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Rivian Automotive Inc. reported a quarterly web lack of $1.72 billion, in contrast with $1.23 billion a 12 months earlier, as provide chain snarls proceed to restrict the corporate’s capacity to provide electrical autos which can be in excessive demand.
Supply chain disruptions have pressured Rivian, forcing the corporate earlier this 12 months to chop manufacturing forecast by half to 25,000 models, which it reaffirmed on Wednesday.
High value ranges for uncooked supplies similar to lithium, nickel and copper, exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have been squeezing margins of automakers, affecting the underside line.
In the third quarter ended Sept. 30, the electric-vehicle maker delivered 7,363 autos, up from 4,467 models within the prior quarter.
Revenue was $536 million within the quarter ended September 30, in contrast with analysts’ expectations of $551.6 million, in accordance with Refinitiv information.
The firm, which went public a 12 months in the past, additionally mentioned its smaller R2 car household will start manufacturing in 2026, a 12 months later than beforehand introduced, at Rivian’s deliberate $5 billion Georgia plant.
The automaker ended the third quarter with $13.8 billion in money, down from $15.9 billion on the finish of the second quarter.
“We remain confident in our ability to fund operations with cash on hand through 2025,” Rivian mentioned in an SEC submitting late on Wednesday.
Shares had been unstable in after-market buying and selling, rising as a lot as 7 p.c after falling almost 12 p.c within the common session.


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If you are a fan of Popular Mechanics or Popular Science, you have read lots of stories over the years of electric cars that take advantage of inductive charging to keep their batteries full while they drive. The stories always have a sort of breathless, “Gee, Mr. Wizard” quality about them with lots of illustrations showing happy people smiling a lot as they waft along. They seldom offer many details, however, about how all those excited electrons jump from below the pavement to the battery of a car as it speeds along.
Stellantis, despite the grumpiness of its chief executive when it comes to manufacturing electric cars, has built a 0.6 mile long test track known rather grandly as the “Arena del Futuro” in Chiari, Italy, where it says it has managed to achieve efficiency levels inductive charging technology that are similar to those associated with DC fast chargers. Assuming such system ever graduates to highways in the real world, electric cars would theoretically be capable of truly bladder bursting range, which would eliminate one of the criticisms of today’s electric cars.
According to CarScoops, Stellantis has been successful at getting an electric Fiat 500 to travel at highway speeds without using any of the energy stored in its battery. The company is working with several partners to test the technology on cars, buses, and trucks. The test facility uses a system of coils located under the asphalt that transfers energy to vehicles equipped with a special receiver. That energy goes directly from the road to the electric motors, allowing them to drive a vehicle without running the battery down.
The system runs on DC current, which reduces power losses and allows the use of thinner cables made of aluminum instead of copper. It also allows the system to run on electricity from solar panels, which produce DC current. Stellantis claims there are no exposed cables that might be a danger to pedestrians and that the magnetic field created by the inductive charging system has no negative impact on the driver or passengers.
“Our long-term strategic plan, Dare Forward 2030, is based on the premise of bringing ‘cutting-edge freedom of mobility’ to all and this project is the very essence of where we’re headed as a company,” said Anne-Lise Richard, the head of the Global e-Mobility Business Unit at Stellantis. “These joint projects are exciting steps as we work to achieve longer battery lifespan, lower range anxiety, greater energy efficiency, smaller battery size, outstanding performance, and lower weight and cost.”
Inductive Charging For All!
Stellantis is working with several partners to test inductive charging technology. The system itself is supplied by Israeli company ElectReon. Others involved in the research include Iveco, ABB, chemical group Mapei, FIAMM Energy Technology, and three Italian universities. Iveco is testing a 12-meter E-Bus bus fitted with the necessary connectivity and charging technology. In a press release, it says the bus charged inductively with 75 kW of power at speeds of 70 km/h or more.
Domenico Nucera, president of Iveco’s Bus Business Unit, said, “Induction charging technology also has exciting potential for commercial vehicles and could become an effective infrastructure platform for all e-mobility systems, not just pure electric vehicles. We will continue testing in the belief that this technology can effectively contribute to the transition to zero-emission mobility thanks to the benefits it offers to all users.”
This is potentially good news for the EV revolution, as anything that reduces range anxiety is a good thing. However, we don’t know anything about the cost of building electrified roads or equipping vehicles with the right hardware to utilize the system. We don’t know how road salt, snow, and freezing temperatures may affect the performance of the system. In short, this is all nice to know but is nowhere near being ready for widespread commercial use.
Nevertheless, a journey of thousand miles begins with a single step, so kudos to Stellantis for making this testing happen. If it ever makes it to real world driving, we hope to break the story before Popular Mechanics does.
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Long ago, when refrigeration systems were still in their infancy,
milk produced in Wisconsin or Minnesota could not be transported easily to
distant cities in the southern and eastern parts of the United States. In
order to encourage farmers in those reg ions to produce milk, Congress
authorized the Department of Agriculture to set higher support prices
there. But how much higher? The Agriculture department settled on a
formula that tied the pricing in a city to its distance from Eau Claire,
Wisconsin. This policy ensured that consumers in the South and East would
not be deprived of milk; they would merely pay more than their
counterparts in the Midwest (where it was naturally cheaper to produce the
That was then. Transportation systems have come a long way since those days. All sorts of perishables traverse vast distances, losing little of their freshness in the process. Milk produced in Wisconsin at a lower cost could be shipped without too much difficulty to any part of the country. The milk support system, one might be tempted to think, was ripe for dismantling.
That is what a group of Minnesota dairy farmers thought. In 1990, they brought a lawsuit urging the federal government to scrap the milk-price regulations contending that they unfairly depressed milk prices. The legal action was backed by the attorneys general of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and North Dakota.
In November 1997, U.S. District Judge David S. Doty handed the Minnesota farmers a victory: he ruled that the some of the price regulations were unlawful because they were "arbitrary and capricious." The decades-old price support system seemed to be in jeopardy.
But the Agriculture Department was far from finished. It appealed the decision, and now a three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned Judge Doty's earlier ruling. The Agriculture Department has welcomed the appellate panel's decision; the Minnesota dairy farmers ponder the advisability of a further appeal.
During all this, the Congress has not been sitting by idly. They are aware of the pernicious effects of the current system: the price regulations, according to a government study, impose an annual cost of over $1.5 billion on consumers and taxpayers.
At the urging of legislators from the Midwest, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman has agreed to reform the antiquated price support system and make it more market-oriented. But dairy farmers in the South and East, loath to relinquish their federal milk subsidies, are pressuring their Congressional representatives to derail any such move. Moreover, the recent court ruling is likely to delay any planned reforms of the price support system. The cup of sorrow for Midwestern dairy farmers, it seems, continues to brim over.


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Time may have seemed to stand still during the boom, they say, but a gold rush is like that. "Paint Your Wagon" was like that. The party is over; "Internet time" was a mass hallucination. Slow, steady, and planned (backed by patient capital) is what wins the race.
An appealing picture. But, unfortunately for the steady-state theorists, it's wrong.
George W. Bush emphasized this in last week's State of the Union address. The war has moved, that doesn't mean it's over. Consider the last few months, the last "year" in Internet time:
It's true no one has reinvented the browser, created a new 3-D data format, or launched a major Internet initial public offering (IPO) lately. The action moved from Wall Street to Washington and from the finance beat to the crime beat.
Let's take a look at just one of these recent changes: wireless broadband.
It's dawning on a growing number of analysts that Moore's Law applies not only to computer chips but also to bandwidth and (more important) to wireless bandwidth. Wireless systems, after all, are based on radios, and radios are built with computer chips.
As computer chips improve, so should wireless radios.
That could mean ubiquitous broadband, not only for your desk but also for your laptop and personal digital assistant (PDA). Multimegabit access systems that completely bypass the phone companies, that plug directly into fiber access points, which themselves are sped up by the use of color. What would it mean to Internet content, commerce, and advertising if broadband were available everywhere, indoors and out, and if that capacity could be accelerated without changing wires, just radios?
We could, in fact, be at the brink of the biggest outpouring of entrepreneurial energy since the dawn of the dial-up Internet. If that's not revolutionary, I don't know what is.
No, Virginia, Internet time isn't slowing down. If anything, it's speeding up. That means more opportunities are coming, not fewer.
Count on it.
Meet Your Favorite ClickZ Contributors
Many of ClickZ's leading expert contributors will be at ClickZ Live, the new online and digital marketing event kicking off in New York (March 31-April 3). Hear from the likes of: Jeremy Hull, Lisa Raehsler, Andrew Goodman, Bryan Eisenberg, Mathew Sweezey, Aaron Kahlow, Stephanie Miller, Simms Jenkins, Jeanne S. Jennings, Dave Hendricks and more!
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business reporter for more than 20 years. He has written parts of five books and currently contributes to Advertising Age, Business Marketing, NetMarketing, the Chicago Tribune, Boardwatch, CLEC Magazine, and other publications. His own newsletter, A-Clue.Com, is published weekly.
March 19, 2014


