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Samsung and Apple have had the most epic of courtroom battles, and the latter scores another victory as jury orders Samsung to pay $290 million in damages for infringing on Cupertino’s patents.
This particular case has been going on for quite some time, last year’s verdict saw Apple being awarded $1 billion in damages as a result of patent infringement by Samsung. However Judge Lucy Koh ruled that the jury had miscalculated the award to the tune of $400 million so a partial retrial ensued. The retrial has now ended and the jury has order Samsung to pay an additional $290 million to Apple. Roughly $600 million from last year’s verdict is still outstanding.
Apple had argued at the retrial that it should receive another $379 million, whereas Samsung said that it only owed $52 million for the damages that were being reconsidered. However, the six-woman and two-man jury came up with its own figure after deliberating for three days. Samsung can still appeal this verdict, but if it does not, the total damages it would have to pay Apple after the two cases amounts to $929.83 million.
Even if Samsung pays the outstanding damages, its not like the companies will stop battling in court. There’s already another case set for trial next year which concerns a newer generation of Samsung devices.


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Upstreet Craft Brewing hopes to match P.E.I. success when it launches beer in Nova Scotia with four days of events
Upstreet Craft Brewing seeking success in Nova Scotia.
Charlottetown’s Upstreet Craft Brewing is planning its entrance into the Nova Scotia beer market with four days of events starting with a launch party at the Stubborn Goat Gastro Pub in Halifax Jan. 14.
The brewery also has tap takeovers planned at Stillwell Bar and Good Robot Brewing Co., as well as several tasting sessions at Bishops Cellar.
In addition to being on tap at a number of Halifax establishments, bottles will be sold at Bishops Cellar. The product line includes Upstreet flagships strawberry-rhubarb wheat beer, traditional Czech pilsner, white IPA and American pale ale and it also offers a rotating selection of seasonal beers.
The brewery opened its doors in the summer of 2015 and within six months the beer was selling in dozens of local restaurants and pubs, while bottle sales were exceeding expectations.
Its reputation for beer, as well as for building strong partnerships and giving back to the community helped Upstreet to position itself as a player in the Maritime beer industry, say the owners.
Mitch Cobb, the company’s cofounder and CEO, hopes that Upstreet will have similar success in Nova Scotia as it has seen in P.E.I.
“We are excited about launching into Nova Scotia,” he said. “We recognize that it has one of the strongest craft beer cultures in Atlantic Canada and hope that our beer is well received. We believe we have something new to offer N.S. craft beer fans.”
For more information, visit upstreetcraftbrewing.com or the company Facebook page.
Mike Hogan, left and Mitch Cobb, co-owners of Upstreet Craft Brewing along with Joey Seaman, hoist a beer to their success since opening the brewery in June of 2015. The businessmen have plans to begin selling their product in Nova Scotia.

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Pembroke VCT, a venture capital firm and investor in early stage, consumer-oriented UK businesses in health and fitness, fashion and the media, has announced its investment in the new self-titled fashion brand fromalexa Chung.
The ALEXACHUNG brand is the first solo design effort from model and journalist Alexa Chung, who previously designed collections for brands AG Jeans and Maxwell, and acted as a creative consultant with labels Marks & Spencer, Eyeko and Superga.
Alexa Chung has appointed as her brand’s managing director Edwin Bodson, previously head of fashion label Atelier Haider Ackermann, alongside a multi-disciplinary team of design professionals.
Outlining the benefits of the of the deal with Pembroke VCT, Bodson said: To be supported with investment from the team at Pembroke, who really understand retail and the fashion business, is a huge benefit to enable us to grow as a global brand.
Alexa Chung’s new brand will be the twenty-sixth business Pembroke VCT has invested in since its launch, and all have, according to the firm, been a mixture of later stage profitable businesses and earlier stage post-revenue, pre-profit businesses.
Launched in 2013 as part of the Oakley Capital group, Pembroke VCT’s previous investments include popular burger restaurant chain Five Guys and burrito bar franchise Chillango.
Amongst the venture capital firm’s other past investments are Blaze, the innovative bike light startup with a flagship product the Laserlight currently fitted to Santander bikes across London, and Rated People, the UK website which connects consumers to trusted tradespeople.
Having raised over 13m so far in 2017 to invest in UK startups, Pembroke VCT has said it will next open its offer for further subscription in August. The firm is run by serial entrepreneurs, with the stated aim of adding value to startups through the experiences and resources of its team members, as well as simply providing capital.
Commenting on the Alexa Chung brand investment, Pembroke VCT managing director Andrew Wolfson said the designer demonstrated all the traits the firm looks for in a startup founder.
before investing in any young business, we look for several key traits such as passion, commitment and drive, all of which Alexa Chung embodies, said Wolfson. Were immensely proud to be working with Alexa on the launch of what will undoubtedly be a hugely successful venture.
Wolfson went on to say: Many of the smaller companies we have invested in at an early stage might well be names that you know today.The UK is a nation of small businesses, and there is a large pool of them that have promise and proven capability that just need access to capital.
this is what venture capital can and should provide, by offering investors the tax incentive to invest in that growth. The added benefit to investors is that they are funding the UK’s entrepreneurial spirit and helping to create jobs.
Atom Bank secures 30m British Business Bank boost


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Speaking at A&L Goodbody’s breakfast seminar, ‘GDPR – The Last Lap‘, Anna Morgan, Deputy Data Protection Commissioner, has warned that companies who ‘over-report’ and adopt an overly conservative approach to the GDPR’s breach notification requirements may risk enforcement action from the Data Protection Commission (DPC).
Daniel is a Trainee Solicitor in the IP & Technology Group at A&L Goodbody.
Daniel holds an LLB from Trinity College Dublin, where he studied Intellectual Property Law. Daniel also holds an LLM in Intellectual Property from King's College London, studying the law of copyright, the law of trademarks and the commercialisation of IP, obtaining a Distinction grade.
Daniel has a particular interest in IP litigation and the legal regulation of the music industry.
The Minister for Communications, Denis Naughten, has confirmed that plans to appoint a Digital Safety Commissioner for Ireland (DSC) will go ahead in 2018. The DSC will act as an ‘Internet regulator’, with powers of enforcement and responsibility for a ‘notice and takedown’ regime, to ensure the online safety of Internet users.
EU consumers of online content services such as Netflix, Spotify or Sky Sports will soon be able to access their subscriptions while on holiday in or when otherwise visiting another Member State, due to the lifting of existing restrictions by a proposed new EU Regulation.
The conference on Modernising Copyright, jointly organised by the Irish Centre for European Law and the School of Law, Trinity College Dublin, brought together a number of interesting academics, practitioners and commentators, for a lively discussion concerning various aspects of the future of copyright law in Europe. Among the issues addressed were the development of a Digital Single Market (DSM) in Europe, the nature of copyright exceptions and limitations, and the position of online service providers and intermediaries vís-a-vís copyright infringement.
The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) last week published its decision in relation to the application of the well-known fast-food outlet Supermac’s for a Community Trade Mark (CTM). In a split decision, OHIM ruled that Supermac’s is not entitled to use its brand to sell fast-food/takeaway products or services or to use the brand as a CTM on certain foodstuffs (e.g. meat, fish, poultry, chicken, onion rings, hamburgers, nuggets or chips) in the EU. This decision comes following the filing of extensive opposition by arguably Supermacs’ biggest competitor, McDonald’s.
Europe is today celebrating Data Protection Day, with this year’s celebrations coinciding with the recent political agreement for the finalised text of the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (for further information – see our earlier blog post). One of the many events organised across Europe in conjunction with Data Protection Day was the National Data Protection Conference, which took place over the course of yesterday and today.
The draft of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) took a significant step towards finally becoming European-wide law last week. The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice & Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) approved the final draft agreed by the European Council and Parliament as part of the trilogue negotiations. The text is available on the website of the European Parliament – under item 3 of the Committee Meeting agenda. The GDPR, which was first published in 2012, has gone through a number of iterations and extensive amendment on its journey to ratification. The final draft, which is expected to be ratified by the European Parliament and Council in Spring 2016, contains a number of compromise positions agreed by the EU institutions in an effort to get the GDPR across the line. Once ratified, there will be a two year period before the GDPR becomes directly applicable in all European Member States.


