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For the last two months, the U.S. economy has continuously expanded in most of the country's districts. However, not all is rosy since conditions have varied significantly within sectors and across regions, according to the statement issued by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday.
The obviously mixed conditions have given Fed policy makers a headache considering that their meeting is scheduled on Mar. 15 - 16 to decide the direction where interest rates should go.
According to the Beige Book of the U.S. Fed, in most U.S. districts, consumer spending has seen an increase. This source book contains anecdotal information gathered from business contracts all over the country. It is published eight times per year.
While the economy expanded, wage growth has varied widely "from flat to strong," as the report from the Federal Reserve indicate.
Out of the 12 regional districts of the agency, seven have suggested that the country's economy is expanding "moderately," or at a "modest space," or "slightly," based on the Beige Book.
There are mixed reports on the area of manufacturing. This sector has continuously suffered due to the strengthening of the dollar coupled with a "weakening global outlook" where its total sales suffered a number of setbacks.
Federal Open Market Committee members are scheduled for a meeting in two weeks. They will discuss their projections for the economy and establish the U.S. Federal Reserve's benchmark interest rate.
Although the latest jobs, consumer spending and inflation data indicated positive growth, there are still reduced expectations that the rate will increase this month owing to the volatility of the market and global growth.
It is likely that the Fed policymakers will hold off raising the interest rates even after their initial rise from almost zero in December. They still have to determine how big a slowdown global growth will experience, how lower inflation will affect the U.S. economy, and how extensive the tightening in financial conditions will be.


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Acer looks to number 1 notebook vendor ranking in 2011, says chairman
Yen-Shyang Hwang, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES
Acer chairman JT Wang has reiterated that Acer aims to become the number one notebook vendor worldwide in 2011 and will also make a significant achievement in the tablet PC segment.
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domain: news


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Canada’s Leading Event for Data & Analytics Professionals on September 24-25, 2019!
Corinium is excited to announce the return of Chief Data Analytics Officers & Influencers (CDAOI), Canada to Toronto on September 24-25, 2019!
Now in its 4th year, CDAOI Canada provides a platform for Canadian data and analytics leaders from across multiple industries to interact and network over the course of two days, giving participants the unique opportunity to share challenges and learn directly from one another.
- Our early confirmed speakers include industry leaders like:
- Head of Analytics, The Chlorox Company
- Director of Analytics Architecture, Recipe Unlimited
- VP Business Intelligence & Anaalytics, Gore Mutual
- Head of Analytics Centre of Excellence, Bank of Montreal
- Vice President Data Management, QuadReal Property Group
- Chief Data Officer, Environment and Climate Change Canada
- Vice President of Business Intelligence and Analytics, FNF Canada
- Chief Data and Trust Officer, Telus
- Senior Director of Information and Analytics, Walmart Canada
Don’t miss out on your chance to join them and more of Canada’s most influential data & analytics professionals!
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PARK CITY, Utah — The International Ski Federation (FIS) announced in a statement over the summer that a full fluoro wax ban implementation will be postponed to the 2023/2024 season. The postponement allows for additional time to refine the fluoro testing device, and to define the procedures which protect the integrity of FIS competitions.
The ban is intended to reduce risks to human health and the environment coming from chemicals found in fluorocarbon products used in the preparation of skis. The chemicals go onto the snow and when the snow evaporates the chemicals are left behind, in the air, in the water and in the ground.
Wax techs will wear gloves and masks when applying some flouros from their liquid jars. While environmental concerns dominate discussions, down the list of concerns is the fact that at mid-level competitions, the faster flouro wax can be cost-prohibitive for certain demographics of athletes.
Extensive testing of the fluoro detection device, together with experts from National Federations and the International Biathlon Union (IBU), led to the conclusion that more time was needed to check new fluor-free waxes to provide accurate results. The testing of these new products is underway.
FIS will increase the systematic collection and testing of samples during the upcoming season 2022-23. The close cooperation with the National Federations and the IBU will continue to help to further refine the detection system and define the practical implementation processes and regulations which will ensure the fair implementation of a full ban of all fluoro waxes for the season 2023-20242023/24 winter season.
said in a statement that it, USA Nordic, U.S. Biathlon, U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing, U.S. Paralympics Alpine Skiing, U.S. Paralympics Snowboarding, Alpine Canada, Canada Snowboard, Freestyle Canada, Nordiq Canada, Biathlon Canada, Nordic Combined Canada, Ski Jumping Canada, and industry wax representatives have been proactively working towards agreements regarding the banning of flourocarbon wax products.


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The World Health Organization (WHO) urged those who want to lose weight to give up sugar substitutes. Scientists have warned that artificial sweeteners are ineffective for weight loss and may be harmful to health, according to the WHO website.
As noted, long-term use of sugar substitutes can cause “potential unwanted effects.” This is an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and death.Eating foods and drinks with saccharin or sucralose does not provide any long-term benefit in reducing body fat in adults or children. These recommendations do not apply to people who already have diabetes. This group was not included in the WHO study.“People should consider other ways to reduce their intake of free sugars, such as eating foods with natural sugar or unsweetened foods and drinks,” explained WHO Director of Nutrition and Food Safety Francesco Branca. Earlier, nutritionist Kristina Plotnikova said that sweeteners can cause serious illnesses – from gastrointestinal disorders to heart attacks. While natural sweeteners are safe in moderation, artificial additives cause devastating reactions in the body, the doctor added.


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Cigarettes to be sold in plain packaging
MPs have voted for the introduction of plain, standardised packaging for cigarettes. But can a mere change in branding really have much effect on what we choose to consume?
In the 1940s, well over half of the population of the UK smoked; in 2013 that figure was down to just 20.5%. Today, efforts to reduce that figure further received a boost as MPs overwhelmingly voted for cigarettes only to be sold in dull, plain packaging. The success of the bill means that from 2016, every packet of cigarettes will look identical except for a generic label indicating the brand name and make. Dark colours will be favoured for the packets, with olive green the preferred choice, as they are perceived to signify more harm, and all will come with graphic photos and health warnings.
Australia became the first country to enforce plain packaging in 2012, while Ireland passed a similar law earlier this month. Studies have shown that branding and a packet’s appearance are important factors in why people take up smoking. By getting rid of any differentiation between brands, campaigners are hoping to eliminate smoking’s ‘cool’ factor.
The drop in smoking after this law comes into effect is expected to be small, but not insignificant. Alison Cox, of Cancer Research UK, said the move would ‘save lives’. Yet a representative for the Tobacco Manufacturer’s Association said ‘there was a complete lack of evidence’ that it would work, and also claimed that it would interfere with consumers’ freedom of choice.
Over 600 children between 11 and 15 start smoking every day in the UK. Cigarettes kill about 100,000 people each year, mostly due to cancers, lung diseases and heart diseases. It is estimated that the habit kills roughly half its users.
Since it became clear after the Second World War that smoking was deadly, a raft of UK legislation has been introduced to discourage the habit. First came a ban on cigarette advertising on television in 1965. Health warnings on packets arrived in 1971. All advertising was banned in 2002, then in 2007 came the most significant change: the ban on smoking in all public places, including pubs and restaurants.
Stubbing out smoking
Most smokers say that the importance of branding has been massively overstated. People buy cigarettes because they are addicted to them, not because of a pretty picture on the packet — which already look unappealing in any case, with disturbing images of diseased lungs and decaying teeth. This law is a needless gimmick: the emphasis should remain on teaching the health perils of smoking.
You might not think you are being affected by branding, but there’s a reason companies spend millions making their products look as appealing as possible: it works. The tobacco industry grew largely because of successful advertising campaigns. Any efforts to stop smoking appealing to people should be welcomed.
- Do you think you’d be less likely to buy a product if the package was boring?
- Do you think there is something inherently sinister about branding and advertising?
- Class debate: ‘This House believes that advertisements for sweets and chocolate should be banned’.
- Design a poster encouraging people to stop smoking.
Some People Say...
“Smoking is hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, and dangerous to the lungs.”King James I
What do you think?
Q & A
- I don’t smoke. Why does this affect me?
- It affects you because tobacco smoke can affect people around those smoking. This is called ‘passive smoking’. Evidence shows that non-smokers who live with the second-hand smoke of a smoker increase their risk of lung cancer by around 25%.
- Will smoking ever be banned completely?
- Many people think it is inevitable that smoking will one day be made illegal. However it would be difficult to enforce. Smoking has been a part of our culture for centuries, and some fear it may be too deeply embedded to eliminate completely. What seems almost certain is that the percentage of smokers in the UK will continue to decrease.
- 22% of men in the UK smoke, and 19% of women. In 1974 it was 51% of men and 41% of women.
- Olive green
- When Australia introduced plain packaging research discovered that olive green was the least attractive colour for consumers. The research also found that pale green, contrastingly, promotes the idea of freshness.
- Cancer Research UK
- A cancer awareness and research charity formed in the UK in 2002. It is the world’s largest independent cancer charity and conducts research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease.
- Cigarette advertising
- Before the ban on cigarette advertising many famous people helped advertise tobacco. In the USA, actors and actresses like John Wayne and Audrey Hepburn appeared in poster advertisements. In the UK, top footballers like Stanley Matthews and Dixie Dean gave their support to certain brands.


