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Lt. Gov Mike Parson, AIM and others launch “Buy Missouri” program
Missouri Lt. Gov. Mike Parson spoke at the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday morning to launch a new statewide initiative called Buy Missouri.
The announcement was Parson’s first stop on a two-day tour of promoting the Buy Mo advertising campaign in 10 Missouri cities.
“The whole idea of ‘Buy Missouri’ is to promote Missouri products that are made by Missourians,” Parson said. “You go to the grocery store every day, and we all buy breakfast cereal, barbecue sauce, hand cleaner, gloves and pet food. All of that is made in Missouri. We want you to realize what those Missouri products are and hopefully, you’ll take a good look at them before you look at another brand.”
“Buy Missouri is something we can do to help ourselves,” McCarty said. “It helps our neighbors, the people you go to church with, the people your kids go to school with. These are our friends. This is us. This is Missouri.”
The tour included these locations:
St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce, St. Joseph
Roasterie Coffee, Kansas City
Gilster-Mary Lee, Joplin
Grove Salsa (event held at Harter House), Springfield
Woods Supermarket, Bolivar
Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce, Cape Girardeau
Fitz’s Root Beer, University City
Hendrickson’s Salad Dressing, St. Charles
Shakespeare’s Pizza, Columbia
Read more here.


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Thirty U.S. data brokers and data management firms, including Adobe Systems, AOL and Salesforce.com, are violating privacy promises they've made regarding their handling of the personal information of EU residents, a privacy group said in a complaint...
The current state of online advertising endangers the security and privacy of users and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission should force the industry to offer better protections through comprehensive regulation, the U.S. Senate said in a report.
AOL is pushing to become an elite advertising business with a new platform for buying and selling ads tied to big data.
AOL is relinquishing its control of Patch, an online site for local news that has struggled to turn a profit.
It's not dead! Winamp will continue to whip the llama's ass for the foreseeable future, but under new management.
Eight top tech companies in the U.S. have asked governments around the world to reform surveillance laws and practices, and asked the U.S. to take the lead.
Internet companies in the U.S. are demanding that the surveillance practices of the U.S. should be reformed to enhance privacy protections and provide "appropriate oversight and accountability mechanisms."
Yahoo will start encrypting the webmail sessions of its users in early 2014 by making HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) standard for all Yahoo Mail connections.
The U.S. Congress must act quickly on legislation that would make electronic data collection efforts by the U.S. National Security Agency more public, a group of tech firms, civil liberties groups and other organizations said Monday.
A group of U.S. companies operating Internet advertising networks has pledged to bar websites trafficking in pirated goods from using their services and to take other steps to fight online copyright infringement.
Once-mighty America Online appears to be working on a new RSS reader product, with about a week to go before Google pulls the plug on its own Reader.
If you're thinking about encrypting email in light of revelations about U.S. government spying, you may be wasting your time.
Data encryption could help enterprises protect their sensitive information against mass surveillance by governments, as well as guard against unauthorized access by ill-intended third parties, but the correct implementation and use of data encryption...
An IDC study has found sweeping changes in how mobile display advertisements are sold, with Facebook, Pandora and Twitter successfully wresting away control from advertising networks over the last year.
Twitter has implemented DMARC, a standard for preventing email spoofing, in order to make it harder for attackers to send phishing emails that appear to come from twitter.com addresses.
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Many of the wearable devices and mobile health apps available to consumers won't be subject to U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulation, according to draft guidelines from the agency.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration intends to regulate only mobile apps that are medical devices and could pose a risk to a patient's safety if they do not function as intended.
More than 1,600 websites selling pharmaceutical products, including some spoofing CVS and Walgreens pharmacies, were shut down this week in a sting involving 99 countries, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.
Medical device makers should take new steps to protect their products from malware and cyberattacks or face the possibility that U.S. Food and Drug Administration won't approve their devices for use, the FDA said.
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We’ve recently released a new Android Mobile SDKs Data Report, revealing the top SDK players in each category, as well as the most popular SDKs categories.
One such popular category is of Attribution Analytics SDKs that allow apps to track the source of their app’s installation. Most app publishers that acquire users through paid installs and engagement campaigns have implemented at least one premium Attribution Analytics SDK, which is probably why this category is among the most popular. Our report discloses which Attribution SDKs are the most popular (depicted below), as well as a geographical drill-down (which SDKs are being used by different developers around the world).
Soon we will publish a new report and will show the trends of Attribution SDKs in the past few months.
Because this is such a popular and important category, we’ve decided to dive deeper and share some ways to optimize their cost effectiveness.
Take for example the SDK Adjust. It has recently sent an email to its entire customer base, updating them on a significant price change. And the industry responded accordingly. Many developers started looking for alternative attribution tools or ways to operate their paid media activities without implementing paid attribution tools.
Many of our colleagues started thinking and asking questions. As did we.
We have decided to write this post in an effort to help app publishers with their queries and provide some answers to hot questions. Why use attribution SDKs, when are they “just beneficial” and when are they are a must have, how much should you pay, which tools you should choose etc.


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In the post-pandemic world, it seems to be even more common that, when situations don’t go a person’s way, they act out. While there have been countless reports of outbursts on airplanes and in grocery store lines, among many other cringe-worthy public settings, it’s important to also consider the outbursts that occur behind closed doors in a customer service environment.
Netomi’s The State of Customer Service in 2022 report polled more than 1,200 consumers across the United States to see how customers are acting when they reach out to a company with an issue, and how they react when things don’t go as planned. While support agents have been on the front lines for years when orders go missing, passwords get forgotten or planes get delayed, the treatment they are enduring only seems to be getting worse, as customer patience wanes, supply chain issues lead to unforeseen issues and a labor shortage causes even more disruption.
So, what is the true reality of customer support and what are agents facing every day? This study is a critical reality-check for support leaders who need to prioritize the agent experience as much as the customer experience.
A lack of patience is leading to emotional outbursts.
According to the report, 39% of customers have less patience today than they did prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and 14% saying that their patience for hold times has dropped to zero. In fact, 30% of customers will wait a maximum of 2 minutes for an agent on chat.
In what becomes a vicious cycle, many customers, fed up with long wait times, have resorted to taking their frustration out on agents (1 in 3 admitted to having screamed or sworn at a customer service agent), and 3 in 5 people have hung up on an agent at least once out of frustration.
Inefficiencies are only making matters worse.
Upon contacting customer support teams, 65% of customers have to reach out multiple times to get a single issue resolved. Even worse, 1 in 4 have to reach out 3 or more times to get a single issue resolved. This certainly only leads to an uptick in customer frustration and is a driver of poor behavior.
Agents, too, are losing their cool.
n some situations, agents are finding it harder to maintain their composure. The study revealed that agents themselves are showing signs of agitation and distress – 73% of customers have experienced an agent being rude to them, 44% have experienced an agent grow agitated, 38% have had an agent become upset, and 26% have had an agent become hostile. While these figures are certainly shocking, it’s important to realize that agents are humans, and if they are feeling attacked, it’s human nature to feel different emotions.
A change is needed
It’s clear that the status quo of customer service today is not working. The challenges are only exacerbated by the fact that there’s a labor shortage of customer service agents, so even companies trying to hire more agents to ease the burden on staff and decrease resolution time, are finding it difficult to fill the seats.
In this tense environment, support leaders need to focus on improving the agent experience to keep them engaged and satisfied in the job. After all, when agents are happy, there is a direct correlation with customer satisfaction. In an effort to do this, support teams are increasingly turning to new tools like AI to do things like meet that expectation for a two minute chat hold time, or provide instantaneous resolutions to many issues decreasing the workload put on agents. As this technology becomes more widespread, we’re sure to see changes for both customers and agents.