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By Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business
Taco Bell is apologizing for its breakfast menu.
In recent years, it has been littered with questionable foods, such as the Naked Egg Taco or even the Waffle Taco, that have since been discontinued. Turns out, people just want the basics and the chain is finally accepting that. Now, the company is releasing a new ad campaign that includes with an apology of sorts for its past behavior, along with a promise that it won’t go that crazy again.
“We honestly over-innovated in breakfast,” admitted Sean Tresvant, Taco Bell’s chief brand officer, in an exclusive interview. “When you look at today’s consumer and the [fast food] breakfast business, it’s about familiarity and it’s about comfort.”
Taco Bell has been focusing on those two things. Since it was brought back last year after a brief pandemic-induced pause, its breakfast menu has been filled with unique items without going overboard compared to past creations.
Currently, the menu features breakfast-themed takes on its popular afternoon and evening foods, such as breakfast burritos, quesadillas and crunchwraps all stuffed with eggs, cheese and meats.
As a result, breakfast sales have surpassed its 2019 sales levels, Tresvant said, adding that “slow and steady wins the race and in breakfast, you have to be consistent.” Breakfast makes up about 6% of its sales, the chain has previously said.
To help promote breakfast, Taco Bell has enlisted Pete Davidson, a comedian best known for a stint on “Saturday Night Live” that Tresvant said “probably took it a little bit too far sometimes,” similar to how the chain went a “little too far on breakfast.” Tresvant said it was a “great partnership” because Davidson is a fans of the chain and appeals to Taco Bell’s younger customer base.
Two 30-second TV ads featuring Davidson will be released this month and run until December 24. In one cheeky spot, Davidson walks into a Taco Bell says “Sometimes, we go too far. I have, and that’s why Taco Bell has hired me to make an apology for them.” The other ad shows Davidson waking up from a dream thinking about the chain’s breakfast.
Battle for breakfast
Although Taco Bell isn’t making any changes to its breakfast menu, its competitors have adjusted their own. In recent weeks, Wendy’s added french toast sticks, McDonald’s is selling a new cheese danish and Tim Horton’s has a new waffle sandwich on its US menus.
Bolstering breakfast is a smart business decision: A recent report from research firm NDP Group revealed that business for mornings has remained steady in the second quarter of 2022, while other parts of day (including lunch and dinner) declined in the midst of rising menu prices.
According to new research from GlobalData, breakfast is also entering a resurgence because of people are resuming their pre-pandemic routines of returning to the office.
“With such a large portion of the population regularly making a commute, it is unsurprising that breakfast sales have remained steady,” said Hannah Cleland, a food service analyst at GlobalData, in a recent note. “Consumer spending habits in response to the cost-of-living crisis have been nuanced, but it is clear that a small breakfast treat is still being incorporated into many people’s budgets.”
™ & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.


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Vimy MP Koutrakis joins Small Business Minister Mary Ng for online discussion
What role will women entrepreneurs be playing in the revival of the Canadian economy when the COVID-19 pandemic is finally over?
That was the big question raised during a webcast discussion last month between federal Minister for Small Business Mary Ng, Vimy MP Annie Koutrakis and a dozen women entrepreneurs from Laval and other cities, on advancing women’s economic empowerment amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are all aware of the disproportional impact that the pandemic has had on women across the country,” said Koutrakis, noting that a large proportion of Canada’s population of women work in sectors of the economy that have been most affected.
At the same time, she pointed out that many women have been forced by work obligations during the pandemic to make difficult choices, such as choosing between a career or temporarily putting aside responsibilities towards children and family.
“In the end, this pandemic has exposed the systemic obstacles with which women who are business owners are confronted daily – obstacles that we must make efforts to overcome,” added Koutrakis.
Help from Ottawa
For her part, Minister Ng highlighted the government’s commitment to helping women grow their businesses and access new markets through the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy, a nearly $5-billion initiative that provides women with access to financing, expertise and networks.
“I often like to say that, you know, my job is to help companies start up, scale up and to enter the market,” she said, while adding that her department offers businesses operated by women tools, such as the services of trade commissioners, in 160 locations around the world.
“Everything we committed to doing was to make sure that Canadians ultimately are supported through this pandemic, making sure that Canadians didn’t have to worry about a roof over their head or food on the table, and making sure that our smallest of businesses had their voices heard through me and my department and our government,” Minister Ng said.
She cited some disquieting statistics. While only 16 per cent of Canada’s businesses are owned or led by women, and only 11 per cent of these are exporting into the international market, she maintained that $150 billion could be added to the country’s economy just by including more women.
Up against web giants
One of the women entrepreneurs who took part in the web gathering asked Minister Ng what the government can do to help her web retail business compete with online behemoths like Amazon. “What support is available to companies transitioning to online business models for the first time?” she asked.
‘This pandemic has exposed the systemic obstacles with which women who are business owners are confronted daily,’ said Vimy MP Annie Koutrakis
Ng suggested that a big part of the solution will involve improving the prospects for consumers to shop locally. “I think in the short term, as businesses get digitized and develop more of the digital presence, one of the things that we are doing right now is to be sure that we are promoting a strong local initiative,” she said.
Up with local, said Ng
“I think that we all need to ensure that we are promoting that. I think that we all need to ensure that our chambers and the business improvement associations are promoting shopping local.” In addition, Ng said the federal government has been actively working with the Ottawa-based multinational e-commerce company Shopify to create a central resource hub as an incentive for Canadian entrepreneurs to get online. However, she continued, “there is more work to be done” to ensure women-led businesses have the necessary tools to succeed.


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A lot of users have reported that some services Of Microsoft, like Outlook and Teams, weren’t working as usual. This has caused many inconveniences. However, it seems that everything has been resolved, according to what the company tweeted.
Microsoft services have been restored. Here are all the details
In a statement to the BBC, Microsoft confirmed the recovery services that had been temporarily suspended. Also, he confirmed that it was not a cyber attack as a hypothetical cause of the problem.
The inconveniences were felt by users a few days ago and included the services of Teams, Xbox Live, il cloud computing Azure which supplies the computing power to many companies e Microsoft 365 che include SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, Microsoft Graph, PowerBi, Microsoft 365 Admin Center.
Now, however, that seems to be all Resolved, so users and companies can resume working normally. These drawbacks always make us think about the fact that we rely too much on Big Tech both from a professional and personal point of view. Systems and networks are increasingly vulnerable every time maintenance or updates or simple inconveniences occur.
The most observant noted that Microsoft’s outage came after the company reported that its sales increased only 2% in the last three months through December, with overall profits declining.
And, as if that weren’t enough, the company has always announced that it would reduce the working staff by 5%. In this way, it cuts well 10,000 jobs. This move will cost Microsoft $1.2 billion in severance and restructuring costs.
Nevertheless, the Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said they will continue hiring for key company positions. Not to mention that Microsoft is working on investing in the AI company OpenAIthe creator of ChatGPT.


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Festival will celebrate the best of West Suffolk business
A festival celebrating the best of business in West Suffolk returns in October.
The West Suffolk Business Festival, from October 3 to 13, promises a wealth of events offering the chance to network and build new skills.
It kicks off with the MENTA Trade Fair at The Apex, in Bury St Edmunds, on Tuesday, October 3 along with a business brunch, workshops and a networking drinks reception.
There will be more than 100 exhibitors and numerous competitions to enter.
The Brunch Means Business event features keynote speaker Alex Monroe, who is an international jeweller and was born in Suffolk.
Due to the generosity of MENTA patron, Atkins Thomson Solicitors, the trade fair and workshops are free to attend but booking is recommended.
Rob Dellow, partner at Atkins Thomson, said: “We’re delighted to be sponsoring the MENTA Trade Fair for the ninth consecutive year.
“The exhibition provides a wonderful opportunity to see first-hand the wide range of businesses, based in our region.”
During the business festival, MENTA will also host networking event, Coffee Means Business, at Frankie & Benny’s, in Haverhill, on Thursday, October 5.
Alex Till, MENTA’s chief executive, said: “I’m looking forward to our Business Festival events, especially hearing Alex Monroe at the brunch.
“It’s great to be able to celebrate the diversity and success of Suffolk businesses and to demonstrate what a thriving county we live and work in.”
The festival closes with the Bury Free Press Business Awards on October 13.
Other events in Haverhill include an event about finance, ‘Cash Point’, on October 5 and a Free Skills Engagement Forum on Wednesday, October 11.
For more information about the event, visit www.businessfestival.org


