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Lionsgate to buy eOne studio from Hasbro for $500 million
Lionsgate will buy film and TV studio Entertainment One from Hasbro for around $500 million, the companies announced Thursday morning.
Why it matters: Lionsgate is set to spin off its own film and TV studio into a separate company, and now adds to that a 6,500-plus title content library.
Details: The purchase is comprised of $375 million in cash, subject to additional purchase price adjustments, and the assumption of production financing loans
- The deal does not include top family brands like Peppa Pig and PJ Masks, which have been folded into Hasbro's wider merchandising operations.
Catch up quick: Hasbro purchased eOne for $4 billion in 2019 as part of former CEO Brian Goldner's plan to turn the toymaker into a bigger media player.
- Goldner died in 2021 following a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. His successor Chris Cocks then launched a review in early 2022.
- Around that same time, Hasbro came under fire from a pair of activist investors who criticized the eOne purchase and called for the company to offload it.
- In 2021, Hasbro sold eOne's music business to private equity firm Blackstone for $385 million.
The bottom line: Lionsgate's studio spinout plans have drawn M&A chatter about the future of its film and TV assets, which include more than 18,000 titles. Adding eOne only figures to further that feeling.


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Shipments of Apple’s iPad have been running behind by seven to ten days since pre-orders of the device started nearly six months ago. With the holiday shopping season approaching, and the shipment windows not getting any shorter, this actually prompted us to suggest earlier this month that if you wanted one for Christmas you should now. Well, we still think that isn’t the worst advice in the world, but at least as of right now, production has finally caught up with demand … or perhaps demand dropped to the level of supply?
While I am sure it is a matter of Apple finally catching up to demand, the cynical side of me also has to ponder the idea that demand for Apple’s tablet could be declining. In those first few months of release Apple was proudly stating how many units they had sold. The last official statement from Apple in regards to iPad sales figures was a press release on June 22nd touting the fact that they had sold three million of the devices. So, in over two months we haven’t heard a word on sales.
To be fair, Apple tries to get all of its products down to a 24 hour shipping window, and the only device currently running behind is the iPhone 4 at a five to seven day delay. With new iPods to be announced this week, those are also certain to fall behind the normal 24 hour window.
With all of the praise Apple receives for everything it does, isn’t it more amusing to sit back once in a while and speculate that its sales are actually falling instead of just generating billions upon billions of dollars?
What say you? Do you think iPad sales have fallen, or did Apple just finally catch up?

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Baku hosts Azerbaijan-Turkey agricultural forum VIDEO
Baku, December 11, AZERTAC
Co-organized by Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Economy, an Azerbaijan-Turkey agricultural forum has been held in Baku.
Participants in the event included heads of Azerbaijan’s government bodies, businessmen, and a 65-member Turkish delegation.
Addressing the forum, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Agriculture Inam Karimov noted that built on the basis of historical friendship and mutual trust, Azerbaijan-Turkey relations continue strengthening.
Turkish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bekir Pakdemirli hailed the importance of mutual cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey in agrarian sector.
Chairman of Azerbaijan’s Food Safety Agency Goshgar Tahmazli noted that the expansion of trade relations with Turkey and mutual collaboration in the implementation of state control over registration, certification, and regulation of entities aiming to facilitate import and export of agricultural and food products will be of great importance.
Acting President of Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) Yusif Abdullayev made a presentation on Azerbaijan’s business and investment environment.
Other speakers hailed the successful development of Azerbaijan-Turkey relations, saying that the event will contribute to the strengthening of economic cooperation between the two countries.
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Online reports suggest that Apple may soon introduce its own internally developed radio modem to its future devices. If a list of jobs published by Bloomberg is something that should be done.
Thanks to a new list of job openings in Cupertino, Apple is looking to reduce its dependence on external suppliers of radios and modems. Worklists are looking for people familiar with LTE, Bluetooth, next generation connectivity (5G) and millimeter wave technology.
At this point, Apple still trusts Intel to provide its modems – albeit unwillingly – to devices such as the iPhone and its new MacBooks. This includes WiFi and LTE radio receivers.
The company plans to launch the 5G iPhones by 2020, giving Apple plenty of time to start researching and developing its modems. In hindsight, making your own chips would give Apple several benefits. Chief among them is the elimination of any other lawsuit, such as the ongoing legal battle with Qualcomm.
The fruit company is well known for its internal processors of the A series, the latest iteration being its Bionic A12X. That said, we still need to see if Apple would adopt an LTE modem and that Intel and Qualcomm could compete for their money.
(Source: Bloomberg via PhoneArena)
Edited by John Law


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So what is the US Postal Service is ‘broke?’ That doesn’t actually mean that they need to get their spending under control or anything stupid like that right? I mean, they still suck on the teet of the taxpayer, so why not spend another $2.2 million tax dollars on a conference in Little Moscow aka San Francisco?
Documents obtained by local California TV station KTVU reveal that Postal Service will end up spending $2.2 million on the four-day National Postal Forum conference at the Moscone Center in March.
KTVU reports that between travel, exhibit space and other aspects of the trip will cost the postal service $2.2 million. There will also be workshops, golf, a dance party, music entertainment, and a taste of San Francisco banquet, according to the report.
USPS explained to KTVU that the Forum will help to make money by creating future business, claiming that last year the Forum conference in Orlando generated $73,000 for each dollar they spent.


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Mojang offering Minecraft: Windows 10 Edition Beta free of cost. Mojang Microsoft recently released a new upgrade to its Windows-based systems... ...http://www.ibtimes.co.in/minecraft-mojang-offering-windows-10-edition-beta-free-cost-goes-live-first-snapshot-combat-641070
PR.com 2015-07-29 Valley Cottage, NY, July 29, 2015 --( PR.com )-- Future Market Insights (FMI) delivers key insights on the Global Connected... ...http://www.bizwireexpress.com/showstoryPRcom.php?storyid=380676
Maybe, just maybe, the Windows Store app will begin to challenge Steam and other sites as a repository for quality games on Windows 10. Microsoft... ...http://www.pcworld.in/news/microsofts-windows-10-store-app-will-finally-sell-some-decent-games
By | CNET This article, , originally appeared on CNET.com . Rob McElhenney is the co-creator and star of shouty sitcom "It's Always Sunny in... ...https://in.news.yahoo.com/minecraft-movie-digs-director-mac-121222471.html
One major advantageof playing video games on computers instead of game consolesis the ability to mess with the structure, look,and gameplay of your... ...http://www.businessinsider.in/Online-communities-are-changing-video-games-to-make-them-better-weirder-and-much-more-wonderful/articleshow/48149087.cms?utm_source=ten_minutes_with&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=Content_Patnership
If you are un-aware minecraft is...


