text:
What the NFL’s latest rights deals signal for the future of TV and streaming
For the past several years, the National Football League’s next round of broadcast rights deals were seen as the likely tipping point for streaming to overtake TV.
But now that those deals have been announced, they underscore an oxymoronic moment: streaming is overtaking TV, but also that TV is overtaking streaming. “It’s less a revolution than an evolution,” said Patrick Crakes, a former Fox Sports executive and principal of Crakes Media Consulting
The major TV network groups, including Disney, Fox, NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS, retained their rights to air NFL games on their TV networks on March 18. But the 11-year deals also enable the companies to distribute more games on their streaming services to people who do not have traditional TV. And whereas the potential loomed for a tech giant to swoop in and steal rights away from the traditional media companies, in the end only the NFL’s Thursday Night Football package went to Amazon, albeit on an exclusive basis aside from the local TV broadcasts.
As a result, the NFL’s latest rights deals do not appear to represent a watershed moment for the convergence of traditional TV and streaming. But they are — or, at the least, they have the potential be. “To me when all of these games are available to stream and you don’t need a pay-television subscription, that’s when things change tremendously,” said John Kosner, a former ESPN executive and president of Kosner Media.
That moment may not be much farther off. Starting this year, NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS will have the rights to stream their NFL games on Peacock and Paramount+, respectively. Additionally, Disney will air one game exclusively on ESPN+ in 2022 and has the rights to air all of its NFL games on the subscription-based streamer starting in 2023. Fox appears to be the only one of the TV networks not to acquire rights to make games available to streaming-only audiences, though it will air condensed games on its free, ad-supported streamer Tubi. That the networks have acquired these streaming rights puts them in position to retain their positions in the broader TV market as it shifts to streaming.
“It’s very hard to see that the future of any digital distribution won’t be owned by the same established media companies that owned the old” distribution model, Crakes said.
However, while the networks have the rights to stream games to cord cutters, only NBCUniversal has been explicit about actually doing so. Disney and ViacomCBS said they have the opportunity to do so but not that they, in fact, will as soon as they have the option. That leaves open the possibility that the companies could choose to keep their NFL games limited to traditional TV viewers. That would be an odd move considering the networks are reportedly paying more than $2 billion per year — $2.7 billion in Disney’s case — for their NFL rights, per CNBC. But it’s because the networks are paying so much that they may be wary of making the games accessible to cord cutters and severely undercutting their linear TV businesses that effectively subsidize their streaming businesses.
Protecting their linear TV businesses appears to be why the TV network owners were reportedly willing to pay 75% to 80% more money for the right to air NFL games, according to The Wall Street Journal. “For these networks, they’re trying to give life and breath to their traditional channels,” said Eunice Shin, who has consulted for companies including Disney, Warner Bros. and NBCUniversal and is a partner at consulting firm Prophet.
If the TV network owners all were to make their NFL games available to streaming-only audiences, “it’s going to accelerate the decline of pay-TV subscriptions, which already largely subsidizes sports in this country at the moment. That’s going to be an earth-moving moment,” Kosner said.
The earth is moving, though. The pay-TV industry lost 6 million subscribers in 2021, according to research firm MoffettNathanson, and two of the companies that own NFL rights — Disney and NBCUniversal — each reorganized their companies around streaming last year. So, for as much as the latest NFL deals suggest the TV market isn’t changing all that much as streaming takes center stage, it is changing, but the companies involved are largely staying the same. “Ninety percent of [NFL games] are staying with established partners who built new streaming assets,” Crakes said.
The TV network owners’ primary motivation for paying up to retain their NFL rights may have been to protect their legacy linear businesses, but at least a contributing factor was likely that traditional TV’s most prized programming could prove just as valuable in building up their streaming businesses.
Offering NFL games could help the networks’ standalone streamers to contend with the likes of Netflix and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max in the war for people’s streaming subscription budgets. Not only may people be more likely to sign up for Peacock or Paramount+ because of the NFL’s availability, but they may be more likely to stay subscribed. “Fewer people are going to drop subscriptions from September through February because of the power of NFL programming,” Kosner said.
That power was not lost on Amazon whose acquisition of NFL rights should not be overlooked. While last year Netflix had hits like “Tiger King” and “Queen’s Gambit,” Disney+ had “Hamilton” and “The Mandalorian” and HBO Max had “Wonder Woman 1984,” Amazon Prime Video “didn’t really have a moment. There was just no news about Amazon,” said Shin. That has now changed. Whether it amounts to much by way of drastically increasing Amazon Prime Video’s audience remains to be seen, but it will likely increase the competition among TV networks and streamers for live sports rights overall.
“Amazon’s aggressive move into sports will neither be their last nor are they likely to be the only digital entity to get into sports,” said Kosner. “This might have been the moment that broke the dam a little bit.”
More in Future of TV
This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at how the latest quarterly earnings season evinces more streaming subscriber growth struggles and a growing fondness for the bundle.
It would appear that investors’ enthusiasm for the CTV narrative that has served TTD, Magnite and PubMatic so well for the last 18 months is starting to plateau.
This week’s Future of TV Briefing looks at how platforms are pulling creators toward longer videos while brands push for shorter fare.
Ad position: web_bfu


text:
|TE Connectivity to showcase latest products at Smart Production Solutions 2022
|Sign up for free show ticket to hear from TE experts on industry trends and new products
|SCHAFFHAUSEN, Switzerland – Oct. 27, 2022 – TE Connectivity (TE), a world leader in connectivity and sensors, will showcase its wide portfolio of products and solutions at Smart Production Solutions (SPS) in Nuremberg, Germany, Nov. 8-10.
“As the go-to engineering partner with innovation leaders and technology entrepreneurs, we’re excited to showcase our latest solutions at SPS to help our customers solve their toughest challenges with advanced connectivity and sensors solutions,” said Emmanuel Dieppedalle, vice president - commercial at TE. “Customizable and interconnected solutions, such as Single Pair Ethernet, industrial robotics, industrial automation and controls, will be discussed at the show, helping our customers in virtually all facets of production. Our TE experts will also give updates on our recent acquisition of electronic connectivity provider ERNI, which expands our connectivity portfolio to assist more customers.”
At the TE booth, a variety of key products and solutions will be featured:
To learn more about this portfolio of solutions, visit the TE Connectivity team at SPS at the Messe Nuremberg Exhibition hall 10 at booth 340. Visit https://www.te.com/global-en/about-te/events/sps-2022.html to register for a complimentary show ticket and learn more from the TE team on new products and solutions.
|ABOUT TE CONNECTIVITY
TE Connectivity is a global industrial technology leader creating a safer, sustainable, productive, and connected future. Our broad range of connectivity and sensor solutions, proven in the harshest environments, enable advancements in transportation, industrial applications, medical technology, energy, data communications, and the home. With more than 85,000 employees, including over 8,000 engineers, working alongside customers in approximately 140 countries, TE ensures that EVERY CONNECTION COUNTS. Learn more at te.com and on LinkedIn, Facebook, WeChat, and Twitter.

domain: news


text:
OMAHA, Neb. — Ham will be the centerpiece of many Easter dinners this weekend, but the cost of that traditional main dish may make it harder for families to live high on the hog.
Ham prices have been higher than usual for the past two years because the cost of pig feed has gone up, and some major pork producers are spending millions to convert barns as they phase out cramped cages used to confine pregnant sows.
Ham has been selling wholesale for 75 to 80 cents per pound this spring, which is in line with last year’s prices but well above the 55 cents per pound average for the previous five years.
A recent check at one Omaha-area supermarket found boneless Hormel hams selling for about $2.20 per pound, with bone-in hams slightly cheaper. With sales offered this week to attract Easter shoppers, it was possible to get a bone-in ham for as little as $1.28 per pound.
Paula Vejvoda of Omaha said she’s had her Easter ham in the freezer since Christmas, when she bought it on sale so she could economically feed her two daughters, two exchange students and husband.
“You really have to watch the ads and see who has the best price,” Vejvoda said.
That’s good advice for families, but hard to do when you’re trying to provide ham for hundreds of people at a food pantry.
Joyce Lonergan, food pantry director at St. Anthony’s Shrine in downtown Boston, said she tries to arrange to have a special meal at each holiday to help boost people’s spirits, but the prospect seemed daunting when the pantry began shopping for hams back in January. They were selling for $2.30 per pound, not the 99 cents per pound paid last year.
With added donations and some breaks from suppliers, St. Anthony’s was able to secure ham steaks and chickens for the holiday meal.
“We’ve made it work only because people have been so generous,” Lonergan said.
Feed, switch to larger cases keep costs high
Livestock economist Shane Ellis said the price of ham isn’t likely to drop soon because pork producers’ costs aren’t decreasing. Feed, which is mainly corn, is running about $6 a bushel — not far from the record $7.99 per bushel set last June.
Pork producers also are switching from gestation crates to more open pens amid public pressure from consumers and animal welfare advocates who believe the smaller cages are cruel. One major producer, Smithfield Foods, recently said it expects to spend nearly $300 million by 2017 to convert its barns.
The switch also requires more labor to manage the sows because they tend to fight. Some of those costs are likely to be passed on to consumers.
Americans consume about 51 pounds of pork a year on average, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
While ham is a traditional element of many Easter meals, Ellis said prices typically peak in June, near the height of the grilling season when demand is highest. The low point is usually at the end of the calendar year because that’s when large numbers of hogs reach the market.
Many organizations, like the Food Bank for the Heartland, don’t even attempt to deliver a special holiday meal to the people they help because their goal is to offer the most nutritious food at the lowest possible price.
Donations from business and individuals have been down over the past two years, making it harder to keep up with the need in the 93 counties in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa that the food bank serves, spokesman Brian Barks said.
Most food pantries, shelters and other programs receiving food from the Omaha food bank this Easter will receive staples like pasta, peanut butter or canned chicken. The food bank recently received 4,200 3-pound hams from the USDA, but Barks said those were gone within a couple of weeks.
“Meat has almost become a luxury item at the food bank,” he said.