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Leave it to Koreans, who tend to adopt cutting-edge technology at a breathtaking clip, to lead the way in yet another whiz-bang innovation – any-to-any mobile voice and video calling, meant to replace the home landline.
And the service from LG U+, the third-largest carrier in South Korea, has now launched on media players.
It’s targeted for the masses, not just for smartphone users; Subscribers can make IP-based voice and video calls using the Samsung (News - Alert) Galaxy Player, a mobile media player that has the service preinstalled as a mobile broadband app.
The model is a lot like Apple’s embedded FaceTime (News - Alert) video chat app in the iPod Touch, which gives users the ability to video-chat any other FaceTime app on Apple devices. And it’s also a lot like Skype (News - Alert) video calling, which allows users to call other Skype users from a computer, smartphone or a connected TV.
But the LG service breaks the functionality out of the Apple (News - Alert) walled garden approach, and unlike Skype, opens up mobile access beyond the phone.
But here’s the kicker: crucially, the service allows users to make voice calls to any mobile or landline phone number as part of the same app that provides the video calling. Users are therefore issued a telephone number meant to take the place of a landline phone.
LG U+ said it expects the main source of revenue will be video calls, and audio calls between Galaxy Player and mobile and landline phones. Voice calls between Galaxy Players are free.
LG U+, which serves 2.9 million customers, including landline and triple-play customers, expects to soon have 500,000 subscribers using the new service.
“The well-timed launch of this new service will help LG U+ bring in new subscribers and avoid loss of revenue resulting from subscribers switching to OTT providers like Skype and Google (News - Alert),” said Alex Kravchenko, vice president of voice and video over IP engine provider SPIRIT DSP. The service uses the TeamSpirit Voice & Video Engine Mobile to HD video quality.
LG U+ already uses SPIRIT's TeamSpirit Voice&Video Engine to provide HD voice and video communication in its U+070 Mobile service. Tara Seals has over thirteen years of experience as a journalist. Her areas of expertise cover the waterfront of the service provider segment, especially mobile networks, devices and applications; and video infrastructure, content and broadcast models.


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In conjunction with the launch of the Saudi-Thai Business Forum on Wednesday in Bangkok, businessmen in the two countries underlined the need to accelerate the pace of investment relations and increase trade exchange.
The Chamber organized the event in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Don Pramudwinai to discuss means of developing bilateral trade and investment relationship and enrich trade exchange.
Member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Commercial Committee Karim Al-Enezi stressed the Chamber’s keenness for the forum's outcome to enhance and support the Saudi-Thai investment relationship and increase trade exchange between the two countries.
For his part, Jurin Laksanawisit, Minister of Commerce of Thailand, said that the Saudi Business Forum was a strong start to support the growth of trade between the two countries and achieve the desired goal.
On Saturday, a delegation from the Chamber of Commerce in Riyadh, comprising about 100 businessmen, left for Thailand on a five-day working visit aimed at revitalizing joint trade, economic and investment cooperation between the Saudi and Thai business sectors.
Ajlan Al-Ajlan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Riyadh, said that Saudi Arabia was witnessing unprecedented economic and development growth through Vision 2030, under the directives of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Crown Prince.
He pointed to wide opportunities for partnership with Thailand in many commercial, industrial, technical, service, tourism and agricultural fields.
The value of Saudi exports to Thailand last year amounted to $3.8 billion, compared to about $3.2 billion in 2020, while Thailand’s imports to Saudi Arabia in 2021 reached about $1.9 billion, compared to $2.3 billion in the previous year.
The Kingdom’s exports to Thailand in 2020 included metal products, organic chemicals, fertilizers, aluminum and plastics, while Saudi imports from Thailand included cars and auto parts, machinery, wood charcoal, fish preparations, appliances and electrical equipment.


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Big-name tech companies such as Meta, Microsoft, and Epic Games have formed a standards organization called the Metaverse Standards Forum (MSF). This is meant to be a group that creates open standards for all things metaverse, including virtual reality, augmented reality, and 3D technology.
Over 30 companies have signed on, some of which are deep in metaverse technology like Meta itself. Others include Nvidia, Unity (the creators of the popular game engine), Qualcomm, Sony, and even the web standards organization itself — the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3).
According to the official press release:
“The Forum will explore where the lack of interoperability is holding back metaverse deployment and how the work of Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs) defining and evolving needed standards may be coordinated and accelerated. Open to any organization at no cost, the Forum will focus on pragmatic, action-based projects such as implementation prototyping, hackathons, plugfests, and open-source tooling to accelerate the testing and adoption of metaverse standards, while also developing consistent terminology and deployment guidelines.”
This seems to imply that many of the future technologies created for the metaverse will include some level of interoperability between companies. That doesn’t mean the metaverse will be the Internet 2.0, but it may allow users to use certain profiles or data across metaverse platforms. In fact, this is directly stated in the press release:
“The metaverse will bring together diverse technologies, requiring a constellation of interoperability standards, created and maintained by many standards organizations,” said Neil Trevett, Khronos president. “The Metaverse Standards Forum is a unique venue for coordination between standards organizations and industry, with a mission to foster the pragmatic and timely standardization that will be essential to an open and inclusive metaverse.”
Besides the W3, other standards organizations have also joined the Forum, such as the Open AR Cloud, Spatial Web Foundation, and the Open Geospatial Consortium. This gives a lot of weight and much needed legitimacy to the organization, as the metaverse is very much a burgeoning field of technology.
Interestingly, major VR/AR players are conspicuously missing at the moment. Apple, who has already invested much in AR technology and is planning its own headset, has not yet joined the MSF. Niantic, maker of popular AR game Pokemon Go, is also missing from the roster. Protocol also points out that the Roblox Corporation, maker of the wildly successful Roblox game, has also declined to join for now.
While not considered a “metaverse” in the popular usage, Roblox in particular has been able to create an immersive 3D world where people can create entire games within it.
The exclusion of Apple, Niantic, and Roblox isn’t a forgone conclusion, however, as the MSF has just begun. The good thing is that most of the major players in the metaverse tech are agreeing to create some kind of unified standard to make development much easier. The press release named several important technology fields, including avatars, privacy and identity management, and financial transactions.
The Metaverse Standards Forum is scheduled to begin meeting next month.


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According to a new report quoting Google’s head of Android security, David Kleidermacher, the company could soon require OEM partners to roll out regular security patches.
The Google executive was giving a speech during the Google I/O developer conference this week when he revealed that:
“We’ve also worked on building security patching into out our OEM agreement. Now this will really lead to a massive increase in the number of devices and users receiving regular security patches.”
In order to keep devices as safe as possible, Google has been releasing monthly security patches for Android ever since 2015. But under this new agreement, OEMs should also start rolling out available new updates as soon as possible. At the moment this is not a requirement and sometimes these patches take weeks or even more to arrive.
More info on the new OEM agreement should be revealed soon
Google is more than justified to want to take action in this direction. A recently published two-year-long study by Security Research Labs found that many Android phone makers were far behind with security updates. Even worse, some were apparently lying about the latest security updates applied on their phones.
The results are undoubtedly a cause for concern. But hopefully, Google’s new OEM agreement will be a move in the right direction.
Yet many details about the upcoming program remain unknown at the moment. We are only left to speculate how often will updating be required. Or to wonder about how Google will be able to verify that an OEM is providing regular updates.
Whatever the agreement ends up looking like, one thing is certain. Google is keen to improve the Android update situation. And not only while security patches are concerned. Google has also made it easier for smartphone manufacturers to work on updates for their Android devices, thanks to the architectural changes implemented with Project Treble.


