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Kwontified, an ecommerce management and consulting firm that helps brands sell on popular online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay, approached Headstand for help growing its brand recognition and elevating its expertise to help the growing consultancy reach potential new beauty, fashion and retail brand clients.
Our strategy – rooted in an always-on trend-jacking media approach – quickly positioned co-founder and partner Elaine Kwon as an industry expert and Amazon Fashion alum to whom reporters could turn not only for sector-specific analysis, but also high-level insight on issues affecting the global economy. From holiday shopping predictions and supply chain backups to gender-neutral fashion trends and the risks of over-investing in automated ecommerce technologies, Headstand looked far and wide for opportunities to showcase Elaine’s expertise and Kwontified’s capabilities.
And the hits kept coming: In three months, our team secured a steady stream of top-tier and key trade media coverage, including AdAge, Bloomberg, Bloomberg Radio, Cheddar, CNBC, Forbes, Modern Retail and more. We also solidified Elaine’s expert positioning by securing her participation on a panel, organized by the Economist and The Drum, where she spoke about business strategy amid “the new globalization” alongside several Fortune 500 brands.


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23rd Dec 2022
Sweden’s Renewcell has produced a fibre material with the ADuro textile fibre preparation system from Andritz at its new site in Sundsvall, Sweden. Renewcell applies the process to produce pure dissolving pulp from 100 per cent textile waste. The product is finally transformed by Renewcell’s customers into new garments for the circular clothing...
18th Nov 2022
Andritz will be presenting its innovative nonwovens and textile solutions at International Textile Machinery Exhibition (ITME) 2022 in Greater Noida, India, from December 8–13 (hall 12, booth A22). The broad Andritz product portfolio covers state-of-the-art nonwovens and textile production technologies, including air-through bonding, airlay, and...
4th Nov 2022
International technology group Andritz’s order intake amounted to almost €2.7 billion in the third quarter (Q3) of 2022, exceeding €2 billion for the fourth quarter in a row. At €10.8 billion at the end of September 2022, the order backlog reached a new record level. Its revenue reached €1,890.8 million in Q3 2022, well above €1,521.5 million in Q3...
18th Oct 2022
Andritz has received an order from Welspun Advanced Materials to supply a Metris predictive maintenance system for its spunlace production line at the Telangana plant. This will be the first Metris solutions system to be installed in a spunlace line in the country. The maintenance system will enable Welspun to increase its operating efficiency.
23rd Sep 2022
Andritz AG has announced its completion of 170 years as market leader in the hydropower business, the pulp and paper industry, in the metal working and steel industries, and in solid/liquid separation for municipal and industrial segments. Andritz generates 40 per cent of its revenue with sustainable solutions, such as renewable energies and e-mobility.
12th Sep 2022
Andritz has completed the basic engineering for its key process areas for Infinited Fiber Company´s commercial-scale plant in Finland. Infinited Fiber Company is preparing to build the line in Veitsiluoto, Kemi, with a planned regenerated textile fiber production capacity of 30,000 t/a. Andritz is a leader in pulp & paper, metals, hydro, and separation.
12th Aug 2022
The Leipzig-based company emtec Electronic GmbH will present its Tactile Sensation Analyzer (TSA) at the 35th annual Hofer Vliesstofftage from September 20-21, 2022 at the Freiheitshalle in Hof, Germany. Rising energy costs, supply chain disruption, and sustainability concerns are some of the central topics to be discussed at the international event.
2nd Aug 2022
International technology group Andritz has announced that its revenue reached €1,790.1 million in the second quarter (Q2) of 2022, rising by 16.7 per cent compared to the previous year’s reference period (Q2 2021: €1,533.8 million). Revenue in the first half (H1) of 2022 was up 9.6 per cent and amounted to €3,317.0 million, compared to H1 2021.
20th Jul 2022
Reifenhauser Reicofil has delivered two nonwoven lines to Sinaatec Spa, a major player in the Algerian nonwoven industry. The company was established in 2017 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Madar Holding. The two lines, a 3.20 metres-wide single-beam meltblown line and 3.20 metres-wide Composite Bico line, will target the medical and hygiene sectors.

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With medical device companies becoming increasingly frustrated with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, many American companies are looking to Europe to get approval there first. Here are some tips to consider before pursuing the CE Mark.
This week, eMed will be providing coverage of Partnering for Cures, a conference bringing together leaders in biotech research to discuss the healthcare business landscape.
Despite having a great product, your company can suffer from mistakes made during the product launch. Here are five tips on avoiding the mistakes others have made.
At this week's Biotech 2011 conference, speakers from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Merck spoke about how biotech companies can survive in this tough regulatory and economic environment.
Commercializing a medical device that's clinically superior is not enough in today's economic climate. Medical device companies need to market products that have both clinical and economic value, says the CEO of Medtronic.
Going global is on the wish list of many U.S. entrepreneurs, especially given the sour American economy. But how to go about it? One leading venture capitalist offers some clues.
Being in the healthcare business is getting tougher when it comes to bringing innovative products to market. A recent conference included discussions about some of the challenges that medical innovators are facing today.
PPD's new CEO Ray Hill brings global knowledge and experience that will help the CRO succeed in today's healthcare business landscape. Read more on CROs and global entrepreneurship.
Pharmaceutical companies are trying to adapt their marketing to an increasingly digital world. To get a handle on this environment, one company has appointed a digital advisory board of marketers from other industries.
Pharma reps at GSK are selling their products in a new way. The emphasis is more on communicating a drug's benefits and risks than trying to sell as much as possible. Read more about this change in approach to sales.
Want to get connected? Sign up to receive regular news, polls and updates from The Kauffman Foundation.


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As Canadian companies attempt large takeovers in mature markets, winning approval for deals from competition watchdogs is becoming as important as gaining support from investors.
Consider the hoops that Laval, Que.-based Alimentation Couche-Tard just jumped through Monday in announcing the $4.4-billion (U.S.) acquisition of convenience store chain CST Brands. Texas-based CST has extensive Quebec and Ontario operations in cities and towns that Couche-Tard already dominates, along with 2,000 locations in the U.S. Southwest. Rather than risk the wrath of the Competition Bureau by trying to knit together Canadian chains, an exercise that offers mouth-watering synergies, Couche-Tard cut a side deal with Parkland Fuel that will see the Red Deer, Alta.-based upstart snap up CST's Canadian stores for $975-million (Canadian).
The same dynamics drove the structure of BCE's recent $3.9-billion bid for Manitoba Tel. To smooth the approval process with federal regulators, BCE announced it would hand over a third of Manitoba Tel's wireless customers to arch-rival Telus for a yet-to-be-determined price.
George Cope, CEO of BCE, was clearly talking to Ottawa when he said in a news release: "This transaction with Telus enhances wireless competition to the benefit of Manitobans."
While competition issues have always figured prominently in Canadian takeovers, a handful of watershed transactions in recent years showed that deal makers take the regulators for granted at their peril. In 1998, CEOs at Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal acted as if federal approval of their merger was a foregone conclusion when they launched a transaction that would consolidate the domestic market. In 2010, BHP Billiton had the same reckless confidence when it took a run at Potash Corp.
Once the shock of these failed mergers passed, Bay Street's finest changed their tactics and gave competition experts prominent roles in structuring deals. At Couche-Tard, they were taking advice from the lawyer who wrote the rules on Canadian competition law. Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg partner Adam Fanaki is a key member of the team advising on the CST takeover, and his résumé includes a stint at the regulator as the former senior deputy commissioner of the federal Competition Bureau's mergers branch. On Davies's website, the law firm explains that during Mr. Fanaki's time as a civil servant, "Adam held primary responsibility for the review of significant mergers [and] the development of merger policy in Canada." Couche-Tard also looked to U.S. law firm Faegre Baker Daniels for advice on the CST acquisition.
For policy makers in Ottawa, and for investors, seeing Parkland Fuel step up as a buyer of approximately 490 CST stores is a dream comes true, as it preserves competition while creating a strong, publicly traded Canadian retailer.
Parkland was founded in 1977 and has grown through acquisitions in much the same manner as Couche-Tard, snapping up 20 companies in the past 10 years. The prospect of increasing the size of the company by a third, to 1,555 outlets, lit a fire under the stock, with Parkland shares jumping 15 per cent Monday to $29.
Investors and lenders showed that they buy into Parkland's growth strategy by committing the money needed to pay for the CST acquisition now. Parkland raised $200-million on Monday by selling what's known as subscription receipts at $24.50 each – when the CST transaction closes, the receipts can be exchanged for Parkland shares on a one-for-one basis. This was a bought-deal financing, led by TD Securities and National Bank Financial, and it flew out the door. The two investment banks also led a new $545-million credit facility and $300-million bridge loan for Parkland.
Again, this is the dynamic of a mature Canadian market, with relatively few growth companies. As one of the bankers working for Parkland put it Monday, investors look at Couche-Tard and "wish they bought that stock a decade ago," in part because Couche-Tard generates so much cash that it no longer needs to do equity offerings. By taking advantage of a rival's issues with competition regulators, Parkland offered an opportunity for the public to climb on to a soon-to-be-national retail chain, and investors jumped aboard.


