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AT&T has released a new product, dubbed the LTE-M Button, that companies will be able to purchase and configure to give their customers new ways to interact with them, according to The Verge.
The new product is similar in use to Amazon’s Dash Buttons — clickable devices the e-commerce giant sells that allow consumers to instantly reorder a product with one press — though the telco’s only offering its device to businesses in bulk, with orders starting at 500 units. AT&T’s button also differs from Amazon’s Dash in that it uses the telco’s LTE-M low-powered network for connectivity rather than Wi-Fi, offering businesses increased versatility and a number of key advantages.
Businesses will be able to program the buttons to allow users to request services, provide feedback, or notify the company of issues with a single press. The LTE-M button utilizes Amazon’s AWS protocols that allow it to perform many of the functions that a Dash button can, such as instant ordering. But its programmability also allows companies to move beyond commerce. Hotels or restaurants, for instance, could place the devices in restrooms or other public spaces and program them for guests to press if a room is dirty, for instance, rather than finding a staff member.
They could also be used at construction sites, where workers could request a shipment from a warehouse or supplier when they’re running low on equipment. The advantage of this sort of single-purpose device is that it makes these requests simpler by reducing the number of steps a worker or consumer needs to take to remedy a regularly occurring issue.
Using the LTE-M network could be the driving factor behind the success of AT&T's new button. Deployments of the device won’t be limited to areas where a company has existing network infrastructure to support a Wi-Fi setup, making use of the telco's LTE-M network critical. This is what would make a construction use case possible, as well as enable smart city projects, such as deploying connected trash cans from which workers could press a button to request pickup.
AT&T has been rolling out its LTE-M network over the past year, building it on the back of its LTE high-speed cellular network. The network will be able to offer a wide variety of IoT capabilities, meeting the low-power requirements of many connected devices that use limited data to provide key insights to companies. Business Insider Intelligence forecasts that low-power wide-area network connections will surpass 2 billion by 2023, and versatile devices like AT&T’s LTE-M Button will help to drive adoption.


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The internet landscape in South Africa has changed drastically over the last couple of years, with prices plummeting and speeds rising in both the mobile and fixed line markets. As a result, gamers are finding they have better access to the internet than in years past.
We caught up with some South Africa’s large ISPs to find out if there is a business case in the SA market for gaming-centric ADSL accounts.
Keoma Wright, OpenWeb CEO, said “There most definitely is. On our Silver, Gold, and Platinum Uncapped, and Gold and Platinum Capped accounts, we prioritise gaming traffic. It also helps that our upstream provider has a node in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and soon Durban, allowing for intelligent routing to take place dependant on a clients location. In English, this means lower latency.”
Brand Manager at Afrihost, Tyler Theron, said that they tweak and prioritise traffic between their ADSL clients and their AfriGamer servers. He added that there is a case for gamer-centric ADSL products, and that in future they may add features such as free game content downloads from mirrors.
Web Africa Games Master, Robert Tait, said that “while we don’t offer specialised ADSL products for gaming, per se, it is safe to say that our home and business products are optimised for gaming and that a decent gaming experience will in no doubt result from using our accounts even though they may not be branded for gaming specifically.”
“Low latency, packet loss and jitter are important factors for gamers; being in a intense battle on Caspian Border only to end up dead without reason due to lag problems, is not fun. We address this issue by prioritizing all gaming traffic on our network.”
“Gaming traffic is identified and matched correctly generally. However, with newer titles, traffic may not be matched correctly immediately after the launch of the game title. Gaming traffic is tricky to identify, with various ports, protocols and dynamic IP addresses from end-users involved, it’s difficult to provide clear statistics about gamers,” said Tait.
Nathier Kasu, general manager at MWEB Digital said: “MWEB gives gaming traffic priority, ensuring online gamers of low latency, without the need for a specific gaming product. Zero-rating of content makes sense in a capped world, but with an affordable unthrottled uncapped ADSL account it is no longer relevant.”
“As gaming becomes more mainstream, a gamer-centric ADSL account becomes the norm and we have taken the view that our efforts around ensuring interactive services like gaming work well across our range of products is a more robust approach anticipating future customer needs. Bundling an ADSL product and a gaming-specific value-added service is entirely another topic and there is potential for this kind of service to exist in the future,” said Kasu.
“We don’t believe there is value in a specialised [gaming] ADSL product on the access side, unless such a product consistently and comprehensively outperforms a ‘standard’ ADSL product,” said Kasu.

domain: news


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Electric vehicle pioneer confirms it delivered more than 10,000 cars during the first quarter of the year
Tesla Motors saw its share price jump nearly six per cent yesterday following the publication late last week of sales figures for the first quarter that beat expectations. The high profile electric...
Chemicals sector raises safety fears if 'no deal' throws regulations into flux, as fresh batch of technical notices released
UN Environment's Erik Solheim reflects on how to reframe corporate social responsibility and the importance of the SDGs for the business community
The BusinessGreen Sustainable Development Goals Hub
New poll reveals over 70 per cent of leading green corporates are either using the SDGs or intend to use them to set targets


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The Department of Health consultation on the future of tobacco packaging closed on Friday. Since it launched, we’ve been running our campaign – “The answer is plain” – to raise awareness of the consultation and gather support for the removal of slickly designed and highly colourful tobacco packaging.
We launched the campaign in April with this hard-hitting video showing how children responded to different cigarette packs:
Unscripted and unprompted, the compelling footage makes it impossible to deny that children find tobacco packaging attractive and appealing.
The researchers also ran a series of focus groups with a cross section of different 15 year olds. They found that some branded packs had an emotional impact, with teenagers saying things like “It looks as if you’re more mature. Better and more popular” and “It makes me feel quite cool … It makes you feel stylish and that, kind of upper class.”
Talking about feminine ‘superslim’ cigarette, girls said things like: “If any of them are attractive, it’s that one just because it’s kind of perfume shaped” and “They look too colourful to be harmful.”
It’s clearly wrong that cigarette packs are sending this message.
Of course, packaging is not the only reason that children start smoking – peer pressure and role models will always have a strong influence. But the evidence shows that packs do matter. Putting cigarettes in packs of a uniform size, shape and colour with prominent health warnings will give millions of children one less reason to start smoking.
We also want to be clear that plain packaging is not about stigmatising smokers. Cigarettes will still be available for adults to buy, just without the glitzy, attractive pack designs.
With the video, we released a report called “The packaging of tobacco products”, which outlines how packaging is used by the tobacco industry and how young people perceive tobacco packaging.
The report found that packaging is a key part of marketing for all consumer goods, including tobacco. Researchers looked at the evidence from the tobacco industry’s internal documents, which were released as part of legal action in the USA in the late 1990s.
It is striking how even before comprehensive restrictions on traditional advertising, packaging was key and that it only became more important after traditional forms of advertising – billboards, magazines etc – were outlawed. A systematic survey of the retail press brought the evidence from the tobacco industry up-to-date and found that just in the last few years, mentions of new packs and variations of the main brands had grown.
Nobody likes to think that they’re being influenced by advertising and branding, and a person’s responses to them may not be overtly conscious. But the very fact that millions of pounds are pumped into the packaging designs of everyday goods shows that businesses know that packaging and branding helps to sell their products. Why would tobacco be different?
We must ensure children are not exposed to this silent salesman when it comes to cigarettes.
It’s been a busy four months for our plain packaging campaign and we’ve had a fantastic response with around 80,000 of you signing up to our campaign. On top of this, our partners – the Smokefree Action Coalition – have collected even more, so it’s great to see such a huge amount of public support for this measure.
We want to thank all our supporters who have signed up to the campaign and shown their support.
Throughout the campaign our supporters and campaigners have been extremely busy and supportive. In June we held a reception in Westminster where some of our Cancer Campaigns Ambassadors met to discuss plain packaging and urge their local MPs to support our campaign. It was a great day and further showed the commitment and passion of our supporters to reduce the impact of tobacco.
More than 80 of the ambassadors and volunteers “de-branded” themselves in Westminster’s Parliament Square to highlight how incredibly powerful brands are – and to show that tobacco is one brand our children can live without.
The tobacco industry makes millions of pounds every year selling a product that kills half of all its long term users. It wasn’t surprising that we would face opposition to plain packaging from various quarters, including libertarians, pro-smokers and the tobacco industry.
Some of the flawed arguments against plain packs claimed there was no evidence this will reduce smoking rates; that this would be a smugglers charter and increase counterfeit and smuggled tobacco; and that business would suffer. JTI (Japan Tobacco International) also launched a £2million campaign to fight against plain packaging. We’ve addressed these arguments in our previous posts, pointing out the errors in these arguments and highlighting the tactics of the tobacco industry.
The Department of Health will now consider all the responses and submissions to the consultation and report back. We’re not sure when that will be but we’ll be following the issue closely, so watch this space.
David Collins September 1, 2012
I would not worry about the raw numbers involved in the petition sadbutmadlad, this argument will be won or lost on facts being presented to our elected representatives. It’s easy to mislead people with myths and scare stories when most people don’t have the opportunity to hear both sides of the debate. I have yet to meet anyone outside political and campaigning circles that fully understands the arguments for this measure. There has been a lot of jibes and heckling from the anti plain pack lobby. There’s one one this comment thread. It’s ALL they have to say. They cannot argue a case because they do not have one. But they will have to come up with somthing better than “squelch” to impress the average MP.
sadbutmadlad August 20, 2012
Pity more people signed petitions against the plain pack idea than for.
Belinda Cunnison August 13, 2012
hard-hitting video? squelch!