text:
The Paul Stephens 993R reimagines Porsche’s last air-cooled 911 as an impeccably built daily driver.
The EV Manx will come with a standard 20 kWh battery and 150 miles of range.
The EV maker, the agency says, suggested cars equipped with its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving technologies can operate autonomously, even though they cannot.
A new study says you’re likely to see more luxury vehicles on the road in New Jersey than anywhere else in the US.
Car of the Week: This Rare 1961 Ferrari Was Made for a Count. It Could Fetch up to $5 Million at Auction.
Offered by Gooding & Company, the award-winning Ferrari 400 Superamerica Series I Coupé Aerodinamico has less than 15,000 miles on it.
The 3/4-scale ride is expected to fetch up to $120,000 at Monterey Car Week.


text:
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- General Motors GM, +0.45% the world's biggest automaker, said Tuesday it sold 20% more vehicles than last year for a total tally of 530,028 units as slashed prices stoked demand. Sales of cars fell 3% to 169,372 units, a decline the company attributed to fewer sales to fleet customers. But trucks jumped more than 34% to 360,655 units to a record for the month. GM is also extending its employee discount plan through Sept. 6 on 2005 models with the exception of the Chevrolet Corvette, Hummer H1 and Pontiac GTO.
Have breaking news sent to your inbox. Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Bulletin emails. Sign up here.


text:
Built environment experts Arup have released a report entitled ‘The Urban Bio-Loop’ which highlights the need for more diverse material usage within construction. For an industry that specialises in boxes, is it time to think outside of it in terms of how we tackle very real issues such as climate change and overpopulation?
The publication aims to demonstrate that a different paradigm for materials in construction is in fact possible.
Organic waste from our cities and the countryside, traditionally managed through landﬁll, incineration and composting could be diverted – at least in part – to become a resource for the creation of construction engineering and architecture products before being fed back in the biological cycle at the end of their service life.
The use of organic waste in construction would possibly allow the exploitation of its untapped value with a positive impact not only from an environmental perspective but also from a technical, social and economic standpoint. In this project a number of organic waste streams have been identiﬁed, together with their applications in building construction as products. Some of them are already certiﬁed products used in some markets at global level. Some others need further research and investment before being ready to market.
In the short term these examples are a guideline for designers and practitioners for replacing some of the traditional architectural products with equivalents made with organic waste as a resource.
The report also explores to which extent both our cities and urban districts could become self-sustaining – at least partially – from a feedstock point of view. This would be through the active implementation of organic waste streams into the supply chain of building construction products. This vision entails on the one side cities and urban districts that could implement more effective recovery systems and processes to turn organic waste into a source of value, while on the other side they can be planned for growing natural construction materials.
The principles of Circular Economy would provide the rationale for a shift form a linear – disposal model – towards a circular value chain where organic waste is the main resource.
Leave a ReplyWant to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!


text:
Sending kids back to school can be an exciting time but costs for supplies and fees can be a burden too large for some families.
To tackle the issue, Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) has for more than 10 years provided a full set of school supplies to students from kindergarten to Grade 12. Emma Curran, program co-ordinator, says Tools for School has received a large amount of school supplies, including backpacks and she has been putting everything together.
She tries to match up the right bag and supplies for the appropriate age and gender and looks forward to getting supplies into kids’ hands.
“We try to accommodate that to play to their interests,” said Curran.
Coin jars and drop boxes have been placed in different spots where supplies were sold but she also has received large donations from companies such as Extra Foods and Shoppers Drug Mart. “They have really stepped up to the plate with this.”
Despite a large need at the beginning of the term, Curran gets requests for supplies throughout the year. She suggests anyone who needs supplies for their students to call 403-783-4462 as they have a large supply of materials.
“People have been very, very generous,” she added.
The only items FCSS cannot supply are the scientific calculators many students need in high school and gym clothes but USB memory sticks are provided.
“Whatever’s on the school list, we provide. It really is a great program,” said Curran.
Her goal is to reduce the pressure on parents, as they also have to pay school fees and buy new clothing. She has also introduced a new promotion to get kids excited about learning, it’s called Back-to-School Kickoff. Gift certificates from Ponoka businesses have been donated and kids are encouraged to enter their name into a draw box at the Ponoka Youth Centre. Lucky winners will receive a gift certificate or gift from a store to help them get the necessary items for school.
Contact Ponoka FCSS at 403-783-4462.


text:
Buni.tv CEO Marie Lora-Mungai confirmed the deal in a Facebook post, describing Trace as an “ideal” and “forward-thinking” partner.
“Trace and Buni.tv share the same strategic vision in that we believe that VOD is the future of television,” said Lora-Mungai.
“We also share the same analysis that the success of any VOD service in Africa will depend on whether it can source and offer high quality original African content.”
Following the launch of Trace Play, Buni.tv will “be moved under and hosted by that service,” though customers will not notice any changes in the next couple of months, according to Lora-Mungai.
Eventually the Trace Play and Buni.tv will fully merge and current subscribers to Buni.tv will get access to the full Trace Play catalogue, which is due to include thousands of hours of African and international content at launch.
Speaking to DTVE at MIPTV in April, Trace CEO Olivier Laouchez said that the millennial-focused Trace Play service will start to roll out globally from June.
The SVOD offering will launch first in France, Switzerland, Belgium, and other French speaking territories in the Carribean, and then go live in the UK and US between two weeks to a month later.
Eventually it will be available in more than 60 countries in Europe, the US, the Caribbean and Africa in both English and French, with a Portuguese language version also in the works.
Laouchez said Trace Play will include 4,000 hours of programming – some of it original and exclusive. Trace will offer content produced for its Trace Sports Star and Trace Music Star channels on the SVOD service and its linear music channels will also be available to watch on Trace Play. He also described it as “the most important project that we are launching this year”.
Buni.tv launched in 2012 was among the first VOD platforms to focus on the African market. It now claims to be among the continent’s top three SVOD services alongside Iroko TV and Nasper’s Showmax.
Currently users can sign up for free and get access to more than 500 videos. For US$4.99 per-month viewers can get access to all free and premium movie and TV content. A US$12.99 three-month plan and a US$49.99 annual plan is also available.
The takeover was agreed for undisclosed terms.
DTVE: the week in view – @Netflix’s ‘poor’ results serve as reflection of pull-forward pandemic and a competitive s… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
23 January 2022 @ 20:08:00 UTC
Remote work isn’t going away. Read this guide, updated last in 2021, to learn about seven important considerations… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
23 January 2022 @ 15:10:00 UTC
Szymon Karbowski, CEO of StreamVX talks to DTVE about the challenges faced by service providers in keeping storage… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
22 January 2022 @ 15:10:00 UTC


text:
Google can seem like the Wizard of Oz, the omniscient Googod that has all the answers — with the quick action entry of a keyword or two.
And so, when Google comes to Vermont, or rather materializes in the form of the young, the geeky and the beautiful from Mountain View, Calif., it’s a hard phenomenon to ignore.
Members of the Google group that descended on Burlington this week were so anxious to make sure Vermonters found the Vermont Get Your Business Online event at Main Street Landing in Burlington that they were standing on a nearby street corner, calling out to perfect strangers who looked lost, clueless or potentially nerdy and herding them toward the entrance.
That dazed look didn’t go away when people walked in the door. After all, many of the Vermonters who came to the two-day event in Burlington were small business people who had no Web presence when they arrived.
About 40 eager Internet enthusiasts from Intuit and other local companies were available for hand-holding sessions that took the newbies from domain name to content management in a matter of minutes. In a theater, one group was getting a lesson in adwords, and in a third room, business people sat around white café tables with Google green, yellow, blue and red chairs, to learn about all things Google – Google places, Google search engine optimization, Google analytics, Google Apps and Google ad words (again).
By the time business owners left (several hours later) they had a virtual online identity. About 600 Vermonters signed up for the gratis package, which includes the website, a domain name and web hosting for one year.
Vermont is the second state in the country (Austin, Texas was first) to host the freebie event. (Google goes to Missouri and Kansas next.)
The takeaway line? About 63 percent of businesses in the United States, many of them small, mom-and-pop operations, aren’t online yet, even though 97 percent of Americans look for local products and services on the Internet. Without a Web presence, small businesses are “virtually invisible,” as the Google folks like to say.
One of the objectives of the webfest is to take the pain out of the process. Too many business owners believe websites are too expensive, too much hassle and too time-consuming. The Googlers at Vermont Get Your Business Online events hope to dispel those fears by making the process of launching a website easy, free and fast.
Enlightened self-interest, or mutually-assured benefit, is at the heart of Google’s ethos. The world’s biggest search engine company, is, after all, in the business of making money. The three-day Googlefest in Vermont, for example, includes plenty of emphasis on Google adwords. Is that a natural extension of finding an audience for the newly posted website? Or is it a way for Google to make a little cash? The two things appear to go hand in hand.
Google was in town to do what Google does best – revel in the glory of online success (Google “contributed” $64 billion to the nation’s economy last year) and share its virtual largesse with other businesses.
Bill Maris, managing partner of Google Ventures, was chief cheerleader at the kickoff on Thursday. Maris, a Middlebury College grad, is no stranger to the startup. In 1997, he founded Burlee.com, a Web hosting company in Burlington. In a short speech, he talked about his early days in the Web world, at a time when websites were newfangled and foreign. In short order, though, the 20-something sold the idea to big Vermont companies – Ben and Jerry’s Homemade and Vermont Country Store.
Google understands entrepreneurs, Maris said, and it wants to work with local partners in the industry to help nurture small companies that are now cut off from the global Web marketplace.
“We need to get more businesses online, and the logic for it ends there,” Maris said. “It’s good for business, Google and the country.”
The Burlington event continues today 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Main Street Landing in Burlington; the Rutland event takes place from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 13. For more information, go to http://www.vermontgetonline.com/
Editor’s note: We incorrectly stated that Google contributed $64 million to the U.S. economy. The company did $64 billion worth of business last year.