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| May 10, 2013
| 6:24 PM
John Paterakis Sr. didn't believe it when Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke told him nearly two decades ago that Harbor East's Marriott Waterfront Hotel would spur revitalization from the Inner Harbor to Canton.
The city had picked Paterakis' H&S Properties...
| May 2, 2013
| 12:23 PM
DSW Shoe Warehouse will open its first Baltimore city store this fall at The Shops at Canton Crossing.
The retailer has leased 19,500 square feet at the Canton center, developer Neil Tucker, a principal with Chesapeake Real Estate Group, said on...
| Jun 21, 2013
| 12:01 PM
An Elkton man was held without bail after allegedly assaulting a Bel Air police officer at the Target store in Bel Air, according to a statement of charges.
Keith Wesley Smith, 20, of the first block of Seminary Lane in Elkton, is accused of attacking...
| Jun 13, 2013
| 2:39 PM
The life of an independent bookstore owner is perilous these days. Having to fend off deadly competition from giant Barnes & Noble, online merchants such as Amazon, and big box stores including Target and Walmart.
Still, even with that cut-throat...
| May 2, 2013
| 5:00 AM
Few Americans are on the road more than the manager of a major league baseball team. But Buck Showalter, the Orioles' famously persevering manager, rarely stays put even in the offseason, when he's canvassing the country for new talent. After all, being...
| Oct 25, 2012
| 4:29 PM
GrandView, a condominium highrise in the heart of Annapolis Towne Centre, certainly lives up to its name, especially in the 12th-floor penthouse of Barry and Olga Scher.
In this three-bedroom, 3½-bath unit with a den, living room, dining room, open...
| Jun 13, 2012
| 4:15 PM
A Baltimore County developer said he has abandoned pursuit of building "big box" stores at the site of the North Point Government Center in Dundalk and moving those offices to the site of a nearby former whiskey distillery that he owns.
John Vontran of...
| May 11, 2012
| 9:56 AM
With so many home mortgages underwater, perhaps it's little wonder that interior designers have found inspiration in the murky depths of the sea. Let's call it turning a negative into a positive.
The rustic, woodsy themes of the fall and winter have...
| Oct 3, 2012
| 11:44 AM
Residents who shop at Giant or Safeway grocery stores or Target are encouraged to sign up for the rewards programs at the stores that benefit school. Participants do not need to have children at an area school to enroll.
Recent examples of projects...
| Oct 3, 2012
A bag of carrots, a gallon of milk and a pound of chicken go a long way at Hillcrest Elementary School.
The groceries helped transform 10 classroom chalk boards at the school on Frederick Road into new, multi-use whiteboards.
At Catonsville High School,...
| May 8, 2012
| 4:57 PM
Harford County sheriff's deputies and Maryland State Police report:
Christian Soto-Perez, 25, of the 200 block of Plaza Court, was arrested on a bench warrant Friday in a case in which he was charged with second-degree assault.
| Oct 4, 2012
| 7:18 PM
Vernon L. Hackett's latest stint at the Howard County Detention Center ended early last month after 54 days awaiting trial on a misdemeanor theft charge that was eventually dropped. The 41-year-old from Baltimore City says he's been in and out of the jail...


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Genome editing in plants can deliver beneficial crop properties such as drought and pest resistance, but the resulting products are also feared by some to lead to health and biodiversity risks in the long term. On 29th April 2021, the EU Commission published its long-awaited report on new genome editing techniques, hinting at deregulation of products resulting from genome editing amidst accusations of aggressive biotech industry lobbying. In this blogpost, Pauline Phoa discusses the legal background to the Commission’s report, as well as some concerns about the way forward.Lees verder
Auteursarchief: Pauline Phoa
‘If the product is free, you are the product’ – A vision of humanity in the Digital Services and Digital Markets Acts
This blogpost is part of a series of short commentaries on the European Commission’s proposals for a Digital Markets Act and a Digital Services Act, released on 15 December 2020. Stay tuned for more.
Is the EU’s regime, including the Commission’s recent proposals in form of the DSA and DMA, fit to face the demands of our era of Big Tech and ‘big data’? I think the challenges posed by new technological developments necessitate a rethinking of the foundations of the regulatory system.Lees verder


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Has wireless earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) growth in the U.S. peaked? Investment banking firm UBS believes so. However other metrics that drive financial value come into play as well; that’s according to a new report from USB titled “Wireless clouds starting to gather.”
Unlike other developed wireless markets around the world, the U.S. has seen dramatic growth in EBITDA per POP over the past six years, despite the fact that the industry has essentially gone from a two player market to a four player market with the emergence of T-Mobile and Sprint as competitive factors. UBS believes this will begin to impact the financials in 2017.
Over the past two years, wireless EBITDA growth has generated more than 100 percent of consolidated EBITDA growth for the four nationals. “Our models reflect 3 percent industry EBITDA growth in 2017, driven by T-Mobile and Sprint while wireless EBITDA remains flattish at AT&T/Verizon (implying the majority of consolidated EBITDA growth is coming from the wireline and other segments, which may prove to be too optimistic),” writes analyst John Hodulik.
However, this wireless EBITDA growth is not sustainable. “With 65 percent of the base under installment plans and 80+ percent of new sales taking equipment financing, we believe the boost the carriers have enjoyed will begin to abate. Savings from lower volumes, driven by record low handset upgrade rates and churn, are also unlikely to improve,” according to Hodulik.
Industry upgrades and churn have likely bottomed as low handset upgrade rates drive low churn. Slower changes in smartphone technology and more importantly, the move to handset financing plans means consumers now hold onto their device longer, an average of nearly four years for an iPhone, for example. “The 20.2M postpaid smartphone activations for the Big 4 in 2Q was the lowest since 2Q13 despite the fact that smartphone sales now represent 95.7 percent of handset sales – a new high,” according to UBS.
As wireless transitions to include video, that benefits tower operators; tower operators and spectrum holders like Dish Network should profit from increased traffic on mobile networks as bandwidth suppliers. Overall, “Spectrum deployments, rising data traffic and new technology upgrades should continue to benefit … towers.”
“While competitive intensity in U.S. wireless continues to ratchet higher — most recently with unlimited data — financial metrics appear to tell a story of protected monopolies, large moats and ATM-like cash generation. The variance between what is happening on the ground and what is portrayed by the [profit and loss statements] is unsustainable and, we believe, will begin to give way in 2017 as carrier financials begin to reflect the difficulties of operating in a four player market,” concludes UBS.
Carriers will presumably bristle at the findings; generally executives of the big four say the rise of the IoT and sectors like autonomous cars have the potential to generate new opportunities for data carriage.


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The developer of Ritchie Station Marketplace in Capitol Heights is in talks with Dave & Buster’s to open a 40,000-square-foot facility in the growing, Beltway-facing retail center.
That little tidbit, from Mike Isen, vice president of NAI The Michael Cos. Inc., was among a handful of real estate nuggets to emerge from a daylong tour of Prince George’s County, led by County Executive Rushern Baker, his economic development team and the Economic Development Corp.
Other news to emerge from the tour:
○ MDV, part of Nash-Finch Co., based in a 225,000-square-foot Landover warehouse, is expected to add capacity for chilled and frozen goods with the assistance of a $400,000 incentive package, split between the county and the state.
MDV delivers thousands of products to nearly two dozen military commissaries and exchanges. Lured recently out of Howard County, MDV opened its Landover location in June and is already planning an expansion. The incentive package is before the County Council for review.
○ Pohanka Hyundai will open at Ritchie Station in the next couple of weeks. But before a single car has been sold, Geoff Pohanka said, the dealer is already thinking about the future. Pohanka has closed on 6.8 acres adjacent to its massive Hyundai dealership for a Volkswagen franchise, which it hopes to open in the next couple of years.
○ While Dave & Buster’s is a maybe for Ritchie Station, it looks like The Michael Cos. has locked down a trio of big-box retailers for the center: T.J. Maxx, Bed Bath and Beyond and Modell’s.
✒So much for Wagamama noodles in Penn Quarter.
The London-based restaurant confirmed it won’t be opening at 418 Seventh St. NW after all. A May 2010 opening had been planned. Then a late-2011 date was revealed. That was pushed back to spring 2012.
Company reps tell Eater D.C., which first reported the news, they still plan to expand in the U.S. The company has locations in Boston.
✒The newest restaurant in the Logan Circle/Shaw neighborhood comes from chef Frederik de Pue, owner of 42 Degrees Catering, and is aiming for an early November opening.
Table (as in TAHB-luh) has taken over a former auto repair shop space at 903 N St. NW and promises what de Pue calls an “old world, small-scale dining experience inspired by classic cooking.”
The menu, which could change daily, will include some things not often seen on Washington-area plates, like frog legs, rabbit and octopus.
Table, with 75 seats, will be open for dinner initially, but plans to serve breakfast, lunch and brunch starting in February.
✒The Greene Turtle Sports Bar & Grille, which opened its first location in Ocean City, Md., in 1976, has a franchise deal for 10 locations in Long Island, N.Y., its first expansion outside of the Mid-Atlantic.
The Greene Turtle currently has 34 locations in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and D.C., including one near Verizon Center downtown. This is its largest single franchise agreement to date.
John and Jeff Froccaro, who also operate three dozen Burger King franchise restaurants on Long Island, will run the new restaurants.
The company said it is also looking for more franchise agreements in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
✒More than a year and a half after a Georgetown waterfront flood shut it down, farm-to-table restaurant Farmers & Fishers will reopen at Washington Harbor Nov. 7.
The restaurant, now called Farmers, Fishers & Bakers, is opening with a new concept that, as the new name implies, features a bakery.
The 9,500-square-foot space on Washington Harbor’s plaza level also includes a reservations-only sushi bar and will serve lunch, dinner and weekend brunch.
✒Of note: George Washington University broke ground Oct. 18 on a 35,000-square-foot museum that will serve as the new home for D.C’s 87-year-old Textile Museum, as well as for an extensive collection on the history of the nation’s capital.
Real estate developer Albert H. Small of Bethesda donated his collection of historical maps, drawings, books, letters and documents to the university last year.