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Sonalika records 17,130 overall tractors sales in Oct, registers 5.5% growth to surpass industry growth (est: 3.6%). It’s highest ever YTD Oct’21 overall sales stands at 85,068 tractors
02 Nov, 2021
Having right mindset at the right place at the right time has always propelled Sonalika to offer technologically advanced farming solutions to its customers. The company has outperformed all its previous benchmarks to win farmer’s trust and clock highest ever YTD sales of 85,068 tractors
New Delhi, 2nd Nov’21: Festive season celebrations in India are at their peak and Sonalika Tractors is going full throttle ahead to address farmer’s haulage and farm related requirements. One of India’s fastest growing tractor brand and the No 1 exports brand from the country, Sonalika Tractors is proud to receive a staggering response once again for its farmer centric, customised tractor portfolio during the on-going festive season. Sonalika has registered its highest ever YTD figures of 85,068 overall tractor sales in FY’22, recording a growth of 6.56% over 79,829 units sold in the same period last year. As farmers continue to aggressively adopt farm mechanisation solutions in the country, Sonalika has registered overall tractor sales of 17,130 tractors in October’21, registers 5.5% growth to surpass industry growth (est: 3.6%).
Sonalika has adopted a multi-pronged approach to boost farm mechanisation and take farmers towards farm prosperity in an affordable way. Be it product innovation, offering customized state specific tractors, newer categories and markets or optimising services – having right mindset at the right place at the right time has propelled the company to offer technologically advanced farming solutions to its customers. Sonalika’s advanced technology powered premium tractors such as Tiger and Sikander DLX along with region-specific tractors such as Chhatrapati (for Maharashtra) & Mahabali (for Telangana) have lately been joined by the Maharaja, a fully customised tractors especially designed for farmers in Rajasthan. Sonalika’s hi-tech tractors are rolled out from its World’ No.1 vertically integrated tractor manufacturing plant in Hoshiarpur, Punjab which is a perfect example of being ‘Vocal for Local’ and powers the company to take the ‘Local to Global’ to further strengthen its global leadership position. Among the Indian manufacturers, Sonalika dominates in the international market with over 25% market share (TMA FY’21).
Sharing his thoughts on the dominant performance, Mr Raman Mittal, Executive Director, Sonalika Tractors, said “Festive season is mostly the time when farmers are more than willing to upgrade their existing tractor range with advanced technologies that could further increase their productivity as well as income. I feel overwhelmed to announce that the supreme trust of farmers in Sonalika’s heavy duty portfolio has once again enabled us to set new benchmark in our magnificent journey. We have clocked our highest ever YTD Oct’21 sales of 85,068 units with 6.56% growth. In line with Sonalika’s DNA of keeping farmer’s requirements at the core, we started preparing ourselves after Q1 FY’22 itself so that our customised tractors offer the best value for money package to farmers across the world. I also feel excited to share that we have also registered 17,130 overall tractor sales in October’21 to register 5.5% growth, surpassing industry growth (est: 3.6%) . Rising adoption of farm mechanisation coupled with the introduction of precision farming to increase productivity has been significantly driving the Indian tractors market and Sonalika remains fully committed to move faster towards its vision of ‘Leading Agri Evolution’ across the world.”
About the Company:
Sonalika Tractors, one of India’s leading tractor manufacturers and the No.1 Exports brand from India, has established its robust presence in the domestic as well as in over 130 countries with 12 lakh+ customers. Sonalika manufactures the widest heavy duty tractor range in 20-120 HP and 70+ implements at its Hoshiarpur facility in Punjab that caters to the varied needs of customers across the globe. Being a farmer-centric brand, the Govt. of India has chosen Sonalika as the only tractor brand to contribute for the inspirational project of Niti-Aayog to double the farmer’s income in the country by 2022.
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The announcement was made by Volkswagen brand CEO Herbert Diess at an event in the Pacheco plant, attended by Argentine President Mauricio Macri and the governor of Buenos Aires province, Maria Eugenia Vidal
BUENOS AIRES – German auto manufacturer Volkswagen announced on Friday that it will invest $650 million in its plant in the Buenos Aires town of Pacheco, where it will begin production of a new model in 2020.
The announcement was made by Volkswagen brand CEO Herbert Diess at an event in the Pacheco plant, attended by Argentine President Mauricio Macri and the governor of Buenos Aires province, Maria Eugenia Vidal.
“We plan to invest around $650 million. With that we will guarantee the future of the plant and the jobs in Pacheco,” Diess said.
The CEO said that in 2020 this plant will begin production of a new model of its sport-utility vehicle (SUV).
“I wish to thank the government and President Macri for their close collaboration and for the help they have provided in recent months,” Diess said.
At the event, Macri described as “good news” the announcement of the German automaker’s investment.
“It makes me very proud every time people decide to count on us. This investment signifies that many very intelligent experts in Germany evaluated different countries and possibilities and decided they will once again invest in Argentina,” the Argentine president said.
Macri noted the policies and accords reached among companies, labor unions and the government in Argentina’s automotive sector, and said that a record 780,000 vehicles have been sold in Argentina so far this year.


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Last month, we learned that Rihanna has partnered with Samsung for an unprecedented $25 million deal to sponsor her upcoming album and tour. Now, she’s announced a new website alongside the South Korean electronics giant called AntiDiary.com.
The singer took to Instagram to share a brief clip, in which we see a montage of images that ends by asking the question, “Are you in?”
“Excited to share this with you!! #ANTIdiaRy,” she wrote in the caption.
When you head to AntiDiary.com on your mobile device, you will be asked to sign up so that you can get “more of the story soon.”
The newly formed website is just the latest promotion strategy building up to the released of Rihanna’s ANTI.


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Samsung Galaxy M40 is now official after a horde of rumours, leaks, and celebrity promotions gave everything away. Galaxy M40 is the first smartphone outside the flagship Galaxy S series to come with a punch-hole display. There are three cameras as well on the smartphone that are touted to offer better photography than the rest
NEW DELHI: Samsung has launched its fourth device in the Galaxy M Series-- Galaxy M40. Inspired by the flagship Galaxy S10 and S10e smartphones, the new Galaxy M40 is the...The Times of India 2019-06-11
World's leading smartphone-maker Samsung unveiled the new Galaxy M40 in India. The first thing you notice in the Galaxy M40 is the Infinity -O display design, a first for M...Deccan Herald 2019-06-12
Samsung Galaxy M40 with Infinity-O display, 6GB RAM launched in India: Price, specifications and features
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The recently launched Samsung Galaxy M40 smartphone is all set to go on its first sale today. The handset will be available on e-commerce site Amazon.in and Samsung e-store at 12pm today. Potential buyers can head to either of the platforms to grab one for themselves. Samsung Galaxy M40: Price and offers Samsung has announced only one variant of Galaxy M40. The smartphone packs...The Times of India 2019-06-18
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Samsung's fourth Galaxy M phone, the Galaxy M40, will go on sale in India today for the first time. The Galaxy M40 is an online-only product that will be available via Amazon India and Samsung's online store at 12pm. The Galaxy M40 highlights an Infinity-O punch-hole display, triple cameras and a Snapdragon 675 chipset, among other things. The Galaxy M40 price in India is set...Yahoo Daily News 2019-06-18
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Every year, a similar trend emerges among the Trinity student body as the days begin to grow shorter. The temperature appears to be the only thing dropping faster than the average student’s enthusiasm to attend lectures. There only seems to be one necessary activity to pursue, only one phrase to utter, only one text message to type: “Will we just go for coffee?” Ara, go on, replies the average student, throwing caution to the wind (as well as the majority of their belongings in the current weather situation that our fair nation currently finds ourselves in). Then comes the inevitable discussion over where one can locate the finest cup of joe and instead of fifty minutes typing frantically on your MacBook or, God forbid, actually scribbling on some good old fashioned refill pad paper, thousands of students enter a caffeine induced haze of joy and return to campus full of new hope and confidence for the library sessions that lie ahead.
Over 2.25 billion cups of coffee are drank daily all around the globe and the consumption of coffee has risen by 43% over the past 15 years. In 2014, coffee sales in Ireland reached €81 million, according to Euromonitor consumer report. Coffee is the second most traded commodity after oil. In a post published by the now “Tab” article-obsessed Facebook page “Spotted at TCD” last year, a bin overflowing with empty takeaway cups of coffee illustrated the Trinity student body’s capability to consume high quantities of caffeine, a fact supported by over 1.2 thousand likes the photo accumulated. However, as the trend of coffee consumption in Ireland continues to rise, a lack of awareness about the threat to the current availability of coffee due to the inescapable climate change exists.
When we are asked to ponder the troubling topics of global warming, it is evident that many of us would not even consider that our beloved beverage of choice would be threatened by the changes that are occurring at rapid speed. The main- and most frightening- images that come to mind when discussing such themes usually involve the unstoppable rise of temperatures, more natural disasters and the melting of ice caps in Antarctica. All of these factors cannot be wilfully ignored nor understated any longer. The importance of this subject is constantly stressed in recent times.
At the moment, the United Nations Climate Change Conference is occurring in Paris until the 11th of December. Ahead of this gathering last Sunday, hundreds of thousands of climate change activists participated in over 2000 events across the globe to pressure world leaders into making a true effort into achieving their aims of the conference- the production of a legally binding agreement between developed nations to curb greenhouse emissions after 2020. The many effects of climate change are wider than many of us have fully considered and may eventually affect your morning brew.
There are 124 different species of coffee in existence all over the globe. However, it is likely that out of all these varying types, you have only come into contact with the two most popular. In second place lies Robusta, which makes up 30% of the earth’s coffee production and mainly features in the production of instant coffee. However, the undisputed king of the coffee species is known as Arabica, contributing the other 70% of the market share.
Grown most commonly in Ethiopia, Brazil, Vietnam and Columbia, the plant is actually quite fragile. The sensitive crop can only withstand the certain environmental factors that it has become adapted to. However due to climate change, the crop has had to endure many unexpected changes to their circumstances, including higher temperatures, long droughts punctuated by intense rainfall, more resilient pests and plant diseases. These drastic changes have impacted the growth, flowering and fruiting of the plant and have led to lower crop yields for continuous years. Naturally, this can only lead to increases of prices internationally by 25% due to decreases in supply and higher wholesale prices.
Many major research studies have been completed that offer startling insights into the future of coffee production if change is not accommodated for. In 2012, research completed by the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, England conveyed the stark reality for wild coffee in Ethiopia, where Arabica originated. The grave figures they gathered predicted that the number of locations where it would be possible for wild Arabica coffee to grow could be reduced by 85% by 2080. A joint report published by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security attempts to forecast the situation the coffee industry will find themselves in in 2050. Brazil alone could see its coffee stock depleted by 25% by 2050.
Simply planting more plants alongside those who have flourished in the past and hoping for the best is not an option in this situation. It takes three to five years to be able to harvest coffee from a plant for the first time. One of the most vocal about the challenges the industry has to face has been Doctor Timothy Schilling, executive director of the World Coffee Research institute, which is funded by the global coffee industry. In an interview with BBC News, he was frank about the disconnect between those who consume the coffee and those who produce: “”Richer countries buy it, roast it and drink it, but have not paid for the agronomy. Only now is the industry waking up and seeing the need for it. The coffee industry has realised no-one else is doing it – it’s going to have to be us.”
So now before you feel a frenzied urge to go out and consume as much caffeine as possible, there have been many plans and ideas considered and discussed to prevent the eventual wipe-out of the crop. A relatively simple strategy that has emerged is to move the plants to a higher and cool area in order to attempt to avoid the general increase in temperatures. However, this remains an unfeasibility in several low lying nations, particularly Brazil where coffee is produced on plains. Adaption manoeuvres also remain a possibility, for example the planting of trees to offer shade to the crops.
The main battlefield where the struggle for the revival for the Arabica crop is fought is not on the flat open plains of Brazil or the peaks of Ethiopia. Instead, the future of the crop lies within a laboratory. Schilling explains that the eventual aim is “to recreate Arabica, but with better breeding.” At present, the crop lacks diversity, making it more susceptible to picking up illnesses. This will not be a simple nor a swift process. Schilling believes that the process will span decades as it involves old fashioned breeding with the introduction of some modern techniques. Furthermore, an agenda that the World Coffee Research institute have endorsed is another breeding program, involving both Robusta and Arabica: “We need to take all the good things of Robusta and combine them with Arabica. Robusta is hardy and produces a lot, but it has a notoriously awful taste.”
The complete extinction of coffee from our daily lives remains almost as likely as students ignoring the 50% off Insomnia promotion. So continue to savour your daily cappuccino, your latte, your flat white and if you have notions, your macchiato and chai latte. However it is worth bearing in mind that changes to your daily cuppa may still occur. Unavoidable price increases are hovering over the horizon that may make your heart skip a beat- almost like the aftermath of that triple shot Americano during those blasted study weeks.