text:
Fashion e-commerce site Lyst nabs $14M in Series B round led by Balderton Capital
Lyst was able to get $14 million in a Series B funding round. The financing was led by venture capital firm Balderton Capital and participated in by DFJ Esprit and Accel Partners. Indeed.com Co-Founder Paul Forster and DST Investment Management Managing Partner John Lindfors also joined the funding round.
Lyst is a fashion e-commerce platform launched in 2010. It partners with top fashion brands and stores in the world to give its users with a personalized method of allowing them to find out the fashion they love.
In a statement, Lyst said their business posted a 400% growth in 2012 and another 400% growth last year. It boasts of 2 million shoppers each month, generating annual sales of more than $60 million for its partner brands and retailers which include Saks, Burberry, Net-A-Porter, J.Crew, Lane Crawford and Balenciaga.
Proceeds from the latest round will allow Lyst to continue its exponential growth so that it leads the fashion e-commerce segment and becomes a significant revenue driver for the fashion retail space. Lyst will specifically use the funds for its internationalization efforts as well as add to its workforce in its London and New York teams, the statement said.
Lyst Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Chris Morton said in the statement, "We're thrilled to have Balderton join us on our journey. 2013 was an amazing year for us, particularly as we launched fashion's first universal shopping cart, which is revolutionising the space by enabling shoppers to check out from multiple brands and stores in a single step on site. We're excited to have such a stellar group of European investors - DFJ Esprit, Accel and Balderton - with strong US ties to help take Lyst to the next level."
As part of the deal, Balderton Partner Mark Evans will be joining the board at Lyst. With more than $2.1 billion under management, Balderton is one of the biggest European venture capital firms, the statement said.


text:
|The recovery in high income economies is continuing, supported by a pick-up in private consumption. With high-income private domestic demand slowly firming, rising import demand in high income economies is proving to be a signficant tailwind for developing country exports that are rebounding strongly. This has improved trade balances in several major middle-income economies, which has helped to improve their resilience during the recent bout of global financial instability.|
|A steady firming of private consumption in high-income economies suggests a broadening of the base for the the recovery underway. GDP breakdowns (where available) show private consumption growing at a faster pace in the US and Japan and momentum improving in the Euro Area thanks to waning policy uncertainty, easing household deleveraging and considerable monetary stimulus in place. In the US and Japan, strengthening private consumption has supported headline GDP growth at 3.2% and 1% in Q4, respectively. Confidence indicators in the United States remain at multi-year highs in the first 2 months of the 2014, suggesting that any downshift in momentum in Q1 GDP (due to extreme weather conditions) should prove temporary. The improvement in private demand is also visible in the Euro Area periphery. Earlier declines in household spending were responsible for the bulk of the (on average 4.0%) fall in GDP in Italy, Spain and Portugal since 2011. Buoyant consumer sentiment should remain supportive of business confidence in high-income economies, which, in turns, may sustain a recovery in private investment spending that has so far been lagging|
|Developing country exports are rebounding led by a recovery in high income and Chinese import demand. Global trade volumes rose at a 12.1% annualized pace (3m/3m saar) in December, up from a low of -1.4% last August, with developing country exports expanding at a 21.1% pace, the fastest in 9 months. The main forces behind this are the strengthening import demand in high-income economies (which grew at a 4.0% pace in December) and the still strong economic activity in China (despite a softening in GDP growth from 9.3% to 7.0% in Q4). In addition, several major middle-income economies have experienced large currency depreciations (in trade-weighted terms) over the past year that has helped improve competitiveness. The strong double-digit export rebound in Q4 in major middle-income countries, notably Philippines (46.0%), Malaysia (22.5%), Thailand (24.8%), Brazil (20.2%), South Africa (44.3%) and Indonesia (48.2%) is in turn helping to support sentiment and offset weakness in domestic demand. For instance, in Malaysia and Indonesia, rising net exports underpinned an acceleration in Q4 GDP growth to 8.6% and 6.8% (annualized) respectively.|
Trade balances are improving in some middle-income countries, helping to build resilience against external financial headwinds. Merchandise trade deficits have roughly halved in recent months in India and swung back into surplus in Indonesia and Brazil – countries that had experienced intense selling pressure in currency and equity markets on concerns about domestic and external imbalances during the global financial market turmoil in mid-2013. The adjustment partly reflects stronger global demand and earlier currency depreciations. Domestic import demand has also cooled in response to policy tightening, although in India import restrictions on gold have accounted for about two-thirds of the improvement. By contrast, deficits remain large in Turkey and South Africa, where domestic policy tightening has lagged behind. Partly as a result, the Turkish lira and South African rand depreciated in the recent bout of global market instability in January (by 6.1% and 4.7% m/m), while those of India, Indonesia and Brazil were broadly stable.
Download the Prospects Weekly as PDF here.


text:
The barge is back.
The Kiwi kebabs are coming back next.
Sunny's reopened on Balzano's 78th birthday this year.
A neighborhood-by-neighborhood look at how restaurants have fared in the 365 days since the storm.
The Seaport restaurant is back.
Plus: the restaurant industry one year post-Sandy, and more, in today's Leftovers.
Approximately 50 businesses have been wiped out completely.
A broken water main took down two ambitious restaurants at once, but other things made it much, much worse.
The restaurant has not yet set a reopening date.
The restaurant had to replace all of its equipment and electrical wiring.
Hurricane Sandy may have delayed things, but the well-loved Carroll Gardens food shop's second act is open for business.
The restaurant says it lost thousands of dollars after the power went out.
Ray Turner's weir-caught eels are typically only available at his off-the-grid shop in upstate New York.


text:
The plans of a trio of unsuspecting armed robbers were foiled when they hit a Jet clothing store in Qonce, the Eastern Cape, while a cash-in-transit guard was inside the store.
The wrong time to hit the store
The suspects entered the store on Thursday, but quickly leant they picked the wrong time to hit the store when the armed guard opened fire on them inside the Market Square Jet store on Maclean Street.
One suspected robber died at the scene after sustaining gun wounds during the foiled robbery, while two others fled empty-handed.
Police cordoned off the area, with local businesses, including the busy Market and Bridge streets taxi ranks, losing out on about four trading hours.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana said the store came under attack at around 10:30am.
The robbers terrorised staff members inside the store, forcing them into an office and holding them hostage. Kinana added the robbers were unaware another staff member was in another office.
Armed guard to the rescue
She raised the alarm before being caught and moved to the office to join the other hostages, he said. An armed guard, who was inside the store, saw the incident and responded by firing shots while waiting for backup.
An exchange of gunfire ensued in which one robber was shot, said Kinana.
The wounded robber managed to exit the building but fell in front of a crowd at the Bridge Street taxi rank’s loading platform.
A search for his accomplices had been launched, said Kinana, adding a case of business robbery was being investigated.
Witnesses said terrified customers ran out of the store in different directions during the shootout.
Man down! Robbers flee, leaving dying colleague behind
Street hawker Sindiswa Zibi, 41, who has been selling hats and hoodies from a gazebo outside the store, said she crawled under her stand and fled when she noticed shoppers fleeing.
She added moments later, two young men, she suspected were the robbers, exited the store.
“We were so scared. The incident has also negatively affected us as street vendors because the police closed the street minutes after the incident. We could not trade during that period,” said Zibi.
The robber’s body lay on the pavement for several hours, covered with a white sheet while traumatised onlookers watched on behind police tape.
Asked for comment, the Foschini Group Limited, which owns Jet stores countrywide, said it would issue a statement in due time.


text:
WATCH: Sanjeev Sanyal on biggest challenge the Indian economy is facing amid lockdown | EXCLUSIVE
Autoplay Next Video
28 APRIL 2020 03:09 IST | ENGLISH | GENERAL AUDIENCE
Principal Economic Advisor of the Government of India, Sanjeev Sanyal speaks on India's biggest challenge over dipping economy amid lockdown crisis, says 'We may use calibrated approach to revive the economy'. Tune in!