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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – It’s one of the biggest shopping days of the year, but despite doorbusters and steep discounts, the holiday deals weren’t enough to bring in large crowds this black friday. While some shoppers are grateful for the lack of crowds… others say the shopping frenzy they once felt many years ago hasn’t returned since the height of the pandemic.
“We got up early but the crowds are a lot less than they used to be,” said shopper Audrey Gates. “I went before the pandemic, so in comparison to that it’s like, I think it’s a little bit lower key,”added Charlotte Gates. Despite the deals across big box stores, some shoppers say this holiday season they are holding out on the shopping experience, giving big box stores a run for their money.
However, some shoppers looking to get their hands on the best deals say they strategized their Black Friday experience… some waking up before sunrise to beat the crowds, but to their surprise the crowds weren’t there. “Honestly, it’s not that bad right now, it’s not crazy, it’s pretty chill. Just came to get a T.V. it was half price off it was $270 it was worth like $500,” said shopper, Oscar Huerta.
Other shoppers eager to pull out their wallets this black Friday say the competitive prices this season has changed the experience. “I think there are a lot more deals online and the discounts that exist are lower than they used to be,” added Audrey Gates. “It’s definitely different, I think prices are a lot more expensive and you have to be a little bit more careful with what we are buying, but we make the best of it,” added Stephanie Jaramillo.
With rising costs, some shoppers say they are seeing the impact. “It’s definitely been hard for everyone, especially for the job situation and everything but I feel like it’s gotten better,” said Jacqueline Herrera. Despite the lackluster of crowds this shopping season, some shoppers say they’re out for the experience. “This is just great coming out and watching everybody else do all of their Christmas shopping,it’s great.”
With an anticipation of more shoppers during the holidays, the Bernalillo County’s Sheriff’s Office says they will have an increase in patrols to recruitment as well as to help keep a watchful eye at Coronado Center this holiday season.


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It was two years ago when Donna Waterman opened up "Just Makes Scents."
And as a local business owner, she wouldn't have it any other way.
"It's nice to be able to walk into a local business and say, hey, I know that person by name or by first name," said Waterman.
Rod Wilson, the owner of gocal.co says during this time of year, shopping at locally own businesses is a great way to keep money circulating here at home.
"If we can just shift 10% of our holiday spending or year-round spending to locals, we can make a significant impact," said Wilson.
Donna Waterman says it's important to her and other local businesses that shoppers know just exactly where their money is going.
"They're actually putting their money right back into local sources. Most local businesses have owners that are living in the actual community," she said.
Elaine O'Connor prefers shopping locally for the experience.
"You get more one on one attention in a specialty store then you do at any of the other chain stores," said O'Connor.
"A local owner is going to go out of their way to please their customers because their reputation is based on how they treat customers,"
"I know them by name, I know who they are so they're going to come back to me instead of going to a big box or franchise where next, no. You don't say next. You say Don, how are you, welcome back," said The Candy Corner Owner, Richard Orilio.


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Then answer a collection of frequently asked questions. The company has announced that it is busy investigating the environmental impact of NFTs. I admit that this should have been done before MeUndies embarked on an initiative.
For the past year Many brands are flocking to virtual NFT media It quickly became popular and had the potential to make big bucks quickly. but, Negative eco-impact Sustainability is a controversial area for areas that can damage a brand’s reputation, as the proportion of blockchain assets is more apparent.
From artwork to Web3 and virtual assets real estate As it grows in popularity, it becomes important to understand the purpose of the space in which the brand lives. Why is MeUndies embarking on an NFT partnership with the boring Ape Yacht Club? “These prints are very popular,” says Bored ApeYacht Club, who was able to license a piece that could be used both virtually and in branded pants.
“I’m not going to make excuses, I just didn’t do the work necessary to make such an influential decision,” the statement said. “That’s not an acceptable reason, but above all, we want to be transparent to the community.”
MeUndies said it would sell NFTs and contribute all of its revenue to “our environmental efforts”, but the brand does not proceed with planned underwear printing. Reddit posts hold 95% of the votes.


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For the past year, small jars of cannabis flowers have been flying off the shelves of Italian specialty shops: a phenomenon that’s described as a “green gold rush”.
The hemp flowers – with names like K8, Chill Haus, Cannabismile White Pablo and Marley CBD – are sold under the tag “cannabis light” because their level of the psychoactive compound that makes people high is a tiny fraction of that typically found in cultivated marijuana.
But there’s a catch. The aromatic hemp flowers must not be smoked or eaten. Seeds, should there be any, must not be cultivated. As the jars’ labels sternly specify, the products are for “technical use” only and “not for human consumption”. Instead, they are sold – as countless salesclerks will explain with a nudge-nudge, wink-wink smile – as “collectors’ items”.
Such is the current, perplexing status of legal cannabis in Italy.
Italy’s cannabis mania, as it has been called, exploded after a December 2016 law regulating hemp production went into effect, a series of norms meant to help revive a crop that was once widely cultivated in the country. In the 1940s, Italy was said to be the world’s second-biggest producer of industrial cannabis, after the Soviet Union. (Statistics for China, also a major producer, do not exist.)
The law was created for farmers growing industrial hemp, which has commercial uses like food, fabrics, clothing, biofuel, construction material and animal feed, but has minute levels of a psychoactive compound. But it did not regulate the use of cannabis flowers, also known as buds, and an entire economy emerged from the legislative void.
In the past year, companies packaging cannabis light have blossomed, dozens of shops selling cannabis products have opened, franchising brands have taken off, and many farmers have rotated fields to produce one of the 64 varieties of industrial hemp certified by the European Union.
Farmers’ associations see widescale hemp production as one solution to Italy’s agricultural slump.
“We created an awesome phenomenon,” said Luca Marola, who is widely credited with kickstarting the boom in cannabis light, thanks in part to extensive media coverage of his company, Easyjoint Project. As of February, he said, he had sold 17,000kg (over 37,000lb) of flowers – a project that Marola, a longtime activist for marijuana legalisation, calls a “form of civil disobedience”.
In the past century, marijuana and cannabis became associated with the word drug, effectively wiping out generations of tradition, said Gennaro Maulucci, the main organiser of a hemp-based trade fair in Rome. “We want to dismantle that defamatory reputation,” he said.
“It’s a new economy, it feels like Silicon Valley,” he added during the fair, Canapa Mundi, which drew more than 30,000 visitors over three days in February. And in this process, he said, “even cannabis light can contribute to the normalisation of cannabis”.
The level of tetrahydrocannabinol – or THC, the compound that makes people high – is less than 0.2 per cent in cannabis light, a small fraction of the 15-25 per cent or more that is typically found in cultivated strains of marijuana, whose street-level quality can be significantly lower in Italy. It has varying levels of cannabidiol, or CBD, which proponents say has analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties, without the psychoactive effects.
Some aficionados working for marijuana-promoting magazines have described the effects of cannabis light as a taking-the-edge-off kind of buzz, without actually getting stoned.
Easyjoint’s website specifies that its products must not be burned or eaten, and that they are not medicinal. But in an interview, Marola said cannabis light had properties that could be effective in various instances.
“Fortunately, more people suffer from insomnia and panic attacks” than Lou Gehrig’s disease, for which medical marijuana is often prescribed, he said, adding that medical marijuana should be reserved “for those who really need a product with high THC content”.
The scientific community is still out about the medical properties of cannabis light. Medical marijuana, on the other hand, has been increasingly popular in Italy since it was approved in 2006, and demand now greatly dwarfs supply.
Thousands of Italians use medical cannabis to assuage the symptoms of issues like post-chemotherapy nausea, muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, anorexia and anxiety, even if many doctors hesitate to propose the treatment out of concern for potential legal liabilities.
Annual consumption of legal medical cannabis grew from 40kg in 2013 to nearly 10 times that in 2017, “and we still haven’t reached a plateau”, said Colonel Antonio Medica, the officer in charge of the Military Chemical Pharmaceutical Plant in Florence. That army-run plant is the only Italian agency to produce medical cannabis, and its first crop was distributed in 2017.
But as it cannot keep up with demand, the government also imports from Holland and, as of January, from Canada.
Medica said he thought demand could further quadruple. “Doctors have begun to see the importance of medical cannabis,” he said.
In September, pharmacies throughout Italy ran out of medical marijuana, prompting many patients with prescriptions to turn to the black market.
“The state isn’t respecting its own laws,” said Carlo Monaco, an owner of Rome’s Canapa Caffe, the only Italian locale for patients being treated with medical marijuana. “The people who are paying the consequences are disabled people, people with problems, who are unlikely to react because they are in difficult conditions,” he said.
While anyone can drink hemp tea or eat hemp-based food (when it’s available) at the cafe – whose legal status is also unclear – patients with a prescription can consume their own cannabis in a comfortable therapy room.
The cafe was created so that people didn’t have to medicate alone at home. “The problem is that the mentality is closed in Italy, and if you speak of cannabis as a cure, you’re seen as a druggie,” said Luigi Mantuano, the other owner of the cafe, which sells its own version of cannabis light. “We didn’t want people to close themselves off.”
Though medical and light cannabis are legal, several cannabis users shared stories of being detained when found with the flowers.
“If you’re stopped by the police after buying medical cannabis, you have to be lucky enough that the officers have read the law and don’t confuse it as a drug – otherwise it’s probable that you’ll spend the night in prison,” said Andreana Sirhan, a Rome pharmacist who sells medical marijuana.
The popularity of cannabis light has given fresh energy to marijuana legalisation campaigns that have been simmering since the 1970s. A group of lawmakers from several political parties proposed a bill during the legislative session that ended last month, though it did not make its way through parliament.
There is no guarantee that the nebulous legal status of cannabis light will survive the legislative appetite of incoming lawmakers. The two parties most likely to govern Italy for the next five years, perhaps together, have differing views on marijuana use: the Five Star Movement is open to legalisation, the far-right League party is against it.
A spokesman for the association that represents licensed tobacco vendors noted that a ministerial decision was pending on whether cannabis light would be recognised as a tobacco substitute and be subject to taxes. That would mean cannabis light could be sold only through licensed tobacco vendors.
In December, Paolo Molinari transformed his downtown Rome bar into a wannabe Dutch coffee shop (though no smoking was allowed), and began marketing his brand of cannabis light: Erba di Roma (Rome weed), which he said was popular with tourists.
He said he was concerned that the Italian cannabis light bubble could burst, but he was heartened by the growing number of states that have legalised marijuana in the United States.
“Legalisation there has created jobs, reduced criminality and the contraband of poor-quality marijuana, and it’s a big tax boon for governments,” Molinari said. “Why remove a substance that creates income for the state?”
Besides, he added, “people will use it anyway”.
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Malbec's stunning popularity continues with several new articles. One in the Global post talks about vineyard ownership in Mendoza as well as The Vines of Mendoza's Private Vineyard Estate project. It also mentions one of The Vines' good friend Frank Ansel, new on the expat scene in Buenos Aires.Click here for the full article
Argentina is the worldâ€™s fifth-largest wine producer, and the popularity of its wines has soared in recent years, thanks largely to increased exports of Malbec. The rich, earthy red has become Argentinaâ€™s signature grape, and most experts agree that the best Malbecs in the world are produced here, below the towering white-tipped peaks of the Andes Mountains, where the soil is ripe, the water is clean and the sun is strong.
â€œArgentina really found its identity with the Malbec,â€ said Andreas Larsson, who in 2007 won the title of Best Sommelier in the World. â€œThe last 10 years has been quite a revolution in regards to better quality wine. Argentinaâ€™s challenge now is to find a personality, and evoke the elegance and layers of its wines,â€ he said.
While some, like Ansel, are taking a do-it-yourself approach to boutique winemaking, there is also a growing number of companies in Argentina that offer hands-on help to wannabe winemakers.
In 2006, Michael Evans, a former tech executive from Washington D.C., and his Argentine business partner, Pablo Gimenez Riili, purchased 650 acres of land in the Uco Valley. They've since sold small parcels to more than 50 owners from around the globe, including celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck, who plans to sell his Argentine wine at his restaurants in the United States.
Their project, which they call the Private Vineyard Estates, is run under the direction of renowned Argentine winemaker Santiago Achaval, whose Achaval Ferrer wines are among the most highly decorated of all Argentine wines.