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Quaker Steak & Lube has named Greg Lippert chief executive, effective immediately.
Lippert had been the chief executive of Mazzio’s LLC, owner of the Mazzio’s, Zio’s Italian Kitchen and Oliveto Italian Bistro brands, since 2005. His 30-year career in the foodservice industry also includes a stint as chief concept officer and chief operating officer of Fazoli’s.
He will replace interim CEO Frederick Dreibholz, who filled the post since January but will return to his previous post as Quaker Steak & Lube’s chief financial officer. Dreibholz replaced John Longstreet, who resigned as chief executive and three months later became president and chief executive of the Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association.
“Greg is a proven visionary leader, and we’re excited to have him join The Lube,” Debra Koenig, chairman of the board, said in a statement. “As we embark on our 40th anniversary, adding a leader like Greg to our team will be instrumental to our continued growth and profitability. His skill set and insight into the restaurant industry will help propel our national expansion to both new and existing markets.”
The Sharon, Pa.-based chain expects to open 11 new restaurants this year in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, New Jersey and Texas, while also making its debut in Louisiana, Michigan and Nebraska.
“It’s a great honor to join Quaker Steak & Lube as chief executive officer,” Lippert said in a statement. “I look forward to working with our leadership team and franchisee community to help further drive the company’s growth and keep the brand at the forefront of the highly competitive casual-dining sector. The brand has a loyal customer base that has become attractive to the Millennial generation.”
Quaker Steak & Lube operates or franchises more than 60 locations in 19 states and Canada.
Contact Mark Brandau at email@example.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @Mark_from_NRN


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Wall Street continued to rally on Friday, concluding the best week since July, with the S&P 500 adding about 1.8%. The OTCQX Composite, which tracks over 400 OTC stocks, has also been bullish and bounced back from the lowest since July.
The earnings season started with some upbeat data, which improved investor sentiment. While we don’t expect another February craze right now, it’s good to see the market reviving after some bearish weeks.
Meanwhile, the US reported positive retail sales data, with sales at stores, restaurants, and other retail establishments increasing 0.7% last month from August instead of declining, as economists forecast.
Sameer Samana, a senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute, said:
“We saw retail sales this morning come in pretty strong. Stocks are still at pretty reasonable valuations with another earnings season having just ticked on, and thus far at least, some pretty good results.”
Previously, stocks declined on worries about high inflation and the surging number of COVID cases caused by the Delta variant.
Now that the Fed’s plan to reduce its bond-buying program has already been priced in, stocks are free to go higher, and we’re focused on identifying the best OTC stock opportunities.
OTC STOCKS THE PLACE TO BE
Smart investors know that if you want to make big money off a small account, the place to be is the OTC Markets. There are many good OTC stocks that can boost your portfolio’s value in the long term. For investors, we preach the key to trading penny stocks is finding momentum BEFORE it happens and ahead of the crowd.
We alert our subscribers with our best ideas before our regular readers. This is the value of having a subscription to Insider Financial, which you can sign up for here.
If you watch the Insider Financial YouTube channel, you can get a sense of the ideal time to book profits. We warned our subscribers not to get greedy or get caught up in the diamond hands/paper hands BS.
We also recommend you own a portfolio of penny stocks. For some, that can be as many as 10 to 20 or more OTC stocks. This provides diversification and allows one to manage the market’s moods much easier. It also helps to own shares in the following 4 hot OTC stocks.
In this article, we look at 4 OTC stocks that will greatly reward patient investors, three of which are trading near three pennies. They are Alpine 4 Holdings, Inc (OTCQB: ALPP), APT Systems, Inc (OTCPK: APTY), Priority Aviation, Inc (OTCPK: PJET), and Sycamore Entertainment Group, Inc (OTCPK: SEGI).
OTC STOCK #1 ALPP
Last week, we reported that Alpine 4 Holdings, Inc was rallying on expectations that the OTCQB stock would soon get uplisted on NASDAQ. The company announced on Thursday that its application had been approved. The stock has extended the rally, gaining over 40% since last week and doubling in price since mid-September. Now you can buy ALPP for $4.70, but there is still much room for growth.
The share price peaked in February at over $8 and has consistently declined since then, but it recently broke above the resistance line of the bearish trend after bottoming out on September 30 when it fell to the YTD low near $2.20.
ALPP has been a great success for our subscribers. We first paid attention to this stock in February 2020, when the share price was just $.075 a share.
ALPP owns and acquires businesses that fit into its disruptive DSF business model of Drivers, Stabilizers, and Facilitators. It provides electronic contract manufacturing solutions in the US. The company also offers automotive technologies, including 6th Sense Auto and BrakeActive.
The company also provides fabricated metal parts, assemblies, and sub-assemblies to original equipment manufacturers. It also designs, fabricates, and installs dust collectors, commercial ductwork, kitchen hoods, industrial ventilation systems, machine guards, architectural work, water furnaces, and others, as well as specialized spiral ductwork.
Recently, the company developed its blockchain-enabled Enterprise Business Operating System called SPECTRUMebos.
ALPP’s aerospace business, Vayu, Inc., is developing aircraft, conducts research, tests markets, and builds relationships with early adopters, suppliers, and regulatory authorities around the globe.
Last week, the company confirmed that it was approved to be listed on Nasdaq Capital Market on October 20. ALPP CEO Kent Wilson, CEO said:
“This has been a long-anticipated event, and I can state enthusiastically that we are very pleased to be joining Nasdaq. I want to say thank you to all our hard-working employees and shareholders who helped make this day possible!”
— Alpine 4 Holdings, Inc. (@alpine4holdings) October 14, 2021
Meanwhile, the company promoted Larry Zic from Chief Accounting Officer to Chief Financial Officer and appointed Mike Loyd to the Board of Directors and to become Chair of the Audit Committee. ALPP is getting more and more support and visibility on social media and among institutions, and we expect it to continue the rally and break above $10 very soon.
$ALPP 🏆 it’s time to Embrace Change my friends.
– Mutual Finds
– Pension Finds
– Institutional investors (there’s 5 here already)
They’re all coming to gobble up these shares in double digits on the Nasdaq my friends….
— shareslanger (@shareslanger) October 14, 2021
OTC STOCK #2 APTY
APT Systems, Inc has been on the rise, increasing by over 30% since last week. The company is about to obtain the Pink Current status as it filed the financial reports and presented the Attorney Letter. APTY peaked on Thursday at $0.0287, which is the highest in about five years. The share price has almost doubled since we reported on APTY for the first time in June.
The $66 million software development and fintech company is working on a trading platform, a gold and USD-backed stablecoin, and payments and escrow infrastructure, among others.
Earlier this month, the company provided some updates on the development of its Verifundr, an escrow services ecosystem powered by blockchain. The platform will allow participants to transfer dollars, store funds in escrow in order to bind contracts, and later pay others from the credited funds anywhere in the US.
APTY President and CEO said:
“An elite team of digital strategists is working on Verifundr to build the visual interface that coincides with our technical documentation. The visual interpretation places a user-friendly frontend on our powerful escrow service which is designed to transfer US dollars or our Spera stablecoin to complete transactions.”
The platform employs smart contracts, which are blockchain-based, self-executing programs that can settle agreements between two or multiple parties without the need for a centralized authority.
In its latest quarterly report, APTY said that it had focused on building a financial ecosystem around escrow and trading services that would be backed with a true stablecoin called Spera (SRA). The goal is to provide a trusted ecosystem and stablecoin to support buyers and sellers while reducing friction and fraud in financial transactions. Besides developing Verifundr, APTY is also rewriting the whitepaper for Spera to incorporate gold as partially backing the stablecoin along with the USD.
Meanwhile, APTY operates two active businesses:
- SNAPT Games Inc – the management likes graphic techniques used in the gaming industry and decided to selectively introduce these to its financial platforms and charting tools. Still, the company has not generated any significant revenues from the release of any SNAPT Games apps to date.
- AUREX Trading and Recovery Inc – this division accepts and processes electronic scrap for recovering precious metals and to help ensure that computers, phones, and other electronic equipment do not end up in landfills.
APTY is almost Pink Current and ready to go higher. Be prepared for an ambitious bullish move once the company launches its blockchain-based platform and stablecoin.
— Brendon Jones (@Bjones955) October 16, 2021
OTC STOCK #3 PJET
Priority Aviation, Inc is another OTC stock trading at the highest level in many years. PJET has surged by 174% since mid-September to trade at $0.027. We drew attention to PJET at the end of September when the price was fluctuating near $0.017.
On Thursday, the company said that it had redirected its business operations and plans to announce the new business direction next week. It will provide details on the work that has been underway for the last year on building the new business. The new business direction announcement is scheduled for Thursday, October 21, 2021.
The company’s name stems from the previous jet leasing business. Subsequently, the company acquired a cannabis business but never reached critical mass.
Recently, the majority shareholder of PJET, ACI Conglomerated, has decided on a new business direction outside the cannabis industry. ACI is also the majority shareholder of North American Cannabis Holdings, Inc. (OTCPK: USMJ) and Puration, Inc (OTCPK: PURA). With two businesses already in the cannabis marketplace, ACI is diversifying with PJET.
“The company is developing a technology solution to serve a global and underserved marketplace. The company is also in discussions to acquire a physical asset that will be used to test, refine, and demonstrate the technology currently under development while generating revenue at the same time.”
PJET got the Pink Current status, has a new website, and is ready to adopt a new business that will surely add value to its $20 million cap, so we’re very bullish at this point. PJET is a discount entry opportunity at these levels.
OTC STOCK #4 SEGI
Another OTC stock that has been on the rise is Sycamore Entertainment Group, Inc, which has surged by over 240% since mid-September to trade at $0.034. The share price peaked on Friday at $0.037, which is the highest level since the end of April. SEGI’s price has more than doubled since the last time we covered the OTC stock at the end of August, which proves once again our commitment to identify the best opportunities in the OTC markets.
SEGI is an independent distribution and marketing company focused on the acquisition, distribution and development of marketing campaigns for well-researched, cost-effective filmed entertainment. The company plans to participate in all revenue streams related to filmed entertainment content distribution as well as all activities related to funding the print and advertising (P&A) of acquired feature films. It will also engage in film productions based on specific investment criteria.
Sycamore developed the brand and accompanying website Segi.tv to deliver its content through Over Top (OTT) connected platforms such as ROKU, Amazon Firestick, Samsung IOS, and Apple TV.
At the end of last month, SEGI completed the audit of its annual financial statements for the fiscal years ending December 2019 and December 2020. The company’s auditor, Sadler, Gibb & Associates LLC – CPAB and PCAOB registered accounting firm – completed the company’s financial statements within the guidelines of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, (GAAP).
On Monday, SEGI appointed Alfred “Chip” Sloan and Jason You to the board of directors. Sloan will head up the new Compensation Committee and You will lead the new Audit Committee.
Alfred “Chip” Sloan has more than 20 years of experience in sports law and has worked at the top law firms and agencies in both New York and Los Angeles, leading each of them in their sports practices and initiatives.
Chip began his work at the Beverly Hills Sports Council in Los Angeles. His unique and diverse background as a sports agent and sports attorney gives him an unmatched range of experience across global sports, media, and entertainment.
Jason You is a graduate of the University of California, Berkley in chemical engineering. As the utilities engineer at the Boehringer Ingelheim group – one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies – he utilized his analytical skills to create solutions that alleviated Boehringer Ingelheim’s electrical crisis and solved issues that had been plaguing the company for years.
SEGI got the Pink Current status a few months ago and is looking to expand, especially as the pandemic has been driven demand for streaming and video content services.
SEGI also has a major supporter in Meek Mill with his millions of followers.
Segi stock carrying 💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎💎
— Meek Mill (@MeekMill) October 15, 2021
THE FINAL NOTE
All of the 4 OTC stocks discussed today are on the rise and are good stocks to hold. Nevertheless, our best advice is to be patient and enter the market during corrections. Buying dips and selling rips as swing trades remains the best strategy in the penny stock market. Still, whenever a penny stock is in the middle of a bull run, we recommend our subscribers to book profits.
It’s very important to eye the best OTC stocks that have room for growth and have yet to make their explosive move. There are plenty of opportunities, and we take our time to monitor hundreds of penny stocks to buy each week, trying to find the best alerts for our subscribers.
Remember, all you need is one or two penny stocks to succeed in order to crush the market averages.
As always, good luck to all (except the shorts)!
WHEN INSIDER FINANCIAL HAS A STOCK ALERT, IT CAN PAY TO LISTEN. AFTER ALL, OUR FREE NEWSLETTER HAS FOUND MANY TRIPLE-DIGIT WINNERS FOR OUR SUBSCRIBERS. WE SPECIALIZE IN FINDING MOMENTUM BEFORE IT HAPPENS!
Disclosure: We have no position in any of the securities mentioned. We wrote this article ourselves and it expresses our own opinions. We are not receiving compensation for it. We have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Insider Financial is not an investment advisor and does not provide investment advice. Always do your own research and make your own investment decisions. This article is not a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell, or hold securities. This article is meant for informational and educational purposes only and does not provide investment advice.