text:
Image © Magic Car Pics, Microsoft
Electric sports car builder Tesla is here at the Paris Motor Show but it's also announcing a permanent presence here in the shape of a new showroom in the heart of the French capital.
Rubbing shoulders with the fashionable cafes and boutiques off the Champs Elysées gives Tesla a presence in a city where electric cars have been embraced enthusiastically.
Indeed, Tesla counts France as one of its biggest markets and says the country has one of the best-developed charging networks in the world. The showroom will also serve Belgium and the Netherlands as Tesla seeks to broaden its European base.
The opening of the new showroom has been timed to coincide with the Paris Motor Show and the arrival of a very special Roadster, which has just completed an epic, round the world drive.
Supported by watchmaker TAG Heuer as part of the Swiss firm's 150th anniversary, the Odyssey of Pioneers has seen the Tesla cover nearly 25,000 miles and visit 16 cities on its way to taking pride of place on the stand here.
Once the show is over the car will move to its new home at the Paris showroom, the trip demonstrating in spectacular fashion that Tesla's all-electric power is a viable alternative to traditional internal combustion engines, even in the remotest corners of the world.
Paris is also a chance to see the latest 2.5 version of the Roadster, the Lotus Elise-derived sports car showing off revisions to the front end, interior and touchscreen infotainment systems. New control systems also improve performance in hot climates.
Which of these endangered 1970s and 80s cars would you be saddest to see become extinct?
Thanks for being one of the first people to vote. Results will be available soon. Check for results
- Austin Allegro
- Austin Maxi
- Austin Montego
- Austin Princess
- Hillman Avenger
- Morris Marina
- Morris Ital
- Vauxhall Viva


text:
- Ford today released the first design sketch, teasing the all-new Mustang-inspired, all-electric SUV. Ford also announced the global reveal date as November 18th, 2019
- The game-changing all-new vehicle has a targeted driving range of up to 600 km (more than 370 miles under WLTP regulations)
- Reveal to be livestreamed from Los Angeles ahead of the LA Auto Show
Ford today released the first design sketch of its all-new Mustang-inspired, all-electric SUV with the announcement of its full reveal on November 18th, 2019.
The reveal of the all-new vehicle, which will have a targeted pure-electric driving range of up to 600 km (more than 370 miles under WLTP regulations), will be livestreamed from a location in Los Angeles at 03:00 CET on November 18th.
Ford’s new all-electric vehicle will be on public display for the first time at the Los Angeles Auto Show 2019.
For more information on Ford’s range of all-electric, Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid vehicles visit https://www.ford.co.uk/shop/research/hybrid-electric/all-electric.
Source:Ford of Europe


text:
black friday 2015 start
Are Store Ads published Early Legit Retailers generally avoid publicizing their Black Friday specials far in advance because of the option of hurting sales before the big day arrives.
Who closely, Warmer, Would buy a 42 inch plasma screen RCA TV for $450 today once they know it be on sale for $199 in two weeks? Yet shoppers are instead facing such scenarios, With on account of the widespread spreading of leaked Black Friday ads. Over 30 leaked Black Friday ads for major entrepreneurs have formerly surfaced online, And we still have two plus weeks to go before Black Friday absolutely here. Do these ads represent actual cigarettes on Black Friday deals? They indisputably do, Though in the past, Leaked brochures have turned into ipod black friday fakes or early versions that wound up being tweaked before officially hitting theaters to the public. So no one should bank on a leaked ad showing an identical items at the same prices found in stores on thanksgiving holiday or Black Friday. In the least they appear. As USA Today in print, Some shops send out and desist letters to websites posting leaked ads, Or just ask sites they are driving them down. Stage, They may have just missed the ad leaking right now or their process for a C may shoot longer than others. Leaked ads amount to free ad for stores, There reason for retailers to allow the brochures to stay up. It appears as if some stores have the result of unofficial leaks, And it sure some stores have the effect of official leaks or as they called. Lowes, For instance, Has released a preview of items that be on sale all throughout the time of Black Friday weekend. Yr next, Walmart went ahead and posted its Black Friday discounts on its Facebook page two weeks prior to. For the 2012 yuletide season, Your local grocer's has posted its Black Friday sales online two weeks ahead for all to see as well. (Higher: Time which Right: Sweet Spot Emerges for Snagging Best contentment trip Gift Deals) A dealnews post about Black Friday ad leaks explained that ?????? ??????? while retailers don want information to leak too early that give the others more than sufficient time to react they also are known to use leaks to build excitement and attract shoppers: Some retailers offer sneak peaks or perks(Along the lines of early ad frees) For shoppers who subscribe to email alerts, A wikipedia website document, the best black friday sales Or emulate a store on Twitter; This is what Walmart did last year. This plan allows retailers to gather concerning shoppers, Build email or distribution lists, And secure Black Friday visitors. All tied in, This dangling of usa black friday sale 2015 data is a retailer second most enjoyable sales trick, After the deals their health. It all system of the plan to drive sales and loyalty and get noticed. Faster positive aspects. The deals ourselves? From what been released(Published?), It appears they be the usual mix of dazzling bargains, Tight likes, And so so value ranges. Often thru these ads, The exact quantity one saves is way over-stated. But does anyone ever pay $30 for a total card? Not.
But protecting $2.50 isn nearly as sensational as saving $25, Hence particles Staples. (Added: By match making Online selling price ranges, Are Best Buy and Target performing what Amazon Wants?) While it impossible to verify where the leaked ads come from or which of them are legitimate, There very initial thing we can all bank on and it that Black Friday, And a lengthy holiday shopping season, Will be full of pricing shenanigans this way.
Prev: stores with black friday deals
Next: where is black friday


text:
Today RTB-MED, formerly known as ROTANIBOC and one of the leading US importers of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), announced their new website and the next acquisition and distribution delivery of US-made surgical masks, biodegradable melt-blown fabrics for PPE and the Alcohol pads for Covid-19 vaccine use. RTB-MED is noted for its quality control and reputation as a well-known importer and supplier of medical products including: FDA approved IR Thermometers, face shields, surgical 3-ply masks, isolation gowns, single use scrubs, fluid-resistant coveralls, hand sanitizer/wipes and NIOSH/CDC approved N95 respirator masks. —
According to a spokesperson for RTB-MED, “Given the surge of 50,000+ new coronavirus cases per day in the United States, and the expectation of a possible and more serious second wave, it is critical for businesses to prepare for the continuation of protecting employees, customers and the civilian population. RTB-MED offers 'Made in the USA,' FDA compliant Level III surgical masks, which are now available to distributors that are low on supplies and must stock up.”
Securing critically needed PPE is an ongoing national requirement, as global news has begun reporting on second wave infections. Emergency lockdowns have been mandated based on the reinfection and reemergence of COVID-19, and no one knows when the danger will be over. The company also partners on a cutting-edge, earth-friendly, biodegradable spun-bond melt-blown fabric, which can be used for isolation gowns and surgical masks, in order to reduce the “single use” plastic impact on the environment, which is another result of COVID-19 pollution.
Just recently, there have been many inquiries for NIOSH/CDC approved N95 respirator masks due to the tragic fires in California and Oregon. Respiratory distress from smoke and particulates during the Pandemic is adding to the vital need for safe PPE for everyone. This demand is putting a lot of pressure on suppliers like RTB-MED to produce and distribute even more supplies than originally expected. The company is devoted to all efforts to meet this demand and has logistic systems in place to deliver the necessary protective gear to front line workers and patients alike.
RTB-MED has developed and ordered its own RTB-MED branded alcohol swab pads for use in the injection process. The pads, which have the 70% isopropyl alcohol content required by medical professionals, was manufactured in anticipation of the millions of vaccines expected to come to market. A nationwide COVID-19 mass vaccine roll-out is not just about the vaccine, there are numerous supplies involved. 50 million pads alcohol pads are being imported to the USA. Pre-orders begin as of September 2020.
RTB-MED, formerly known as ROTANIBOC LLC, an established healthcare supplier with over 15 years of global sourcing and import experience. RTB-MED has sold millions of critically needed PPE products during the COVID-19 crisis and is dedicated to working around the clock on many high demand orders for several US States, medical centers and other organizations.
Release ID: 88977317


text:
Despite only dropping patch 7.26 a few months ago (April 17), IceFrog has announced that Valve will release the first part of patch 7.27 in just a few weeks. Personally, I hope they just revert back to 7.25!
IceFrog states that the first part of patch 7.27 will “focus on item changes, economy and misc general adjustments” to the game, while the second part of the patch will focus on hero changes at a later date — Just how much later will we expect Part II? Who knows.
Want to read the post yourself? Head over to official Dota 2 dev forums and have a read for yourself.
For more on Dota 2, check out our previous coverage.


text:
The online shooter Fortnite is still as popular as no other game. For Epic Games, the title is a goldmine that makes those involved happy. But not all employees speak highly about Fortnite. On the contrary, some developers are now making serious allegations against Epic and the working conditions there.
The third-person shooter was a blessing for Epic Games, especially the free F2P Battle Royale versions brings them lots of revenue. One might think that the game studio is investing part of the enormous revenue in new staff, but this does not seem to be the case, or at least only partially.
Because according to a report by the renowned gaming blog Polygon, the working conditions at Epic Games are really disastrous. The blog based its report, mind you, not on the statements of a few disappointed (ex-) employees, but on information collected after a dozen interviews conducted in a period of several months and these paint a fairly clear picture.
Current and former employees report that 70-hour weeks are the norm, and some even talk about 100-hour weeks (one week has 168 hours). All this is officially “voluntary” and the overtime is also paid. However, this voluntariness is expected by employees. Employees in quality assurance and customer service spoke of a “stressful and hostile” work environment.
Developers reported that workplaces are dominated by anxiety and that they suffer from health problems due to the constant 70-hour weeks. A developer said: “I work an average 70 hours a week,” said one employee. “There’s probably at least 50 or even 100 other people at Epic working those hours. I know people who pull 100-hour weeks. The company gives us unlimited time off, but it’s almost impossible to take the time. If I take time off, the workload falls on other people, and no one wants to be that guy.”
The problem stems primarily from the “constant patches” – the people in charge are focused on keeping Fortnite popular as long as possible, “especially with all the new competition that’s coming in”. Epic has not denied the report per se and admitted that 100-hour weeks existed, but are “incredibly rare”. If this happens, then they immediately take countermeasures to prevent a recurrence.