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As part of its continued effort to win back ad partners, at least half of whom have reportedly reduced their spending in the app due to concerns around brand safety, X has today outlined its Super Bowl LVIII engagement stats, which it claims broke various usage records in the app.
As per X:
“Super Bowl LVIII was one of the biggest ever on X – completely smashing key metrics from last year, with impressions, user posts and video views rising 31%, 41% and 75% respectively YoY1. With an epic overtime game delivering a huge surge in visibility and engagement, brands on X also rose to the occasion. We saw 77% of brands that advertised on-air during the game also share their campaigns on X.”
Okay, so I would have some skepticism around the video views stat in particular, considering X’s questionable track record on how it both measures and reports view counts. With that in mind, a 75% increase is a significant jump, but the others are likely in line with broader trends around the Super Bowl, especially given the extra boost that the Taylor Swift storyline has provided.
The numbers also suggest that, despite broader concerns among certain communities, sports discussion remains strong in the app, with embedded sports communities still heavily aligned to the platform for live updates and interaction.
Which is reflected in this data, showing that X remains the go-to platform of choice for real-time chatter. And while other apps, like Meta’s Threads, are trying to get in on the action, changing user behaviors will be difficult, especially given that the majority of sports conversation is still happening via tweet. Or post, as it were.
In terms of top mentions, Taylor Swift’s relationship with Travis Kelce clearly helped to boost hype around the event.
As you can see in this list, halftime performer Usher also sparked a lot of discussion, as did Beyonce, with her ad spot, in which she revealed a snippet of her new music.
X has also provided a listing of the most discussed elements of the game, based on usage data.
In terms of brand engagement, X says that Verizon won the day, with the most mentions for its Super Bowl campaign.
Other winners were Duolingo for the brand post with the most likes, Mountain Dew for the most video views, and Draft Kings, for the brand without a national TV spot that sparked the most conversation in the app.
It’s good to see X sharing more insight like this once again, as under Elon Musk, the platform has been seemingly hesitant, thus far, to make much of a push on winning over ad partners by showcasing the potential of the app.
That could be due to Musk’s own dislike of ads, or the fact that X had been hoping to further augment its income streams through user subscriptions, in order to reduce its reliance on ad partners. But either way, insights like this provide some more perspective on the value of X for promotions.
I mean, a lot of brands are still not going to come back to the platform due to Musk’s own controversial posts and comments. But for those who are looking to reach the app’s audience, especially around live events, this is valuable info to have.
Can X win back ad partners, and get its ad business back on track?
Really, a lot still comes down to Musk himself, who’s the most followed user in the app, and arguably the most influential. As such, what he shares with his X audience matters a lot, and as he continues to push his free speech agenda, that will remain a key challenge for X to overcome in winning over big advertisers at the least.
You can read X’s full Super Bowl rundown here.


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New Enterprise Forum, along with our featured stakeholder partner Dykema, is excited to announce the upcoming NEF Forum Meeting on Thursday, June 15. The live portion kicks off at 5:00 p.m. at Ann Arbor SPARK with food, drink and networking. Online webinar coverage will begin at 5:45 p.m..
We will have a showcase investor presentation from Josh Nichols, CEO of CrossBraining, after his completion of the NEF coaching process. CrossBraining helps educators and trainers break away from the factory model of education by scaling personalized learning and improving engagement, driving deeper learning and saving time.
Following that, we will have what promises to be an insightful expert panel discussion entitled “The Different Paths to Entrepreneurship.” Three entrepreneurs will share their stories of how they found themselves leading their startups. Rather than talk about their current success, this panel will focus on their journey to become entrepreneurs, what alternatives they considered, and how their prior experiences helped them (or not) along the way.
Moderated by Luke Donahue, Consulting Director at J.D. Power and a member of the NEF board of directors, the panelists will be Sarah Beatty, Founder and CEO of Culturewell; Sean Carroll, Co-Founder of EnBiologics, Inc.; and Derrick Redding, CEO of Betterfrost Technologies.
Subscribe to our events newsletter
Don’t miss an opportunity to connect with Ann Arbor SPARK and the region’s innovative business leaders — from job fairs and workshops to unique networking events.


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The largest drug store chain in the US has signed a 6.7bn US dollar (£4.3bn) deal to take a 45 per cent stake in Alliance Boots and could take full control by 2015.
Walgreens, which also trades as Duane Reade, said the strategic partnership with high street chain Boots, which is the market leader in Europe, will create the first global pharmacy business, with 11,000 stores in 12 countries.
The cash and shares deal will also create the world's largest purchaser of prescription drugs and the biggest pharmaceutical and wholesale distribution network.
- Do you receive the MEN business bulletin? Take the hard work out of keeping up with Manchester business news and sign up for the twice-daily email


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Reuters exclusively reported that Nike Inc is exploring options for its surfwear brand Hurley International, including its possible divestment. The world’s largest sportswear maker bought Hurley in 2002 in an effort to expand beyond athletic-focused apparel and into other sportswear. Its potential retrenchment from the surfwear market is emblematic of the stance of most major consumer companies towards the sector.
Reuters exclusively reports Nike exploring sale of surfwear brand Hurley
25 July 2019, 12:00 am 1 minute
Type: Reuters Best


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Start the conversation
Money Morning Capital Wave Strategist Shah Gilani joined FOX Business' "Cavuto" on Friday to talk about the stock market this week.
Market headlines highlight telecommunications company BlackBerry's (Nasdaq: BBRY) severing of its relationship with recording artist Alicia Keys. BlackBerry hired Keys as creative director last year, but sales tanked – the company recently announced it expects to suffer a $4.4 billion loss for its third quarter of 2014.
Gilani discusses BlackBerry's decision to fire the "Girl on Fire," and tells investors what they can expect from BlackBerry in 2014 and beyond.
Next up was Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F), whose pickup sales were up 18% last year. The automobile producer has a solar-powered plug-in hybrid car that it will debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week.
But with gas-guzzling pickup truck numbers soaring, will Ford's bet on solar energy really pay off?


text: The Tuxedo Farmers' Market kicked off it's 10th season last Saturday with 15 vendors. Pictured from left to right are: Tuxedo Town Supervisor Michael Rost, Tuxedo Park Mayor Lili Neuhauser and Tuxedo Farmers' Market President Christina Tremblay, who took part in a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate this milestone. There were free raffles at the market, including a basket of gourmet delights, a huge crate of fruits and vegetables and a beautiful hanging plant all given to three very happy customers. The market is located at the Tuxedo Train Station and is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays now through the fall. Visit www.tuxedofarmersmarket.com for a list of vendors and events.


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Some of the most downloaded and highest-grossing video games in leading app stores use casino motifs for their designs, raising questions about the potential dangers of gambling apps.
Technically Incorrect: A Hong Kong woman who left her iPhone to charge overnight says she was awoken by a big bang.
CNET highlights eight impressive smartphones that showed outstanding battery life in our labs' performance tests.
Or: What I learned on my summer vacation. (Hint: never take a trip without these items.) Plus: two bonus deals!
A quick swipe from the top of your iOS device can now show you battery life for Bluetooth-connected devices.
For Road Trip 2015, CNET drives an all-electric car 500 miles around Britain's most scenic spots to see how easy it is to take a road trip without petrol. Spoiler alert: It doesn't go well.
Browse our list of cameras to see if do-it-yourself home security is right for you.
We go hands-on with Necalli, Vega, and Ken at Gamescom.
Technically Incorrect: All she did was say that the University of Arkansas basketball team was "playing dirty." Then the invective rolled in, including threats of physical violence.
The operating system is being launched to current Windows 7 and Windows 8 users in phases, so the number of devices now running Windows 10 will rise steadily in the coming days as more users get access to the platform.


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Bitcoin is now deemed to be the foremost payment process for online commerce, ardent spectators of cryptocurrencies take into account this simple fact to be a drastic march on the trails of finance considered on a universal scale. Experts nonetheless, spark a refreshing discussion around and on the issue of Bitcoin, merely the fact that greater part of purchasers in Bitcoin industry are a bunch of speculators. Bitcoin is an excellent reflection of how cryptocurrencies can believe a form in the imminent time, and capitalists need to deem a bigger point of view. The huge reputation and at any time-mounting price tag is momentary, but dealing with the essentials relating to Bitcoin and its trivial competitors will direct to a best deliberation and which is heading to determine its imminent long term.
Cryptocurrency demands a contender to crown. The technology of Bitcoin is repetitive, this is the two dangerous and interesting at the very same time, and Bitcoin is a pioneer. Only 21 million Bitcoins can ever be mined, inflation is not a attainable selection, and cryptocurrency can presume countless instructions. Cryptocurrencies like Litecoin are attaining ground. As these electronic currencies give customers patterns of monetary growth and mirror inflation as effectively. Modern Bitcoin information proves that organizations are attempting to build competition, to create up a resolution to international financial transactions by digital currencies. Risky Bitcoin, which is relatively suitable or debatable by massive and modest organizations alike, even fuel the want for a steady electronic forex for smoother transactions.
Bitcoin is a single of a sort. Publicity is sole cause for its implausible accomplishment. Shoppers can come to feel an urge to buy it, when they understand the Bitcoin Charts, demands soar but intents are even now unknown. They are nevertheless to grasp its meaning and uncover a excellent use of it after they’ve previously taken a phase of going forward and buying it. Even though a forex, Bitcoin, with its sheer volatility is considerably regarded as gold by this planet. Crashes and debates could be a issue of the past, but surely not for its innate well worth. There is bitcoin era app at all wrong with innovating with cryptocurrencies, but an too much hoopla about one is not healthy. Knowledge can even confirm that a huge proportion of spent Bitcoins are traded through gambling entities. Curiosity triggers the urge to acquire this volatile electronic currency consumers are enticed by the growing program of Bitcoin value and are fully absorbed by it.
Combine-ups do occur with electronic currency. A decentralized, open up-resource entity such as Bitcoin is, induced craze amid its creators to put jointly one thing special. Money and resources weren’t a factor of concern with them. The Bitcoin value has, paradoxically, elevated as it grew to become reputed working day by day. As volatility of the currency is verified by it speedy rises and plunges, and the function of illiquidity for consumers is an undeniable issue. A groundbreaking delight attracted the very initial Bitcoin takers. Even though, somewhere in the approach, an crucial issue is receiving dropped, some thing that could comply with or accompany a electronic currency like a shadow, the in depth utilization for facilitating any form of transactions.