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Virtual attendees of this year’s E3 2021 digital show will be able to enjoy all of its content at no cost. This is according to the organizers behind the popular game industry trade event, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), who tweeted a clarification today following rumors of select content being locked behind a paywall. The E3 2021 digital show is expected to comprise keynote sessions, an awards show, and possibly even game demos streamed via NVIDIA’s GeForce NOW platform.
E3’s 2021 digital show is a free event for all attendees. We’re excited to fill you in on all the real news for the event very soon. https://t.co/HzTzaQEosx— E3 (@E3) April 1, 2021
Multiple publishing sources told VGC this month that the event organiser had pitched plans to charge a fee for some of 2021’s planned content, such as on-demand game demos or a ‘premium’ package with extra access. One source suggested that the premium package had been pitched to publishers at $35. However, in a statement issued after the publication of our story, The ESA provided additional comment denying it would charge for E3 content.


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Place: NASCAR Plaza
Affinia Group Inc. close to completing HQ move to Gastonia
Affinia Group Inc. can now call Gastonia home after most of its executives have moved into company offices in a headquarters relocation from Ann Arbor, Mich.
And it’s just in time for today’s celebration of the 75 th anniversary of its subsidiary, Wix Filtration Corp., which employs about 1,200 workers in four facilities in Gaston County.
Keith Wilson, Affinia president and CEO, updated me on the move during a break in the celebration this morning at what has become the headquarters for both companies: 1 Wix Way, off U.S. Highway 321 on the south side of Gastonia.
After selling its brake unit in 2013 and its chassis unit earlier this year, the company found its 50-employee stand-alone headquarters in Michigan was a big money drain, he says.
“We didn’t need as much of a corporate presence,” he says.
Affinia was also a smaller company after the sales, dropping to $1.5 billion in annual revenue from $2.5 billion. What remains of Affinia is Wix and Affinia South America, which makes and distributes automobile after-market supplies.
Today, Affinia employs about 4,500 workers in the United States, central and south America, Canada, Europe and Asia.
Affinia announced in October that it planned to shift its corporate headquarters to Gastonia after spinning off its brakes unit that makes Raybestos brand of automobile brakes. The company had also hired Steve Klueg of Charlotte as its new CFO.
Wilson has lived in the Charlotte area for his entire 14 years with Affinia.
At today’s anniversary celebration, employees were treated to lunch and local politicians and chamber officials presented letters and proclamations of thanks to Wix. Wix also donated $7,500 to Gaston County Schools to kick off its annual school supply drive.
Wix has always been supportive of the Gaston County community, Wilson says.
The company was founded in 1939 in a former textile mill in Gastonia, using cotton trimmings to create automobile filters. Wix says it invented the twist-on oil filter for car engines.
Ken Elkins covers manufacturing, international business and economic development for the Charlotte Business Journal.
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Deloitte predicts the number of insurance price comparison websites in the UK will shrink to just five within two years due to a lack of competition in the sector.
Price comparison sites, or aggregators as they are known in the industry, are now an established part of the motor insurance market.
But the accountancy giant is predicting an 'aggregator crunch' due to a lack of competitiveness as insurers are facing challenges in increasing sales volume and profitability in a market with continually falling customer retention. Derek Wright, insurance partner at Deloitte in Scotland, said: "As the motor insurance market generated its 14th consecutive underwriting loss in 2008, the industry now faces an 'aggregator' crunch. Aggregators accounted for 38 per cent of new motor insurance business last year, so insurers need a clearly defined strategy on how to take advantage of them."
Atpresent a small number of aggregators dominate the market, and barriers to entry, such as advertising spend, leaves smaller companies unable to compete. Deloitte anticipates there will only be five major players in the motor insurance arena within two years unless anew aggregator enters the market with a significant marketing budget or a highly innovative offering.
"Aggregators have aggressively increased their advertising spend," Wright said, "with the 'Big 5' aggregators having increased their combined TV advertising spend by 90 per cent to £80million in 2008.
'This represented nearly 2.5 per cent of total TV advertising in 2008, which is a significant amount.
"Research conducted by YouGov for Deloitte in May suggests that 66 per cent of consumers are unlikely to purchase insurance online from an unknown brand, so having a well-known and respected brand is vital for insurers to enjoy success on aggregators, and in this day and age brand awareness has never been so important."
Wright believes insurers will have few options other than increasing prices and waiting for the market to follow while customers continue to look for the best deal, or else fighting it out to increase market share.
However, he suggests businesses with strong brands and significant market share can 'go it alone' without aggregators and directly compete with them.


