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Bitcoin, in its current form, can only handle a certain amount of transactions.A section of the bitcoin community plans to effect a user activated soft fork (UASF) on August 1, 2017.Unlike traditional currencies such as dollars, bitcoins are issued and.As Bitcoin Cash has significantly less support of developers and miners than Bitcoin, most people are speculating that Bitcoin Cash will have less value.It is an opportunity for bitcoin to scale and meet growing demand.On the other side of the picture, as BTC supporters will also receive equal amounts of BTU, they might try to do the same by dumping their BTU coins.
You can use a tool like World Time Buddy to see when that is in your local time.
Bitcoin is about to break in two. Here's what you need to
Zebpay Users and Bitcoin Hard Fork – Zebpay BlogThe bitcoin scalability problem is a consequence of the fact that blocks in the blockchain.The hard fork and the creation of 2 different coins can markedly affect the price of both BTC and BTU.A blockchain fork considers all the transactions in the blockchain prior to the fork valid, which means that any Bitcoin address that has a Bitcoin balance before the fork will automatically be associated with coins on both the old and the new blockchains.
Bitcoin Value Will See "Fairly Dramatic Dip" after HardJP Buntinx is a FinTech and Bitcoin enthusiast living in Belgium.
Bitcoin's 'hard fork': Bitcoin Unlimited and SegregatedAfter the hard fork, bitcoin holders owned equal amounts of.
Bitcoin Hard Fork Explained | What is a Fork? What Happens to My Coins?
Bitcoin Cash Is Born: What Is the Likelihood of aDISCLAIMER: Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are highly volatile and risky.Last week, the price of bitcoin rallied near all-time highs.The statement was signed by Bitfinex, BTC China, Bitstamp, Bitsquare, Bittrex, itBit, ShapeShift, Kraken and Coinfloor.
Members of the bitcoin community unhappy with the direction of the digital asset have set up an alternative.Cryptocurrency markets have remained resilient, even as bitcoin, the largest crypto, approaches a possible hard fork.
Is Your Bitcoin Wallet Ready for a Hard Fork This August
Over the past two weeks, the bitcoin community has been discussing the possibility of a hard fork in the near future.What we can learn from the Ethereum hard fork and ETC, how that will affect the future of BTC and BCH futures, alongside our predictions of the Bitcoin Cash price 2018.Ver can influence the popularity of BTU, via using bitcoin.com as a marketing tool, because, to the public, bitcoin.com might seem like an official bitcoin portal.
Announcement regarding the “Bitcoin Cash” hard fork
Bitmain Responds to UASF With Another Bitcoin Hard ForkThe latest entry in the debate over Bitcoin scaling comes from mining firm Bitmain.Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Glossary entry explaining what a fork is, including soft and hard forks, codebase and blockchain forks.The Bitcoin community fears that the Bitcoin blockchain will split into two persisting chains when Bitcoin Unlimited miners initiate a hard.
Will a Bitcoin Hard Fork Create Two Coins? - Bitcoin
What Is Bitcoin Hard Fork? The Most Intriguing Bitcoin
How Bitcoin wallet providers and exchanges can get prepared a hard fork.God knows what will happen with it once it forks and loses it.To support BTU, Ver can dump his BTC to drive its price to very low levels.On Tuesday morning, bitcoin analysts woke up to witness the birth of a new currency.Altcoins beat bitcoin in technical discussion, brand is one of the main assets of bitcoin.
What is the User Activated Hard Fork? – Bitcoin Isle
Most likely there will be a real Bitcoin hard fork mid-November.This camp supports Bitcoin Unlimited which is a bitcoin client forked off Bitcoin Core and designed to process transactions into blocks whose size is greater than the current limit of 1 Mb.UPDATE (31 July 2017 at 14:30 hrs UTC): The cut-off for BTC withdrawals and deposits has now been extended to 1 August.The bitcoin community seems to be in between a rock and a hard place.For the past few months, the biggest news in the Bitcoin community has been the impending hard fork.


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In case you’re not aware, halal food is meat that has been killed according to Islamic law, and also includes non-alcoholic drinks and grub.
Muslims around the UK gathered last year for the annual Halal Food Festival and now it’s back.
This weekend, 11-12 August, will most likely replicate the 18,000-strong visitors of last year who came to get their hands on some of the delicious delicacies.
So what can you expect on this fun-filled, food galore?
If you head down to East London’s Tobacco Dock, you could be chomping down on Szcechuan-chicken lollipops, barbecued beef mingled with Caribbean jerk chicken, Indian masala chips, and wash it all down with a nojito (that’s non-alcoholic mojitos).
Of course, what’s a festival without an eating contest? The Halal Food fest is no exception – you can sign up for an eat-off, if you can stomach it.
Last year the warehouse decorated a balcony for guests to enjoy a view of the entertainment area which housed an ornately decorated shisha lounge and Qawwali music stage.
And you can’t forget the dessert. Guests were able to sample candied treats, including macarons, churros, and freakshakes – all gelatin-free, of course.
You can also expect to buy headscarves or get your henna done by professionals.
You might even spot a celebrity or two. Last year MasterChef winners Saliha Mahmood Ahmed and Shelina Permaloo carried out live cooking demonstrations.
Popular YouTuber Dina Tokio also headed down with her husband Sid.
Some fun stats from last year
Over 10,000 oranges were squeezed for Penny Appeal
Over 300 kilos of chicken were sold by one stall holder
All churros sold, put together, reach a combined length equivalent to five Big Bens in
Festival founder Waleed Jahangir told Metro.co.uk he wants the festival to become an all-encompassing foodie event on everyone’s calendars, no matter their ethnicity.
He said: ‘I created the festival with a view to it becoming a platform where communities and cultures could come together by simply using food as a vehicle.’
If you fancy heading along, you can buy a ticket through the London Halal Food Festival’s website.

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he commerce and industry ministry is working on a new e-commerce policy to boost the fast growing online retail as well as protect the interest of small retailers, sources said. The government has already set up a group of secretaries to look into the issues of the sector. The ministry is committed to preparing the policy to boost the growth of the sector, sources said. The move came after concerns were raised on some proposals of the draft e-commerce policy, which was prepared after consultations with several stakeholders, including industry chambers.
The draft e-commerce policy had suggested several steps to promote the growth of the sector. It had stated that online retail firms may have to store user data exclusively in India in view of security and privacy concerns. It had also said that any group company of an online retailer or marketplace may not be allowed to directly or indirectly influence the price or sale of products and services on its platform, a move that could completely restrict e-tailers from giving deep discounts.
The draft had suggested to introduce a pre-set timeframe for offering differential pricing or deep discounts by e-commerce players to customers. Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu informed Parliament the formulation of e-commerce policy is under consideration of the government for which no timeline has been fixed. Traders body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has time and again raised concerns over heavy discounts being provided by certain online-retailers.
CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that they have written to finance and commerce ministers suggesting them to take steps to check these discounts as they are leading to predatory pricing. “We have recently met officials of the ministry, who are making the new e-commerce policy. We have urged to put certain clauses to check e-commerce firms giving huge discounts and freebies as it is damaging the trade fabric of the country,” he said.
He added that e-tailers are giving discounts for the last four-five years and these were seriously damaging small retailers. Framing of a new policy also assumes significance as rich member nations of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) are pushing to frame global norms for e-commerce trade.


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Since 2008, Toyota Australia has been designated a Centre of Excellence for four-wheel drive development within the Toyota world thanks to the recognised skills of the local vehicle development team, and the fact that Australia has 80 per cent of the world's different on and off-road conditions making it perfect for global development and validation.
Toyota has launched its all-new LandCruiser 300 Series, kicking off the next chapter in the legendary off-roader's storied history.
Newly constructed from the ground up, the all-new 300 Series takes the capability, durability and reliability of the iconic LandCruiser nameplate to new levels, while also making advancements in safety, comfort, performance and technology.
Toyota has sold its 50 millionth Corolla, cementing its position as the world's most popular model.
Over the course of the past 54 years, Australians have played a significant role in its success with more than 1.5 million Corollas sold locally.
Toyota's legendary LandCruiser turns 70 - an historic milestone being celebrated in Australia with the release of special-edition versions of the rugged LandCruiser 70 Series off-roader.
Toyota Australia will launch two dramatically contrasting flagship LandCruiser variants when the all-new 4WD range goes on sale in the fourth quarter of this year.
The dual strategy involves the introduction of GR Sport, offering distinctive off-road character and prowess, and Sahara ZX with a high-quality focus emphasising peerless on-road luxury.
The Toyota 86 has captured the hearts and minds of performance enthusiasts around the country, ever since it was first introduced to the Australian market in 2012, but the story of the iconic 86 doesn't end there. The all-new GR 86 will take the legacy of the current model to new heights.
Toyota has improved the safety and styling of its best-selling LandCruiser Prado large SUV range, introducing new active safety technology on lower variants while boosting the visual appeal of the family off-roader.
Toyota is set to make its popular RAV4 medium SUV an even more enticing prospect with an array of new comfort, styling and technology upgrades across the range.
The changes will see every RAV4 petrol and hybrid variant gain new improvements, with production commencing in December 2021.
The all-new Kluger presents a powerful and stylish presence on the road with its sculpted appearance and flowing lines delivering a dynamic aesthetic.
Are you already struggling to fit your growing family in the old family car? Perhaps it’s time to switch to an SUV.
Toyota Australia has recently introduced the all-new Kluger Hybrid, which was designed with performance and luxury in mind.
LOCAL DEVELOPMENT HELPS SHAPE NEW LANDCRUISER8th October 2021
TOYOTA LANDCRUISER 300 SERIES: THE RETURN OF A LEGEND5th October 2021
TOYOTA COROLLA SALES TOP 50 MILLION ACROSS THE GLOBE13th August 2021
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Sainsbury’s to hand out out grab-and-go meal kits to commuters for Comic Relief
Sainsbury’s is to launch a two-day pop-up in London’s Kings Cross where it will offer busy commuters a healthy grab-and-go meal kit for two for just 50p.
With all proceeds from the sales being donated to Comic Relief, the move forms part of the supermarket’s Nourish the Nation programme with the charity in which it will donate 50p for every product sold from its Inspired to Cook range in-store and online until 11 July. Launched on 31 May, the six-week drive will contribute at least £3 million to the programme this summer.
Called DINspiration, the pop-up will be situated outside London Kings Cross station on 26 and 27 June from 5pm to 7pm. The meal kits contain ingredients from the retailer’s Inspired to Cook range, alongside fresh ingredients and recipes needed to cook the meals at home.
The idea for the pop-up followed research by Sainsbury’s which found that 74% of commuters think about what to have for dinner on their journey home. Furthermore, some 63% of those surveyed said they struggle to come up with healthy meal options due to a lack of inspiration.
Ruth Cranston, Sainsbury’s director of corporate responsibility and sustainability, said: “With so many people lacking dinner inspiration, we hope our pop-up adds a bit of flavour to commuters’ mealtimes. Our Inspired to Cook range is designed to inspire our customers’ food choices, helping them to cook fresh, nutritional meals with ease.
“And now, with Sainsbury’s donating 50p from every Inspired To Cook product sold until 11th July, this popular range not only tastes good, but does good too. All funds raised will go to our long-standing charity partner Comic Relief as part of our Nourish the Nation initiative, which seeks to prevent people falling into food poverty now and in the future.”
Working in partnership with Comic Relief, Sainsbury’s Nourish the Nation programme supports organisations such as Feeding Britain and The Bread and Butter Thing in their work to help alleviate food poverty in communities across the country.