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|By PR Newswire||
|April 11, 2013 10:30 AM EDT||
FOXBORO, Mass., April 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Axeda Corporation, the leading cloud-based service and software for managing connected products and delivering machine-to-machine (M2M) applications, today announced five new partner companies have completed Axeda Ready development, testing and certification, which ensures compatibility and ease of deployment with the Axeda Machine Cloud®. This brings the total supported devices to more than 20 from a dozen participating partners.
Axeda Ready partners offer connectivity and sensor options that allow customers to manage and innovate their connected product initiative across a variety of solutions including asset monitoring and tracking, predictive maintenance, compliance management, consumables management, remote service, usage based billing and warranty management.
"Axeda's strategy is clear – we provide our customers flexible, cost-effective, tested and proven options for connecting, so their time and energies can be focused on innovating around Big Machine DataTM and building M2M applications instead of dealing with the challenges of connectivity," said Bill Zujewski, Axeda's CMO and executive vice president for product strategy. "Customers can choose the device that is right for their project knowing the compatibility and quality assurance is backed by the Axeda Ready brand of certification."
In addition to new devices, Axeda continues to expand options for connectivity between assets and the Axeda Machine Cloud with the addition of more software agents and extended support for more operating systems. Customers can now choose from five new Linux-based Axeda gateway and connector Agents, including four 64 bit OSs -- Debian Linux; Novell SUSE Linux; Redhat Enterprise Linux; Cent OS Linux and one agent for 32 bit ARM Linux.
"The Axeda Ready Program is directly addressing the need for reducing M2M application time to market, one of the keys to speeding M2M market growth," said Robin Duke-Woolley, CEO of leading M2M analyst firm Beecham Research. "The list of new partners just announced shows how broadly Axeda Ready can be applied. The partnership with Raspberry Pi is particularly intriguing, potentially opening up the opportunities of M2M application development to a new mass market."
Axeda Executes on Connected Product Strategy
By enabling more devices and services to quickly and easily integrate with the Axeda Machine Cloud, the Axeda Ready program broadens the device options available to customers – allowing them to select the right communication device for their environment. Axeda is pleased to announce the addition of the following Axeda Ready products in Q1.
Axeda Ready Product: KM2M806XT
Kontron is a global leader in embedded computing technology. With more than 30% of its employees in R&D, Kontron creates many of the standards that drive the world's embedded computing platforms. The Kontron KM2M806XT M2M comes complete with development platform middleware and supports loading of Axeda Ready agent for this device right out of the box. The development platform is based on the Intel Atom chipset.
Axeda Ready Product: Meshlium
Libelium delivers a powerful, modular, distributed sensor solution for the Internet of Things enabling system integrators to implement reliable sensor based applications for Smart Cities, Smart Parking, Smart Environment, Smart Water, Smart Metering, Smart Agriculture, Industrial Controls, Logistics Retail, Security & Emergency Management and eHealth. Their distributed architecture allows the Axeda Ready Meshlium Gateway to connect to 100's of Waspmote sensor nodes via a ZigBee network allowing for creation of solutions involving 100's of sensors. Supporting either WiFi, ethernet or 3G connectivity, Axeda Ready Meshliums can be deployed anywhere in the world.
Company: Nimble Wireless
Axeda Ready Product: Toucan Series
Nimble Wireless helps customers wirelessly connect, control and manage their remote assets. Nimble Wireless does this by providing asset tracking and management devices. The Toucan Series family of Fleet tracking offer flexibility in tracking time/ accuracy vs. cost. optimized for direct connection to the vehicle battery power, Toucan has built in sensors to monitor ignition status, speeding and idle timeouts.
Community: Raspberry Pi
Axeda Ready Product: Developer Kit
The Raspberry Pi is a credit-card-sized single-board computer developed by the Raspberry Pi organization. It is rapidly becoming one of the world's leading ARM based developer platform supporting PC-like functionality and I/O at a very low cost.
About Axeda Ready
For device manufacturers, Axeda Ready provides a testing and implementation program that validates their connectivity via the Axeda agent protocol or their own device protocol. The program includes development and certification of Axeda Codecs (protocol translators) that leverage the Axeda AnyDevice Service to enable device makers to connect to Axeda using their own device protocol. To learn more about the Axeda Ready program or view a complete list of Axeda Ready devices go to the Axeda Ready portal on the Axeda website.
Axeda provides the leading cloud-based service and software for managing connected products and implementing innovative M2M application — taking the cost and complexity out of connecting and remotely servicing the products of the world's leading companies. Axeda customers use its M2M cloud service to deliver innovative M2M solutions and optimize their business processes with data from their connected products.
By relying on the Axeda® Platform to power their connected products, companies are transforming their business by improving customer satisfaction, reducing costs, and generating new sources of revenue. The M2M solutions behind these connected products range from remote service, fleet management, usage-based insurance, asset tracking, mHealth, and more. Join our developer community at: http://developer.axeda.com and learn more at www.axeda.com.
Catherine Purcell Gryska
SOURCE Axeda Corporation
SYS-CON Events announced today that robomq.io will exhibit at SYS-CON's @ThingsExpo, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. robomq.io is an interoperable and composable platform that connects any device to any application. It helps systems integrators and the solution providers build new and innovative products and service for industries requiring monitoring or intelligence from devices and sensors.
Apr. 1, 2015 06:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,626
The 17th International Cloud Expo has announced that its Call for Papers is open. 17th International Cloud Expo, to be held November 3-5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, brings together Cloud Computing, APM, APIs, Microservices, Security, Big Data, Internet of Things, DevOps and WebRTC to one location. With cloud computing driving a higher percentage of enterprise IT budgets every year, it becomes increasingly important to plant your flag in this fast-expanding business opportunity. Submit your speaking proposal today!
Apr. 1, 2015 05:15 PM EDT Reads: 624
SYS-CON Events announced today that Litmus Automation will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Litmus Automation’s vision is to provide a solution for companies that are in a rush to embrace the disruptive Internet of Things technology and leverage it for real business challenges. Litmus Automation simplifies the complexity of connected devices applications with Loop, a secure and scalable cloud platform.
Apr. 1, 2015 04:00 PM EDT Reads: 802
While not quite mainstream yet, WebRTC is starting to gain ground with Carriers, Enterprises and Independent Software Vendors (ISV’s) alike. WebRTC makes it easy for developers to add audio and video communications into their applications by using Web browsers as their platform. But like any market, every customer engagement has unique requirements, as well as constraints. And of course, one size does not fit all. In her session at WebRTC Summit, Dr. Natasha Tamaskar, Vice President, Head of Cloud and Mobile Strategy at GENBAND, will explore what is needed to take a real time communications ...
Apr. 1, 2015 03:45 PM EDT Reads: 711
As Marc Andreessen says software is eating the world. Everything is rapidly moving toward being software-defined – from our phones and cars through our washing machines to the datacenter. However, there are larger challenges when implementing software defined on a larger scale - when building software defined infrastructure. In his session at 16th Cloud Expo, Boyan Ivanov, CEO of StorPool, will provide some practical insights on what, how and why when implementing "software-defined" in the datacenter.
Apr. 1, 2015 03:45 PM EDT Reads: 642
SYS-CON Events announced today that Solgenia will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and the 17th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on November 3–5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Solgenia is the global market leader in Cloud Collaboration and Cloud Infrastructure software solutions. Designed to “Bridge the Gap” between Personal and Professional Social, Mobile and Cloud user experiences, our solutions help large and medium-sized organizations dr...
Apr. 1, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 3,108
Internet of Things (IoT) will be a hybrid ecosystem of diverse devices and sensors collaborating with operational and enterprise systems to create the next big application. In their session at @ThingsExpo, Bramh Gupta, founder and CEO of robomq.io, and Fred Yatzeck, principal architect leading product development at robomq.io, will discuss how choosing the right middleware and integration strategy from the get-go will enable IoT solution developers to adapt and grow with the industry, while at the same time reduce Time to Market (TTM) by using plug and play capabilities offered by a robust I...
Apr. 1, 2015 01:45 PM EDT Reads: 859
The world's leading Cloud event, Cloud Expo has launched Microservices Journal on the SYS-CON.com portal, featuring over 19,000 original articles, news stories, features, and blog entries. DevOps Journal is focused on this critical enterprise IT topic in the world of cloud computing. Microservices Journal offers top articles, news stories, and blog posts from the world's well-known experts and guarantees better exposure for its authors than any other publication. Follow new article posts on Twitter at @MicroservicesE
Apr. 1, 2015 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,609
After making a doctor’s appointment via your mobile device, you receive a calendar invite. The day of your appointment, you get a reminder with the doctor’s location and contact information. As you enter the doctor’s exam room, the medical team is equipped with the latest tablet containing your medical history – he or she makes real time updates to your medical file. At the end of your visit, you receive an electronic prescription to your preferred pharmacy and can schedule your next appointment.
Apr. 1, 2015 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,057
Wearable technology was dominant at this year’s International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) , and MWC was no exception to this trend. New versions of favorites, such as the Samsung Gear (three new products were released: the Gear 2, the Gear 2 Neo and the Gear Fit), shared the limelight with new wearables like Pebble Time Steel (the new premium version of the company’s previously released smartwatch) and the LG Watch Urbane. The most dramatic difference at MWC was an emphasis on presenting wearables as fashion accessories and moving away from the original clunky technology associated with t...
Apr. 1, 2015 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,640
SYS-CON Events announced today the IoT Bootcamp – Jumpstart Your IoT Strategy, being held June 9–10, 2015, in conjunction with 16th Cloud Expo and Internet of @ThingsExpo at the Javits Center in New York City. This is your chance to jumpstart your IoT strategy. Combined with real-world scenarios and use cases, the IoT Bootcamp is not just based on presentations but includes hands-on demos and walkthroughs. We will introduce you to a variety of Do-It-Yourself IoT platforms including Arduino, Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone, Spark and Intel Edison. You will also get an overview of cloud technologies s...
Apr. 1, 2015 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,279
Containers and microservices have become topics of intense interest throughout the cloud developer and enterprise IT communities. Accordingly, attendees at the upcoming 16th Cloud Expo at the Javits Center in New York June 9-11 will find fresh new content in a new track called PaaS | Containers & Microservices Containers are not being considered for the first time by the cloud community, but a current era of re-consideration has pushed them to the top of the cloud agenda. With the launch of Docker's initial release in March of 2013, interest was revved up several notches. Then late last...
Apr. 1, 2015 09:15 AM EDT Reads: 2,325
The WebRTC Summit 2015 New York, to be held June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York, NY, announces that its Call for Papers is open. Topics include all aspects of improving IT delivery by eliminating waste through automated business models leveraging cloud technologies. WebRTC Summit is co-located with 16th International Cloud Expo, @ThingsExpo, Big Data Expo, and DevOps Summit.
Apr. 1, 2015 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,758
SOA Software has changed its name to Akana. With roots in Web Services and SOA Governance, Akana has established itself as a leader in API Management and is expanding into cloud integration as an alternative to the traditional heavyweight enterprise service bus (ESB). The company recently announced that it achieved more than 90% year-over-year growth. As Akana, the company now addresses the evolution and diversification of SOA, unifying security, management, and DevOps across SOA, APIs, microservices, and more.
Apr. 1, 2015 08:30 AM EDT Reads: 2,131
The list of ‘new paradigm’ technologies that now surrounds us appears to be at an all time high. From cloud computing and Big Data analytics to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and the Internet of Things (IoT), today we have to deal with what the industry likes to call ‘paradigm shifts’ at every level of IT. This is disruption; of course, we understand that – change is almost always disruptive.
Mar. 30, 2015 04:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,212
SYS-CON Events announced today that SafeLogic has been named “Bag Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo® New York, which will take place June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. SafeLogic provides security products for applications in mobile and server/appliance environments. SafeLogic’s flagship product CryptoComply is a FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic engine designed to secure data on servers, workstations, appliances, mobile devices, and in the Cloud.
Mar. 30, 2015 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,580
GENBAND has announced that SageNet is leveraging the Nuvia platform to deliver Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) to its large base of retail and enterprise customers. Nuvia’s cloud-based solution provides SageNet’s customers with a full suite of business communications and collaboration tools. Two large national SageNet retail customers have recently signed up to deploy the Nuvia platform and the company will continue to sell the service to new and existing customers. Nuvia’s capabilities include HD voice, video, multimedia messaging, mobility, conferencing, Web collaboration, deskt...
Mar. 30, 2015 01:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,547
SYS-CON Media announced today that @WebRTCSummit Blog, the largest WebRTC resource in the world, has been launched. @WebRTCSummit Blog offers top articles, news stories, and blog posts from the world's well-known experts and guarantees better exposure for its authors than any other publication. @WebRTCSummit Blog can be bookmarked ▸ Here @WebRTCSummit conference site can be bookmarked ▸ Here
Mar. 29, 2015 10:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,895
SYS-CON Events announced today that Cisco, the worldwide leader in IT that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate, has been named “Gold Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Cisco makes amazing things happen by connecting the unconnected. Cisco has shaped the future of the Internet by becoming the worldwide leader in transforming how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Cisco and our partners are building the platform for the Internet of Everything by connecting the...
Mar. 29, 2015 07:00 PM EDT Reads: 5,319
Temasys has announced senior management additions to its team. Joining are David Holloway as Vice President of Commercial and Nadine Yap as Vice President of Product. Over the past 12 months Temasys has doubled in size as it adds new customers and expands the development of its Skylink platform. Skylink leads the charge to move WebRTC, traditionally seen as a desktop, browser based technology, to become a ubiquitous web communications technology on web and mobile, as well as Internet of Things compatible devices.
Mar. 29, 2015 06:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,909