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Rebounding from last year, where executives struck a conciliatory tone after dealing with the extendedPlayStation Network outage , Sony squarely put the focus on upcoming games, announcing at E3 a new form of interactive books that will kick off with new work from J.K. Rowling.
“This is the Super Bowl for those of us that live and die in the gaming industry. Everything will be graded and judged, and about who won E3, which makes the job of hosting so fun and not stressful,” joked Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America.
Monday night’s show opened with a bit of high profile Canadian content, as actor Ellen Page was announced as the star of Beyond, a new game from Quantic Dream.
The developer, which is known for the moody Heavy Rain and jaw-dropping performance-capture tech demo video Kara, said the new game features Page as the likeness and voice of Jody Holmes, a traumatized young woman with telekinetic powers that may come from an otherworldly source. The demo looked impressive, and the quality of the developer makes it one of the potential standouts of the show.
The new augmented reality reading product is called Wonderbook, and combines physical books with virtual onscreen interactions that use the PlayStation Move as its control mechanism. The first book for the product is the Harry Potter-themed Book of Spells, for which Rowling has written new material. It puts players into the shoes of a Hogwarts student who will use the Move controller as a wand to cast spells and solve problems. Unfortunately, the demonstration had some hiccups, and was not well received by the crowd, but the target audience is clearly children, and the company says it is just the first of many wonderbooks to come as it fills out its library.
Of its upcoming games, the console exclusive The Last of Us, the new post-apocalyptic survival game from Uncharted developers Naughty Dog, shows a ruined world with a man and young woman trying to survive while being assailed by other survivors. It is likely one of the most exciting new original titles being featured in the show.
Of the big games, the previously announced God of War: Ascension, a multiplayer focused prequel in the blockbuster franchise, featured the angry demigod Kratos destroying enemies. It’s slated to be released March 12, 2013.
The company also had two big reveals regarding two multiplatform games coming from Ubisoft, which is the developer shaping up to have the strongest overall lineup at the conference. Assassin’s Creed III will feature battles on the high seas, with players captaining a ship. Also Far Cry 3 will feature previously unannounced four player co-operative component.
Sony launched its new portable device, the PlayStation Vita, a little over four months ago, and while the sales numbers have not been particularly good — just under two million units sold worldwide — the company announced two new games that are tie-ins to blockbuster franchises. They are Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, a New Orleans-set game with a new female protagonist, and Call of Duty Black Ops: Declassified, which purports to bring the full-on console first-person shooter experience to the Vita.
While Sony was rumoured to be announcing some sort of cloud computing technology, the rumours turned out to be false.
The company did talk a lot about cross play between the PS3 and the PS Vita, with games that could be played across the devices, such as the new PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale, a Super Smash Bros.-like fighting game that features the company’s stable of characters. Some of the cross-play games can be played on one device, saved and then picked up on another. It makes sense for the company to tout this feature, as it is one of the points of differentiation that Sony has over its competitors. It also feeds into the emerging trend of this E3, that the integration between screens on separate devices is seemingly the most fertile ground for innovation.


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The company confirmed a multiyear deal with video games publisher Riot Games.
TEG is aiming for the Melbourne Esports Open to become Australia’s biggest celebration of local esports.
ARIA Charts: Jonas Brothers claim #1 single, Kerser album new at #2
Top 10 Game Charts: Devil May Cry Series Makes a Triumphant Return
New Idea and 7Food announce online destination for food lovers
ARN launches new breakfast TVCs for Gold 104.3 & 97.3
Explore food & flavours in Australian Outback with Justine Schofield
Sports Week: Nine’s NRL record start, 10’s F1 success, Triple M Footy


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Some call me a contrarian. Others call me a glutton for punishment. And yet some even call me the pompetous of love, but that’s a tale for another day. Regardless, I am not someone who takes a claim like “Company X is a failure” lying down, especially after seeing how far my favorite company has come in the last fifteen years.
An article recently made the rounds declaring Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 as failures, stating that Microsoft is not only unable to compete in markets currently dominated by Apple and Google, but that it has begun its rotation around the drain.
Microsoft has gone from a position of overwhelming power in software and games to one where they have to pay developers to port. This is usually the death knell for a platform, and most developers are already looking away to greener pastures. The strongest draw for consumers died with Windows 8, and pay to play is not sustainable even with Microsoft’s deep pockets. The sales of products will never justify third party investments at this point, without Windows 7 and earlier compatibility, there is no market.
So, Microsoft is struggling to find developers to write apps for its new platforms, namely Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8. It’s also losing market share to Apple, as Apple is the only company consistently growing in the PC market. This story sounds familiar. Where have I heard it before?
Ah, that’s right: TIME, January 23, 1996:
The smaller Apple’s market share gets, and it’s now at about 10 percent, the less appeal it has to software developers.” As a result, Apple is finding it increasingly difficult to keep up in a market that places a high premium on new software applications. Jackson concludes: “That doesn’t mean that the Mac operating system will disappear, but it may mean that the Apple company will disappear.”
We all know what happened after that. Steve Jobs came back, resurrected his company, and grew it into the behemoth we all think we know and sometimes love when it’s convenient.
Microsoft is not Apple. No company is like Apple and no CEO — especially Ballmer — is like Steve Jobs, but pundits are writing companies’ obituaries well before the doctor calls the time of death.
Here’s a little perspective:
Apple’s sales figures for fiscal year 1996 were $9.83 billion with a net loss of $816 million. That was down from $11.1 billion in sales and up from $424 million in losses the year before. This was the time when analysts and industry insiders were declaring Apple “dead in the water” and unable to regain footing in a Microsoft-dominated computing landscape.
Microsoft’s earnings for fiscal year 2011 were as follows:
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011, Microsoft reported record revenue of $69.94 billion, a 12% increase from the prior year. Operating income, net income, and diluted earnings per share for the year were $27.16 billion, $23.15 billion, and $2.69, which represented increases of 13%, 23%, and 28%, respectively, when compared with the prior year.
Apple’s revenue adjusted for inflation would’ve amounted to $13.63 billion, a whopping $56.31 billion less than what Microsoft made last year. We can joke about the Surface RT’s “modest sales” and how the iPad is killing competitors, but don’t mistake Surface’s initial bombing for a complete failure by the company.
As of November 27th, Microsoft had sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses to customers, businesses, and OEMs. Windows has always been Microsoft’s big money maker and it looks like that trend is continuing, even in an increasingly mobile-dominated world.
Obviously, the company has serious inroads to make in mobile and buying Nokia was a good start. Now it has to gain support from both carriers and developers to make Windows Phone 8 appealing for customers. Otherwise, articles like the aforelinked “death knell” piece will become more relevant as our computing behaviors shift away from the desktop and into our pockets.
But let’s turn our attention to another company consistently teetering back and forth on the edge of a cliff erected by armchair CEOs: RIM.
James Faucette of Pacific Crest Securities told investors that the long-delayed OS is unlikely to be met with real enthusiasm and, in all likelihood, will fail.
“We believe BB10 is likely to be DOA,” he wrote, and effectively advised RIM shareholders to cash in their chips while they still can.
“We expect the new OS to be met with a lukewarm response at best and ultimately likely to fail,” Faucette added.
Ten years ago, PCs were not nearly as prevalent in households and businesses as they are today, so for Apple to command roughly ten percent of a growing market was quite a feat, especially considering its pre-determined demise prior to Jobs’ return.
RIM’s story is actually worse than Apple’s:
Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) fell the most since June after the BlackBerry’s U.S. market share shrank to 1.6 percent, hurt by Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone winning more customers.
The stock dropped 11 percent to $10.72 at the close in New York, the biggest decline since June 29. While the shares have rallied more than 35 percent in November, they are still down 26 percent this year.
For RIM to sink in market share to 1.6 percent of a potential consumer base several hundred million strong is dismal, but RIM, like Microsoft, has only itself to blame.
First, RIM attempted to compete with the iPhone with its BlackBerry Storm, which turned out to be an abject failure. Then it did its best with its “iPad killing” PlayBook tablet. Guess who’s still standing? Those misses, combined with the loss of its co-CEOs, BlackBerry 10’s repeated delays, massive layoffs, as well as enterprise clients and government agencies giving up their BlackBerry fleets in favor of iPhones and Androids did immeasurable damage to the once-great Canadian device maker.
The third quarter 2012 results tell the tale:
RIM released its fiscal Q3 2012 earnings report today and although the numbers are dismal, the company remains chipper about what lies ahead. Profits fell to just $256 million with a revenue of $5.2 billion, just shy of the projected $5.6 billion for this quarter. These numbers are down from $329 million in profit from the previous quarter and $911 million from the previous year.
It sounds like I’m being hypocritically harsher on RIM than I am on Microsoft. Joshua Schnell sent out a tweet several weeks ago related to the topic:
I have a hard time bagging on RIM when companies like Apple were in the exact same spot at one point.
I would have a hard time, too, except Apple had a hell of an ace up its sleeve in the form of Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Scott Forstall, and the NeXT development team. The difference between Apple and RIM is that RIM’s former management were not highly regarded prior to their exit.
One might think Steve Jobs wasn’t universally liked and that he almost ran Apple into the ground, so his firing was the best thing for the company at that time. This Fortune article from 1985 says differently:
Many insiders are shocked by his removal; they fear Apple has lost the spirit and vision that made it into a business phenomenon. Says one: “They’ve cut the heart out of Apple and substituted an artificial one. We’ll just have to see how long it pumps.”
It pumped for quite awhile before Apple purchased NeXT. What followed was a series of mixed reactions at Jobs’ decisions, including getting cheered and booed at Macworld ’97 for getting Apple involved with Microsoft, and this gem from Stewart Alsop at Fortune:
You can’t justify it. Apple did precisely the wrong thing. Now the only future for the company is to get smaller and smaller until there’s nothing left. In fact, the only sensible conversation to have about Apple is the one in which you argue about how long it will take to die.
Jobs also sold 1.5 million shares of Apple in 1997, which sent the stock tumbling to its lowest point in 11 years. Some industry analysts believed he’d lost faith in the company he’d just taken back. For every great thing someone had to say about Jobs’s return to Apple, there was someone else waiting to knock it down.
In hindsight, taking back its founder and former CEO was the best decision Apple made. The same cannot be said for RIM, though it could be argued Microsoft would do better under Bill Gates’s leadership once again. Neither company seems to have executives asking designers and engineers, “Stop. Think. What’s best for the future of computing? What’s best for the user?” and the customers are answering with their wallets.
However, Microsoft and RIM are still making money. They might be making less than they used to and a lot less than their competitors, but green is still flowing within their walls. Let’s give Microsoft more than a month to get its feet wet with Windows 8 before we start shutting off the power. And why not wait to see if RIM ships BlackBerry 10 at all before we start looting its supply cabinets for sticky notes and White-Out?
As tech writers, we think we know everything about the companies we cover. We think we know exactly how they operate, or worse, how they should operate. But we’re just as in the dark as the average Alsop. It takes an immense amount of effort (or lack thereof) for titans of industry like Microsoft and RIM to close up shop, so until the headlines start using words like “bankruptcy protection” and “top executives flee sinking ship,” bloggers might want to hold off on the thousand word obituaries. For now.