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Most Vail winter parking rates going up for the first time in years
Here are six major changes to Vail’s winter parking rates. To see the complete list, visit this story at http://www.vaildaily.com.
• Free parking drops from two hours to 90 minutes.
• Parking up to two hours will cost $5.
• Parking between two and three hours drops from $15 to $10.
• Parking between 15 and 24 hours goes to $50 from $25.
• Blue parking passes rise to $1,250 from $1,100.
• Pink parking passes rise to $200 from $150.
Pass sales begin Oct. 30.
Source: Town of Vail
VAIL — Parking here is a limited commodity, but prices at the town’s paid parking facilities has been unchanged for nearly a decade. That changes when the 2017-18 ski season begins Nov. 17.
The Vail Town Council at its Tuesday, Oct. 3, meeting approved parking rates for the coming winter. To take on the task of re-pricing a host of parking products, the town relied on a task force made up of residents, business representatives and local government officials.
A number of rates are going up, including those for season parking passes. Pass prices were a matter of some debate on the council, since one of the most popular passes — the Pink — is ultimately cheaper than riding Eagle County’s ECO Transit buses. That pass price is rising from $150 to $200 per season, but don’t be surprised if Pink passes increase in price again next year.
The parking task force originally recommended doubling the price of the Pink pass, which allows parking at Ford Park and the town’s soccer fields. Council members believed that was too steep of a year-over-year increase.
Council members also went for a lower-than-recommended price on the Blue pass, which allows daily parking at the Lionshead Village structure. That pass, the town’s most popular, will rise in price from $1,100 to $1,250.
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Vail actually loses money each year on what it collects from parking. Vail Public Works Director Greg Hall told the council that the ultimate goal of raising parking prices is to drive down demand, particularly with the Blue, Green and Pink passes.
Supply, demand and pricing
Demand often outstrips supply for the 250 spaces available to Pink pass holders. More people using ECO would free up more supply.
But, council members said, ECO bus service to Vail needs to improve before transit becomes a realistic option for many employees. And a monthly ECO pass is $85, making Vail’s Pink pass “the bargain of the century,” council member Jenn Bruno said.
“If we make it this easy to drive, why would the county improve bus service?” council member Greg Moffet said.
Moffet recommended bringing in the Eagle County Commissioners to talk about bus service and pricing.
Pass buyers aren’t the only parking customers who will see some big increases. The daily cost of parking in the structures for between four and 15 hours will see a modest rise — from $25 to $30. That can accommodate the mostly local customers who use that parking. But council members said some hotels in town either don’t have their own parking or recommend that guests use less-expensive town parking. For those who park between 15 and 24 hours in the structure, the rate is going from $25 to $50.
Mayor Dave Chapin told the council that during peak periods, there can be 200 to 300 cars parked for 24-hour periods in the structures. A large charge will encourage guests to either use hotel parking or not bring cars to Vail.
Moffet said the new charges are at least the start of an effort to modify behavior with parking prices.
If parking gets expensive enough, then lodges that don’t have their own parking will tell guests not to bring cars to Vail, he said.
Changes for daily rates
At the less-expensive end of the parking spectrum, the town has also dropped its free-parking time from two hours to 90 minutes. Parking up to two hours will cost $5, and the town is working on a way for businesses to buy vouchers to give to customers who are coming into town for a meal or some shopping.
For those who park between two and three hours, the price is dropping to $10 from the previous $15.
While rates for the coming winter see many changes, this council isn’t yet ready to talk about charging for summer parking.
Half-jokingly, Chapin at the meeting wouldn’t even say “charging for summer parking,” preferring instead to call it “managing” the supply.
If the town ever does decide to charge for summer parking, then it’s likely that winter parking passes will be good in the summer, too.
And it may not be so long before the council again tackles parking rates.
“Shame on us for not touching this for 10 years,” Moffet said. “We’d be better off with a 3 percent per year increase.”
Vail Daily Business Editor Scott Miller can be reached at 970-748-2930, email@example.com and @scottnmiller.