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LAS VEGAS – Gartner declared open-source software the biggest disruptor the software industry has ever seen and postulated it will eventually result in cheaper software and new business models.
Open-source products accounted for a 13 percent share of the $92.7 billion software market in 2006, but should account for 27 percent of the market in 2011 when revenue is expected to be $169.2 billion, according to Gartner research.
To view an eWEEK slideshow about what to know before choosing open source, click here.
And, as open source adoption grows, expect its influence to grow, said Gartner research director Laurie Wurster in a presentation, “Measuring Open Source Market Influencers,” at the Gartner Open Source Summit Sept. 21 here.
“Open-source software is going to erode proprietary sales revenue by offering less-expensive or free alternatives, expanding the total market potential by meeting the demands of SMBs for affordable solutions, and creating a new business model for established and emerging service providers to provide selection, customization and management services for open-source solutions,” Wurster said.
A recent Gartner survey of 295 respondents in the U.S. and Europe found that open source software usage stood at 23.6 percent, and this number is set to grow to 25.9 percent over the next year, she said.
Click here to read more about why Gartner believes most commercial software products will include elements of open-source code by 2010.
That compared to their use of internally developed software, at 27.1 percent , which will rise to 28.1 percent over the next year, and their use of proprietary or commercial software, at 48.6 percent, but which is expected to drop to 45.5 percent over the next year.
“This shows that they are doing core internal development using open-source components, where available, at a lower cost than starting from scratch. They see no reason to reinvent the wheel,” Wurster said.
The survey also found that, of the open-source software being used, 49.7 percent is used in mission-critical situations, with 50.3 percent being used in non-mission critical situations. That compared to 59 percent of commercial or proprietary software and 58.5 percent of internally developed software which is used in mission-critical situations.
Is open source the best way to unlock the value of IT? Click here to read more.
Wurster also spoke on some of the market accelerators to open source, which included the low barriers to entry and increased return on investment, the availability of high-quality solutions at low cost, the access to open standards and development processes, vendor independence and flexibility—resulting in investment protection—and faster procurement and a shorter development time.
Among the market inhibitors, many of which are perceptions rather than reality, are concerns about migration and skills transfer, internal development, support and maintenance costs, quality assurance, and the large number of license with conflicting terms, she said.
Check out eWEEK.coms for the latest open-source news, reviews and analysis.


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Chief marketing officers (CMOs) need to make things less complex and respond to customer needs meaningfully, usefully and empathetically. Michelle Peluso, senior vice president of digital sales and the CMO of IBM shared those thoughts in a May 5 report aimed at offering CMOs a playbook for navigating marketing leadership through COVID-19.
“Use this experience to reimagine how your marketing function and your organization can emerge even stronger,” Peluso wrote. CMOs, she added, need to support employees, pivot to support customers, position their brands for the moment, generate demand virtually and contribute to the cure and solution.
We spoke with CMOs and leaders across industries to find out what skills and traits best encapsulate today's CMO. This is by no means an exhaustive list but relevant to the state of the world today; the skills necessary are as diverse as the companies and industries they support.
A CMO much like the CEO has to be able to have a vision of where the company needs to be from a business, personnel and technology perspective, according to Paige O’Neill, CMO of Sitecore. A successful CMO needs to be able to distill market trends, research, business data and product attributes into messaging and programming (the story and how to tell it) that drives demand by connecting with customers.
"It’s crucial that your team has participated in the process, understands their roles and has bought in," O'Neill said. "If this didn’t happen pre-pandemic, it likely added to the confusion during the crisis as everyone tried to pivot to meet the new challenges. The quicker you can embrace or adapt your vision and provide clarity to your team, the better you will survive as we ride out the rest of these challenging times.”
Related Article: 3 CMOs Discuss Proving Worth and the Road Ahead for Marketing Leaders
We always knew market conditions change quickly, but just when we thought the pace couldn’t get any faster, it did, O’Neill said. Almost overnight, marketing teams all over the world had to throw out significant portions of their marketing plans and pivot to 100% digital. “Even in the most dynamic of market segments, this was a reminder that the pace can always speed up and we have to be ready for anything,” she added.
For marketers, there’s a new realization in terms of how nimble and agile they can be, O’Neill said. “Instead of investing hours and hours in a six-month marketing roadmap, marketers have learned by meaning of necessity to adjust strategy on the fly and adapt to immediate consumer needs in ways never before thought possible,” O’Neill said. “A year from now we’ll be able to look back at this mass digitization experiment and apply these innovations to better understand what kind of digital experiences and technologies are most critical for customers.”
Monica Ho, CMO of SOCi, said CMOs play a key leadership role within the organization. As a result, they are often looked to for answers to some pretty sophisticated problems, especially in today's ever changing and evolving marketplace. “What I have learned over the years is that there is no shame in not knowing the answers to all of these questions and that it is OK to ask for help, internally from other leaders, your team, or even outside by pulling on your own network,” Ho said. “At the end of the day, we need to know when we need to be the student vs. the teacher, as the reality is we can't know the answer to everything, but we can certainly find those that do. We just have to remember to make sure we pay this forward and help others in need when we are the ones with the answers.”
Related Article: Beyond the Campaign: Times They Are A-Changing for CMOs
West Monroe Partners CMO Casey Foss said a modern CMO needs to thoroughly understand the market and how outside market trends directly influence buyer needs. “Today, your customers operate in an increasingly connected, virtual world, where trends or news typically cut across industries, even if the impacts and solutions are varied,” she said. “Take, for example, businesses that have been disrupted by the pandemic and shoved into an all-digital world — retailers who need to move product in new ways, supply chains that need to be digitized, healthcare providers that need to treat patients remotely and the rapid expansion of telehealth.”
Recognizing the broader context will help CMOs more easily determine your customers’ specific needs and the solutions that will ultimately drive the most financial value for them. “More than anything else, CMOs must have a pulse on the market and know how to strategically use that insight to influence decisions and help the business thrive,” Foss said.
Analytical, Yet Creative
CMOs must also be both highly analytical and creative, Foss said. You can’t rely on one skill or the other to fully understand your customers and provide them with increased value. “Use customer and company data to uncover the real story of how customers perceive your company and its products or services,” Foss said. “Then use this data-driven insight, coupled with creative thinking, to develop actionable creative campaigns, messaging and resources that show new and existing customers how your partnership delivers value.”
In today’s remote environment, being “human” is more important than ever, according to Foss. CMOs are usually responsible for their company's brand, so their top priority should always be to develop and sustain their company's human approach to business, whether they’re B2B or B2C. “Throughout the current pandemic, we’ve seen some companies succeed at this and others struggle, but one thing’s certain — you cannot “fake it” in the world today,” Foss said. “Those companies who were already values-based and authentic are thriving as they respond to their customers need to feel that their issues are being heard.”
Buyers are becoming increasingly savvy, and buying groups are getting larger, so make it easier for them. Remove business jargon, cut to the chase and focus on value. “Without the ability to communicate quickly and effectively human to human,” Foss said, “buyers will find a partner, company, or product that will.”
Related Article: How Winning CMOs Are Driving Growth
Alignment with Technical Teams
Kelly Hopping, CMO of Software Advice, said the ability for CMOs and product/engineering leaders to align on project goals and deliverables is a critical step that is a lot easier said than done. “The most effective projects we have completed are when all team leads are involved from beginning to end — to provide guidance, voice concerns and share lessons learned from their areas of expertise,” Hopping said. “A shared project roadmap and clear ownership of responsibilities are key components to driving success. Defining the objectives and key performance metrics can also be instructive in knowing when a project has achieved its goals versus continuing to try to optimize the existing project.”
Hopping said her team has run into issues once a project is too far down the road from a technical standpoint, without incorporating tech and product teams from the beginning. “It can definitely wind up delaying the immediate project or causing the results to be less impactful,” she said. “This often requires a significant time investment to go back and re-plumb a project that should have been built with more long term considerations in mind from the onset."
Strategic, Yet Tactical
Dawn Colossi, CMO of FocusVision, said the best CMOs need to be able to be both strategic and tactical all at the same time. “At the beginning of March, there wasn’t a CMO on Earth who wasn’t faced with massive disruption and all of our 2020 plans basically went out the window,” she said. “The best CMOs were able to quickly lead their teams through a very hard pivot, using all data at their fingertips — big data, like website metrics, point of purchase, etc. and small data that comes from quick pulse research for insights to how their customers were reacting to the current situation based on thoughts and feelings.”
This, she said, was not the time for a big strategic plan that took a lot of time to execute. A quick reactive tactical plan was exactly what the teams needed to understand their roles in helping their company, Colossi said. “Now, of course, being an essential member of the executive team to plan for the next six months to two years is essential to help the brand navigate what will certainly be harder times then we’ve experienced in the past decade,” Colossi said.
Related Article: How to Simplify the Martech Stack
The pandemic has knocked the wind out of many organizations and in conjunction, thrown 2020 marketing plans out the window, according to Cindy Zhou, chief marketing officer for LogRhythm. CMOs are helping their organization's shift strategy to focus on customer retention and find new avenues to grow. “With all the uncertainty, I believe a key trait for today's CMO is resilience,” Zhou said. “The ability to stay flexible with rapidly changing conditions to ensure customers and team members are positioned for success.”
CMOs need to balance empathy for customers, employees and the community by making the tough calls to do what's right for the business, Zhou added. The ability to pivot quickly is paramount.
Zhou cites the example of shifting budget and resources away from the many canceled physical events to webinars and virtual events. “Instead of customer gifts, donating meals to local hospital front-line health care workers was another initiative LogRhythm was proud to initiate,” Zhou said. “CMOs lead the charge in creative ways to help customers in their times of need, and for employees living the new norm of work-life integration.”
Related Article: The DNA of a Successful CMO
Jon Russo, CMO and founder of B2B Fusion, said the right mindset can help CMOs adapt and protect from physical or mental hardships. “Today, many employees and companies are facing unprecedented hardships,” Russo said. “We’re all operating in a very ambiguous environment, where it is unusually challenging to confidentially forecast outcomes we were able to do in the past.”
Russo told CMSWire his career recently spanned as a high tech CMO for 10 years and currently as an agency owner. However, he draws on his early career experience in the military, where that culture was built on a mindset mantra: “Improvise, adapt and overcome.”
“Those mindset traits are most needed today by companies and by their people,” Russo said.“Leaders need to encourage their people to stay on the move by taking risks, adapting to the uncomfortable environment and overcoming the myriad of obstacles that we all face today. It’s too easy to react or settle in the comfort of the home environment. If people keep moving forward with decisions, acting rather than reacting, they and their company will come out stronger, with the right market feedback.”
Recognition of What Works
Many marketing leaders own their company’s largest discretionary budget. “In disruptive times, they must reduce expenditures — staff and program spend — to double down on the most effective programs supporting their company’s top strategic priorities,” said Dustin Grosse, chief marketing officer and strategy officer at Nintex.
Next Steps for CMOs?
Federal and state governments are beginning to loosen stay-at-home advisories and allowing some businesses to reopen. CMOs and marketing teams need to get ahead of this next transitional phase, according to Sitecore’s O’Neill. “I’d recommend marketers focus on internal changes that can be done right now to set their own organizations up for success as economies reopen,” she said.
Organizations have seen a dramatic shift in the need for digital transformation to enable omnichannel capabilities in the pandemic. “However,” O’Neill said, “these changes really need buy-in from the entire C-Suite for an effective implementation because it requires a cultural shift within the organization to work well. Now is a critical time to get ahead of your company’s digital transformation because the demand for it will only grow.”


