released the following statement on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) announcement of its intent to allow citizens of the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea and Qatar to enroll in its highly successful trusted traveler program known as Global Entry.


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Earnings of Berkshire Hathaway Experience a Surge, Stock Prices Continue Rising
The operating income of Berkshire Hathaway has continued experiencing a surge ever since the pandemic has started fading away from all over the world. Although the pandemic is not fully controlled, yet it has given enough space to people so the businesses could come back to normal.
As a result of the above, Berkshire Hathaway has experienced a surge in its businesses. Berkshire Hathaway covers several businesses from around the world whether the businesses are related to energy or railroads. The company has been reporting constant progress and growth in terms of its revenues and economy.
The company has been making profits and generating high revenues due to the economy making a comeback.
The conglomerate just went ahead and shared its earnings report for the second quarter of 2021 on Saturday, July 31, 2021. In the earnings report, the firm has reported that it has experienced a surge in its operating earnings.
According to reports, the conglomerate has recorded $6.69 billion worth of operating earnings for Q2 2021. The firm has revealed that this is a 21% increase from the same quarter but from a year back. In the second quarter of 2020, the firm had reported that it had recording operating earnings worth $6.69 billion.
The firm has also gone ahead and provided details around its overall earnings. The overall earnings also provide information around the equity investments of Berkshire Hathaway that are constantly fluctuating. The firm has revealed that it has been observing a 6.8% year-over-year increase. Now, the fluctuating investments of the company in the second quarter of 2021 were $28 billion.
The report showed that Warren Buffett, the CEO and Chairman at Berkshire Hathaway adopted an aggressive approach in buying back the company’s shares. The report also revealed that Berkshire did not go for the acquisition of companies. Instead, he went for the repurchasing of stocks.
According to information, Warren Buffett reportedly purchased $6 billion worth of stocks that belonged to Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett executed these many repurchases of stocks for the second quarter of 2021. However, Buffett did not aggressively buy stocks in the last three months but he did it in the quarter prior to the second one as well.
In the first quarter of 2021, Buffett went ahead with the repurchasing of $6.6 billion worth of the company’s shares. This means that in the last six months, Buffett has re-purchased $12.6 billion worth of company shares.
Compared to the last year, Buffett has only purchased half the number of shares than he did in the last year. In the year 2020, Buffett had purchased a total of $24.7 billion shares of Berkshire.
Since the economy has been making a comeback, the share prices for the company are constantly experiencing a rise. Since the beginning of the third quarter of 2021, Berkshire’s share price has experienced a 2% increase.


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Pokémon Go has made Tokyo stock market history for Nintendo.
Pokémon Go has become insanely popular since its launch and is still rolling out across regions even now.
Shares in Nintendo have been on the rise since the app released, culminating in a record breaking high for Nintendo last week.
According to Bloomberg, Nintendo shares shot up by 71%, wrapping up on Friday with the most traded Japanese stock in a single day this century, beating out Tokyo Electric and Nippon Steel.
Here's a graph for you to look at. Enjoy.


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Some of the biggest news coming out of Blizzcon 2017 this past weekend was the announcement of the newest Hearthstone expansion, Kobolds and Catacombs. It's the latest addition to the game following the Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion that launched this past summer. There's a lot of info floating around out there, so we've gone and gathered up everything you can expect from Kobolds and Catacombs right here in one nifty article.
Tag: Hearthstone »
Halloween is certainly one of our favorite times for mobile game updates. Many popular titles celebrate this spooky season with fun festivities that can stretch from one week to even the whole month. As we draw closer and closer to Halloween, we'll clue you in on the best Halloween updates on the App Store. Here are four of the best thus far.
In a complete turnaround from this spring's Jungles of Un'Goro, Blizzard has announced Knights of the Frozen Throne, the next Hearthstone expansion. This expansion travels to icier climes and embraces Blizzard's undead villains.
A new thread on the popular video game rumor forum, NeoGAF, uncovered an interesting job listing over at Blizzard Entertainment. It appears the studio behindStarCraft, World of WarCraft, Hearthstone,andOverwatch is looking to bring on a new hire with mobile experience.
Hearthstone gets a new expansion, Journey to Un'Goro, in a little over a week, and they'll be welcoming the Year of the Mammoth, the next season, at the same time. There's a lot to be excited about, so Blizzard is celebrating in kind. Players will be treated to a host of daily rewards in the days leading up to Journey to Un'Goro'release. Here's what you can expect.
Diablo celebrates its 20th anniversary on December 31, and Blizzard is planning on going all out to commemorate the occassion with a series of events in a number of Blizzard games. Diablo, over its long lifespan, has cemented itself as one of the most iconic games in industry history. Fans will be treated to special content and limited-time items in Overwatch, Heroes of the Storm, Starcraft II, World of Warcraft, Diablo II, and, of course, Hearthstone to commemorate the event.
Esports is very likely the way of the future, with events for games like League of Legends and CS:GO drawing massive crowds, while millions of others sit at home streaming tournaments or playing on their own. It may seem like all of that excitement is only happening on PC and consoles, but you would be surprised to find that there are a few popular esports on mobile, too, and the field is growing.
CCGs, or collectible trading card games, have pretty much taken over mobile games at this point. Everyone's jumping on the bandwagon, and who could blame them? CCGs are fun for players and hugely profitable for developers and publishers. There's a wide array of CCGs devoted to beloved pop culture franchises, so of course a Plants vs. Zombies iteration was bound to pop up.Plants vs. Zombies Heroes isn't just another marketing ploy, though. Underneath the fun PvZ illustrations you're used to is a heavy duty card game that actually requires quite a bit of strategy to master.
But maybe you've already mastered it, and are looking for the next challenge. Look no further--we've drawn up a list of four other excellent CCGs to kill your time.
Sure, video games are exciting and new, but sometimes there’s nothing quite like an old fashioned card game. King’s Shuffle Cats, which hit your assorted mobile gadgets this week, is a great example of that with its fun take on classic rummy. But this game of doey-eyed, card dealing cats isn’t the only option on mobile. Let’s take a look at four other great card games for iOS and Android.
With its recent Apps for Earth campaign, Apple has partnered with the World Wildlife Fund and a handful of developers to help give something back to the Earth.
What this means in practice is that participating apps will donate all of the money made from certain in-app purchases to WWF, and there's a bunch of new content being added to games just for the event.
The new content is only available until the 24th of April, so with that deadline looming, we thought we'd pick out the best updates to focus your time on while you can.
You all still play Hearthstone, right? Of course you do. We all do. And Blizzard has been updating it with more and more content so it's why wouldn't we? They're certainly not helping things by releasing yet another expansion, either.


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Ten states, including Colorado, have reached an agreement with the federal government and major credit card companies on a plan designed to prevent the illegal sale of tobacco products over the Internet.
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced the plan this morning, along with the U-S Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the card companies.
Spitzer and other regulators have been trying to halt the Internet sale of cigarettes across state lines. Critics of such sales say they undercut traditional business operators, deprive states of sales tax revenue, and give minors an avenue to buy cigarettes and chewing tobacco before the age of 18.
Besides Colorado and New York, other states involved in the agreement include California, Idaho, Oregon, Louisiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Wisconsin.