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Rumors Behind the News
FAREWELL, SILLY THINGS: On Memorial Day, Marjory Panetti took the signs out of the window and closed the doors to Panetti's Gifts, a popular fixture on 24th Street for nearly 20 years. After her long run, "it's kind of like the Ides of May, and I'm retired," she says gleefully. "But I loved being here all these years, and I will miss everyone."
During her gift store proprietorship, she was happy to "bring silly things to my customers, who had a great sense of humor," she says. "Probably the oddest gift I carried was Poo-Pets, little animals to put out in your garden that were actually made out of poop. They didn't smell like it anymore, of course."
As for the most popular gift item, "that would have to be the personality pillow, which had portraits of various famous people like Napoleon and Jack Kerouac," Panetti says. "We made a sign for one of them that said, 'Put Freud on Your Couch!'"
Panetti now plans "to travel a lot and see all the people I haven't seen for many years. When I get back, I want to start volunteering my time to work in the adult literacy program."
What will fill Panetti's storefront? A garden store named Urban Nest is all set to move into the space. We'll give you the scoop next month.
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SPRING RUMORS that Designers' Club, the women's boutique on the corner of 24th and Sanchez, would be going out of business have proved to be true. The store will close "sometime in July," says owner Prisca Bonati. Bonati says two things contributed to the decision: her lease ran out and the building was sold. "The new owners are planning a major renovation of the whole building, which should start later this year."
Bonati, who lives in Noe Valley, opened the store in 1989 as Designers' Club Too, when she also operated another women's boutique in North Beach called Designers' Club. That closed in the '90s, and the "Too" was dropped from the name of the Noe Valley store.
She says the new owners have offered to lease the space to her after the renovations are complete, but she will decline. "I will miss all my customers," she says, "but frankly I need a vacation from retail after all of these years. Maybe then I'll start up again with something new, but right now I have no plans."
It looks as if the corner will be under construction for a while. The new owners reportedly plan to expand the third-floor residential unit as well as the main floor and basement space, which was a framing shop in the 1980s. The fate of the tiny house standing at the back of the lot is unknown.
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BOLTS FROM THE BLUE: Meanwhile, rumors were circulating last month that Tuggey's Hardware Store was in trouble and that owner Denny Giovannoli was going to retire and close his business. The news sent shock waves through Downtown Noe Valley, so I am happy to report that the rumors are not true.
"I guess I started those rumors myself, earlier this year," says Giovannoli, "when business was way down and I was feeling that maybe it was not worth working six days a week anymore and it was time to retire. I have been here for over 28 years," he notes. Giovannoli was surprised that "a lot of people have come in asking me about [my talk of retirement].
"But I like this neighborhood too much, and business has picked up. I am still having a lot of fun doing this, so I'm not going anywhere," he says. Whew.
Tuggey's, a repository of hard-to-find screws, nuts, and bolts, is the second-oldest continuing business in Noe Valley. It was started by the Tuggey family at that location in 1898, and taken over from the Tuggeys by Giovannoli's dad, Bob, in 1957, who continued the tradition.
Bob turned over the keys to Denny in 1977, and he has operated the store ever since. We all hope the tradition will continue for another hundred years. "Oh, please," begs Denny.
By the way, the oldest ongoing store in Noe Valley is the Drewes Brothers meat market on Church and 29th Street, which first opened as Fairmount Meats in 1888. The store changed its name to Drewes in 1889, and then to Drewes Brothers Meats in 1998.
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HOMETOWN IMPROVEMENTS: The results of Friends of Noe Valley's annual survey of its membership (and of other neighborhood residents and workers) will be on the front burner at the group's general meeting on June 9, 7:30 p.m., at the Noe ValleySally Brunn Library. Friends President Debra Niemann reports that the response to the survey was 37 percent greater this year.
"People were concerned most about the dirty sidewalks, litter, and graffiti, and the rising numbers of house and car break-ins in the neighborhood," she says. "And when we compared the issues from last year's survey, park and recreation issues were bigger concerns for people."
Respondents also complained that dog walkers should keep their canines on leash on 24th Street, and car owners should be a tad less aggressive, i.e., slow down and stop doing middle-of-the-block U-turns to grab a parking place.
Among their further wishes for Noe Valley were an organic grocery store, better and more diverse restaurant choices, a movie theater, a men's clothing store, a garden store, and a juice bar.
Another survey to be mulled over at the June Friends meeting will be the one taken a few months ago by the Friends of Noe Courts, a group of neighbors who'd like to spruce up the small park and playground at 24th and Douglass streets.
FLASH: At press time, Laura Norman, a cofounder of the Noe Courts group, wrote the Voice with some terrific news: The mayor's most recent capital budget has allocated $175,000 to Noe Courts. "We are very excited about this," says Norman. "It will take us a long way toward making some significant improvements to the park!"
Perhaps there's hope for my pet project (for the last 30 years): The city should fix the dang bathrooms. Noe Courts is one of the few parks where diapers are recommended for all ages.
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NEW ANTIQUES: Church Street is currently going through an antique store renaissance. A few years ago, many antique stores used to dot the street. Then one by one, most of them closed.
Last month, Lovejoy's Tea Room opened an antiques and collectibles shop, Lovejoy's Attic, right across the street from its tea palace at Church and Clipper. (See this issue's Store Trek.)
Now a new antique shop, to be called Lynn's Antiques and Beautiful Things, will open in July, in the space formerly occupied by Danu Salon on Church near 27th. The "Lynn" in the name is Church Street resident Lynn Ingham, and she says she is stocking the store with a trove of treasures.
After working for many years in marketing and advertising, which involved a lot of travel, Ingham is looking forward to spending time in the neighborhood and "using the creative part of my spirit." She got charged up for her new venture by volunteering at the Noe Valley Farmers' Market.
Lynn's Antiques will not only carry antiques, but also some mid-century and new home furnishings and accessories. "We've got a lot of hutches," Ingham says, "and I've been collecting all styles of dishware."
A third vintique store, Rosa Goes Shopping, is scheduled to open mid-June on Church a few doors north of 24th (where the Nor-Cal cigarette shop was for six months). Owners Rosa Florez-Hart and Felicia Weston will offer both antique and modern home accessories, and they'll be featuring local artists as well.
Florez-Hart, who has lived in Noe Valley for the past 18 years, recently left a longtime career as a social worker for the City and County of San Francisco. "I have also freelanced as a designer, and I'm excited about packing the shop with items of interest, and keeping the inventory fresh," she says. A specialty of the store will be a collection of restored footstools.
Florez-Hart is well aware that the neighborhood is becoming a vintage village. "I've been contacted by all the other antique stores on Church Street, and they said it's great we are opening and talking in the spirit of cooperation."
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TAG, YOU'RE IT: Merchants are relieved to learn that the infamous graffiti terrorist "ROC" has been apprehended by the San Francisco Police.
After a hiatus of several years, ROC's initials had suddenly appeared this spring at several Noe Valley locations, including the walls of the playground at James Lick Middle School. After the sightings, an e-mail alert authored by Smallfrys shop owner Carol Yenne went out to the members of the Noe Valley Merchants Association, with cc's to the SFPD and our supervisor, Bevan Dufty.
Wrote Yenne, "ROC has etched many windows in the neighborhood, some of which are still not replaced, and done thousands and thousands of dollars in damage to BART, Muni, and to other neighborhoods."
In May, SFPD Graffiti Abatement Officer Christopher Putz reported back, saying he "was recently able to get an arrest warrant issued for ROC for spray-painting Lick Middle School."
Then on May 9, ROC was caught while spray-painting his moniker on a Muni bus at 30th and Mission right in front of some police officers. Ingleside Station then booked him into county jail.
According to Officer Putz, ROC's hearing date has been scheduled for Friday, June 10, at 9 a.m., in Department 16 of the Hall of Justice, 850 Bryant Street. The case is Superior Court #2218176.
Yenne wants all the merchants, especially those whose stores have been defaced, to try to attend the hearing. "This one person has caused havoc in Noe Valley for years, and he gets a slap on the wrist every time he's caught," moans Yenne. "We don't want this to happen anymore, so this time we want to make sure he is dealt with appropriately."
Mission Station Captain John Goldberg is also asking for a good showing at the hearing, which he describes as a "pre-trial conference" that is quite routine. Goldberg says for that very reason a strong attendance will take it out of the routine and emphasize to the court the seriousness of the case.
"Secondly, it will show support for the District Attorney's Office and our efforts to stop this destructive behavior, and thirdly it will let the defense know the gravity of the charges," Goldberg says.
Note that you will not be allowed to make a public statement at this hearing.
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CSI: NOE VALLEY: The May 2005 police blotter also noted an interesting event on May 4 at Noe's Bar (Church and 24th), which was picked up by Examiner reporter Alison Soltau.
On May 15, Soltau wrote, "Two savvy employees of a Noe Valley bar are being hailed as heroes after they thwarted a man's attempts to slip what police suspect was a date-rape drug into his unsuspecting companion's drink."
Noe's longtime bartender Hannah Oxley and waitress Karri Cormican, who has worked at Noe's for just over six months, are the eagle-eyed employees who saved the day. Captain Goldberg at Mission Station thinks the two employees should be commended for their heroic acts.
Cormican is taking the accolades in stride, and says she was just happy to have helped the woman. Here's how she describes what happened:
"This couple came in, obviously on a date, and I had not seen either one of them before...you know, you kind of get to know the regulars. I served them two separate drinks, and the lady got up to go to the restroom. Then when I was returning to the table with their change, I saw the guy putting some white powder in the beer I had just served her. I told the man that the beer looked badly fermented and that I would take it back and bring out a new one."
Cormican went back to fetch another drink and told Oxley, who was behind the bar, what she had just seen. Meanwhile, the woman came out of the restroom and stepped outside onto the sidewalk.
Cormican went outside too, to tell the woman what had happened. "I learned that she had recently arrived in San Francisco and that this was her first date with this guy. While we were talking, Hannah saw him dump more powder into the second beer and she [promptly] phoned the police."
The man left the bar before police arrived, but subsequently has been questioned by them. The police are reportedly testing some crime-scene evidence that they took from Noe's.
According to Cormican, who brought the woman over to the bar to get her away from her "date," the couple met at a local dance class.
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RAVE REVIEWS: Publishers Weekly, the NYC trade journal, wrote last month that San Francisco's Noe Valley by Bill Yenne was "among the surprise bestsellers last year," along with two other Arcadia Publishing titles, Hudson's: Detroit's Legendary Department Store, and Chicago's Riverview Amusement Park.
According to Arcadia's local editor, John Poultney, Yenne's book is ready to go into its fourth printing. Arcadia also has just released another great book in the "Images of America" series, about the oldest neighborhood in San Francisco, the Presidio. It should be available soon at Cover to Cover or Phoenix Books.
Lastly, for all you horseracing fans, Lost in the Fog won his race on May 14 and set a Golden Gate Fields track record. Owner Harry Aleo is ecstatic and will next race him at Belmont on June 7, in a seven-furlong race. Those who follow the horses say Lost in the Fog is the fastest sprinter in the land. I think this is Noe Valley's first national sprint champion. Are there any other horses in Noe Valley?
That's all, you all. Ciao for now.


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Last week, Bank of America rolled out a mobile banking application for Android tablets and another one designed specifically for Amazon's Kindle Fire. The move is part of the bank's continuing mobile strategy, which Mark Warshawsky, senior vice president and mobile channel executive, says is "really about maximizing our reach to customers and providing the best experience possible on any device that they choose to use."
Bank of America launched its first mobile services in the spring of 2007. Now, more than 9.5 million customers are active users of the bank's mobile channel, which includes a mobile website, text banking and downloadable applications. Warshawsky says that this success in customer adoption of its mobile apps is due in part to the bank's focus on creating user experiences that are tailored to each device.
Prior to the rollout of the Android and Kindle Fire tablet apps for banking, Bank of America already had released apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, as well as BlackBerry, Android and Windows smartphones. Although each of the mobile banking apps offer the same functionality, including account overviews, bill pay and fund transfer, each user interface is slightly different and made to work with certain screen sizes and operating systems. "We think it's important to take the time to invest in these unique experiences," Warshawsky notes. "We don't just port the same app from one device to another."
[For more on best practices for creating mobile banking apps for tablets, download the April digital issue of Bank Systems & Technology.]
Warshawsky says that Bank of America will continue to roll out new apps as new devices come out. "Whether it's new capabilities or new devices, we're always going to invest in things that make the experience better for customers," says Warshawsky of the bank's continuing mobile strategy. He adds that customers can expect additional features for its mobile apps in the coming year.


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Justin Timberlake Pretends to Work at Target in Hilarious Must-See Video
Target: Where you always seem to get more than you expected…
Like Justin Timberlake for a cashier. On Thursday, Aug. 19, TikTok user Douglas Anthony shared a throwback video of the “SexyBack” singer inside a Target branch in Colorado, jokingly scanning items such as Icebreakers and gum in a checkout line before putting them back on a shelf.
“Justin Timberlake said post this for the naysayers,” Douglas wrote, adding, “#hesaidnohateandhewillstartatiktok.”
Justin’s former *NSYNC bandmate Lance Bass joked in the comments, “This guy looks oddly familiar. I can’t place it.”
Justin, who wore a gray jacket over a blue shirt and wool winter beanie with the word “Montana” on it, later posted the video himself on his Instagram Story, writing, “Haters Gonna Say It’s Fake,” according to Entertainment Weekly.
“Everyone on here, that’s my cuz,” Douglass wrote. “Haters gonna say it’s…fake.”
The video has since gone viral, with more than 1.9 million views.