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Data analytics firm Alteryx (NYSE: AYX) reported a profit of 0.64 cents per share for the fourth quarter of 2019, compared to 32 cents per share it reported last year. Meanwhile, revenues of $ 156.5 million were 75% higher year-over-year. The results were stronger than what the street anticipated.
The results also came above the targets set by the firm during the previous earnings announcement. The Irvine, California-based company had last quarter projected Q4 earnings of 27-30 cents per share on revenues of $128-131 million.
AYX shares gained 3.2% immediately following the announcement. The stock, which has gained 39% since the beginning of this year, has soared over 9 times since its IPO three years ago.
Historically, Alteryx is often seen giving conservative guidance, which it beats handsomely when the announcement is made.
CFO Kevin Rubin has earlier told AlphaStreet that EPS is not the primary focus from an investor perspective, adding that shareholders understand the enormous opportunities in the global data analytics industry.
Alteryx operates in a high-growth data analytics industry and offers unique products that are accessible to both professionals and non-coders as well. It’s growth has been driven by a robust growth in customer base and an envious reach into the Global 2000. Alteryx ended the quarter with 6,087 customers, a 30% increase from the fourth quarter of 2018, reflecting net new addition of 474 customers.
Three-fourth of Alteryx’s revenues come from the US. In an attempt to boost its presence in APAC, the company is set to host a data analytics event later this month in Sydney. The management is likely to provide more details about this during the post-earnings conference call.
Snap-on Incorporated (NYSE: SNA), the century-old company that makes high-end tools for the automotive industry, is unlikely to have a smooth ride in the current quarter, given the deepening turmoil
BlackBerry (BB) Q4 2020 earnings call highlights; blames COVID-19 for not providing fiscal 2021 outlook
Immediately after BlackBerry's (NYSE: BB) fourth-quarter 2020 results came out last evening, its stock traded in the green for quite some time in the after-hours. However, when the company announced
Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX) has dropped its takeover bid for HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) citing difficulties created by the coronavirus outbreak. This could be a relief for HP since the


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Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Debuts at Historic Daytona 200
NEW YORK, NY – December 18, 2008 – Aprilia USA, the North American importer
and distributor of Aprilia sport bikes, announces the debut of an all-new
factory-sponsored road racing team in the new 2009 AMA Daytona SportBike
class, part of the 2009 AMA Superbike Championship series. The Factory
Aprilia Millennium Technologies team will be managed exclusively by KWS
Motorsports and will compete on the Aprilia RSV 1000R. The 12-race Daytona
SportBike class premieres at the historic, first-ever night-time running of
the Daytona 200 at Daytona International Speedway, March 6.
With the debut of Italy’s Max Biaggi and Shinya Nakano onboard Aprilia’s
much anticipated new RSV4 superbike in the 2009 World Superbike series,
Aprilia USA is considering its rookie season on the Daytona SportBike
circuit as an important American circuit test bed for 2010.
“With a new team structure, new riders and the new RSV4 en route for 2010,
a season’s worth of preparation with KWS and real-world racing experience
for Aprilia USA at this level has tremendous benefits,” said Rick
Panettieri, brand manager, Aprilia USA. “The current-model RSV has long
been respected for its race-bred DNA and its precise and predictable
handling under even the most aggressive riding conditions, which has made it
a favorite among track day enthusiasts. We chose KWS Motorsports as a racing
partner for their expertise in creating top-performing race and production
bikes. This will ensure that the RSV is tuned to give the competition a real
Designed to promote close racing action, the new Daytona SportBike series
features a variety of high-performance motorcycles, with four-cylinder,
triple-cylinder and twin-cylinder engines.
Ben Thompson will be returning to the KWS team as the primary rider as well
as 2008 KWS crew chief Michael Godin. Thompson, who previously rode on
Aprilia’s Moto-ST team at Daytona Motor Speedway, will be teamed with
another, yet to be announced second rider. Factory Aprilia Millennium
Technologies team manager, Chip Spalding, is currently in discussions with
both riders and sponsors and can be contacted for additional information at
the company’s headquarters at firstname.lastname@example.org.
“After several successful seasons in AMA Superbike and Superstock,
launching a factory Daytona SportBike program for Aprilia is a real thrill,”
said Spalding. “Daytona under the lights is the perfect way to start what
we know will be a memorable series.”
“We are very proud to partner with Aprilia USA and are extremely excited to
have the RSV in our race shop,” said team owner Kevin Hunt. “Great racing in
this series starts with a strong production sport bike and the RSV
definitely exceeds that criteria.” The team will also be supported by long
time KWS sponsor Millennium Technologies, the world renowned leader in the
field of cylinder repair and replating.
About Aprilia and Piaggio Group Americas
Aprilia world headquarters are in Noale (Venice, Italy). Founded in 1962,
the company designs and manufactures motorcycles in Noale, with production
facilities in Scorzè. With 38 motorcycling world championship titles (32
road and 6 off-road) under its belt, Aprilia is the only European
manufacturer to have a complete on- and off-road model portfolio, ranging
from sporty scooters, innovative off-road bikes and tough adventure tourers
to award-winning super sport bikes. For information on Aprilia’s complete
U.S. model line, visit the company’s website at http://www.apriliausa.com.
In December 2004 Aprilia became part of the Piaggio Group, Europe’s leading
manufacturer of two wheelers and one of the world’s most recognized and
respected names in motorcycle and scooter production.
With approximately 7,000 employees, approximately 708,500 vehicles sold in
2007, 5 R&D centers, 7 production facilities in Europe and Asia, and
operations in over 50 countries, the Piaggio Group has a consolidated
leadership in the European 2 wheeler market. Its production includes
scooters, motorcycles and mopeds in the 50cc to 1,200 cc displacement range,
marketed under the Piaggio, Vespa, Gilera, Derbi, Aprilia, Scarabeo and Moto
About KWS Motorsports
KWS Motorsports is a full service race shop specializing in high performance
late model fuel-injected sportbikes and sportbike engines. The company’s
mission is to provide customers the most powerful, lightest, and fastest
motorcycles and motorcycle powered vehicles in the world. KWS was founded in
1993 by motorcycle racer Kevin Hunt and is a company run and staffed by
motorcycle racers with over 30 years of racing experience and knowledge.
KWS-built engines have been credited with several world top speed records,
professional road racing championships, club racing championships, and
hundreds of race wins.