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At Coda Plastics, we always have one eye on the latest trends and innovations in the wider plastic manufacturing and packaging industries. We thought we would do a short round up of some of the ideas that are bubbling away and likely to shape the future of plastic packaging production.
Demand for Recyclables
The biggest impact on the industry in the UK has come from a mix of consumer demand for recycled and recyclable packaging, and government persuasion in the form of the Plastic Tax on packaging made solely from oil-based plastics. The industry has responded to these twin pressures with innovation across the board.
Think of it as the Pringles Tube Problem. Packaging that is composed of multiple materials glued together is difficult to disassemble and recycle. The old Pringles tube had a steel base, aluminium foil-lined cardboard tube, metal tear off inner seal and plastic lid. It was a recycler’s nightmare. The development team at brand owner Kellogg’s took 5 years to design a replacement that could be tossed into household kerbside recycling boxes.
The holy grail of simple recycling is monomaterial packaging and we observe the whole industry gradually shifting in this direction. Colgate recently removed aluminium from their toothpaste tubes, launching a tube that is 100% HDPE (a fully recyclable plastic) and, commendably, they shared the technology with other manufacturers so they could also produce recyclable squeezy tubes.
Cutting Edge Technology
There have been a couple of innovations in plastic technology in recent years that really have the potential to shake up the industry if they prove to be scalable and are adopted on a large scale.
VolCat for Textiles
There was a big announcement and lots of press about IBM’s VolCat device when it debuted in 2019. The seeming miracle machine took in any old dirty plastic that was combined with other materials and used a “volatile catalyst” (hence the name) to unthread the PET plastic from its contaminants and separate it into pure pellets of PET that could be used for manufacture.
News of the VolCat technology then went quiet for a while, but late last year there were some stories in the trade and business press that the former CEO sportswear manufacturer Under Armour was heading up a new firm aiming to use the VolCat technology to meet increasing demand for recycled PET in textiles.
Bacteria That Can Break Down Waste Plastic
Committed readers of this blog may recall that we wrote about the catchily-named bacterium Ideonella-Sakaiensis 201-F6 in a post about plasticophagic organisms back in 2016. We revisited the story in 2018 when scientists revealed that they had isolated the enzyme that the bacterium uses to break down the plastic. And there have been further developments since. The Guardian reported in September 2023 that
“...a French company named Carbios has been running an operation that uses a bacterial enzyme to process about 250kg of PET plastic waste every day, breaking it down into its precursor molecules, which can then be made directly into new plastic.”
Carbios has plans to open a plant that can process 150 tonnes per day in 2025. And with demand for Post Consumer Recycled plastics on the rise, it seems likely that other companies will follow the French innovator’s’ lead.
AI Packaging Trends
Artificial Intelligence has swept into the public consciousness in the last year or so and its influence is everywhere. In the packaging industry, machine learning technology is being used to improve packaging, production and distribution. For instance, in companies with huge shipping portfolios, AI could be programmed on packing data and real package damage reports to produce guidelines for safer packaging of products. It has been reported that Amazon is already doing this.
At Coda Plastics Ltd, we consider plastic to be a fantastic resource material. We already recycle our own waste plastics and work with Post Consumer Recycled plastics to save our clients from paying the Plastic Tax. If you would like your product developed and manufactured by a company with a responsible approach to plastics recycling, please get in touch. You can call us on +44 1692 501 020 or email firstname.lastname@example.org.


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ISTA Pharmaceuticals is moving its headquarters and the majority of its operations into a new 60,500-square-foot space on Technology Drive in Irvine.
The prescription eye-care-treatment firm, which signed an 84-month lease on the property, has "outgrown" its five facilities and two suites on Alton Parkway, according to ISTA.
The company saw its revenues increase more than 930 percent between 2005 and 2009. ISTA reported $111 million in revenues last year, and the firm employs a total of 327 staffers, 137 of whom are based in Irvine.
“In the last few years, we have established ISTA Pharmaceuticals as a successful and rapidly growing specialty pharmaceutical business,” said Vicente Anido Jr., Ph.D., president and CEO of ISTA.
The new space will allow the company to consolidate its administrative, sales and marketing, clinical, development, regulatory and general operational divisions "under one roof," and it will support ISTA's continued growth efforts, said Anido.
“We now have four thriving prescription eye-care products and one prescription allergy eye drop," he said. "Beyond the marketed products, we are moving potential new drugs successfully through the product pipeline, including product candidates to treat dry eye and nasal allergies."
Latisys expands Irvine operations
Strategic Storage Holdings expands into Canada
Wonderland Bakery opens new flagship store in L.A.


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Columbus brands bike-sharing program CoGo
Columbus’ planned bicycle-sharing system, allowing the public to rent bikes from up to 30 stations throughout downtown, will be known as CoGo.
The name is the result of an online contest hosted by the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department, which is helping to kickstart the system along with Alta Bicycle Share. The winning entry was submitted by Benjamin Coifman.
Using a $2.2 million investment from the city, Alta will begin installing rental kiosks around Columbus in July, said Leslie Strader, a policy adviser in Mayor Mike Coleman’s office. The membership and pricing structure hasn't been finalized, but in other cities, riders can rent bikes hourly, daily, monthly and yearly.
Alta goes by unique names in each of its cities – Nice Ride Minnesota in Minneapolis, Capital Bikeshare in Washington, D.C., and Hubway in Boston – with Chicago and New York City systems coming online this summer.
Each solar-powered station around Columbus will have about 10 bikes (about 300 total), unlockable with the swipe of a credit card or through online payment, Strader said.
Columbus will be the state’s first major city to host the system, she said, adding that Cleveland and Cincinnati have been working to establish their own.
The initial $2.2 million investment kickstarts the system and after that, it’s a profit-sharing relationship between Alta and the city, Strader said. The city will reinvest all income into CoGo, while Alta brings in revenue through membership and sponsorship (displayed on the bikes themselves).
The city will have more information available – including a map of all 30 kiosk locations – as the launch approaches, Strader said.
Evan Weese covers funding and capital for Columbus Business First.
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The Italian brand Liu Jo is suing Kendall Jenner and has filed a complaint at the US district court in Manhattan on 2 August, after she allegedly breached her modeling contract, as per a report by E! News.
The brand has reportedly asked for $1.8 million in a lawsuit, holding damages over a delayed photoshoot due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lio Jo has claimed that Kendall didn’t turn up for the second of the two organized photoshoots.
The suit also states that she had completed the first shoot in July 2019, for which they paid her $1.35 million by February 2020. The second shoot was to be held in London in March 2020 but was delayed due to prevailing travel restrictions.
According to the lawsuit, both parties agreed to reschedule the photoshoot in fall but failed to confirm a new date, and Kendall allegedly eventually “ceased responding to Liu Jo” until the company “informed her that it considered her in breach of the contract and that, therefore, the contract was terminated.” The complaint added that the company filed the suit after “having no success in obtaining a refund” Jenner allegedly owes.
Liu Jo reportedly added that after Jenner proposed to shoot in October, the company discovered that she “would be traveling to Italy in September 2020 to perform a photo shoot for a different designer.”
The complaint reportedly includes a link to a Metro UK article, seemingly showing Jenner at a Versace shoot in September 2020 while she was in Milan, Italy for Fashion Week.
Jenner allegedly “continued to fail to respond to urgent requests and communications relating to the logistics” of the proposed October shoot and Liu Jo claimed to have told her “she was in breach of her obligations under the agreement.” Two days later, the model told the company that it was “impossible” for her to travel to Italy that fall and that she was not in breach of her contract.
A spokesperson for The Society Management, which represents Jenner, told E! News that the lawsuit “is without merit.” The spokesperson further stated that Jenner kept offering alternative dates to Liu Jo and the project was delayed because of the pandemic.


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Quantify has today signed an agreement with NSW-based The Stable Group, which will see Quantify’s products specified and installed in 18 luxury townhouses in Sydney’s northern beaches suburb of Newport.
It follows on from signing an agreement with ACT-based 3 Property Group last week, which will see Quantify’s devices installed into at least 53 townhouses in Canberra.
Quantify’s inclusion in Stable’s 18-townhouse project comes after a successful installation at The Burcham in Rosebery, NSW, which is Stable’s most recent award-winning development. Harvey Norman Commercial Division now occupy a permanent display apartment in The Burcham featuring Quantify’s devices.
Founded in 2003 by Danny Flynn and Ed Horton, Stable is an innovative, award-winning Australian development and property services company with a vision to challenge convention and create smart, vibrant, and environmentally sustainable developments.
Danny Flynn said Quantify’s products would reinforce Stable’s philosophy, which is to create world-class projects that deliver financial, environmental, cultural and communal benefits to every stakeholder.
“Quantify’s smart home solution has worked very well at The Burcham and we are confident it will assist us in our mission to redefine the future of design innovation and sustainability,” he said.
Quantify’s CEO Brett Savill said it was a positive deal to announce heading into the new year, with the installations set to take place in 2020.
“We are delighted to continue our relationship with The Stable Group, with the inclusion of our products in these 18 smart and sustainable luxury townhouses,” Brett said.
“Stable are leading the way in innovation and we look forward to helping them further differentiate their properties.”
The announcement comes just days after Quantify announced a major order agreement with ACT property development business, 3 Property Group, alongside Harvey Norman Commercial Division. It is the third major order distributed via HNCD, since it announced its initial stocking order of $500K in May 2019.
This was originally published as an ASX Announcement, which can be found HERE.


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While consumer interest is low and some of us wonder why 3D is being treated like a new technology, Crysis 2 developer Crytek remains confident that glasses-reliant entertainment will become the industry standard.
“I’m quite sure over the years it will become standard. 3D entertainment is inevitable. It will come, and the key solution will be if it’s easy for the eyes,” says CEO Cevat Yerli. “We have been working with 3D for a while. We know the nuances and details, and our approach of concave 3D makes the game ultimately very accessible.”
“If it’s a challenge for the eyes, people won’t like it. But we are trying to make a game that is hours of 3D, and you can judge it yourself. You’ve seen how easy it is for the eyes, and for me it’s critical that people understand we are not naïve when it comes to 3D.”
I’m still not sure if this sudden move to embrace 3D is a good thing. It just strikes me as rather childish to see game developers rush all over it and declare it the inevitable future just because 3D gaming is a “new” concept. Over a period of years, sure, I can see it gaining a bit more ground, but companies like Sony and EA would do well to not pin their hopes and dreams on the gimmick.
The Bleeding Edge: Cevat Yerli On Crytek [Gamasutra]


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Attention to everyone who is planning to develop vape business in Europe! July 29 Amsterdam will host b2b conference fully dedicated to vaping.
As you know, TDP was adopted on 20 May 2016, restricting the rights of EU vapers. That is why Smile-Expo has decided to organize a conference to discuss the issue and address the challenges faced by many investors and vape business owners.
Co-organizer of the conference is Armango, the company that deals with popularization of vaping in the CIS countries and Europe for five years. It fights for the rights of EU vapers and owns a chain of vape shops – JOYESHOP. The company is also an official distributor of the world famous manufacturers of vape devices (such as Tesla and Joyetech).
Due to the fact that Armango became the co-organizer of the conference in Amsterdam, we provide a special offer for companies that are members of vape associations and organizations from all over the world:
possibility to get special price for participation in the event – 200 EUR!
In order to get special ticket for the conference you need to register on the website: https://vapeshow.nl/en/registration and enter a promo code - Conference. Media200 that will allow you to visit the event at a discount.
More information may be provided by ticket sales managers: https://vapeshow.nl/en/contacts.