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Arla Foods Ingredients has identified high-protein iced tea as the next big trend in beverages. Demand for functional / fortified beverages is increasing rapidly. In...
Paul Gurnell, general manager at Purearth, offers his thoughts on how functional, immunity boosting drinks can become a way of life for consumers. Even before...
The Natural Products Association (NPA) has rejected new legislation introduced in the US House that would allow CBD products to be used in dietary supplements.
UK-based water kefir, organic juices and shots brand has reported a 254% sales increase since the beginning go the Covid-19 pandemic, with overall order numbers up 320% year-on-year.
The organisers of the Free From Functional & Health Ingredients (FFFHI) and Free From Expo Packaging (FFEP) have confirmed that the events, which were...
Carotenoid-based wellness specialist Lycored is inviting the nutrition industry to join together in an online choir.
The Natural Products Association has stepped up its criticism of the Food and Drug Administration over its failure to date to set out clear safety standards for CBD products.
Australian and New Zealand food regulators have published a range of digestive health claims for the Kerry-owned probiotic GanedenBC30.
As demand grows from manufacturers for organic, natural and functional protein products, Arla Foods Ingredients has launched what it says is the first organic micellar casein isolate.
New advice from the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) that people suffering common digestive conditions should consider stopping using probiotics “ignores scientific evidence, a leading US trade body says.
London-based CBD brand, Love Hemp reports “surging” online sales during the global COVID-19 pandemic – up 107% from January-May 2020.
The global cannabis drinks market will be worth US$1.82 billion by the end of 2020, growing to US$5.8 billion by 2024.
Tel Hai, Israel-based marine ingredient start-up Yemoja, has opened the doors of its new plant dedicated to the production of high value microalga
Demanding lifestyles combined with early signs of ageing is often the trigger for Thai consumers to proactively start shopping for health and nutrition products, says market intelligence agency Mintel.
Global ingredient supplier, Cambridge Commodities, has appointed Simon Mortimer as new sales director.


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Chennai: Car maker Ford India on Friday
said it is voluntarily inspecting 7,249 EcoSport petrol vehicles made
between November 2017 and March 2018 to update the powertrain control
module (PCM) software.
In a statement, the company said the software update action is in line with Ford's continued commitment to ensuring world-class quality of its vehicles and will eliminate any remote chance of sudden deceleration or battery drainage.
Customers will receive a notification from Ford India via an email or a letter. They can also visit the field service action section on Ford India's website to check if their car is covered under the action, the statement added.
|Gold Rate in Chennai||Rs. 33450.00 (-0.54%)|
|Gold Rate in Mumbai||Rs. 34000.00 (0.29%)|
|Gold Rate in Delhi||Rs. 34150.00 (0.29%)|
|Gold Rate in Kolkata||Rs. 34470.00 (0.5%)|
|Gold Rate in Kerala||Rs. 32150.00 (-0.77%)|
|Gold Rate in Bangalore||Rs. 32750.00 (-0.82%)|
|Gold Rate in Hyderabad||Rs. 33450.00 (-0.71%)|


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Businesses Boarding Up Windows Due to Potential Election Day Unrest
Stores are making plans (including closures) for dealing with possibly destructive protests.
Fox News, the New York Times and many other news outlets are reporting that small businesses and retailers in major cities across the country are boarding up storefront windows in anticipation of Election Day unrest.
Nordstrom said it plans to board up some of its 350 stores and hire extra security for Election Day, reports the Times. The paper cites similar measures being taken by high-end stores like Tiffany & Company and Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City and other locations.
Beverly Hills police have announced plans to close Rodeo Drive, the famous strip of luxury stores, on Tuesday and Wednesday, in anticipation of increased protest activity.
According to an estimate by the Insurance Information Institute, businesses were hit with at least $1 billion in insured losses sustained during looting in the aftermath of George Floyd's killing in May.
Entrepreneur Editors' Picks
These Co-Founders Are Using 'Quiet Confidence' to Flip the Script on Cutthroat Startup Culture and Make Their Mark on a $46 Billion Industry
My 7-Year-Old Daughter Started Selling Eggs. Here's What She Taught Me About Running a Startup.
Why You Need to Become an Inclusive Leader (and How to Do It)
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Billionaire Naveen Jain Is an Expert at Disrupting Fields He Has No Experience In. His Secret Sauce for Building Multi-Million Dollar Companies? 'You Have to Come as Naive.'
4 Principles to Develop Next-Level Leadership at Your Company
This Filipino American Founder Is Disrupting the Beverage Aisle by Introducing New Flavors to the Crowded Bubbly Water Market


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An app which promises to transform compliance in transport and logistics and help prevent fraud and cargo theft has been launched by freight tech pioneer and Transport Exchange Group chief executive Lyall Cresswell.
Trustd is a business ID and credentials app which promises to enables every single organisation in the supply chain to manage risk and achieve 100% security on every transaction by functioning as the sole source for verification and risk management.
The technology enables 3PLs, carriers and drivers to minimise risk and maximise compliance, from onboarding right through the lifetime of the relationship, as well as at the individual transaction level, where required.
It operates by empowering each party to identify who’s carrying their freight, visiting their site, or driving their vehicle, confirming to each party who they’re working with at each step, and providing electronic ID verification for every organisation involved.
The app acts as an efficient central hub, where business profiles are stored and shared between organisations. Trustd’s automation tech notifies these organisations of any status changes, so they continue to stay compliant from beginning to end.
- Haulage prices tumble to lowest level in almost two years, TEG Index reveals
- Fuel prices set to rise again if duty freeze not renewed warns TEG
- RHA pushes for safer HGV parking facilities as cargo thefts rocket
Lyall Cresswell, Trustd CEO and founder, said: “We’re offering a much-needed, innovative business ID solution to a fragmented market.
"Notably, that market is operating within a layered platform economy where trust frequently breaks down, and the sheer number of organisations operating make it inherently complex.
"Unfortunately, this situation creates conditions where threats to the supply chain - like fraud and cargo theft - can thrive.
“Our mission is to harness advanced electronic ID verification technology to provide users with confidence and certainty in all aspects of their business.”
Trustd is already a partner of the Transport Exchange Group, with nearly 8,500 verified entities registered to date and more advanced functionality for the app in the pipeline.
The Trustd web app is available to use now, with a supporting mobile app soon to be available on both Apple and Android devices.


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Bebo founder Michael Burch has revealed that he has bought back the ailing social media platform for $1m, having sold it to AOL just five years ago for $850m.
In a tweet, Burch announced that he had repurchased the site with a tweet that read: "We just bought Bebo back for $1m. Can we actually re-invent it? Who knows, but it will be fun trying..."
Burch launched the social media site eight years ago before selling it to AOL, which in turn sold it onto CCP in 2010 for under $10m, while Facebook grew into a billion dollar property.
In April the site filed a bankruptcy motion and entered receivership before apparently being purchased by its founder.


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Dollar General Corporation (DG) Reaches New 1-Year High at $85.15
Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $85.15 and last traded at $85.30, with a volume of 1539230 shares. The stock had previously closed at $84.91.
A number of equities analysts have weighed in on DG shares. BMO Capital Markets restated a “hold” rating on shares of Dollar General Corporation in a report on Wednesday, September 27th. BidaskClub upgraded Dollar General Corporation from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 25th. Deutsche Bank AG restated a “hold” rating and issued a $79.00 price target on shares of Dollar General Corporation in a report on Friday, September 1st. Zacks Investment Research cut Dollar General Corporation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 29th. Finally, Loop Capital restated a “hold” rating and issued a $76.00 price target on shares of Dollar General Corporation in a report on Thursday, August 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $80.98.
The company has a quick ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $23,360.00, a PE ratio of 18.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.93.
Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 31st. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.01. Dollar General Corporation had a return on equity of 22.67% and a net margin of 5.38%. The firm had revenue of $5.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.80 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. equities research analysts expect that Dollar General Corporation will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 10th were given a $0.26 dividend. This represents a $1.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 6th. Dollar General Corporation’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.53%.
In other news, EVP Robert D. Ravener sold 11,257 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.00, for a total value of $866,789.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,740,046. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.22% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Dollar General Corporation by 1.8% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,615,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,269,909,000 after purchasing an additional 315,589 shares in the last quarter. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD grew its stake in shares of Dollar General Corporation by 41.3% in the third quarter. Longview Partners Guernsey LTD now owns 11,321,660 shares of the company’s stock worth $917,621,000 after purchasing an additional 3,310,168 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of Dollar General Corporation by 2.3% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 7,888,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $642,060,000 after purchasing an additional 178,400 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Dollar General Corporation by 14.0% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,428,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $520,989,000 after purchasing an additional 791,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Dollar General Corporation by 29.4% in the second quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,915,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $426,424,000 after purchasing an additional 1,345,562 shares in the last quarter. 89.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
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About Dollar General Corporation
Dollar General Corporation is a discount retailer. The Company offers a selection of merchandise, including consumables, seasonal, home products and apparel. The Company’s consumables category includes paper and cleaning products (such as paper towels, bath tissue, and other home cleaning supplies); packaged food (such as cereals, spices, sugar and flour); perishables (such as milk, beer and wine); snacks (such as candy, cookies, and carbonated beverages); health and beauty (such as over-the-counter medicines and personal care products); pet (pet supplies and pet food), and tobacco products.
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These are the two main motivations behind creating a cardless payments app in Japan
Japanese startup Paidy, ExCo’s online payment service, announced a US$15 million Series B funding round led by SBI Holdings and Eight Roads Ventures Japan on Thursday. Other investors include Itochu and two returning funders: SIG Asia and Arbor Ventures.
Like every country, Japan‘s e-commerce landscape is growing, projected to go from US$89 billion in 2015 to US$122 billion in 2018, according to e-commerce portal PFSweb. Paidy is trying to develop a non-credit card payment network for Japanese e-commerce, already reaching 600,000 stores online that allow shoppers to check out with merely a phone number. That includes clients such as Adidas and Dean & Deluca, according to the company. The reasons to go that route have a lot to do with increasing credit card fraud in the country, which amounted to GBP43.1 million in 2014 according to Accenture.
The company is the brainchild of Canadian investment banker Russell Cummer, who has led ExCo since 2008. With attention being paid to their payments app, it seems the company is undergoing a rebranding, though that wasn’t entirely clear. Other investors in the company have included 500 Startups, Juvo Capital, CyberAgent Ventures, Cherubic Ventures and Recruit Strategic Partners.
While fraud might be one motivation, Japanese consumers prefer cash in general. The same Accenture report points out only 60 per cent of payments in Japan are done by card.
“It isn’t because people don’t have a credit card,” Cummer told TechCrunch. “People just don’t use them when shopping online. That’s because the majority of purchases are made on a mobile device, that form factor plus the fact they are probably on the go, means paying without a credit card is easier.”
The payments subsector is getting noticed across Asia. Last week, Bangkok-based Omise raised US$17.5 million in Series B with investors from fintech-awash Singapore and Jakarta. Unlike fintech hubs Singapore and Hong Kong, Japan’s scene is still nascent, having seen only US$44 million in venture investments in the sector in the first three quarters of 2015.
The article Paying online without a credit card? Japanese startup Paidy just raised $15 million to push the effort first appeared on Geektime.
The post Paying online without a credit card? Japanese startup Paidy just raises US$15M to push the effort appeared first on e27.
from e27 http://ift.tt/2aB5KyN
Paidy – a non-credit card payment network for Japanese e-commerce, already reaching 600,000 stores online
Paidy – paying online without a credit card