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Disney hikes streaming prices, focuses on costs as Iger moves to reassure investors
2023-08-09 - Scroll down for original article
Click the button to request GPT analysis of the article, or scroll down to read the original article text
A sign is shown at one of the entrances to Disney Studios in Burbank, California, U.S., July 25, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo Aug 9 (Reuters) - Walt Disney (DIS.N) said on Wednesday it would raise prices of its streaming service Disney+ in October, the second price hike this year, and CEO Bob Iger emphasized the company's efforts to keep a lid on costs as he tried to reassure investors. The company beat Wall Street's profit expectations for its fiscal third quarter and said it was on track to cut costs by more than the $5.5 billion it promised investors in February. Shares were last up 3% in extended trading, reversing losses after the entertainment conglomerate posted quarterly revenue below expectations and fell slightly behind analyst projections for U.S. subscribers of Disney+. Iger, who returned for a second stint running Disney, said in a statement that Disney was undergoing an "unprecedented transformation" to help it become more efficient. "I can't emphasize enough the time that we spent, and the effort that we spent, on managing costs," Iger told analysts on a conference call, referring to the company's streaming business. "We have done a tremendous job in a very, very short time." Iger, who faces formidable challenges on nearly all fronts of the entertainment empire, acknowledged that Disney still has work to do to make the streaming business profitable. Disney will raise by 27% the price of the ad-free tier of the Disney+ service to $13.99 and hike by 20% the no-ad version of Hulu. Looking for ways to attract and retain subscribers in a competitive streaming market, Disney also announced it would launch ad-supported streaming in Europe and Canada and provide U.S. subscribers with a new, ad-free package in coming months. Iger said he would address the issue of password sharing next year, echoing Netflix (NFLX.O), which has cracked down on password sharing in the United States and beyond, alerting users that their accounts cannot be shared for free outside of their households. He said Disney will reduce the number of titles it releases and also the cost per title. REVENUE JUST MISSES Disney said it cut losses at its streaming video services to $512 million in its fiscal third quarter, narrower than its loss of about $1.1 billion a year ago. It added 800,000 Disney+ subscribers, 100,000 subscribers shy of analyst estimates, and shed 12.5 million subscribers to the Disney Hotstar service in India, or nearly a quarter of its subscribers, as it gave up rights to Indian Premiere League cricket matches. "Disney will have to cut prices from current levels in an effort to stimulate demand and defend its market share in an increasingly competitive industry," said Jesse Cohen, senior analyst at Investing.com. "The streaming space is certainly feeling the pinch of persistently high inflation which has forced consumers to make changes to their spending habits as disposable income shrinks." Paolo Pescatore, analyst at PP Foresight, echoed that Disney will have to focus on attracting new streaming subscribers and managing costs as it transitions from its traditional core business to streaming. Disney's revenue for the quarter ended July 1 rose 4% to$22.33 billion from a year earlier, just short of the Wall Street estimates, according to Refinitiv. It delivered per-share earnings of $1.03, when excluding certain items, beating Wall Street projections of 95 cents a share. The company took $2.65 billion in impairment and restructuring charges in the quarter, reflecting the cost of removing some content from its streaming services, terminating licensing agreements and $210 million in severance payments to laid-off workers. Disney's traditional television business continued its decline. Higher sports programming production costs and lower affiliate revenue dragged down the performance of its cable channels. TV revenue fell 7% to $6.7 billion, while operating income fell 23% to $1.9 billion. Disney's direct-to-consumer business reported a 9% increase in revenue to $5.5 billion, as the average revenue per subscriber rose at Disney+ and Hulu. Content sales and licensing, the unit that includes film and television sales, reported a deeper operating loss of $243 million in the quarter, compared with a loss of $27 million a year ago. The quarter included the release of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," which performed less well at the box office than the prior year's "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness." Also released during the most recent quarter was the live-action remake of "The Little Mermaid," which disappointed. Disney's Parks, Experiences and Products group reported a 13% increase in revenue in the quarter, to $8.3 billion, and an 11% bump in operating income to $2.4 billion. The results were buoyed by the rebound of the Shanghai Disney Resort, which was open for the full quarter compared with the same time a year ago, when COVID-19 forced the park to be closed for all but three days. The unit had lower operating income at its domestic parks, due to decreases at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles Additional reporting by Chavi Mehta and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru Editing by Peter Henderson, Sayantani Ghosh and Matthew Lewis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


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What most people refer to as the ‘Starbucks of Denmark’ is about to get itself a brand new name. Baresso Café, the largest coffee chain in Denmark, with 48 coffee shops, has recently been sold to the Swedish Chain Espresso House.
All the branches of Baresso will change to Espresso house outlets in the next two years. The locations and staff will remain the same, so the company won’t lose former Baresso costumers. Espresso house will also open over 30 new coffee bars all over Denmark.
Denmark is the 7th most coffee consuming country in the world, according to 2013 Euromonitor’s statistics. The high demand for coffee paves the way for foreign investors in coffee houses. Coffee is not just a business, it’s a big part of Danish culture.
“It’s expected at dinners, part of most morning routines and supposed to be free at work”, says Martin Andreas Petersen, a coffee loving Dane.
And though Danish people like the known and familiar, nobody seemed really bothered by the upcoming change.


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Hitman IP is now fully owned by IO Interactive
The Hitman IP is now entirely owned by IO Interactive, the now independent studio has announced.
After being put up for sale by parent company Square Enix earlier this year, the future of the Hitman franchise has been left hanging in the balance.
Luckily, it appears IO Interactive and Square Enix have concluded negotiations with a tremendously positive outcome.
Now operating as an indie studio, IO Interactive will continue work on the Hitman series moving forward.
Related: Best PS4 Games
IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak released a statement regarding the announcement on the studio’s official website:
“Therefore I am proud to announce today that IOI is now officially an independent studio. We have successfully concluded our negotiations with Square Enix and have agreed to a management buyout. Crucially, we will keep all of the rights to the Hitman IP.”
“This is a watershed moment for IOI. As of today, we have complete control over the direction for our studio and the Hitman IP – we’re about to forge our own future and it’s incredibly exciting. We are now open to opportunities with future collaborators and partners to help strengthen us as a studio and ensure that we can produce the best games possible for our community.”
Related: Super Mario Odyssey Preview
IO Interactive has said it will share further news regarding its future plans for Hitman next week. Perhaps we’ll hear confirmation on Season 2?
What are your thoughts on this news? Let us know in the comments below.


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G20 must regulate bitcoin to avoid risks says European Central Bank board member Benoit Coeure at Davos
European Central Bank Executive Board member Benoit Coeure urged Group of 20 nations to discuss ways to regulate bitcoin at their upcoming summit, adding that digital currencies could also be a force for good by pushing countries to upgrade their payment systems.
“Let’s act on the risks and that’s about regulation,” Coeure said on a panel at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos.
“The international community is kind of shaping, gathering and preparing an answer to that and I will expect for instance a G20 discussion in Buenos Aires in March to focus very much on these issues with a regulatory answer.”
UK Prime Minister Theresa May promised to consider clamping down on Bitcoin, citing concern that cryptocurrencies are being used by criminals.
Digital currencies can buy anything from drugs to cupcakes and are seen as having the potential to reshape the global financial system.
The price of bitcoin soared in 2017 but there have been calls for cryptocurrencies to face tougher regulation.
Couere said the international community needs to find a way to understand and “control these gateways between the shadow currency universe and the regular financial system.”
At the same time he urged central banks not to lose sight of the opportunities created by the rise of cryptocurrencies.
“We need better cross-border payments also because it’s good for development, it’s good for financial inclusion,” Coeure said. “So bitcoin can help us, it can pay us a service by forcing us to upgrade our systems. That’s a positive lesson.”


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The Quarterly Indicators report provides recent monthly and quarterly data from a wide variety of sources relevant to small businesses. Economic activity of small firms is examined at the national level.
- Real gross domestic product fell an annualized 1 percent in the second quarter of 2009. While this was the fourth consecutive quarter of declining output, the decline was significantly less than the previous quarter’s 6.4 percent drop, and it may be one of a handful of signs that the worst of the recession may be past. Real consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of real GDP, was down 1.2 percent annually, and real exports were off 7 percent. Other declines were more marked: real gross private fixed investment declined an annualized 20.5 percent, and real imports fell 15.1 percent. Measures of manufacturing output were mixed, with industrial production falling and the Institute for Supply Management’s purchasing manager’s index rising. Proprietors’ income fell 5.4 percent on an annualized basis during the quarter, and by 8 percent year to year.
- Small business owners and the public were more optimistic in the second quarter, despite underlying economic anxiety, according to the National Federation of Independent Business’s (NFIB) optimism index and the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey. While poor sales continued as the top concern for small business owners according to NFIB, more survey respondents indicated that the next three months were a good time to expand (albeit at lower levels than desired).
- The unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent in June 2009, the highest since August 1983, and job losses since December 2007 amounted to 6.5 million nonfarm payroll jobs. Nevertheless, fewer jobs were lost in the second quarter (1.3 million) than in the first (2.1 million). The only sectors experiencing net job gains were education and health services and other services. Nonfarm productivity rose 6.4 percent on an annualized basis, its highest rate since 2003. Unincorporated self-employment held at the same level as in 2007 and 2008, but the number of incorporated self-employed individuals had fallen by about a half million since 2008.
- Interest rates remained low, with long-term Treasury notes inching up slightly. The Federal Reserve maintained its target federal funds rate of essentially zero in an effort to combat the credit crunch. SBA guaranteed lending has experienced a 50 percent rise in the weekly loan volume of the 7(a) and 504 programs since March 2009 (compared to the weekly average before). The rise is attributable to increased demand, implementation of the federal stimulus, and efforts to stimulate the secondary lending market. Venture capital deals increased by an additional $500 million from the previous quarter, but the volume was less than half of last year’s level.
- Inflationary pressures were modest: consumer prices rose 3.3 percent on an annualized basis (or 2.4 percent omitting energy and food costs), despite a spike in the price of oil, which rose $21.70 a barrel during the quarter.
The Complete Report (pdf)
Information courtesy of the Small Business Administration.