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We constantly monitor the latest subjects and developments in tobacco and substance use. “The police usually are not only coming to those outlets one or two instances, however it’s a sample. Meaning, they’re coming in the morning, within the afternoon, within the evening. And they’re making remarks once more about importing merchandise from abroad, notably Asian countries and that’s pointless. No one has introduced a search warrant or any order from a decide to confiscate something. So it appears to me like these are annoyed officers who’re basically taking out their frustrations on retail store owners,” Spodek informed Fox News. About three years ago, desperate to quit, he started utilizing tobacco-flavored Juul e-cigarettes as a result of they have been closest in style to what he had been smoking.
Geekvape Aegis Mero Starter Kit
You’ll discover that their products are made utilizing solely the highest quality Cannabidiol and other natural ingredients. And until you make a spectacle of it, dubbing your self that man, it’s subtle. Those who vape their hashish often accomplish that as a result of the dosage is simpler to manage—chalk that up to the wonders of know-how—and the consequences feel less jolting than extra conventional technique of getting excessive. E-cigarettes are threatening to addict a brand new technology to nicotine, and we’re dedicated to analysis and actions that defend right now’s younger people. We have conducted studies on e-cigarettes, especially the main brand that is driving the epidemic of youth e-cigarette use, JUUL, and helped lead efforts to call on regulatory motion needed to guard youth. In our fight to finish smoking, vaping and nicotine habit, we concentrate on the issues that matter most.
he F.D.A. should allow firms to tell smokers about the benefits of switching to vaping merchandise. “Great price and great merchandise and juice. Highly suggest the vape mall.” Among youth, e-cigarettes are extra popular than any conventional tobacco product. In 2015, the U.S. surgeon general reported that e-cigarette use among highschool students had elevated by 900%, and forty% of younger e-cigarette users had by no means smoked common tobacco. The CDC has identified vitamin E acetate as a chemical of concern among folks with EVALI. Vitamin E acetate is a thickening agent usually utilized in THC vaping products, and it was present in all lung fluid samples of EVALI sufferers examined by the CDC. Dat Bar is aDisposable Devicethat is pre-filled with salt nice-liquid and comes packaged as a disposable unit.
Mike Moran, the owner of two Firehouse E-Cigs and Vapors shops in southwest New Jersey, said he was planning to close both his stores and move out of state. Vape retailers, he stated, are being unfairly blamed for a public well being scare over an illness that’s believed to be primarily linked to vaping THC. The regulation, they say, penalizes adults who turned to vaping as a method to give up smoking tobacco, which annually causes illnesses that kill seven million people worldwide, including about 480,000 people in the United States. Some states, together with New York and Michigan, tried to briefly stop the sale of flavored vaping merchandise via government orders, but lawsuits stalled those efforts. Faced with growing worry about the risks of vaping, New Jersey last month became the second state to adopt legislation outlawing all nicotine vaping liquids apart from those flavored to taste like tobacco. Darth Vapor, like roughly 270 comparable outlets in New Jersey, is crammed virtually entirely with merchandise that shall be illegal to sell in the state by mid-April.


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WAR REACTION : Southland Business Little Affected as Conflict Escalates
At Southern California shopping malls, car dealerships, airports and other places of commerce, it was business as usual Sunday, despite the start of the ground war in the Persian Gulf.
Overseas in London, the escalation in the fighting had no immediate effect on war risk insurance, although the War Risks Rating Committee, which sets rates for marine and air cargo, could change them when it meets this morning, as expected. The committee, made up of members of Lloyd’s and the Institute of London Underwriters, always meets when significant war-related developments occur.
Denzil Stuart, spokesman for the Institute of London Underwriters, said that if the allies have entered, or are going to enter, Kuwait via an amphibious landing, “there’s a possibility we’ll get some changes in war risk insurance rates.” He says such a landing “could trigger the release of more (floating) mines, which could move south” into Gulf merchant shipping lanes.
Although local business conditions could change as details of the ground assault emerge, so far consumer spending and business activity seem less affected by the long-threatened ground war than they appeared to be when allied forces launched a surprise air attack last month. At that time, many Americans stayed glued to their television sets instead of venturing out to shop.
“It’s not going to change anything whether I stay at home to watch television or not,” said Bill Bissell, a Tustin resident, who decided to go shopping Sunday. “When the war first started, the news was there. Now everything is repeated. If I turned on the news today, I’d say there’s nothing different than it was last night.”
“The war is over in Iraq, not here,” added Lee Matthews, sales manager for Connell Chevrolet in Costa Mesa. He said customer traffic at his dealership wasn’t affected Sunday. “I don’t think people are watching at home because there’s no (new) news.”
Audience ratings for weekend television programs were not available Sunday night. But a variety of businesses reported that consumer traffic was normal or above normal for a weekend.
Disneyland spokesman John McClintock said the Anaheim theme park was crowded all day Saturday and early Sunday afternoon.
“The last two weeks have actually been very healthy,” he said. “I don’t know why that is, but the weather has been unusually good, and we have discounts for local residents in effect. But it’s still a particularly crowded day at Disneyland.”
The Glendale Galleria attracted a normal Sunday crowd of shoppers, according to several store managers. And at Fashion Island shopping mall in Newport Beach, crowds were actually bigger than usual because the mall sponsored a 10-kilometer race that drew 5,400 joggers. Crowds lingered to listen to bands and other live entertainment after the morning race.
“I think there are people out here because they feel the ground war is going to wrap everything up,” said Jim Roberts, announcer for the race and owner of Balboa Beach Co., a beachwear store in Newport Beach. “Retail sales should pick up as the war concludes.”
Airlines, however, continued to suffer through one of the worst travel seasons on record as the ground war unfolded.
Contributing to this story were Times staff writers Victor Zonana in New York, Dean Takahashi in Orange County and correspondent Jeff Kaye in London.


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Crowdfunding firm's startup Spark
Ireland's first equity crowdfunding provider has been launched as an "online Dragons' Den".
Spark, set up by Chris Burge, is aimed at those looking to invest in startups with small amounts of money. The minimum investment is €25.
The service is focused on companies that are considered to be at "too early a stage" for venture capital or bank loans, according to its founders.
Less than a year old, the platform has already been used by three companies to raise funding of €130,000.
The three firms are Snap Mail, Give it Direct and Serenity & Grace.
Fleet, an Irish person-to-person car sharing app set up by Maurice Sheehy, has announced that it is seeking to raise €275k on the Spark platform.
The sharing app allows car owners and enterprise clients to earn extra income by renting cars to the public from both driveways and forecourts.
Sheehy says that the €275k funding sought will be used for planned online expansion, with the company having already been approved by Enterprise Ireland for 'matched funding' as part of its High Potential Start-up Programme.
The startup is raising the €275,000 to value the firm at €1.1m.