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Q-Auto, the official dealer for Audi in Qatar, announces a 46.7 per cent growth increase in the year to date, 2014. The increment represents the strongest growth for Audi in the region, supporting local trends for an increasing preference for the brand and popularity amongst the local community.
The brand has experienced a significant amount of growth over the year, achieving high rankings across the Audi range. The top achiever for Audi Qatar so far has been the A5 Coupe with an increase of 71 per cent compared to the previous year. Following closely is the A4 and the spacious A8 saloon with an increment of 69 per cent and 60 per cent, respectively.
In addition, Audi’s world renowned SUV models have also experienced year over year gains, with an overall achievement of a 36 per cent increase for the crossover Q7, 32 per cent for the midsized Q5 and 35 per cent for the Q3. Audi Qatar foresees an even higher growth achievement next year, due to a number of exciting product launches and an all new after sales service center set to open in the first quarter of 2015.
“We look back on the best year of the Audi brand in Qatar,” Ala Makey, Audi sales manager said. “Milestones have been met and our long term growth strategy is well on its way. The record sales accomplishment is solely attributed to our innovative product introductions and excellent pre and post purchase services. We strive to provide each and every one of our customers with a memorable brand experience, one that reflects Audi’s key brand traits of sophistication and progressiveness. As a premium dealer in Qatar, we are continuously aiming for new benchmarks in the automobile market and are already looking forward to achieving higher statistics in the upcoming year,” he added.
Since Q-Auto became the official dealer of Audi, the brand has accomplished a number of achievements in the year 2014. Of those would be the premium sedan and SUV packages being offered to customers as well as the recent introduction of the “Customer Delight” after sales service program. The brand aims to continue product expansions and new service openings, further accommodating the needs of their customers here in Qatar.


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August 5, 2014: Musa Tariq has been named digital marketing director at Apple. He had been global senior director of social media and community at Nike. (AgencySpy)
April 29, 2014: Justin Taylor has been named global digital brand director for basketball at Nike. He had been executive producer at TBWA\Chiat\Day. (AgencySpy)
September 30, 2013: Joy Howard has been named vice president of marketing at Patagonia, Inc. She had been vice president of marketing at Nike. (release)
March 4, 2011: Josh Mandel has been named director of strategy at 72andSunny.
He had been director of marketing at Nike. (mb)
December 7, 2010: Vada Manager has been named senior vice president at APCO Worldwide.
He had been senior director of global issues management at Nike. (PRNewser)


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Core updates have been popping out from everywhere lately these past few years. Like little hidden land mines, they’ve eliminated quite a number of websites and businesses that haven’t been following guidelines to an exact T.
This year’s very first Google confirmed core update did not fail to very same thing as well.
Various SEO and SEM agencies and companies all over the world, even here in Singapore at this point is now very familiar with all of these kinds of updates.
The start of 2019 was filled with a few mysterious things. February had a couple of deadly fluctuations in search that weren’t confirmed. But now, it seems that all that was just the newest core update being set up behind the scenes.
This new Google core update was rolled out on the 12th of March 2019. This is the first core update that was officially confirmed after last year’s August “Medic Update”. And while that first one had a somewhat cool name, this very recent one had a more creative one. “March 2019 Core Update”.
While its older brother, 2018’s Medic update mainly targeted health, fitness and wellness themed sites, this year’s first official update has been observed to reverse all of these effects like an evil sister.
Well, reversed in to a certain degree. Websites last year that had benefited from the extreme core changes from Google Medic seems to have all dipped in performance this year. And all of the ones that had negative experiences and performance last year seem to be doing better because of this March 2019 update.
One other pattern here that can be seen from March’s update is that it seems to be it, favoring websites that are able to provide the highest level of trust. Most especially the ones that target all of the YMYL related search terms. (“Your money, your life”)
It has been determined by a whole slew sites out there that the main beneficiaries are those sites that has a strong brand profile and a broad focus on topics. This means that the sites and businesses out there that over focus on their niche has fallen in performance.
This is a big thing since, there are still businesses out there that build their notoriety by over focusing themes on the niche their campaigns are in. What most of them do not realize is that the whole campaign starts to look a little bit more unnatural. Having topics that can be a bit broader and can cover a more diverse set of topics are deemed more natural. Which makes sense. This was the whole point from the beginning but, over specialising on these things can be a bit tempting.
This means that if you happen to be currently shopping for agencies out there to help you out with your business online, always look for ones that can offer SEO services that gives you a more natural and broader type of approach.
Google has said that the March 2019 update is worth confirming but it doesn’t mean that this is the biggest update it has done. Which might scare you if you’re doing something to cheat your way up the ranks.
Generally, the only next step is that websites and businesses continue to pool all their efforts on building trust and authority. Producing and sharing content that’s actually valuable and authoritative.
These businesses and websites can also try to update all of the elements on their websites that contribute to good user experience. Imagine a website that has really slow loading speed, or has parts where the pages won’t load. The level of trustworthiness there won’t be too good. Users will instead get the idea that the site is shady or has something bad happening behind the scenes.
It would not matter that much even if you have all of the best and most compelling authoritative content. If you are running a website that performs badly, it would all be a very sad waste.


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The National Logistics Policy unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday will substantially reduce transportation costs across the entire supply chain and has the potential to usher in “ease of moving” in the country, India Inc said.
The prime minister unveiled the National Logistics Policy that seeks to address challenges facing the transport sector and bring down the logistics cost of businesses from 13-14 per cent to a single digit.
At a grand launch event, he said the policy aims to expedite the last-mile delivery, helping businesses save time and money. While the new policy addresses challenges of the logistics sector, it together with the infrastructure augmentation plan PM GatiShakti will address gaps, he said.
CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said besides improving ease of doing business and ease of living, the policy along with other pillars of the PM Gati-Shakti has the potential to usher in an unprecedented era of ‘ease of moving’ in the country, ensuring speedier and seamless movement of cargo and people across various modes of transport.
He said the reduced logistics cost and increased efficiencies will energise the economy across sectors in multiple ways and take us many steps closer to emerging as a global manufacturing powerhouse.
Assocham secretary general Deepak Sood described the National Logistics Policy as a major structural transformative initiative which will substantially reduce transaction costs across the entire supply chain. “It (the policy) will facilitate India being embedded across global value chains, as we move ahead on the path towards [email protected],” Sood added.
The Union government has been working on the National Logistics Policy for three years. The commerce ministry released a draft logistics policy for consultation in 2019, but it was delayed due to Covid-19 pandemic. The National Logistics Policy was once again announced by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Budget for 2022-23.The draft policy provides for the government creating a single point of reference for all logistics and trade facilitation matters, reducing costs for the logistics sector to 10 per cent in five years. The logistics sector is estimated at 13-14 per cent of GDP.
To read and know more news, now you can also follow us on social media – To follow on Twitter, type – @khas_khabar and to read news #khas_khabar live follow on Facebook You can follow our page @socialkhabarlive.