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Nancy Sheppard will join Basic Books on August 13 as marketing director. Most recently, she was marketing director at St. Martin’s.
Loyola Press executive editor, trade Joe Durepos will retire at the end of October after nearly 17 years with the publisher. He said, “I’ve had the best job in the world, working with an incredibly talented team and the finest writers. Now it’s time to make room for others to bring the Press to ever greater heights in the years to come.” Loyola Press president and publisher Joellyn Cicciarelli said, “With Joe’s acquisition guidance, Loyola Press has consistently published some of the most notable Catholic authors and books of our time—works that will endure…. Joe’s acquisitions have helped to position Loyola Press as one of the top Catholic publishers in the country, and we are forever grateful for his contributions.”
Washington Post national security reporter Greg Miller‘s The APPRENTICE: Trump, Russia and the Subversion of American, will be published October 2 by Custom House (and William Collins in the UK). The book promises “striking new details” on “Russian interference in the 2016 election, and the political, legal and diplomatic crises it spawned.” Miller was among the Post reporters awarded a 2018 Pulitzer Prize and the book on work from the paper’s extraordinary investigative team. Geoff Shandler acquired North American rights from Rafe Sagalyn at ICM.
In a different vein, Penguin Children’s will adopt the European Flickbacks — horizontal mini-books that started in Holland (where they are called Dwarsliggers, meaning to lie crossways) — for a line of Penguin Minis debuting October 23 with four John Green titles, with more books to follow in 2019.
Dutton Children’s president Julie Strauss-Gabel saw a Dutch copy of one of Green’s novels in the Dwarsligger format and, “The minute I picked it up, I thought, ‘How do we not have these in this country?’ ” Dutch printer Royal Jongbloed launched the format in 2009 and is said to have helped issue over 1,000 titles in Europe. Green says, “I haven’t seen a new book format that I thought was at all interesting, but I find this format really usable and super-portable.” He notes, “in some ways, these books are more similar to a phone-shaped experience.”
London-based socialist bookstore Bookmarks said on the Facebook the store was attacked on Saturday night: “Twelve men invaded the shop … destroying displays, wrecking books and chanting Alt-right slogans. One was wearing a Donald Trump mask. “They attempted to intimidate staff and customers and to destroy books and materials. Fortunately, no one was hurt. We will not let this happen! Never Again!”
The Bookseller reports the store will hold a “solidarity event” with authors on August 11. Bookseller Noel Halifax told them, “Since the attack, it’s been very busy here because we have been completely inundated with messages of support, it’s been hard to cope with the volume.” Manager Dave Gilchrist added, “This horrific attack on a radical bookshop should send shivers down the spine of anyone who knows their history. The Nazis targeted books because they knew how important radical ideas are for challenging racism and fascism. The same is true today, and that is why we have to show that we won’t be intimidated.”


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Xerox Corp. said Tuesday it will create an independent company from its famed Palo Alto Research Center -- credited with inventing the graphical user interface and mouse -- setting the stage for strategic partners to share in the benefits of PARC's innovation while ensuring that Xerox maintains access to the center's research and technology.
Xerox said last year that it would seek strategic, non-competitive partners for PARC, one of several elements in Xerox's turnaround plan to focus on core growth areas. The company confirmed today that active discussions are under way with key potential investors.
The new company is expected to begin operations after Jan. 1 as a wholly-owned Xerox subsidiary. In this structure, PARC will continue to generate a stream of inventions, creating opportunities for Xerox and future investors to commercialize PARC-developed technology, the company says.
"Establishing an independent entity builds the foundation for our plans to seal strategic partnerships with external companies, ultimately allowing Xerox to fully capitalize on the PARC research it needs while opening the wealth of PARC-generated innovation to new avenues of opportunity," says Herve Gallaire, president, Xerox Innovation Group.
It is expected that PARC employees will transfer after the first of the year from Xerox to the new company. An external search for a chief executive officer of this company is under way.
"The current PARC organization will be the nucleus of the new company, but we intend to augment it with business development and management functions," Mr. Gallaire says. "We have developed a model that will preserve the culture and innovative capacity of PARC."
Founded in 1970, PARC is one of seven Xerox global research centers that contribute to Xerox's approximately $1 billion annual spending on research and development. Even while Xerox has focused on driving down costs, the company says it has maintained its R&D investment at about 6 percent of revenue.


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The Samsung has introduced different smart phones to its customers and all these smart phones have been blessed with different advanced and latest features. The quality of these smart phones in respect of sending and receiving calls is quite satisfactory.
In this article, we will take a brief look on the features and specifications of another attractive smart phone that has been introduced by this company under the title of “Samsung Galaxy S2 WiMAX”. This smart phone has been blessed with different advanced and latest features.
The first element on the list is 4.7 inches wide capacitive touch screen that has the maximum resolution of 720 x 1,280 pixels and displaying capability of more than 16 million colors. Under the system department we find that this smart phone has been blessed with fast and speedy 1.4 GHz dual core processor.
Moving towards further on the list, we find that this smart phone has been blessed with 8 mega pixels camera that has the built n features of LED flash, auto focus and image stabilization. There is also 2 mega pixels front facing camera that has been designed for video calls.


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I feel so proud and blessed to be an American. But, after traveling the world the past 10 years, I’ve realized the harsh reality that America is not the best at everything like we’re raised to believe as children. In fact, the FDA has pretty lax regulations when it comes to the ingredients found in our food and personal care products.
After living abroad in Costa Rica for 4 months, my husband and I returned to the U.S. with a whole new outlook on our homeland. For the first few months back in the states, we were vegetarians because when eating hormone-free, grass-fed beef and cage -free chicken in Costa Rica, we realized how meat should really taste. We also realized, after buying our produce at the local farmers market each week, what size fruits and vegetables should be – without ripening agents and the various chemicals they use in fertilizers. We’ve since tried to be much more aware of the food we consume here in America.
I had another eye opening experience on a recent trip to Portugal. While getting ready one day, I dropped my foundation, which was in a glass bottle. It shattered all over the bathroom floor and left me walking the streets near our hotel in search of a store that sold cosmetics. We finally found a specialty store filled with makeup. I wandered around, too intimidated to ask for help because I didn’t speak Portuguese, and couldn’t find many of the popular brands I was used to seeing in the U.S. I shrugged it off, got some help, and purchased the closest thing I could find to the foundation I was used to wearing.
Then, I recently discovered this shocking news…
So let’s get this straight. The European Union bans approximately 1,400 harmful chemicals and ingredients from personal care products and Canada restricts around 600.
But, the United States only bans 30?
So I guess it turns out, the reason I didn’t see many of the popular U.S. cosmetic brands I was familiar with, was because they contain ingredients that are BANNED IN EUROPE!
While there’s been a few efforts since the 90’s to ban unsafe chemicals in personal care products, there’s still a really long way for us to go. It wasn’t too long ago that there were only 11 ingredients that were banned. But, clearly, there’s still such a huge gap between what the U.S. finds unsafe and what other countries do. Just look at the FDA’s page on restricted and prohibited cosmetics compared to this 151 page document in the Official Journal of the European Union regarding cosmetic products and Canada’s Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist.
What does this mean for you?
Ultimately, you have to protect yourself and can’t assume that the FDA or any brands that claim to be “all natural” will look out for you and your body. Educate yourself on the harmful ingredients that could be lurking in your makeup, lotions, soaps, and other every day skincare essentials. You can also check the ratings of your products by using the Environmental Working Group (EWG)’s Skin Deep database. Swap out products you have that you find those harmful chemicals in for safer ones and of course, share this information with your loved ones and help protect them, too.
You can be an advocate for change, too. We’ve teamed up with Beautycounter, not only for access to personal products that we can be 100% certain are safe and clean, but also to be a part of real change in our country. Beautycounter has a 5-step ingredient selection process and prohibits the use of more than 1,500 harmful and even questionable ingredients in their formulas. More importantly, they work hard to empower their customers and advocate for stricter guidelines and regulatory laws. Contact us if you’re interested in joining us on this fight to shift the personal care industry.


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April 7, 2010 8:00 AM | Eric Caoili
Shirt designer TweetTees has had it up to here with the 80-plus millions of Facebook users who clog up everyone's news streams with inconsequential alerts concerning their latest virtual farm activities (which doesn't seem to be as much of a problem lately with recent changes at the social network).
The artist creates this new "Your Stupid Farm" tee that makes it clear in no uncertain terms, with huge sans-serif letters, that its wearer is fed up with all the updates about errant cows and virtual gifts proliferating his or her Facebook news feed.
The shirt is available to buy in a variety of colors (with white and blank ink versions for the text) through MySoti for around $20-$24. You can see more shots of the tee after the break:


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By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Assessing ‘The Profession’s Needs’In the kind of survey report we’re hoping from for many more world publishing markets—including those of the United States and United Kingdom—France’s publishers have issued today (May 19) a report on what it calls the “sudden stop” imposed on the business in the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.
Answered by 132 companies and publishing groups that represent some 250 publishing houses both big and small across all sectors of the industry, the report is an effort to asses “as precisely as possible the profession’s needs” and “to make concrete proposals to support the recovery.”
Because Publishing Perspectives serves an international audience of publishers, rights directors, literary agents and scouts, our readership understands how important it is for each national market’s publishers association to take stock this way, when the time is right in terms of the contagion’s outbreak and reopenings in a given market. Arguing for the book business’ importance is going to depend on how clearly and compellingly the industry can make its case in terms of damages, losses, setbacks, and status.
For example, when the Syndicat national de l’édition (SNE), France’s national publishers association, surveyed its membership between April 27 and May 6, some of the top-line results they got were:
- A quarter of French publishers say they will lose more than 40 percent of their anticipated 2020 revenues to the pandemic’s effects
- One in five publishing houses have applied for government support from the National Solidarity Fund (an aid program of €1,500 is reserved for very small companies)
- Cutbacks in planned activity were confirmed by 72 percent of the publishers responding
- On average, publishers responding say they’re canceling or postponing 18 percent of the new releases they’d scheduled for 2020
- The period of confinement “was conducive to changes in reader habits,” the report’s writers say, translating into increased ebook sales of more than 30 percent during the lockdown for the publishers who offer ebooks
- In audio, the houses report less of a bump, only some 8 percent of the 37 percent of respondents who offer audio citing a rise in audiobook sales of 30 percent or better
Discussion from the association refers to the newly “weakened” and “fragile” industry and identifies three primary reasons for this being the state of the business:
- Bookstores’ closures in a country that has at least 3,000 bookshops and an industry highly dependent on those points of sale
- A decline in demand from readers who “may have other priorities than the book,” the organization concedes, at a time of lethal contagion
- Insufficient financial resources to support the recovery effort, particularly because of the fast onset of the very difficult French outbreak
‘The Bonds of Interdependence’ in the Book Industry
The medical system in France’s eastern sector was so badly overwhelmed by the caseload that German military support was welcomed, transporting patients across the border to some of the German medical centers that had weathered the storm with less crippling numbers.
Even in its early reopening efforts, the nation is struggling. As Thomas Adamson reports for the Associated Press, “Just one week after a third of French schoolchildren went back to school in an easing of the coronavirus lockdown, there has been a worrying flareup of about 70 COVID-19 cases linked to schools,” according to government officials Monday (May 18).
Today, Amazon’s six warehouses in France are reopening after a month of closures triggered by “a dispute with labor unions over the health and safety of workers,” as CNN International’s Hadas Gold reports, but the French population (67 million) buys its books far more heavily from physical bookstores than online, as we know, and as Publishing Perspectives has reported, much is expected to rest on how successfully the bookstores can make an exit from the confinement restrictions.
At this writing, the 9:32 a.m. ET update (1332 GMT) of the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center ranks France as seventh in the world by caseload, even after Russia’s sudden leaps upward and Brazil’s new rises on the charts. The French market reports 180,051 cases. And its 28,242 deaths make it the world’s fourth nation in terms of fatalities.
In terms of response and support, the SNE’s report today emphasizes that the nation’s book industry must work in concert, approaching the Macron government with appeals for resources in unity “among all players in the book chain—publishers, authors, booksellers, distributors, printers—underlining the bonds of interdependence that unite them and the necessary solidarity they need in order to safeguard the sector and its diversity.”
The industry is basically arguing for something that will go beyond a €180 million plan (US$196.8 million) plan from the ministry of culture. That approach includes grants, loans, social security tax exemptions, and a special postal rate for books. What the business wants is something that includes promotion, incentives, and buys such as a national advertising campaign, “massive pubic book orders for libraries,” and consumer spending prompts not unlike Italy’s “18app” program that provides money to teens at age 18 to spend on books and other cultural purchases.
The association also makes the point that it is a kind of feeder business to the other creative industries, the starting point for storytelling that then goes on to support film, television, theater and other entertainment industries.
A couple more points of interest from the report:
The association reports that relations between publishers and authors appear to be healthy, despite the strain of the situation. This also goes for distributors, suppliers, employees, and shareholders, all of whom understand the crisis and its stresses. There is some friction reported between the industry and booksellers as well as with its bankers
- Cash flow is the biggest immediate problem reported by 57 percent of responding companies
- The potential for going out of business is reported a reality by 18 houses
- Of the respondents, 48 percent have fewer than five employees
- Eight percent publish more than 500 titles per year, 44 percent publish between 16 and 100 titles per year
You can find a download of the full report from the association here.
More from Publishing Perspectives on the French market is here, more from us on bookselling is here, and more on the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international book publishing is here and at the CORONAVIRUS tab at the top of each page of our site.


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Bank of America grants $20,000 to The Kitchen and Ozarks Food Harvest
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Bank of America has awarded a joint grant of $20,000 to The Kitchen and Ozarks Food Harvest for a unique partnership to address rural poverty issues. The grant will allow the two charitable organizations to partner together for additional food distribution in Berry, Dade, Lawrence, Stone and Taney Missouri counties.
More than 25,000 pounds of food will be distributed to food pantries in five impoverished rural counties in the Ozarks. The food items Bank of America is helping purchase are high in nutritional content and are often hard to come by through traditional donations. They include shelf stable milk, baked beans, canned vegetables, canned fruit, and peanut butter.
“We are so grateful to Bank of America for their gift of $20,000,” Bill Stalnaker, Executive Director of The Kitchen, said. “It is especially nice to be working with Ozarks Food Harvest in this venture because The Kitchen and Ozarks Food Harvest share the mission of feeding the hungry.”
“This partnership highlights the fact that hunger is as prevalent in rural parts of Southwest Missouri as in urban areas. We are privileged to partner with our friends at The Kitchen and Bank of America to provide additional food to those in need,” Bart Brown, Executive Director of Ozarks Food Harvest, said.
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To learn more, contact Lindsey Neddenriep at (417) 865-3411.


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One week after workers at the company’s cereal plants in Nebraska, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Tennessee walked out, Kellogg Co. has released an official response to the strike. In a video statement, company spokesperson Kris Bahner alleged that the union had “grossly misinterpreted” the terms of a company contract to its members and the media.
She asserted that Kellogg’s “number one priority” is to resume negotiations and hammer out a contract. She also said Kellogg was “especially concerned” that member workers of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International voted to strike October 5 without first voting on a Kellogg’s proposal dated October 1.
Bahner also indicated the company is preparing to continue cereal production, with or without striking workers. “Kellogg is ready, willing and able to continue negotiations at any time,” she said. “In the meantime, we have a responsibility to our business, customers and consumers to run our plants, despite the strike. We are continuing operations with other resources and hope that we can reach an agreement soon.”
One key issue between the union and company concerns wages and benefits for two groups of employees.
“Kellogg is not asking employees to give up health care, retirement benefits, or holiday and vacation pay,” Bahner said. Many employees, in fact, pay nothing for their health insurance, she said: “Most also have unparalleled, no cost, comprehensive health insurance, meaning they pay nothing for their health care—no premiums, no deductibles, nothing.”
Newer hourly employees at Kellogg’s have the same healthcare plan the company’s salaried employees do, she added, but with lower employee contributions. Both parties acknowledge the BCTGM agreed to that system in 2015, but in a video posted to the union’s Facebook page October 11, union regional VP Roger Miller characterized that agreement as one made under duress.
“Back in 2015, the company had informed (BCTGM) President Durkee that they intended to close two of their North American cereal plants” if the union didn’t agree to concessions, Miller said. One of the concessions the union agreed to was the establishment of a two-tier system of “legacy” and “transitional” employees.
Less-senior “transitionals” were hired with lower wages, an 80/20 healthcare plan with a weekly contribution, less vacation time, and a 401(k) match in lieu of a pension, Miller says, but it was intended as a temporary status: Workers who stuck around could become “legacy” employees, which would then net them the higher wages and benefits of their seniors.
Now, Miller says, Kellogg wants to eliminate that pathway, keeping new hires at “transitional” level benefits permanently and potentially fomenting “friction” between groups of different-earning employees. According to Miller, about 70% of the plant’s workers are in the more senior group.
In a statement posted to the BCTGM International Twitter feed, Local 252G Vice President Kevin Bradshaw characterized the offer as setting more senior Kellogg workers against new hires. “Kellogg’s is basically saying, ‘if you guys accept this it won’t have anything to do with you.’ So everyone coming behind us will no longer have health benefits or retirement, but they can still come work here for $13 an hour less than what we make,” he said.
According to Kellogg’s response, the latest offer “not only maintains industry-leading pay and benefits, but offers significant increases in wages, benefits and retirement.” The company says the average yearly earnings in 2020 for one of its hourly employees was $120,000 last year, and that more than a third of employees made between $120,000 and $200,000.
The union has also referenced the $120,000 figure, but with a harsher tone: Striking workers have alleged the impressive sum was due to forced seven-days-a-week overtime.
According to Bahner, the significant majority of overtime came from volunteers: “The fact is, in 2020, our cereal manufacturing employees worked an average of 52 to 56 hours a week,” Bahner said. “However, 90% of the time, employees volunteered for the extra hours.” If anything, she said, forced overtime is a headache for the company, because it’s “disruptive” and makes recruiting employees difficult.
She added that the company proposed adding a fourth crew, but that the union rejected plans that might change existing work schedules.
The last section of the Kellogg statement contradicts BCTGM President Anthony Shelton’s complaint that Kellogg has threatened to send jobs to Mexico if they reject company proposals.
“That is completely false,” said Bahner. “We have not proposed moving any cereal volume or jobs outside the U.S. as part of these negotiations.”
According to the union’s website, the strike consists of 1,400 workers at four Kellogg plants around the country: in Memphis, Tennessee; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Omaha, Nebraska; and Battle Creek, Michigan, near company headquarters. The factories in question make a number of high-profile Kellogg cereal brands, including Rice Krispies, Raisin Bran, Froot Loops, Corn Flakes, and Frosted Flakes.