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In an industry first, online gambling operator LeoVegas has begun rolling out payments via open banking under the EU’s Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), the company confirmed Monday.
It said that the move would result in “even more secure and faster payments” for its players and in “lower transaction costs and a reduced dependents” on third-party payment service providers for the gambling operator itself.
Open banking is one of the most important aspects of the PSD2 as it involves actors opening up and sharing information with each other. This makes it possible for business models to be coupled together and build a new ecosystem for payments that offers improved value for consumers.
The revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) was introduced to modernize Europe’s payment services sector in a manner that benefits both businesses and consumers. The updated directive aims to promote the development of innovative and more secure digital payments and to also improve the level-playing field for payment service providers, including ones that serve the gambling industry.
Among other things, the PSD2 introduced new strict security requirements for electronic payments initiation and their processing. The directive obliges payment service providers, including banks, to apply strong customer authentication when an electronic payment transaction is initiated.
Providing Superior Customer Experience
Commenting on the launch of payments via open banking, LeoVegas CEO Gustaf Hagman said that “secure, seamless and fast payments” are extremely important and that the fact that they are now able to directly integrate with a number of European banks under the PSD2 will help them provide “a superior customer experience by security and speed.”
Mr. Hagman went on to say that initiating and carrying out transactions via open gaming is “considerably more cost-effective” compared to conducting transactions via traditional digital payment methods.
The LeoVegas CEO further noted that there has been a high level of activity in their product and technology development department and that they are excited to see how all of the innovations they deliver resonate with their customers.
Mr. Hagman also expressed confidence that the open banking payment solution will change the entire payments industry in the years to come.
LeoVegas said that the UK is the first of its core markets it has launched open banking payments in via its proprietary technology. Customer data from the first several weeks since the solution was first rolled out showed that 10% of all their new UK customers have chosen to initiate payments via open banking.
The solution is set to be launched across several of the gambling operator’s core regulated markets in Europe in the coming months.
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Air delivery and freight services provider FedEx (NYSE:FDX) didn't have a merry Christmas as cold weather and a pile-up of last-minute online orders made difficult to get its packages delivered. And FedEx did not just upset customers with delayed Christmas presents; it also failed to cheer analysts with its third-quarter results. True, the numbers were better than last year's, but revenue of $11.3 billion and earnings of $378 million, or $1.23 per share, were below the Street's expectations.
Surprisingly, the company's share price did not react much to this series of bad news, hinting that investors don't want to be shortsighted and miss out on FedEx's future prospects. After all, the stock's appreciation has been more than 150% in the last five years. Here are three positive factors that suggest FedEx's story is strong.
Restructuring program on track
FedEx's restructuring program (initiated in October 2012) looks encouraging. The plan to take out $1.6 billion from the Express segment's 2013 costs by the end of the 2016 fiscal year seems to be on track, and could help garner higher earnings. Express is FedEx's largest business segment, and its profitability has dwindled over the past few years as more priority international services customers opted instead for economy services.
But FedEx may have moved the needle -- in the recent third quarter, Express' operating income grew 14% to $135 million, and operating margin improved to 2% from 1.8% in the year-ago period. The 2% may not look like much, but this is just the beginning -- FedEx has already clarified that the full benefits of its program will become apparent only in the 2015 and 2016 fiscal years, when the voluntary employee retirement scheme bears results.
The restructuring plan focuses on five things: optimizing staff costs and build process efficiencies; using more fuel-efficient planes for the air fleet; consolidating surface routes for domestic deliveries; boosting international profits through cost cuts and productivity gains; and extending the services offered by Express.
FedEx Ground -- a key driver
The Wall Street Journal estimates the total ground package segment in the U.S. to be about $32 billion in value, and United Parcel Services (NYSE:UPS) holds the majority of this market. Historically, FedEx has focused more on air deliveries, but maintaining margins in the face of high fuel prices has been difficult. So, over the past few years, the company has started to build its ground delivery business.
FedEx's journey began with the acquisition of the regional delivery company, RPS, in the mid-1990s, which has evolved into the FedEx Ground segment -- it handles smaller packages that are less time-sensitive and operates in the U.S. and Canada. The company also started FedEx Home Delivery, a money-backed fully dedicated residential delivery service. The $11 billion FedEx Ground segment has proved to be a big driver for both sales and profits.
Profitability in ground delivery is much higher than other delivery segments. Having the bigger ground delivery business has always helped UPS post higher overall margins compared to FedEx. In respective 2013 fiscal years, UPS boasted an operating margin of 12.7%, while FedEx's was only 5.8%. Nearly 44% of UPS's revenue came from ground operations while FedEx's Ground division made up less than 25% of the top line.
But in the last three years, the proportion of FedEx Ground division revenue has increased steadily, and the trend could continue, which bodes well for the company's future earnings prospects.
Growing proportion of FedEx Ground's revenue
Growing demand for e-commerce
FedEx's future prospects are tied to the evolution of the e-commerce industry, both domestically and globally. The enormity of the opportunity is clear from the three forecasts the company has cited in its 2013 annual report.
According to data from Forrester research:
- Global e-commerce sales could rise to $1 trillion by 2016, accounting for 1% of global GDP.
- Online spending in the U.S. could reach $371 billion in 2017, up 42% from $262 billion in 2013.
- Online spending could account for 10% of total retail spending in the U.S. by 2017.
Obviously, online retail giants such as Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) would be the big beneficiaries. Amazon is the world's largest e-commerce retailer, and it saw 22% sales growth in 2013 to $74.45 billion. Amazon's success hinges on the efficiency of its delivery management, and the behemoth had even considered acquiring FedEx a couple of years ago. While the plan didn't come to fruition, Amazon and other e-retailers will keep working with their delivery partners to maximize the e-commerce opportunity. Not a bad proposition for the likes of FedEx and UPS. In the third quarter, FedEx Ground's average daily volume grew 8% purely on the back of huge online orders.
Improving margins in the Express business, a growing Ground segment, and burgeoning e-commerce are positive things for FedEx. These could be the company's pillars of success in the years to come. FedEx is on track to make the most of these opportunities, and gearing up to usher in an era of more profitable growth.


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Your phone could become more of your mobile wallet than ever before.
If you've ever dreamed of presenting your phone at the airport or at a bar as proof of ID, the wait may soon be over. Phones using the premium Snapdragon 865 chip will be able to tap into a new feature coming to Android R, the next version of Google's operating system for phones.
If your 2020 device has both Android R and the Snapdragon 865, it'll support the software to securely store your credentials, like your driver's license, Social Security card and other ...
Read the full text cnet


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Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who’s been scooping up newspapers for his Berkshire Hathaway Inc., is looking to an Arkansas publisher as a model for success in the digital age.
“The main exemplar for local newspapers is the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, published by Walter Hussman Jr.,” Buffett wrote in an annual letter to Berkshire shareholders released Friday. “Over the past decade his paper has retained its circulation far better than any other large paper in the country.”
Hussman’s newspaper was quick to charge for stories online as the industry shifted to the Internet, said Buffett, Berkshire’s 82-year-old chairman and chief executive officer. Advertising expenditures for print and online media in the U.S. have fallen every quarter since the start of 2007, according to the Newspaper Association of America.
Editor's Note: 5 Signs Stock Market Will Collapse in 2013
Local newspapers that deliver reliable information to “tightly-bound communities” with a sensible Internet strategy will stay viable, Buffett wrote. Berkshire has acquired 28 daily newspapers for $344 million in the past 15 months. The company owns its hometown paper, the Omaha World-Herald in Nebraska.
“Newspapers have a pretty decent future,” Hussman, 66, said in a phone interview. “We’re really not interested in selling any of our papers.”
The Arkansas publication started charging for content online in 2001, “not to generate revenue, but to keep people from defecting,” Hussman said. That enabled it to maintain circulation while competitors have seen declines, he said.
Hussman’s decision to protect revenue from print operations and limit distribution online was criticized initially, said Ken Doctor, an analyst at Outsell Inc., a research and advisory firm for the publishing industry based in Burlingame, California.
“He was largely seen as someone who was old-fashioned,” Doctor said in a phone interview. “He was seen as someone who was trying to hold on to the way it used to be.”
In his letter, Buffett introduced a discussion of his media interests with the heading, “We buy some newspapers ... newspapers?” as the billionaire acknowledged that shareholders might doubt the wisdom of investments in the struggling industry.
Buffett wrote that he and Berkshire Vice Chairman Charles Munger “love newspapers and, if their economics make sense, will buy them.”
“Our goal is to keep our papers loaded with content of interest to our readers and to be paid appropriately by those who find us useful, whether the product they view is in their hands or on the Internet,” Buffett wrote.
Berkshire, built by Buffett over almost five decades into a $253 billion company with more than 80 operating units, is a longtime investor in Washington Post Co. and has owned the Buffalo News since 1977. Buffett’s firm agreed last month to buy Oklahoma’s Tulsa World newspaper and said in January that it had acquired the Greensboro News & Record in North Carolina.
Most of Berkshire’s media operations are housed in a new business unit, BH Media Group, run by Terry Kroeger.
“A pay model structure is imperative,” Kroeger said last year in an interview. “The only community paper I know of that did a good job of that is the Arkansas Democrat. Walter Hussman is basically our hero.”
U.S. newspaper advertising revenue totaled an estimated $19 billion in 2012, the lowest when adjusted for inflation since at least 1950, according to data compiled by Mark Perry, an economics and finance professor at the University of Michigan- Flint who tracks newspaper advertising.
Hussman said Buffett contacted him about the newspaper industry in a letter, then the two met last year.
“He offered to buy me a steak in Omaha,” Hussman said. “So I took him up on it.”
© Copyright 2024 Bloomberg News. All rights reserved.