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TomTom has announced a new high-end TomTom GO series this morning, including 4.3″, 5″ and 6″ models. While the details aren’t entirely clear, it appears that all models will include a capacitive multi-touch display and 3D buildings. read more
The new fifth generation TomTom Rider for motorcycles is coming to the US. The most interesting new features are a larger 4.3″ glove-friendly screen, a “winding roads” feature to give you the curviest ride, and route management with Tyre or via a new “Upload Routes and Go” capability that will allow you to save online routes to the device. The Rider also includes Bluetooth for sending audio instructions to your helmet. read more
The TomTom START 45M is a new entry-level TomTom, with a 4.3″ screen and lifetime map updates. It comes with Advanced Lane Guidance, speed limit display and preloaded maps of the US and Canada.
After nearly three years, it looks like TomTom will be getting back into the motorcycle market with the TomTom RIDER 5. And if I’m not mistaken, it’s been even longer since the US saw a RIDER unit, with the last one being the RIDER 2, introduced in 2007. read more
Ouch! Consumer Reports has posted an article that is very critical of some of TomTom’s integrated mounts. I’m not sure they are being entirely fair though. With the exception of the START series, they are criticizing mounts from discontinued units. read more
Hands on review of the TomTom VIA 1605TM
The TomTom VIA 1605TM is an unusual size; it’s the first 6″ navigator that I’m aware of. TomTom seems to be investigating a new sweet spot, between the 5″ models which have come to dominate our rankings and the 7″ behemoths Magellan is hawking to the truck and RV crowd. read more
Ah, the marketing folks are at it again. All over the Web this morning, you can find the headline “TomTom offers free daily map changes on all devices.” Sounds great, huh? The problem is that TomTom has been advertising Map Share as a feature on their newer devices ever since they came out.
Hands on with the TomTom Start 55TM
The TomTom START 55TM is a new entry-level TomTom, albeit the top-of-the-line model in the Start series, thanks to its five-inch screen and lifetime traffic and map updates. Otherwise, this is just a basic and capable navigator.
UPDATE 2: Read my hands on review of the TomTom VIA 1605TM.
There were a few items showing up on the Web this morning about a six-inch START 60 that just hit the market in Europe, and while we often have to wait many months to see new TomToms on this side of the pond, a 6″ TomTom VIA 1605TM has shown up on Amazon.


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Startup news and update: daily roundup (April 28, 2023)
YourStory presents the daily news roundup from the Indian startup ecosystem and beyond. Here's the roundup for Friday, April 28, 2023.
Google Cloud joins hands with Polygon Labs
Cloud and Polygon Labs have signed a multi-year strategic alliance to accelerate the adoption of core Polygon protocols, including Polygon PoS, Polygon Supernets, and Polygon zkEVM, with Google Cloud infrastructure and developer tools.
With this association, the two entities will work on engineering and go-to-market initiatives to make it easier for developers to build, launch, and grow Web3 products and decentralised applications (dApps) on Polygon protocols.
To help developers overcome the time-intensive processes and costly overheads associated with provisioning, maintaining, and operating dedicated blockchain nodes, Google Cloud will bring Blockchain Node Engine, its fully managed node hosting service, to the Polygon ecosystem.
Amazon Fashion launches ‘Next Gen Store’
Fashion has launched ‘Next Gen Store’, designed to cater to the unique fashion needs of Gen-Z shoppers.
Amazon Fashion has more than 200 domestic and global fashion brands. The store offers a mix of fast fashion, sustainable fashion, and affordable styles.
This Next Gen Store offers products from vibrant prints to trendy pieces like baguette bags. In addition, it offers accessories, smartwatches, sneakers, sports shoes, and high boots to complement the clothing collection.
HR tech company Xobin unveils ‘AI Evaluation'
has unveiled "AI Evaluation," a generative AI based solution. This new AI-based solution can automatically rate the correctness of any text based or video answer, saving organizations valuable time and resources that would otherwise be spent on manual evaluation and grading.
This technology has been designed to improve the talent shortlisting process, which is a critical step in the recruitment process.
Yulu launches Wynn
opened the bookings of its first personal electric two-wheeler Yulu Wynn.
Wynn is offered through its mobility subscription packs that reduce the upfront cost of ownership by 40%, as per the company.
It is equipped with a swappable battery that can be swapped in under 1 minute at any battery swapping station on the Yuma Energy network— a joint venture of Yulu and Magna.
The battery can also be charged at home using a portable charger that can be bought as an accessory.
Wynn is currently available in 2 colours - Scarlet Red & Moonlight White and launched at a introductory price of Rs 55,555, bookings for Yulu Wynn can be made online at just Rs 999 (fully refundable). Deliveries will commence from mid-May.
After the introductory period, Wynn will be available at a price of Rs 59,999.
CredR expands to Southeast Asia and Africa with $1M in initial Investment
, an online marketplace for used two-wheelers, is expanding its operations to Southeast Asia and Africa as a part of its long-term growth strategy with a $1 million initial investment.
The company plans to use its technology stack consisting of three applications: CredR Connect, CredR Refresh, and CredR.com to offer a unique value proposition to its customers in these regions.
To support its growth, it will be partnering with local dealers and distributors.
Recently, it developed a buyback program that guarantees a price for customers who buy new EVs now but may want to sell them later. CredR has over 350 touchpoints and relationships with various original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
(The copy will be updated throughout the day with the latest news.)
Edited by Affirunisa Kankudti


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By: Andrea Eymann
Special to the Wreckhouse Weekly
RAMEA – Despite the pandemic’s negative impact on many areas of the economy, Danny Dumaresque’s Labrador Gem Seafoods is currently expanding business into St. John’s. Building a small distribution centre will allow the company to have better access to airplanes to get products to its customers faster.
Labrador Gem Seafoods sells a variety of fish, including scallops, lobster, crab, sea urchin, Atlantic cod, halibut, turbot, grey sole, hake, herring, mackerel, capelin and squid.
Dumaresque would love to ship his frozen fish straight to consumers but the ongoing pandemic did affect that side of operations.
“It was extremely difficult, and a lot of last year was a lot of anxiety,” Dumaresque said.
The fish only has a shelf-life of 14 days. Shipping fish out to Tokyo, Japan and other markets, especially during the second wave, caused hiccups.
“The product went the way it was supposed to sometimes and other times it had to be re-routed to go to two airports,” noted Dumaresque.
With a new distribution centre in St. John’s, Labrador Gem Seafoods can receive orders and get them out to the customers within 48 hours to anywhere in North America.
“We are trying to move our business away from the wholesalers and more direct to the customers and especially focus on North America,” said Dumaresque.
Even though the Deer Lake airport is only about three hours away from the Ramea fish plant, the choice was made to build the distribution centre to avail of the St. John’s airport for a couple of reasons instead.
Said Dumaresque, “It would be a lot more efficient and less costly, but that airport doesn’t have the capacity to have frozen or fresh seafood being flown out on a reliable basis and especially with the pandemic.”
Dumaresque is also developing a brand new website to make it easier for people to purchase the products. The distribution centre also will mean new equipment and new packaging designs.
“I’m using a new technology, (it) is the vacuum skin packaging technology,” said Dumaresque. “It’s like a vacuum pack but it takes it, and it forms right around the product and it’s going to eliminate 100 per cent of the oxygen to give you a better shelf-life and it looks like a million dollars.”
Dumaresque estimates the expansion to St. John’s will cost about $250,000 to $300,000 and will create 10 new jobs.
The pandemic came with an unexpected upside too. Dumaresque has observed a significant increase of frozen seafood by about 30 or 40 percent. Labrador Gem’s seafood is frozen immediately once it has been processed.
“People came to realize that frozen seafood was actually as good or contended better than fresh,” said Dumaresque.
Dumaresque has been involved with the fishing industry for 20 years but launched his processing business six years ago. Around 2001 was when he seemed to stumble into it.
“I was a member of the legislature in Newfoundland for several years and I lost an election, and I came out of there and decided to try and do a little hand of seafood consulting.”
That was when a Boston company, called Atlantic Gem came looking for someone to help secure some licensing for a processing facility. Even though, Dumaresque did not know much about the fishing business, he knew people.
Atlantic Gem asked him to get them some scallops, and so he got scallops from a fisherman for eight dollars and he then sold the scallops for $25 to Atlantic Gem.
“Well then, I can sell enough of them I’m going to make a living at it,” recounted Dumaresque.
Six years ago, says Dumaresque, the price of fish per pound was $1.25 to get it out of the ocean and today it is $7.50.
The industry may have its up and downs, but by expediting shipping and expanding its offerings direct to consumers, it’s clear that Labrador Gem Seafoods will continue to adapt.
The company’s new website is scheduled to go live on July 1.


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The annual fundraising event for the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Met Gala, is just around the corner.
Since 1995, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour has curated the guest list and seating chart, with only around 600 people attending each year.
Who Is Invited to the 2023 Met Gala Event?
This year’s exhibition celebrates the work of the late designer Karl Lagerfeld across six fashion labels.
The event is renowned for its celebrity attendees who wear stunning outfits as they walk the red carpet.
Paris Hilton’s first Met Gala appearance
Paris Hilton, an heiress, DJ, and author, is set to attend her first-ever Met Gala. “Well-connected” sources confirmed the news to TMZ, which was later confirmed by Page Six. Hilton received an invitation from Vogue and the designer of her outfit, but it is unclear which designer she will be wearing.
Dua Lipa as a host and co-chair
Dua Lipa will be one of the co-chairs for this year’s Met Gala. She confirmed this on her Instagram, where she expressed excitement about the event. She previously attended the Met Gala in 2019.
Penelope Cruz’s role as a host
Penelope Cruz, a longtime muse of Chanel and a close friend of Karl Lagerfeld, will also be a host of the event.
She made her runway debut in 2019 after Lagerfeld’s death. In an interview with WWD, she spoke about their strong connection and how he was not only a genius but also kind and sweet.
Michaela Coel as a host
Michaela Coel, the creator and actress of “I May Destroy You,” will also be a host at this year’s Met Gala. She attended the event in 2021.
Roger Federer’s role as a host
Tennis player Roger Federer will also be a host at this year’s Met Gala. He and Anna Wintour are close friends, and in a tribute essay for him, she wrote about their conversations about fashion and tennis.
Elle Fanning’s homage to Karl Lagerfeld
Elle Fanning will also be attending the Met Gala and confirmed this in an interview with Variety. She mentioned that she has a special outfit planned that pays homage to Karl Lagerfeld.
Kim Kardashian’s appearance at the Met Gala
Kim Kardashian is also set to attend the Met Gala this year, according to sources. She made headlines last year for her full-body outfit that covered her face and body.