text:
- Getir has appointed its first US general manager after its $1.2 billion deal to buy rival Gorillas.
- The Turkish startup is already in 3 US cities but wants a "stronger foothold" against competitors like GoPuff.
- Getir is said to be fundraising and its CEO has previously said the firm would go public in the US.
Getir, a European startup that promises grocery deliveries in minutes via its app, is pushing into the US after acquiring its German rival Gorillas in December.
The deal, which Insider understands valued Gorillas at $1.2 billion and was largely made up of equity, enabled Getir to shunt its best-funded competitor out of the way at a knock-down price.
A strengthened position in the US was one corollary of the acquisition for Getir. The Turkish startup, founded in 2015, mostly operates in Europe but launched in New York City, Boston, and Chicago in 2021. Gorillas also launched in New York City in 2021.
Getir has appointed its current UK general manager, Kristof Van Beveren, to become its first US general manager. Van Beveren joined Getir after it acquired his own UK grocery-delivery firm, Weezy, in November 2021. He will be replaced in the UK by Chris Chaaya, who held the equivalent role at Gorillas prior to its acquisition.
The US market is smaller for Getir than the UK but growth is a priority for 2023, Van Beveren told Insider.
"What we have done in the UK in the past year has been positive, a success, our biggest international market so far," he said. "The US is a smaller market [for us], but the potential is a very high one."
Growth will be an expensive challenge for Getir, which will go up against local competitors GoPuff, Instacart, and big retailers. Sources with knowledge of the matter have previously told Insider that Getir is currently fundraising; Van Beveren declined to comment, and declined to comment in detail on the firm's financial position.
Successfully bolstering its US presence, however, would set Getir up to potentially go public in America in future, or explore a sale. Its founder, Nazim Salur, previously told Insider that the firm would look to float in 2023, likely in the US. The startup has raised around $1.8 billion in capital, according to Crunchbase, and its backers include US venture capital firm Sequoia. It is valued at almost $12 billion.
It will need to survive and raise further funding in a tough economic environment that is seeing consumers pull back on discretionary spending.
Startups like Getir make their money by negotiating wholesale deals with consumer-goods firms and then charging a markup for quick delivery, akin to a convenience store. However, their operational costs include owning and maintaining warehouses, often in urban locations, and paying delivery drivers. Retail analysts have previously told Insider the model can be profitable but requires efficiency.
Van Beveren said that, in the UK, Getir had tried to strike a balance between ambitious profitability targets and charging fair prices during a cost-of-living crisis. Advantages to the business model, he said, include being able to negotiate directly with suppliers and to control the entire process — versus, say, food-delivery businesses that are reliant on third parties like restaurants.
"That level of control, off the back of years of technology building, always lets us find a better way," he said. "The technology bit is important because if you deliver in minutes, that means this whole chain needs to be very fast, very agile, usually it's faster than any human. The better your tech is, the better you can do that. In terms of profitability, that comes down to supply and demand management ... very precise forecasting, very precise modeling."
Getir is expected to cut jobs in the wake of the Gorillas acquisition and its founder, Kagan Sumer, to eventually leave.
Van Beveren noted that Chaaya's appointment was indicative of a successful integration between the two businesses.


text:
Contact centre as a service
South Africa makes its mark as a contact centre host.
Offshore businesses are increasingly looking to South Africa to host their contact centres for them. Giovanni Venturella, Executive Head of Sales, SafriCloud, explains why this is the case: "Companies are reducing their contact centre costs by outsourcing them to South Africa. On average, it costs UK businesses 20% less per contact centre agent to have their contact centre located in South Africa, compared to pretty much anywhere else."
They can access seats, telecommunication infrastructure and even contact centre agents, and everything is usage-based, so they pay for what they use and can grow as and when they need to. This means businesses can use the outsourced contact centre for short-term marketing campaigns, or as a long-term solution to their contact centre requirement, explains Venturella.
"In the current business climate, businesses are looking for the flexibility of on-demand solutions provided as a service - why should the same not apply to the contact centre?"
When you consider that the average UK contact centre seat costs in the region of £4 500 to £5 000 per month, while a South African-hosted contact centre comes in at around R6 500 per month per seat, you can see that the cost savings are significant, says Venturella. In addition to this, there's none of the capital outlay for the client that would be incurred should they wish to establish their own contact centre from scratch.
It's not generally known that Durban is a contact centre hub for offshore contact centres. There are several reasons for this, says Venturella. "The agents are completely committed, they're properly trained, and the infrastructure is that much more affordable and accessible."
Obviously, as with any other IT-related task that's outsourced, data security is paramount. Then there's the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) that has to be complied with, and in order to be able to assist their customers, contact centres need to have access to personal information about the their customers and possibly even staff.
Venturella says: "This is the beauty of how the outsourced contact centre is structured. All of the data resides in the UK, so no data resides in South Africa. It's hosted in cloud platforms that are GDPR compliant. GDPR will be effectively in force as of May 2018, with the British government making changes to adapt the compliance to its markets. Technology advisory firm Gartner predicts that by the end of 2018, more than half of contact centres still won't be fully compliant with the requirements.
"With these new regulatory changes, British companies will have to find unbudgeted capex to upgrade their systems, which can prove costly. By adopting an offshore outsourced model for their contact centres to be based in South Africa within a cloud environment, UK businesses can benefit from a scalable and flexible solution that will alleviate unexpected capex spend."
Aspire Money is just one UK business that opted to host its contact centre offshore in South Africa. Paul Hall, Operations Director, clarifies why he chose this route instead of the more traditional in-house option. Hall says: "We came offshore in 2005, and South Africa was an obvious choice as it has many similarities to the UK in terms of English being one of the official languages, as well as only being an hour behind the UK in summer. When British people interact with a contact centre agent that's from South Africa, they're usually curious about the country instead of being suspicious, which often happens when they're contacted from a foreign contact centre."
"In the UK, people regard contact centre work as a stop-gap or a way to earn a bit of extra cash, whereas in South Africa it's regarded as a career. We ensure that the contact centre agents are properly educated about our business so that they can interact with the customers instead of just reading from a script. They have guidelines on what they may or may not say, but they're able to answer any questions that customers might have without referring to a scripted answer. This speaks to the quality of the South African workforce."
Hall says: "In the financial services (personal and home loans) sector, your contact centre is critical. We've significantly improved our sales performance and cost efficiency by having an offshore contact centre, beating our nearest local competitor - who has a UK-based contact centre - hands-down. When you consider that our contact centre operating costs are 65% lower, I guess the only thing that's left to be said is why aren't you running your contact centre from South Africa too?"


text:
It seems as if every Android app wants access to every bit of data you ever touch or think about while carrying your phone, but a recent update to the firmware for its Android phones carries HTC's definition of "everything" beyond boundaries even Apple had (mostly) obeyed.
In a series of small updates to some of its Android smartphones, HTC has added a function called the HTC Logger that gives most apps access to the list of user accounts on the phone, GPS locations, SMS phone numbers and possibly keys to crack its encryption and almost any system log on the phone.
That's according to researchers at AndroidPolice.com – which broke the story in April that Skype's Android client tore a big hole in the security envelope of the average Android phone, until Skype scotch-taped it back up again.
Updates deliver an app called HtcLoggers.apk that collects nearly all the relevant data, stashes it in one accessible place and gives it to any app to which the owner has given permission to access the Internet.
Since nearly every app uses Internet connections either to collect news, weather or other data for display on the phone, get updates and patches for itself, almost any application on the phone is able not only to access the data, but use an Internet connection to broadcast it back to its specific home, according to Android police.
HTC has also been including an app called androidvncserver.apk, which acts as the client for a virtual network connection – a remote-control, remote-access connection – that could provide an avenue for almost any HTC Android phone to be taken over and controlled remotely.
The list of logs, bits of information and unsecured access to sources of information is stupidly long and complicated.
It's also a very popular topic on Android forums, where some users like the idea of the VNC, but mainly as a way for them to get access to the machine remotely, if they're already rooted.
Most don't seem to realize the same permission that gives the VNC the right to connect to the Internet provides an almost open door back into the phone as well.
With the permission labeled android.permission.INTERNET , an app can track you, read you emails, bills, secret encrypted passwords, the store-loyalty discount card numbers and credit card numbers, tokens, certificates and cookies from bank or financial institutions, and presumably, if you spit too much while you talk and get the mic all slobbery, your DNA profile as well.
HTC isn't saying what the apps are collecting, why it included them or what it plans to do with them, according to TheRegister, to whose questions it responded with a canned statement that it is "taking its customers' security seriously."
Since there are also a lot of apps on the Android Market designed to give remote access from the phone to personal PCs or to act as remote controls for Media Center PCs from the phone, those machines, presumably, are also vulnerable to apps given a single permission on a totally separate device.
HTC got the notice a week ago and hasn't taken customers' security seriously enough so far either to have the apps removed or explain what they're doing there in the first place.
Nice, nice work, HTC.
It takes a lot to be more Big Brotherish and less security than Apple is with iOS, but putting in a special app to package up all the private data in one convenient spot and putting in an uncontrolled remote-access function the owner doesn't know about and has no way short of rooting to cut out? Very nice work.
Read more of Kevin Fogarty's CoreIT blog and follow the latest IT news at ITworld. Follow Kevin on Twitter at @KevinFogarty. For the latest IT news, analysis and how-tos, follow ITworld on Twitter and Facebook.