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New Jersey Gambling License Renewal Deadline Approaching [...]
Microgaming Casinos Welcome Tiki Vikings Slot
- August 8, 2019 By Riley Wilson -
The leading online slot specialist Microgaming has announced the launch of the company’s latest release titled Tiki Vikings.
The recently-launched game has been developed exclusively for Microgaming by Just For The Win, a game studio behind games such as Ruby Casino Queen, Rockabilly Wolves and Shogun of Time.
A Viking Luau
This unusually-themed slot brings together a taste of Hawaii and Vikings, which surprisingly make an excellent combination in a five-reel three-row package with a total of 20 paylines.
Punters can look forward to an exciting game, with lots of potentially lucrative features, including the Symbol Lock Respin and the Symbol Upgrade.
The reels, which feature a tropical decor with flowers and coconuts, are populated with a wide variety of symbols, including the Vikings, which will appear as high-paying symbols.
Landing a winning combination with any of the top-value symbols can lead to neat prizes thanks to the Symbol Lock Respin feature. Once this feature is activated, our Nordic heroes will stay frozen in place while the reels respin. If more high-paying icons find their way onto the grid, players will receive another respin.
An Entertaining Slot
Whenever a symbol gets frozen, the symbol upgrade meter will be filled, and landing three spins of locked symbols in a row will activate the Symbol Upgrade feature. This will turn each frozen symbol into the next top-paying icon. Combining these two features can result in fantastic wins!
Commenting on the launch of the new release, James Buchanan Director of Global Operations at Microgaming, said Just For The Win had delivered yet another entertaining and highly original slot game. He pointed out that Just For The Win had delivered yet another entertaining and highly original slot game. Tiki Vikings merged two popular themes to great effect, providing players with a colourful and fun base game, boosted with excellent bonus mechanics.
Buchanan also stated the Symbol Lock Re-spin and Symbol Upgrade features added a tremendous sense of energy and momentum to the gameplay, offering the potential for huge rewards.
The game has already gone live, and you can check it out at any Microgaming-powered online casino.
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Cotton prices rose steadily during the first three weeks of March and then edged down slightly. The seven-market U.S. average spot price ended the month up 7%, at almost 88 cents per pound, very close to the 12-month high of 89 cents reached in August.
However, market dynamics in Asia might result in lower prices ahead. Cotton prices fell in India and Pakistan during the month, and Chinese officials announced a decision to allow state reserves of cotton to be sold in higher quantities and at lower prices than previously stated.
This no doubt contributed to the decline in price in the last week of March, and may continue to put downward pressure on cotton prices in the weeks and months ahead.
Lenzing is going beyond its eco-friendly market presence to foster a better planet.Read more
President Trump may be able to count withdrawing from NAFTA among his first 100 days' accomplishments.Read more
Kit and Ace announced today it would close all stores outside of its native Canada.Read more
Off-price has been doing well while much of the rest of retail suffers, and the downfall of the department store will mean even bigger gains for the off-price sector.Read more
Challenges at retail continue to negatively affect the bottom line for companies along the value chain—except in for luxury and fast fashion.Read more
Deckers Brands announced a review of its strategic alternatives Tuesday, which could result in a sale or other transaction.Read more
While fashion and technology continue to blur the lines, a group of intelligent materials may drastically change consumers’ wardrobes in upcoming years.Read more


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Fashion lovers will soon have another store at The Shoppes at Fox
River that can serve their needs.
popular plus-size women's clothing store, recently applied for a
permit to place a sign at the shopping center, Charlie Griffith, an
associate planner for the city of Waukesha, confirmed Thursday.
According to a
property plan on The Shoppes at Fox River’s website, the store will
open in a 3,200-squarefoot storefront between Target and Maurices.
The storefront had previously been home to Famous Footwear.
stores that apply for sign permits typically do so a couple months
before opening, which could put the store in line for an October
closest Torrid stores to Waukesha are located at Brookfield Square
Mall and the Mayfair Collection in Wauwatosa.
468,000-square foot retail development, The Shoppes at Fox River is
already home to roughly 40 stores, including Target, Hobby Lobby,
Petco, Pick ‘n Save, Ulta Beauty and others. Old Navy opened just
last month at the shopping development and a Bath & Bodyworks is
expected to open later this summer.


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However, as relations have become increasingly frosty between the parties, culminating most recently with Google's decision to remove YouTube support from the Amazon Echo Show , it appears the retail giant has accepted that it needs to play nice.
Observers warn that if the ANC doesn't fix its reputation it could split and be forced into a coalition government for the first time since taking power in 1994 at the end of white minority rule. One of South Africa's richest businessmen, the 65-year-old Ramaphosa is a veteran of the struggle for liberation from the country's former apartheid system of white minority rule and helped negotiate the transition to democracy.
As a result we've made the decision that we will be discontinuing AIM effective December 15, 2017. "You likely remember the CD, your first screenname, your carefully curated away messages, and how you organized your buddy lists". The writing was on the wall for the chat client when AOL (now OATH) announced it was cutting off third-party access to AIM back in March. The AIM yellow running man was one of the most recognizable advertising icons of the 1990s.
If humanity is wiped out at some point in the future, an asteroid strike certainly would be high on the list of probable causes. It also passes extremely close to the sun itself. "The images should be excellent for obtaining a detailed 3D model ". Earth was nearly destroyed in the ensuing chaos, which scorched the planet, burned vast amounts of vegetation and created the great deserts of Africa.
READ NEXT :IT leaders turn to AI to defend against AI-powered cyberattacks It's not too hard to see why Google's made a decision to backport Assistant to older phones. It's being rolled out to users in several regions across the globe, including the U.S., U.K., Canada, India, Mexico and Spain. In addition to the Lollipop launch, Google's also bringing Assistant to tablets for the first time.
So Christopher Shallue, a senior software engineer at Google Brain, and Andrew Vanderburg , a NASA Sagan Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, made a decision to have a crack at it. After four years it had collected a large dataset containing 35,000 possible planet candidates. When the scientists finally tested their neural network on signals that it had not seen before, it correctly sorted the planets from the false positives a whopping 96% of the time, Shallue said.
These include electronic items like televisions, mobile phones, projectors and water heaters. The tax on import of microwave ovens too has been doubled to 20 per cent, the Finance Ministry said in a notification. Eight out of 10 phones sold in 2017 have been made locally, data from Counterpoint Research showed. Tarun Pathak, an associate director at Counterpoint Research, said the tax notification, will impact mobile phone companies dependent on imports.
David Ginsberg, Facebook's director of research, and Moira Burke, research scientist, made the surprising admission yesterday in a blogpost that highlighted the downsides of using the website. Take a Break, a product of the company's so-called Compassion Team, is one of several recent changes to the social platform that are meant to foster social interaction and engagement between users.
German carmaker Daimler, electronics giant Samsung and Honda are also among the 12 top businesses and researchers to be the first to work with IBM on exploring the technology. The researchers now have United States $63.7 million in funding to develop a 10-qubit prototype silicon quantum integrated circuit by 2022. Unfortunately, in all of those architectures, qubits are now extremely fragile and prone for calculation error, and even quantum processors with just a few of them are too big ...
The game's official website features a few descriptions and early examples of its open-world exploration and design. The catalyst for the story that Ooo has been flooded, causing the kingdoms to be cut off from each other by rising waters. You'll use spells, potions, items, and unique hero abilities during battle. Hopefully this is more than kiddie shovelware. Ahead of the game's release, fans are also being given the chance to name Finn and Jake's boat.
If you're somewhere early Friday morning where the clouds have parted, take a look up and you might see a meteor or two. The meteor shower is composed of material left behind by asteroid 3200 Phaeton, which is passing Earth this month a bit closer than usual.
From Thanksgiving treats to Bob Ross-inspired trailers ("and remember, hugs and drugs"), the Powers That Be have wholeheartedly embraced the Merc's irreverent style, which, in turn, has allowed Ryan Reynolds to do what he does best: serve up amusing and often deadpan tweets to his legions of followers.
As reported by BGR , Samsung revealed that the Notebook 9 lineup will have a major revamp in 2018, and one of the three laptop models will get its own Notebook 9 Pen, which works in a similar way as the built-in S Pen stylus for the Galaxy handsets.
The two smartphone went for flash sales at 12 PM via Amazon India . Xiaomi recently announced the Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus with 18:9 bezel-less displays in China. So, if you are into this new 18:9-aspect ratio game, then, wait for few more weeks and you will not be sorry for your decision. However, the device retains the same FHD+ 1080 x 2160 pixel screen resolution as its predecessor.
In October Russia's space agency said a manned Soyuz rocket had suffered a partial loss of pressure as it returned to Earth from the ISS in April this year. Earlier NASA confirmed that the expedition 53 Commander Bresnik has handed over station command to Roscosmos's Alexander Misurkin in an official change of command ceremony.
Blue Origin's arrival is expected to bring 300 high-wage jobs to the region. During the more than 10-minute launch, New Shepard was able to reach heights of 99 km above sea level and reached a maximum ascent velocity of Mach 2.94. Meanwhile, the booster reignited its BE-3 engine and deployed landing legs to set down on the launch pad. The launch was simply a test of the updated New Shepard passenger-carrying rocket.
However, reports claim that these features will not be present in the upcoming smartphone. In terms of specs, the Galaxy S9 will be powered by either a Snapdragon 845 or Samsung's very own Exynos 9810 processor. The Galaxy S8 and S8+ came with a fingerprint scanner that was placed to the right side of the camera because of which users often ended up placing their fingers on the camera instead of the fingerprint scanner.
Lokesh met the Google X representatives in Sanfransisco and explained the facilities made available to develop growth centre in the port city. One solution, first proved out by sending a copy of the film Real Genius across more than 100 kilometers between balloons, was Free Space Optical Communications, aka FSOC, technology .
While the pre-rolls will not show up in News Feed for now, they will live in what the company described as "places where people intentionally go to watch videos". "Engaging one-off videos that bring friends and communities together have always done well in News Feed and will continue to do so", the company said in the blog post .
Originally debuting on the Galaxy S8 this year, the voice assistant hasn't received much praise and is usually the subject of discussions surrounding how much further Samsung needs to go in order to compete with Apple, Google, and Amazon in the AI department.