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Sunday 29th April 2018.
LYNK&CO WILL BE HYBRIDS
- Volvo’s sister brand Lynk&Co has announced that the crossovers it will be building in Belgium to serve the European market will not be fully electric, but hybrid. Lynk&Co wants to attract young urban people with a subscription programme, which would allow customers to rent a car for just one month up to a few years and change their car for another model up to four times per year” says FleetEurope.
- Mats Fagerhag, Vice President of Geely Auto Group, said: “From the very beginning of the CMA’s development, the flexibility to support future powertrain technologies, such as PHEV, HEV, BEV, mild hybrid and traditional fuel was very much our vision. The new energy plan for Lynk & Co will be implemented in stages with the goal of following PHEV with HEV and then BEV”.
TESLA RESPONDS TO MUNRO
- Munro and Associates recently talked about the Tesla Model 3 in an Autoline After Hours video, Teslarati noting: “According to Sandy Munro, everything about the Model 3 from its suspension, all the way to its battery pack, are industry-leading, and if Tesla had only ensured that its build quality was as good as its technology, it would have “wiped the floor with everybody.”
- But Mr Munro wasn’t totally complimentary. He thought the build quality wasn’t as good as it should have been, the frame was too heavy, and he hated having no physical latches on the doors. Although on that last point, if you want the video, he does come across as an old man who doesn’t like the technology. Even though he’s clearly an expert, that one point sounded like when you’re trying to set up your parents WiFi.
- Tesla has responded in a statement: “The primary car evaluated by Munro was built in 2017. We have significantly refined our production processes since then, and while there’s always room for improvement, our data already shows that Model 3 quality is rapidly getting better.
- Since we began shipping Model 3 last year, we have been very focused on refining and tuning both part and body manufacturing processes. The result being that the standard deviation of all gaps and offsets across the entire car has improved, on average, by nearly 40%, with particular gap improvements visible in the area of the trunk, rear lamps and rear quarter panel. Today, Model 3 panel gaps are competitive with Audi, BMW, and Mercedes models, but in the spirit of relentless improvement, we are working to make them even tighter.”
BYTON VP OF DESGN SPEAKS
- Recently at the Milan Design Week, Byton showed off their EV concept. BYTON’s VP of Design, Benoît Jacob is the former VP of Design at BMW. During his time at BMW, Jacob was the head of various projects, including both the i3 and i8 electric vehicles. Now, at BYTON, Jacob is responsible for building a concept. “I think the ability to update software, functionality and things like that will be on a day-to-day basis. And this is, of course, something we have to integrate as a technology into the car.”
- BYTON’s SUV will be available in China towards the end of 2019 and in the US and Europe in 2020 with a price starting at $45,000.
MOTOR DEALERS NEED EV-ANGELISTS
- The whole ev-angelist thing is clever but maybe a bit overdone, but that’s exactly what dealers need according to a new report.
- Motor Trader website says “one in three UK dealerships don’t have a single EV trained technician in their workshops but the majority now recognise the need to increase the number of EV trained technicians in their dealerships and train existing sta The Institute of the Motor Industry has been campaigning for some time for the government to give further backing technician training for electric vehicles. In July last year it reported that the percentage of technicians trained to work safely on the high-voltage technology remains at 1%.”
DRIVING ON A SOLAR ROAD
- Elon Musk occasionally likes to counter arguments against solar power by saying that the world is solar powered ? the sun being the source of everything.
- Scott Brusaw and his wife Julie have spent just about every day over the past 10 years developing Solar Roadways. He says: “”We signed with our first manufacturing contract in Dayton, Ohio. So, they’ll be making the first SR4’s. And we’re in talks with our first manufacturing company here in North Idaho,” he said. “That means we can get the price way down. And our ultimate goal is to have this at a big box store where homeowners can do their driveways, business people can do their parking lots.”
- KREM says: The Brusaws got to the next phase with the help of a record-setting crowdfunding campaign back in 2014. It raised more than $2.2 million. After Indiegogo, credit card and other fees, the Brusaws say they got about $1.5 million before the tax man took another huge chunk. This allowed them to buy a Sandpoint building to serve as the Solar Roadways research and development headquarters. They hired a few employees and bought their first small scale manufacturing equipment. Of course, they were not actually made to make solar roads since nobody ever needed machines for that before”
TESLA OWNER BANNED
- The BBC reports that: “A driver who moved into the passenger seat after putting his Tesla into autopilot while at 40mph on a motorway has been banned from driving. Bhavesh Patel, 39, of Alfreton Road, Nottingham, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving at St Albans Crown Court. A witness in another car filmed him sitting in the passenger seat of his Tesla S 60 on the M1 between junctions 8 and 9 near Hemel Hempstead. A statement provided by a Tesla engineer said the autopilot was intended to provide assistance to a “fully-attentive driver”, the court heard.”
I’d love to spread the word about electric cars so, if you can, share this somebody who might be interested.
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Come and say hi on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter just search EV News Daily, have a wonderful day, and I’ll catch you tomorrow.
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Hot tech deals of the week — car tech
What is Kickstarter?
Finding financial backers for your pet project used to be a chore. But thanks to Kickstarter, a crowdfunding platform, you can now raise funds from millions of people in exchange for various perks, such as a free copy of the album or game you want to produce.
The amounts donated by individuals range from a few dollars to tens of thousands. Earlier this month the crowdfunding website passed $1bn (£599 million) in pledges - demonstrating just how far it has come since its launch in 2009, almost five years shy. To date over 5.7 million people have made successful pledges to fund 57,000 projects, 60 projects have even managed to smash the $1 million barrier.
Please click on the image above to view some of the biggest Kickstarter successes.
related stories on msn
latest tech videos
Microsoft and Carphone Warehouse have teamed up with artist Caleb Charland to wirelessly charge a brand new Lumia 930 smartphone using 800 apples and potatoes.
Date 25/07/14, Duration 1:51, Views 1265


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Audi CEO Rupert Stadler arrested in Germany
The CEO of luxury automaker Audi has been arrested in Germany as part of an investigation into emissions cheating.
Munich prosecutors said Monday that Rupert Stadler, who has worked for Audi parent company Volkswagen since 1990, had been detained because of concerns he could influence witnesses in an ongoing fraud investigation.
Stadler, 55, is the highest ranking Volkswagen executive to be arrested in connection to a costly diesel emissions scandal that burst into public view in 2015.
Prosecutors said they have opened a criminal investigation into potential fraud by 20 current or former Audi employees including Stadler. The case is related to suspected emissions cheating in 240,000 diesel cars sold in the United States and Europe.
Volkswagen spokesman Nicolai Laude confirmed that Stadler had been arrested, but declined to comment on the investigation. He said the company’s supervisory board would discuss the matter on Monday.
“The principle of the presumption of innocence continues to apply to Mr. Stadler,” Laude added in a statement.
Shares in Volkswagen dropped by 3% in Frankfurt.
Munich prosecutors said last week they had searched Stadler’s home for evidence as part of an investigation that has been underway for over a year.
Stadler was appointed to Volkswagen’s management board in 2010. Prosecutors said Stadler could be released next week if he cooperates with investigators.
Volkswagen has admitted that it rigged millions of diesel engines to cheat on emissions tests.
Diesel cars from Volkswagen and its Audi subsidiary cheated on clean air rules with software that made emissions look less toxic than they actually were.
The scandal sent its share price plunging, and trashed confidence among consumer and regulators in diesel technology. The episode has already cost Volkswagen over $30 billion in recalls, legal penalties and settlements.
Martin Winterkorn, the former chief executive officer of Volkswagen, was indicted last month by US prosecutors. He was charged with wire fraud, and conspiracy to defraud American customers and violate the Clean Air Act.
Diess acknowledged at a press conference in April that Volkswagen had “lost a great deal of trust,” and that it would take years to restore public confidence in the automaker.
June 18, 2018
— Ivana Kottasova, Chris Liakos and Stephanie Halasz contributed reporting.