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New Indian street food restaurant opening in downtown Peterborough
A new Indian ‘street food’ restaurant is opening in downtown Peterborough.
Chaska, which carries the slogan “Indian Street Food Obsession”, will open at 441 George Street North on Monday, October 18.
This is the former location of Pete’s Subs and Burgers on the corner of George and Brock, which closed during the pandemic after around 30 years in business.
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Chaska was founded by Naveen Seth, who was inspired by his memories of authentic street food growing up in India. He opened the first Chaska restaurant in Mississauga in 2016 and now has two locations in Toronto (as well as a food truck) and one location in North York.
“Chaska offers a variety of delicious dishes that are different from traditional curries found in Indian restaurants,” the company wrote in an email to kawarthaNOW. “Some of our staples are kathi rolls (wraps), rice bowls, and samosa sliders.”
Described as a “casual, fast-paced Indian street food,” the restaurant is offering the first 100 customers of its Peterborough location a $10 gift card when they spend $10.
For more information, including the menu, visit chaska.com.
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Coca-Cola Christmas Truck reveals first dates on its UK tour
Coca-Cola has revealed where its famous red truck will be first this weekend as the Coca Cola Christmas Truck Tour 2022 begins. The Christmas Truck Tour descends on Sainsbury's Beckton in Newham where supermarket shoppers can revel in a pop up winter market on Saturday and Sunday. Laura Moon, senior brand manager at The Coca-Cola Company, Great Britain, said: "Coca-Cola has always been synonymous with Christmas, particularly the iconic Truck Tour and Holidays Are Coming advert.
"This year, the magic of Christmas is needed more than ever, and we are excited to bring back our famous truck tour to fans nationwide." The brand has linked up with foodbank charity FareShare, pledging to donate up to 100,000 meals - the same number of expected visitors on the nationwide tour, reports the Daily Star. Lindsay Boswell, CEO at FareShare said: "We're incredibly grateful for the support from Coca-Cola.
Their donation will help us get more good-to-eat surplus food to people across the UK most impacted by the cost of living crisis. We hope as many people visit the Coca-Cola Truck Tour this Christmas so that we can get more food to people who need it during what are challenging times for many." As well as capturing the perfect seasonal selfies in front of the iconic red truck, this year's tour is bigger and better than ever before, with a magical 'winter market' setting, featuring fun activities for all to get involved with.
This year's sparkling Christmas experience also offers fun opportunities - from giggle-inducing 'elfie selfie' shots, to QR codes that access a host of interactive games, plus food huts that will serve up delicious seasonal tastes.
Visitors will also have the opportunity to purchase Coca-Cola Zero Sugar and Coca-Cola Original Taste and have them personalised with their name or short phrase- the perfect gift for a loved one or special keepsake.
Officially kick starting the Christmas season, the Coca-Cola Christmas Truck will also be making its familiar festive appearance to TV screens later in November, with the first airing of the much loved "Holidays Are Coming" ad often said to still signify the official start of Christmas.


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Women's Wear Daily (WWD) is reporting that Valentino will be celebrating the opening of its flagship boutique in Beijing with a couture show at the heart of the Chinese capital.
Valentino will be taking its haute couture from Paris to Beijing this coming November. The Italian luxury house, which usually shows in Paris, will celebrate the November 6 opening of its new flagship boutique by setting up its catwalk in the Chinese capital the very next day.
The two-story flagship will be located in the Sanlitun district and offer the house's men's and women's ready-to-wear collection, as well as its range of accessories and perfume.
The fanfare surrounding the inauguration demonstrates Valentino's ambitions for China, one of its most important markets.


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Blizzard has recently revealed that the next update of Overwatch 2 will be launching in mid-November.
The new update unfortunately will not be coming out sooner than everyone thought it would. Blizzard has now revealed that it will be launching on November 15, 2022 and it will be the mid-season balance update for the new free-to-play game.
The upcoming balance update will nerf a few overpowered characters. These characters that will be affected by the nerf are Zarya, Sombra, D.Va, Kiriko, and Genji. Interestingly enough, Sojourn will stay the same even though there have been a few complaints about her overpowered stats.
Here are the changes that will be coming to these characters mentioned:
Hack ability lockout duration reduced from 1.75 to 1.5 seconds
Hacked enemies are no longer valid targets for hacking for the duration of the effect
Hacked damage multiplier reduced from 40 to 25%
Maximum ammo reduced from 30 to 24
Shuriken damage reduced from 29 to 27
Barrier duration reduced from 2.5 to 2 seconds
Barrier cooldown increased from 10 to 11 seconds
Fusion Cannon spread increased from 3.5 to 3.75
Boosters impact damage reduced from 25 to 15
Swift Step invulnerability duration reduced from 0.4 to 0.25 seconds
Overwatch 2 is now available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.