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Apple's unleashing its voice assistant and letting other companies put it to work.
Since its inception in 2011 as part of iOS 5, Apple's voice assistant Siri has established a home in the iPhone, iPad, iMac, HomePod, Apple TV and Apple Watch -- all first-party devices made by Apple. On Monday, as Apple introduced iOS 15 at its yearly WWDC event, the company announced that Siri is on the move, and headed soon to third-party HomeKit devices that aren't made by Apple.
"We believe Siri's most powerful when it's available throughout your house, which is why we're excited to bring Siri to third-party devices," said Yah Cason, release automation manager for Apple HomeKit. "For the first time, HomeKit accessory-makers can enable Siri in their products, so you'll be able to talk with Siri on even more devices."
That said, you'll still need a HomePod or HomePod Mini on your network to serve as a sort of routing agent for those voice commands. Even so, the newly opened access to Siri will make it easier to expand the assistant's voice-activated footprint throughout your home, and it'll also pull Apple's voice assistant closer to Amazon's Alexa and to Google Assistant, both of which are already featured in a fairly wide number of third-party devices.
Apple didn't have much to say about potential destinations for Siri at WWDC, but it's a safe bet that you'll start seeing third-party Siri speakers and other new voice-activated Siri devices by year's end. For instance, Ecobee, which already makes third-party Alexa devices, is teasing an upcoming Siri smart thermostat. We'll keep an eye out as more of these Siri gadgets start to arrive.


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JOHNSTON Press, the parent company of the Hartlepool Mail, is now the biggest and fastest-growing regional online publisher, according to latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC).
Our websites attracted a total of 560,721 browsers on average every day during the first half of 2012 - an increase in our digital audience of 29.3 per cent year on year. Trinity Mirror recorded a 14.9 per cent increase (538,152 average daily unique browsers), Northcliffe 6.3 per cent (347,319) and Newsquest 9.4 per cent (499,292).
The ABC figures also show some of our websites for daily titles posted the biggest year-on-year increases in average daily unique users. The Portsmouth News website was up 48.4 per cent, the Yorkshire Evening Post 46.8 per cent and the Yorkshire Post 38.7 per cent. The Sunderland Echo saw an increase of 35.9 per cent and all bar one of the 10 newspaper websites audited showed double digit growth.
The Scotsman remains the biggest regional newspaper title online with 105,959 average daily unique users.
Henry Faure Walker, digital & business development director, attributed the growth in digital audience to both the launch of mobile-specific versions of the company’s websites and a greater focus across the Group on the quantity and quality of digital content.
He said: “The strong increase in the number of people coming to and engaging with our local websites is very encouraging, and is an essential part of our strategy to provide advertisers with an unrivalled reach to this unique local audience.
“There is much more we can be doing in terms of digital content and improving the way our websites look and work, but we’re making good progress and the momentum is really starting to build.”
Some 10 million visitors a month come to the Johnston Press network and audience on mobile has doubled from one million last December to more than two million by June.
The Hartlepool Mail has, on average, 121,000 unique users per month.


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The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 still remains one of my favourite gaming laptops since it first launched in 2020, and the latest 2022 revision finally makes it a more complete laptop. Aside from the usual hardware upgrades, the new G14 now features a webcam and a taller display.
That’s right, the G14 finally gets a webcam and a 16:10 display, making it that much better as a productivity laptop. Speaking of which, it is also one of the first laptops to get Asus’ new Nebula display. It’s a 14-inch 2560 x 1600 panel with a 120Hz refresh rate, 500 nits of peak brightness, and 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space.
Alternatively, you can also opt for a 14-inch 1920 x 1200 IPS screen with a faster 144Hz refresh rate.
Of course, the 2022 Zephyrus G14 is also packed with AMD’s latest Ryzen chips; the highest-end configuration features a Ryzen 9 6900HS processor. Interestingly, Asus is not offering the G14 with Nvidia’s range of GPUs this time around, opting instead for the new AMD Radeon RX 6800S GPU.
Rounding out the specifications of the G14 are the gaming laptop’s signature AniMe Matrix display on the lid (now with more LEDs than last year’s model), up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of PCIe Gen4 SSD, a 76Wh battery, as well as Windows 11 out of the box.
The 2022 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 is only set to hit the market in the middle to late 2022, and its asking price has not been revealed yet either. Nonetheless, once it starts shipping, we reckon the new G14 will also be available in Malaysia.


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Opera wants to help you block ads.
The company today announced that the developer version of its browser now includes native ad-blocking technology; no extensions or plug-ins needed.
Once enabled (via a simple on-off button), the ad-blocking feature can speed website load times by as much as 90 percent, according to Opera, which also said its solution provides a 45 percent faster browsing experience than third-party ad-blockers.
Web users will have to opt-in to the ad-blocking tech. But as you browse, "Opera will detect whether there are ads that can be blocked, and it will suggest enabling the ad-blocking feature. To activate or deactivate ad-blocking for a specific website, simply click the shield icon in the address bar and flip the switch."
You can also pick and choose which sites deliver ads. "If you disable ad-blocking on a website, the website is added to an exception list, which you can manage from Opera's settings," the company said.
You can also see how many ads you've blocked on a page and overall, and benchmark speeds with and without ads.
"Advertising fuels the Internet, allowing many services to be free for users. But, as our new research shows, most Web pages today are significantly slowed down by bloated ads and heavy tracking," Krystian Kolondra, senior vice president and head of Opera for computers, said in a statement. "We don't accept it—we want the Web to be a better place for us all, as users."
Adblock Plus took a similar step last year when it introduced the Adblock Browser for Android, which promises to block intrusive ads and save battery life. Asus followed suit in December, announcing plans to bake Adblock Plus into all iterations of its mobile browser this year.
Recommended by Our Editors
Samsung, meanwhile, added support for ad-blocking technology on its Android browser; the first app to take advantage was Adblock Fast. Promising fewer distractions while surfing the mobile Web, Adblock Fast was promptly removed from, then returned to, the Google Play store last month.
"Growing demand for ad-blocking tools tells us that the current approach to advertising is damaging user's online experiences," Opera's Kolondra said. "It interrupts your Web surfing, slows down your browser, and, at Opera, we want to fix it."
All the recent talk about ad blockers, meanwhile, really got started when Apple added support for them in iOS 9.
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Car production across Europe rising
- May 11, 2021
- Posted by: Louise Cooke
- Category: Industry News
Car production in Europe increased by 63% throughout Europe in March compared to the same month last year.
According to JATO Dynamics data from 26 markets across the region, volume rose from 842,094 to 1,374,313 units, bringing first quarter volume to 3,045,703.
But despite signs of recovery, the industry is still facing several challenges, including the economic fallout of the pandemic, ongoing lockdown restrictions and lack of consumer confidence.
Registrations fell by 22% last month when compared with March 2019 – marking the lowest total volume of new cars registered since March 2013, when volume totalled just 1,337,588 units as a result of global financial crisis.
Felipe Munoz, global analyst at JATO Dynamics, said: “The European car market is still a way off from reaching pre-pandemic volumes, and governments must take further action to help boost sales and restore consumer confidence.”
EVs and SUVs continued to be the main drivers of growth for the market. EVs posted a record market share of 16% in March 2021, while the market share of SUVs has also continued to grow year-on-year, from 37% in March 2019, to 40% in March 2020, and 45% in March 2021.