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More than 80 percent of Australian drivers rank fuel efficiency as their top priority when purchasing a new vehicle, according to the results of an extensive consumer survey by Ford.
The survey of more than 9500 drivers in 11 markets across the Asia Pacific region (to help promote Ford’s Ecoboost engines) also found almost one third (29 percent) of drivers who currently own a powerful car say that they regret not purchasing a more fuel-efficient vehicle.
And while 80 per cent of Australian drivers made a concerted effort to drive efficiently on a daily basis, most weren’t able to correctly identify a significant number of simple steps towards reducing fuel consumption.
For example, 33 per cent of drivers didn’t know that that harsh acceleration and braking can have a dramatic effect on their car’s fuel consumption. Other misconceptions included:
- 70 percent of drivers were unaware that cruise control can deliver fuel efficiency benefits
- One in three Australian drivers was unaware that regular maintenance and keeping tyres inflated helps save fuel
- 40 percent of respondents didn’t know that driving in hilly terrain can hamper fuel consumption
- Less than half (47 percent) of those surveyed knew that removing heavy items or clutter from the car can help save fuel.
Ford Australia President and CEO Graeme Whickman said the survey was conducted to get a better understanding of what drivers know about fuel economy and how they choose their vehicle.
“The results show there is quite a lot of confusion amongst Australians about what constitutes fuel-efficient driving,” he said.
“Understanding how to drive efficiently is very important as drivers continue to be sensitive to fuel costs, no matter what the price is at the pump.”
This all coincides with a general wariness about Australian fuel prices. More than three quarters (78 percent) of respondents say they don’t trust fuel prices to stay stable over the next year, which is 30 percent more than the Asia-Pacific average.
As a result, drivers are starting to change their behavioural patterns. More than 34 percent of consumers are planning on driving less over the next 12 months and 22 percent say that they will change their driving habits to use less fuel.
Many consumers who are planning to buy a new car in the next year are considering more fuel-efficient vehicles, with 32 percent planning to buy a vehicle with a more fuel-efficient engine than their current car while 23 percent plan to downsize to a smaller vehicle.
How are you finding our new site design? Tell us in the comments below or send us your thoughts at email@example.com.
Boot sizes of Australia’s favourite SUVs
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The EV revolution is gaining strength in Australia, which means greater diversity and choices
Hands-on: Mercedes-Benz Driving Events review
Whether you want to thrash an AMG GT R around a track or learn more about the safety features of your new Mercedes-Benz, this experience could be for you


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When the instances of COVID-19 were reported originally, experts had expected its effects on virtually every phase of someone’s life soon. This forecast has become reality 21 cfr part 11 risk assessment to some extent because today’s world shifted radically. Whether it’s a board meeting or grocery store shopping, what is being conducted online via laptops or smartphones. It has also cleared that we’re greatly determined by a stable online connection, especially once you think about the instruction area.
The crisis has given birth to an issue that whether instructional institutes should close schools or keep them available. For this, reason, online learning is now a new trend.
1300 South Fourth Street, Suite 350,KY40208 United States


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People are posting their crisp packets - and Royal Mail is not at all happy about it.
It is all down to a protest over Walkers Crisps' packets not being recyclable.
Royal Mail has responded after people started posting the packets without envelopes.
Environmental campaigners have told people to send bags back to the PepsiCo brand as a form of protest because they aren't yet recyclable, The Mirror reports .
Protesters have posted selfies online showing them popping the packets into the post.
Royal Mail said it has handled about 30 packets so far.
Some 310,500 people have backed a petition calling on Walkers to improve on its 2025 target to create new recyclable packets.
Customers have been told to "flood Walkers social media with pictures of us popping them in the post", along with the hashtag #PacketinWalkers.
Royal Mail is legally required to deliver the bags to Walkers' freepost address, but it says packets that aren't in envelopes are causing delays.
The packets cannot go through machines and must be sorted by hand.
Leicester-based Walkers produces 11 million bags a day and by 2025, 28 billion will have been added to landfill.
Geraint Ashcroft, of Pontypridd, Wales, started the petition with campaign group 38 Degrees.
The 61-year-old said: “Manufacturing giants like Walkers need to do their bit.”
Cathy Warren, campaigner at 38 Degrees, said: “There’s huge public concern about the amount of plastic being produced, and that means it’s crunch time for Walkers to decide if they will listen to their customers.
“Their promise to deal with plastic crisp packets by 2025 is woefully inadequate.
"By that time, they will have produced a breathtaking amount of plastic waste without paying a penny to clean it up."
The group had posted photos on Twitter showing empty Walkers packets being sent back as they were, without being in an envelope.
It wrote to its followers on Wednesday: "Royal Mail have asked people to use envelopes when posting crisp packets - keep posting, but use an envelope."
Royal Mail has urged people not to post anything that isn't properly packaged.
A spokeswoman said: "If an item is addressed properly and carries the correct postage then Royal Mail is obliged by law to handle and deliver the item to the stated address.
“We strongly encourage customers not to post anything into the postal system which is not properly packaged. And if they are talking part in this campaign we would urge them to put crisp packets in an envelope before posting.
“Customers can obtain advice from any Post Office branch on packaging and restrictions. Anyone posting items which are not properly packaged could find they are delayed or taken out of the postal system."
Ms Warren, of 38 Degrees, said: "Royal Mail has asked people to use envelopes when posting crisp packets and we will update the thousands of Walkers's customers who are taking part.
"Up and down the country, people are telling Walkers to step up when it comes to plastic waste.
"Walkers produce a staggering 7,000 plastic crisp packets a minute which they don't pay a penny to clean up. They need to listen to their customers and take action now."
Walkers has said of the campaign: “We have received returned packets and recognise the efforts to bring [this] to our attention.”
It has promised to make all of its packaging 100 per cent recyclable, compostable or biodegradable by 2025.
Compostable packaging is being piloted in the US, India and Chile.


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The new owners of Goswell Bakeries’ bagel business have moved production from Canning Town to north London and are considering various options for growing the business, including developing new products and launching a branded range.
AA Bakeries International, set up by Goswell’s former general manager Alan Weston with business partner Laquet Mahmood, purchased the bagel firm last month, at the same time that Goswell’s sold its speciality bread brands to Finsbury subsidiary Nicholas & Harris in a £2.2m deal.
Bagel production continued at Goswell’s East End bakery after the deal was signed, but the new company’s equipment and eight staff have just moved to premises at the London Bread & Cake Company in Edmonton.
Alan Weston told British Baker that the business will continue to focus on making unpackaged bagels for London’s wholesale market, and would look at ways of growing sales. "Bagel sales have been stable during the recession," said Weston. "We will look at new bagel products and launching a brand is a possibility in the future."
The move will enable AA Bakeries, which makes 15-20,000 bagels a day, to double capacity.


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How is the Covid-19 pandemic affecting private equity investments in the consumer products sector? Three leaders in Bain’s Private Equity practice—Hugh MacArthur, François Faelli and Charles Tillen—offer their insights on what firms are doing to weather the downturn and best position themselves for recovery.
Sign up for upcoming webinars with Bain experts, and watch previous recordings of conversations on topics that matter to your business.
As the global pandemic deepens and the human cost of Covid-19 rises, the novel coronavirus outbreak is sending shocks through the world economy. But across industries, companies can take action now to protect their employees and customers and minimize the economic damage.


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Cambridge design innovation to be showcased at major Design Council event
25 January 2012
Cambridge’s position as an international hub for product design will be highlighted at a major Design Council-backed exhibition in February 2012. The Design Icons: Cambridge Innovation Festival demonstrates the contribution of Cambridge design to a variety of best-selling products from around the world. The 20 products selected for the exhibition span diverse sectors from housewares and consumer electronics to health and scientific devices.
Thermo Electron iCAP 6000 Series Spectrometer
The interactive Design Icons exhibition has been organised by Creative Front Cambridgeshire, which is a diverse creative industries network led by Anglia Ruskin University. The three week exhibition will be staged at the Ruskin Gallery on Anglia Ruskin’s Cambridge campus between February 8 and 23 2012.
“This exhibition demonstrates that whatever market you are in and wherever you plan to sell your products, Cambridge design has the ideas, experience and know-how to help,” says Clare Denham of Creative Front. “It showcases the vibrant design community around the city and the depth of skills and innovation across the product lifecycle that companies can call upon. This is the first design festival in Cambridge and we’re confident that it will focus the spotlight on existing iconic products while building momentum to develop this into an annual event.”
The Meridian M80 hifi
The products on show from are the Dulux PaintPod Roller System, Easi-Breathe asthma inhaler, Evian Action Water Bottle, iCAP Spectrometer, Kenwood Juice Extractor, Proprio Foot (prosthetic foot), Hayter Spirit Lawnmower, Prestige Traditional Kettle, Sepura Tetra Police Radio, Meridan Audio M80, Lecson amplifier, Sinclair Sovereign and Executive Calculators, Freudenberg Vileda Magic Mop II, SureFlap catflap, DuoFertility (fertility monitor), Optyse ophthalmoscope, Sinclair C5, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Torch (the world's first energy saving white LED torch) and the University of Cambridge-designed Moss Table. They have all been designed in Cambridgeshire over the last 40 years.
In addition to the exhibition, Creative Front will be running a series of networking events focusing on how to incorporate creativity and design into business practice. Further information is available here.


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With the high cost of food in all parts of the country, many have had to resort to any means to survive.
While some are doing extra jobs, others too are sleeping with men and women to make extra cash to be able to survive the economic hardship Ghana has been plagued with.
In reaction to this new trend, the member of Parliament for Ningo-Prampram, Hon. Sam Nartey George has advised Ghanaians to start eating lots of “Gob3” otherwise known as gari and beans to be able to survive.
Sam George came up with a 0-1-0 tactic which means one who wants to survive these hard times must skip breakfast and eat only lunch.
He advised that the lunch should be cooked beans with a lot of cassava flakes (gari) to make it last longer in one’s tummy.
According to him, this new strategy will ensure that you won’t be hungry all the time and try and survive.
Ghanaians have complained about the high cost of goods and services in the country to the government on several occasions but it all seems to have fallen on deaf ears.
Watch the video below;


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Patron reveals extra-anejo Tequila Gran Patron PiedraBy Becky Paskin
Patron Spirits is set to release Gran Patron Piedra, its first extra-anejo Tequila, exclusively into global travel retail...
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A meatpacker is recalling more than 40,000 pounds of ground beef products that were shipped to institutions and distributors in California, along with 15 other states.
Not all moldy foods need to be thrown away. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, throwing away moldy fruits and veggies is not necessary.
Various meat labels approved by the USDA have left many consumers confused and questioning their true meaning.
The Obama administration is aiming to prevent meat recalls by withholding meat and poultry products from grocery store shelves until government testing is complete.
A California company is recalling 131,000 pounds of frozen pizza products found at Trader Joe’s stores because they contain an allergen not declared on the label.
A southern Kansas packing plant has recalled more than 7 tons of ground beef products after lab tests detected E. coli.
A Southern California meat producer has recalled 3,170 pounds of ground beef that might be contaminated with E. coli.
A Pico Rivera company, is recalling thousands of pounds of ground beef because it could make you sick.
The U.S Department of Agriculture is telling slaughterhouse veterinary inspectors to ensure cattle are euthanized when they are too sick or injured to stand.
The U.S Department of Agriculture is telling slaughterhouse veterinary inspectors to ensure cows are euthanized when they are too sick or injured to stand.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says a pair of pork products from an Orange County company are being recalled because their labels don’t list wheat among the ingredients for those who are allergic.
A Corona company is recalling more than 7,000 pounds of ready-to-eat chicken pasta salad products because the cilantro in the salad may be contaminated with salmonella.