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Search Engine giant Google has had to shut down its social network Google+ after a user-data leak that exposed up to half a million users.
According to a spokesperson at Google, a “…software bug made data that users believed was secure accessible to third parties”.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Google knew about the bug in March this year, but did not believe the issue was “serious enough to inform the public”.
In light of General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which were implemented in May, the failure is likely to attract regulatory investigation, however Google’s Privacy and Data Protection Office, who reviewed the issue, believes that no thresholds were breached.
Google+ has not achieved the broadbase consumer adoption that Google had desired after launching the product in 2011, and it appears the company was due to shut the project down in any event.
For more information on data protection, your obligations and rights and other website queries, contact Realnet today on +44 1223 55 08 09.


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“C, The Economy Sucks” — Not Always The Right Answer
I know it’s almost irresistible to write another story about how "the economy is tanking and we’re all doomed, here’s another example," but it’s not always the whole story:
Disney’s sports network ESPN said this week that it would shed about 200 jobs this year. The Bristol, Conn.-unit also is freezing the salaries of senior executives.
The layoffs come just two weeks after Disney disclosed that it awarded Chief Executive Robert Iger $30.6 million in compensation in 2008, an increase of 11% from 2007. The boost came despite a 5.5% drop in net income during the entertainment giant’s last fiscal year as consumers reined in spending, reducing profit at its theme parks as well as its television stations and networks that rely on advertising. Disney’s revenue climbed 7% to $37.8 billion.
Most Disney divisions are cutting back as the economy worsens. Last week, the company offered voluntary buyout packages to about 600 executives at its domestic theme park and resort divisions. Those executives have until Feb. 6 to decide whether to leave with severance or risk becoming part of a round of layoffs.
The number of employees let go at the Disney-ABC Television Group represent less than 3% of its nearly 7,000 workers, or 5% including the vacant positions. Last November, ABC asked its show producers to trim their budgets by 2% in a bid to reduce production costs.
The entertainment industry isn’t recession-proof, but historically it’s about 2 years behind the rest of the economy because entertainment is one of the last things people will give up.
However, entertainment companies make a lot of deals that don’t pan out and they use times of economic downturn to unload them. It’s a highly speculative business that doesn’t easily reduce itself to exact science, so studios are always making deals for "the next big thing" and they then use these times to get rid of the ones that don’t work. The business is also changing and this is their chance to pare back less profitable divisions — and never underestimate their willingness to scare employees into tightening their belts.
I’m sure they’re worried about the economy too but if 2008 revenues are up over 2007 and Iger’s worth 11% more to the company, the sky’s probably not falling and the entertainment business is also just doing what it’s done since Cecil B. DeMille rode over the Cahuenga Pass on a mule.


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SEOUL, South Korea – Samsung Electronics pardoned Friday for illnesses and, it has made a safe working environment in the presence of its computer and the factories are not displayed. Ads advertised by the giant Korean technology spent a few weeks a group of Samsung and a sick worker approached the compensation terms proposed by a broker and went on for more than a decade to finish a high advertising announcement.
The company's forgiveness was part of liquidation.
Kinam Kim, the chairman of Samsung's device solutions, said the company has "managed healthy threats" in its semiconductors and liquid crystal manufacturing lines. In the last decade of the Associated Press Reports, the ten laboratories that have worked in the laboratory have serious illnesses, such as leukemia and brain tumors.
"We offer our sincere forgiveness to the patients and their families who have suffered their suffering," said Kim in a media outlet in Seoul, which also involved staff and family members.
But with the resolution of an agreement and the failure of security regulations, Samsung has not yet recognized the environment of its workplace as the cause of illness.
In 2007, Hwang Sang-gi tax was not allowed to accept a settlement, after a 23-year-old daughter died of leukemia after working on a Samsung factory. Hwang has made efforts to clarify the cause of Yu-mi's death and Samsung has continued to work on the conditions of work, and has made a wider move to preventing businesses and governments shielding security chips and display industries because they use large quantities of chemicals.
"There is not enough apology enough (considering recent fraud and humiliation over 11 years), pain for work-related illnesses, pain for loved ones," said Hwang. "However, today's vindication for Samsung Electronics has been committed," he said, to improve the safety of its workplaces.
According to Commitments, Samsung has compensated for the sick worker who has worked in its chips and LCD factories since 1984, earning 150 million leukemia ($ 132,000). This compensation also covers the growth of child labor and serious illnesses, such as cancer.
Since 2008, dozens of workers have been looking for work-related compensation compensation from the government. He rarely earned compensation, especially in court years. Half of the remaining claims are being rejected and half being analyzed.
Victim families have often saved and sell houses for hospital bills. Some workers disable it and they can not work.
© 2018 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material has not been published, issued, rewritten or redistributed.[ad_2]


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A Nuneaton brewer is today unveiling an unlikely summer sensation - beer lollies.
The product is the brainchild of Church End brewery, which has devised a major technological breakthrough that for the first time allows beer to be frozen.
Up until now scientists thought it impossible to freeze beer because the freezing point of alcohol is much lower than water - but Stuart Elliott, owner and head brewer of Church End, has overcome this problem.
"It was a case of getting the balance right," he said of his product, which will be marketed under the catch line Real Ale - Real Cool.
"Church End is renowned for its quality real ales and, with summer approaching, I wanted drinkers to enjoy the pleasure of the refreshingly cool taste of our ales on a stick."
He first managed to freeze its 3.4 per cent traditional bitter and then went on to stronger ales, even stout.
Stuart said: "It's proving particularly popular with football and rugby clubs - we're planning Manchester Mild, Birmingham Bitter and Liverpool Lager Lollies - I think we could even colour them to reflect the teams' home strips."
Church End Beer Lollies are currently being tested in selected outlets nationwide, but their locations are a closely guarded secret.
But with the announcement made as early as April, the company hopes to be ready for the warmer months.


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The European Commission has published documents which it hopes will result in governments across Europe standardising the way they run their administrations. The Commission said the documents would help make government services interoperable. The Commission's European Interoperability Strategy (EIS) and the European …
legal, organisational, semantic and technical
They forgot "linguistic". The French will standardize their administration in a language other than French? Hell wil freeze over first.
Across the whole of the EU?
We haven't managed to have a single system for a kingdom which has supposedly been united for over 300 years.
Still - as a bureacrat I welcome the plethora of job opps that this will surely create.
I imagine it will all look something like Gilliam's Brazil when its finished.
Big brother is watching you - but on a low res monochrome wide angle CCTV recorded to VHS which has been taped over a few hundred cycles.
- iPad? iFAD! NOW we know why Apple went running to IBM
- Updated HIDDEN packet sniffer spy tech in MILLIONS of iPhones, iPads – expert
- Apple orders huge MOUNTAIN of 80 MILLION 'Air' iPhone 6s
- PROOF the Apple iPhone 6 rumor mill hype-gasm has reached its logical conclusion
- Black Hat anti-Tor talk smashed by lawyers' wrecking ball


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which the South Korean tech giant has described as a television designed for a mobile phone generation.
Sero TV comes 43 inches in 4K resolution,
and it can automatically switch between landscape (default) and portrait mode depending on what is being displayed, making users able to watch Instagram stories,
Snapchat content as well as personal videos from their mobile phone on A relatively large screen without black bars on the left and right sides.
And Sero Sero TV appeared for the first time last April in South Korea,
and the company launched it last May at a price of 1630 dollars,
but it was limited to South Korea, and according to the company believes that the idea of this device deserves to be presented globally,
the company has presented it and announced that it is coming to the rest of the world this year.
The lightweight device frame is linked to an integrated and non-removable stand that contains a 60-watt speaker system,
and Samsung indicates that the device is small enough to fit into a bookcase,
and a Samsung spokesman said:
This TV fits anywhere for customers who try to combine it with the room’s decor.
Sero TV is connected to the phone via NFC technology and is compatible with Apple’s AirPlay 2 standard,
which allows iOS owners to transfer content to the TV over the wireless network, Samsung
but they must use the attached remote control supporting the Bixby voice assistant to switch the screen mode manually,
while Galaxy phone owners can use their devices with Sero instantly to broadcast content to the screen.
The TV displays images, stickers,
and other content or visual images accompanying music through a feature called Sound Wall when Sero is not actively used.
Sero is the latest addition from Samsung to the collection of “lifestyle” televisions that includes Serif,
which is designed to match the aesthetic of the living room and comes in three sizes 43, 49 and 55 inches, and The Frame,


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A rumour has spread among social media users that authorities in France are going to stop Covid-19 unvaccinated citizens from buying food and groceries. The claim is Mostly False.
Based on a statement by France’s President Emmanuel Macron, a number of social media users started assuming that France is going to block the entry of unvaccinated citizens to all departmental stores. Several users claimed, “No jab, no food.”
This further triggered a situation of unrest among citizens who questioned if taking the vaccine is any more optional.
Has France decided to stop food supply for unvaccinated?
No. It is wrong to say that France decided to stop Food supplies for the unvaccinated.
On July 12, President Emmanuel Macron declared that major entry into major public places will require people to carry the Covid Health Pass (EU Digital Certificate for the COVID vaccine). This announcement triggered the rumour that the Govt. is now preventing people from entering supermarkets to buy food.
On July 13, Health Minister Olivier Véran clarified to the media, “We are talking about [asking for health passes in] big shopping centres… not supermarkets.”
What did France President Emmanuel Macron say?
The President said the health pass (pass sanitaire) will be needed to access public spaces including restaurants, transport, cultural spaces, shopping centres, sports centres and more.
He said, “You’ve understood – vaccination is not immediately obligatory for everyone, but we’re going to extend the health pass to the maximum, in order to push a maximum of you to go and get vaccinated.”
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Could Apple be creating a self-driving car?
According to sources, technology giant Apple is looking beyond mobile devices to learn how to make a self-driving electric car and is in talks with several automotive suppliers. The California-based maker of phones and computers is exploring how to make an entire vehicle, not just designing its software.
Apple is gathering advice on parts and production methods, focusing on electric and connected-car technologies, while studying the potential for automated driving, a source claimed. Whether it will build and release an electric car or a more evolved autonomous vehicle remains to be seen.
Trying to build an actual car would mark a dramatic shift for the maker of the iPhone and iPad. Apple often researches projects which are then discarded, but has so far mainly stuck to its core expertise in mobile and electronic devices.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Apple had set up a secret lab working on the creation of an Apple-branded electric car, citing people familiar with the matter. The lab was set up late last year, soon after Apple revealed its forthcoming smart watch and latest iPhones, the Financial Times said.
Already, automakers such as Daimler, BMW and Audi have revealed cars that can travel long distances without human intervention, and from the looks of it Apple will have to be added to the that list very soon.