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To understand the scope of the profit boom that is occurring at Qantas, consider where market forecasts for the six months ending December 31 sat just six weeks ago.
Analysts had expected the airline’s underlying profit before tax for the first half of the 2023 financial year to come in between $350 million and $600 million, as Qantas continued to recover from the pandemic and fought through a savage consumer backlash caused by its poor operational performance.
But on October 13, chief executive Alan Joyce shocked the market: earnings would actually come in between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion.
Turns out that was just a warm-up. On Wednesday, with the peak summer flying season looming out the cockpit window, Qantas has delivered yet another upgrade, revealing it now expects earnings of between $1.35 billion and $1.45 billion.
It’s a $150 million jump in profit in a bit over a month – and a staggering $1 billion jump on where some analyst forecasts sat at the start of last month.
Qantas shares surged 5 per cent on Wednesday, and have climbed 45 per cent since their most recent low in July, when the airline’s operational performance created that wave of consumer anger.
There’s no question that the anger was white-hot and very real. But this is Australia, a land of sweeping plains and market concentration.
Travellers might have fumed and muttered about boycotting Qantas, but where else could they go? In the end, many have realised that in a three-player market, they have little choice but to pay their money, take their seat and stow their tray table.
Indeed, customers aren’t just flying Qantas, they are paying plenty to do so – profit keeps smashing market expectations despite the fact the airline’s fuel bill is set to hit $5 billion for the full financial year, which Qantas says would be a record.
Government data suggests fares for the cheapest seats haven’t been as high as they are now since September 2007; by way of example, a quick scan of the Qantas website suggests the cheapest flights from Sydney to Melbourne and back in a week’s time is about $885.
Even airport operators (who are admittedly best of frenemies with airlines) believe fares are unsustainable. Melbourne Airport chief executive Lorie Argus told The Australian Financial Review Infrastructure Summit on Monday that airfares “are not sustainable where [they are] if we are ever going to truly recover [from the pandemic-induced slump].”
But for now, Qantas is simply being swamped by demand. It says consumers are prioritising travel ahead of other discretionary spending and if they can’t get on an international flight (for reasons of reduced capacity, high prices or both) they appear to be redirecting those dollars into domestic travel – where prices have also moved up, of course.
Travellers are booking further in advance to try and grab cheaper flights, and Qantas is offering some sale flights via its Jetstar brand to keep customers sweet.
Improving profitability is giving Joyce plenty of options. Qantas’ net debt is now expected to be between $2.3 billion and $2.5 billion at the end of December, a $900 million improvement on the airline’s projections last month. The deferral of $200 million of capital expenditure into the second half of the financial year – mainly due to supply chain interruptions - will also help improve net debt.
And with the controversial $400 million buyback that Qantas announced in August now 76 per cent complete, the airline said pointedly on Wednesday that its debt position would allow it to further consider shareholder returns at its half-year results in February.
Qantas is feeling good about its operational performance heading into the holiday period; on-time data has continued to improve in October and the $200 million Joyce wisely poured into rostering on more staff, hiring more staff, and having spare planes ready to go, is helping the airline get through a national spike in COVID-19 cases and some severe weather issues in November, particularly with high winds.
Joyce will want a smooth Christmas period to avoid the traveller backlash it experienced earlier in the year. But he heads into this period with serious tailwinds lifting profits and the Qantas share price.
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ONE of Europe's largest mobile phone resellers aims to drive revenues to #100m by 2008 - and may float on the stock market.
Cardiff-headquartered Communications Direct Ltd (CDL) is currently reselling 9,000 mobile contracts - with new handsets - every month. It biggest contract is with 3G mobile network 3.
In a move which boosts the management team, financier Jeremy Stone has joined the company as non-executive chairman, after taking an undisclosed equity stake in the business
CDL which also operates contact centres in Swansea and Manchester, has enjoyed three years of astonishing growth.
Cardiff-born doctor turned entrepreneur Mr Stone is founder and chairman of Merchant Ventures Investments.
Matt Burge, director and co-founder of CDL, said, "Thanks to the unique approach to the sector in which we operate, CDL has enjoyed considerable growth in a relatively short period of time. As we seek to maintain our growth and create new business opportunities, we are confident our turnover will break through the #100m barrier.
"In the coming years we may float our company to raise expansion capital, but at present we generate enough cash to more than satisfy the company's requirements."
Fellow director and co-founder Marc Winchester said, "Jeremy's experience in high-growth businesses in particular offers a great deal to the company. His appointment strengthens our board considerably. We have plans to possibly float the company in two to three years time."
Mr Stone said, "I'm thrilled to be joining CDL at such an exciting time in its short but dramatic history. Our people are the heart of the business and our plans for the future involve further investment and job creation.
"I have known Matt and Marc for some time and they are exceptional entrepreneurs who have build an exciting company. CDL is a real success story for Wales."
Mr Stone said if the company did float it would most likely seek a listing on the Alternative Investment Market.
He added, "However, at this stage we are keeping all our options open, including the possibility of external private investment."
In the financial year to the end of June 2006, CDL generated revenues of #35m with pre-tax profits of around #2.5m.
In its current financial year, which has seen the acquisition of its main rival - Manchester based Quay Contact - revenues are forecast to reach #50m and to hit #100m by 2008.
In Cardiff the company employs 250 people. It will move to a #4m purpose-built headquarters later this year at Churchill Way in the centre of the capital.
In 2007 its Cardiff workforce is expected to reach 450 - with a further 200 staff recruited.
Its smaller Swansea operation employs 100, with 200 in Manchester. Both operations are also expected to increase staffing levels.
Launched less than three years ago, CDL has enjoyed an astonishing 4,183% growth rate since then.
The company sold 40 phones in its first month's trading. Now it sells a new phone every 40 seconds of the working day.


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Alibaba Group Executive Chairman Jack Ma today told U.S. President Barack Obama that governments around the world can help combat climate change by eliminating business taxes on innovative companies developing clean energy technologies.
During a Q&A session on climate change with Obama at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEOSummit in Manila, Ma, co-founder of one of the world’s largest technology and e-commerce companies, said the private sector, philanthropists, scientists and government must all cooperate to address the problem of global warming.
“It’s too late to complain who’s (at)fault,” Ma said.”whether it’s your fault or my fault, let’s work together.”
Asked by POTUS how government and big companies could encourage investment in environmentally friendly technologies, Ma said “government is simple–just reduce the tax or no tax” on clean-energy start-ups, a remark that drew spirited applause from the APEC audience of business executives.
“You got a lot of cheers from your fellow CEOs,” Obama joked. But he later agreed, saying”there’s a role to play for government in providing tax incentives for the production of clean energy” and in providing funding for basic research and development.
Ma appeared with Aisa Mijeno, a Philippine engineer and start-up founder who developed a lamp fueled by salt water.Ma told Obama that it’s often difficult for big companies to innovate, which is one of the reasons why Alibaba backs small, cutting-edge companies like Mijeno’s. “When we see companies like that, we are excited, we put the money inside, we use technology, and we also promote them on our platform if they are environmentally friendly.”
Alibaba does not sell merchandise, Ma noted. Instead the company’se-commerce marketplaces empower millions of smaller companies by providing an online venue, Internet technology and infrastructure to do business. Ma cited as an example an Alibaba logistics app that helps delivery companies keep their trucks filled with freight when returning to base instead of returning empty, an efficiency measure that produced $1.5 billion in fuel savings last year.
Obama said Mijeno’s company, which is developing sustainable technology that will allow poor people to live better lives without connecting to the electrical grid, is “a perfect example of young entrepreneurs coming up with leapfrog technology.”
“In the same way, in large portions of Asia, and Africa the old landline phones never got set up,” Obama said. “People just went straight to mobile, and obviously they’re buying stuff through Alibaba from there all the time.”
Prior tothe Q&A with Obama, Ma in a speech at the APEC summit called for “a third world war” against poverty, climate change and disease, and for greater assistance to poorer nations and small businesses through global trade.
“Trade is a freedom, trade is a human right” that should not be used as aweapon against other economies, Ma said. He urged the creation of a new international trade body he calls the “e-WTO” or “WTO 2.0” that would be apolitical and dedicated to helping small businesses. For starters he suggested the worldwide elimination of import duties on goods sold by companies with less than 1 million euros ($1.06 million) of annual revenue.
Ma, an active campaigner for clean-environment initiatives, is China chairman of The Nature Conservancy’s global board of directors. Alibaba Groupevery yearearmarks 0.3% of the company’s annual revenues ($12.3 billion in fiscal 2015) to the Alibaba Foundation, which since 2011 has donated RMB 410 million to environment protection and disaster relief. The foundation recently funded 15 innovative environmental protection projects in China.
China’s second-richest man, Ma said Bill Gates had called him two weeks ago to join forces to invest in clean energy technology, which is something he plans to do.


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MAS Real Estate has entered into an agreement with PKM Developments, a joint venture with its peer Prime Kapital, to buy a property portfolio consisting of nine shopping value centres in Romania for €112.97 million. The centres are being held by PKM Developments through three subsidiaries - PK Black, PK Indigo and PK Red.
Cushman & Wakefield in collaboration with Hodges Ward & Elliott represented Mornington Capital, an international hotel investment fund manager in the sale of Prague’s iconic Don Giovanni Hotel in Prague. The deal was signed on 20 February with the transaction price undisclosed. The new owner is a leading family-owned fund from Scandinavia. Czech-based Czech Inn Hotels remains the hotel’s operator.
Tesco has sold its department store in central Prague to Amadeus Real. Formerly named Máj, it is currently known as My. The new owner is planning a general reconstruction of the building which is planned to start in H2 2020 and last two years, local media reports.
HB Reavis marked its ambitious plans for growth in Germany by announcing two major acquisitions in Berlin and Dresden totalling 3.5 hectares. Plans will see the introduction of HB Reavis’ co-working initiative as well as designs aimed at and catering to a range of businesses, from start-ups and scale-ups to larger corporations, all while fostering well-being and productivity.
AFI Europe Romania has signed a non-binding letter of intent with Plaza Centers for the acquisition of the majority stake (75%) of the Casa Radio, located in the centre of Bucharest. The value of the offer amounts to €60 million.
Westrock, an American manufacturer of packaging for the cosmetics industry, is a new tenant in Kraków's Quattro Business Park office complex. The company has leased over 800 sqm on the first floor of Building D. Westrock's office at Quattro is scheduled to open later in October.
The Polish provider of logistics and freight forwarding services has ordered about 2,000 sqm of additional space at MLP Poznań West. Once this new space is delivered to the tenant in June next year, Hart Logistics will occupy a total of nearly 12,000 sqm. The adviser in the transaction was Profi Home, a consulting firm.
Samsung R&D Institute Poland has extended the lease agreement for its office space in Warsaw Spire. During the negotiation process, the tenant was advised by a team of experts from JLL.
Robert Skládal joins Cushman & Wakefield as a partner in the retail leasing team and will lead the team focused on shopping centres.
JLL in Prague announces the appointment of Milan Kilik as its new Head of Office Agency for the Czech Republic as of beginning of October 2022.
Agnieszka Boroń has joined Equilis Poland to take up the post of Development Director. She has worked in the construction and development industry for over 20 years, specialising in residential project management. Prior to joining Equilis Poland, she was programme director at Nexity. Prior to that, she worked in managerial positions at Dom Development.
Property Forum is a leading event hub in the CEE real estate industry with nearly 10 years of experience. We organise conferences, business breakfasts and workshops focused on real estate, in London, Vienna, Budapest, Bucharest, Bratislava and Prague, amongst other locations.