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Binance is partnering with Swipe for its upcoming crypto debit card, a cached-version of the FAQ page of the Binance Card revealed.
Though The Block earlier reported the possibility of the partnership between the two, neither the crypto exchange nor the debit card issuer did not confirm anything officially.
However, a recent accidental update on its website has confirmed the partnership between the two – Binance had already taken down the webpage, but it has already been cached.
“Binance has partnered with Swipe to provide a Card platform for Binance users,” the cached-version of the Binance Card website read.
Binance, which operates one of the largest digital currency exchange, first unveiled its crypto debit card last March, that provides a fiat gateway allowing its users to pay for goods and services using stored cryptocurrencies.
The exchange advertised its card similar to any other bank-issued cards with some additional features. The card can also be used globally, without any geo-restriction. Binance also opened pre-registration for the card for $15.
Swipe, a Philippine-headquartered company with operations in the United Kingdom and Estonia, also offers its own crypto debit card supporting over 30 digital currencies. It issues its card via Contis Financial Services Ltd, a Visa member that is licensed by the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
Another major crypto industry investment?
The Block also reported on the possibility of Binance’s investment in Swipe, taking a majority stake in the company. This is also not confirmed by any of the companies.
With Swipe partnership, Binance might launch a white-label crypto card.
Meanwhile, Swipe partnered with Google Pay and Samsung to add its digital currency Visa debit card on its payments platform.
Established as a cryptocurrency exchange, Binance is now becoming an all-round player in the crypto industry offering services from mining pools to lending.


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Monday, October 18, 2010, 3:29 PM ET|Posted by Will RichmondSeaChange has unveiled "Adrenalin," a back office technology platform to enable its pay-TV providers to deliver multi-screen video experiences. Adrenalin is meant to help pay-TV operators deliver on their customers' expectations for anytime/anywhere/any device video deliver. As SeaChange president Yvette Kanouff told me last week, Adrenalin's goal is to help pay-TV operators achieve 3-screen goals by evolving from, rather than replacing existing back office systems. Key goals are reliability, faster time to market and proven scalability.
Adrenalin is an upgrade of SeaChange's Axiom on Demand back office, with new functionality integrated from acquisitions like VividLogic, eventIS and Mobix Interactive. Adrenalin uses a service oriented architecture to deliver 4 components: business application and content management, content distribution and session management, advanced monitoring and client publishing across multiple device including set-top boxes, Android, iOS, and other connected devices.
Pay-TV providers are under pressure from a growing ecosystem of over-the-top aggregators, device manufacturers and infrastructure companies which are developing online into a competitive content delivery model. SeaChange's Adrenalin comes on the heels of start-up BNI Video's announcement last week that it has raised $16 million and is also enabling 3-screen delivery by pay-TV operators. Other traditional pay-TV vendors are also rolling out products to help the industry transition. Related, SeaChange also announced that UK's Virgin Media's Player, delivering 3-screen video has gone live.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).


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According to the report of Public Relations of Hofmann Co, with effort of Alborz Province Representative Hofmann Co. Mr. Abidi, annual conference of this company was held in Almas-e-Gharb Hall on 12-05-2019. This conference started at 13:00 while there were 250 top assemblers of this province and CEO of Hofmann Co. Mr. Hamidiye and top managers (Sales Manager, Head of Representatives and Advertising Manager and Public Relations). At first, Mr. Siyavash Nia Adverstizing Manager and Public Relations of Hofmann welcomed all audiences on behalf of CEO and called them “real commanders of the company”. He explained about new strategies on customer relations and advertising, and then invited Mr. Moshirfar, Sales Manager of the company on stage. Mr. Moshirfar reported the status of six first months of the year in terms of sales and explained about sales policies in future months. Finally, audiences were invited to serve the lunch while live music was performed.
Hofmann, the real meaning of family, as big as Iran


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CLEVELAND — Cleveland’s own Heinen’s Grocery Store has been named as one of the best grocery stores in the country by Consumer Reports.
Heinen’s ranked third, collecting 89 points out of a possible 100 with tops marks in produce and customer service, according to the report released on April 16.
The report polled 75,000 Consumer Reports members who rated grocers they shop at most often. Participants in the survey grocers based on 13 criteria, including price, food quality, variety, customer service, healthy offerings, local food selection and cleanliness.
The restaurant was founded in 1929 by local butcher Joe Heinen. Since then, the store has grown to 23 locations with 19 stores in the suburbs of Cleveland and four in Chicago.
Among the Heinen’s grocery stores located in the Greater Cleveland area, is the one located inside the historic Cleveland Trust Rotunda Building, located on the corner of East 9th Street and Euclid Avenue. Since 2015, the grocery store has called it home while maintaining the architecture from the past while showcasing groceries and delicious eats of the present.
Residents who visit the Rotunda are awed by its 20 century grandeur, any they're not the only ones. In July, a Hamilton cast member stumbled upon the grocery store while performing in Cleveland.
For Nik Walker, who plays Aaron Burr in the hit musical Hamilton, it was finding a "hidden" gem right in the heart of the city that made him realize how awesome Cleveland is.
"Every town has got their secrets, and you got this strange tourist coming in and doing a strange show and you don't want to tell him about the town's secrets...," he said in a deadpan tone in a Twitter video he filmed while walking around inside the iconic building. "I get that. That's to be expected."
He said he was shocked that not a single Clevelander told him about the spectacular "glory" of Heinen's.
RELATED: Hamilton cast member pleasantly surprised by Cleveland's 'hidden' grocery store