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In the past year, Netflix has been in turbulent waters as more competitors emerge and threaten its stronghold over streaming services. The streaming giant faces volatility in the number of subscribers and competitors in the market. This pressure from new players such as Disney+ and HBO called for a change of strategy for the entertainment giant – offering customers affordable subscription plans with ads thrown into the mix.
But its entry into the gaming industry will undoubtedly change the picture.
Netflix and gaming?
Yes. Netflix made its foray into the gaming industry in 2021. Through purchasing and developing titles exclusive to their streaming platform, they are able to provide an immersive experience that connects users even more widely with content from their platform.
In addition, in this process, Netflix caters to gaming enthusiasts. This industry has approximately 3.2 billion players from all over the world, putting the gaming companies’ revenues at more than 180 billion dollars in 2022, according to Newzoo.
Netflix has published some 35 games and achieved 34.1 million downloads since its entry into the gaming industry, with 16% of these coming from US users alone. Apptopia reports that 1.63 million people are actively playing their titles – a minuscule number compared to their total record-breaking user base of 223.1 million subscribers worldwide.
Despite this small start, by laying down foundations now, they could be in line for some huge rewards later on as demand increases globally.
The strategy: bringing together world-renowned game developers
As part of their strategic advances of laying the foundations and building infrastructure, Netflix has begun to gather many renowned game developers over the last two years. In September 2021, it announced the purchase of the game studio Night School, which is responsible, among other things, for the development of the game OXENFREE, and in March it purchased the Finnish Next Games, which is responsible for the development of the games Stranger Things and Walking Dead, for $72 million.
This was all happening at the same time as they founded a game development studio in California led by Chacko Sony, who oversaw the production of God of War: Ascension and was the executive producer of Overwatch. The idea is to produce several series based on popular games and thus bring gamers to its screen.
Netflix’s strategy is to take advantage of the huge community created around its hit series, which some even say have developed their own universe, and try to turn them into an even bigger brand. This means selling merchandise and developing games that will make it possible to extend the life of the series–similar to their big competitor Disney, which did it with Toy Story or The Lion King, which are products that have lived on for over 20 years.
Now we are witnessing a streaming war developing between these two giants, as Disney slowly manages to strengthen its grip in the series and movies world with a consistent increase in its streaming subscribers, which is approaching 165 million, according to Disney and Statista.
On the other hand, behind the development of a mobile, computer or TV game stands data science–together with an approach that looks from the deep side of the user. Netflix is trying to recruit experts with experience for the new adventure to avoid the same mistakes their competitors made in the past. Amazon and Google have experienced failures for many years until they managed to find the winning horse.
For example, as an entrepreneur in the world of gaming, I had the opportunity to look and test different approaches to building games, in order to produce a special experience. When it comes to a platform like Netflix, the combination of content such as series and movies into the gaming experience creates something new.
Development of Games Based on Successful Series: The Super Entertainment Strategy
Netflix’s move is smart and logical. Developing fun and light games, among other things, based on the most loved and watched series allows it to produce a deeper value chain. And also to strengthen the brand and the sympathy for the hits that conquered the world. It’s brilliant, and adds to increased profits, and allows them to turn to a new sector full of potential.
Unlike in the past, a game’s development cost is minimal compared to a high-budget series’s production. The game allows a significant source of profit and revenue. Today it is possible to develop a computer game, even at the expense of only tens of thousands of dollars, during which its economic viability far exceeds the production of a series as well as the risk that accompanies it.
Sometimes, we forget that at the end of the day, Netflix’s streaming services are an app – and when you think about it that way, the focus on games doesn’t sound so out of place on the part of the content giant. Almost always, the time people will spend on a specific game will be more compared to most of the existing apps. Netflix understands this and decides to take its strategy a few steps further.
You have to understand that more and more people choose to spend their free time with a mobile game, as opposed to binge-watching series. Let’s do a simple experiment. Go to the screen time area on your phone, which shows a segmentation of the amount of time you spend in front of the various apps.
I bet that at the top of the list, right after social networks, WhatsApp, and emails, this or that game will be given a place of honor. If that isn’t the case? You are probably not from the Y or Z generation.
And when you think about it like that, Netflix’s focus on games doesn’t seem so unreasonable. In most cases, the time people spend on a specific game will be greater compared to most of the existing apps. Netflix understands this and decides to take this strategy a few steps further.
In a world where the technology giants compete with each other for our attention, Netflix, Disney and HBO try to be where our attention is. At the same time, they also understand that the future of the entertainment industry is in gaming. Games succeed in producing a peripheral and continuous experience that keeps the users engaged. Netflix understands that by approaching things this way, it also wins the most important playing field – the one for the user’s time.
It’s all about getting to the next level.


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The U.S. organic industry showed healthy growth last year, outpacing the sales increase of comparable conventionally produced food and nonfood items, according to a new industry survey. Driven by consumer choice, the sector surpassed the $30 billion mark for the first time.
The organic industry grew by 9.5 percent overall in 2011 to reach $31.5 billion in sales, according to findings from an Organic Trade Association survey. Of this, the organic food and beverage sector was valued at $29.22 billion, while the organic nonfood sector reached $2.2 billion.
Organic food sales experienced 9.4 percent growth in 2011, the survey found. The easing of the recession, consumer price inflation due to input price increases, and consumers’ increasing desire for convenience products were all factors that elevated growth for the year, the OTA said.
The organic food sector grew by $2.5 billion during 2011, with the fruit and vegetable category contributing close to 50 percent of those new dollars. The fastest-growing sector was the meat, fish and poultry category, posting 13 percent growth over 2010 sales, but still remaining the smallest of the eight organic food categories.
Organic food sales now represent 4.2 percent of all U.S. food sales, up from 4 percent in 2010.
Meanwhile, organic nonfood sales experienced strong 11 percent growth, while total comparable non-organic items grew only 5 percent. The OTA predicts that organic food and nonfood sales will continue to sustain growth of 9 percent or higher.
“Consumers are increasingly engaged and discerning when they shop, making decisions based on their values and awareness about health and environmental concerns,” said Christine Bushway, OTA’s executive director and CEO. “For them, it matters whether foods are genetically engineered, or produced using practices that are good for their families. Price is still an issue, but with the wide availability of private label products and many venues for organic products, they have many choices for where to shop and a variety of products from which to choose.”