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What you need to know
- Microsoft will discontinue its Microsoft-branded keyboards, mice, and webcams.
- The company is shifting entirely to its Surface brand when it comes to accessories.
- Surface accessories earn positive reviews, but they are generally more expensive than their Microsoft-branded counterparts.
Microsoft will stop making keyboards, mice, and webcams that are Microsoft-branded. Instead, the company will shift its accessory efforts to its Surface brand. The news comes from The Verge, who spoke with Microsoft about the company's plans.
Microsoft-branded accessories date back decades, so it's quite a move to see Microsoft shift away from them. That being said, the tech giant is not leaving the accessory market.
Microsoft will continue to make accessories; they will just be under the Surface brand rather than Microsoft-branded. The Surface family of accessories includes several great keyboards and mice, but they are generally more expensive than their Microsoft-branded counterparts. It's unclear if Microsoft will introduce more budget-friendly options under the Surface brand or shift entirely to more premium accessories.
“Going forward, we are focusing on our Windows PC accessories portfolio under the Surface brand,” said Senior Communications Manager at Microsoft Dan Laycock to The Verge.
“We will continue to offer a range of Surface branded PC Accessories — including mice, keyboards, pens, docks, adaptive accessories, and more. Existing Microsoft branded PC accessories like mice, keyboards, and webcams will continue to be sold in existing markets at existing sell-in prices while supplies last.”
Notably, Microsoft does not make a Surface-branded webcam aimed at general consumers. The Microsoft Modern Webcam is available, but at $55 it may not line up with the Surface lineup's premium devices. That being said, Microsoft has extended its Surface family to include more budget-friendly hardware, such as the Surface Laptop SE.
Microsoft's Surface revenue, which includes the company's accessories, dropped dramatically in FY23 Q3. There's a chance that the shift in accessories is being made in an effort to bolster Microsoft's Surface revenue or to streamline its device portfolio to focus on hardware with higher margins.
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Sean Endicott brings nearly a decade of experience covering Microsoft and Windows news to Windows Central. He joined our team in 2017 as an app reviewer and now heads up our day-to-day news coverage. If you have a news tip or an app to review, hit him up at email@example.com.


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In brief: Back in January of last year, Tesla became embroiled in yet another NHTSA investigation; this time surrounding allegations that the company's cars were suddenly accelerating, leading to crashes and injury. Now, just a couple of weeks away from the anniversary of that report, the NHTSA has cleared Tesla of all wrongdoing and placed the blame firmly on drivers.
NHTSA was acting on information provided by a Mr. Brian Sparks, who requested that the NHTSA "recall all [Tesla] Model S, Model X, and Model 3 vehicles produced from 2013 to the present" due to SUA (sudden unintended acceleration) problems.
To support his complaint, Sparks provided the organization with a total of 232 "non-duplicative" complaints regarding this issue, 203 of which involved collisions with the environment or other vehicles.
After a solid year of investigation, though, the NHTSA has found that Sparks' complaints are largely without merit. In every single instance of a SUA event in which log data was available, "pedal misapplication" was the cause of the acceleration.
In other words, as some of our readers theorized back in 2020, drivers simply pressed the wrong pedal; accelerating when they intended to brake. It's an understandable mistake, of course, and one many of us have made a time or two in our lives (hopefully without crashing). However, a mistake is all it is, and not the result of a vehicle hardware or software flaw.
This is good news for Tesla, but it's also an outcome the company likely predicted from the get-go. The company previously claimed these complaints were brought on in bad faith by a stock "short-seller." If Tesla truly believed that was the case, they had no reason to be concerned here – and the NHTSA's finalized report backs that up.
To be clear, this report does not clear Tesla of all future wrongdoing. The NHTSA reserves the right to open up a separate investigation at a later date if other, valid complaints come to light. But for now, the company has dodged a bullet, albeit a poorly-aimed one.


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The Modern Times Group has said its recent restructuring has cost it SEK700 million (€74 million) in the most recent quarter.
The free and pay TV group has undertaken a company-wide restructure, announcing 300 job losses in August as part of a programme of cuts across its operations in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and the UK.
More than half of the restructuring charges, announced in 3Q results this morning, relate to redundancy payments to outgoing staff.
The company has said previously the restructuring will result in annual savings of about SEK600 million, taking full effect from 2017. MTG said this cash will be reinvested.
MTG has been investing in digital services, buying Turtle Entertainment and MCNs Zoomin.TV and Splay.
“We have then invested SEK 1.2 billion in three market leading digital businesses in high growth online video categories, and we have also invested to secure key sports rights and studio deals for years to come,” MTG said. “This will enable us to develop our brands and products to deliver even more premium content across even more screens and platforms.”
The company posted 3Q revenues of SEK3.8 billion, a 5% increase year-on-year. Stripping out one-off restructuring costs and the SEK77 million cash from the sale of Swedish cabler Sappa, EBIT profit was up almost 10% at SEK240 million.
In the wake of the results, MTG CEO Jørgen Madsen Lindemann (pictured) said: “We are shaping the future of entertainment by creating and growing communities around brands, content and services that consumers love.”
ICYMI: Sky Q gets HDR sports digitaltveurope.com/2021/07/23/sky… https://t.co/cTPxJQqqsw
25 July 2021 @ 18:30:00 UTC
White Paper: Low Latency Streaming – The New Normal digitaltveurope.com/intelligence/w…
25 July 2021 @ 14:00:02 UTC


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Pico Reveals the Latest Pico Neo CV VR Headset
Pico has finally unveiled its latest VR headset at the ongoing CES 2017 event. It is called the Pico Neo CV. The aforementioned VR headset is also the pioneer product aimed at the consumers that Pico would be introducing for the US markets. However, the Pico Neo CV isn’t the first VR headset that the company is offering; they launched the Pico Neo DK in 2016 which was aimed towards B2B spaces. The entire VR industry is still finding its hold in the market; the domain is highly becoming saturated with several headset choices which are very similar in terms of looks and functions. But Pico makes itself stand out from the hoard of competitors by launching the Neo CV that provides the consumers to experience VR in an entirely untethered way. This is what the company is focussing on as its niche.
However, Pico isn’t the only company to be focussing on the VR headsets and there are other options available in the market as well. Since the company claims the Pico Neo CV to be entirely untethered, the VR headset doesn’t really depends on a mobile gadget like a tablet or a smartphone which the Gear VR does. The Pico Neo CV also doesn’t require a PC or a console for connecting for providing the users with alluring content that they can enjoy. The company also boasts of right out of the box mesmerising experience sans the requirement for any other device that not only cuts down the price for investing in VR experiences. But it also increases the convenience of things apart from allowing the users to get the content they enjoy on a quicker speed.
Since the Pico Neo CV doesn’t rely on any other gadget like the PC, it will certainly prove to be a limitation and the gadget would be unable to deliver the type of virtual reality experience or content that the users find on the HTC Vive. However, the aforementioned probable limitation of the Pico Neo CV won’t make the gadget a slouch because the Neo CV comes with some nice specifications. The Pico Neo CV draws its power from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor while utilising the Qualcomm’s Snapdragon VR SDK. It also boasts of complete VR immersion along with motion tracking. The company reveals that the motion tracking abilities of the Neo CV are very accurate in nature and the users can expect a smooth experience post the looking for the content.
The Neo CV also features the dual 1.5K VR displays as well as a 90Hz refresh rate for helping to keep the images clear at all times. The device also supports the 360 degree viewing which allows the users for checking out the most mesmerising videos notes as well as games and Pico which is built for gaming experiences too. When it comes to the looks of the Pico Neo CV, it looks very similar to its contemporaries but differentiates itself from its competition at the same time. The device packs in a Hi-Fi speaker. There are no details available about the cost and launch date for the Neo CV.


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Chinese Automaker Geely is Delivering Keys by Drone for New Vehicle Purchases
【Summary】Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd (Geely) has come up with a novel way to help customers take delivery on their new cars without having to interact with dealership employees to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The automaker announced its is using drones to deliver the keys to customers after they order their new vehicles online.
The coronavirus crisis has temporarily altered retail and food delivery, with many businesses implementing "contactless" transactions, such as food deliveries being left on doorsteps instead of being handed off directly to the customer, to help prevent the spread of the virus.
Chinese automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd (Geely) however, has come up with a novel way to help customers take delivery on their new cars without having to interact with dealership employees. The automaker announced its is using drones to deliver the keys to customers after they order their new vehicles online.
The program was launched on February 10, while the Wuhan region of China was under a strict government ordered lock down to control the spread of the coronavirus. Around 40 million people were forced to stay indoors during the lockdown. The Wuhan region in China was where the world's first coronavirus cases appeared in January. It's also home to many of China's auto manufacturing facilities.
Geely Auto, which is the parent company of Swedish automaker Volvo, launched a new online vehicle sales system that allows consumers to order their cars entirely online, including selecting vehicle options, choosing various financing and insurance options, as well as the option of "contactless" home delivery.
The new system is using drones in select locations to deliver new car keys to consumers. The drones can leave the keys on a customer's doorstep or an outdoor balcony, if they live in a highrise or apartment building. The delivery of the keys by drone allows for a complete contactless solution.
Geely said the new delivery option has been successful so far. Since the platform was launched in February, over 10,000 consumers have ordered and paid for vehicles on Geely's online mall with a further 110,000 users registering their interest to buy a Geely vehicle in the short term.
All confirmed orders and confirmed leads are sent to local dealers, who then process orders and begin the home delivery process.
New Vehicles Are Being Disinfected Before Delivery
Geely Auto vehicles are thoroughly disinfected by the dealership including through ionization prior to delivery in order to ensure customers enjoy a safe and healthy purchase experience when they come to drive away their new vehicle.
"Thorough disinfection and even ionization, Geely is going above and beyond in ensuring our customers have a safe and healthy purchase experience. We're taking contactless purchasing to the next level with drone key deliveries," the company wrote in a Twitter post.
Geely has also set aside a 370 million RMB (US$52.2 million) fund that will focus on the development of cleaner, healthier vehicles, including the use of antimicrobial cabin air filters for the vehicle's interior. The first mass produced vehicle equipped with anti-bacterial filters was the Geely ICON SUV, which launched in China last month.
Victor Yang, Vice President of Geely Auto Sales Company commented: "Geely Auto's constant change to market requirements and consumer concerns is the driving force behind Geely's continued success in the Chinese market."
The drone key deliveries by Geely is one way Chinese automakers are working to boost sales amid China's cooling auto market that's been further impacted by the coronavirus outbreak.
According to the China Passenger Car Association, new car sales in China plummeted 80% year over year in February 2020, which was the biggest monthly drop in history. The coronavirus outbreak has kept customers away from auto dealer showrooms this year.
In September 2019, Geely announced it led a $55 million investment in aviation startup Volocopter GmBH, a Germany-based flying taxi and drone startup. As part of the investment, Geely will also enter into a joint venture with Volocopter to bring flying cars to China.
resource from: Geely
Originally hailing from New Jersey, Eric is a automotive & technology reporter covering the high-tech industry here in Silicon Valley. He has over 15 years of automotive experience and a bachelors degree in computer science. These skills, combined with technical writing and news reporting, allows him to fully understand and identify new and innovative technologies in the auto industry and beyond. He has worked at Uber on self-driving cars and as a technical writer, helping people to understand and work with technology.
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- GM's New 'Plug And Charge' Feature Will Simplify the Charging Process For its Current & Future EVs