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By directing resources to direct-to-consumer streaming services, sports media launches a parallel growth strategy to its extremely lucrative TV business. It’s a bid to personalize and optimize the watching experience for viewers, who now want and even expect the DTC experience. That’s why Disney and ESPN’s new growth strategy is direct-to-consumer. And that’s why ESPN isn’t unique among the large sports broadcasters either: CBS and NBC will launch a live streaming platform in 2018 and Fox already has one.
It was only a matter of time before the media companies dependent on TV turn to OTT. The difficulty now, of course, is that sports media companies like ESPN, NBC Sports Group, CBS Sports, and Fox Sports can’t afford to trail behind other established DTC or OTT platforms. They need to lead the innovation of direct to consumer and OTT. And we know some may have the resources to do so: Disney bought BAMTech for $3.75bn to lead innovation in OTT.
By all measures, the US lags behind Asia when it comes to innovative streaming engagement strategies. And, really, many of the current strategies are in their infancy. This article will nevertheless lay out the current ways to increase viewing minutes and the number of sessions in digital sports media.
A word about sports media’s fragmentation
It’s time to reassemble the pieces. Actually take your separate digital channels and fuse them together.
So many sports apps, media channels, and technologies exist for viewing or second-screening a sporting event. It’s dizzying. Even two years ago, research showed that that mobile users spent most of their time (84%) in about 5 non-native apps. And how many of those slots are now already taken up by Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, SnapChat and so on? After the surge in app growth, decision fatigue abounds. It’s no surprise that consumers, faced with 2.8 million apps at Google Play and 2.2 million at Apple’s App store (as of March 2017), choose to stay consistent with about 5.
How do you become one of those 5 apps?
Start by reducing decision fatigue by aggregating your apps together. Is there really a good reason to have, for example, NFL Mobile and NFL Watch Network (for Tablet) separate from NFL Fantasy? Search “best fantasy football apps” in Google and apparently you’ll have to get 5, 6, or 7 more apps to dominate your fantasy league, depending on which article you read. All told, if you second-screen the NFL and play Fantasy Football while watching the game on TV, you’re apparently supposed to use up to 9 apps. Why?
Look to tech for a moment. The rise of UX (user experience) tries to achieve an ideal state where there’s zero friction in all flows of action within and between applications, websites, or other UIs. Essentially, UX designers advocate for the customer’s experience among the product stakeholders. It’s yet another important manifestation of DTC’s obsession with the customer and optimizing their experience with the support of data. BAMTech Media, the sports streaming solution arm of Disney and ESPN, for example, has at least several employees dedicated to UX.
One way to reduce friction between apps is to unify them. If sports leagues and sports media aggregate their digital assets, there will be less friction between Fantasy sports, sports games, news or statistics. Sports media could reduce friction, for example, between the game and social elements, improving the ease of posting to social media without losing the user’s engagement or losing them to Facebook Messenger, Twitter, etc.
Direct-to-consumer streaming services and live sports will compete with tech within the next 5 years
It’s no surprise that Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and YouTube are chasing after rights to broadcast live sports. At first, it seems like a rather weak foray into sports:
- Twitter had a hiccough in Thursday Night Football, gaining rights instead to broadcast some exclusive sports news and analysis
- Twitter’s initial broadcasting rights for the National Lacrosse League, some MLB and NHL may seem niche or small
- Facebook sports stadium had a pretty epic failure at the Super Bowl in 2016
But actually there’s a lot of success there, too. YouTube TV is making a huge push for its $35/month subscription and it is starting by streaming the World Series for free. And actually Twitter lost Thursday Night Football, sure, but to Amazon. In the meantime, Twitter also gained rights to exclusive NFL content.
Let there be no mistake. Tech companies didn’t create a mythology around “fail fast” without reason. I’m not sure how often tech companies actually fail. But I am familiar with A/B testing, large data sets, and using “failed” experiences to inform more fully optimized solutions. And by initially streaming sports here and there, they’re building their first data sets for the viewing behaviors of sports fans. All these apparent failures will make their streaming platforms even more compelling experiences. If sports media ever had a threat looming, it’s this.
Why bring this up? Admittedly, it’s not a solution. But I want to impress upon sports media decision makers that they must create channels where there’s direct access to the consumer and data about their behaviors. This will produce the metadata necessary to create actionable strategies for increasing engagement and personalizing the viewing and advertising experience. Tech companies have already been doing this for a long time, so it won’t be enough to just create a single direct-to-consumer streaming channel or move to streaming some sports content not broadcasted elsewhere. Sports media is in danger of lagging behind Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter. Goliaths to be sure.
User attention span is not a problem to be solved. It’s more like a symptom of our technological history. We’re in a highly competitive attention market and it will only get more competitive. Given current data, just assume attention is short and do more to keep your viewer engaged. With DTC and the sheer quantity of channels to pay attention to, the burden of the sports fan’s attention is now borne by the sports media company. So what to do?
Interact live with your viewers
Direct-to-consumer live sports means what it says. You can be in direct contact with your consumer. So why miss the opportunity to interact with them? This is the number one proactive engagement strategy. Viewers are watching more and more live video content and sports has always been a leader here. If you’re not interacting with your live sports viewers, then you’re missing out on engagement opportunities.
Real-time chat complements live video so well because it gives you a direct channel to communicate with your users. People often describe digesting data metaphorically as “listening” to your user. Chat is one step closer to literally listening to your viewers. Now you can see what your users say in between plays or during exciting game-time moments with chat metadata.
Here are 5 ways to use live chat to engage your user:
- Create that social or in-stadium (in-sports bar) experience by allowing your users to chat with each other about the game.
- Allow celebrities, players, analysts, or experts discuss the game with people in a moderated chat or messaging system
- Remember when the baseball Jumbotron aired a shell-game with 3 baseball caps and a baseball? Fans screaming for their chosen hat color. I loved that.
- Create quick value-add games that will keep your online viewers engaged.
- Poll, ask questions, or prompt viewers to make a money-less wager on the next outcome. Or, if you’re Delaware, Montana, Nevada, or Oregon, where sports betting is legal, you could incorporate it.
- Be able to click and highlight the text of a message and post it to Twitter or Facebook.
Customer Case: Nexon – live eSports broadcast and real-time chat
Nexon is one of the largest gaming companies in the world. They partnered with SendBird to implement live chat during e-sports broadcasts of FIFA Online 3, Counterstrike, and Kartrider. During one session of FIFA Online 3, Nexon hosted an audience in the 10s of thousands and increased its session length by 50%. How?
Nexon integrated real-time, massive chat into their live video stream and took it one step further by creating an interactive game for the chat channel. It engaged fans and generated palpable excitement during the live event. Nexon intermittently offered tokens to fans over the course of the broadcast. Fans responded in the chat interface and received in-game currency by collecting a majority of the tokens. This creative solution had a significant impact on fan interaction by going beyond simple chat. It encouraged viewers to watch more actively and for longer.
Nexon took the extra step to ensure that live chat engaged viewers in a way unique to it. They took real-time conversational exchange and “monetized” it by offering viewers in-game currency in exchange for their attention in real-time. The audience reciprocated with +50% overall engagement.
Add closed-captioning to live video
Closed-captioning might not seem particularly exciting. But it is. There are compelling reasons to use it:
- Accessibility – Approximately 5% of the world’s population are persons with significant hearing loss. Accessibility not only helps live video become accessible to all people, but it’s also good business.
- Viewing the video soundlessly – This increases the number of situations in which your user can understand the video and audio synchronously. Think college student watching their team play a rival while “studying in the library” or “listening to a lecture.” Or broadcasting a video at a sports bar, where it’s too loud or disruptive to play the sound. Or that classic situational comedy bit where a sports fan is watching the game at a wedding or a funeral. While this last part is a joke, you can see how CC can expand reach.
Use data to personalize recommendations for each viewer
YouTube famously does this. If you’re not already clicking on another video to watch, then YouTube will automatically launch into the next video after 15 seconds or recommend videos on the sidebar. If a user wants to watch videos about “mutton busting,” for example, he or she might be enticed by a video’s clever title in the sidebar and click it: “Lamb chopped: Mutton busting tiny tots show fierce character.” Sounds compelling. YouTube will probably just play it for their user after their current video.
Don’t waste an opportunity to keep your viewers engaged. Give them the option to watch more, or, like YouTube, don’t give them the option.
Social media…in moderation
Social media is great because its reach is enormous and sports fans are avid users. Out of Facebook’s 1.5 billion users in 2016, 650 million users were sports fans. But when fans actually watch a sporting event, they use Twitter and Facebook equally (5.6x and 5.8x per game, respectively) because both tap into real-time news. But, unlike chat, both remove fans or viewers from your app ecosystem.
Connect your viewer’s social media accounts to your sports events, but do so in moderation because you don’t want to redirect viewer attention to the super dense blackhole that is social media. The overlap of users between social media and sports is so great that social media is very naturally turning to streaming sports content. Balance must be achieved. Allow users to post, for example, to Twitter in your app with an API. This may encourage them to stay in-app.
I think specifically of a “click-to-tweet” equivalent for direct-to-consumer streaming and live sports. That way, sports fans can capture video, type a quick message, and Tweet to their friends and family without leaving the sports streaming eco-system. At the same time, they’ve marketed your brand favorably to others.
Split-screen video inside your mobile and web app
ESPN advertises one-tap access to live video. And it’s true that once you enter the app, tap the video icon in the bottom right corner, that you can tap on a stream and begin watching. But it doesn’t quite have the relevance that Amazon’s “one-click” buying might–when you typically have to login, add an item to your cart, go to the cart, checkout, enter in your credit card information, enter your shipping, etc. And for ESPN you still need to go to settings and use the TV Everywhere interface to login to your WatchESPN provider.
ESPN has a great live video experience anyway. You can split screen the current live stream, while reading news or looking at other aspects of the game. And all it takes is a swipe to exit, minimize or maximize the video. This alleviates the need to second-screen a great deal and intelligently empowers mobile viewing by allowing open access to content during the live video.
Use “likes” and sharing for clips
The advent of amateur live video has created many opportunities for broadcasters to monetize or allow audiences to send virtual gifts or likes to broadcasters. Periscope allows viewers to purchase Super Hearts to send to broadcasters, who can redeem them for a monthly pay out. YouTube allows viewers to purchase a Super Chat that users can send to the chat stream or pin. Like Super Hearts, the Super Chat generates revenue for the broadcaster.
While using something like a “Super Chat” is a possibility for large sports broadcasters, it might not be as appropriate as it is for amateur live broadcasters. But it does speak to how imbricated likes, hearts, comments, and chats are in the fabric of video content. Allow your users to like your video and share it with others within your app. This will give the added bonus of providing data about successful videos and create a virtuous cycle for popular clips.
There are a lot of streaming solutions out there from Brightcove and BAMTech Media to Ooyala and Kaltura. They offer platforms that integrate publishing and editing tools, syndication control, with analytics and auto-clipping, among other features, to help you monetize your video. They can be great solutions for moving some of your TV content to OTT and DTC, or expanding to new content online. SaaS (Software as a Service) offers enterprise companies a lot of options.
There’s a lot of discussion circulating around Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) for video.
Facebook launched 360 video and claims it is a natural fit for sports, as well as current VR technology. My favorite video so far is from the World Surf League. Watching the textured reef pass below the surfer while a wave like a scintillating mirror curls neatly around him is pretty stunning. This technology works well for solitary sports, where teams aren’t crashing around each other.
There are still limitations. In the boxing video between Deontay Wilder and Artur Szpilka, for example, the camera attaches to a corner of the ring, giving us only 90 degrees of ringside footage and 270 degrees of audience. The technology is currently limited by its immobility and inability to be “in the action.”
Still, this is not exclusively VR, though it has an effective VR application. Would VR isolate viewers from their co-spectators and eliminate the social aspect of sports? Will the technological novelty win over the isolation? It so far reminds me of stereoscope, invented in the 19th century, which produced a three-dimensional image. How commercial will VR’s application be, if it isolates us from each other?
AR might have more applications as an interface that could connect the user to more information, like in-game statistics, news, or other content. This would be exciting for live games, but less applicable to sport streaming solutions.
Engaging your viewer beyond sports streaming
No matter what tactic or technology your product uses to engage its users, it will be a necessity. Since sports streaming will likely compete with Tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter, it needs to go beyond DTC as a “growth strategy” and leverage new ways to engage viewers to achieve growth.