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During the run-up to the November 12 release of my first book, Junkyard Planet: Travels in the Billion Dollar Trash Trade, every weekday I’m posting a new photo taken during my decade of reporting on the global waste, recycling, refurbishment, and repair trade. Today’s scene shows a recently built television dismantling and recycling factory in China’s Hubei Province. Click for an enlargement:
This image, taken in August 2013, shows a key section of what is likely the largest television recycling factory in China, with the ability to recover 2 million televisions per year. It’s a desperately needed service: as noted in yesterday’s scene, China tosses out roughly 1.5 million tons of televisions per year at the moment, and that number will grow, creating hazards – televisions are filled with lead – and opportunities – televisions are also filled with valuable metals. In the past, the recycling of televisions in China was often left to informal workshops where health and the environment were barely considered. But over the last three years, the Chinese government has implemented a program whereby consumers received a subsidy for sending their televisions to licensed workshops, thereby supporting the development of environmentally safe and sound recycling in China. There’s still a long way to go, of course, but this factory – and its siblings across China – are a big first step.


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Companies like Valentino, Stella McCartney, and Saks Fifth Avenue are currently engaged in litigation centering on long-term retail leases for stores located amid some of the most valuable real estate in the country. And they are not alone. Many companies have been wrangling with their landlords (in and out of court) in furtherance of attempts to get out of their pricey, years-long leases in the wake of COVID’s decimation of brick-and-mortar retail, and yet, at the same time, at least some companies are doubling-down on their physical expansion, albeit under markedly different terms.
In its Q4 revenue report, The RealReal revealed that it is one of the companies seeking to expand its physical footprint in the wake of COVID-19. The San Francisco-based resale titan asserted that in the three months ending on December 31, 2020, it opened “a neighborhood store” in Palo Alto, California, a “smaller footprint” outpost that was followed by similar stores in Brooklyn, New York, and Newport Beach, California, the latter of which opened in Q1 of 2021. Not finished, the company said that it plans to open approximately 10 neighborhood stores by the end of Q2.
Citing the success of its existing brick-and-mortar outposts, including those in New York City, California, and Chicago, and the ability of brick-and-mortar “to deeply engage with the company’s most valuable customers and significantly unlock supply,” The RealReal cited the terms of the newly-entered lease agreements as helping to drive its decision to expand at this time. Speaking on a call with analysts last month, founder Julie Wainwright said that “the rents in the neighborhoods have dropped precipitously and the willingness of landlords to do shorter term leases also [has been] critical to our decision making.”
Wainwright’s statements come in light of a larger trend in real estate, which is being born from the fact that “the financial pressures faced by many retail, hospitality and leisure tenants has swung the balance of power in lease negotiations away from landlords,” according to Burges Salmon LLP attorney Will Hall. “Since the financial repercussions of the pandemic started to materialize,” Hall says that “tenants in the retail sector have been seeking rent concessions and abatements in their existing leases, and pushing for more flexible lease terms” – both in regards to duration and rent calculation – “when signing up to new leases.”
And if The RealReal’s enduring push further into brick-and-mortar is any indication, tenants are getting good deals.
Among the most immediate results of that shift in power? An adoption of turnover-based leases, ones in which a link exists between the revenue a company brings in from the space it leases and the rent it pays (a trend that has adopted with increasing frequency in recent years), as well as the adoption of COVID-19 clauses aimed at specifically addressing and mitigating new risks. Another big development: shorter commercial leases. Global commercial real estate services company JLL, for instance, noted this summer that “in Hong Kong, an average office lease lasts three years. In the U.K., it is six. In the U.S., it fell 15 percent in the first five months of 2020 to seven years – and it is likely to fall farther.” And the same goes for storefronts.
“Corporations want the ability to react to a host of unknowns brought on by the coronavirus and economic pressures, so they will continue to pursue options that provide them with enhanced flexibility for the foreseeable future,” according to Ben Munn, JLL’s Global Flex Space Lead, said. “Whittling down lease terms is certainly part of that effort,” and it is being readily reflected in negotiations as thousands of retail leases come up for renewal.
“Their duration is increasingly shrinking, as businesses grapple with an unpredictable future and look for ways to slash costs, stay flexible and maintain leverage over their landlords, even after the health crisis abates,” CNBC’s Lauren Thomas echoed late last month, pointing to willingness among real estate owners, such as mall giant Simon Property Group and Tanger Factory Outlets, which said that “they have been doing more extremely short-term deals for pop-up shops during the pandemic.”
But just as turnover-based rents are not entirely novel (Saks’ lease with the Miami-based Bal Harbour Shops, for instance, dictates that it pay “‘percentage rent’ in amounts determined by [its] ‘net sales’ from the Saks premises”), neither is the push towards shorter lease terms. While Valentino, for instance, revealed in its ongoing legal battle that the 2013 contract that it entered into for the sweeping space on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan is slated to last for a whopping 16 years, more mass-market entities whose outposts are not located in the epicenter of luxury retail, such as Vans and Timberland owner VF Corp., say that “leases for its stores have been trending shorter for years,” per CNBC. “The way we structure our leases now allows us to be quite nimble, quite agile, and … we can pivot as consumer behavior changes,” CFO Scott Roe told CNBC, noting that its average lease term is about four years, and will soon be “even shorter.”
CNBC also revealed that David Simon, CEO of mall owner Simon Property Group, the largest shopping mall operator in the U.S. told analysts during a conference call in early February that it is signing more three-year leases than usual in light of tenant interest in shorter leases.
While there are certainly downsides to shorter lease terms from the perspective of a landlord, Simon said the Indianapolis-headquartered retail giant is onboard with shorter durations, saying, “I would rather negotiate two or three years from now [than have an empty store].” After all, Hall notes that “arguably some income is better than no income,” and more than that, maintaining occupancy rates, particularly in mall settings, is beneficial given the prevalence of co-tenancy clauses in retail leases, which generally enable a tenant to reduce their rent or terminate their lease if key tenants or a certain number of tenants leave the property.
Such developments are not limited to shopping malls, though. Tishman Speyer, the landlord of New York City’s Rockefeller Center, for instance, made headlines late last year when it revealed that it had come up with “a unique solution for retailer woes, a new six-month lease program.” Motley Fool reported that in furtherance of a venture called RC Capsule, Tishman Speyer has sought to offer brands space to take up residence “for six months at a time, introducing them to city goers right in the middle of Rock Center’s well-established retail experience.” Steven Alan and Jill Lindsey were among the retailers that launched six-month pop-ups thanks to the RC Capsule initiative.
Ultimately, given enduring pandemic and economic uncertainty and resulting changes in consumer behavior, “There will not be a one-size-fits-all model for a leasing structure,” Garrick Brown, VP of retail intelligence, Americas retail services, at Cushman & Wakefield, wrote in a client note. “I suspect that there will not be one correct strategy. It’ll really be a case-by-case basis.” The one thing he did say for sure: “The leverage is undoubtedly on the tenant side right now, and landlords, I think, would be foolish to not consider every option.”


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George Osborne announced a number of welcome measures for businesses in today's Budget.
Today's Budget saw chancellor George Osbourne unveiling a number of measures which will affect small and medium businesses.
It’s been more than six years since the launch of the UK's smart meter programme: the clock is ticking and expectations for full implementation are high. Had millions of smart meters already been installed by now, could homeowners and businesses be benefiting from lower bills and a clear understanding of their consumption?
The industry is changing to such a level that an e-commerce website no older than four years can be thought of as ‘past it’ if we consider the degree to which it meets the needs of the modern customer and distinguishes a brand from its competitors.
The many messages about the Internet providing businesses with a real opportunity to broaden markets, gain an advantage over competitors, encourage customer loyalty and increase visibility have been rolled out again and again over the past few years. Why then do surveys continue to point to a lack of uptake from SMEs in the UK?
The European Parliament has approved plans to give customs authorities new powers to seize counterfeit goods at border control, even if the goods in question are destined for sale outside the EU.
In the 2014 Economic Impact Report, CEO of World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) David Scowsill stated that the UK is squeezing the economic opportunity presented by Travel and Tourism and needs to change its approach and policies; including freezing APD and aligning its procedures with the Schengen visa area to simplify access to the UK for travellers.
Unemployment in Britain fell by 63,000 to 2.33m in the three months to January, according to new official figures.
According to new research, only one in four companies in EMEA meet the definition of a ‘Transformer’ – a company that describes its use of IT infrastructure to drive “innovation excellence.”
Our coverage of today's Budget announcements, for which George Osborne is expected to have a few surprises up his sleeve. The Budget will begin at 12:30.
Speaking in public can be hugely stressful, but there are techniques to relax and become an expert keynote speaker.
Anne Walker MBE, founder of British-made 1st Position dancewear, explains how they became one of the first non-American dancewear brands to break the competitive U.S. industry.