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In March, it was reported that the number of subscriptions to online video streaming services around the world reached 1.1 billion in 2020 — a 26 percent increase from 2019. The surge was an obvious product of the coronavirus pandemic, which kept viewers locked in their homes with not much to do besides binge watch TV.
Since the start of 2020, eight streaming services have launched, including AMC+, Paramount+ and Peacock. Big players like HBO Max and Disney Plus have enticed subscribers with exclusive content, like day-and-date film releases and a filmed stage adaptation of Hamilton, respectively.
The streaming wars are very much on. But the biggest battle the platforms are fighting is not with their competitors — it’s with their own terrible interfaces.
Assuming you’re among the billion-plus people who subscribe to at least one streaming service, there’s a very good chance you have your own gripes and frustrations with usability on even your preferred platforms. And you’re certainly not alone.
People’s inability to navigate HBO Max’s glitchy app, for example, is so commonplace that it’s become a meme. “The hbo max app is designed like they’re mad at you for using it,” tweeted user @JackWilliamRtF in early August. The tweet garnered nearly 318,000 likes and 29,000 retweets, with 700 replies from others users sharing their own bad experiences.
This past summer, users accessing HBO Max through Apple TV and Roku were met with a surfeit of problems and malfunctions. Besides issues with playback control and scrubbing, users have experienced freezes and repeated crashes when trying to play content, according to Vulture, who reported last month on HBO Max’s efforts to fix its buggy app. To HBO parent company WarnerMedia’s credit, they were aware their app was severely broken, and they scrambled to fix it. The problem, though, isn’t unique to them. Infuriating user functionality plagues nearly every popular streaming service.
Last month for Paste, writer Jim Vorel detailed his frustrations with Amazon Prime, writing that the streaming service’s video library has become “genuinely impossible to browse” and adding, “Personally, I have my own grievances with Hulu, a platform that, for whatever reason, refuses to pick up from where I left off and will, instead, restart the episode from the beginning or skip to the next episode even without me finishing the previous one.
For Mia Eltiste, a user experience (UX) researcher based in Austin, Texas, streaming platforms and their horrible interfaces have helped earn her a sizable following on TikTok. On her account, @heymiadotco, Eltiste roasts everything from shopping websites to dating apps for their bad user interfaces (UI) and UX design, but she has a significant amount of content about streaming services.
“The most frustrating thing is when companies don’t consider accessibility at all,” she tells InsideHook. “Without question, their UI needs to pass color-contrast ratios, [and] captions and audio descriptions need to be available and easily accessed.”
With the majority of problems Eltiste finds on streaming services, there’s a useful design functionality at play, but the context a user might be in when viewing content isn’t considered. “For example, letting users skip the intro but having the button disappear after three seconds doesn’t consider the fact that users might have to search for their remote or still want to skip the intro halfway through,” she says.
“System status” also plays a crucial role. This has to do with a system letting its user know where they are and communicating to them about what’s going on.
“A good example of this is on my Peacock roast, where you can’t see where you’re rewinding to. This affects the sense of control a user has, which can obviously affect the experience they’re having — humans like to have control, and when you take that away you increase the chance of a bad user experience.”
There are countless examples of seemingly small issues like these, and we could certainly keep going, but then we wouldn’t have time to ask the important question:
Why does bad UI/UX happen to good content?
“It seems like a cop-out to blame the technology, but we’re in a race. We’re in a technological race,” says Dominira Saul, the President, Principal and Co-Founder of strategic research and design firm DFFRNT and the former Director of the UX team for You.i TV. “When we are dealing with a hundred million people trying to all download the same content at the same time, and these websites are calling to servers and the servers are downloading content, that’s where a lot of the glitches arise.”
User experience is dependent on how viewers are accessing a streaming service as well. The main issues with HBO Max, as mentioned above, involved the software and smart TVs that were hosting the streaming application.
“If you’re HBO, Hulu or whoever, you have to deliver your platform to so many different devices and variations of those devices. And they all have proprietary technology,” Dan Rayburn, a streaming media expert, tells InsideHook. “Apple, Microsoft, Google, Sony, Roku, Amazon, Tevo don’t share the same technology.” Therefore, streaming services have to develop applications that work on each platform, along with software development kits (SDK), Rayburn explains, which is essentially the thing that makes a streaming service operate on a Roku or Amazon device. The moment the SDK changes or a platform like Apple TV rolls out a new update, it can break the technology HBO or Hulu created for that platform.
“Now they have to go back and debug it. They’ve got to look at what everyone’s complaining about and roll out an update,” says Rayburn. “It’s not always a problem with the [streaming service]. Sometimes these platforms make changes and it breaks things,” says Rayburn.
Okay, so technological difficulties happen, but what about the mind-boggling user interface functions? Why doesn’t Hulu mark an episode as complete even though there are only ten seconds of credits left, credits I will obviously not be finishing?
“Time and money are the biggest reasons,” says Eltiste. “To discover these issues, you have to do research and then redesigns, then test those, and then develop them — all before you can implement them. Also, you’re testing in a different environment, so you’re not going to notice everything that someone actually goes through.”
It’s not that issues with navigation, for example, are difficult for product design teams to tackle, says Viktor Golias, a Product UX/UI Designer, it just isn’t on the table to fix them because they might not be playing a significant part of business value. “I think product teams that have ideas for improving the UI have tiny budgets or those projects got deprioritized in comparison with initiatives that directly correlates with business growth, such as securing the best content,” he says.
“The biggest problem we have in the industry internally and externally is a lack of experts in consumer behavior involved in these projects,” adds Rayburn, who explains that the vast majority of streaming services are solely hiring data analysts instead of consumer behavior specialists.
“The biggest thing missing in the [streaming] industry, is the predictability because you can predict how somebody is going to behave depending on how you put information in front of them, and yet almost none of these services are hiring those people.” Save for Netflix.
Netflix: The Gold Standard
All of the experts I spoke with agreed that when it comes to streaming, Netflix does it best.
“Love it or hate it, Netflix is probably the best example out there of a streaming service user interface,” says Saul.
“Now, you have to understand how Netflix got to be where they are,” he adds. “They have a real heavy focus on usability. They have a heavy focus on research, on design, on testing. They’re constantly doing automated A/B testing. They’re constantly doing usability testing and constantly tweaking little bits and pieces of the interface to make it better.”
It’s why competitive services may seem substandard next to Netflix. You can’t simply recreate Netflix’s simple design, you need their depth of research.
“It’s easy to see Netflix as a whole and say, ‘Well, I’m just going to reproduce that. I’m going to make some swim lanes and carousels. We’re going to have a play button,’” says Saul. “But to remove that top layer and look at the mechanisms underneath that got them there, that’s not being reproduced in a lot of these streaming services. They’re trying to do the visuals. But they’re not doing the research. They’re not doing the design iteration underneath the covers that got Netflix to where they are. They’re just trying to copy what they see.”
Still, the storied streaming service is not without its own issues.
“Netflix is definitely the front runner, but there are still plenty of things to be improved,” says Eltiste who notes that the ability to filter search by which shows/movies have audio descriptions (AD) available would be an extremely helpful asset to those visually impaired. “Netflix is better than most in that they at least label a series with ‘AD’ if it’s available, but that’s still more work than it should be.”
Netflix also doesn’t trigger ads or offer live content, features many other streaming services have, which shields them from potential technological blunders. HBO Max’s launch of a new $10 ad-supported tier in June as part of the reason it bugged out, according to Vulture.
It’s why (as much as we like to) comparing streaming services is like comparing apples to oranges. “People will say, ‘Oh, Peacock, hasn’t been that good. There are all these issues with ad triggering. Netflix doesn’t have that issue.’ Well, Netflix isn’t triggering ads. Netflix isn’t doing live sports.”
So what should streaming services companies be doing about all these criticisms?
Well, the obvious answer is to listen to their consumers.
“It’s painful to listen when people are actually denigrating or criticizing the work that you do. I’ve seen some of these design teams in some of these organizations. They’re dedicated. They’re talented. They know what they’re doing. A lot of the time it’s not necessarily even the design team, it’s often the organizational structure that’s the hindrance,” explains Saul. “But the number one thing is listening to that criticism and taking it to heart because they’re the end-users. That’s your customer base.” Especially because glitches and frustrating UI/UX design can have an impact on subscriptions.
“I stopped using HBO Max completely because it was too heavy and kept crashing,” notes Eltiste.
In a market as saturated as streaming, consumers are overwhelmed with choices. While content is still king, usability and user experience is going to have a real impact on a company’s success.
“People have ample amounts of streaming services to choose from, they don’t have to put up with poor service,” adds Eltiste. Companies that want to succeed in the streaming market need to prioritize user experience.”
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