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Cashier strives to send “happy vibes” during crisis
WESTMINSTER, Colo. (AP) — Brittany Olander grabbed her surgical mask before walking out of her Federal Heights apartment.
She cleared wet, heavy snow from her car, determined not to let the weather cloud her sunny mood that has proven to be so important lately in her job as cashier at King Soopers in nearby Westminster.
“Keeping happy vibes keeps everyone else happy,” the 31-year-old said.
Olander is one of dozens of Colorado residents that journalists from news organizations across the state profiled on April 16 as part of a collaborative project to chronicle a day in the life of their uncertainty, hope, fear and joy during this extraordinary time. The project, COVID Diaries Colorado, can be found in its entirety at http://colabnews.co/.
The storm kept away customers from Olander’s store in the Denver suburb of Westminster. The King Soopers was one of the few businesses still open and one of those few places where people can still see their neighbors since the coronavirus forced everyone inside.
But it hasn’t been the same at the store where she has worked for over a decade. Olander, following social distancing rules, can’t hug her regular customers as she used to. She worries about the older customers she hasn’t seen in weeks, the vulnerable ones who couldn’t risk venturing outside even to do the shopping.
With business light, Olander and her co-workers cleaned cash registers and other surfaces that are frequently touched but she was upset to find a pair of used disposable gloves left on an electric cart, rather than thrown in the trash. One regular, a woman in her 70s who used to come in nearly every day, stopped by looking for masks. Olander told her where to go, but warned they were probably out of stock.
Olander ate lunch in her car at 3:30 p.m. before finishing her shift. Soon after, a woman asked if she could just stand inside the store to warm up. She tried to soothe a courtesy clerk who was confronted by a customer whose chips were placed at the bottom of a shopping bag. She fetched a replacement for a customer whose electric cart had died.
Shortly before her shift ended at 7 p.m. the woman who wanted to warm up bought Advil PM and immediately took it all. Olander and other workers told a manager, who called the paramedics. It was a rough ending for a worker who has been deemed essential in this crisis, along with the other clerks and cashiers across the state, some of whom are making around the minimum wage. Olander’s union was able to win $2 an hour extra in hazard pay for its workers in Kroger-owned stores, taking her pay to $20.81 an hour.
In her car, Olander pulled her mask’s ear straps out from under her knit cap.
“This is my favorite part because I can just take the mask off and breathe,” she said.
This story is powered by COLab, the Colorado News Collaborative. The Associated Press joined this collaboration with more than 20 other newsrooms across Colorado to better serve the public.


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Portland, Oregon officials have passed what could be the strictest municipal ban on facial recognition in the country. It’s not just local government units, such as the police, that can no longer use facial recognition under the city’s new regulations — private businesses can’t deploy the technology in public spaces either. That means places like hotels, stores and restaurants can’t use facial recognition where customers will be present. According to CNET, the bill passed unanimously, and it will be enforced starting in January 2021. Businesses caught violating the law could be sued and could pay up to $1,000 a day in fines.
In the document (PDF) detailing the ordinance, the city council noted that “Black, Indigenous and People of Color communities have been subject to over surveillance and disparate and detrimental impact of the misuse of surveillance.” It added that face recognition technologies “have been documented to have an unacceptable gender and racial bias” and explained that the city “needs to take precautionary actions until these technologies are certified and safe to use and civil liberties issues are resolved.”


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We track the stock picks & portfolios of the world’s best investors.
Cheapness is a top characteristic Warren Buffett requires in companies he invests in, though they must also be high-quality companies. It makes sense then that his portfolio would contain quite a few low-P/E (price over earnings) companies. The lowest of the low are: General Motors Company (GM), ConocoPhillips (COP), Gannett Co. Inc. (GCI) and General Dynamics Corp. (GD).
A low P/E ratio indicates that while a company’s earnings have grown or remained flat, the price has not, for any number of reasons, and may later.
General Motors Company (GM)
Warren Buffett initiated a position of 10 million General Motors shares at an average price of $25 in the first quarter of 2012. The company has a P/E of 5.3, after a steady year-and-a-half P/E plunge.
GM, the world’s top-selling automaker, just returned to public trading on the NYSE in 2010, after filing for and emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with the help of the U.S. government. Then, GM posted the largest annual profit in its history for 2011, with earnings of $7.6 billion. But with the government retaining almost 30% ownership, GM’s stock price showed only a mild reaction to the news.
In June, GM reported May sales were the highest monthly in 33 months. Consumers purchased 245,256 vehicles in the U.S., up 11 percent year over year, and the highest level since August 2009. Buick and GM sales both were up 19%, and Chevrolet was up 10%.
GM also reinstated its missing dividend on June 12. The payment will be $0.59375 per share quarterly on its Series B mandatory convertible junior preferred stock.
Buffett has 29,100,937 shares of COP as of the end of third quarter 2012, after whittling down the holding from its peak of over 83 million in 2008. Its P/E is 6, a three-year low. ConocoPhillips’ P/E was around the high teens in 2010, then dropped to the high single digits in 2011 and dropped further still to the current level in the second quarter of 2012.
Prior to that news, on April 4, the company announced it would split into two by spinning of its downstream businesses and remaining an upstream company. The distribution of one share of Phillips 66 for every two shares of ConocoPhillips stock took place on April 30, 2012.
On April 24, COP announced that its first-quarter earnings of $2.9 billion were slightly down from $3.0 the previous year, which coupled with the decline in stock price produced a low P/E.
Gannett Co. Inc. (GCI)
Gannett, a Buffett holding that predates 2007, is just 0.035% of his portfolio. It has a 6.5 P/E, about the middle of its range for the last several years.


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A website is being called offensive for its advertisements for plus-size tights, which feature petite models being engulfed by the pantyhose to demonstrate each pair’s capacity to stretch.
There are several of the ads, which have circulated around the internet, and they all show a slender woman posing inside large tights. Many of them include the model pulling the tights up to her shoulders or past her chin.
In one of the body-shaming ads, a thin model is seen standing in one leg of the plus-size tights, showing how roomy they are.
The questionable ad comes from Wish.com — a discount retailer that sells incredibly cheap items to consumers directly from Chinese manufacturers.
This isn’t the first time Wish.com has been criticized. The website has been critiqued in the past for its business practices.
“Wish targets customers with low-price goods such as dresses, watches, sneakers or jewelry shipped straight from Chinese manufacturers — but that also means delivery can take weeks and items sometimes arrive damaged,” reports Recode.


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General Motors is being pushed by safety organizations and trial lawyers to recall its older vehicles and install trunk safety switches. This year alone 20 children have died as a result of being locked inside hot cars with three of those deaths from children being trapped inside car trunks that were manufactured by GM. In Oklahoma this month, an 8 year-old boy died in the trunk of his parents 1998 Chevy Cavalier. Last month there was a similar story when two brothers were trapped in the trunk of their mother’s 2000 Chevrolet Malibu and also died.
The safety organization KidsandCars.org is calling on GM to recall all vehicles with trunks from the 2000 and 2001 model years and retrofit them with internal releases. Beginning in the 2002 model year all cars came equipped with a glow in the dark release handle inside the trunk. This is not the first time that GM has been called on to retrofit cars from the 2000 and 2001 model years with internal trunk releases. KidsandCars.org also tried to persuade GM in the 2009 after the death of a 5-year-old Arkansas boy and his 4-year-old sister in a 2000 Chevrolet Malibu. Janette Fennel of KidsandCars.org says that no one has ever died in the trunk of newer models that have the safety releases.
GM’s response provides little comfort to consumer advocates as they responded by stating that because they make more cars than any other company accidents are bound to happen in vehicles. They go even further by putting the responsibility back on the parents stating they have “worked . . . to alert parents and caregivers to the dangers of leaving children unattended in or around vehicles.” They also stated they have no plans to issue a recall.
If you own one of these vehicles it is important to be extremely cautious and not let children around the car without adult supervision. A child becoming locked in a car’s trunk can easily happen and it is especially important to be mindful of this fact due to the record-breaking temperatures across the county. Below are several safety tips to help avoid this type of situation:
Teach kids that cars are not toys and don’t let them play in or around them.
Keep your car locked, even when it’s parked at home in your garage or driveway.
Some cars have a switch in the trunk that allows you to turn off the remote function, so your trunk will only open with a key, which is much harder for small children to maneuver,
Some people get an extra keyless remote and keep it in their trunk.
You can buy a trunk safety release retrofit kit for $10 from Kids and Cars. Click here for more information.