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- For the second time in five years, shoe company Rockport Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday. Despite generating over $203 million in revenue in 2022, the company was “left with an inadequate liquidity cushion to survive further economic challenges,” according to court documents.
- Rockport claims liabilities and assets of $50 million to $100 million and says it owes its top five creditors– all vendors or suppliers — nearly $47 million, according to the bankruptcy petition filed in federal court in Delaware. The company also reports that it has nearly $100 million in funded debt obligations; about $61 million of that is due in August.
- In May, the company notified state officials that it may close its Massachusetts headquarters by July. That move could eliminate about 150 jobs, The Boston Globe reported.
Rockport is best known for its rubber-soled casual shoes. The company claims it was the first to introduce that type of design to the market in an era when other shoemakers still exclusively focused on leather-soled shoes. It also sells sneakers, boat shoes and sandals.
The company’s 50-plus-year history began in 1971 in Massachusetts when father and son Saul and Bruce Katz founded the company. Saul Katz had served as president of New Hampshire-based Hubbard Shoe Co. until that company closed in the late 1960s.
In 1986, the Katz’s sold Rockport to Reebok for $118 million. Rockport remained part of Reebok for over 30 years. It later became an independently operated subsidiary of Adidas. That company, in turn, sold Rockport to a joint venture of Berkshire Hathaway and New Balance in 2015.
But the separation from Adidas was costly and caused the business to lose its financial footing. In 2017, the joint venture gave its interest in Rockport to a group of secured lenders. After the 2018 bankruptcy sale, Rockport restructured itself by expanding its casual product offerings, trying to attract younger customers and simplifying its business model. The court closed that case in 2020.
Part of that restructuring included closing all Rockport retail stores in the U.S. and shifting to a more e-commerce-based model of retail. The company also worked to build its e-commerce wholesale channels.
Despite those efforts, Rockport’s business still struggled with high overhead costs and weakened demand for its core products due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the company said its revenue fell to $162 million from $275 million in 2019.
Rockport’s financial situation reached a critical moment about a year ago. Last spring, the company significantly increased its inventory purchases for the fall and winter seasons anticipating a back-to-work increase in sales.
“Unfortunately, that sales bump never materialized. Instead, in response to inflationary pressures and weakening economic conditions, the Debtors’ wholesale customers and distributors canceled or materially cut back on orders, leaving Rockport holding significant excess inventory,” Joseph Marchese, chief restructuring officer of CB Marathon Midco, Rockport’s parent company, said in a court filing.
“This, combined with supply chain challenges and higher interest rates, has made it increasingly difficult for the Debtors to service their funded debt obligations and satisfy trade payables in a sustainable manner,” Marchese said.
The company defaulted on some of its borrowings and later entered into a forbearance agreement, which it also defaulted. In May, Rockport signed a non-binding letter of intent to sell some of its assets. The company and its counterparty remain in negotiations to enter a stalking horse asset purchase agreement.
Rockport said it plans to continue operations during the Chapter 11 proceedings. The company operates internationally and says it has 30 distributor partners in over 60 countries with more than 1,100 points of sale. Its inventory is sourced from manufacturers in China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Brazil. Together, those partners manufactured over 4.8 million pairs of shoes in 2022, the company said.


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From “pure” to “artisanal,” the culinary world has a historical past of taking part in fast-and-loose with on-trend but finally meaningless phrases. However the FDA not too long ago determined to vary all that, by updating standards for when meals can use the nutrient content material declare “wholesome.”
This isn’t a brand new label, because the producers of KIND bars know effectively. In 2015, the FDA despatched a nine-page warning letter to the corporate claiming that its bars have been misusing the time period, based mostly on a stipulation that “wholesome” meals include a gram or much less of saturated fats per serving. The KIND bars known as out by the FDA did certainly break this rule… as a result of they have been crammed with nuts and coconut. Since everyone knows that such fat sources are literally nice for us, this was a serious eye-roll-inducing second.
With this replace, these outdated points needs to be no extra. The brand new rule aligns extra intently with the definition of “wholesome” supported by most up-to-date diet science, in response to a latest press release from the company, higher accounting for a way vitamins work—not in isolation, however reasonably in synergy to enhance well being. Plus, the rules now help the brand new national strategy to finish starvation and enhance diet amongst Individuals.
So what does this actually imply?
Scroll to Proceed
From the Natural Authority Recordsdata
Particularly, that sure higher-fat meals like nuts and seeds, increased fats fish, and sure oils can now use the time period “wholesome” on their packaging, whereas meals containing an excessive amount of extra sodium, saturated fats, and added sugars can not.
Lisa Richards, nutritionist and founding father of The Candida Diet, applauds the hassle. “It is about time governing authorities took critically how our food regimen impacts continual ailments that plague Individuals,” she says. “Much more in order that the meals trade and advertising and marketing are being known as out for his or her imprecise well being claims.”
And Dr. Robert Brown, MD, agrees. “This is a vital step for bettering public well being,” he says. “Up till now, distributors have been in a position to throw across the ‘wholesome’ label on something and every thing.” Whereas he notes that there are some important parts that the label doesn’t regulate—particularly chemical components—for Richards, the parameters are “particular and strict in areas that matter.”
Dr. Richards additionally shared that “This label seems like it is going to be comparatively helpful for customers when choosing meals. Not like different phrases like ‘made with entire grains’ or ‘natural’, this label may have extra strict parameters that should be met. Whereas you will need to proceed studying labels and components, having a meals labeled ‘wholesome’ and really being comparatively wholesome ought to make looking for well being meals merchandise a lot simpler and fewer of a psychological stressor.”
The labeling tips won’t solely empower customers to make more healthy selections. The hope, in response to the press launch, is that such a label may also assist encourage producers to reformulate their merchandise to satisfy the brand new definition—one thing that Brown echoes as a particular chance.
“It could take time, however I consider distributors will finally create meals that may use the wholesome label as a result of there’s undoubtedly a marketplace for these merchandise,” explains Brown. An on-package image might comply with to make issues even simpler for customers—we’ll be holding an eye fixed out for it for positive.