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In Canada, the start of the summer means a couple of things: cottage season, camping. If you’re a PC gamer, late June is also the best time to save on PC games with the launch of Steam’s annual Summer Sale.
Starting today and until July 9th, much of Steam’s digital catalogue is discounted, with some titles, such as the excellent Sleeping Dogs Definitive Edition — which was developed out of United Front Games out of Vancouver — discounted by as much as 90 percent.
Other highlights include Ubisoft Quebec’s Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, which is currently discounted by 50 percent, making it $39.99, instead of $79.99; and The Messenger, another game developed here in Canada, that’s 30 percent off.
As with past Steam sales events, there’s an ongoing community event. This year, it’s called the Steam Grand Prix. By taking part in the event with your friends, you can get Games from your wishlist for free. Find the full details on Steam’s website.
What do you plan to purchase during the Steam Summer Sale? If you spot any great deals, make sure to share them in the comments section.


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Events often drive our choices of what to cover in each issue of U.S. 1. The profile of an intriguing person gets even more interesting when you, the reader, have the opportunity to see that individual at a meeting, a concert, or a bookstore event.
Sometimes event-related stories turn into cover subjects. For instance, several months ago we noticed a confluence of national pharmaceutical meetings in central New Jersey, five of them in a two-week period. Articles on meetings like this would normally appear in our Survival Guide section. One of the speakers at a September 25 meeting is Lynn Benzing, the CEO of a Forrestal Village-based firm, Patient Marketing Group, and her profile on page 41 is a cover-worthy account of direct to consumer healthcare educational marketing.
A “New in Town” company, Commodicast, also does consumer educational marketing, but on the back end. Using analytical methods familiar to the financial industry, it takes the huge amount of information available to the pharmaceutical industry and uses it to help pharmas help patients.
It’s an exciting concept, but not a cover story, at least not at this time, partly because the company is so new it has just one full-time employee in Princeton.
Actually, Commodicast would have liked us to hold the story until its new name was ready. Its current name sounds too much like a financial broadcasting network, but the new name, which is supposed to sound like a pharmaceutical service firm, has not yet cleared legal hurdles. We decided to run the story anyway because it offers another aspect of direct to consumer marketing that relates to the pharma conferences taking place (page 43).
Our Survival Guide story on a biomedical ethics course could easily have been expanded into a timely cover story. Nancy Duff, an ordained minister and professor of Christian ethics, begins her 13-week continuing education course at Princeton Theological Seminary on Monday, September 25 (see page 7). It would have made a particularly timely cover this week, when animal activists are being sent to prison for terrorizing pharmaceutical researchers and their families (page 47).
Where else could we have gone for our cover this time? The launching of a new community bank in Princeton would have been a worthy subject, as part of an overall story on small banks versus big banks. But it came in on Thursday, too late to make the cover for this week (page 46).
Craig Terry’s colorful photo you see on page 1 of this issue helped determine our cover “winner.” The subject: the proprietors of the Bent Spoon, an ice cream store and bakery on Palmer Square that uses all-natural and organic ingredients. As a rule, retailers do not fall into our editorial coverage area, but these store owners are participants in an event that we want readers to know about — the Epicurean Palette, a gourmet charity feast at Rat’s Restaurant on Sunday, September 24, to benefit Grounds for Sculpture (page 28).
Moreover, the story of how Gabrielle Carbone and her husband, Matt Errico, started — and stayed — in business in an already-busy ice cream town is a compelling one. In the news business, some rules are made to be broken.


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Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda have been furiously lobbying against plans for an indepdendent ombudsman to stop them trampling over the interests of suppliers, The Observer reveals today.
FOI requests made by Friends of the Earth and ActionAid show that, between April 2008 and August 2009, the retail giants held 13 meetings with officials and ministers, including three with Lord Mandelson.
Strangely, the Groceries Market Action Group was a rather less frequent visitor to Mandelson’s empire.
The group, which represents UK farmers, manufacturers and small shops and producers from developing countries, had only one meeting. And they didn’t even get Mandy, instead having to make do with competition minister, Kevin Brennan.
If only they had a few former Downing Street employees, or a shareholder who used to be a minister…


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Bucking the pandemic-induced trend of small businesses reducing operations or shutting down entirely, Great Divide Brewing Co. celebrated the grand opening of a new taproom in Castle Rock, Colorado, June 1. The opening of Great Divide Brewery and Roadhouse came just days after Colorado gave approval for restaurants and breweries to reopen. “We’ve got this beautiful place. Once they give you the all-clear you want to get it open,” said Great Divide marketing manager Matt Sandy.
The bar features 16 taps, along with a full-service restaurant, patio and brewhouse. The restaurant surrounds the brewhouse so customers can watch Great Divide’s brewers creating new beers.
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, people across the country have been supporting the Black Lives Matter movement through protests, donations, signing petitions, calling their representatives, and more. But one more way to more directly make the craft beer industry a more diverse and welcoming community is by actively spending your money at Black-owned breweries.
We all can agree we miss happy hours at an actual bar or brewery. Thankfully, with technology and the advent of to-go beers, we are fortunate enough to be able to have virtual happy hours with friends and family. After spending roughly 42,000 hours on virtual happy hours, here are some do’s and don’ts that will help make your time online even better!
With more time to watch movies and shows, I’ve been reevaluating the importance of entertainment and imagination. One movie I’ve been thinking about is Big Fish—particularly the end where Albert Finney and Billy Crudup envision how “the story ends.” The ending they come up with is a bright visualization—a jubilant, cheerful scene where the son carries his dying father to a pond through a long stretch of smiling faces. As they walk down the hill towards the pond, the father gets a standing ovation from the dozens of quirky people who made up his remarkable (if exaggerated) life’s story.
Sometimes those kinds of visualizations are fun distractions—a daydream to pass the time. But sometimes visualizations are a coping mechanism, pure survival. It’s not news that we’re missing a lot right now. And when we miss things, it’s easy to let our minds wander and dream about what may come. So that’s exactly what we’re going to do. With the help of some lovely folks in the craft beer industry, we’re going to close our eyes and imagine what it’ll be like on that first day back to life.
When President Trump signed the CARES Act on March 27, 2020, it appeared to offer a much-needed lifeline to small businesses that are suffering under the current pandemic. The act funded several programs designed to allow businesses to pay their basic expenses—particularly their employees—while under various government-mandated shutdowns and reductions in service. However, within just 13 days of the April 3, 2020, start date the $376 billion program ran out of funds, leaving many small businesses, including breweries, wondering if any assistance will be coming.
As new developments arise and things are changing as it seems almost by the hour during the COVID-19 pandemic, it may be tough to keep up with which breweries are still open; in what format they are open in, if they have certain limitations (depending on the state that you’re in), and so on. The underlying factor remains the same: everyone is affected in one way or another by the growing pandemic, but we all love the craft beer community and want to find ways to continue to support one another.
What a time it is right now. The Brewers Association announced last Thursday they’ll be cancelling CBC 2020 and that was followed shortly by the Colorado Brewers Guild announcing the suspension of this year’s Collaboration Fest. The craft beer community has been diligent about updating procedures and staying on top of these changes that need to be implemented. Although it’s unclear the full impact of how COVID-19 will be affecting breweries, they’ve responded by continuing to announce temporary closures, event cancellations, or sharing their processes to help protect their employees and patrons. With the recent announcements from California, Illinois, Ohio, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minneapolis, Pennsylvania, and now all of Colorado asking for bar closures, which includes breweries and taprooms, we want to share ways you can continue to support your local breweries with these changes, while still being mindful of public health safety.
Houston’s beer scene continues to grow with the addition of award-winning Urban South Brewery’s first expansion outside of New Orleans. A satellite brewery, Urban South – HTX will focus on creative experimental beers in Houston’s Sawyer Yards District, including the hazy IPAs they are well-known for.
Mighty Axe Hops is an 80-acre hop farm located near Foley, Minnesota, roughly a 90-minute drive northwest from Minneapolis. It’s the largest hop farm from Michigan to Idaho and grows 13 varieties of hops.
For nearly every beer nerd or active barhopper, they have at least one type of beer-based application on their phone. In most cases, it’s Uptappd, as it’s easily the most downloaded and widely used beer application. But there are others worth taking note of, including another big name, Taphunter. And with the influx of so many craft breweries, it’s hard to keep track of everything. This is where the OpenTap app is trying to change the game a bit. This particular application focuses on only California breweries, so we reached out to the founder to learn more about his unique perspective.
In an indication of just how fast the craft beer market moves these days, earlier this week Boulder Beer Company and Sleeping Giant Brewing Company announced a partnership to bring Boulder Beer back into distribution. This comes fast on the heels of Boulder Beer’s October decision to exit distribution. Boulder Beer was to be available only in the Boulder brewpub.
Again this year dark beer lovers filled the top floor of Wynkoop Brewing Co. for some of Colorado’s best dark beer pours. Breweries from up and down Colorado’s Front Range brought heavy, dark and malty brews to Day of Darks. Meanwhile, Wynkoop supplied chocolate treats for pairing, including ice cream made with Wynkoop’s own Cowtown Milk Stout.
Brewers brought their A-game with kegs, cans, bottles and even some growlers with extra-special brews. While most beers were production-level and available at the breweries, enjoying them all in one space was certainly a great convenience. Attendees also had fun trying a handful of one-offs and pre-release beers that some breweries brought, although one had to sniff those out early as they tended to go fast.
“It’s there and then it’s not.”
Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). An alarming public health crisis, the death-by-suicide rate for Americans has grown 30 percent in the last two decades. In 2017 alone, more than 47,000 Americans died by suicide. The tragedy of the suicide epidemic in the last 20 years seems to have touched all of our lives at some point. Three years ago, it touched the family of Minneapolis’ Fulton Beer.
Brewing new beers to celebrate a local event or festival is not unusual in the craft brewing community. Michigan-based Perrin Brewing Company took that idea and flipped it on its head with their latest IPA: Storming The Gates Area 51 Experimental New England style IPA. Brewed in celebration of their 7th anniversary party, the new NE-style IPA is brewed to celebrate (or mourn) the now-canceled Storm Area 51 event that was supposed to take place on September 20, 2019. While that viral event is now no-more due to a myriad of practical and human safety issues, the IPA remains and has had many Michigan beer fans storming the gates of the brewpub this past week.
Indeed Brewing Company, home to Northeast Minneapolis’ original taproom, has officially completed its expansion farther east with the opening of its Milwaukee brewery and taproom.
On August 23, the brewery announced via social media the official soft opening for the new location on 530 S. 2nd St. in Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point neighborhood would take place on September 6. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. to celebrate the opening.
For those of us who live in the Midwest, it has been a long, bitter winter. However, for Big Ten basketball fans, a competitive regular season has pulled us through to the first signs of spring.
For most people, the Christmas season is their favorite time of year. However, for me, March Madness could be the underdog that upsets this crowd favorite in a battle for the most wonderful time of the year. I love that every game matters, as I have a team to root for in each match-up. I enjoy the high of celebration as teams claim victory, and I feel the heartache for each team as their season comes to an end. The upsets, the Cinderella Team, and the bracket busters elicit excitement in me, and of course, I have my favorite team that I hope is ultimately cutting down the nets at the end of it all. For those of you who will be rooting on a Big Ten team with me this March Madness, this Ultimate 6er will provide you with craft brews that show your loyalty to your team and your conference as you celebrate. Let the madness begin! Cheers (and Go Big Ten!).
After years of dispute, Texas brewers and distributors have reached a historic agreement on Beer-to-Go sales from craft breweries. Texas remains the only state where production breweries are not permitted to sell beer-to-go from their taprooms.
A new immersive pop-up experience, Alita: Battle Angel – Passport to Iron City is now open in Austin, Los Angeles and New York City to celebrate the release of the highly anticipated Robert Rodriguez film Alita: Battle Angel. During the experience, guests can explore the film’s futuristic world Iron City, which has been recreated down to the last detail to include the Kansas bar where guests can enjoy an exclusive beer from Three Weavers Brewing Company out of Inglewood, California. Each city will feature a beer crafted specifically for that city, along with other beers from the brewery.
I caught up with founder Lynne Weaver and brewmaster Alexandra Nowell to find out how the collaboration came about.
The 91st Academy Awards is sure to be one for the ages. Every single step of the event has been marred in some form of controversy ranging from what awards will be shown, who is going to host and if we’ll even get musical performances this year. There’s usually one faux pas from each year from the classic La La Land/Moonlight mix up from two years ago to Jack Nicholson’s reaction to Crash winning Best Picture. Who knows what will go to go down at this year’s broadcast?
Whatever happens this year, one thing is for certain is that a drinking game will make the experience even sweeter. So whether you’ve obsessively followed the nominees or you saw only five movies in a theater as per the national average, the Oscars should be fun for you too!
In honor of National Pizza Day on February 9, I am overjoyed to be writing about two of my favorite things: craft beer and pizza. Seriously–is there anything better than taking a bite of a hot, tantalizing slice of your favorite pizza and chasing it with a sip of a cold IPA or a refreshing pale ale? Just thinking about it makes my stomach rumble and my mouth begin to water.
In our explorations of Michigan’s craft brewery scene, my husband and I have tasted a lot of amazing food paired with some exceptional beer. However, nothing seems to top the beer and pizza combination for us, and we find ourselves returning to some of our favorite Michigan breweries again and again simply to indulge ourselves in this dynamic duo. If you don’t have a location to celebrate National Pizza Day already chosen, here are my recommendations for the best of Michigan’s craft beer and pizza scene to inspire you. Maybe we will see you there!