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Eight Fifty Food Group is set to acquire M&M Walshe, an Ireland-based business...
- Shelf life sustainability: Peeling back the layers with Apeel
- Indigenous food systems: providing local solutions for biodiversity and food security
- Local innovation is key to improving nutrition in an urbanising world
- Keeping it fresh: fighting against food waste
- Going to waste: making the most of fruit
Covid-19: BRF to resume operations at chicken and pork plant in Brazil
Brazilian meat processor BRF is reportedly planning to gradually reopen its chicken and pork plant in the country a week ahead of schedule after it was shut by the company due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Canada to support fish harvesters impacted by Covid-19
The Canadian Government has agreed to support the country’s fish harvesters impacted by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Eight Fifty Food Group to acquire Irish meat business M&M Walshe
Eight Fifty Food Group is set to acquire M&M Walshe, an Ireland-based business that delivers pork, bacon and sous-vide meat.
Brazil’s BRF to acquire Saudi food processing plant
Brazilian meat processor BRF has agreed to acquire Saudi Arabia’s Joody Al Sharqiya food production company from Hungry Bunny and other local firms.
Rochelle Foods set to re-open food production facility in Illinois, US
Hormel Foods’ wholly-owned subsidiary Rochelle Foods is set to re-open its facility today following a 14-day voluntary closure.
Canada announces $44m support for fish and seafood processing sector
The Canadian Government has agreed to support its fish and seafood sector during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Covid-19: High Liner Foods closes New Hampshire facility
North American frozen seafood company High Liner Foods has temporarily suspended all production at its Portsmouth, New Hampshire after some of its employees tested positive for the coronavirus (Covid-19).
Scotland to support aquaculture firms affected by Covid-19
The Scottish Government has announced plans to support shellfish growers and trout farmers affected by the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.
Read our magazine
just-food magazine is the essential reading material for decision-makers in the food industry, bringing you the latest news and analysis in an exciting, interactive format.


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Budget chain EasyHotel left red-faced as it loses battle with town planners after expanding site without permission
Budget chain EasyHotel has been left red-faced as it lost its battle with town planners after expanding a site without permission.
The company, which says it offers ‘the very best prices’ if guests are willing to ‘sacrifice a bit of luxury space’, could be forced to sell the Old Street Hotel in London.
It marks a major embarrassment for the firm, which bought the site for £10m in 2012 as a 92-bedroom hotel.
Planning defeat: The company could be forced to sell the Old Street Hotel in London
In March 2014 the company extended it, without planning permission, to 162 bedrooms by turning office space on two floors into hotel rooms.
EasyHotel applied for retrospective planning permission, but this was rejected by Islington Council last June. The firm’s appeal has now also been rejected.
‘EasyHotel is now considering its options, including a sale or partial sale of the building,’ it said. ‘Each option is likely to result in an adverse impact to earnings in the current financial year.’
Shares yesterday fell 4.6 per cent, or 4p, to 83.5p.
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Report: Wes Craven looking into game development
<i>San Jose Mercury News</i> writer Dean Takahashi says in his blog that the horror-film director is in talks to create an original game.
When Wes Craven was given the final speaking slot at the inaugural MI6 game-marketing conference this week in San Francisco, the choice likely raised a few eyebrows. Previously, the director's most visible tie to the world of games was the 1989 Nintendo Entertainment System game based on his film, Nightmare on Elm Street.
Craven was booked to speak about fostering customer loyalty, marketing, and creating anticipation for a product from his perspective as a film director. However, after the conference was over, he spoke with San Jose Mercury News writer Dean Takahashi about his possible work as a game designer. After discussing the director's presentation and attitudes toward gaming in general, Takahashi writes on his blog that the director "said he was in talks to create an original game, but wouldn't elaborate."
Film directors getting into game development is a growing trend. Hong Kong action director John Woo is overseeing the development of Midway's Stranglehold, King Kong director Peter Jackson was hands-on with Ubisoft's interactive adaptation of his big-budget remake, and Steven Spielberg last year signed on to create three next-generation games based on original properties with Electronic Arts.
As for horror directors getting into film, Craven will have some company on that front, too. Halloween helmer John Carpenter is working with Titan Productions on Psychopath, a game that he already has plans to adapt into a movie. Hellraiser director Clive Barker has also dabbled in games, finding critical success with 2001's Undying and falling short with the canceled Demonik.


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Joining the existing Next 12 and Next 18 plans, U.S. wireless carrier AT&T at Tuesday’s AT&T Consumer Industry Analyst Conference took the wraps off its new Next 24 plan which allows customers to take 30 months to pay for their iPhone (or other smartphone) in monthly installments beginning November 9.
Just like the Next 12 and Next 18 plans which allow subscribers to pay off their device in 20 and 24 months, respectively, the Next 24 plan upgrades you to a new device after 30 months have passed and you’ve brought in your current smartphone in good condition.
As a bonus, the carrier also announced a $150 bill credit for switchers who activate a new line of service with a smartphone on AT&T Next.
”After 24 payments, if in good condition, customers can trade in their AT&T Next smartphone and upgrade to a brand new device under a qualifying offer,” the carrier confirmed.
If you combine one of the AT&T Next plans with Mobile Share Value plans, the carrier will treat you to a monthly discount on the access charge for that smartphone line, good for a monthly saving of $25 per month for plans 10GB or higher or $15 per month on plans less than 10GB.
AT&T Next is available for new, qualified AT&T customers or existing customers who are upgrade eligible.
While the new Next 24 plan gives your greater flexibility and allows for lower monthly payments and more time to pay off your smartphone, I’m not so sure it will catch on with the modern consumer.
Put simply, 30 months is too long a wait to get a new device. Two and a half years is an eternity in the fast-paced mobile industry where smartphones are considered outdated merely a year after being introduced.
In other AT&T news, the carrier earlier this week announced a partnership with rival Verizon that will bring interoperability for their respective Voice over LTE services in 2015.
Plus, subscribers on AT&T’s shared plans now get more LTE data and unlimited international messaging for no additional cost.


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Husband and wife entrepreneurial team Pete Badawy and Bianca Badawy have created the first natural garment and fabric cleanser of its kind GarmaGuard. They claim the bottled spray product botanically eliminates odor and repels dirt, grime and bacteria on clothing.
[Related: 27 Favorite ‘Shark Tank’ Products at Amazon]
While wearing matching white hazmat suits, the Badawys (he’s a US Army Veteran Police Officer; she’s a nurse) pitch their timely business on the Season 12 premiere of Shark Tank, which was filmed during the pandemic.
The Sharks — Mark Cuban, Kevin O’Leary, Lori Greiner, Daymond John and guest Shark, TOMS Shoes founder Blake Mycoskie — sit six feet apart from each other and more than that from the entrepreneurs during the presentations.
In the Tank, the Badawys seek an investment of $100,000 in exchange for 10 percent equity of GarmaGuard. They have the good fortune or bad luck of pitching in front of Lori Greiner who has invested in at least two odor elimination products on Shark Tank.
In 2019, Lori and guest Shark NBA legend Charles Barkley invested $150,000 in Zorpads shoe odor elimination pads (for 22.5 percent equity). And in 2014, Lori invested $150,000 in Reviver wipes (for 15 percent equity) which removed unwanted odors from clothing.
Also keep in mind that billionaire Mark Cuban invested $300,000 in exchange for 25 percent equity in Dude Products, which makes a similar body wipe called, yup, Dude Wipes.
Shark Tank airs Fridays at 8 pm on ABC, right before 20/20 at 10 pm.


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Brian Selander got his start in politics, helping run Bill Bradley's 2000 bid for president and then serving as strategy chief for Delaware Governor Jack Markell. A New Jersey native with a love for New York's pro sports teams and an appetite for business and technology, he couldn't resist breaking away from government when he was offered an evp role with Whistle Sports, which launched last year.
"There's actually a surprising overlap between [political] campaign and startup life," the 38-year-old said.


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As preparations continue for the impending move to the Rocky Mountain Center for Innovation and Technology (RMCIT), Epic River approached the Loveland City Council with a mutually beneficial incentive deal to assist with the company's transition to the larger facility. During the December 17 meeting, Marci Erion, City of Loveland Business Specialist, presented the Incentive Agreement Request and indicated that Epic River had signed a Letter of Intent for a five-year lease with Cumberland and Western Resources, the owners of the former Hewlett-Packard/Agilent campus.
According to an analysis from Chief Financial Advisor Alan Krcmarik, who took into account Epic River's sales growth, financial projections and new contracts, the city's investment would pay off in about five years through sales tax, property taxes and other new tax revenue. Ms. Erion also indicated that city staff supported the proposed plan and cited its alignment with the city's economic development strategy plan created in 2012. Keeping in mind the strategic plan's top goal of making Loveland the heart of innovation and creativity in Colorado, Ms. Erion indicated that the first step toward redevelopment of the RMCIT campus is to award incentives to businesses occupying the location.
Scott Mead, Epic River's Managing Partner, indicated three factors that drives the company's growth. Process innovation, industry expertise of over 150 years of experience in the software development industry, and market research that ultimately turns a project into a product. This product creation can spawn additional companies for Loveland, and Mr. Mead cited two such recent projects that did just that.
Council Member Joan Shaffer said, "I think given the kinds of collaborations that you clearly already do in your business that having you there as an early tenant as the facility grows will be very valuable."
The Council continued to briefly discuss the plan specifics before voting in favor of the proposed incentives, solidifying the move and ultimately making Epic River the second RMCIT tenant.
Mayor Cecil Gutierrez later said, "Assisting young companies like Epic River is important to the economic vitality of Loveland. This was an opportunity to help a local company grow now and in the future."
Epic River is planning an office build out over the next few months and will relocate its office headquarters in spring 2014.


