text:
This commentary was written in collaboration with Banking Circle.
It was one thing for the European Union (EU) to talk about enacting comprehensive cryptocurrency regulation: It is another to pass the corresponding legislation. That is exactly what the EU did in late April with the long-anticipated Markets in Cryptoassets (MiCA) directive. MiCA will regulate the cryptocurrency sector with common rules across all 27 of the EU’s member states.
Several years in the making, MiCA is part of a broader push by the EU to regulate digital finance more like it does the rest of financial services. Other legislation focused on this objective includes the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) and the DLT Pilot Regime Regulation.
Once it goes into effect in July 2024, MiCA will classify crypto in three categories subject to different regulation based on their underlying risk: electric money tokens (EMTs), asset-referenced tokens (ARTs) – both of which are variants of stablecoins – and all others. The “others” will include non-pegged payment tokens like bitcoin.
Under MiCA, any firm providing crypto services in the EU must register in one of the bloc’s member states. Once they do that, they can operate throughout the EU. The European Banking Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority will be responsible for ensuring compliance by crypto firms to eschew another FTX-like catastrophe.
And it is no exaggeration to say that the sudden, rapid implosion of the erstwhile US$32 billion exchange highlighted the urgency of implementing regulations for the crypto sector.
“Under the MiCA regime, no company providing crypto assets in the EU would have been allowed to be organized, or perhaps I should say disorganized, in the way FTX reportedly was,” Alexandra Jour-Schroeder, deputy director general at the European Commission’s financial-services arm, said in November, shortly after the once-massive exchange imploded.
With the adoption of a unified regulatory framework for digital assets, the EU is taking a step no other jurisdiction has to date. Chances are – barring a dramatic increase in severity of the crypto bear market – that the many crypto fence sitters will feel more pressure to act.
“It would be a surprise if other jurisdictions like the UK and the US aren’t quick to follow suit and further accelerate their crypto regulatory efforts,” Alisa DiCaprio, chief economist at enterprise blockchain firm R3, told Bloomberg.
In fact, in the lead-up to MiCA’s passage in April, crypto venture capital investment in Europe overtook that in the U.S., according to data compiled by Pitchbook. Prior to the January-March period, Europe had rarely, if ever, led the U.S. in that category.
The EU should be commended for its efforts to develop a robust and enduring regulatory framework for digital assets. It is likely that the benefits of the legislation will outweigh its shortcomings, and it could set a global standard for crypto regulations.
That said, MiCA has a few potential problem areas worthy of note. CoinDesk identified one in late 2022: Although MiCA requires companies targeting the EU market to register with a local regulator, certain exemptions exist that could be exploited.
For instance, if a company based outside the EU provides relevant crypto-asset services at the "own exclusive initiative" of a customer residing within the bloc, that company does not have to obtain authorization under MiCA. Similar provisions exist under the EU’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive 2014 (MiFID II).
Known as “reverse solicitation,” this scenario exists for practical reasons. It is challenging for regulators to control how companies and individuals in the EU engage with overseas crypto firms and a blanket ban on such activity like China has implemented is not feasible for Europe.
EU officials say that the risk of reverse solicitation being abused could be mitigated if other jurisdictions adopt similar regulations to MiCA. Perhaps, but easier said than done. It is too early to say whether other countries will follow the MiCA model.
MiCA also imposes some restrictions on stablecoins that crypto diehards are chafing at. MiCA will require operations to maintain local reserves and face trading caps on non-euro-denominated tokens not backed by fiat currency.
Glass half full
Imperfect as it may be, MiCA represents an important step forward in the ongoing and arduous process of cryptocurrency regulation. Detractors of the legislation, which often point out it does not regulate NFTs, should recognize that effective regulation of a new asset class and its underlying technology does not happen overnight.
What MiCA will accomplish in the short run is an elevation of cryptocurrency from the financial underground to the aboveboard mainstream. Bringing crypto out of the shadows and under some centralized regulatory control will disappoint some decentralization zealots, but more importantly, it will help curb fraud, money laundering and other malfeasance that easily proliferate in the absence of proper regulation.