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Oops! Ad leaks out price of OnePlus 3 a day before big launch
The company has specially introduced an Android app for live streaming called The Loop which is available via Google Play.
Chinese smartphone maker, OnePlus, is all set to unveil its flagship OnePlus 3 smartphone on Tuesday at 10pm (IST) through the virtual launch event.
However, just hours before the official launch, a newspaper ad in a leading daily revealed the price of OnePlus 3. According to the ad, OnePlus 3 will be priced at Rs 27,999 in India and will be exclusively available via Amazon India.
The ad also leaked the smartphone specs that the OnePlus sports a 5.5-inch 1080p display. The company is using an Optic AMOLED display for the OnePlus 3 as well. It will be powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 processor paired with 6GB RAM.
The company has specially introduced an Android app for live streaming called 'The Loop' which is available via Google Play.
The company also auctioned five units of its flagship device on June 12 ahead of its launch.
So what can people expect from OnePlus 3?
Some of the features include:
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor
- Fingerprint scanner which can unlock the handset in 0.2 seconds
- 6GB RAM
- 64 GB inbuilt storage (32GB and 128 GB variants will also be available)
- 16-megapixel rear camera
- 8-megapixel front camera
Other specifications that the OnePlus 3 is expected to have includes a 5.5-inch full HD screen AMOLED display. The smartphone will also come in six variants.
The OnePlus 3 is expected to ditch the iconic sandstone finish design for a full metal unibody instead, according to an Indian Express report.


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Cloud Analogy, A Salesforce Development Company, has announced that it will be hosting an online, free webinar titled “Project Life Cycle And Scope Management” that will be going live on Friday, April 16, 2021, at 8:30 PM, IST.
JanBask Digital Design, the main web design and development office with workplaces in our country, is pleased to declare that the organization has added design and development administrations to its skills list.
Emirates Wet Wipes, one of the largest hygiene care products manufacturers in the GCC, is ramping up its advertising and brand direction with the appointment of integrated digital & ecommerce agency, Medialinks, to its pan-Arab business.
LN-TECH INFO is one of the prominent software companies that helps other organizations to transform into digital enterprises. It differentiates you from competitors in the market and provides better engagement with customers, partners and employees.
JDD or JanBask Digital Design being the modern digital solutions company supporting e-learning businesses get standout web design & development solutions that are exemplary, secure, and revenue-oriented.
Udaipur web designer is an Best Web Design and Development company in Udaipur. Offering various online web design services, Seo, Mobile app development, Digital Marketing, Graphics designing etc.. or more.
Panamax is pleased to announce that it will be attending Nigeria Com and West Africa Com. Nigeria Com will take place on 29th September 2020 and will be followed by the West Africa Com from 30th September to 1st October 2020.
Agent 6 is a web development agency in Sydney offering a range of products and services including web development and software development. Specialized in wordpress websites, wordpress web dev and web development.
Web Development Tools/Frameworks help the designers to work with an assortment of technologies. Website Development Tools ought to have the option to give quicker website or mobile app development improvement at lower costs
Maxim Itskovich, CEO and Co-Founder of Mobindustry, a software development company, has been featured in the MobileAppDaily "40 Under 40 Report" among the top 5 leaders of the IT industry under the age of 40.
JanBask Digital Design, a leading SEO company provides the best yet affordable internet marketing solutions to the businesses who are struggling to strive at online platforms and are running their dreams on a limited budget.
JanBask Digital Design, a digital solutions company, takes pride in growing with an army of decades experienced web developers --- who develop fully customized & purposeful website solutions for varied business types.


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It’s the season of giving! Theatre Three and the Knights of Columbus Joan of Arc Council 1992 are teaming up this year to host a Thanksgiving Food Drive for the food pantry at Infant Jesus Church in Port Jefferson on Sunday, Nov. 14 from 9 a.m. to noon.
Please help those who are less fortunate enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with their loved ones.
The pantry is in need of stuffing, gravy, yams, cranberry sauce, certificates for turkeys, pies, sugar, Maseca corn flour, cooking oil, peanut butter, ketchup, mayonnaise, coffee, hot chocolate, rice (1# and 2# bags/boxes) canned fruit and healthy snacks.
Baby items are needed including diapers size 6, baby shampoo, baby wipes, baby powder, Desitin and lotion. Toiletries are also in low supply including shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, feminine pads and toilet paper.
Donations of grocery gift cards and cash to purchase whatever else is needed will also be accepted.
Volunteers will be set up in front of Infant Jesus Church, 110 Myrtle Ave., the convent building behind the church at 110 Hawkins Street, and Infant Jesus Chapel at St. Charles Hospital, 200 Belle Terre Road. For more information, call Brian at 631-938-6464.


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Friday, December 18, 2015
Just took a big gulp when I saw the postal increase coming January 17, 2016. There will be a 12.8 percent average increase for domestic First Class packages, with the most notable change for packages weighing less than 8 ounces. Since I ship most of my products via USPS First Class mail, and they are usually less than 8 ounces, I am wondering how much of an impact this rate increase will have on my online business. Yikes!


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Assassin's Creed Origins was a huge hit for Ubisoft and a return to glory for their series, selling twice as much as its predecessor Assassin's Creed: Syndicate did during its lifetime. It's still going strong, in fact, and is being bolstered by more and more additional content.
Impressive, but not as impressive as Far Cry 5, it would appear, as the fifth instalment was released two weeks ago and has sold a lot faster than Assassin's Creed Origins on Steam. According to SteamSpy, the former has currently sold 741,547, while the latter is at roughly the same amount (743,601), although it needed five months and several sales to reach that.
We rather enjoyed Far Cry 5, as you can tell from our review, so we think it's a deserved accomplishment. Would you agree?


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Next Generation Vauxhall Astra Revealed
Here are the first images of seventh-generation Vauxhall Astra which will start production here in the UK later this year.
Based on an all-new lightweight vehicle architecture with a new design, powertrains and technology, the all-new Vauxhall Astra is expected to receive its world premiere at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September.
Vauxhall says that the new Astra will be the first new Vauxhall model that will be available with the personal connectivity and service assistant OnStar from launch, offering drivers a broad range of safety and comfort services.
The new generation IntelliLink infotainment system (that is compatible with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay) will also make its debut in the new Vauxhall Astra.
As well as OnStar and next-generation IntelliLink, other technology that will be available on the new Astra includes:
• Traffic Sign Assistant
• Lane Keep Assist
• Lane Departure Warning
• Following Distance Indication
• Forward Collision Alert with Collision Imminent Braking
• Cruise Control with Speed Limiter
• Advanced Park Assist
• Rear View Camera
• Side Blind Spot Alert
There’ll also be an 18-way adjustable driver’s seat that will feature a massage function, ventilation and seat-width setting.
More details on the next-generation Vauxhall Astra will be announced closer to launch.
The All-New Vauxhall Astra
The Interior Of The All-New Vauxhall Astra


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'We will have to see what Dhoni wants. I will also speak to him what he wants to do' IMAGE: Dhoni has been on a sabbatical post India's World Cup... ...http://www.rediff.com/cricket/report/will-speak-to-selectors-about-dhonis-future-ganguly-bcci/20191016.htm
'The Post's coverage is not an authentic public discourse guided by unbiased Western intellectuals, but slanted doomsday propaganda orchestrated by... ...http://www.rediff.com/news/column/why-washington-posts-coverage-of-j-k-is-not-credible/20191003.htm
The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Monday launched a mini SUV S-PRESSO priced between Rs 3.69 lakh and Rs 4.91 lakh... ...http://www.rediff.com/money/report/auto-maruti-drives-in-mini-suv-s-presso-at-rs-369-lakh/20190930.htm
NEW DELHI: Hero MotoCorp might see a reduction in its earlier-projected capex of Rs 1,500 crore for the current financial year, as the two-wheeler... ...https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/two-wheelers/hero-motocorps-capex-may-be-lower-than-earlier-forecast-of-rs-1500-crore-in-fy20/articleshow/71243268.cms
Magsaysay Award winner and teacher extraordinaire Sonam Wangchuk tells Claude Arpi about his journey, his fights, his hopes and how he became an... ...http://www.rediff.com/news/interview/the-legend-who-inspired-3-idiots/20190905.htm
Shop for your favourite Fashion...
EXCELLENT DRIVER PROVIDER...