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Privacy is a sensitive issue. As the world moves towards a more digitised environment, issues ranging from misuse of personal information, data leak and security pose a bigger challenge.
With smartphone usage on its rise, Android users in Pakistan remain vulnerable.
The mobile operating system already released patches for security bugs found recently in the older versions of its built-in browser. However, leading technology experts state that around half of its user base still remains vulnerable while also raising concerns about the role of phone makers in mitigating the problem.
Experts from mobile security firm, Lookout, have said in a blog post – quoted by several technology blogs – that around 45% of Android devices are still vulnerable to the two security bugs because of the software’s varying ecosystem.
During mid-September, Pakistani security researcher Rafay Baloch had exploited two same-origin policy (SOP) bypass vulnerabilities in the Android Open Source Platform Browser, in versions prior to 4.4 (KitKat). This bug was termed ‘privacy disaster’ by leading information security experts.
A cornerstone of web browser security, the SOP is implemented in most browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. The aforesaid security flaw, however, allows a bypass of the SOP protection thus giving attackers access to users’ private data.
According to Baloch, Google’s security team has applied the patches to Jelly Bean users while the downstream users – those using older versions, such as Ice Cream Sandwich and Gingerbread – may still be at risk.
The topic was once again picked up by various technology blogs after Lookout’s disclosure of the existing threat.
“Google was quick in patching it up. However, given the nature of Android’s ecosystem, updates aren’t rolled out that quickly,” technology blog Redmondpie.com said in a report.
“While Google has patched up the vulnerability with an update, that still leaves a huge chunk of users waiting for Android’s ecosystem to speed it up a bit,” it said.
Raising a similar point, another technology blog, PCWorld said, “Google has released patches for the two vulnerabilities through AOSP, which serves as the base for the customised Android firmware installed on devices by manufacturers. The task now falls on device vendors to import those patches and release firmware updates to end users.”
According to the bloggers, users in both developed and frontier markets are exposed to these vulnerabilities but the number may vary depending upon how many people are using the older versions.
Vendors remain unaware
The Express Tribune contacted a few mobile phone vendors – both local and international – that are operating in Pakistan to find out if they released the relevant security updates locally. However, none of them were even aware of the issue.
“The mobile phone manufacturers operating in Pakistan rarely send security updates to users,” Baloch, the researcher, said pointing towards ‘a serious security issue’. The mobile phone manufacturers should release such updates because majority of Pakistanis are using the older versions of Android, which are still vulnerable to these bugs, he said.
Baloch went on to say that the average user in the country is not skilled enough to go to the source and apply these patches to the mobile phones. “It is the vendors’ moral responsibility to send direct updates to the users who can then accept and run it.”
However, some experts say the process may not be that simple due to the customised nature of Android operating system.
“Android is a very generic operating system and modified by the vendors. Sending security updates directly to the user should, therefore, be done through the vendors,” Information Communication Technology expert, Parvez Iftikhar said.
Established brands, such as Apple, Samsung and HTC can release updates internationally, Iftikhar said. But the case with local vendors is different. “Our local companies get their phones manufactured by different vendors,” he said. Since the vendor has to test the patches before releasing them to the user, it can be complicated and costly.
“History has shown that the availability of Android firmware updates vary greatly among manufacturers, different devices from the same manufacturer and even among countries, as local carriers also play a role in the distribution of over-the-air updates,” PCWorld said in its report. “This is reflected in data about these two vulnerabilities that was collected by Lookout from users of its mobile security products,” it added.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 16th, 2014.
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The Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce is pleased to welcome new member Shull Construction. The company recently celebrated opening its newest location at 327 Commercial Street in downtown Emporia. Shull Construction has served central Kansas since 2009 with offices in Great Bend and Salina. The company replaces and repairs roofing, siding, windows, and seamless gutters.
Shull Construction can be reached at 620-591-2901 or via their website at www.shullroofing.com.


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The hum of economic activity along the U.S.-Mexico border in Santa Teresa is the welcome sound of money changing hands. It’s called trade.
Companies are flocking to the industrial border zone just north of the Santa Teresa Port of Entry at a pace not seen since the 2008 recession. They will be supplying the maquiladoras in Mexico with components, raw materials, storage for finished goods coming out of the factories and transportation to distribute the goods around the U.S. and into Canada.
And that’s good news for New Mexico.
“Our vision is to see New Mexico and the state of Chihuahua develop a world-class, one-of-its-kind, binational port that eventually will be home to hundreds, if not thousands of businesses,” says Jon Barela, Economic Development Department secretary.
Jerry Pacheco, executive director of the International Business Accelerator at Santa Teresa, predicts the zone, which has two industrial parks, could become one of the biggest trade centers along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Helping to spur the boom is construction of a new rail line and terminal for the Union Pacific Railroad. The 12-mile facility on the business parks’ northwest edge, includes new track, two locomotive refueling stations and a huge intermodal transshipment terminal. Expected to be operational in 2015, it will be Union Pacific’s largest refueling and transshipment center along the border, making Santa Teresa competitive with El Paso for trade.
Another factor in the nascent growth of Santa Teresa’s importance to New Mexico’s economic picture is Foxconn’s plans to expand its facility just across the border in San Jerónimo to eight times its current size in the next few years. The company makes up to 55,000 Dell computers daily for the U.S. market.
Sites in the zone are filling up fast. Companies that have moved in or plan to do so number nearly 50, up from 40 a year ago. About 2,000 people currently work in the business parks, not counting construction workers.
New Mexico is doing its part to fuel this economic fire. In 2011, Gov. Susana Martinez signed into law a tax exemption that lifts the tax on locomotive fuel in exchange for Union Pacific agreeing to build the $400 million terminal at Santa Teresa.
The Martinez administration is working with communities on both sides of border on trade and infrastructure issues, Barela said.
Last year the state approved an “overweight” commercial zone that allows trucks from Mexico to travel up to six miles into New Mexico with more weight than federal law permits on U.S. highways. That means shippers can carry full loads into the business parks without off-loading cargo at the border.
And the state Department of Transportation is building a $9.9 million road to connect Union Pacific’s railyard to the Pete Domenici Highway that runs from the port of entry to Interstate 10.
These are exciting signs of economic life that bode well for better opportunities with our trade partner, Mexico.
This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.


text: This year we participated at the CPhI, the largest exhibition for the pharmaceutical ingredients industry, as a leading manufacturer for the 15th time. The exhibition took place from 13th to 15th of October. During this period more than 2,500 exhibitors had the chance to show their products and innovations to over 36,000 trade visitors from 140 countries. Once again our exhibition performance was characterised by our brand LIGAMED®, which stands for high quality excipients and focuses on pharmaceutical industry. At our innovative designed booth our international exhibition team could welcome numerous interested visitors. For us as market leader the CPhI is the ideal platform to maintain international contacts to our customers in the pharmaceutical sector and to meet potential new customers. Simultaneously we can promote our pharma brand LIGAMED® globally as premium brand and extend its recognition. Therefore we will again participate as exhibitor at the next CPhI 2016, which will take place in Barcelona.


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Real estate brokerage @properties has announced plans to acquire Christie’s International Real Estate, according to Inman.
With a global brand license agreement expected to close on Dec. 1, the new company will retain the Christie’s International Real Estate name, coupled with @properties’ technology and marketing platforms.
Currently, Christie’s International Real Estate has 900 offices in 48 countries and territories, where as @properties is located in just 13 states across the U.S.
“We chose to pursue this new direction for Christie’s International Real Estate for two strategic reasons,” Ben Gore, Christie’s COO, said in a statement. “First, because @properties possesses the unique resources and capabilities to invest in expanding the Christie’s International Real Estate brand and its affiliate network both within the U.S. and on a global scale; and second, because this will enable Christie’s to focus our resources on the core priorities of our business in the art and luxury goods market.”