text:
Overseas students take a Chinese language class at Yiwu Commercial and Industrial College in Zhejiang province. Photo for China Daily/ Overseas students take a Chinese language class at Yiwu Commercial and Industrial College in Zhejiang province. ZHANG JIANCHENG)
In 2016, almost 3 million Chinese tourists visited the U.S., and more than one in three chose LA as the first stop of their trip.
Research by the U.S. Department of Commerce shows that Chinese tourists spent $33 billion in the country that year, and experts expect tourist numbers to continue to grow.
"In the Chinese outbound tourism industry, culture and language gaps prevent Chinese tourists from having an optimal travel experience in foreign countries," said Betty Ban, co-founder of Voyadi, which offers personalized experiences for international travelers. Its primary market is Chinese outbound tourists.
"We need more Chinese-speaking job candidates to work in marketing and in customer-facing roles," Ban said.
Xiaowei Ding, co-founder and CEO of Voxelcloud, a startup in LA that provides automated medical diagnosis assistance through AI and cloud computing technologies, said the rapid growth of venture capital and China's huge financial market means "companies whose employees can communicate in Chinese stand out in raising funds, marketing and sales".
Jeff Allred, CEO of the San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership, predicted that demand for people able to speak Chinese would continue to rise.
His organization is a regional, nonprofit corporation that supports businesses, nonprofits and local governments in the San Gabriel Valley, the eastern section of LA that is famous for Asian cuisine. More than half the Chinese population in the U.S. lives in the area, according to research by Asian-Americans Advancing Justice, a nonprofit legal aid and civil rights organization.
Reaching Chinese customers is not just about speaking the language, though, Allred said. His organization also helps enterprises in the San Gabriel Valley to engage with customers via WeChat, the instant-messaging and social media app.
Winston Xie, head of user acquisition for Airmule, said, "You have to understand the market in order to tailor an effective marketing strategy."


text:
Microsoft will start deploying its much anticipated fall 2015 Windows 10 update to computers around the world starting Nov. 10.
However, not every Windows 10 user is looking forward to the update. Many corporate and business users—particularly IT managers—are all concerned about the havoc that the update might wreak on the performance of their applications and computers.
Because of this concern, IT managers have been demanding changes from Microsoft. Those changes include the ability to delay updates until they can be tested and the ability to get detailed information as to what's in the update and exactly how it will affect Windows. Currently, updates to Windows include only a very brief description of what's being changed and why.
The concern has grown so strong that in October a consultant, Susan Bradley of Fresno, Calif., started a petition on change.org asking for that control and for better communication with Microsoft. Since the petition was begun in mid-October, it's gathered more than 5,000 signatures.
Microsoft responded in a blog post by Executive Vice President Terry Myerson explaining the existing options for upgrades and also revealing that, starting next year, Windows 10 would be installed on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 through the normal update process. At that point, it would be flagged as a "Recommended Update," which means that many, perhaps most, machines would then install the new operating system automatically.
In other words, you could sit down at your computer one morning and find yourself running Windows 10 unexpectedly. This prospect, as you might imagine, strikes fear into the hearts of IT managers. And it should.
Initially, Microsoft promised a version of Windows Update that would solve this problem. That version, Windows Update for Business was originally supposed to be released at the same time Windows 10 reached the market, but that hasn't happened.
Rumors have circulated that Windows Update for Business will be released along with the fall 2015 update. Assuming that happens, it should allow administrators to choose which upgrades to apply and when to apply them. However, Microsoft has not confirmed that this will actually happen.
What Microsoft has confirmed is that security updates will not be delayed by Windows Update for Business. You can still delay updates while you test them by simply not allowing the automatic install, but there's no guarantee that security updates will be delayed, even if they conflict with your applications.
The problem with pushed upgrades is that they don't give a chance to test the upgrade to make sure it works. This problem is bad enough for individual users who could find their computers are unusable for a day or two while they wait on hold for tech support, but for larger customers with vast numbers of custom applications, not to mention legacy hardware, to contend with, it can spell disaster.


text:
eBay: Car Service of the Future?
Uber’s trial of self-driving car-sharing in Pittsburgh has a lot of people excited, as well it should. The trial features some experimental Volvo XC90 SUVs with human monitors behind the wheel in case something goes wrong. The drivers are not allowed to talk to the passengers, who sit in the back seat and communicate with the car through a tablet. This isn’t the first trial of an autonomous taxi service: Singapore already has two firms operating them.
What’s the Next Step for Autonomous Vehicles?
Taxi service is unlikely to be the next phase in autonomous vehicles, however. Self-driving tractors have already been in use for several years. Tractors are an ideal test bed for autonomous vehicle tech because there are no roads to deal with and no traffic to avoid. They follow a very predictable route and have to operate with great precision, laying down seed with fractions of an inch of accuracy. Self-driving tractors can also deposit water, nutrients, and pesticides and can pick weeds and harvest crops, so they’re great labor savers that do a better job than humans in many instances.
I expect the next step for autonomous vehicles on public roadways will actually be delivery vehicles. This application is a slam dunk because the liability issues are so much less than they would be for human cargo. Autonomous package delivery will require some cooperation from the recipient, of course, so the first application is long-haul trucking. 18-wheelers drive from terminal to terminal, so that much of the infrastructure is already in place.
Uber recently bought Otto, a company focused on self-driving freight trucks:
In July the company reached an agreement to buy Otto, a 91-employee driverless truck startup that was founded earlier this year and includes engineers from a number of high-profile tech companies attempting to bring driverless cars to market, including Google, Apple, and Tesla. Uber declined to disclose the terms of the arrangement, but a person familiar with the deal says that if targets are met, it would be worth 1 percent of Uber’s most recent valuation. That would imply a price of about $680 million. Otto’s current employees will also collectively receive 20 percent of any profits Uber earns from building an autonomous trucking business.
When combined with Uber’s human drivers, the package delivery service can go desk-to-desk instead of just terminal-to-terminal. With fully autonomous cars, Uber can presumably use some sort of drone to carry small packages from the car to the receiving docks of office buildings or the front porches of houses.
But what happens to Uber’s contractors? Autonomous vehicles mean the company will no longer need its minions, but it also puts Uber in the position of requiring capital to purchase cars to replace the ones it (effectively) leases from its drivers today. So a lot of part-time, gig economy workers will be out of work again, just like the taxi drivers they’ve replaced. And autonomous vehicle technology will become generic because Volvo doesn’t have an exclusive deal with Uber.
eBay Could Upend Uber
These two developments – employer-less drivers and driverless cars – and the capital requirement suggest that Uber will be in a position to disrupted by the next wave of innovation in cars. Uber today is simply a service that matches up drivers with riders, and such services are easy to create. When a substantial number of people own autonomous vehicles, there’s nothing to stop them from turning their cars loose to carry other people around while they’re at their desks, watching TV, or sleeping.
People who own regular cars might want to swap with those who have pickup trucks to carry large items home from the store, and those with off-road vehicles may want to lease them out to hunters and other sportsmen. So there’s a niche for company that does the sort of thing eBay does for transportation. eBay could add this service to their current offering a lot easier than the cars can be developed.
Imagine telling eBay where you want to go and asking available cars to bid for your business in an instant auction. You could choose a fancy car, a cheap car, a car that’s really close, or a carpool. If you have a car ready to go to work, you can set a price floor and leave her in the parking lot until the dollars get interesting. And you can make sure she’s back where you are when you need a ride if you’re set on riding in your own investment rather than somebody else’s. So transportation becomes a way to invest your money rather than a simple expense.
The ideal of a network of autonomous vehicles carrying either people or packages opens up some extremely attractive options as businesses adapt to the new technology. We can already shop online with in-store pickup from grocery stores and major retailers. Sending a driverless car to Safeway to pick up your groceries is not even disruptive: they already have people who carry groceries out to cars and put them in the trunk. Add a fridge to the trunk and you can pick up groceries while meeting with clients. Drugstores, fast food franchises, and liquor stores have drive through windows that can accommodate driverless cars without much change.
Perhaps the best thing about autonomous cars will be the convenience of attending to mundane errands without losing work time or breaking concentration to annoy yourself waiting in traffic. That’s the end of road rage.
This is a Good Time to be a Car Company
And it very well could be the case that driverless cars make car ownership so appealing that more people will buy more cars: big cars for long trips, fancy cars for dates, and tiny little cars for commuting and errands.
That’s tech progress for you. Company A disrupts Industry B only to be bypassed by Company C when Technology D comes out of the lab. When we’re using next-generation eBay to share other people’s autonomous cars and sending our own cars to work and to run errands, we’ll look back at today’s regulatory hassles over the Gig Economy with amusement.