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Apple’s fall product launch this year is expected to touch off a wave of upgrade purchases, analysts say, with fans eyeing the iPhone’s rumored new 5G capabilities and boxier look, similar to that of the iPad Pro. A “staggering” 53% of respondents plan to buy this year’s iPhone, according to a survey by electronics reseller Decluttr. Flashier rivals — such as Samsung’sGalaxy Z Flip 2 5G, with its foldable display, or Microsoft’sSurface Duo, with two screens sandwiched together — offer new spins on the standard metal-and-glass smartphone construction. But most consumers will likely be gravitating toward what they know.
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And even if the new iPhone only offers a few new bells and whistles beyond a different outer design, it’ll draw the lion’s share of attention.
Apple’s invite, which often has some clues, this time has an Apple logo inside circles with different colored hues of blue, orange and red. And there’s this pun: “Hi, Speed.”
That didn’t stop people from speculating about what other mysteries could be hidden in the invite’s meaning. Apple’s also expected to announce new over-ear headphones during the event, driving some people to wonder whether the circles have to do with audio sounds. (Apple has removed competing headphones from its store ahead of the event).
Apple also included an augmented reality trick on its website, as it had for last month’s event, with circles on the invite turning into floating orbs that reveal the Oct. 13 date.
The star of Apple’s show, however, is expected to be its new iPhones, replacing the $799 iPhone 11, the $999 iPhone 11 Pro and the iPhone 11 Pro Max, which started at $1,099 when it launched in 2019. The prices are expected to largely remain the same, but Apple’s expected to upgrade the devices’ features, including better cameras, faster chips and the company’s newest software, iOS 14. There are also rumors Apple may offer an iPhone 12 Mini, possibly as a reaction to some people complaining smartphones are increasingly not pocket-friendly.
When Apple jumps into the 5G market, it’s expected to immediately be a huge player. This year, Apple likely will ship 50 million 5G iPhones, according to Strategy Analytics, which would make it the second biggest 5G vendor in 2020 — and that would be in less than three months of sales. By comparison, Samsung shipped more than 6.7 million Galaxy 5G smartphones last year, after its first 5G phones hit the market in May.
Next year, Apple is expected to be the world’s biggest 5G phone vendor, Strategy Analytics said
A different iPhone launch
Apple holding its event over the internet isn’t the only thing that sets its iPhone announcement apart from those of previous years. The device is also arriving later in the year than it typically does, with analysts expecting either a late October or early November launch for Apple’s newest handsets. That’s about a month later than typical iPhone launches, something Apple warned about in July when it acknowledged the new smartphones would arrive “a few weeks” later than normal.
Apple still held its annual September event, though, using it to announce new iPads, a new Apple Watch and its new Apple One subscription service. The service combines its $4.99-a-month Apple TV Plus, $9.99-a-month Apple Music, $9.99-a-month Apple News Plus and $4.99-a-month Apple Arcade gaming efforts.
Apple hasn’t shared many details about its newest chips, which will replace the Intel processors Apple’s relied on for 14 years with processors similar to the ones powering its iPhones, iPads and Apple TVs. Apple said it’ll continue to sell Intel-powered computers for now, but the company said the performance improvements, battery life and easier connections with the iPhone and iPad are driving the change.
“Hardware and software is fundamental to everything we do,” Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said when announcing the effort this summer. “It will take Mac to the next level.”
Still, people will likely be most interested in the iPhone, and with good reason. Analysts have been increasingly saying they expect this year’s upgrade, with its new design and 5G wireless technology, will lead to much higher demand.
“Taking a step back we believe iPhone 12 represents the most significant product cycle for Cook & Co. since iPhone 6 in 2014 and will be another defining chapter in the Apple growth story looking ahead despite a softer consumer spending environment,” Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives wrote in a note to investors shortly after Apple’s announcement went out. Ives said he expects the iPhone 12’s launch to be a “once in a decade” event, with or without the coronavirus.
The first two models from Apple’s iPhone 12 have started shipping, and of course the folks at iFixit are busy taking them apart. As of this writing the detailed teardown is still incomplete, but they’ve exposed enough of the details to get a good look under those screens. The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro are surprisingly similar inside, as iFixit points out that the cheaper model has a plastic spacer in the spot where the Pro puts its telephoto lens and LiDAR sensor.
Of course the teardown also mentions that the phones open on a different side this year, and have much larger logic boards. That’s likely because of the addition of 5G technology, which may be squeezing the battery size Apple can fit in there. iFixit already streamed a video teardown of the new iPhones, if any other interesting details are found in the devices then we’ll update this post to let you know.
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The all-new and opulent Mercedes-Maybach S-Class is still in its testing phase, although its unveiling should take place in the coming months seen as how the brand new S-Class is already with us.
While there are different types of S-Class prototypes still out there, like the Mercedes-AMG S63 for example, we’re pretty confident that this particular vehicle, spotted by one of our readers in Germany, is the long-wheelbase Maybach flagship.
The biggest clue isn’t actually the size of the rear pillar, but the cutout of the rear door, which is straighter than on the regular S-Class, whose rear door curves around the rear wheel arch due to its smaller size. It also lacks the third rear-window that’s incorporated on the S-Class’ door.
Unlike its shorter wheelbase siblings, the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class might actually retain a V12 engine, although with a mild-hybrid system. The reason we say “might” is because the 2021 Maybach GLS is powered by a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 with 550 horses and 538 lb-ft (729 Nm) of torque, and it’s the GLS 600, not 500 or 550.
Powertrains aside, expect the Maybach saloon to feature all of the new S-Class’ driver assist functions, including its Level 3 automated driving capabilities. The carmaker’s Lidar-powered Drive Pilot system will debut next year and will work in both heavy traffic situations as well as on suitable motorways in Germany.
Inside, it should boast a similar setup to the GLS, with two rear seats separated by a large console at the back and a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster at the front, paired with a 12.8-inch OLED touchscreen display in the middle.
As for pricing, since the current Mercedes-Maybach S-class starts off from around $170,000, we expect more of the same from the all-new car. If the carmaker keeps doing two separate variants like before, then the flagship model will probably cost north of $200,000.
No new confirmed cases of COVID-19 are being reported by the Brant County Health Unit for the second consecutive day.
The number of active cases, those that considered infectious, dropped on Friday to 16, a decrease of three from the day before.
No one with an active case of the virus is in hospital.
There have been 225 lab-confirmed cases in Brantford-Brant since the pandemic began, with 204 of them considered resolved.
There are five local deaths associated with the virus.
An outbreak declared on Oct. 15 at Hardy Terrace Long-term Care Home in Mount Pleasant, where one staff member tested positive for the coronavirus continues.
Of the confirmed local cases, 175 people are from Brantford and 50 from Brant County.
In the majority of cases (54 per cent), the virus was contracted through close contact with an infected person, followed by 22 per cent contracted through community spread. Fourteen per cent of cases are associated with an outbreak and 10 per cent through travel. The means of transmission in 0.4 per cent of cases is pending.
Those between the ages of 20 and 39 account for 39 per cent of cases, followed by 31 per cent aged 40 to 59, 15 per cent aged 60 to 79, 11 per cent under age 20 and four per cent aged 80 and over.
There had been 31,993 COVID-19 tests conducted as of Friday morning at the Brant Community Healthcare System’s assessment centre.
The latest posted numbers from Six Nations of the Grand River indicate there are 26 active cases of COVID-19 on the territory. The total number of confirmed Six Nations cases is 74 since the start of the the pandemic, with 48 of them considered resolved. One Six Nations resident has died of COVID-19.
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Following the success of the Moto Edge 30, Motorola India is preparing to introduce the E32s, its low-cost smartphone, in India soon. Motorola launched the E32 in worldwide markets earlier this month, and the India-bound E32s will be slightly different. The Moto E32s is the newest addition to Motorola's Moto E series. A cutting-edge smartphone with a plethora of features.
The Motorola E32s has a 6.5-inch IPS LCD display with an HD+ resolution (1,600 x 720 pixels) and a 20:9 aspect ratio. The E32s are powered by the MediaTek Helio G37 chipset, which is paired with 4GB of RAM. Motorola claims that the Moto E32s is water-resistant. A side-mounted fingerprint reader handles biometrics.
The Moto E32S has a triple camera arrangement on the back. The phone features a 16-megapixel main sensor, a 2-megapixel depth sensor, and a 2-megapixel macro sensor. For selfies and video calls, this Moto phone includes an 8-megapixel front camera.
The Motorola E32s is powered by a 5,000mAh battery that supports Motorola's 15W Turbocharge technology, however it will be shipped with a 10W charger.
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The Munich-based Sono Group (hereinafter referred to as “Sono Motors” or the “Company”, parent company of “Sono Motors GmbH”), a company with the goal of revolutionizing the future of solar-powered transport, presented its financial results for the first quarter a few days ago announced in 2022. With the successful supply of PV products to several B2B customers, the diversification of the Sono Solar Division is on a promising path.
To date, the Munich-based solar mobility specialist has signed partnership agreements in the form of procurement and non-binding letters of intent with 18 companies worldwide to use patented solar technology in various vehicle architectures such as buses, trailers, trucks and mobile homes. This represents an increase of 12 partnership agreements compared to 6 agreements as of March 31, 2021. Revenues from the integration of Sono Digital’s own solar technology and services in the first quarter of 2022 were higher than in the whole of 2021.
“We achieve our most important goals and thus successfully continue our development course. We are rapidly expanding our Sono Solar business and have successfully expanded our B2B customer base. Since March this year, our proprietary solar technology has been helping to protect the climate and reduce CO2 emissions in the local public transport system in Munich. This supports the city in its clean air plansays Laurin Hahn, CEO and co-founder of Sono Motors. Soon, the technology will also help other industry leaders to become even more sustainable, such as the refrigerated truck manufacturer Chereau in France. “These examples impressively demonstrate the potential of our highly flexible, specially developed platform – also for other vehicles and sectors such as buses, refrigerators and logistics. Our goal to diversify our business by establishing our solar B2B company in 2022 as a strategic pillar alongside our Sion solar electric car is on trackHahn continued.
In addition to Chereau, the German logistics giant Rhenus was also among the new partners. Depending on the case of application, size and type of solar integration, the lightweight and flexible Sono Motors platform aims to enable each customer in the transportation industry to reduce costs and emissions in their fleets.
Sono Sion: Important milestones on the road to series production
In the B2C industry, Sono Motors is said to have successfully taken further important steps towards series production of the world’s first low-cost solar powered vehicle (SEV) Sion. We are currently focusing on improving the quality, testing and speed of the SEV program. Another milestone on the road to series production was reached last month when a white body was built for series validation. The final assembly of the series validation vehicles takes place close to the company’s headquarters in Munich. Ready-to-install parts also include our next-generation solar modules. The vehicle fleet is used for series validation, optimization, approval and crash tests.
As the series vehicle validation program progresses, the Sono Motors development team continues to prepare for series production with the Finnish contract manufacturer Valmet Automotive. All necessary work packages have started and engineers from both companies are said to be working closely together to improve the current generation of vehicles and prepare for production. The company describes the collaboration with Valmet Automotive as another milestone in bringing Sion to a growing community.
Sono Sion is to be produced from mid-2023
The company still plans to start production in the second half of 2023. Sono Motors has set itself the goal of creating a production that uses 100% renewable energy. The company now assumes that all manufacturing-related greenhouse gas emissions that cannot be avoided in the supply chain or during the vehicle manufacturing process can be fully offset by appropriate measures.
By mid-May 2022, Sono Motors had received more than 18,000 private bookings on Sion. The average deposit is € 2,310 with a net sales volume of € 393 million – assuming all bookings are converted into sales. Most of the objections to Sion still come from Germany, but the company is also seeing an increase in numbers from countries such as Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
2022 outlook and key financial data
Sono Motors sees the demonstration of series validation vehicles at the summer community event and the nomination of all series suppliers by the end of the third quarter as important milestones in 2022. As a financial guideline for 2022, Sono Motors expects additional revenues from its solar energy business, most of which is expected in the fourth quarter of 2022. In its announcement, the company also mentions some of the most important financial developments of the last few months:
- On May 11, 2022, the Company completed another subscription offering of 10,930,000 common shares, yielding a net gain of approximately $ 41.5 million.
- On June 13, 2022, the Company announced the conclusion of an agreement for the purchase of ordinary shares with Berenberg. The agreement includes an equity facility that gives Sono Motors the right to sell up to $ 150 million of common stock to Berenberg within 24 months at its discretion, subject to certain limitations and conditions.
- Cash and cash equivalents of € 103.0 million as of March 31, 2022, an increase of 190 percent compared to March 31, 2021 (€ 35.5 million).
- The operating loss was EUR 25.5 million in the first quarter of 2022 (Q1 2021: EUR 6.9 million). The net loss was EUR 25.9 million and EUR 0.35 loss per share (Q1 2021: EUR 9.2 million and 0.15).
- Operating expenses increased mainly due to increased prototyping and overall business expansion.
- Bank deposits increased by EUR 67.5 million as of March 31, 2022 compared to March 31, 2021.
Source: Sono Motors – press release of June 22, 2022.


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Burger King to Sell Healthier Fries Called 'Satisfries'
Burger King is rolling out new fries that reportedly cut down on fat and calories.
The chain claims that the new fries – which are crinkle-cut and called 'Satisfries' – have 40 percent less fat and 30 percent fewer calories than McDonald’s French fries on a pound for pound basis. But customers beware – a "small" order at McDonald's actually contains fewer fries and therefore fewer calories (about 230) than a small order of Satisfries at Burger King, which contains 270 calories. A small order of classic French fries at Burger King has 340 calories.
The burger chain reports that it has been able to cut down on calories by using a new batter that doesn’t absorb as much oil, according to the Associated Press. Burger King executives have thus far declined to specify the exact changes put in place, except that the same ingredients are used, simply in different proportions. The company will still sell its classic fries as well as its limited-time offering of sweet potatoes fries.
Given that the fries are being marketed as tasting similar to Burger King's classic fries, it might seem logical that the company just scrap its classic fries altogether. But sometimes customers just want to stick to the classics. In 2002, Burger King debuted “Shake ‘em up Fries,” accompanying fries with seasoning packets in a product that didn’t last long.
Additionally, the different cut gives customers more options and gives Burger King the chance to raise the price of fries. The suggested price of a small order of Satisfries is $1.89, 30 cents more than a small classic fries.
Burger King is aggressively promoting Satisfries over social media. The hashtag-friendly name is a promoted trend on Twitter. In more guerilla marketing tactics, men carrying several foot-long replicas of the crinkle-cut fries inscribed with #WTFF ("What The French Fry") appeared in the background of the Today Show this morning.
The announcement of Satisfries comes on the heels of another Burger King French fry offering of the French Fry Burger – an item on the dollar menu that puts both a beef patty and French fries between the burger’s buns.
Kate Taylor is a reporter at Business Insider. She was previously a reporter at Entrepreneur. Get in touch with tips and feedback on Twitter at @Kate_H_Taylor.