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We are proud to share coverage of ARTA and thought leadership pieces in the media this past summer. Below, see our favorite quotes and takeaways from each piece.
Courier Magazine, Managing Customer Satisfaction at ARTA
For both providers and customers, having one centralized platform for booking, payment and management of shipments greatly streamlines their processes and keeps everything organized.
Freightwaves, Platform launched to automate shipping for auction houses and bidders
Automating the quote process will provide bidders with a clear and immediate look at the end-to-end cost of shipping, which in the world of extremely high-value items can be both expensive and complex, as well as a database of providers that can handle the specialized tasks and how they will accomplish it.
supply chain management review, ARTA Extends its Logistics Solution to Support Auction Houses & Aggregators
Leveraging ARTA’s proprietary Instant Quote, which enables buyers and sellers to immediately receive bookable quotes, auction houses can automate the pre-bid quoting process to allow bidders to have full awareness of the end-to-end cost of an item, including complex shipping fees and how and who can manage it.
inbound logistics, Extreme Logistics: Making the Impossible Possible
“We work to find the best solution for every client,” says Adam Fields, ARTA founder and CEO.
transport topics, Dealing With Specialty Goods When Consumers Expect Overnight Delivery
Given the robust demand for purchasing non-conveyable goods online — items such as exercise equipment and designer furniture — there exists for capable logistics providers a significant market opportunity.
site pro news, Shipping and Logistics Trends in the Amazon Economy
The trend we are seeing—one we identified when we launched ARTA almost five years ago—is that shipping and logistics is becoming one of the most important factors for success in the current ecommerce environment.


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PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Levi Strauss confirmed Tuesday it has scaled back orders from the denim company’s supplier factories in Cambodia for this year due to the country’s political instability and its repression of workers’ rights.
The country’s $5 billion apparel industry has been plagued with frequent demonstrations since late last year when workers launched a nationwide strike for a minimum wage raise to $160 a month. On Jan. 3, government security forces opened fire on rioting workers in Phnom Penh, leaving at least five dead and more than 40 people injured. Twenty-three unionists, workers and bystanders were arrested for participating in the demonstrations and charged with causing violence and destruction of property.
The crackdown has been a major cause of concern for international unions and major clothing brands — such as Levi’s, Gap, H&M and Puma — and high-level meetings between all parties were convened in February soon after the shooting, and again on Monday. A representative for IndustriALL Global Union said after Monday’s meeting that one of the brands had reduced their sourcing by 50 percent due to these issues, though he declined to name it. RELATED STORY: Brands, Unions Urge for Stability in Cambodia's Industry >>
Levi Strauss & Co. confirmed Tuesday it had cut back production from its suppliers to “reduce supply-chain risk and ensure delivery,” adding that political stability and respect for human and worker rights are “essential” for the company.
“Continued repression of workers and human rights in Cambodia is a serious concern for us,” a Levi’s spokesperson said via e-mail, which did not specify how much the reduction in exports is worth in value terms.
“[W]e share the Cambodian government’s interest in a peaceful, constructive way forward on the issues at the root of current labor unrest,” Levi’s said. “We hope to see swift progress on the outstanding labor and human rights concerns so our sourcing can return to previous levels.”
Since the Jan. 3 shooting, labor activists have said trade-union rights and freedom of association are being threatened, referring to the authorities’ frequent arrests and detention of workers and union members participating in demonstrations.
On Sunday, eight members of the independent Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers’ Democratic Union were charged with incitement for taking part in a garment factory strike in southwestern Cambodia. Before that, in early May, six union representatives in Kampong Speu province, which borders Phnom Penh, were arrested for helping workers stage a strike at a shoe factory, and three more were seized a week later. All were charged with incitement.
The government has stated that the armed forces shooting at workers during the Jan. 3 demonstration were maintaining law and order, and no one in the armed forces has been punished or charged.
David Welsh, the Cambodia country director for the Solidarity Center — an international labor rights organization affiliated with AFL-CIO — said this “ongoing assault on trade-union workers’ rights” is having a direct commercial impact on the country’s apparel industry.
“If this continues, it’s going to result in a pullout and it would show the government that [the brands] are serious about withholding orders,” Welsh said. “At this stage, to get the government and industry’s attention — and to focus on changing behaviors — are things that have commercial impact.”
The impact has yet to be seen in export data, however. For the year ending March 31, apparel and textile imports to the U.S. from Cambodia were up 0.8 percent to 1.1 billion square meter equivalents, valued at $2.6 billion.
Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, said Levi’s decision to reduce sourcing is their choice.
“That is their prerogative. Whatever their reason, they don’t have to explain their stance to us,” Loo said, declining to comment further.
The verdict for the 23 men arrested on Jan. 2 and 3 for participating in the demonstrations will be delivered Friday by the municipal court, said Ny Chakrya, chief investigator for local rights group Adhoc, which has been closely monitoring the trials.
My character, Dinah Madani, is just the coolest, [most] badass woman imaginable," says @amberroserevah. The actress stars in @marvel's newest series on @netflix, @thepunisher. To prepare for her role, Revah sat down with Homeland agents to get a real sense of with Dinah's day-to-day life is really like. Read our full interview on WWD.com. #wwdeye (📷: @jilliansollazzo)
A scene from the 91st annual @macys Thanksgiving Day Parade. The parade, which boasts 50 million TV viewers and 3.5 million on-site spectators, is considered one of the largest and most watched parades in the world. (📷: Jason Szenes/EPA-REX)
The circus came to @bloomingdales 59th Street on Tuesday night and lit up Lexington Avenue with acrobatic dancers, death-defying knife throwing, sword swallowing and aerial acts with no net. The 45 minutes of theatrics built up to unveiling the holiday windows depicting @swarovski crystal-encrusted circus pieces and scenes from “The Greatest Showman” – songs from the soundtrack included. See the rest of the photos on WWD.com #wwdfashion (📷: Joshua Scott)
The psychedelic fashion that pervaded the ’60s is back with an exhibit at the @museumofcityny. “Mode New York: Fashion Takes a Trip” chronicles the changing styles from 1960 through 1973 and features designers such as @ysl, @oscardelarenta and more. The exhibition, which is on display through April 1, is organized into four periods: First Lady Fasion, Youthquake, New Bohemia and New Nonchalance. Pictured here is model Pat Bardonella during the Garvey Day Parade in 1968. (📷: @kwamebphoto) #wwdeye #wwdfashion
“People should be a lot more honest in expressing both the dark and light of themselves. We need to give each other the space to do that because it’s the only way we can grow and evolve,” says @noelwells of her new film “Mr. Roosevelt,” which is largely based on her own struggles. Unexpectedly leaving @nbcsnl in 2014 after just one season, Wells felt set back in her self-esteem and career trajectory. She quickly refocused her energy to more personal projects, which led to the completion of “Mr. Roosevelt.” Read the rest of WWD’s interview with the “Master of None” actress on WWD.com #wwdeye (📷: @jilliansollazzo)
@barbrastreisand is giving fans a chance to see her perform up close in a new concert series, which makes its debut on @Netflix today. From behind-the-scenes takes to her concert performance in Miami last December, the two-hour streaming special captures Streisand in her element. Pictured here is the singer/actress photographed for WWD in 1963. (📷: Palmieri Tony) #wwdeye #wwdarchive
@chanel and @pharrell dropped what’s being dubbed as the world’s most exclusive sneakers yesterday. The Adidas Originals NMD Hu, which Williams designed in collaboration with Chanel and @adidasoriginals, has a waiting list of over 120K people who pre-registered online at chanelatcolette.fr –– and only 500 pairs are on sale. The singer predicted the resale value of the shoes could reach $40K. Read the full interview on WWD.com. Link in bio. #wwdfashion (📷: Dominique Maître)
@imanshumpert is diving deeper into his creative endeavors and relaunching his clothing line, Post 90s, and is helping to raise money for the hurricane victims in St. Maarten with a jersey he’s designed with his brother. The Cleveland Cavaliers player talked to WWD about kneeling during the national anthem, working with fashion brands and how he wants to be more than an @nba player. Read the interview on WWD.com #wwdfashion (📷: George Chinese)