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superglaze writes: "The European Union is asking companies that sell surveillance and law enforcement tech to repressive regimes to stop doing so. The EU is not taking concrete action yet, but has warned that sanctions may be applicable. All this comes little more than a week after Wikileaks published the Spy Files, a name-and-shame list of the companies offering tools for mass surveillance and interception to despotic regimes, but also to Western governments."
Sign up for the Slashdot Daily Newsletter! DEAL: For $25 - Add A Second Phone Number To Your Smartphone for life! Use promo code SLASHDOT25. Win a FREE Moto Z2 Force Edition smartphone from Wirefly ×


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We preview Feria Internacional de Franquicias, which opens its doors in Mexico City, March 7.
The Mexico franchise show is Mexico’s ultimate franchise event. For the past 25 years thousands of entrepreneurs and investors have visited this premier exhibition with the dream of owning their own business and taking their first steps along the path to financial independence for themselves and their loved ones.
The franchise industry is more diverse than most realize and it’s the ideal business model for young entrepreneurs who are looking to start their own business.
Each edition of the International Franchise Fair is a showcase for hundreds of companies who are looking to enter the Mexican market. Over three action-packed days, aspiring franchisees will access more than 380 franchises, 14 hours of seminars, expert consultants, free samples, resources and more!
After almost three decades of constant evolution this exceptional meeting between franchisors and investors continues to prepare people for a new chapter of life that many call a “marriage”. You might think of it as a franchisor and an entrepreneur who decide to grow under established commitments.
The International Franchise Fair is held at the WTC International Exhibition and Convention Center in Mexico City, located in one of the three most vibrant commercial areas of the most populated capital on the continent.
Encounter more than 1,300 national and foreign brands - 84% Mexican 16% foreign - consultancies with certified experts and two key entities in this exemplary development: the Mexican Franchise Association, the highest governing body of the sector, and Comexposium Mexico, the commercial arm that today provides high quality leads to the franchise industry.
Mexico has many recognized brands, Opticas Devlyn, Kidzania, Sushi itto, El Fogoncito and Todo para sus Pies, Perfumes Fraiche to name just a few among the many which export their franchise models abroad.
Mexico is a nation that knows good business and today opens up its internal market without fear to globalizing firms from distant nations in the knowledge that they will pass on learning and systems that will result in the creation of employment.
Welcome to the 42nd International Franchise Fair
AT A GLANCE
WHAT: International Franchise Expo
WHERE: WTC Mexico City,
WHEN: March 7-9 2019
New franchises are opening all over the world. Here are just a few of the recent brands which have established new presence at home or overseas21 Feb 2019 | Read Article >
It celebrated its 30th birthday last year and 2019 sees Stagecoach Performing Arts spreading its message of 'Creative Courage for Life' worldwide04 Feb 2019 | Read Article >
For further information on the Tiger Bills franchise please submit your details below.


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The UK is set to follow the US’ lead by banning the use of microbeads in cosmetics and cleaning products by 2017, the government recently announced.
The use of the little plastic beads has been controversial within recent years, as environmentalists have warned that they are entering the ocean in huge quantities, where they subsequently end up becoming part of the food chain when fish and other sea animals ingest them.
Last month the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee revealed that up to 100,000 plastic particles can enter the ocean from just one shower, and as a result the committee called on the UK government to take action.
The beads are often used in products such as exfoliating face and body scrubs, toothpaste and cleaning products, though it is not always clearly stated on the label. Instead, consumers should look out for words like polyethylene, polypropylene and polymethylmethacrylate in the ingredients list. You can also search the database on the website Beat the Microbead to learn which products contain them.
Companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Proctor and Gamble have promised to stop using the tiny plastic balls by the end of next year, and other companies have put forward their plans to phase out their use by 2020.
Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom recently announced that the government will start planning the ban later this year. She said: “Most people would be dismayed to know the face scrub or toothpaste they use was causing irreversible damage to the environment, with billions of indigestible plastic pieces poisoning sea creatures.
“Adding plastic to products like face washes and body scrubs is wholly unnecessary when harmless alternatives can be used.”
She also said it was the “next step in tackling microplastics in our seas”, after the successful bid to decrease the number of plastic bags being used by introducing the 5p charge last October.
Marine biologist, Professor Richard Thompson from Plymouth University said the ban was fantastic news. “Over 680 tonnes of mircrobeads are used in the UK alone every year. That’s substantially more than all of the litter we pick up on our beaches in voluntary beach cleans each year, so it’s not a trivial quantity.
“The sooner we can make progress with avoidable, unnecessary emissions, because it’s not clear to me at all why we need to cleanse ourselves by rubbing our skin with millions of small, plastic particles. What’s the societal benefit there?”
It has been found that around 280 species of marine animals ingest the beads. For example, a recent report by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee stated that a plate of six oysters could contain around 50 small pieces of plastic.
Louise Edge, Greenpeace’s UK senior oceans campaigner, said that: “It’s a credit to Theresa May’s government that they’ve listened to concerns from the public, scientists and MPs, and taken a first step towards banning microbeads.
“Marine life doesn’t distinguish between plastic from a face wash and plastic from a washing detergent, so the ban should be extended to microplastics in any product that could be flushed down the drain.
“If Theresa May wants to show real leadership on this issue, that’s the kind of ban she should back.”


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Cambridge computer gurus top the entrepreneur list
Forget City slickers and property tycoons; niche markets, small companies and computer gurus dominated this year's top 100 entrepreneur list, with the majority of enterprises based outside of London.
Britain's Top 100 Entrepreneur list, compiled by Philip Beresford, author of The Sunday Times Rich List, showed the harsh economic climate has taken its toll on larger City-based enterprises, while niche markets and companies specializing in computer software, anti-virus programs and gaming are coming to the fore.
The list, published annually in monthly magazine Management Today, revealed an absence of property entrepreneurs and established City types. The most successful entrepreneurs were also some of the youngest, and the top three are Cambridge University graduates.
Philip Beresford said this year's list, the sixth of its kind, was the most challenging he had ever compiled.
He said: "I've never known a climate like this. The sheer difficulty of finding 100 entrepreneurs that were doing reasonably well and the fear when doing it that someone would go bust, announce huge losses or a huge restructuring, was overwhelming."
He said this year's list was dominated by strong niche brands and computer software, with no larger companies and no City types or property entrepreneurs.
Mike Lynch, head of Cambridge-based software company Autonomy, was crowned top entrepreneur for 2009. Profits at Autonomy soared 80% in Q2 2008, defying the economic downturn which swung many businesses into the red. Irish-born Lynch graduated with a maths degree from Cambridge in 1991 and borrowed £2,000 (€2,091) to launch the firm—Lynch's personal stake is now worth £175m.
Second on the list are Cambridge graduates Richard Reed, Adam Balon and John Wright, the founders of drinks maker Innocent. The trio, aged between 35 and 36, are some of the youngest to make the list.
The west-London based firm doubled in size over the last three years and now has annual sales of £115m. The trio are estimated to be worth £55m each.
Brothers Andrew and Paul Gower take joint bronze with gaming software company Jagex, of which the trophy games, World of Warcraft and RuneScape, dominate the market with 11 million subscribers. Andrew Gower founded RuneScape as a pet programme while still an undergraduate at Cambridge; he introduced the game online in 2001, and sales in 2006 to 2007 soared to £28.1m.
The notoriously publicity-shy brothers, aged 30 and 32, hold a 52% stake worth £104m.
Other tech-savvy stars include Natalie Massenet, founder of online fashion retailer Net-a-Porter.com. At seventh place she is also the top female entrepreneur, one of three in the top 100. In 2007-2008 the firm made a £3m profit on sales of £55m.
Click below to read the full list of entrepreneurs.
—Write to email@example.com