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‘Free Speech’ App Parler Taken Offline After Being Used To Organise Capitol Riot
Apple and Google have removed Parler from their stores after reports that it was used to organise the Capitol riot.
Parler is a microblogging and social networking service that many Trump supporters are thought to use. Many conspiracy theorists and right-wing extremists reportedly use it, too.
However, following the riot that took place on Wednesday, January 6, at the US Capitol, Apple and Google have chosen to remove Parler from their stores so people are unable to download it.
Prior to removing the platform from its store, Apple gave Parler an ultimatum to remove any content that violated its policies by Friday, January 8, or it would be suspended from the App Store.
According to The Verge, Parler did make a few changes in a bid to stop the suspension, but Apple didn’t find the changes sufficient enough.
Apple issued a statement yesterday, January 9, explaining why they have remove Parler from the App Store.
Part of it read:
We have always supported diverse points of view being represented on the App Store, but there is no place on our platform for threats of violence and illegal activity.
Parler has not taken adequate measures to address the proliferation of these threats to people’s safety. We have suspended Parler from the App Store until they resolve these issues.
The app was still available after this statement was issued, but it soon removed from the App Store.
Meanwhile, Google officially suspended Parler on Friday after finding it had been used to incite violence.
Google said in a statement, ‘We’re aware of continued posting in the Parler app that seeks to incite ongoing violence in the US.’
We recognize that there can be reasonable debate about content policies and that it can be difficult for apps to immediately remove all violative content, but for us to distribute an app through Google Play, we do require that apps implement robust moderation for egregious content.
As it stands, Google isn’t thought to be permanently suspending the app from Google Play, but will continue to not have it available until Parler has addressed the issues at hand.
Parler has also found itself in hot water with its web hosting service, Amazon. Amazon has told the platform that it is removing it from its web hosting service for violating rules.
Now Parler must find a new web hosting service by this evening, or the entire network will go offline, reported BBC News.
Amazon reportedly found 98 posts on Parler that incited violence which therefore violated its policies.
If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]
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When it comes to your cholesterol both red and white meats are equally bad.
That’s according to a surprising new small study from the University of California in San Francisco.
It showed people who ate a lot of red or white meat saw an increase in their cholesterol.
This is compared to those who just mainly consumed plant-based proteins.
But scientists say what matters the most is to watch out for saturated fat regardless of the source.
Experts say if you are going to eat meat make sure you choose the leaner cuts.
The study did not include grass-fed beef, fish or processed products like bacon or sausage.


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Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala has launched the world's first online incubator - SV.CO, for start-ups by college students. Its hashtag is a clear indicator of its aim - #StartInCollege
SV.CO will function as an online university, that aims to cut through boundaries. Training, mentorship will be in digital form, with a promise of a silicon valley launch for the top 100 start-up founders, among those selected.
Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-Founder Infosys and Chief Advisor, Start-up Village in Kerala, told NDTV, "With this digital incubator, one will be able to go beyond Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi to tier II, tier III cities, to villages, to colleges across the country. Entrepreneurship cannot be restricted to the main cities in India."
The digital incubator will function on PPP - Public Private Partnership with Central Government, State Government and a Private Company - MobME as partners.
"Kerala was not known for its entrepreneur skills few years back, rather was known for its skilled workforce but now things are changing and Kerala is leading the back by taking the start-up culture to the next level by going digital," Dr HK Mittal, Head of National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board told NDTV.
A threefold selection process is being applied to screen candidates, who once selected will gain from the best industry mentors on board. The aim is to propel start-up growth culture in Kerala, in line with the Prime Minister's vision of 'Start-Up India'.
Students like Akshayanand, an engineering student with a food technology start-up are excited. "We really need a lot of training and mentorship and now the access has only become easier because it's online. It's a huge cost cutting for us and all we need is good Wi-Fi, irrespective of our location," he says.
Kirti C Shekharan, a student activist with the college start-up groups says, "There won't be any problem of overcrowding because the selection will be tough and only those who have the skills, and are promising will be selected."
As the group of young entrepreneurs in their 20s comes together with the well-respected brains in the industry, all in one frame for a group photograph, it's also a symbolic turning of a new leaf in the start-up movement in Kerala.


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Amazon.com Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) Echo Dot can run an entire house, nearly. That makes it remarkably useful, so it is odd that Amazon would cut the price of the second generation Echo Dot by $20 to $29, which is a 40% cut.
Amazon has been known to offer some of its products at low margins, or even at losses, to bring in customers and create loyalty around the brand. It is hard to argue with the approach, particularly given the surge in Amazon’s share price, which has taken its market value to $560 billion. The stock is up 366% in the past five years to $1,162 a share.
It would not seem Amazon has to cut Echo Dot prices. When the company announced record Cyber Monday sales, management reported:
Customers ordered hundreds of millions of products on Amazon from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday.
Cyber Monday 2017 is now the single biggest shopping day in Amazon’s history, surpassing Prime Day 2017.
Amazon App orders on Cyber Monday 2017 increased more than 50 percent, worldwide year over year.
On Cyber Monday, the best-selling item was the Echo Dot.
The Echo Dot is, according to Amazon, a “hands-free, voice-controlled device that uses Alexa.” Alexa is an intelligent personal assistant. It has voice recognition features and the ability to connect to consumer electronic devices. Thus, it can answer questions, turn on music, set home temperatures, set alarms and allow people to use their smartphones hands free. Many people who own the devices say they cannot imagine a time when they lived without it.
Google has the only real competition for the Alexa-powered products. As is always the case, Apple wants a piece of the smart house, smart device pie. eMarketer claims that the use of this sort of device rose 129% last year. That increase will continue as the sales of products like Echo Dot continue to grow rapidly.
Amazon’s discount could be part of its old trick of buying market share. If so, it seems to be working, based on its own statements. Whether it is a worthwhile market to own, or just another living room toy, remains to be seen.