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Not one to leave a sinking ship, Research in Motion has just pumped out three new versions of its entry-level Blackberry Curve device.
The Curve 9350, 9360, and 9370 are all virtually identical, but they each have different specifications to run on various mobile networks around the world.
The new Blackberries all have a 2.44-inch display, a 480×360 resolution, an 800 MHz processor, a 5-megapixel camera, and 512 MB of internal storage. The 9370 is slightly more powerful with 1 GB of storage.
Additionally, the new Curve models are powered by Blackberry OS 7, the newest version of RIM’s smartphone software which unfortunately didn’t exactly garner a lot of positive reviews.
Nevertheless, the Curve does have full access to Microsoft Office files with Documents To Go Premium pre-installed. It also has Blackberry Messenger, which many loyal Blackberry fans still use.
Perhaps most intriguing is its support for NFC technology, which means the phone will be able to be used as a contactless payment option – users can tap the phone at a store’s credit card terminal instead of swiping a physical credit card.
Nevertheless, it won’t be until next year when RIM starts offering QNX-powered Blackberries that interest in the fledgling phone brand even has the possibility to be reignited.
The new Curves will be available in Canada later this month and then rolled out to other parts of the world shortly thereafter.


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Alkemy X owner, President and CEO Justin B. Wineburgh is among 25 finalists—selected from a field of hundreds of nominees—for the Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2019 Award in Greater Philadelphia.
Adam Maruszan has joined the creative team at Alkemy X as Art Director and Senior Motion Graphics Designer. A 10-year industry veteran, Maruszan will design and create graphics for a variety of content including TV spots, branded content, digital media, original programming.
Alkemy X has signed Emmy® Award-winning Director/Creative Director Anthony Furlong as his exclusive representative for advertising, branded content and related projects.
Attracting an overflow crowd of notables from across the entertainment industry and corporate world, Alkemy X held its annual Sundance Film Festival party on January 26th at The Cabin in Park City, Utah.
Alkemy X has added veteran producer and development executive, Glen Freyer, as Senior Vice President TV & Digital Content to its ever-growing creative team.
At NATPE Miami, Alkemy X Executive Vice President of Television and Digital Content Andy Singer will lead a panel discussion on how forward-thinking brands are finding creative, new ways to connect with consumers by developing compelling content.


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Retrevo Gadgetology report has revealed some Black Friday shopping trends. The study surveyed 1100 shoppers about their Black Friday shopping plans. While 40% said they were going to buy electronics on Black Friday, over half said they planned to do so online. Only 18% said they would be going to stores like Best Buy and Radio Shack... Click Here to read more.
November 23, 2009


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Novartis shipping 30 million doses of influenza vaccine well ahead of 2014-2015 season
Impax Labs acquires two generic products from Actavis
American Heart Association recognizes Kinney Drugs as top regional fundraiser
GOUVERNEUR, N.Y. — Kinney Drugs, which operates 100 drug stores in Central and Northern New York and Vermont, was recently recognized by the American Heart Association as the top fundraiser in its region as it presented the organization with a $17,420 check in support of the “Go Red for Women” movement.
The money raised is the result of an effort coordinated by Kinney Drugs during its month-long heart health initiative hosted at each of its 100 locations.
The company raised more than $10,000 by asking customers to make a donation in exchange for a red dress pin, the symbol of the “Go Red for Women” movement. Kinney Drugs also collected funds through several additional efforts, including vendor contributions, a chocolate bar sale and an employee fundraiser.
“This initiative was created not only to raise awareness about heart disease, but to take action against this silent killer,” said Jim Spencer, president of Kinney Drugs stores. “Our success is owed to the thousands of customers and employees who came together to support heart health in our communities.”
"We are steadfast supporters of the American Heart Association and Go Red for Women,” stated Bridget-Ann Hart, president and CEO of KPH Healthcare Services and member of the 2014 American Heart Association Go Red for Women leadership team. “As a pharmacy healthcare company, we are proud to promote heart health among our patients.”
The company’s initiative was developed with the American Heart Association to build awareness about the dangers of heart disease, provide resources for employees and customers to improve their heart health and help raise money for the “Go Red for Women” movement. The money raised will be used by the American Heart Association to support communities throughout New York and Vermont that are served by Kinney Drugs.


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Everything Amazon does has an impact and, by leading a $575 million (€515m) funding round for the food delivery company Deliveroo, it hurt shares in the latter's rivals. The deal gives Amazon a stake in both delivery and preparation through "dark kitchens" in which some Deliveroo meals are made.
It is an arresting move – who knew that a company that started by selling books online would end up as the part owner of kitchens? – but it is characteristic of Amazon’s roaming instinct. It has moved from online retailing to running warehouses, publishing books, and making films and television shows for its Prime streaming service.
More surprising is the degree to which other technology groups are following Amazon in becoming vertically integrated. Instead of sticking to the business of running platforms, they are creating their own content and buying assets to bolster themselves.
Netflix is close to a 10-year deal with Pinewood to lease studio facilities in the UK, while WeWork is raising $2.9 billion for a property fund to buy offices that it will lease. Apple is spending hundreds of millions on video game development for its Arcade service, pushing Microsoft and Sony to form a tentative alliance to defend their games franchises.
Integration is also developing in the other direction, with brands trying to find a path to sell directly to consumers, rather than through retailers. Edgewell Personal Care, owner of the Wilkinson Sword and Schick men’s razor brands, this month acquired Harry’s, the razor subscription business, for $1.4 billion. Investors took fright and Edgewell shares dropped to a 10-year low.
A sudden move to integrate by buying a supplier or distributor suggests vulnerability. Why take the risk of doing it unless you fear being shut out? Controlling the supply chain from parts to production, marketing and distribution secures autonomy. But it also requires capital investment and is a challenge for any company to manage.
So far, technology companies have not been punished by shareholders for pursuing integration. Amazon is trusted to handle acquisitions, such as that of Whole Foods, the US supermarket chain, and Netflix’s huge investment in original production has not alienated investors. Their critics instead wonder whether they are acquiring too much power over markets.
Lina Khan, a fellow at Columbia Law School, has attacked Amazon for exploiting the gaps in US competition law, arguing that it has "marched toward monopoly by singing the tune of contemporary antitrust". Khan singles out its vertical integration, which is treated leniently by US authorities.
Amazon has expanded across its supply chain, into retailing and other services, and controls production and distribution assets, now including a stake in Deliveroo. This enables it to offer its own goods and services to Prime subscribers, as well as boosting its bargaining strength with other suppliers.
This contrasts with the original approach of platforms such as Google and Facebook, which focused on building networks while relying on others for content. Uber and Lyft have a similar strategy – creating ride services by linking drivers to customers, rather than by owning and operating taxis.
But as platforms mature, vertical integration is growing. The meal delivery industry is one example, moving from a traditional platform approach to one in which companies such as Deliveroo and UberEats run kitchens. Deliveroo is a pioneer with its Editions kitchen hubs, where meals are prepared by restaurants and caterers.
The threat is that someone else builds such facilities, limiting the power of any platform: Travis Kalanick, Uber's co-founder, last year acquired a $150 million controlling stake in the parent of CloudKitchens, which does so. Restaurants at its facilities in Los Angeles cook meals that are delivered by platforms including Uber Eats and GrubHub.
A similar battle is occurring in video games, with both Apple and Google setting up new streaming services. The ideal for these companies would be to have games developers flock to their platforms and pay them fees, but competition is such that they cannot rely on that. Apple is taking the same path as Netflix – investing in production to secure exclusive rights.
This makes technology companies more like media businesses that own distribution and content. Vertical integration was limited in the 1970s and 1980s by rules barring US television networks from controlling too much production but has grown. Mergers such as Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal have been approved by regulators.
The shift to integration by technology companies requires close scrutiny by competition authorities, as Khan suggests. But it is also an expression of weakness. Platforms that used to be able to dictate terms to providers of content and services now feel the need to secure assets, rather than risk being shut out by others.
If so, investors may be treating the land grab across retailing, media and other industries too complacently. They are accustomed to Amazon and others being able to dominate, but this burst of dealmaking tells a story of technology platforms losing control. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2019