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I SAY, "Weed News Roundup"! And you say, "Cool, let's do it." Because you went to a private school that didn't have a sports team with call-and-response cheers. Way to go, Waldorf.
Ida-No, You've Got to Be Kidding—Last year, two very stoned and stupid young men, driving from Las Vegas to Montana in a vehicle filled with 20 pounds of cannabis, made a stop in Idaho. Not for french fries, but to call the cops on themselves, asking to be arrested. No, really. Here's a portion of the transcript of their 911 call:
WORLD'S WORST SMUGGLER: "Hi, uh, we're the two dumbasses that got caught trying to bring some stuff through your border and all your cops are just driving around us like a bunch of jack wagons, and I just really would like for you guys to end it. If you could help me out with that, we would like to just get on with it."
DISPATCHER: "You got caught doing what?"
SELF-PROCLAIMED DUMBASS: "Ahh, god, okay, we kind of got spooked here trying to bring some stuff across your Idaho border. A bunch of your cops are driving around in a bunch of civilian cars not wanting to pick us up. I don't know what's the deal... it's getting cold out here, man. I just want to get warm."
Police say they were not following the men, and when they arrived, the two Mensa members were waiting with their hands behind their heads and said, "We're surrendering." Were dabs involved? Edibles? Does it even matter?
Kush Cash—The money you spend on that quarter of kind every couple of weeks (or days—no judgment) is starting to add up. According to a new report from ArcView and New Frontier, sales of medical and recreational cannabis have risen from $4.6 billion in 2014 to $5.4 billion in 2015. This year, sales are expected to hit $6.7 billion, and are forecast to hit a staggering $21.8 billion by 2020. The industry is growing by more than 30 percent every year, and adult-use recreational sales skyrocketed from $351 million in 2014 to $998 million in 2015, an increase of a whopping 184 percent.
In Colorado, sales hit nearly one billion dollars in 2015 ($996,184,788 to be exact), which brought in $135 million in taxes and fees, with school construction getting $35 million. So when people ask why you smoke weed, tell them you are doing it for the children. To quote Mrs. Lovejoy, "Won't somebody please think of the children?!?"
Facebook and Instagram Still Hate Cannabis—Instagram and Facebook are shutting down medical and recreational cannabis dispensary accounts, in addition to the accounts of many non-cannabis industry folks who post too many bud shots. Examiner.com reports: "Under the Regulated Goods section of Facebook's Community Standards, it says, 'We prohibit any attempts by unauthorized dealers to purchase, sell, or trade prescription drugs, marijuana, or firearms.' So, by state laws, medical marijuana dispensaries are following the rules. But Facebook admitted to US News and World Report on Friday that legal businesses may still have their pages deleted on the basis that selling marijuana remains a federal crime."
There has been speculation that this isn't necessarily Facebook's doing, but rather prohibitionists and jealous competitors who look for cannabis-related posts to flag. Of course, everyone's still free to post endless photos of alcohol. Will Facebook and Instagram continue to take this ludicrous position after cannabis is rescheduled and decriminalized? To quote Reverend Lovejoy this time, "Once the government approves something, it's no longer immoral!"
Don't Panic, It's Organic. Wait... Do Panic—Eugene-based cannabis testing lab extraordinaire OG Analytical showed why they are they are superstars of the industry recently. According to Noelle Crombie at the Oregonian, OG Analytical found that the pesticide Guardian had a super-special secret ingredient not listed on the label: the chemical abamectin. OG Analytical informed state regulators, who took the highly unusual step of pulling the product from all store shelves in Oregon, and asked growers to stop using it. Guardian has shut down its operations, and their president said, "It seems like people are pointing a finger at us. I would rather not comment on anything and take the Fifth." Guardian was a product used by many cannabis growers, and this incident underscores the importance of having all cannabis lab tested.


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WATCH | Google and LG have introduced two new smartwatches. And a lot of their looks and features are coming in an update to current Android Wear smartwatches.
Android Wear 2.0
The LG Watch Sport ($349) and LG Watch Style ($249) are new smartwatches designed with Google's help. They're also the first watches to run on Google's new Wear 2.0 software, which brings a new look and lots of new tricks to the OS that all Google smartwatches run.
The Sport and the Style will be available to purchase on February 10, and the Android Wear 2.0 update will be coming to almost 20 current Google watches (full compatibility list here) in the coming weeks.
The LG Watch Style (left) and the LG Watch Sport (right).
Style and Sport
The Watch Sport is the more feature-packed of LG's two new e-timepieces; it has a larger screen, a GPS chip built in for tracking your runs and 4G LTE connectivity for using it without a phone at all.
The Style lacks the above connectivity, but is thinner and lighter, and, unlike the Sport, does use a traditional -- and thus swappable -- watch band.
Leave your phone in your pocket
The Wear 2.0 software launching alongside LG's new watches comes complete with a new tiny QWERTY keyboard and a hand-writing detection feature, meaning replying to text messages and email with your watch (in other words, without having to take your phone out of your pocket) is much easier. And the updated watch faces in 2.0 provide a ton of info at just glance.
You can now type on a tiny keyboard on your Google smartwatch screen. Um ... finally?
Leave your phone at home
Wear 2.0 smartwatches with cellular connectivity (the Watch Sport, for instance) will be able to not only make calls without being tethered to a phone, but also pull in data to run apps. That will include streaming tunes from a number of different music services.
There's also now a version of the Play Store that opens up right on the watch screen, so there'll be no phone needed to find and download new Wear apps.
Google Assistant on the small screen
The search giant's AI-based Google Assistant digital helper -- first seen in the Google Pixel smartphone, the Google Allo messenger and Google Home -- is onboard the latest version of Wear, too. And that means Android watches will be able to take all kinds of new orders and answer a slew of new questions by voice.
"OK, Google -- is it finally time to buy a smartwatch?"


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12/20/11 : New era for online gaming developer
Swedish online gaming developer Jadestone is now 100 percent owned and managed by its current management team following a management buy-out from former parent company, the Åland based gaming operator Paf.
Jadestone's corporate structure including staff, gaming platforms, intellectual properties and other resources currently employed in its development and operation of online casino and multiplayer gaming solutions for operators is covered under the agreement.
"Our relationship with Paf has been invaluable for our growth into an established player on the global online gaming arena," said Robert Henrysson, chief executive officer of Jadestone. "However, the synergies have diminished as Paf concentrates on the consumer business while Jadestone's focus is on B2B gaming platforms.
“Now that we part ways, it's with excitement but also with great appreciation of our long partnership. We certainly expect that Jadestone will continue to be a key provider of popular games to Paf."
"It's a rare luxury for management teams to get a chance like this," said Tobias Nissen, business development director for Jadestone. "We're clearly leaving a safe harbor, but for true entrepreneurs like us, nothing beats steering your own ship. We hope and believe that the independence and flexibility now gained will enable us to serve and delight both current and new clients even better."