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Omnicom digital agency Critical Mass has bought a minority stake in Prolific Interactive, a Brooklyn-based mobile design and strategy agency that develops apps for clients like American Express, Saks Fifth Avenue, SoulCycle, David's Bridal and Sephora.
Prolific will continue to operate as a stand-alone brand but will be known as a Critical Mass agency, joining the Zócalo Group in Chicago and Hangar in Costa Rica. The company has grown to more than 100 employees since its 2009 founding. CEO and co-founder Bobak Emamian will continue in that role.
"There’s a real complementary nature to the way Prolific approaches things and ours," said Dianne Wilkins, CEO of Critical Mass, which is part of the DAS Group of Companies. "We’ve certainly grown up as a services agency. The process and mindset they have is quite different. We’re really hoping we can learn from and inject some of the product development speed and speed-to-innovation within Critical Mass."
As for Prolific, the company was growing beyond its startup phase, and Emamian and his colleagues were beginning to ponder their next steps. "We hit this point personally and professionally where we soul-searched," said the 29-year-old Emamian. "What do we really want? Who are we? To operate with intent was absolutely crucial."
In the end, the resources and experience of an established partner won them over. "The opportunity that we have with Critical Mass and Omnicom is something that gives us the biggest opportunity and legacy over time," he said. And it will be easier to answer clients’ questions about investors and ownership stakes. "We’re definitely excited to not have to brush that off anymore," he added.
The cultures of the two agencies are also a good match. "When you meet Di and her team, that’s the way we’ve built the business so far—surrounding ourselves with genuine, incredible people who are so generous with their advice and time," Emamian said.
"They feel like us a few years back." Wilkins said. "Super-high value on culture and the agency’s culture and being a great place to work, the ability to help clients and produce great work."
Since its founding in 1996, Critical Mass has grown from a single shop in Calgary, Canada to 12 locations worldwide, and the Prolific team is eager to tap into that knowledge base. Prolific opened their first expansion office in San Francisco shop three-and-a-half years ago, and the process was more difficult than expected. "Critical Mass is super ambitious in terms of opening new offices," Emamian said, "so we’re excited to learn from Di and the team about the best ways to do that."


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Infineon Technologies AG and TSMC today announced the companies are preparing to introduce TSMC’s Resistive RAM (RRAM) Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) technology into Infineon’s next generation AURIX microcontrollers (MCU).
For the first time, ZF Aftermarket has introduced its own range of air springs in renowned Sachs quality. Air suspension is becoming more and more widespread across the vehicle parc – and workshops must adapt to it.
An interview with Matthias Winter, Global Head of Segment Management Automotive, in his view, success requires an in-depth understanding of how parts function and the knowledge of where the components are made.
Technology company Continental is working with German solar mobility OEM Sono Motors on the development of the Sion self-charging electric car, which is to be produced in Finland in the second half of 2023.
Innodisk, a leading global provider of industrial-grade flash storage, DRAM memory and embedded peripherals, has announced its latest step into the AI market, with the launch of EXMU-X261, an FPGA Machine Vision Platform. Powered by AMD’s Xilinx Kria K26 SOM, which was designed to enable smart city and smart factory applications, Innodisk’s FPGA Machine Vision Platform is set to lead the way for industrial system integrators looking to develop machine vision applications.
The SCALEXIO Ethernet boards provide additional Ethernet interfaces to the SCALEXIO Processing Unit, the SCALEXIO LabBox or the SCALEXIO AutoBox. Boards that offer native BroadR-Reach support and an integrated Ethernet switch are available for both platforms, and they can be configured via modules.


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Pacer International, a nonasset-based North America third-party logistics and freight transportation provider, on Monday, Feb. 11, reported financial results for the annual and three-month periods ended Dec. 28.
Revenues for the quarter increased $38.2 million to $540.2 million compared to $502.0 million for the quarter ended Dec. 29, 2006. Income from operations for both the company’s intermodal and logistics segments were up by $5.8 million and $0.1 million, respectively. Fourth-quarter corporate expenses included a $3.0 million bonus accrual compared to a $3.5 million bonus reversal in the 2006 fourth quarter; with this swing in fourth-quarter corporate expenses, consolidated income from operations declined by $1.9 million.
For the year, revenues increased $81.6 million, or 4.3 percent, compared to 2006. Intermodal volumes were up 6.1 percent for the company’s Stacktrain operation and 4.3 percent for its Rail Brokerage operation compared to last year. Income from operations declined $23.8 million from 2006 to $94.5 million for the year; this variance included several transactions that benefited 2006 but did not recur in 2007, including arbitration and other rate dispute settlements, according to Pacer. In addition, 2007 included a $6.0 million charge for severance and facility exit activities and a $3.0 million bonus accrual.
Intermodal segment income from operations declined $20.6 million from last year (including the arbitration settlement benefiting 2006). Logistics segment income from operations increased $2.5 million from last year, and corporate expenses were $5.7 million higher than last year due to severance charges and bonus accruals.
“We are generally pleased with our performance during 2007, given the difficult market conditions and our investment in positioning our company for the future,” said Mike Uremovich, chairman and chief executive officer of Concord, Calif.-based Pacer. “We refinanced our long-term debt to enhance our liquidity, and we entered into a software license agreement for an enterprise suite of applications that, when implemented, will provide better information management, enhance our customer services and communications, and reduce costs.”


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Chinese state-owned automakers and the country’s internet firms including Tencent and Alibaba Group have jointly launched a private equity company last week, planning to invest RMB9.76 billion (US$1.45 billion) in a ride-sharing company that is featured with new energy vehicles (NEVs).
The private equity firm, dubbed "Nanjing Lingxing Equity Investment Partnership Enterprise" for now, was launched on April 2 with RMB10 million (US$1.48 million) in registered capital. The company will primarily finance a ride-sharing joint venture among these internet companies and three state-owned automakers, namely Changan Automobile, FAW Group, and Dongfeng Motor.
The partnership is formed to build "an intelligent mobility ecosystem" featuring connectivity and sharing to offer the public "a more pleasant mode of transportation" with higher quality, safety and efficiency, said Changan Automobile when it initially unveiled the proposed establishment of the private equity firm in a statement released on March 22.
According to the statement, Tencent, Alibaba and other three investors subscribed a total of RMB2.25 billion (US$334.93 million), while the three state-owned automakers each contributed RMB1.6 billion (US$238.16 million) to the newly-launched private equity company. Chinese online retailer Suning.com also poured RMB1.7 billion (US$253.05 million) into the new firm.
The cooperation comes as the ride-sharing market worldwide is expected to present an over 80% year-on-year growth rate in the following five years, as per statistics from Roland Berger. At the same time, Chinese traditional carmakers are feeling an increasing necessity to arm their enterprises with more innovative technologies and business models. The Chinese auto market suffered from the first sales decline in the past 28 years, with about 28.08 million vehicles sold in 2018, down 2.8% year-on-year, according to China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM).
"Dongfeng Motor plans to take good advantage of the rapid growth in the ride-sharing and mobility service industry. The joint venture will bridge customers with automobile manufacturers through integrated capabilities of online transportation platforms, offline ride-sharing firms, asset management companies, and big data centers," said Dongfeng Motor in a seperate statement.