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Zero-emission heavy-duty waste collection vehicles: Market gaps and collaboration to advance innovation online workshop
On 27 October, the ENTRANCE project and Big Buyers initiative organised an online workshop aiming to elaborate on the market analysis of zero-emission waste collection vehicles to advance and uptake the innovation for reducing emissions and congestion in cities. This workshop focused on discussing the current market gaps that are preventing the wider European uptake and collaboration to advance innovation.
Antonio Invito, analyst PNO Consultants, presented the market analysis on the available zero-emission waste collection vehicles in the market which is available on the ENTRANCE platform. Jeanett Bolther, Senior Innovation Consultant at PNO who leads the ENTRANCE project, participated in this event presenting funding opportunities to achieve the implementation of zero-emission waste collection vehicles for urban services.
The event also counted on the participation of two successful examples on the implementation of these vehicles in Rotterdam (Richard BrabersInkoper) and Göteborgs (Peter Årnes), the participation of Wouter Ijzemans (BEPA), and the co-organisation and participation of Big Buyers represented by Anja de Cunto. The workshop was attended by 27 participants from across Europe.
The market analysis identified 88 different models and solutions of zero-emission vehicles for waste collection in urban areas and it can be found in the ENTRANCE platform, as well as the video recording of the webinar and the presentations (to access the market analysis, you can register on the platform free of charge): https://app.entrance-platform.eu/knowledge-hub/market-analysis.html
As a follow-up to the workshop, a closed panel debate was held to gather knowledge on potential market gaps and collaboration:
- 31% of participants agreed that after hearing the information provided by the speakers, they think that zero-emission heavy-duty waste collection vehicles are ready to be used in our cities, and the other 69% agreed with the condition that some improvements are still needed.
- 40% of the workshop’s attendees expressed that the main obstacles to the implementation of zero-emission heavy-duty vehicles in the cities are high costs and the need for financing methods. The other 30% percent thought it’s the vehicles needing more technical development, and the last 30% – that it’s the lack of the city’s charging/refilling infrastructure for these vehicles.
- When asked what could be the most important solution to focus on to overcome the current market uptake barriers, the majority of the participants (75%) answered that it would be a lower cost and the less popular opinion was that more advanced R&D batteries and vehicles could be a solution.
To know more, contact us at firstname.lastname@example.org


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The acquisition is a major step for the U.S. apparel and shoe maker, which has said it wants to become soccer's top brand by the next World Cup in 2010.Umbro will apparently continue to operate as a separate brand, largely because of its high brand awareness in the soccer world -- "... Umbro supplies uniforms to the national teams of England, Ireland, Sweden and Norway, six English Premier League teams and more than 100 other professional teams globally."
Nike's soccer brand has performed well and grown in recent years, but Umbro's ties to the United Kingdom, where Nike has struggled, should boost the company's profile and performance.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Nike taking a shot on goal
Forgive the labored headline, please. Nike's goal is to be the major power in soccer by World Cup 2010, so they've bought British supplier Umbro to give them an assist.
Posted by Bob Houk at 21:09


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According to reports that Apple plans to deliver its Vision Pro mixed-reality headset in March. According to reports, the tech giant intended to deliver the headset in January, but it is currently finalising its distribution plans and testing the product.
Apple officially remained on track with its release plan when it revealed the $3,499 Vision Pro back in June, stating that the product would be available in early 2024.
The headset will first be available in the US before being released in other nations by the end of the year, such as the UK and Canada. Given that Apple usually hosts its spring event in March, it seems likely that the tech giant will utilise the occasion to promote the Vision Pro.
Apple refers to visionOS, the operating system that powers the Vision Pro, as “the first OS designed for the ground up for spatial computing.” Apps are liberated from the confines of a traditional display due to the software’s three-dimensional interface.
According to Apple, all compatible iPhone and iPad apps will be automatically included in the App Store for the Vision Pro headset. Additionally, upon launch, more than 100 Apple Arcade games will be accessible on VisionOS.
The Vision Pro’s battery pack is separate from the headset, in contrast to certain other AR headsets available on the market. Instead, a battery pack that lasts for up to two hours is connected by a line coming from the back. Or, for continuous use, users can plug into the wall.
The headset is equipped with a new R1 chip, which handles video streaming, in addition to the traditional M2 chip. The Vision Pro fits 23 million pixels onto two panels thanks to micro-OLED technology. A component of the Vision Pro is called “EyeSight,” which projects your eyes onto a front-facing display so that others in the room can see them.
Given its price, it appears that business purchasers rather than typical consumers are the target audience for this product. The “Pro” in the device’s name seems to imply that a less expensive version may be on the way, as according to report.
- Google releases migration tool before Google Podcasts shuts off in 2024 - December 8, 2023
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HCMC and Nagoya to boost tourism cooperation - HCMC and Nagoya to boost tourism cooperation - Website Ho Chi Minh City
On October 27, Department of Tourism and Culture of Nagoya city (Aichi province, Japan) held a seminar on Nagoya tourism promotion and exhibition in HCMC. The event aims to concretize cooperation between HCMC and Aichi since signing MOU on friendship and cooperation relations on September 2016.
Chairman of HCMC People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong highly valued trade and tourism promotion activities organized by Nagoya in HCMC, saying this is a good opportunity for both sides’ enterprises to have a panoramic view of demand, potential as well as tourism cooperation opportunities between both sides in the future. HCMC always considers Japan as one of its key markets on tourism cooperation.
Vietnamese and Japanese enterprises have been promoting many tourism programs to bring Vietnamese visitors to Japan and vice versa. Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong expressed his belief that with available potential, HCMC and Nagoya will become ideal destinations for both sides’ visitors. These will contribute to development of HCMC-Nagoya cooperation as well as further improvement of Vietnam-Japan Strategic Partnership.
A representative of Nagoya Department of Tourism and Culture also expressed his thanks to HCMC’s departments and agencies for support and assistance in organizing the tourism promotion and exhibition seminar in the city. The organizing board expressed its hope that the seminar will open more tourism cooperation opportunities between HCMC and Nagoya, promoting attractive destinations of Nagoya to Vietnamese visitors in general and of HCMC in particular. Nagoya also expressed its hope to receive more Vietnamese visitors in the coming time.


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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Oct. 22, 2009)—Specialty tire and wheel maker Carlisle Cos. Inc. posted a 7.5-percent decline in third quarter net income to $46.6 million on lower sales and restructuring expenses.
Carlisle said its net income was negatively impacted by restructuring costs related to previously announced plant consolidations. Sales for the quarter ended Sept. 30 fell 27.3 percent to $604.6 million.
For the nine-month period, Carlisle's net income surged to $108.7 million compared with $42.1 million in 2008 despite net sales falling 26.1 percent to $1.7 billion.
The company's Transportation Products division—which includes its Tire & Wheel business unit—saw its quarterly operating income drop 54 percent to $4.0 million as sales fell 37 percent to $129.2 million during the period. For the nine-month period, operating income was down 16 percent to $44.9 million as sales were off 31.8 percent to $470.8 million.
Sales were down in all markets in the Transportation Products segment as trailer sales decreased 64 percent from a year ago, Carlisle said.
Despite restructuring costs and lower sales, the segment was positively impacted by cost reductions and lower raw material prices, the company said.
“We continue to improve our operating margins despite our challenging end-markets,” said David Roberts, Carlisle chairman, president and CEO. “Although sales declined 27 percent in the third quarter, our operating margins improved to 11.7 percent from 9.8 percent for the third quarter 2008.”


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Be Careful When Buying iPhones and Other Popular Gadgets on the Wal-Mart Website: It Could be Cloned by Hackers
Brazilians love shopping online and are used to do their online shopping during various sales. Unfortunately, frequent online shopping can be risky. Recently, the Baidu Antivirus Security Center has been monitoring an epidemic of high-quality clones of the famous Wal-Mart website. These clone phishing sites primarily target users that want to buy popular electronic devices, including smartphones (e.g. iPhone, Sony Xperia, Galaxy), tablets (iPad), smart TVs (Sony), game consoles (PlayStation 4, Xbox One) and Electrolux refrigerators. The ultimate aim of these phishing sites is to get users' credit card information – a frightening thought indeed!
Analysis by Baidu Antivirus security experts has revealed that cybercriminals are using tempting sales to lure users to their fake phishing sites. Then, the sites will get users to enter their personal information (e.g. home address, cell phone number, and email address). Of course, their ultimate goal is to steal users' credit card information (as shown below). It is worth noting that these phishing sites will jump to the official Wal-Mart site in the end. Careless users may believe they have just finished shopping on the official Wal-Mart site. Then, after discovering that they’ve been duped, they might angrily blame Wal-Mart for their misfortune.
To avoid online shopping scams, the Baidu Antivirus Security Center would like to remind users that when they shop online, they should install multi-functional security software and enable all defense functions.