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Tuesday, June 11, 2013
SELLERS SELLING SUPER RARE CARDS IN YAHOO JAPAN
Saw sellers selling some of the Ultra Rare Super Rare Cards in Yahoo Japan site.
They are selling at 5000 yen which is around SGD65.
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A well-known market intelligence solutions provider, Infiniti Research, has announced the completion of their recent free downloadable resource on what retailers in the UK can learn from the Asian retail market. Download the free resource for comprehensive insights into what makes the retailers in the Asian market different and how retail brands in the UK can take inspiration from them and revamp their strategies to overcome the retail challenges in their market.
Retail executives seeking to understand the future of retail should take a close look at Asia.
Retailers in the United Kingdom have been facing several challenges over the last year due to discounter and online competition, more expensive energy, and rising business rates. As a result, some of the key brands in the U.K. have been forced to shut down a consistent number of stores across the country. Retail executives seeking to understand the future of retail should take a close look at Asia. It has the world’s highest rate of Internet shopping and the fastest growth in overall sales. Experts at Infiniti Research expect that around half of the global retail growth will continue to come from Asia in the next five years.
Marketing Technology News: DataRobot and Informatica Partner to Accelerate Adoption of AI Across the Enterprise
Are you prepared to face the challenges in the dynamic retail market? Request Free Brochure to know how we can help you formulate effective strategies to survive the business challenges coming your way.
How is Asia’s retail industry evolving?
Mini marts are succeeding while large formats are struggling
Asian consumers are known to quickly adapt, as a result, some modern retail formats have struggled in hyper/supermarkets in the Asia Pacific. The reason is that getting around Asia’s cities can be difficult especially due to factors including pollution and congestion, so customers have started to favor shopping at the nearest facilities available to them. Although destination shopping malls were successful up to a point, now physical retail space needs to be where shoppers are, not where retailers want consumers to visit. Furthermore, the rapid penetration of smartphones has played a significant role in eliminating all those hours previously wasted commuting through heavy traffic each day.
Marketing Technology News: Verint Honors 7 Award-Winning Customers Achieving Remarkable Results in Customer Engagement
Physical stores are evolving to stay relevant
Many traditional retail formats have re-imagined themselves in order to stay relevant. Supermarkets have transformed to more like wet markets and spaces with various niche food stalls, sometimes making it hard to tell where the supermarket ends, and the outdoor market begins. Here, consumers don’t feel the need to be loyal to one big brand; they are drawn to niche brands and exotic offerings, tucked-away for them to discover. What consumers want is an experience, environment, and ambiance. This is where retail in the Asia Pacific has really begun to get much more creative.
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Bringing social media to the forefront
Today, nearly everyone in Asia has a smartphone; nearly every smartphone owner is on social media; and social media apps (such as WeChat in China) combine nearly every service one needs to get by, including social messaging, online banking, payments, car-hailing, food ordering and delivery, travel planning, and retail shopping.


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Oyo- India’s leading budget hotel chain, has now expanded its operations to yet another country — Nepal. This is the second country outside of India where Oyo has expanded its business. Last year, in January, Oyo had entered Malaysia, marking its first international destination.
Commenting on the company’s expansion to Nepal, Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and CEO – OYO, said:
Building the category (of small and budget hotels) grounds-up, we have employed technology and operational acumen to deliver delight to our customers and unparalleled benefits to partners. Our network has witnessed robust growth to become the largest in India. After our successful overseas foray in Malaysia, we are now thrilled to offer OYO’s hassle-free and standardised stay experience to travellers visiting Nepal.
Considering the data acquired from Department of Immigration, it makes a good choice for Oyo to expand its base to Nepal. As per the data, more than 174,800 tourists who visited Nepal in 2016, highest number of them were reported from India.
The timing of the expansion is pretty interesting considering that there are reports suggesting that the company has secured $250 million funding from SoftBank, at a valuation of $850 million. However, nothing has been made official yet.
Several reports indicates that SoftBank has offered to invest $500 million, but due to opposition from existing investors, they have settled for $250 million. The $250 million investment will make Japan-based SoftBank group a shareholder of over 42 percent.
At this stage, it is not yet known if the company’s existing investors are taking part in the new funding round. While not officially announced, this expansion pretty much confirms the $250 million funding round.
Founded in 2013, OYO currently claims to have 7,000 hotels and 70,000 rooms in more than 200 Indian cities. Till now, the company has raised $375.65 million in 5 funding rounds from 7 investors, according to CrunchBase.


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Microsoft not only showcased the vast array of partners the company has relations with for Windows 10, but also some of the products these OEMs have been working on. New hardware from HP was on display, including the new x2 2-in-1 Windows 10 PC.
The x2 from HP is a 2-in-1, portable tablet with a magnetic hinge design that makes the device feel more flexible and less tacky without a difficult locking mechanism to master. And since the tablet also doubles as a laptop while attached to the dock and keyboard accessory, you're looking at quite the capable machine with an anodized body and B&O speakers.
As well as the above 2-in-1 Windows 10 PC, Microsoft also showed off a new HP tablet with "revolutionary note-taking capabilities". Stay tuned as we'll bring you more information from the event.
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Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.


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October 18, 2011, 3:48 PM — Last week Apple made the cloud cool with the launch of iCloud. Apple's iCloud is certainly not the first cloud syncing and storage service, but the Apple stamp of approval moves the concept from cutting edge fringe into the tech mainstream. Cloud storage rivals are ready to take advantage of the spotlight on cloud syncing and storage, and go head to head with iCloud with new offers and services of their own.
The beauty of iCloud is that it seamlessly syncs and backs up data on iOS devices. iCloud makes it easier to keep contacts, calendars, emails, pictures, documents and more in sync between an iPhone, iPad, and Mac or Windows PC. The downside of iCloud is that--aside from the tie-in with Windows PCs--it is Apple-centric.
Apple provides 5GB of iCloud storage for free, and users can get an additional 10GB for $20 a year, 20GB for $40 per year, and 50GB for $100 per year.
I have talked with Box.net co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie about the advent of iCloud. The impact of Apple as a competitor can't be ignored, but Levie was more excited than worried. He was excited because iCloud puts a spotlight on cloud syncing and storage and brings attention to the concept which benefits Box.net in the long run.
To capitalize on the launch of iCloud, Box.net is offering iOS users 50GB of storage free for life--a savings of $100 a year over iCloud. More important for many customers, Box.net is platform agnostic with tools for accessing and syncing data from Android tablets and smartphones, BlackBerry smartphones, the BlackBerry PlayBook, and the HP TouchPad tablets, in addition to iOS, Mac OS X, and Windows.
A newcomer on the cloud scene, CX--actually branded as "C to the X power", offers 10GB of cloud storage and the ability to create unlimited groups to share data for free. I haven't actually used CX yet, but judging from the site it seems to be similar in scope and capabilities to Box.net.


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Menulog, an online food delivery app, needed to create impact and cut through the noise in the cluttered world of food delivery services. They wanted to raise their brand profile and drive engagement among Australia's younger demographic. Knowing that this audience segment is highly active on TikTok and loves to take part in dance trends, Menulog turned to a bespoke solution from TikTok For Business to tap into this unique opportunity for engagement and exposure.
Armed with a catchy Snoop Dogg jingle, Menulog partnered with TikTok to ignite a trend and drive consideration for their app. The campaign centred around a #DeliveryDance Branded Hashtag Challenge, spearheaded by official TikTok Creators, which invited users to recreate a dance routine with the official music and hashtag. A TopView placement and In-Feed Ads further amplified the challenge, while the chance to win a year's worth of food delivery incentivized the community to participate.
"We launched Snoop’s version of our 'Did Somebody Say Menulog' jingle in June, and very quickly realised we were onto a banger when we saw how much user content was being generated using the song, particularly with the younger demographic," said Simon Cheng, Marketing Director at Menulog. "Not only did we want to get involved with this trend, but we wanted it to explode, so we partnered with TikTok to launch the #DeliveryDance challenge."
The campaign was a runaway success, with the TopView placement and official Creators contributing to an 89% lift in ad-recall, and over 28.9 million impressions on campaign content. Menulog also saw a brand association lift of 35.9% over the campaign period. Official Creators delivered a total of two million video views, with a 19% average engagement rate.
"TikTok has been a hugely successful channel for us to be able to authentically engage with a younger audience, tapping into existing user behaviour to further amplify our creative and make ‘Snoop’ work harder for Menulog. We’ve already seen strong results in driving awareness amongst the younger demographic and will continue to build on this with the team at TikTok," said Cheng.


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Indie MMORTS game Dawn of Fantasy: Kingdom Wars will soon become the latest 'Greenlit' title to be released on Steam. Since the game was voted onto Steam by the game playing community back in November through Steam's Greenlight project, Dawn of Fantasy's developer Reverie World Studios has been working hard on adding various new features in time for the Steam release. Now, after working with Valve, the release date for Dawn of Fantasy: Kingdom Wars has been set as April 1st 2013, and, no, this is not an early April Fool's Day joke.
Dawn of Fantasy: Kingdom Wars is a persistent online RTS with MMO, RPG and city builder elements, set in a fantasy world where humans, elves, orcs, dwarves and dragons battle for supremacy. Players build up cities and armies, gather and trade resources, complete quests, unlock achievements and fight in co-op and pvp battles.
Formats: PC, X360
Out: Q1 2009 (PC)
1/4/2013 (online) (PC)
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