text:
Prices of tomatoes in the Ghanaian market have reduced significantly, compare to the prices a couple of weeks ago..
Previously, a small paint bucket of tomatoes selling at GHC100 has now reduced to GHC30 in some major markets in Accra.
Previously, the price of tomatoes range between 80 to 100 cedis for the small paint bucket in some major markets in Accra about four weeks ago, per a report by the Ghana News Agency which monitored the price fluctuations of tomato prices over the last four weeks.
According to the GNA, the price of the small paint bucket which was selling between 40 and 50 cedis just after the Easter celebrations jumped to between 80 and 100 cedis early May, 2022.
The report stated that trader who mentioned her name only as Adobea, attributed the price hike of the commodity in early part of May to the long holiday.
“We had a long weekend followed by the Eid ul-Fitr celebrations, most of the market women could not travel to the farm gates to get the commodities during the period which resulted in scarcity,” she explained.
The prices, she stressed have started dropping because farmers in the south have started harvesting their produce and the commodity is now in abundance.
GNA checks on Monday at the Dodowa Market observed that the prices of the small paint bucket sold between 40 and 45 cedis, the same quantity sold at the Madina market between 30 and 40 cedis on Wednesday
The situation is not different at the Tema station market where the small paint bucket was selling between 40 and 30 cedis while the commodity sold at the Tudu market for 30 cedis for the same quantity.
By Vincent Kubi


text:
The eTaxi Austria project for testing automated conductive charging technology for e-taxis directly at taxi ranks is becoming concrete: Before pilot operation starts, a project location has now been realised at the Wien Energie site at the Simmering power plant in order to implement various application scenarios in practice.
Fast charging company Fastned saw its revenue from charging transactions increase by 14% year-on-year to €1.9 million in Q4 2020, with the number of charging transactions on the Fastned network rising to over 194,000 (+12%).
Together with the company GISA and other partners, Audi has completed a model test for grid-serving charging in Chemnitz. Specifically, the participants created an overload scenario in the local power grid and tested the use of a smart meter gateway during charging processes of Audi e-tron models.
The commitment of municipal utilities to the expansion of electromobility is generally increasing, but varies greatly depending on the institution. Today: a showcase example from the Hessian spa town of Bad Nauheim. The municipal utility there created a pilot charging solution with dynamic load management for a car dealership without further ado.
The provider of B2B charging solutions is restructuring its management team in the course of its expansion: The two founders Robin Geisler and Klaus Huber are leaving the management team, COO Günter Fuhrmann is taking over. With the departure of the founders, majority owner Statkraft is also taking over their remaining shares in the company.
In a joint white paper, Nissan, E.On Drive and London's Imperial College have analysed the CO2 savings potential and economic benefits of vehicle-to-grid charging technology - and backed them up with concrete figures.
Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Limited (REIL) has appointed Okaya Power to supply, install and commission 4,244 multi-standard charging stations (CCS, CHAdeMO, Type-2 and Bharat) for electric vehicles across India.
In France, charging network operator Freshmile and charging specialist Chargemap have further developed their cooperation. Previously, access to Freshmile charging stations was via roaming using the Chargemap badge. Now, the Chargemap and Freshmile services are directly connected via the open protocol OCPI.
With 1,000 DC charging parks, the federal government wants to finally make the electric car suitable for the masses and remove the last doubts about charging availability and range anxiety. In the meantime, the associated draft of the so-called fast charging law is being discussed in Berlin. This is intended to define the legal framework for the tenders - but questions remain unanswered.
According to the regional government, 33 fast charging stations are to be built in South Tyrol in the next one and a half years. At present, South Tyrol has more than 100 public charging stations, 20 of which are fast chargers.
Allego has announced that in future it will also be using fast-charging columns from Tritium and Alpitronic. So far, the Dutch operator has mainly relied on DC columns from the Portuguese manufacturer Efacec.
The Swiss NeoVac Group, a specialist in building and environmental technology, among other things, has expanded its range to include a scalable charging infrastructure solution called "NeoVac E-Mobility" specifically for apartment buildings and areas in the semi-public sector.
Enel X has signed a strategic agreement with Chinese electric car maker WM Motor to launch collaborations in several eMobility fields. The target markets that the duo will jointly target are Europe, China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and South America.


text:
By The Washington Post · Sarah Kaplan
Before I offer romantic advice to strangers on the internet, I should probably disclose that I once wrote an entire article arguing that birds are the best lovers. I am not exactly the world's greatest dating guru (much to my mother's chagrin).
But I do know a thing or two about climate change. And if you're concerned about greenhouse gas emissions and their role in heating the planet, you won't love what I'm about to say.
It takes quite a bit of carbon to get both chocolate and roses from farm fields into your sweetheart's hands. In West Africa, where two-thirds of the world's cocoa is produced, the chocolate industry is associated with rampant deforestation. Meanwhile, most roses sold in the United States are grown in Colombia, then transported to the U.S. by cargo jets and delivered to stores in refrigerated trucks - a process that requires burning huge amounts of fossil fuels.
Last year, my colleagues at The Washington Post traveled to Ivory Coast to talk with farmers who grow cocoa for major candy companies. Many were just barely eking out a living - the state-owned monopoly had recently slashed prices - and were forced to cut trees and clear brush to expand their plots. Ivory Coast has lost 80% of its forests over the past 50 years; much of that destruction is a consequence of desperate farmers and consumer demand.
The consequences for the planet can be severe. Healthy tropical forests are one of Earth's most powerful mechanisms for pulling carbon out of the air; the Amazon alone absorbs as much as 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide every year, about 5% of annual emissions from human activities.
But when those trees are felled and left to rot, they become carbon sources. According to the Woods Hole Research Center, deforestation accounts for 10% of annual carbon dioxide emissions.
Candy companies like Mars - the creator of Snickers, M&Ms and Twix - vowed in 2009 to make all their products with sustainable cocoa. But the 2020 target for that switch has come and gone; now the company is aiming for 2025.
Meanwhile, government efforts to stop human activities in protected forests are hobbled by corruption and, according to watchdog groups, have led to human rights violations. And certification firms, which work to ensure that cocoa is child labor- and deforestation-free, have found major lapses in their monitoring efforts. Last year, The Washington Post reported that leading chocolate certification company Utz discovered more than 4,900 cocoa farms located inside national protected forests in Ivory Coast.
On the opposite side of the Atlantic,in the Colombian greenhouses that produce the majority of America's roses, the problem isn't so much how the plants are grown as what happens once they're picked.
In the weeks leading up to Feb. 14, 30 cargo jets carrying a million flowers each make a daily trip from Colombia to Miami. The nonprofit International Council on Clean Transportation estimated that these flights alone emit about 360,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide, equaling the average annual emissions from more than 40,000 American homes.
The roses must be kept at near-freezing temperatures to prevent them from wilting, so the trucks that transport them across the country must be heavily refrigerated. According to a 2018 study in the journal Transportation Research, temperature control in a cooled freight truck accounts for 40% of its emissions.
The complexity of the supply chains for both products makes it hard to estimate their carbon footprints, let alone directly compare them. But it should be pretty clear by now that, speaking generally, neither is particularly green.
So, what's an eco-conscious lovebird to do? You can look for chocolate that has been certified by an auditing organization like Rainforest Alliance - though these certifications are sometimes flawed. You can buy native flowers that have been grown near your home, which don't need to be flown long distances or produced in energy-intensive hothouses.
Best of all, you could give the only gift that actually takes carbon out of the atmosphere, by planting a tree in their honor. According to one U.S. Forest Service study, an urban sugar maple sequesters more than 7,000 pounds of carbon dioxide by the time it turns 60. It's a message of love that actively fights climate change - and what's more romantic than that?


text:
BEIJING — China’s consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 1.9 percent year on year in December, down from 2.2 percent for November, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Jan 10.
The increase was at the lowest level since June 2018.
Food prices rose 2.5 percent year-on-year, contributing 0.48 percentage points to the overall CPI growth, the bureau said.
Prices for medical products and services rose 2.5 percent year on year, educational, cultural and entertainment prices rose 2.3 percent while housing-related prices rose 2.2 percent, official data showed.
Oil prices eased in December. Prices for gasoline and diesel dipped 0.5 percent and 0.3 percent year on year, respectively, compared with the 12.8-percent and 14.2-percent gains in November 2018.
On a month-on-month basis, the December CPI remained unchanged from the previous month.


text:
Consumers prepare to stretch waistlines and budgets this Thanksgiving holiday
Overspending may outshine overeating as the vice the Thanksgiving holiday is notorious for.
Retailers have carefully crafted Black Friday sales that convince consumers to empty their wallets. Last year, the average consumer spent nearly $400 on Black Friday weekend — an increase of $100 in just six years (an average of $300 was spent in 2005), according to the National Retail Federation. A total of $52.4 billion was spent nationwide.
With the economy dependent on consumer spending, it may feel un-American not to shop. But Black Friday sales don't have to gobble up all of shoppers' holiday budgets. Black Friday shoppers often expertly plan which stores they will visit and what items they will buy, but financial experts say it's essential to make how much to spend a part of the plan.
Cristy Cash, director of counseling for Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Central Oklahoma, said the frenzy caused by Black Friday causes people to say they can't plan because they don't know what deals they might find.
“A bargain isn't a bargain if you're spending money you don't have,” she said.
Consumers prone to overspending should stay home or, at the very least, bring cash or a preloaded card to use for purchases. When the money is gone, it's time to stop. And keep the receipts so if buyer's remorse hits, returns are possible.
Consumers prefer to spend money they already have for holiday gifts and more than 40 percent will use debit cards as their primary form of payment, the National Retail Federation found in a recent survey. Nearly 30 percent will pay with a credit card, 25 percent will use cash, and 2.8 percent will write a check.
“Consumers are keen on scoring hot holiday deals this year,” said Pam Goodfellow, consumer insights director of BIGinsight, which conducted the poll for the National Retail Federation. “Trying to stay within budget, shoppers will map out their holiday season shopping strategy before stepping foot in any store or logging onto any website.”
This year, 19 percent of consumers plan to spend more than last year and 5 percent say they will spend substantially more, according to a survey by the International Council of Shopping Centers. It's the highest percentage of consumers planning to increase spending since the council began asking the question in 2004. Still, 40 percent plan to spend about the same and 26 percent say they will spend less or substantially less.
Certified financial planner Troy Jones, of Access Financial Resources, said spending is one of the few aspects of our financial lives we have complete control over.
“Most people don't have adequate savings in retirement, or insurance. And yet, they are the first in line at Black Friday,” he said.
There is no mathematical formula for consumers to determine how much is appropriate to spend on Black Friday, or for holiday shopping in general. Each person has to look carefully at their finances and decide for themselves, he said.
And they shouldn't forget to factor in their investment of time, which is worth something.
“Five years from now, nobody's going to remember what they bought in line on Black Friday. But if they have money in their savings account ... that could make a real difference,” Jones said.