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Finnish mobile gaming company Supercell made an excellent result last year. The company, founded by Ilkka Paananen and Mikko Kodisoja in 2010 had a turnover of 672 million euros in 2013, almost ten times bigger than previous year. The profit was 349 million euros, 52 per cent of the turnover. Supercell also employed 60 new employees last year making the total amount of employees 138. They have offices in Helsinki, San Francisco, Tokyo and Seoul.
Supercell has created two mobile games, Clash of Clans and Hay Day which both are free to download, but while playing the games, players are able to speed up their progress by spending real money on tools they can use in the game. Their third game called Boom Beach will be published soon. CEO Ilkka Paananen told that it has already been played in Australia and Canada where it has rosen to top 5 of most productive iPhone games.
The FBCC is an independent, non-profit organisation, recognized throughout the Finnish, British and international business communities. The Chamber offers four different membership categories: Patron, Corporate, Professional and Junior.


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My favorite holidays are Christmas, Halloween, and a Steam sale. The next Steam summer sale date has leaked early, as is the usual case of things, and our wallets will never be the same again.
The barrage of deals will begin on June 25, about a week-and-a-half after E3 festivities are done for. The sale will go on until July 9.
There will likely be a front page full of featured sales, but don’t forget to browse through the full list of games on your Steam client to catch up on games you may have forgotten about. Of course, if you’re like me, you have way too many dang games to get around to. Role-playing games, virtual reality “experiences,” indie stories—it’s all a bit too much. That’s not even accounting for Ubisoft’s latest ongoing shooter that will consume my PlayStation Network parties for a few months.
We don’t know yet what exactly Steam will list in its summer sale, but the platform is usually good about getting all the major releases some amount of discount. Our recent reviews might help you plan your wishlist.
Sekiro is a great action RPG from the Dark Souls team at From Software, and it will hurt your feelings over and over again. A Plague Tale: Innocence is a great adventure through the French horrors of the black plague, rats included. It just released, but it’s already only $45 on PC. Mortal Kombat 11 has some flaws, but none of them are fatalities to the incredibly violent saga.
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H/T PC Gamer
Joseph Knoop is a gaming writer for Daily Dot, a native Chicagoan, and a slave to all things Overwatch. He co-founded the college geek culture outlet ByteBSU, then interned at Game Informer, and now writes for a bunch websites his parents have never heard of.


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Good Week: Amazon – The e-commerce behemoth announced a 30%-plus increase in revenues for the second quarter of 2016, marking the company’s fifth consecutive quarter of gains. Amazon attributes the rise largely to the success of its cloud computing division. (I attribute it largely to my wife.)
Mixed Week: Facebook – Second-quarter earnings for the Book of Faces revealed $6.4B in revenues, far exceeding analysts – and the company’s – projections, with as many as 1.13 billion users turning to the site daily. All that sharing drove shares up as much as 7%. However, the celebration is dampened by reports that an ongoing IRS investigation could result in more than a $5B penalty based on the company moving certain assets to an Irish subsidiary to reduce its U.S. tax burden.
Bad Week: Sesame Street – Apparently, acquiring the undisputed crown jewel of children’s educational television programming wasn’t enough for the suits at HBO, who promptly dismissed three of the show’s longtime stars, including Bob (actor Bob McGrath), who’s been the kind-hearted human face of the show since it’s 1969 debut. Kids. Puppets. Network executives. One of these things just doesn’t belong.


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Glassmakers from more than 36 countries attended a summit which explored the future of glass packaging.
Summit19, organised by Bucher Emhart Glass, investigated the themes that will make a difference to the container glassmaking industry in forthcoming years.
The three-day event included 15 conference presentations, opening and closing talks from Bucher Emhart Glass President Martin Jetter, as well as networking opportunities.
Approximately 100 glassmakers were in attendance at the event in Zurich, Switzerland, close to Emhart’s headquarters.
These included Allied, BA Glass, Bangkok Glass, Encirc, Ekran, FEVE glass association, Heineken, HNG, O-I, San Miguel Yamamura, Takestan Packaging Glass, Toyo Glass, Vetropack, Vidroporto, Wiegand-Glas and more.
Glass International was also in attendance.
In a keynote speech, Bucher Industries CEO Jacques Sanche investigated the elements that made companies successful.
He highlighted a McKinsey and Company book, Beyond the Hockey Stick, which had investigated thousands of businesses over a 10 year period and compared their financial performance.
The most successful companies had displayed 10 key elements, one of which was past investment in R&D.
He said: “There was a clear correlation between those companies that had been investing in R&D and those that made a better race during these 10 years.
“It obviously paid off to have a higher R&D budget than the ones who didn’t have.”
Later, he focused on industry trends and stated that the negative perception towards plastic was a huge opportunity for glass.
“The plastic discussion is going on and people are becoming aware there aren’t many alternatives to glass. I think that is a huge opportunity. There is an increasing perception that the right way is to go along the glass path.”
In conclusion he said that three topics should prevail in the industry: reusability, productivity and the beauty of glass.
The notion that glass is good should be promoted more and should help increase demand for glass.
Similarly, more cullet should be made available via discussions with local authorities. This in turn would re-emphasise glass’s sustainable qualities.
Glass plants still have potential to improve their productivity, he said.
“The pack to melt must be better. We have to make glass production less magical and more industrial, it has to be a more predictable process.
“It is our job and we are working hard to get it into that direction. Job changes have to become more routine rather than an experiment.”
Finally, the beauty of glass should be continuously promoted.
“We have the ability to create a lot more optical and positive sensations for the end customer when he sees such a nice container.”
Further conference presentations were focused on Generation R and the future of work, an outlook of the global economy, how new EU legislation will impact the glass industry, and the sustainability challenge.
More information from the Summit19 website.
A detailed review of the event will appear in a forthcoming issue of Glass International.
Pictured: Martin Jetter, Bucher Emhart Glass President, opens the event.


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- Nathaniel Chastain appeals to his insider trading conviction, questioning if NFT info is legally ‘property.’
- The decision may significantly impact legal standards in the NFT industry.
- Chastain’s defense is centered around the argument that the insider information he used for personal gain did not hold intrinsic commercial value, thereby challenging the legitimacy of the wire fraud and money laundering charges he faces.
Nathaniel Chastain, a former product manager at OpenSea, the renowned nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace, has recently taken a bold step in challenging his conviction. In May 2023, Chastain faced the consequences of wire fraud and money laundering charges linked to his insider trading activities involving NFTs. However, a new development has emerged. On January 16, Chastain’s legal team filed an appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, raising significant questions about the nature of the information Chastain used for personal gain.
The core argument of Chastain’s defense pivots on classifying NFT information as ‘property.’ His lawyers contend that the insider information he capitalized on does not meet the legal definition of ‘property.’ They argue that this information lacked commercial value to OpenSea and cannot be considered protected property. This perspective challenges traditional notions of what constitutes valuable information in the digital age, especially in the rapidly evolving NFT space.
Moreover, the appeal highlights an intriguing aspect of the case since OpenSea’s business model. According to the defense, OpenSea’s revenue stemmed from commissions on NFT transactions, not from the specific NFTs Chastain chose to feature on the platform. This argument suggests that while ethically questionable, Chastain’s actions might not align with the legal definitions of wire fraud and money laundering.
During his trial in 2023, evidence presented by prosecutors showed Chastain’s influence over which NFTs were featured on OpenSea. He reportedly purchased 45 NFTs before their public debut and sold them for a significant profit. This action, while profitable for Chastain, raised serious questions about the fairness and integrity of the NFT market.
In response to these allegations, Chastain was imprisoned for three months and fined $50,000. He was granted the opportunity to surrender himself to authorities by November 2. His appeal seeks to reverse his conviction and asks for a new trial, potentially setting a precedent in how insider information in the NFT market is legally interpreted.
The outcome of this appeal could have far-reaching implications for the NFT industry and digital marketplaces. It underscores the evolving legal landscape around digital assets and the need for clear regulations and ethical standards in this burgeoning field. As the case proceeds, it will undoubtedly attract the attention of legal experts and the NFT community, eager to see how these complex issues will be resolved in the eyes of the law.


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On a trip to the UAE this month, VMware’s Jean-Pierre Brulard, senior vice president and general manager EMEA, talked about …
IBM and Vodafone Business have announced that they are creating a new venture designed to help companies across Europe and beyond deliver innovation faster and succeed in a digital world.
BeyondTrust has announced Defendpoint 5.3 with Power Rules to help speed decisions on whether to allow an application to run, or allow it to run with admin rights, by automating the integration of third-party intelligence sources.
China-based smartphone firm OPPO has reaffirmed its commitment to the region’s 5G ecosystem through substantial new investments and technology trials.
Avaya has opened its annual Avaya ENGAGE conference for the global community of contact centre and unified communications users, and introduced new innovations to simplify and enhance converged business communications.
HID Global has announced the availability of its HID Origo cloud platform that opens a brand-new world of opportunities for partners to create more seamless and intuitive workplace experiences that are built on HID’s proven access control infrastructure.
At the show, Ring partners and neighbours the opportunity to experience the firm’s products first hand and to learn about its features and benefits via demos.
Lenovo Data Center Group (DCG) is showcasing some of the company’s high-performance computing capabilities, as well as an extensive product offering designed for the ‘Intelligence Revolution’ era at Intersec 2019.
The Live Earth demo offers an overview of Dell Technologies’ capabilities of how video surveillance comes to life in the ever changing modern environment, hosted on a ruggedised Edge Gateway platform.
NetApp, the data authority for hybrid cloud, is showcasing its latest video surveillance and hybrid flash storage solutions during its …
Cerner, a global healthcare technology company, will take part at Arab Health Exhibition and Congress 2019, which will be held …
Backup solutions player Veeam Software has announced that Insight Venture Partners has invested $500 million with strong participation from strategic …
Oracle has announced that its flagship event, OpenWorld, will for the first time take place in Dubai on 11th and 12th February 2019.
Microsoft has announced that its global annual technology Conference “Microsoft Ignite” is enroute to the Middle East and will be held in Dubai on March 27-28 this year.