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Byju's becomes India's most valued startup after $340 million funding
The funding round values the company at around $16.5 billion post-money
Eightfold AI valued at $2 billion after raising $220 million from SoftBank, others
Eightfold AI, a talent management platform, will use the f...
Cardekho in talks to raise $150 million, may get unicorn status
Cardekho, which expects to close the ongoing funding round in the next couple...
Zenoti raises $80 million in funding round led by TPG
The latest capital infusion, which pegs Zenoti’s post-money valuation at $1.5 billion, is an extension of the SaaS startup's Series D funding round in December 2020.
State Bank of India invests in fintech startup Cashfree
The State Bank of India (SBI) investment fits perfectly with Cashfree’s growth strategy as it continues to focus on customer experience and product innovation, CEO Akash Sinha says.
Canada’s ID startup Trulioo raises $394 million at $1.75 billion valuation
Trulioo's mega funding round comes as the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated digitisation of businesses and e-commerce firms, and financial firms need ways to verify customers' identities for secure transactions.
Wakefit in talks to raise funds at up to $400 million valuation
Wakefit, a sleep and home solutions startup, is said to be in talks with L Catterton Fund and other US-based and Indian investors to raise $40-50 million in primary capital.
OfBusiness in talks with SoftBank to raise funds at $1.2 billion valuation
SoftBank is likely to invest anywhere between $100 million and $150 million in OfBusiness in an all-primary funding round, making the B2B e-commerce startup the 15th Indian unicorn so far this year.
Logistics startup Locus raises $50 million, valuation hits $300 million
Locus, a SaaS-based logistics startup, will use the funding from investors GIC, Qualcomm Ventures, Tiger Global and Falcon Edge to fuel its expansion, and research and development.
Urban Company joins IPO rush after $255-million fundraise
Urban Company joins Zomato, Nykaa, Delhivery, Flipkart and Paytm in a list of Indian startups looking to launch an IPO in the near future.
Pepperfry to become unicorn before IPO hits market, co-founder says
Pepperfry is very close to becoming a profitable unicorn, following which it would launch an IPO in the next 12-18 months, co-founder and COO Ashish Shah says.
Zeta becomes 14th Indian unicorn this year after SoftBank funding
Bhavin Turakhia's Zeta, the banking technology startup which counts Sodexo and HDFC Bank as partners, has raised $250 million from SoftBank Vision Fund II at a valuation of $1.45 billion.
Indian startups raised $7.8 billion in first four months of 2021
Startup funding party continues amid second wave of Covid-19
Pine Labs raises $285 million in new funding round
Pine Labs says this is the “first close” of an ongoing funding round, wherein it’s seen raising a further $100 million. Pine Labs’ valuation is pegged at over $3 billion, but the company did not disclose details.
CarTrade set to file for IPO to raise up to Rs 2,000 crore
CarTrade, an online auto classifieds platform, is looking at a valuation of $1.5 billion in the IPO and will look at listing later in the year, depending on market conditions.
ETtech IPO Watch | How Nykaa's valuation, cap table have evolved over the years
Nykaa aims to raise anywhere $500-750 million from its IPO at a valuation of around $3.5 billion. The capital will help Falguni Nayar-led firm expand its business in a market that is seeing unprecedented investor interest.
Fintech startup Current valuation triples after Andreessen funding
Current plans to use the new funds raised to expand its product portfolio, including cryptocurrencies.
Tiger Global backs Pristyn Care at over $550 million valuation
Pristyn Care's $53 million funding round has a minor secondary component of close to a million dollars which saw some employees take home small cheques, says Harsimarbir Singh, co-founder of the Gurgaon-based healthcare startup.
Razorpay gets $160 mn funding, valuation trebles in less than 6 months
Razorpay will use the funding to expand into Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, CEO Harshil Mathur says. The company is also in the process of acquiring a SaaS startup and hiring 600 people in India and overseas to grow its neobank Razorpay X.


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A group representing people alleging that Johnson & Johnson’s talc-based products cause cancer said that the planned spinoff of the pharmaceutical giant’s consumer health division will create new problems for talc claimants.
The group, known as the talc claimants’ committee, filed a statement with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey, where the Chapter 11 case of J&J’s subsidiary that holds its talc liabilities was transferred this month. The subsidiary, LTL Management LLC, filed for bankruptcy protection in October with the goal of settling 38,000 talc cases.
J&J maintains that its talc products are safe.
The committee said J&J’s plan to split its consumer division from its pharmaceuticals business “would create further barriers between tort claimants and assets that should be available to satisfy claims.”
It contends that if J&J becomes two separately traded entities, disputes will arise over which one will be on the hook for a funding agreement in the LTL bankruptcy.
The committee also accused J&J of using the bankruptcy process as a litigation advantage.
“For bankruptcy, it simply does not get any uglier than this,” the committee said.
J&J said when it announced the split that the move had nothing to do with the talc litigation or the bankruptcy.
A status conference is scheduled on next week before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan in Trenton, New Jersey. The LTL bankruptcy was initially filed in North Carolina, but the judge assigned to the case there decided on Nov. 11 that it would be better suited in New Jersey, where J&J is based and where a large chunk of the talc litigation is pending.


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Double Fine Productions, the developer of recent titles such as Brutal Legend, Stacking and the upcoming Trenched, has acquired the publishing rights to its much-loved platformer Psychonauts.
The news comes from Double Fine senior gameplay programmer Anna Kipnis, who revealed the studio "is now the sole publisher of Psychonauts" on Twitter yesterday.
Until now those rights were thrown back and forth between Majesco and THQ. The acquisition means that profits from sales of the game will now go exclusively to the developers and Double Fine is free to do as it pleases with the IP.
Kipnis followed her Tweet yesterday with another stating that the rights haven't changed hands yet and teased an "exciting DF official announcement". Fingers crossed for a sequel or HD update...
Psychonauts is currently available for purchase on Steam as well as Xbox's Games on Demand service.
Double Fine is currently working on a Sesame Street title for Microsoft's Kinect.


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Note ban: Retailers want banking alternative for small traders
Observing that there would be some short-term problems due to the government's decision, the top retailers including Walmart India, Future Group and V-Mart said the step should augur well for the future.
New Delhi: Retail industry on Wednesday pitched for necessary banking alternatives for small traders and customers without access to credit card and electronic payment facilities in the wake of the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
Observing that there would be some short-term problems due to the government's decision, the top retailers including Walmart India, Future Group and V-Mart said the step should augur well for the future. "As far as our cash and carry business is concerned, majority of our members are small traders, who largely receive and pay cash for their transactions. They do not accept credit cards nor do they pay by credit cards," Walmart India President and CEO Krish Iyer said in a statement.
"We are very confident that Indian banking system and RBI will work very efficiently to support them with alternative currency notes so that they continue to serve the Indian customers for fulfilling their daily needs," he added.
Iyer, however, said the company gives options in form of payment solutions to its members, including debit and credit cards, cheque, netbanking and digital wallet.
Stating that the government's move has resulted in short- term challenges although it augurs well in the long term, Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani said: "Right now it is chaotic. Suddenly, people have no cash in hand to spend." About the steps taken by his company to overcome the situation, Biyani said: "We are going to promote debit card, promote digital payment. We are going to promote gift cards."
Welcoming the government's step, Iyer said it "is the most significant and impactful move to curb the flow of black money and to fight corruption". This is in the long-term interest of the country and will help develop more visible, transparent and formal economy, he added.
METRO Cash & Carry India's MD and CEO Arvind Mediratta said the company supported the government's "historic step to clamp down on black money".
"As a company committed to championing the growth of small, independent businesses, we already offer our customers a plethora of non-cash payment options, including debit, credit, electronic transfers and digital payments, and are working on making mobile payments an additional option," Mediratta said.
The move will help to streamline, simplify, and standardise ways of working and operations, while diversifying the overall digital footprint, it added. Besides Bengaluru, Ikea Retail has GBO in Poznan (Poland), Shanghai (China) and Baltimore (the US).
The acquisition of Future Group's 2,000 retail stores and Big Bazaar grocery chain will help Reliance, which sells everything from groceries to electronics through 11,000-plus stores, to broaden its extensive reach across the country.


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Marathon Oil announced three significant items on September 10th. The company plans to repurchase $1 billion in common stock, sell an interest in Angola for $590 million, and complete an acquisition of 4,800 acres in the Eagle Ford for $97 million.
The company didn't release much in regard to the acquisition, but it's safe to assume the acreage will complement the company's current position. Marathon is paying $74 million upfront and $23 million in the form of carried interests.
On an undiscounted basis, the company is paying a little more than $20,000/acre. The deal brings Marathon's core Eagle Ford position up to approximately 205,000 net acres.
When Marathon first entered the Eagle Ford, the company estimated development on 80 to 160-acre spacing. So far in 2013, approximately 80% of the company's development drilling has occurred on 40 to 60-acre spacing.
Read the full press release at marathonoil.com


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Israel Economy: Consequences of Israel-Hamas War
Almost three weeks have passed since the Israel-Hamas war started on October 7th. The shekel fell to its lowest level against the dollar in over a decade, prompting Israel's central bank to support the currency by selling $30 billion in foreign exchange reserves.
Already, The Bank of Israel has estimated their depletion of economic growth for 2023 to 2.3% from 3%.
Israel’s $500 billion economy - the most developed in the Middle East - has been starting to collapse. Retailers are furloughing workers as hundreds of thousands of army reservists are called up, creating a severe personnel shortage and disrupting supply lines from supermarkets to seaports. "The Economy Ministry created a war room and put out a call for help. Its database has so far matched at least 8,550 people with struggling businesses". Firms from builders to restaurants have shut; credit card purchases are down 12%. All categories have seen a sharp decline, while there is a spike in shopping at supermarkets.
The “emotional crisis” among the Israeli public is the major problem. "People will minimize their consumption spending because of the uncertainty and the mood”, said Leo Leiderman, chief economic adviser to Bank Hapoalim. With the continuing trend, it’s to be seen that the damage to the economy will be significant.