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November 7, 2017
Bank of New Zealand Joins Intel Saffron Early Adopter Program to Accelerate Adoption of Innovative AI Technologies in the World of Banking
Intel Saffron Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Advisor uses explainable AI to enhance decision-making for investigators and analysts. As...
Grab your chips and watch your favorite program on "a wafer-thin” TV ... as highlighted at CES 2017ed
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R.I.P. free Hulu. To all of us taking advantage of the streaming platform’s freebies, that will all soon come to an end as Hulu announced it will become a subscription-only service in the weeks ahead.
Since launching in 2007, Hulu has diversified itself from a content-streamer to developing its own original content, like Difficult People and Casual, as well as landing exclusive streaming options as part of movie and TV deals. All the while, the platform has been allowing users the free benefit of watching the most recent episodes from a few shows on NBC, ABC, and Fox with an eight-day delay. However, this has become a low-trafficked service, and now will be phased out within the next few weeks.
Users will now have two subscription options: the $7.99 per month plan that includes commercials, or the commercial free $11.99 per month plan.
The good news is that “free Hulu” will essentially be repackaged as Yahoo View, a part of Hulu’s deal with Yahoo. It’ll be the same scenario: users will be able to watch the last five episodes of ABC, NBC, and Fox shows for free with an eight-day delay.
Hulu Senior Vice President and Head of Experience Ben Smith said (via THR):
For the past couple years, we’ve been focused on building a subscription service that provides the deepest, most personalized content experience possible to our viewers. As we have continued to enhance that offering with new originals, exclusive acquisitions, and movies, the free service became very limited and no longer aligned with the Hulu experience or content strategy.
The fact of the matter is that Hulu still needs to catch up with streaming head honcho Netflix and even Amazon. As noted by USA Today, eMarketer, a research firm, reports Hulu has 67 million subscribers in 2016, while Netflix has 126.9 million and Amazon has 73.2 million.


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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says he has confirmed the implementation of a crypto law that will soon be shared with the Legislature to be more widely implemented in the country.
In an effort to curb the decline of the Turkish lira, President Erdoğan shared plans to launch a new economic strategy by speaking at a press conference in Istanbul. Monga reports with local NTV reporters, Erdoğan said the cryptocurrency currency is ready, adding:
Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media would not accept any liability for any loss or damage as a result of reliance on information including data, documents, charts and buy / sell tokens contained within this website. Please know more about the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, this is one of the most risky ways to earn money.


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Coinbase has revealed a long list of 37 cryptocurrencies that it is considering for Coinbase Custody, including Ripple’s XRP, EOS, NEO, Stellar, Cardano, VeChain and Monero.
Here’s a look at all of the coins on the list.
Coinbase says it may also add a number of undisclosed ERC20 tokens.
Coinbase Custody is a custodial service for institutional investors with big money. It’s designed to give clients a highly secure way to store large amounts of cryptocurrency.
According to Coinbase, any cryptocurrency additions made on Coinbase Custody have no bearing on whether they will be added to other Coinbase products.
“Coinbase Custody is exploring the addition of many existing and forthcoming crypto assets for storage only, and will be working to add them as quickly and safely as possible. At this time, we have not yet considered these assets for trading. We are making this announcement internally at Coinbase and to the public at the same time to remain transparent with our customers about support for future assets.”
Coinbase says it will provide official updates on which coins will be added via Twitter.[the_ad id="42537"] [the_ad id="42536"]


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Review of the DCMS ‘Live Music’ enquiry of the primary market
Yesterday was the first day of the Culture, Media and Sport enquiry into ‘Live Music’.
Here at the FTA we were looking forward to this enquiry as it is a great chance to get to the bottom of the issues that consumers face every time they log onto their computers to try and get a ticket on Fridays at 9am.
We believe there are many reasons for the lack of availability, which lead to so many frustrations for consumers.
We were hoping for a balanced argument that considers all of the factors to account for the issues consumers are facing, this is why we were disappointed to see the following headline from DCMS.
How is it possible to have a balanced argument and create solutions when the people running the enquiry are already displaying a pre-conceived agenda?
It is important to have a balanced argument and to go into the enquiry with an open mind if the objective is to find a solution. Otherwise the danger is that the enquiry will end up getting caught in the same old cycle of asking the same people, the same old questions and then wonder why they get the same answers and no solutions.
First up in the hot seat were the primary players, they were Stuart Galbraith from Kilimanjaro, Andrew Parsons from TM UK, Adam Webb from FanFair Alliance and Lucinda Brown from Islington Assembly Hall.
They all shared their views on the current state and the future of ticketing, pretty much all agreeing that technology was the solution but it wasn’t quite there yet. It can possibly work well for smaller venues like Islington Assembly Hall, but it would be more difficult for larger venues to take it on at the moment.
The FTA has always been an advocate of technology being used to make the buying experience easier and safer for consumers, the only issue we would have is the free transferability of tickets with no restrictions. Technology could be of great benefit if it is used in the best interest of consumers and not just a means to control tickets.
There was also mention of the need for the CMA to step up its enforcement of the Consumer Rights Act. To put further pressure on resale sites to make sure that people listing on their sites are compliant, for example listing seat details, face value, business details etc.
We are completely in agreement with that and we have been pushing for it from the very start, we know that in order for consumers to have the best buying experience they need to have all the necessary information. However, we do believe that all resale sites need to adhere to this not just the big four.
There has been a lot of talk of non-compliant secondary sites and that is something that the CMA needs to address, there are also a lot of fan to fan resale businesses operating today that are also not CMA compliant, these businesses are just as much of a concern for consumers as any other resale sites. In order for resale to work properly they all have to play by the same rules.
The FTA and its members are bound by our code to conduct business in a responsible way, putting fans at the forefront of the decisions we make, without them no part of this industry has a future. This is an important point to remember, which is why we always strive to fight for fans rights. We only work with compliant resale sites because we believe consumers need to be protected by the U.K laws when making ticket purchases. We recognise that there are traders and secondary sites that don’t adhere to the laws, and it is our mission to make sure the secondary market is cleaned up so that doesn’t continue to happen.
The issue of selling tickets for restricted events was also mentioned, and it was repeatedly said that if a ticket was listed correctly in accordance to CMA guidelines with seat details, then it would make it easier to cancel tickets so that the issue of resale could be dealt with.
This approach is very concerning, as consumers have the right to resell tickets in accordance to the CMA CRA 2015 guidelines. The CMA made it very clear that primary ticket sellers can’t take away a consumer right to resell a ticket. Promoters/artists/primary ticket agents would be in breach of CRA 2015 if they cancel consumers tickets just because they have been listed for resale. No one in the committee addressed this point and the FTA feel they let consumers rights down here, they were too quick to try and protect promoter/artist rights that they forgot about the consumers rights.
The issue of bots also got brought up and there was a lot of talk of how best to deal with the issue, it was mentioned that bots are a global issue, which makes it hard to control and police.
The FTA has always been against the use of bots, we welcomed the recent legislation which made the use of them illegal in the UK. We have also said that because the internet is global unfortunately the bot law will do little to combat anything that happens overseas.
It was disappointing that there were few questions about Ticketmaster’s Platinum, as the way they have conducted it recently with their drip feeding of tickets and high prices we feel it isn’t very consumer friendly.
It was good to see that Damian Collins saw through the so called altruistic reason why TM announced the closure of GetMeIn and Seatwave. He said that the main reason to close them down was financial rather than in the best interest for fans. GetMeIn and Seatwave were loss making businesses. Damian Collins also highlighted the fact that TM are only shutting down their resale in the UK and Europe, so it can’t be for a moral reason if they are happy to keep it going in the U.S.
Overall the enquiry into the primary side of the music industry was pretty much the same as it has always been, there were still the same questions of how to stop ‘touts’, bots and the ‘rip off’ prices. And unfortunately, less questions about what primary can do to make sure fans know what chances they have to get a ticket, transparency on where all the ticket allocations are going, what is being done to keep business competition within the sector to help keep prices competitive for consumers and what is the benefit of TM Platinum to consumers?
We just feel that this was a real chance to get at the heart of the issues that consumers face, for too long all eyes have been focused on the secondary market and no one has stopped to think, why is it there in the first place? Our answer to that is the primary market doesn’t cater for all consumers needs, it assumes that all fans are the same but this is far from what everyone who has a role in the secondary market has seen over the years. The secondary market underpins all of the shortfalls of the primary and that is why it is so vital to so many consumers.