text:
[...]When I visited the north of the capital just half an hour ago, I could see that the Khat leafy, which was already banned by the Islamists, is being sold publicly. Cinemas also began to open for viewing.
All the khat dealers and consumers seem to feel relief. Some are happy to get back to their normal life.
“I am very happy that Islamists go away and the government came in because the Islamists made the life difficulty and blocked me to get access for my daily life and feed my children as they banned the sale of Khat leafs,” Amina Haji, one of female khat dealer told SomaliNet.
Here Mogadishu, no one knows whereabouts of the leaders of ICU including Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and others.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Theatres reopen in Mogadishu, ICU leaders missing


text:
Despite the pandemic affecting the global economy, China is the only country whoseeconomy remains strong as its GDP growth in Q2 of 2021 reaches a 2-digitsgrowth of 18.3%. Due to this fact, many foreign enterprises and startups remaininterested in expanding to China, but what are opportunities, challenges, and common pitfalls to avoid when entering the market?
In Day 1 sessions, industry leaders/experts, government representatives, and top entrepreneursfrom Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Paris come together in this hybrid multiplex event to discuss various topics on how to do business in China.
Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister Delegate for Industry, attached to the Minister of the Economy, Finance and the Recovery
Pascal Cagni, President of Business France
One week to answer all the questions startups may have about the Chinese market. Jean Dominique Séval, the President of French Tech Beijing, shared his answerto the most frequently asked question of the week - Why come to do business inChina in 2021?
Jean Dominique Séval, the President of French Tech Beijing
To Séval, the main reason why French startups entering China market today is notonly to win market share but also to be in the center of the most innovative market in the world. These startups need to learn how to innovate faster andunderstand the strategies of their future competitors.
1 | China Insights
Jean-Marc Fenet, the Minister Counsellor for Economic Affairs of the French Embassy in Beijing, along with Kamran Vossoughi, the Executive Committee Member of the European Chamber, and Helena Javitte, the innovation manager of Accuracy Beijing - stated in their sessions the importance of understanding the economic prospects in China, the importance of innovation as the main driving force, andthe rising trend of China becoming the trendsetter of the global tech industry.The economy in China is entering the maturity stage, and its GDP growth isexpected to slow down. However, despite the slowing down, China's annual GDP growth is expected to reach at least 5% to 5.5% in the upcoming few years.
Helena Javitte, the innovation manager of Accuracy; Jean-Marc Fenet, the Minister Counsellor for Economic Affairs of the French Embassy in Beijing
2 | How to Start in China - Operational Guidelines
Maggie Li, the Senior Client Partner of Korn Ferry, together with Sylvie Savoie, the Beijing Office Managing Partner at DS Avocat, and Bruno Grangier, the Founder & Managing Partner of Leaf - revealed the importance of copyright & IP registration before landing in China, the challenges and best practices when hiring and retaining best talents, the uprising demands for transformational leadership among young talents in Chinatoday, and the necessity to understand the regulatory environment in China toavoid legal pitfalls.
Online：Bruno Grangier, the Founder &Managing Partner of Leaf
Onstage (left to right)：DragosCacio, Pilot Communications of French Tech Beijing, Sylvie Savoie, the BeijingOffice Managing Partner at DS Avocat
3 | How to Make Business in China
In this entrepreneurs talk, Jean Dominique Séval, the President French TechBeijing, Guillaume Bernard, the CEO of Bernard Controls, Yann Boquillod, the Founder of Air Visual, Allen Guo, the Founder & CEO of Shuimu Biosciences,and Gilles Langourieux, the Founder & CEO of Virtuos sat down in a paneldiscussion to discuss the entrepreneurship ecosystem in China, and theirentrepreneurial journey in creating their China success.
Online：Gilles Langourieux, the Founder& CEO of Virtuos
Onstage (left to right): Jean Dominique Séval, the President French Tech Beijing, Allen Guo, the Founder & CEO of Shuimu Biosciences, Yann Boquillod, the Founder of Air Visual, Guillaume Bernard, the CEO of Bernard Controls


text:
The ad spend report certainly continues to highlight the growth of mobile and the significant impact it has on all mainstream formats and channels.
Magnetise joined other lead generation luminaries, agencies, publishers, platform providers and clients for LeadsCon NY 2016 @ The NY Hilton
After eight and half years in Westminster, it’s time to bid our old offices farewell. We’re moving into the iconic Aircraft Factory in Hammersmith, a highly modernised building, that’s steeped in history.
Innovations in data capturing technology are key to gathering new or relevant information. One of the most exciting recent developments in the market is the emergence of Lead Walls (or overlays). They can offer a truly targeted campaign and are proving to deliver impressive returns per impression.
New figures suggest online advertising fraud is on the up. The biggest impact is being felt on cost-per-thousand (CPM) programmatic display and video ad buys, where advertisers are often being over-charged for bots and non-human traffic.
We’re back again to visit the AWS Summit. We were impressed with Amazon’s summit last year, so we were keen to return to ensure we keep up to speed with the latest industry developments.


text:
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. --- A Brooklyn woman is accused of trying to steal more than $1,000 in merchandise from the Target store in Charleston, marking the latest in a series of shoplifting attempts at the South Shore superstore since December.
Police on Sunday arrested Sandra M. Fuentes, 31, of Brooklyn, after she and a female accomplice tried to stuff Target bags with almost $1,300 in unpaid goods, including a baby monitor, clothes and toys. The accomplice remains at large.
William J. Smith, a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan, wouldn’t speculate if the alleged theft was part of a larger, organized retail theft operation.
Even so, the South Shore retailer has been hit numerous times over the past five months —by Staten Island and Brooklyn residents using a variety of failed schemes to slip merchandise out of the store, authorities have reported.
-- Two thefts by Omayra Reyes, 40, of Castleton Corners, on Dec. 20 and Jan. 9. Ms. Reyes, who was working with a male accomplice, fought with security officers and police after she was caught trying to leave with a cart filled with electronics on Jan. 9, police allege. She’s since pleaded guilty to third-degree robbery and is awaiting sentencing.
-- On Dec. 31, Iesha Dunn, 18, of Brooklyn, and two unidentified accomplices packed $5,700 worth of ink cartridges and electronics items into a box that once held a child car seat, then tried to bluff her way past the cashier by paying for the car seat, police allege
-- On Jan. 4, Shanelle Blount, 18, of Brooklyn, along with two unidentified accomplices, tried to steal nearly $2,300 in over-the-counter drugs, makeup and other items, police allege. The status of the case against her was not clear today.
-- On Jan. 6, police allege, Kim Persico, the daughter-in-law of Colombo crime family don Carmine Persico, tried to walk out with almost $600 in clothing, cleaning supplies, food, home decor and health and beauty items.
Authorities at the time were looking into whether any of those arrests could be linked to what Target officials frequently refer to as "organized retail theft" — rings of thieves that descend on retailers, then sell the stolen goods online, often to fund other criminal activities.
The chain focuses most of its store security efforts on combating organized theft, and has established forensic labs in Minneapolis and Las Vegas to aid law enforcement agencies.
In the case of Ms. Fuentes, she faces charges of fourth-degree grand larceny and fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property — both felonies punishable by one-and-a-third to four years in prison if she’s convicted at trial.


text:
Fiat has announced it aims to sell in 2012 230,000 Pandas from both the current and new generation of the minicar.
“Next year we plan to sell 180,000 to 190,000 units of the new Panda and the rest will be Classic models,” Gianni Coda, Fiat’s chief operating office for Europe, Middle East and Africa, was quoted as saying by Automotive News Europe.
Coda said the new Panda will be priced from €10,200 at the start of European sales in February 2012. The current-generation Panda, which will be renamed the Panda Classic, will have a starting price of €8,500 in Italy, down from today’s starting price of €10,250. A segment leader since 2004, the Panda will face tough competition from VW’s Up, which is priced at €10,600 in Italy.
In the first nine months of the year, Panda sales fell 22 percent to 140,285 units in Europe. If the target set for Panda in 2012 will be hit, the two variants will almost equal Panda’s total European sales from 2010. The current Panda enjoyed its best sales year in 2009, when 299,992 units were sold in Europe.
The new Panda is build at the Pomigliano d’Arco plant, near Naples, a former Alfa Romeo site. The refurbished facility has an annual capacity of 270,000 units.


text:
A creative Youtube user by the name of ndncnbvcuyuys has released a video showing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 running via an emulator on his Android based Nook Simple Touch. According to the video’s description the eReader, running Andriod 2.1, has been unlocked and is also running an app named NoRefresh to disable the device from constantly refreshing.
The results are surprising, considering the device’s primary purpose is displaying static text. Sonic 2 seems to run pretty quickly and, despite the game being monochrome, doesn’t look all that bad. The user describes a delay in button pressing and it’s pretty clear by the video that the emulator is nothing more than an experiment, and is certainly no alternative to the Sega Nomad.
[Source: Slash Gear]