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November sales got a small bump from Sandy victims looking to replace water-damaged vehicles or take advantage of lease specials and deferred payments.
Prius faces threat from Ford C-Max.
sales jumped 17.2% in November compared with year-ago, with credit going to incentives offered in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, pent-up demand and other factors.
The auto maker delivered 133,370-brand units in November, followed by Lexus with 22,719 and Scion with 5,606, for a total of 161,695, according to WardsAuto data. There were 25 selling days both last month and in November 2011.
Year-to-date deliveries surged 28.8% over like-2011 to 1.89 million.
Vehicle replacement following Sandy accounted for a small but notable uptick in sales, Bill Fay, Toyota group vice president and general manager, tells reporters during a conference call.
“We estimate about 25,000 vehicles industrywide were replaced. That recovery process will likely carry over for a few months into the first quarter,” he says, estimating that 3,000 of those vehicles were Toyota, Lexus or Scion products.
The Port of Newark in New Jersey was temporarily shuttered in the storm’s aftermath but is now up and running, as are several dealers impacted by the storm. Sales also are getting a boost by some Sandy-affected customers who are eligible for deferred payments and a special lease program, Fay says.
Toyota’s best-selling vehicle in November was the Camry with 24,829 deliveries, followed closely by the Corolla with 22,616, WardsAuto data shows. Sales of hybrid and plug-in hybrids across the auto maker’s lineup totaled 24,650 units, led by the Prius hybrid with 11,615.
Showroom traffic is picking up as consumers look to replace aging vehicles and consider attractive financing options, Fay says, “and we’re starting to see a surge of young buyers come back to the market. That’s happening in part because of these low finance rates.”
Toyota’s “Toyotathon” and Lexus’ “December to Remember” seasonal sales events will result in a strong finish to the year, he predicts. “We’re very optimistic that between Toyotathon and our offers in the marketplace, we will continue the momentum.”
The auto maker does face competition from rivals Nissan,, and Kia, all of whom exceeded sales expectations in November. Toyota’s Prius family may lose some ground to ’s all-new C-Max Hybrid, which posted 4,848 deliveries last month.
Fay, however, is not concerned about the C-Max, as Toyota has focused on educating sales staff about the value of the various Prius powertrains. “The dealers are getting a little bit more comfortable with it, and we’re starting to make some more progress with it,” he says.
Lexus credits nine refreshed models for its 15.0% improvement in year-to-date sales, but admits it had short supply of its revised LS sedan, which had its first full sales month in November.
“We’re still trying to build the stock,” says Tim Morrison, vice president-sales and dealer development. “The volumes aren’t there to the degree we’d like.”


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A DIY kart racer and new volleyball experience are just some of the new VR games on our radar this week!
Every week we get a lot of updates on new VR games at Upload – so much so that we don’t have time to cover them all. This week we talked about news from Elden Ring’s VR mod as well as F1 22 and more, but here are some other titles we didn’t get to take a look at.
RacerMaker VR has a simple but fantastic premise. You get to build race courses Hot Wheels-style, adding in different ramp parts and turns for unique circuits. Once you’re done, you can race the tracks at full scale in a kart-style driving game. Currently the game’s available on App Lab for Quest.
Yet another free update is here for the VR shooter roguelite. This time around we’ve got some tweaks to weapon handling and some major bug fixes. A new level is set to arrive for the next update, which is scheduled to arrive in July.
Due to launch in early access soon, this is an ambitious single-player volleyball experience in which you team up with AI to take on budding rivals. VR could be a pretty natural fit for the sport, so we’ll be interested to see how this one handles, especially if it adds multiplayer support in the future. The full game is due to launch later in the year or early 2023 with multiple environments.


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When your teenager heads to 7-Eleven for a candy bar or soda after school, do you worry? Are you worried that she’s picking up a pack of M&Ms with too much sugar or a soda with too much caffeine? Probably not.
But what if one of those after-school snacks contained something stronger? What if those snacks were made with THC, the active ingredient in marijuana?
Edible Marijuana Candies?
With the legalization of recreational marijuana in Colorado and Washington State—and a total of 33 states that have legalized medical marijuana in recent months—it’s a topic that has moved to the forefront of the drug conversation. For those who don’t want to smoke a joint, there are sweeter options. Ones that resemble baked goods, chocolate bars, hard candies, gummy worms, even soft drinks.
These THC-laced treats are illegal for anyone under the age of 21, but that’s not stopping teenagers from using them. And manufacturers design them to appeal to teenagers. Take Strawberry Cough Crunch, a bright pink strawberry flavored candy bar with 100 mg of THC. Or the glittery Wana Jewels, a package of 20 hard candies with 5 mg of THC a piece. Though the amount of THC in smoked marijuana varies, a typical joint has around 70 mg of THC, according to estimates by Boulder-based Cheeba Chews, which also makes edibles with THC.
Danger: Accidental Consumption
Meanwhile, these products look so much like “regular” snack foods that teenagers and children may not realize what they’re eating. Take the 4:20 Bar, produced by the Venice Cookie Company. It’s a milk chocolate home for 120 mg of THC. Recently, a mother received a phone call from a hospital which admitted her 21-year-old son after he had mistaken the drug-laced snack for a sweet treat. Hospital admissions for unintentional marijuana ingestion are rising for children and adolescents in places like Colorado, according to a recent report in JAMA Pediatrics.
What to Tell Your Teen
What to do? Include THC-laced snacks in the same conversation as drugs and alcohol. Remind your teenager that it’s illegal to use these products until they turn 21 (and then only in states where marijuana is legal). What’s more, just because they’re legal for adults doesn’t mean they’re safe for teenagers, whose brains are still developing. All evidence points to the contrary and even the brightest packaging will not change that fact.


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Netflix saw its U.S. cancellations spike almost eightfold following an online movement to boycott the streaming giant over its controversial film, “Cuties.”
According to data analytics firm YipitData, the surge of cancellations came on the heels of the “Cuties” release.
Variety, citing data from the company, reported that the subscriber cancellations began to rise on Sept. 10 — just a day after the film’s Netflix debut.
That day, #CancelNetflix was Twitter’s top trending hashtag.
Two days later, the cancellation rate “jumped to nearly eight times higher than the average daily levels recorded in August 2020,” Variety reported.- READ MORE
Listen to the insightful Thomas Paine Podcast Below --


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Graduating from HCBC is Rick Reed Productions. Rick Reed had worked for various video production companies before striking out on his own in 2007. Since its founding, Rick Reed Productions has grown its client base to include companies like Kroger, Macy’s, Proctor & Gamble, and Lexis/Nexis. This full service video production company is moving from the HCBC to a new location in Greenhills.
Also graduating is Private Health News. PHN has revolutionized the delivery of health information, providing personalized health news tailored to the interests of each individual subscriber, all branded as the Provider. PHN has grown from three employees to 14 and have seen annual revenues exceed the $1 Million thresh hold.
“These two companies have used HCBC exactly how companies should,” said Patrick Longo, HCBC Director. “These companies are not only able to go out on their own, they are positioned to thrive and experience explosive growth.”
Other companies still part of the HCBC which are being honored include Define Myself; JYS Productions; General Nano; Copper Mountain Beverages; and Production Engineering, Inc.
HCBC Grads Grow
Hamilton County Business Center is a business incubator. As part of the Hamilton County Development Company (HCDC), HCBC provides a facility for new businesses begin. HCBC also provides mentoring, business coaching, and other assistance to companies as they begin.
Even though the economy continues to struggle, HCBC graduates continue to thrive. The 10 companies that have graduated from HCBC in the past three years have created 74 new jobs. Of the 125 total people employed at those 10 companies, the average salary is $52,533. More impressive, total revenue of the past three years’ graduates is more than $22 million.
There currently are 52 ventures in HCBC’s program, 17 of which joined in the past year. Those companies employ nearly 200 people and have created 48 new jobs in the past year. The total payroll of HCBC companies is nearly $10,000,000.