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A week ago, a video on YouTube showed the alleged front panel of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 being put through a number of scratch tests and significant bending. Now, yet another video putting the same display through more hard scratch tests, this time with 2 differing types of sandpaper. The Mohs scale of mineral hardness in testing, which is a scale rating mineral hardness from 1-10.
The iPhone 5s’ Gorilla Glass display is rated at a 6.8, while sapphire crystal, which Apple utilizes for the iPhone 5s Touch ID home button, is rated at 9. The 2 sandpapers used for the test include garnet, which is rated at a 7 on the Mohs scale, and emery, rated a little bit above an 8. Upon testing, both types of sandpapers were able to scratch the iPhone 6’s front panel, but it did show much better resistance than the Gorilla Glass display for the iPhone 5s.
Basically, the sapphire Touch ID home button on the iPhone 5s didn’t display any marks after being scratched by the sandpaper. This would show that the claimed front panel from the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 isn’t sapphire crystal, but instead perhaps a next-generation model of Gorilla Glass. It is also possible that the panel could be a hybrid sapphire coated display, which was patented by Apple last year.


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GFive Cultivation launches today the new signature cannabis line, Pynk Mynk, a premium collection of strains that delivers an exciting and uplifting experience.
By Bretton Love Legal regulations pertaining to online casino in the United States differs from one state to another.
Cannabis is becoming more popular with consumers due to more states legalizing it and major corporations infusing it into well-known products.
The Health Department today released its first comprehensive report on cannabis use and associated harms from Harlem to Hollis.
Inside The High End, Barneys New York’s new fifth-floor boutique in Beverly Hills, designer bongs and stash boxes, ashtrays and gold rolling papers sit alongside products with a wellness bent.
Due to decades of ill-informed popular opinion, industrial hemp had long been lumped into the psychoactive drug category.


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Buzzfeed now sees 50 percent of its traffic coming from mobile devices. “Everything is going to the phone,” said Kenneth Lerer, chairman of Buzzfeed and Betaworks, at GigaOM’s paidContent Live 2013 conference in New York Wednesday.
Lerer co-founded the Huffington Post and now serves as managing director at Lerer Ventures. “It’s the best time in the last eight years to invest in digital content companies,” he said. With the technology for the web as well as mobile having been more or less built out, it’s now time to fill those pipes, he argued. “Content is king at a certain time. And I think content is king now.”
However, Lerer also cautioned that digital media investments are risky, with timing being everything. “If you’re too early, you lose all your money. If you’re too late, you don’t make any money,” he explained. And when you give cutting-edge companies seed money, it’s hard to predict how their business plans are going to pan out. “You have to kind of take the measure of the person,” he admitted.
So what are the big trends Lerer is seeing in media, aside from a huge shift to mobile? Video will play a huge role going forward, but there’s also a more fundamental shift in how consumers look at media properties. In short, they ignore everything media execs hold dearly. Instead of expecting a curated front page, they’re much more comfortable with a social feed, Lerer said. “When they see a Buzzfeed – to them, it’s just normal,” he added.
In the end, the companies that aren’t married to those old rules will prevail, Lerer argued: “I think the world is ending for traditional media companies, but it’s just beginning for digital media companies.”
Correction (04/19): A prior version of this story quoted Kenneth Lerer saying that 65 percent of Buzzfeed’s traffic is coming from mobile devices. We were subsequently contacted by a Buzzfeed spokesperson, who clarified that Lerer misspoke and that the site gets 50 percent of its traffic from mobile devices.
Check out the rest of our paidContent Live 2013 coverage here, and a video embed of the session follows below:
[protected-iframe id=”dd4b9c02e99e742d3cc70e8db207711a-33319749-721418″ info=”http://new.livestream.com/accounts/74987/events/2000322/videos/16639541/player?autoPlay=false&height=360&mute=false&width=640″ width=”640″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]
A transcription of the video follows on the next page


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Google aspartame in milk and you will find many posts about the latest campaign to profit off our children. I am actually glad that this push to place a known carcinogen into the hands of a child – your child – has happened because it has gotten more people involved, and aware, of this on-going “sweetener war.” Maybe NOW, people will stop this run-a-way train.
Researchers have KNOWN for decades that aspartame is toxic to humans, especially during pregnancy. Aspartame has been PROVEN time and time again to cause fetal deformities, brain damage, and cancer. Yet money talks, and aspartame remains on the public market, continuing to disrupt the healthy development of our children.
The dairy industry, for one. You’ll discover by reading the many posts on the worldwide web that the dairy industry favors this FDA approval because their profits will increase. Dairy has taken a downslide with consumer concerns about hormones, antibiotics, and a plethora of chemicals added to dairy these days, so hey, their sales will go up.
Watch for an increase in advertisements promoting “milk” for children’s health. The campaign to remove regular soft drinks in public schools has paved the way for diet drinks with aspartame, and now milk with aspartame, to be your child’s only choices. Oh, and flavored water with aspartame will also be available in the same vending machine in your child’s elementary school.
Come on – enough is enough. Let’s hope that the sweetener industry has finally gone too far this time. Pushing aspartame on our children is the final straw. It’s time to say NO to this invasion. It’s time to STOP addicting our children to the tastes of “fake fat and sweet.”
Teaching Our Kids
What families and good parenting try to teach children about nutrition and eating is in direct competition with what our kids are learning in school. If diet chemicals in sodas, milk, and water are available in their trusted classrooms, then children will learn that these must be the healthy choices – you teach your children to pay attention to what they are being “taught” in school – right? Then, they will accept, without question, that “aspartame” is healthy. And then, they become addicted to sweeter and sweeter tastes, which is no different than a drug dependancy.
Real food will be their last choice. When they get home after school hungry and tired, the last thing they’ll want is a bland carrot or a plain glass of unsweetened milk. Then eating disorders develop because they’ll crave the revved-up sweetness of the fake food they got at school. If you don’t satisfy their cravings, they’ll sneak them, all the time protesting the whole foods you offer them. Now, your child has become a food addict – a diet chemical food addict.
And we wonder why 33 percent of children and adolescents are obese and sick in America today.


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Photo: Getty Images
Mexican rappers Santa Fe Klan and C-Kan are teaming up and heading out on tour.
They'll perform March 16 at House of Blues. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at ticketmaster.com. Fans can unlock presale tickets at 10 a.m. Thursday with the password FRONTROW.
C Kan's latest album is last year's "Mi Cancion." Santa Fe Klan also released "Santa Cumbia" last year.


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Sonic Q1 Earnings Follow Up; Drive-In Sales Up The Quarter
Sonic (NASDAQ: SONC) reported solid EPS of $0.30 coming out higher than its consensus expectations of $0.29. The $16.8 million EPS of $30.0 per diluted share is 15 percent higher than the previous quarters EPS of $0.26.
System-wide same-store sales rose by 5.3 percent, while company drive-ins increased by 5.2 percent.
Ten new drive-ins were opened during the quarter, while outlook for FY 2014 noted 15 to 20 new drive-in openings, with less drive-in closings compared to FY 2013. Sonic's drive-in margins improved by 0.40 percent in the quarter.
Sonic repurchased approximately $11 million of its stock from shareholders, increasing its repurchase program to $69.4 million for the year, equivalent to more than six percent of its total outstanding shares as of the beginning year.
© 2017 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.


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President Biden’s Infrastructure proposal calls for $174 billion to boost EVs. It also calls for $100 billion in new consumer rebates and $15 billion to build 500,000 new EV charging stations.
“And it’s hard to imagine a congressman or senator voting against something that could create thousands of jobs in his or her district or state, no matter what party he or she belonged to.” said Joe Britton, executive director of the Zero Emissions Transportation Association (ZETA). “We’ve seen Republicans question the package at large, but I haven’t heard anyone say they’re against investing in transportation electrification.”
All the positives far outweigh the negatives, and the proposal can really kickstart the economy. The new EV rebates would be a potential big boost to U.S. automakers. The plan also calls for $20 billion for electric school buses, $25 billion for zero-emission transit vehicles and $14 billion in other tax incentives.
Read the article at The Detroit Bureau.