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While he’s most known for wearing collectible kicks worth as much as $20,000 per pair — and sometimes even more — Houston Rockets power forward PJ Tucker has been showcasing a love for sneakers that extends far beyond the hype this season.
From obscure, decade-old Kevin Durant models to vintage LeBrons, Tucker has been breaking out more and more of his personal picks this season. While hosting LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers earlier this week, he wore one of the most beloved pairs from James’ Nike series.
“This shoe, still to this day, is one of my favorite shoes of all time,” Tucker said. “The colorway was ridiculous.”
The “South Beach” LeBron 8, with its vivid teal leather upper and pink accents throughout, was originally released just after James joined the Miami Heat in 2010. It remains one of the greatest themes from his signature series over the course of his 16-year career.
The Golden State Warriors star’s latest Under Armour sneaker features a sleek, flowing design that honors the franchise’s final season in Oakland. The arch incorporates a graphic from the ceiling architecture of Oracle Arena, among other details throughout.
“Being in the signature shoe game, it’s a competitive business,” Curry said. “We’re always trying to push the envelope with every rendition that we come out with, and continue to push the innovation and push the storytelling.”
Highlighted by a “10 In The Town” theme, the model pays tribute to the 10 years Curry has spent in Oakland to start his NBA career, with upcoming colorways of the sneaker taking inspiration from local landmarks and his memories in the region. The debut colorway drafts off of the Fox Theater, a downtown staple venue for concerts and performances, and its vivid tones of orange and neon.
– Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) December 9, 2018
Elsewhere in the league, new player exclusives were debuted, as Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid wore his first themed edition of the HOVR Havoc since signing with Under Armour in October. The All-Star owns the trademark to “The Process” and layered the phrase along the collar of his size-17 sneakers.
Last but not least, Nick Young is back! While expected to fill in a limited role for the injury-riddled Denver Nuggets and provide some much-needed shooting depth, “Swaggy P” has long been one of the most exciting players to follow for his footwear. In his first game with the franchise, he wore an all-yellow patent-leather edition of the Adidas Pro Model, featuring the phrase “Still Swaggy” along the collar of the early 2000s model.
As Adidas remained cautiously optimistic that the 33-year-old would land on a roster during the first half of the season, he kept the faith all along.
“Can’t doubt things when you’re Swaggy P,” Young joked to reporters after his debut.
Check out all of the best sneakers from around the NBA this week, and vote for your favorite pair below in our latest poll. For real-time updates on the feet of the game’s biggest stars, be sure to join our ESPN SneakerCenter Facebook Group.


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Orange Comet, Inc., a premium NFT (Non-Fungible Token) creative media and Web3 experience company, today announced a multi-year partnership with Sid & Marty Krofft Pictures, the creators of beloved classic television series including “H.R. Pufnstuf,” “Land of the Lost,” “The Bugaloos,” and many more. The first project together will focus on the iconic “Land of the Lost,” with the NFTs officially dropping in early Q4 2022.
With its 3D digital design studios, award-winning creative team and innovative technology, Orange Comet specializes in producing industry-leading NFT and blockchain experiences for some of the most valuable brands, IP, and talent in the worlds of sports, music, pop culture and entertainment. Most recently, the company launched a partnership with AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” leading to multiple sold out NFT drops.
“Sid and Marty Krofft are legendary world builders and we’re honored to start our work with them by bringing the world of Land of the Lost back to life through this custom NFT collection,” said Dave Broome, CEO of Orange Comet. “Our ultimate goal is to ensure that all of our Krofft NFTs remain nostalgic and authentic for the original fans, but with a unique, innovative spin on them to draw in and engage new audiences.”
Orange Comet is working closely with the team at Sid & Marty Krofft Pictures and has access to the studio’s massive vault of content, ensuring no detail will be spared in paying homage to these iconic shows and their characters. Learn more about the collection and pre-register at https://orangecomet.com/collection/land-of-the-lost/.
“Digital collectibles are the perfect way for our fans to own their own piece of Land of the Lost, and as a leader in the NFT space, we know Orange Comet’s creativity and technology will wow them,” said Marty Krofft, co-founder of Sid & Marty Krofft Pictures. “We’re looking forward to continuing to collaborate with the team on our other series in the future – stay tuned!”
Sid & Marty Krofft will also be celebrating the launch of the NFT collection at “Krofft Kon” this Saturday, May 21st at the Orinda Theatre in Orinda, CA – the first-ever convention dedicated to the talents and creations of Sid & Marty Krofft. The event will include special appearances by the Kroffts, Pufnstuf, Butch Patrick from “Lidsville,” Wesley Eure and Kathy Coleman from “Land of the Lost,” Johnny Whitaker from “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters,” Sharon Baird from”H.R. Pufnstuf,” “Land of the Lost,” “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters,” and Lidsville, Caroline Ellis from “The Bugaloos,” as well as Christopher Knight from ”The Brady Bunch Hour.”


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THE fun, flair and fashion of carnivale is coming to Orange in the upcoming Slow Summer festival.
Hot weather, festivities and a wide range of family fun is on offer in the 2013 Orange Slow Summer Carnivale program which runs from January 21 to 28.
Taste Orange marketing manager Charlotte Gundry said this year will be bigger and better than ever.
“We’re trying to create a theme around things we do and carnivals express a good, fun time,” she said.
New among the line-up is the Slow Summer Carnivale night market to be held in Robertson Park on Friday January 25.
A smaller version was held in Post Office Lane during last year’s event and that was well attended.
“We’re pretty good at putting on these markets and clearly they’re pretty popular,” she said.
Ms Gundry said while the food and wine component will be there, they are hoping to include a range of other businesses.
“We’re trying to engage different retailers like artists or any business that’s a member of Taste Orange that has a product that’s different to food or wine offerings,” she said.
One of the hugely popular events last year was A Day at the Beach and it will be back again at Lake Canobolas in 2013.
To be held on Sunday, January 27, the event will again feature thumping drums echoing across the water for the dragon boat regatta.
Last year over a dozen corporate, community and school teams were involved in the event, which was affected by rain
“It was a great format last year, the thunderstorm impaired us but it was a great event,” she said.
Keep a look out for the 2013 Orange Slow Summer Carnivale program which will be released soon.


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The Main Street Electrical Parade is a fan-favorite parade that has been made sporadic appearances at three Disney Parks around the world — Walt Disney World in Florida, Disneyland in California, and Disneyland Paris.
The Main Street Electrical Parade recently returned to Disneyland for the first time since September 2018 as it is celebrating its 50th anniversary! And because of this, there is “an all-new, enchanted grand finale that celebrates the theme of togetherness.”
Although the Electrical Parade is ending its run on September 1, Disney just released a new Electrical Light Parade-themed MagicBand+ today, which has caused confusion amongst fans.
The MagicBand+ has the words Disney’s Electrical Light Parade, not Main Street Electrical Parade — which fans were confused by. Additionally, artwork features the floats of the Main Street Electrical Parade, but again, it has a different name on the band.
One Twitter user reached out to Disney to clear things up, to which shopDisney said:
Thanks for your inquiry. Disney’s Electrical Light Parade and MSEP are the same thing. ^KG
Thanks for your inquiry. Disney's Electrical Light Parade and MSEP are the same thing. ^KG
— shopDisney (@shopDisney) August 15, 2022
It is interesting to see that Disney refers to the parade by both names, but we are happy to see Disney clear up the confusion.
D23 describes the parade as:
he parade, featuring half a million tiny lights on floats themed primarily to Disney movies, became one of the most beloved traditions at Disneyland. The park’s lights were dimmed and the illuminated parade snaked from a gate next to “it’s a small world, ” past the Matterhorn, skirted the hub, and then continued down Main Street to conclude at Town Square. The parade’s synthesizer music was based on a piece called “Baroque Hoedown, ” with themes from Disney songs worked in.
Did you know that Disney refers to the parade as both Main Street Electrical Parade and Disney’s Electrical Light Parade? Let us know in the comments below.


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The Huawei P50 series will be available globally, company confirms
Huawei officially confirmed that the P50 series will be unveiled on July 29, that is Thursday next week. And these phones won’t be just for China, a company representative in Finland stated that the P50 flagships will launch globally.
The company will continue to develop its own ecosystem, which already boasts 134,000 apps and has seen 4 million developers sign up for the Harmony platform. Having current phones is a key part of growing the platform.
An official teaser from yesterday confirmed that the Huawei P50 phones will still use Leica cameras and that at least one model will sport a 125 mm periscope lens with an f/3.4 aperture. This seems to be the same lens that was on the P40 Pro and Mate 40 Pro, but rumors are promising new sensors for the P50 generation.
The situation with the chipsets is less clear. Huawei has a dwindling supply of Kirin 9000 chips and may resort to using Snapdragon 888 with 4G-only connectivity. It will be especially interesting how these are divided between units for China and the global market.
- 30 Jul 2021
HarmonyOS is not Android. even Huawei is saying that. and you won't be able to sideload play store on it ever because they are 2 different system. many people think its android but its not.
- 29 Jul 2021
yes, I'm using honor 10 with hms. all right!
- The Don
- 26 Jul 2021
No Google play.


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NEW YORK New trucking regulations scheduled to come into effect in 2013 have some ferroalloys market participants concerned about logistics.
"It will take a lot longer for material to arrive at a destination," one trader said.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrations new regulations, which go into effect July 1, include a requirement that drivers take a mandatory 30-minute break every eight hours, according to the agencys website. This follows on the heels of regulations that prohibit drivers from working more than 14 hours, including time spent loading material.
"They (truck drivers) used to be able to drive 14 hours," the trader said, with drivers previously listed as off-duty when loading material.
The regulations led at least one top logistics executive to conclude that trucking costs are on the rise. "Right now, the industry is in the eye of the storm. There are a lot of fundamental changes going on in motor transport," Jim Ruiz, senior vice president of Pittsburgh-based PLS Logistics Services Inc., said at AMMs Steel Success Strategies XXVII conference in New York (amm.com, June 19).
Fuel surcharges will continue to be part of the logistics story, although some sources are seeing a slight respite from rising prices. "There are rumors that fuel prices by January could be below $3 (per gallon)," a second trader told AMM.
But a third trader expressed skepticism that trucking costs would fall even if fuel prices declined. "Theyre going to put it to us no matter what," he said.
While trucking costs might remain high, shipping rates are steady at low levels due to an oversupply of vessels. "The market is in a total surplus," the second trader said. "Too many vessels came on-stream and theres not enough freight. We can get full vessels from China to the U.S. Gulf for $30 (per tonne) or less."
"Youve seen the Baltic Dry Index (an assessment of the cost of moving goods by sea) plunging," the first trader said.