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Top 10 PVs – June 2018 | Maruti Dzire drives ahead of Swift, Honda Amaze checks in
While the Maruti and Hyundai show continues, a Honda car has driven into the best-sellers chart after a long time.
The Indian automotive sector is firing on all its cylinders, with overall industry sales in June 2018 being pegged at 2,279,151 units and growing a substantial 25.23 percent. The noticeable growth, however, comes on the back of a low year-ago base where May-June 2017 was a lull period in lieu of the upcoming GST tax reform from July 2017 onward. These sales essentially constitute the vehicle shipments OEMs made to their dealers across the country in June 2018.
While the passenger vehicle (PV) segment clocked sales of 273,759 units, the never-ending battle between passenger cars and UVs graduated to a new level, with passenger cars clocking overall sales of 183,885 units (+34.21%) and UVs accelerating with total sales of 73,654 units (+47.11%).
Even though Maruti Suzuki, the country’s leading carmaker, maintains its supremacy in the Top 10 PVs list and its Dzire compact sedan continues its relentless journey of scaling new heights, Japanese carmaker Honda has entered the Top 10 chart with its recently launched Amaze sub-compact sedan, pitched directly against the popular Maruti sedan. Hyundai Motor India, on the other hand, sees its models significantly escalating in their ranks in the monthly tabulation. With overall sales of 458,967 units between April and June 2018, Maruti Suzuki has increased its stranglehold to capture a rather dominating 52.54 percent of the market, significantly upping its game over what stood at 50.43 percent during the same period in 2017.
The new Maruti Dzire sedan made news in June by becoming the top-selling car in the country, dethroning even its younger and cheaper entry-level Alto sibling. The stylish sedan has put the sales chart afire for Maruti, garnering total volumes of 18,758 units, and growing a notable 55.66 percent (June 2017: 12,050). The last time it topped the bestseller list was in August and September 2017, when it had clocked cumulative 31,427 units in September alone, also surpassing the 100,000 mark well within a diminutive span of four-and-a-half months of getting launched in May 2017.
At No. 2, the Maruti Swift hatchback clocks 18,171 units, giving a clear indication of its popularity in the B-segment space (June 2017: 9,902). On June 13, the car also achieved its milestone of clocking 100,000 sales units within just 145 days of getting launched at the 2018 Auto Expo. The Swift, in its latest avatar has been wooing buyers with its contemporary design language, roomier cabin, plentiful feature set and potent set of engines.
The country’s quintessential entry-level go-to choice, the Maruti Alto stands at No. 3 position, garnering overall sales of 18,070 units in the month. The budget hatchback had clocked 14,856 units in June last year.
Maruti Baleno, the premium hatchback from Maruti Suzuki, secures the No. 4 spot, with overall sales totalling 17,850 units. Compared to June 2017’s sales of 9,057 units, the Baleno has nearly doubled its sales. Interestingly, the Baleno also reached the landmark milestone of surpassing 400,000 units in domestic sales since its launch in October 2015. While it was just 4,209 units short of the achievement until May with overall sales being pegged at 395,791 units, an average of 12,767 units monthly easily made it reach the magic number in June.
Following the Baleno, the tall-boy Maruti Wagon R sold 11,311 units last month, keeping its appeal going strong with family buyers looking out for a practical and spacious offering. The car, however, dropped one position even after selling more than what it had clocked in June 2017 with 10,668 units.
At No. 6, the Hyundai Elite i20 sold 11,262 units; while it performed better than last year (June 2017: 10,609), it drops one position in the June 2018 tally. The better sales performance could clearly be attributed to the updated version of the i20 launched at the 2018 Auto Expo, which has a lot going for it. The car now offers a crisper touchscreen infotainment system, smarter alloy wheels, as well as a CVT mated to its 1.2-litre petrol mill.
The hatchback’s popular cousin, the Hyundai Creta zeroes in at the No. 7 spot, overtaking the only other UV to be making into the Top 10 list – the Vitara Brezza – by a whisker. While the Creta has 11,111 units to its name, the Vitara Brezza has 10,713 buyers. Clearly, Hyundai Motor India is ensuring its dealers are well stocked with the SUV. Both the Creta and Brezza have very recently received their midlife updates; while the Creta got a host of styling tweaks and feature upgrades including a sunroof and an electronically adjustable driver’s seat, the Brezza got a boost in its safety equipment as well as the option of an AMT with its 1.3-litre diesel engine.
At No. 9, the Hyundai Grand i10 sees a dramatic drop of seven spots in the list, clocking 10,343 units in June 2018; it had sold 12,317 units in June 2017. The Grand i10 continues to be offered with an exhaustive list of comfort and design features, along with a lot immensely practical for family buyers.
Closing the tally, the newly launched second-generation Honda Amaze makes its entry into the Top 10 PVs list, registering overall sales of 9,103 units in the month. The numbers are the highest in a month for any model in the Japanese carmaker’s line-up and the Amaze, in its latest avatar offers quite a value-packed proposition, with its spacious cabin, standard safety kit, contemporary features, and the unique diesel CVT option.
With a good monsoon spreading over the entire nation, demand in the coming months is expected to further drive sales in the near future. While UVs have somewhat been impacted by growing demand for passenger cars, it would be interesting to see how the fight unfolds between the two model preferences in the times to come. Watch this space for more.
Three-wheeler market leader Bajaj Auto increases its dominance in both passenger and cargo model sales with best-ever fi...
TVS Motor Co, which has a longstanding strategic partnership with BMW Motorrad since April 2013 for manufacture of the 3...
With its best-ever exports of 280,712 units, Maruti Suzuki retains PV exporter crown in FY2024; Hyundai with 163,155 uni...


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Year 13 students Danielle McKendry, Daniel Blaikie, Matthew Bowen, James Shi, and Codie Taylor started the business Convalescence as part of the young enterprise scheme.
The group is selling T-shirts, designed to support and raise awareness about mental health in the rural sector.
Communications director Codie Taylor said the group came up with the idea while brainstorming at the start of the year.
“After some time we had the idea of creating a product that can help the rural community in some way as they are such a huge part of our economy and identity as New Zealanders.
“So our goals quickly shifted from making a profit for ourselves to making a profit that we can donate and use to benefit the community.
The team had the idea of a T-shirt sharing a supportive message with a stylish design.
“This is something we thought we could achieve on our own, but could be greatly improved and much more popular with the help of an iconic kiwi brand like Swanndri”
They sent a proposal to Swanndri in March and received a response saying it was happy to help.
Profits from the T-shirts will be donated to the Will to Live Foundation.
Codie said the team is happy with how the T-shirts came out.
“We feel as though the final product we achieved is one to be proud of. It represents and portrays such a strong and powerful meaning for the issue of male mental health, and we feel as though it gains the awareness that is needed in a fashionable and unforgettable way.
•The T-shirts are available at www.swanndri.co.nz.


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AbbVie CEO Emphasizes Humira Growth Plans, Potential Of HCV Program
This article was originally published in The Pink Sheet Daily
AbbVie should appeal to long-term investors due to its sustainable business base and plan to issue and increase dividends over time, says CEO Richard Gonzalez.
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Mylan will buy Abbott’s non-U.S. developed markets specialty and branded generics business in a stock transaction valued at around $5.3 billion, a deal that will allow it to redomicile in the Netherlands.
Since its split from Abbott Laboratories in January, AbbVie has been telling a story of gradually overcoming loss of revenue due to generic-challenged lipid franchise via Humira growth and a promising pipeline. For the first quarter of 2013, Humira generated worldwide sales of $2.244 billion, slightly more than half of the company’s entire revenue base.
Gilead and AbbVie are seen as running neck-and-neck to bring the first all-oral combo of direct-acting antivirals to market in HCV, but Gilead’s regimen is expected to win a larger market share. Idenix is starting over in the nucleoside space, but expects to bring a uridine-based “nuc” into clinical development by mid-year.


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Spotted on a Russian website, the Optimus L7 Dual is likely to be released in Russia next month for 12,990 rubles ($430). The smartphone features 1GHz dual-core processor, 4.3-inch IPS-display, 8MP camera, dual-SIM and 2460 mAh battery.
Optimus L7 runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, unlike the single SIM version. There is no word on the release elsewhere, but we are expecting an official announcement in the coming weeks, which should reveal more details.
L-series is also set to get new smartphones at the upcoming Mobile World Congress along with a new F-series from the company.


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The three venture backers of Ubiquisys, a 3G mobile access provider, have been joined by internet search engine Google in the company’s latest $25 million (€18 million) funding round.
Accel Partners, Atlas Venture and Advent Venture Partners, all of whom backed Ubiquisys at the Series A stage, have teamed up with Google as the firms look to take the company through to target retail customers.
Ubiquisys provides 3G femtocell access points, which make it easier for 3G mobile users to receive high-quality mobile coverage in their homes. The product, which is branded as ZoneGate, plugs into existing broadband and other access points. It is currently in the test stage and the next funding round should enable the company to target the retail sector.
Chris Gilbert, chief executive of Ubiquisys, said:, “A non-vc coming in as a strategic investor is good in its own right but the fact it is Google is very exciting indeed. This is because femtocell is one of the hottest things in the wireless industry because it will up speed, mobile broadband capacity and coverage in the home.”
In four to six weeks his company will have production quality, in the fourth quarter products will go on sale to select customers and by April the product range will be deployed.
Other previous Google venture investments to provide alternative access to the internet include broadband company Current Communications and wi-fi company Fon.
The search firm was itself venture-backed. It made huge returns for Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caulfield Byers and Sun Microsystems.


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On PlayStation’s Twitter, Guerrilla Games announced an official release date for Horizon Zero Dawn’s first expansion, The Frozen Wilds. It was first seen back in June during Sony’s E3 conference, but no release date was given at that time. The Frozen Wilds is set for launch on November 7th.
Obviously it is winter-themed, which will take Aloy somewhere into the north. Guerrilla stated “This icy wilderness harbours a new threat, and for Aloy, a new mystery – one she’s determined to solve.” There is a short gallery below:
The Frozen Wilds will cost $20 or £16, although, right now PS Plus members can pre-order it with an additional 25% off. Anyone who does pre-order the expansion will also receive a Banuk Aloy avatar for their PSN account.