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Local real estate company Soliderehas announced the sale of more plots of land in the commercial centre of Beirut, raising hopes of a revival of the Lebanese construction industry.
A group of local and Arab investors has bought a 53,000-square-metre plot of land in the Zeytouneh district of central Beirut with plans to build a $140 million high-rise residential and commercial complex on the site, Solidere announced on 7 March. The $50 million purchase is the second major plot that Solidere has sold in downtown Beirut since the beginning of the year. In February, Kuwait-based Gulfinvest International announced that it had paid $38 million for another plot on which it was planning to build a $70 million residential building.
'There is a real hope that things are improving, and there is a strong likelihood that the sector will boom again. Interest is especially high over the blocks in the Beirut central district,' says one local engineer. The construction sector is one of the few areas of the Lebanese economy that appear to be defying recession, boosted by an influx of money from abroad. 'We are talking about large amounts of money for some of these properties - about $4,000 per square metre in the central district - which most locals simply cannot afford. So I imagine it is targeted at either Lebanese living abroad, or GCC nationals.'
After a tough year in 2000, when it posted a loss of $32 million, Solidere has sold $121 million-worth of property in the last four months and is expected to post a healthy profit for last year. The additional revenue has persuaded the company to resume work on its most ambitious scheme, the 100,000-square-metre Beirut souks project. The $100 million shopping mall, which is intended to be the centrepiece of the renovated downtown area, has been held up for more than two years over government delays in issuing construction permits. Work is expected to resume in mid 2002, a company official says.
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - T-Mobile USA is suing Starbucks, saying the coffee shop chain secretly colluded with AT&T to offer free WiFi Internet access in its cafes despite an exclusive agreement with T-Mobile.
In the lawsuit, filed late on Thursday in New York state court, T-Mobile alleges that AT&T and Starbucks Corp are not living up to an agreement the three companies reached over how Starbucks should transfer from its T-Mobile partnership to a new partnership with AT&T announced earlier this year.
T-Mobile is seeking unspecified damages against Starbucks for breach of its contract and unfair competition.
According to a transition agreement reached in February, T-Mobile was given the exclusive right to “sell, market and promote its services” in Starbucks stores until those stores were fully converted to the AT&T system, the lawsuit said.
Starbucks stores would be converted “on a market-to-market basis” and T-Mobile was to retain the exclusive right to market and sell its Internet services until a market had been fully converted, the lawsuit said.
“T-Mobile had made a very significant investment in the technology and equipment necessary to provide Wi-Fi service in the many thousands of Starbucks stores in the United States,” the lawsuit said.
AT&T therefore benefited from the agreement prematurely and at the expense of T-Mobile, the lawsuit said.
“Starbucks and AT&T ... secretly developed a promotional plan under which they would offer ‘free’ AT&T/Starbucks Wi-Fi even in stores” that were still reliant on T-Mobile’s infrastructure, the lawsuit said.
“Our goal is to ensure Wi-Fi access at all Starbucks locations. This is a benefit offered to our Starbucks Card Rewards members as well as AT&T subscribers and steps are being taken to ensure that this access continues,” Starbucks spokeswoman Stacey Krum said.
According to the lawsuit, “To date, only two markets — the San Antonio, Texas, and Bakersfield, California, markets — have been transitioned from T-Mobile to AT&T.”
T-Mobile is a unit of Germany’s Deutsche Telekom.
Reporting by Edith Honan, editing by Gary Hill


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Delegates from financial technology company Fexco will attend the Europe ATM & Payments Innovation Summit taking place on October 15th – 17th at Sheraton Roma Hotel & Conference Center in Rome.
The event will attract over 400 of the industry’s most prominent ATM and payment professionals. This year’s summit themed ‘The Journey Continues’ will feature workshops, presentations and a trade exhibition hall, all focused on the future of the ATM industry and NextGen technologies.
Attendees of the two day event will have the opportunity to hear from leading representatives across the ATM industry with over 30 other speakers discussing a range of topics such as multi-channel innovation, the branch of the future, App banking and ATM pooling. The attendees will include independent ATM owners, equipment manufacturers, software developers, cash management suppliers, security contractors and payment schemes.
Fexco will be represented by Shane McElroy, Head of Global ATM Strategy.
Commenting ahead of the summit, Shane McElroy said:
“I am looking forward to attending and participating in the Europe ATM & Payments Innovation Summit, as it provides Fexco with an unique opportunity to see, first-hand, the future of the ATM industry. This year’s theme will allow us as a company to explore the latest innovations, hear from leading members of the community and learn a vast array of information about the latest technologies, such as NextGen, being released within the industry.”


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TheTourAttraction.com aims to provide the latest global travel and free travel news, travel and visa policies, and flight information. We hope to provide insights into tourism market, technology and development trends with everyone by providing the latest relevant information. Despite the raging COVID-19 epidemic in 2020, we always firmly believe that mankind will overcome the disease and the tourism market will definitely recover. TheTourAttraction.com look forward to your attention and support, and witness the development of the global tourism industry with us. Looking forward to the information TheTourAttraction.com provide can help you. We will continue to follow up and obtain the latest data, and look forward to your attention and support.
The following is the [Travel News]: Hong Kong extends social distancing rules to July 13, as experts call for border restrictions to be eased from [HKFP] recommended by TheTourAttraction.com:
A virologist said imported cases made up only a small portion of Hong Kong’s daily cases and were not “adding any burden.”
Hong Kong’s current social distancing rules will be extended until July 13, the government has announced.
“In view of the latest epidemic trend and given that the effective period of the measures in the coming cycle will span to the next government term, having consulted the Chief Executive-elect’s Office and with its consent, the Government decided to extend the existing social distancing measures for 14 days with effect from June 30,” the government said in a press release on Monday.
Social distancing measures – including the rule requiring all patrons of bars, pubs, clubs and nightclubs to present proof of a negative rapid antigen test result taken within 24 hours – would be extended for two more weeks. Other measures, such as the mask mandate and the public gathering ban of four people or more, will also remain in place.
While social distancing measures were being maintained, more health experts have called for the relaxation of quarantine rules for incoming travelers.
“I think Hong Kong could lift its border restrictions right now,” virologist Malik Peiris of the University of Hong Kong said on an RTHK program on Monday.
He said imported cases only made up only a small portion of Hong Kong’s daily cases and were not “adding any burden.”


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In a decisive decision, the company announced “Amazon” yesterday, Wednesday, that it will impose a ban, for a full year, on the use of the American police technology to identify faces, asking Congress to tighten legal controls that govern the use of this technology, and the American giant group in the areas of retail and computing said in a statement : “We impose a one-year ban on police using Amazon’s facial recognition technology.”
The move comes in the midst of massive demonstrations in the United States against police violence and racism, and the American company has made clear that it hopes that this one-year ban will give Congress enough time to implement the appropriate rules, and we are ready to help if requested, according to AFP.
The move came after an invitation by human rights organizations struggling to combat racial disparity in the country demanding that “Amazon” cease its technical cooperation with the US police, according to Sky News.
These organizations said in a petition posted on the Internet that Amazon nurtures and benefits the systemic injustice of equality, inequality and violence against groups of African descent..
And human rights organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have been calling on Amazon for two years to stop providing the police with facial recognition technology..
In its statement distributed by the “Athena” coalition, which includes organizations indicating the negative impact of the group, from the environment to working conditions, human rights organizations said that Amazon has long sought to become the technical backbone of the police and immigration police, by actively promoting the Amazon Web Services + ( Cloud storage), facial recognition software and surveillance cameras (Ring).
Activists have accused Amazon of contributing to the criminalization of colored groups, The death of George Floyd, a defenseless African citizen, suffocated under the knee of a white police officer while he was arrested in Minneapolis two weeks ago, sparked protests across the United States..


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SINGAPORE - Britain-based online streaming provider Eleven Sports Network will be taking the English Premier League off its menu from June 17.
The Straits Times understands that the Eleven Plus channel, which has been carrying EPL content, will also removed from its suite of channels.
According to documents seen by ST, Eleven's popular $19.90-a-month package will be reduced to $9.90. The new package will be renamed Eleven Sports Value Plan.
The new package will feature either MUTV or Chelsea TV in the place of the EPL. The new package will retain other existing sports content including Italian Serie A, Emirates FA Cup, NBA basketball and European, South American Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
Subscribers will be given the option to convert to the new plan, or cancel their subscription with a pro-rated refund.
ST understands that Eleven plans to notify customers of the programming change in an e-mail next week.
Eleven declined to comment when contacted.
Eleven's $19.90-a-month package, which was no longer on sale on its website when The Straits Times checked on Friday (May 26), allows users to watch three live EPL games and three delayed telecasts to be shown per week on its website at elevensports.sg or via the Eleven Sports app. Users however have to commit to a year-long contract. Customers can also pay $24.90 a month without contract.
Eleven's decision to drop EPL from its offering means that the prized EPL content will now only be available on one pricing option.
Singtel has the exclusive EPL broadcast rights in Singapore for three seasons from last year (2016), offering all the matches live for $59.90 a month. StarHub cross carries the exact offer on its pay-TV platform as Singapore's authorities require exclusive content to be shared.
Last year, Singtel sub-licensed parts of its exclusive rights to screen EPL matches here to Eleven, in what was reported as a multi-year deal. For the first time in years, EPL matches could be sold in smaller a-la-carte packages at a much lower price.
Eleven's content is also resold by Internet service providers (ISPs) StarHub, M1 and ViewQwest, and national broadcaster MediaCorp's Toggle.
M1 and ViewQwest have stopped selling Eleven's selection of EPL matches. Meanwhile, StarHub and Toggle were still offering Eleven's EPL plan on Friday (May 26).
"We are clarifying with Eleven the changes they are making to their content offerings. Our priority is our customers' interests and we will update them when the details are finalised," said an M1 spokesman.
StarHub said: "We are currently in discussions with Eleven on its carriage of (EPL) content and will update our StarHub Go customers as soon as we can. We are unable to comment further due to confidentiality obligations."