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Traditional downtown retailers are bracing for the holiday sales season and hoping to attract more shoppers this year.
The Greater Belleville Chamber of Commerce has a number of events planned -- including the annual Santa Parade on Friday -- in an effort to draw people from a wider area.
Chamber Executive Director John Lengerman said the group's efforts include free horse-drawn trolley rides through Belleville's historic shopping and entertainment district, a store window lighting contest and the annual Gingerbread Walk display, where gingerbread creations will be displayed throughout downtown store windows through Jan. 2. Several downtown businesses will also participate in an open house Dec. 1-2.
"We're just enhancing the shopping experience downtown, probably more than in the past," Lengerman said.
Downtown Belleville store owner Kathy Going said these events are a reason why downtown has become the place to shop each Christmas.
"I just think we have a nice holiday environment down here to enjoy with the gingerbread in the windows," Going said. "It's just unique."
Going has operated Bracelets & More at 101 E. Main St. with her sister for the past 11 years. She believes the reconfigured Sreetscape from about four years ago and the recently added restaurants that dot East Main have given the area new life.
"It just seems that there is more foot traffic because we have more restaurants," Going said. "It's becoming more of a destination."
In Edwardsville, store owner Andrea Smith is planning a different take on "the holidays" at Beyond Timbuktu -- for instance, Monkey Day.
Some years the eclectic shop on Edwardsville's Main Street has offered daily holiday-shopping deals based on Christmas carols, and last year it was movie titles to celebrate the reopening of the nearby Wildey Theater.
This year it'll be weird holidays, a different one every day. There really is a Monkey Day, though Beyond Timbuktu might be the only local store to celebrate it.
"A lot of places will tell you that (the holiday season) is where you pull through ... sometimes 50 percent of their annual business," Smith said. "I'd say ours is about three times our usual business. ... That's an extra boost through the lean months."
The city's Parks and Recreation Department is coordinating a Downtown in December campaign to give a holiday feel to shopping and steer more people to Main Street. The city has a vested interest, now that it operates the Wildey Theater, located on Main Street.
"We're very lucky to have the Wildey, but our main focus is to get people downtown, shopping and eating and spreading the holiday cheer," said Hayley McGuire, assistant recreation coordinator and one of the organizers of Downtown in December.
In Collinsville, the annual holiday house tour will be held Dec. 1, which follows a tree lighting ceremony on Nov. 30, where Toys for Tots will be collecting. Santa and his reindeer will appear on Saturday, and the Collinsville Library will host an Art & Author Holiday Market with local authors and artisans offering their goods for sale.
Downtown Coordinator Leah Joyce said a lot of Main Street businesses will run individual promotions throughout the holidays and will stay late on key days. "Like the big retailers, it's a major portion of their revenue," she said.
Naomi Brown said she usually comes across something unique to buy when she shops in downtown Belleville. The 20-year-old consumer said she likes to shop the stores along East Main Street to find gifts that she can't always find at the mall.
"I usually like to come here to find interesting things," the Fairview Heights resident said. "I like to walk in and look at things. "It's not rushed like at the mall with the mall traffic."
Belleville residents Bill and Terry Casperson said have seen the downtown shopping district transform into a more alluring destination for shoppers.
"As we were driving down Main Street, we were noticing just how good the downtown looks," Bill Casperson said. "It's really inviting. There's good restaurants to choose from. It's really good."


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The Associated Press reported on July 21 that activist investor Carl Icahn started pushing Motorola, which holds 17,000 patents, to start enforcing them in an effort to boost profits. After the news of Icahn’s recommendation surfaced, stocks for Motorola jumped.
The AP report reads:
There’s a scramble for patents by technology companies as they seek to shore up their litigation defenses. Nearly every maker of smartphones is suing another manufacturer over patents.
Enter, the National Public Radio program “This American Life,” which broadcast a report Sunday on “patent trolls,” companies that do not produce the products for which they hold a patent but sue other companies once they eventually do. Think “Three Billy Goats Gruff.” During the broadcast, the analogy to the children’s story was suggested by Intel’s former director of patents, Peter Detkin who coined the phrase “patent trolls. ” Keep that in mind, since we’ll get back to Detkin later.
The dissatisfaction with the current patent system in Silicon Valley is well known. Publications such as Technology Review and TechDirt write frequently about patent trolling. And the company that has received the most attention in the patent troll debate is Intellectual Ventures, which was founded by Microsoft’s former chief strategist and chief technology officer Nathan Myhrvold. The company owns a number of patents and has been vigilant in pursuing individuals and companies they deem to be in violation of them. Intellectual Ventures’s investor list is a who’s-who of influential tech companies and universities, including eBay, Apple, Brown University, Cornell University, Cisco Systems, Adobe Systems, Intel and Microsoft — just to name a few. (PDF)
Myhrvold, of course, objects to the term “patent troll,” writing this in a column for Bloomberg:
Once upon a time in the clubby atmosphere of corporate America, hostile takeovers were rare; gentlemen just didn’t do such things. Then, in the 1960s, the hostile takeovers came to be accepted as a legitimate business tool. Similarly, the strategic use of patents now appears to be accepted in the technology industry.
Given this, it is no surprise that Intellectual Ventures was at the center of the report by “This American Life” — to the annoyance of the company. After the broadcast, Intellectual Ventures released a statement to the publication Geek Wire saying the report “distracted listeners from the real issue” and that “some of their characterizations of patents in general and of [Intellectual Ventures] specifically were colorful and dramatic, and some were just absurd.”
Gizmodo senior reporter Mat Honan disagrees, arguing that patent trolling is suffocating America’s ability to innovate, particularly in the technology sector. Honan wrote on Tuesday, “These are the tapeworms crawling through the nutrient-rich belly of American innovation, full of bile and [expletive], slowly starving us to death.”
Who said patent law was boring?
Patents are such a fundamental part of the U.S. economic fabric that their existence is codified in the Constitution. But the framers of the Constitution weren’t writing with the Internet in mind. Lawmakers, recognizing this, crafted a patent reform bill, which the Houseof Representatives passed. The bill would change the law from granting first patent rights to the “first to invent” to the “first to file” — a boon for companies in the business of buying, selling and enforcing patents.
It’s clear there is deep disagreement on this issue. Some fear that current patent law, and the changes that could come about as a result of the patent reform bill, could choke off the very same innovation that led to Silicon Valley’s boom. Others, as has been noted, disagree, saying that patents are a necessary and integral part of a healthy and robust marketplace of products and ideas.
More on innovation:


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This much we can all agree on: Passwords suck.
With that in mind, companies are hard at work developing other forms of user-friendly authentication. Fingerprinting is already being used to unlock iPhones and the PayPal app on Samsung phones, Ford just filed a patent to use fingerprints to verify drivers, and Intel made a venture capital investment in a company that would bring iris authentication to tablets and PCs. Now it appears that heartbeats may be the new frontier for biometric authentication.
About a year ago, Bionym created the Nymi bracelet, powered by the fact that each human being has a unique cardiac rhythm. The Nymi senses a user’s individual heartwave pattern, translating it into a form of identification. So far, it has been used to help users sign in to computers, but as of today, the Nymi will be able to unlock physical doors. At a launch event at the ASIS security conference in Atlanta, Bionym announced that it is partnering with Brivo Labs, a firm creating technology that authenticates users who need clearance to enter a given space, such as a hotel room, a government building, or even a coffee shop bathroom.
“Your heartbeat is consistent, which makes it different from an iris or fingerprint which needs to be scanned,” says Lee Odess, general manager at Brivo Labs. “This makes it a frictionless form of identification, since you don’t need to stop to be verified.”
The Nymi bracelet pushes out a Bluetooth signal identifying the wearer and when it is read by devices embedded with Brivo Labs software, doors and gates will automatically open. Brivo Labs’ technology is already integrated into office spaces, replacing check-in tasks typically done by receptionists or security guards. Odess says the Nymi could potentially do other things too, like switch on lights when you enter a room, control your car, or turn on your computer. To prevent fraud, the Nymi only works with one user and the system shuts down if the wrong person wears it.
But the Nymi is only a small glimpse into the future of wearable identification. “We are now beginning to see technology that allows people to present themselves to spaces and in response, spaces know what to do with this knowledge,” says Odess. This means that, while opening doors and unlocking passwords are a starting point, the next step would be to offer the consumer personalized information, such as the specific seat they are assigned to at a baseball game or that a concession stand several feet away that might trigger a peanut allergy.
“It’s not just about a signing in,” says Odess. “It’s about bringing attributes about yourself so that you can have a curated experience.”
In the digital realm, companies provide targeted advertising to specific consumers; it is possible that in the near future, consumers will have similar experiences in the physical world, with companies providing tailored services and products based on consumer information connected to their biometrics.


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Kaepernick Gets Nike to Pull Betsy Ross Flag Themed Sneaker
Nike pulled a “Betsy Ross Flag” themed sneaker from retailers because former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick told the company it was offensive, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The story claims Kaepernick approached the company expressing thoughts that “…he and others felt the Betsy Ross flag is an offensive symbol because of its connection to an era of slavery.”
A Nike spokesperson said, “Nike has chosen not to release the Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July as it featured the old version of the American flag.”
Kaepernick ignited protests during the National Anthem at NFL games in 2016 which spread to other sporting events and despite the controversy, Nike chose Kaepernick to promote the company’s 30th anniversary of its famous “Just Do It” advertising campaign.
Kaepernick Tweeted about 30th Anniversary:
Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything. #JustDoIt pic.twitter.com/SRWkMIDdaO
— Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) September 3, 2018
Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria” reported on Nike pulling the sneaker out of circulation.
Nike got significant pushback following news reports about the decision not to sell the “Betsy Ross Flag” themed sneaker.
Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz slammed Nike in a Tweet:
It’s a good thing @Nike only wants to sell sneakers to people who hate the American flag…. @NFL #HappyFourth https://t.co/G6w8vDjvLP
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 2, 2019
Arizona Republican Governor Doug Ducey is eliminating tax incentives for a Nike facility in the state.
Nike has made its decision, and now we’re making ours. I’ve ordered the Arizona Commerce Authority to withdraw all financial incentive dollars under their discretion that the State was providing for the company to locate here. 7/
— Doug Ducey (@DougDucey) July 2, 2019
It’s outrageous a social activist can persuade Nike, an American multinational company worth billions of dollars, to pull a sneaker from the marketplace.
Nike’s decision sets up a horrible precedent for more brand destroying social activism.