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Roundup, which is a weed killer produced by the company called Monsanto, is by far the most successful weed killer ever produced. From its inception, there were some concerns about it because of Monsanto being involved in the creation of Agent Orange which was used during the Vietnam war. Despite this fact, the company has maintained that it is a very safe product and there are many users of the product who would say the same. Even so, there have been increasing amounts of Roundup weedkiller litigation around the country because of its possible link to some cancers.
Facts About Monsanto Roundup Weedkiller Litigation
The company Monsanto has been recently bought out by Bayer which is a German-based corporation. The merger of these two companies initially caused it’s stock prices to rise but this did not stop the onslaught of thousands of plaintiffs bringing lawsuits against them. There are some estimates that conclude it would take as much as $6 billion dollars to settle these cases.
As more and more evidence becomes clear that high exposure to this weed killer is likely causing the development of some cancers, it is disturbing that Bayer, which makes cancer medications, is now the proud owner of a company whose most profitable product is linked to causing cancer. These links are likely the cause of the company shares plummeting by almost 40% after rising just after the merger. There is so much controversy over this matter that even the executives at Bayer that were responsible for the merger of these two companies are in jeopardy of losing their positions.
2 Billion Dollar Lawsuit Awarded To A Couple
An elderly couple who did residential landscaping over the course of 30 years and routinely used Roundup developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The jury believed that their exposure to the product over those three decades played a major role in the development of their cancer. For this reason, they awarded the couple a 2 billion dollar settlement in punitive damages as well as an additional $55 million dollars to help cover their medical expenses and for their personal pain and suffering.
According to Bayer, which now owns Monsanto, it is their opinion that the couple had long had other risk factors that made them susceptible to this cancer and it was because of those factors that they ultimately developed their condition in their elder years. They went on to say that the main ingredient glyphosate, has a long reputation of being used safely all over the world. For this reason, they have every intention of appealing this substantial verdict.
One of the big reasons that the jury came back with such a large settlement in this matter was due to Monsanto’s on internal documents that showed clear evidence the company has never been concerned with the safety of Roundup but rather the focus was put on discrediting any science that suggested it was unsafe. The attorneys presented evidence that demonstrated the company put millions of dollars in discrediting any science that threatened the sales of this product rather than investing in good science that could prove one way or the other whether or not the product was indeed safe. This led to the third lawsuit that the company has lost in the state of California.
Just within this state, they have previously lost a case that awarded the plaintiff over 78 million dollars and still another that awarded over 80 million dollars to another plaintiff. In both of those cases just as in the 2 billion dollar award, the plaintiffs had developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In each of these cases, the plaintiffs had used the product over a prolonged period of time. It is believed that the heavy exposure these individuals experienced led to the development of their cancer.
The Monsanto Roundup Weedkiller Litigation Has Battered The Stock Price Of Bayer
Bayer purchased Monsanto for the princely price of $63 billion dollars. Some top executives still claim that it was the right choice for the company. They say that they will fight these claims and they are making efforts to re-establish consumer trust. Even so, there is mounting evidence against the safety of this highly profitable product and if that mounting evidence continues growing then the company is likely to continue seeing more and more lawsuits brought against them, not just in the US, but worldwide.


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Porsche has finally killed all rumors and announced details including the pricing for its 918 hybrid Spyder, as dealers have now started taking orders officially for sales. The stunning car can hit top speeds of 199 mph and drive in electricity alone at speeds hitting 94mph. To maintain the exclusivity of the car, only 918 variants will be created. The Gas-electric version is likely to hit US markets only by 2013.
Unlike earlier speculation, the car will be dearer, as the price tag on the car is a whooping $845,000 plus what ever additional charges. However, it is a stunning car to house in your garage and zip around in style.


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Essex-based TW Road Haulage has realised its expansion ambition by doubling in size and delivery reach, as well as increasing its workforce, less than two years after it joined Pallet-Track. The Basildon company, which started life as a commercial vehicle repair business 18 years ago and moved into logistics in 2008, initially employed five full-time staff to service the nine RM postcodes, including Romford, Tilbury and Hornchurch, in 2018. But the business has now secured all of Pallet-Track’s SS postcodes […]
Canute Group’s former pallet network is seeking to have the business wound up next month if it refuses to settle a bill of £47,489.35.
A dividend of nearly £5m is to be shared out among Palletforce’s 86 member shareholder members as part of the biggest pay out in the network’s 13 year history.
Principle Pallet Network’s bid to become the UK’s ninth pallet network has ended in failure, it’s former boss has confirmed.


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Volkswagen aims to source electric vehicle batteries from China in just a few years.
As I mentioned in my previous posting, Volkswagen Group’s Dr. Tobias Giebel, head of the Volkswagen Research Lab in Shanghai, sounded quite optimistic about the potential to develop a battery supplier base in China at the EV Battery Forum in Shanghai in November. Of course, it behooves him to sound optimistic—it is his job to develop that supplier base and one always likes to feel as if they are successful at their job.
Volkswagen www.volkswagenag.com is working closely with about 20 of China’s than 100 battery producers, and is already seeing improvement, he said. “We think in a couple of years we will have really strong suppliers in fully domestic companies,” said Giebel. http://www.evbatteryforum.com/tobias-giebel-china/ When they are up to global standards, Volkswagen will use the same Chinese source for its Asia, Europe, and the United States operations, he said.
Today, China’s lithium-ion battery makers are focused on consumer technology, said Giebel. Its automotive-grade batteries are not up to the high-level vehicle traction battery manufacturers in Korea or Japan, he said.
But, “we are observing in these days our first success of the Chinese suppliers,” said Giebel in a later email communication. “Therefore we are optimistic that Chinese vehicle traction battery cells will become competitive soon.”
He added: “We will not accept lower safety, quality, or performance for our Chinese business.”
A Chinese company that can meet Volkswagen’s standards could have the opportunity to facai le (get rich). That’s because VW Group will use the same battery module design for all its electric vehicles globally across all its brands, said Giebel. And the battery modules (and cells in them) are likely to be sourced from China, he said.
“The module shape and number of cells will be the same,” said Giebel. “The module is not part of any international norm. It is a company internal standard.”
That means all hybrids, plug-in hybrid electric, battery electric, and fuel cell vehicles produced under the Volkswagen Group’s 10 nameplates, which include Volkswagen, Skoda, Audi, Seat, Bentley, Porsche, Scania, Bugatti, Lamborghini, and Volkswagen commercial vehicles.
Inside the module, Volkswagen might adapt the connection between the cells to vary the number of parallel and serial cells, said Giebel. The module is a company internal standard, he added.
As Volkswagen’s current parallel hybrid models, including the Tuareg SUV, have a different technology, Volkswagen will use the standard module concept first on battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric models, said Giebel. “The extension to parallel hybrid (HEV) will be decided later,” he said.
Giebel may be feeling a bit or pressure to bring those Chinese suppliers up to speed. Volkswagen recently said it would begin producing two electric vehicles with its Chinese partners as soon as late 2013. http://tinyurl.com/73skkao Volkswagen partners with SAIC www.saicgroup.com/ and FAW www.faw.com.cn in China. Both are large state-owned enterprises. Each has produced a prototype electric vehicle with VW and launched its own EV sub-brand. http://tinyurl.com/7cvzd5q http://tinyurl.com/6p9defu Each also has its own captive supplier group, but I’m sure that won’t play a role in supplier selection….


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A new battle royale game called Totally Accurate Battlegrounds has entered the arena as a Steam game that's free right now.
Developer and published by Landfall, Totally Accurate Battlegrounds offers a big map to traverse and "physics-based EVERYTHING," according to the game's creators. It's a ridiculous game, and even the developers say so.
"Totally Accurate Battlegrounds is a parody of the Battle Royale genre," Landfall said in a description on the Steam store. "A bunch of physics-based weirdos fight it out on an island, everything is silly and possibly a bit buggy."
The game's free right now, but it won't stay that way for forever. It was released just yesterday and is scheduled to be free for the first 100 hours starting from the moment that it was released. After that, you'll have to pay $4.99 for it, a price that the developers said goes into maintaining the servers and other costs.
Landfall is a game developer that players might recognize from other titles like Totally Accurate Battle Zombielator and Totally Accurate Battle Simulator. This latest game is a continuation of the game creator's April Fool's Day series of games.
"TABG is an April Fools' joke, we've done one every year since 2016. We've previously combined one of our games with another genre or game. The first year we made Supertruck, a mix between the game Superhot and Clustertruck. Last year we made TABZ which is a mix of TABS and DAY-Z. We spend an enormous amount of lunch breaks and nights playing PUBG, this is an homage to a game we love."
For those worried about the development of TABS, fret not, because Landfall said that not much time was taken away from that game. TABG took three weeks of the developer's time, according to Landfall, and was the result of the creators wanting to give players something to mess around with while they wait for TABS.
"We didn't take much time away from TABS, we took three weeks to work on TABG because we wanted to bring you something while you wait for TABS. We knew that TABZ last year, and Supertruck the year before was very appreciated by our community and thought we'd keep up the tradition by making yet another game for you to play."
Since this is an April Fool's joke, you might be wondering why it's out now as opposed to in April. Landfall said that there were some networking issues that prevented the game's release months ago, but you can get it now for free on Steam before it starts being sold for a price.


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HoYoverse has just dropped the Genshin Impact Patch 3.5 release date along with a new trailer and revealed its key features. The Genshin Impact version 3.5 update will be released on March 1, 2023, according to HoYoverse.
The upcoming update, 3.5 will be available on all platforms, including PC, PS5, PS4, iOS, and Android. The main focus of this patch is that it will feature and celebrate the Windblume Festival, as well as kick off a new adventure deep within the Abyss Order, among other things.
When it comes to the details of Patch 3.5, it includes a new Archon Quest, one additional Intertwined Fate for each completed Archon Quest, and updated rules for the Genius Invokation TCG.
In addition to these new features, the patch also adds two new characters to Genshin Impact’s ever-expanding roster. These characters include Mika, a four-star Cryo Polearm user, and Dehya, a five-star Pyro Claymore user.
However, the updates do not stop there. On top of all the aforementioned features, HoYoverse also confirmed Genshin Impact’s collaboration with Amazon Prime Gaming.
Members of Prime Gaming will be able to receive special rewards as a result of this collaboration. Among these rewards is the Wings of the Starlit Feast and surely Prime Gaming members will love to get their hands on it.
Pre-installation for PC and mobile will, as usual, become available closer to March 1st, so you’ll have to wait patiently till then.