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National Fraud Information Center/Internet Fraud Watch, Division of the National Consumers League
Tips, examples and statistics debunking common frauds and schemes. Users can submit reports of scams to the Fraud Center for investigation.
National Consumers League, Washington, D.C.-based consumer advocacy group
Reports and guides on common consumer issues, including fraud and the technologies making business (and theft) fraud easier.
FBI Common Fraud Schemes
Federal listing details several ongoing scams, providing examples and tips to detect fraudulent solicitors.
Internet Crime Complaint Center, partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center
Victims of Internet fraud can file official complaints, which are referred to authorities at federal, state, local and international levels.
Fighting Back Against Identity Theft.
Federal Trade Commission site instructs victims of identity theft on the steps to take after being scammed, from placing a fraud alert on credit reports to filing reports with local and federal authorities.
The Patriot Ledger
Kathleen Drew is a two-time victim of digital pickpockets. Drew, a jewelry designer from Boston, had a pair of her credit card accounts hacked into during the past three years, and was forced to order replacement cards and set up automatic payments for up to 15 monthly bills.
“It was an aggravation that I didn’t need,” she said.
What’s a hassle for Drew and thousands of other Massachusetts residents each year is a small piece of the picture for the retail and banking industries and their intermediaries, the credit card processors, which handled an estimated $2 trillion in card transactions last year.
“The amount of fraud is such a tiny proportion of the total transactions that the banks and the credit card companies regard it as a cost of doing business,” said Lewis Mandell, a University of Buffalo finance professor.
But now banks, which are liable for absorbing an estimated $2 billion a year in phony charges, are pushing for new state and federal laws and pressuring credit card companies to fine merchants that violate industry security practices.
Nearly 4,000 Bay State residents reported identity thefts in 2005, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Credit card fraud accounted for 34 percent of the cases.
The high-profile nature of recent cases such as the potential theft of millions of TJX Cos. customers’ credit card data has raised new questions about how well retailers safeguard their customers’ information.
“When you’re dealing with electronic systems, there’s such massive information in one place,” said Steve Kenneally, director of payment and technology policy for America’s Community Bankers, “For thieves, it’s a target-rich environment.”
Retailers select a bank that acts as an “acquirer” to process its credit and debit transactions. The banks or subcontractors install the card readers in stores. Information from card swipes - typically the card number and customer’s name - can be stored within the store, at the retailer’s headquarters or on a third-party data provider’s servers.
“Security for retailers is remarkably expensive and the problem is, it is very much akin to a consumer buying life insurance or major medical insurance,” said Evan Schuman, retail technology editor for eWeek.com. “If they go a year without having an accident or major incident, they think, ‘I wasted all that money.’”
Investing in tighter security runs counter to retailers’ strategies of expanding their points of sale, as they experiment with new technologies, such as payments by cell phone.
“There are so many points where someone can get into your system,” Schuman said. “You’ve got to protect all of those points. But you have to allow your consumers to get in.”
Following the 2004 theft of roughly eight million BJ’s Wholesale Club members’ credit or debit card information, the Massachusetts Bankers Association formed a task force that recommended a series of ways to tighten security.
Among them: timely notification of affected customers, liability for retailers, full reimbursement to banks for the cost of reissuing cards, and stronger data encryption standards.
Based upon the recent TJX security breach, it appears few of the steps have been adopted, said Bruce Spitzer, spokesman for the bankers association.
“They need to invest in better encryption and haven’t done that,” Spitzer said.
Among the data that Framingham-based TJX has reported stolen include card expiration dates, as well as names, addresses and driver’s license numbers of customers who were returning merchandise without receipts.
“It wouldn’t have happened if they had not been storing data they shouldn’t have,” Spitzer said. “After a transaction is cleared, it shouldn’t be kept.”
A new standard
Credit card companies have begun to respond to heightened concern about security breaches by penalizing member retailers. In December, Visa said it will spend $20 million in incentives to make members’ banks compliant, and begin fining those banks up to $25,000 if large merchants aren’t compliant by the end of August and smaller merchants by year-end.
Experts recommend that merchants maintain a firewall to protect cardholder data, encrypt all data that’s transmitted across public networks, regularly update antivirus software and monitor access to cardholder data.
“It’s a relatively new standard and our membership has been working very hard to get up to speed,” said Liz Oesterle, government affairs counsel for the National Retail Federation.
But critics say Visa’s penalties don’t come close to covering banks’ losses. Issuing a new card costs up to $20 per card for some banks, and a data breach stemming back to July 2005 may have affected the card data of millions of customers.
While technology has contributed to the spread of credit card fraud, it also offers potential solutions.
Security consultants are pitching upgraded monitoring programs for retailers designed to flag unauthorized releases of data, rather than the earlier emphasis on keeping out hackers.
“There’s a very telling shift between (monitoring) who’s getting in and what’s getting out,” said David Etue, senior security strategist for Fidelis Security Systems, a Bethesda, Md.-based electronic security company.
More than three-quarters of data breaches are caused by an existing employee, Etue said, either through malice or ignorance.
“Half of the violations are someone who doesn’t know any better and doesn’t realize they’re putting data at risk,” he said.
All of which has consumers such as Drew, the jewelry designer from Boston, wary about how they pay for their purchases.
“I’m very afraid of someone accessing my bank account other than the bank,” she said. “It’s really terrible. In the age of technology, every time you turn around someone’s hacking into somebody’s system. You almost want to go back to the old days of stuffing money in your mattress.”
Steve Adams may be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org.


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The German carmaker BMW announced Thursday that they would extend the contract term of the joint venture BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) in northeast China and to increase investment for its production capacity expansion.
The extended contract is valid for 22 years from 2018 to 2040, the BMW Group said together with its partner Brilliance China Automotive Holdings in the city of Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province, in the context of the 15th anniversary of BBA.
Meanwhile, the BMW Group will invest more than 3 billion euros (3.5 billion U.S. dollars) in new and existing plant structures in Shenyang over the coming years. In Tiexi, a new plant on the existing plant grounds will double the site's capacity, while extensive remodeling and expansion measures will target the neighboring plant in Dadong.
In the following three to five years, the total annual production capacity of BMW automobiles at the BBA plants will increase to 650,000 units, creating 5,000 new jobs.
According to a press release posted on BMW Group's website, the company intends to increase its stake in BBA from 50 percent to 75 percent.
This transaction is subject to the approval of the relevant authorities and the consent of its partner's Shareholders' Meeting, it said.
The joint venture was established in 2003. Last year, around 560,000 BMW brand vehicles were delivered to Chinese customers. Two-thirds of them were produced by BBA at its two plants in Tiexi and Dadong.


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This doesn’t happen very often. It’s not like, say, Lucy pulling the football out from under Charlie Brown. At a California garage sale 39 years ago, an original 1966 piece of Peanuts Sunday artwork was offered for sale for the princely sum of $50.
Laureen Picciani, a pastry chef from Fort Bragg, California, wandered into that garage sale and made her fateful purchase.
“This piece of cartoon history could easily sell for $30,000 or more,” says ComicConnect.com CEO Stephen Fishler.
Since Schulz’s death 10 years ago, original Peanuts art has gone through the roof. A similar Sunday Peanuts panel that sold for $1,200 in 1993 recently changed hands for $65,000.
“I knew I had stumbled across something special but until contacting ComicConnect, I had no idea how valuable it really was. I was really shocked,” states Picciani.
The seller told her he was a friend of Charles Schulz and was selling it because he was downsizing. Now Picciani–whose pastry shop was recently a casualty of the recession–is doing some downsizing of her own.
“I kind of identified with Charlie Brown because I often feel like I don’t know what’s going on either,” she notes.
Picciani enlisted the aid of ComicConnect.com, the largest online marketplace for vintage comics and collectibles (and the force behind two recent million dollar Superman comic sales).
Currently, the highest bid is $17,700, which means there’s still an opportunity to get a great deal. The auction closes Monday, September 20.


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Apple previewed iOS 14 to be released this fall, but the most powerful announcement was ‘App Clips,’ where users can access parts of an app without having to download it or navigate the entire app via QR Code or an NFC tag.
Published on: July 21, 2020
Smartphones are almost ubiquitous in the US. Seventy-seven percent of Americans own a smartphone and 79% of smartphone users have made a purchase with their phone in the last year. If that sounds like old news, that’s because it is. Online retailers are well aware of the importance of online eCommerce. But as technology and […]
Published on: November 1, 2019
How to run proximity marketing campaigns without an app 1. NFC and QR codes NFC tags and QR codes have risen in popularity in the last couple of years and are excellent channels to deliver proximity marketing campaigns without an app. NFC-enabled products have made quite a splash this year and give businesses a way […]
Published on: November 29, 2018
UPDATE: Nearby Notifications will no longer be supported on Android smartphones after December 6 2018. Please read this blog post to understand how you can continue running proximity marketing campaigns through beacons. Very few in-store technologies have seen the kind of success that beacons have – 75% of the top 20 retailers in the U.S. […]
Published on: January 11, 2018