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Spend time with almost any child and it will rapidly become clear how attached they are to smart phones, tablets and mobile devices. And what they want to watch tends to be repetitive and rewarding — hence phenomenons such as unboxing and Surprise Eggs.
Hence Nickelodeon‘s committing to an impressive amount of resources to cracking the riddle of YouTube. The network’s initiative begins with VP of creative strategy and development, Jennifer Drury, whose “role changed in the last year to really focus on YouTube,” she told Daily Brief.
“We developed a completely new strategy for the platform and doubled down on making content that was tailored as much as we can to what our fans are really looking for on [the site], and then laddering that content back up to our marketing priority.”
The fact that Nickelodeon has designed a role like Drury’s at all “unto itself is really interesting,” said Thas Naseemuddeen, chief strategy officer for boutique creative agency Omelet, “and super indicative of a company doing things differently from a broadcast perspective and putting that kind of emphasis on content development within the YouTube space.”
Spearheaded by Naseemuddeen, Omelet is another crucial piece of the Nickelodeon YouTube puzzle, part of an under-the-radar strategic partnership that helps the network “identify opportunity before they know the opportunity is there,” she said, adding: “Which, in all honesty, good strategy should always do.”
Combining data with insights—or, as Naseemuddeen put it, “art and science”—Omelet strives to target movements on YouTube as they are happening or even before they are happening. The process involves a labor-intensive combing, organizing and analyzing of digital content patterns, but it’s also more than “just trend-spotting,” Naseemuddeen said. “Trend-spotting is a lot about surfacing really interesting things that are happening in the world or our culture. What we’re doing is being surgical with how we look at our client’s business and the goals they are trying to achieve, and then translating those into actionable opportunities.”
A recent example of an “actionable opportunity” occurred in response to a YouTube trend around the game known as “The Floor is Lava,” in which players scramble to attach themselves to anything but the ground because, yes, the floor is lava.
Developing in June, the trend saw thousands of YouTube videos popping up that found participants dealing with imaginary molten rock in a vast array of creative ways. Nickelodeon responded swiftly, calling on its creative team to tap network talent such as JoJo Siwa and the cast of School of Rock for a quick-turnaround response to the challenge. The resulting clip had 1.8 million views in its first week on YouTube and now has nearly 8 million views.
“It created this really fun video of a live-action talent piece of content that was really opportunistic, and hit upon a trend that was happening right at that moment before it was over, which is always a struggle,” Drury said. “You don’t want to hit it after it’s done.”
Naseemuddeen traced the dawning of this need for an in-the-moment response back to the famous ASL Ice Bucket Challenge of 2014. It was a cultural moment that swept the social universe with massive opportunity for leverage, but “not all brands were equipped to react quickly,” she said. “We’re trying to shorten the gap of time between getting information and getting content out there. We try to help truncate some of that time from trend to execution.”
Achieving that objective involves a nuanced understanding of what Naseemuddeen calls the “rules of YouTube,” of which there are two. The first she described as “the proliferation of content,” which is essentially understanding that YouTube is, above all else, a powerful search engine.
“People are searching for things,” she said. “They’re not necessarily searching for a network, or a program in particular. They’re searching by their interests, whether it’s DIY tutorials or a how-to video, etc. People are searching for things that are important to them versus things that you just create and people become interested in, which is kind of the broadcast model.”
The second guideline involves “the nature of the content itself,” Naseemuddeen continued.
When Omelet, which is a full-service agency that also produces ads, makes, say, a Super Bowl spot, “it’s all about being really precious and creating this beautiful piece of film, whereas when you go into the YouTube space, things are so experimental and the expectation is that you look something like the platform. It’s not just about creating the most pristine piece of content with the absolute perfect messaging. It’s a little bit more loose for brands and particularly for a brand like Nickelodeon.”
Combining these two rules produces a simple formula: Respond to what people are searching for with looser content. That sounds like a lowering of the bar of the premium wares Nickelodeon is known for supplying, but it’s actually more about raising the authenticity level. Nickelodeon is set up to make pristine videos whether it’s a half-hour episode on broadcast or a 2-minute clip on Facebook. It can churn out rapid responses to search trends on YouTube without losing a lick of quality, but the weird thing is, it may actually want to rough things up a little on YouTube.
“If you look at all the YouTube stars of today, they don’t have million-dollar production budgets for their 3-minute videos,” Naseemuddeen said. “They are doing things on their phone cameras and setting it up in their rooms and it all feels intimate and quite real. That’s where brands are constantly challenged in figuring out what their opportunity would be and how they can best speak to their brand in this context that’s a little bit more handmade.”
As a significantly bigger brand than an individual on YouTube, Nickelodeon should not necessarily have “the same kind of voice as one of those vloggers but we still do have a unique voice in the space,” Drury added. “And I think as long as we’re honing that and looking for opportunities to make content in fun and scrappy ways, that comes through.”
Which brings us back to Surprise Eggs, though you could really insert any online-specific subject matter in place of it. The point is, Nickelodeon has the power to take a trend like that, which captivates children through cheap, on-the-fly yet “authentic” content, and use it to captivate kids with typically pristine, well-produced content that has a calculated lack of polish.
Take DIY subject matter, for instance, that bastion of home-improvement helpfulness that has also produced some of the most spectacularly terrible home movies ever uploaded. Still, people love it and kids love it, so the network found a way to capitalize on it while staying true to its premium roots.
Not only isolating such opportunities but effectively converting them is a collaborative effort made possible by Nickelodeon’s unusually deep commitment to forging something lasting with Omelet.
The two entities paired up a few years ago to talk “about the future of Nickelodeon as a brand and how it can grow in relevance,” Naseemuddeen said.
Working together ever since has allowed them to finely hone their goals and communication methods, which in turn has sharpened Omelet’s ability to blend data with context.
“We know what their overall marketing objectives are, what they really have their eye on versus randomly being like, ‘this is a cool YouTube video,’” Naseemuddeen continued. “We know what’s relevant to the brand , we understand what’s important to their audiences at this point after working with them for a few years.
“The reality of the way client-vendor relationships work today, particularly in a lot of project-based relationships versus the agencies-of-record of yesteryear [is that] sometimes this piece of things kind of goes missing, which is a shame because it’s such a great use of an agency’s talents.”
And what’s more, it benefits both sides of the equation.
“It’s a really unique opportunity for an agency to work with a brand like Nick on something like this and it’s something that I hope more organizations pay attention to,” Naseemuddeen continued. “Sometimes this stuff does get lost in translation, but we actually have tangible outcomes that are not only making Nickelodeon smarter, it’s making us smarter. It’s a truly valuable relationship, and a fun opportunity to think about the future of a brand and the future of audiences.”


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The OSU South Centers Business Development worked with Profit Mastery so that 400 Ohio businesses can take part in the Profit Mastery program at no cost — beginning Oct. 29.
The program is a six-session virtual course in financial management that can give participants the tools and confidence needed to manage their businesses by the numbers. This free opportunity to take the course would typically cost participants $895. Not only will the six virtual sessions begin on Oct. 29, but participants will also have access to the Profit Mastery online video curriculum.
Profit Mastery provides independent business owners financial perspective and tools to take advantage of opportunities and to deal with challenges. Starting and running a business is a challenge, and more than half fail in the first four years. The economic volatility of recent COVID-19 disruption has amplified confusion, anxiety, and fear.
Any business that has been open at least one year and is interested in exploring new opportunities to increase profitability and manage cash flow during the coronavirus pandemic should attend.
Leading the program will be Melissa Carter, according to Fayette County Chamber of Commerce President Julie Bolender.
Carter is the business specialist at the OSU Small Business Development Center.
For more information or to register, visit the Ohio Small Business Development Centers website.
Those with questions can contact the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce at 740-335-0761.
According to Bolender, “the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Fayette County! I have never seen it more prevalent than as we emerged from our shut down. While folks were at home, they had an opportunity to explore their passions. If you were one of these people, this is a great opportunity for you to learn all that is necessary to open your own business and follow your dreams. This seminar is free, open to the public and will provide excellent guidance and advice.”


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In honor of Black Friday & Cyber Monday, SteelSeries is offering 30% off of ALL products on the SteelSeries US webshop as well as Free Shipping thru Monday.
In addition to that, they’re offering deep discounts (40-50% off) on some key peripherals like, The SteelSeries Diablo III Headset, the Siberia v2 Cross Platform (PS3) Headset, The Guild Wars 2 Flux Headset, SteelSeries Sensei MLG Edition, SteelSeries 6Gv2 Mechanical Keyboard, the new SteelSeries World of Warcraft Wireless Mouse and tons more!
Interested parties can follow the link here to view all of the deals.
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Honda Defects and Recalls
In the ever-expanding world of automakers, Honda holds a distinguished place. Since its inception in Japan back in 1948, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. has emerged as a global leader in the automobile industry. As of 2021, Honda’s sales exceeded 4.6 million vehicles globally, contributing significantly to its revenue which was approximately ¥14.9 trillion, or $137 billion in US dollars.
Honda manufactures and sells over 30 models worldwide, catering to the diverse needs of its global clientele. These models range from the compact yet versatile Honda Fit to the luxurious Honda Accord. Honda’s vehicles touch every corner of the globe, with the United States, China, and Japan serving as its primary markets.
Despite Honda’s success, the company has not been without its share of challenges, notably involving safety recalls. Honda, like many automakers, has initiated various recalls either voluntarily or at the request of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Honda has seen its share of lemon law claims as well. Read on to learn about some of Honda’s major safety issues over the years. If you find yourself with a defective Honda that can’t be fixed after a reasonable number of repair attempts, contact Nita Lemon Law Firm in Los Angeles to pursue your rights under California’s lemon law.
Honda Safety Recalls and Defects
Honda’s recalls in recent years have covered an array of safety issues. One of the most infamous recalls involved the Takata airbag inflator issue. In 2015, Honda issued a recall affecting several million vehicles worldwide due to potentially explosive airbag inflators supplied by Takata. These defective inflators resulted in the unfortunate loss of life and multiple injuries.
Honda also recalled over 600,000 mid-size sedans and SUVs in 2020 due to a software issue that led to the vehicles’ backup cameras staying illuminated longer than necessary, creating the risk of a crash.
In 2021, a major recall involved over 1.4 million vehicles worldwide to address drive shafts that could break, window switches that could overheat, and a software flaw.
Honda and the Lemon Law
As with any major automaker, Honda has also faced its share of lemon law lawsuits. These occur when a consumer purchases a new or used vehicle that turns out to have manufacturing defects affecting its safety, value, or utility. California has been at the center of some notable lemon law cases involving Honda.
In the past few years, some California consumers filed lawsuits against Honda citing repeated transmission failure in their vehicles, even after multiple repair attempts. These cases serve as examples of the application of California’s lemon law, which protects consumers who have purchased or leased a new or used vehicle that fails to meet quality and performance standards.
California’s Lemon Law, in Brief
California’s lemon law, officially known as the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act, provides comprehensive protection to consumers who have had to deal with defective vehicles. The law stipulates that if a vehicle is determined to be a “lemon,” the manufacturer must either replace the vehicle or refund the purchase price to the consumer.
The law applies to vehicles that the dealer has failed to repair after a reasonable number of attempts, usually defined as four or more times (or two or more times for a safety issue) for the same problem or if the vehicle is in the repair shop for more than 30 days. The California Lemon Law covers new or used vehicles, whether owned or leased, that are still covered under the manufacturer’s warranty.
How Nita Lemon Law Firm Can Help
Navigating the intricacies of lemon law can be daunting. That’s where the Nita Lemon Law Firm steps in. Our experienced lemon law attorney is committed to fighting for the rights of consumers. We have a rich history of dealing with automobile manufacturers, including Honda, and securing favorable outcomes for our clients.
If you believe your Honda vehicle qualifies under California’s lemon law, we encourage you to reach out to us. Our team will guide you through the process, from the initial consultation to potentially filing a lawsuit against Honda. At Nita Lemon Law Firm, we are committed to ensuring that you receive the justice you deserve and a vehicle that performs as promised. Call 213-232-5055 in Los Angeles or 877-921-5256 throughout California for a free consultation.