MiCA could also, in the long run, boost the development of a thriving Web3 ecosystem undergirded by stablecoins. For stablecoins to be adopted widely, two factors are crucial: building the proper infrastructure and implementing the right regulation. To the first point, better infrastructure is still needed to enable Web3 payments. With regards to the second, MiCA is likely to be a key part of it.
MiCA mandates that stablecoins are sufficiently backed, have capital requirements for issuers, and have issuance limits. It also focused on transparency. The clarity introduced by these rules will likely boost the confidence of consumers and business to use stablecoins, ultimately catalyzing much wider adoption throughout the EU.
Asset-backed stablecoins are ideal for Web3 payments given their stability against fiat currencies, giving banks and payments providers the ability to facilitate payments outside traditional bank rails. Stablecoins also have significant reconciliation, speed and cost advantages.
Wider adoption of stablecoins, which are cheaper and faster than other instant payment schemes, could ultimately help break down payment barriers, democratizing finance and creating new international growth opportunities for SMEs, especially in markets where correspondent banking is less mature.
This commentary was written in collaboration with Banking Circle and originally appeared on Banking Circle.
In recent years, political tumult and Covid restrictions have dented Hong Kong’s reputation as a global financial center. Yet Hong Kong faces another type of challenge now: how to best capitalize on opportunities afforded by the financial sector’s rapid digitization. That is where Hong Kong’s newfound interest in cryptocurrency derives, especially given how it has lost some ground to Singapore in wealth management and fintech.
In Asia Pacific, Japan is taking a proactive position on stablecoin regulation much as it has other elements of cryptocurrency rules since 2017. New regulations are expected to come into effect in June, while Japanese banks recently began a stablecoin experiment on an Ethereum public chain. Though certain crypto fundamentalists decry Japan’s stablecoin regulations as overly restrictive, in reality, the alternative is unattractive. UST’s spectacular implosion last year and the subsequent criminal charges brought by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission against Terraforms Labs founder are a pointed reminder of what happens when stablecoins are left entirely to “market forces.”
At long last, Taiwan plans to adopt some basic cryptocurrency regulations beyond requiring crypto firms to adhere to existing anti-money laundering legislation. The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) will be responsible for the regulations, though the extent of its role has yet to be decided. In all likelihood, the FSC will continue to take a hands-off approach to decentralized digital currencies due to its limited understanding of them and preference to not get heavily involved in a segment of financial services that remains well outside of the mainstream in Taiwan and thus with relatively few ties to the banking system.
A commentary in collaboration with Banking Circle.
While many countries are enthusiastic about blockchain, or distributed ledger technology (DLT), China is in a class by itself. It has a commanding share of blockchain patents, many companies operating in the space and related investment that is growing exponentially. China’s blockchain investment surged from US$14.4 million in 2017 to USD US$930 million in 2021, according to the research firms IDC and the China Commercial and Industrial Research Institute.
The cryptocurrency industry always runs ahead of regulators while the media builds its narratives based on the stories of exuberant founders and investors. This paradigm helps explain why Singapore has been perceived as the place to be for crypto – “hub” is the word of choice – for several years now even though the city-state’s government has been more modest in its ambitions.
A commentary in collaboration with Banking Circle.
It can be hard to separate the hype from reality when it comes to Web3. After all, on the one hand, it is being heralded as “the future of the internet” and on the other, its actual definition remains fluid.
We reckon Silvergate wishes it had never served as FTX’s bank. The collapse of the once mighty crypto exchange has had massive ripple effects across the entire decentralized digital currency ecosystem. In the last three months of 2022, investors pulled out US$8 billion in deposits from the bank given its heavy exposure to FTX and it posted a loss of US$1 billion in the fourth quarter of the year. Silvergate’s stock is trading at around US$5.40 a share, down 95% from a year ago.
Most Asian countries are mulling the creation of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), but only China and Cambodia have launched one. We think that CBDCs make the most sense for countries with pressing financial inclusion needs, and with that in mind, the launch of Laos’s first CBDC pilot led by the same Japanese blockchain company that developed Cambodia’s Project Bakong can be viewed as a positive development.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has emerged as a leading fintech hub of the Middle East, with one of the region’s most dynamic startup ecosystems. From a regulatory standpoint, it is also taking a leading role, with big plans for both cryptocurrency and a central bank digital currency (CBDC). While many countries have adopted one or the other, the UAE is one of the few that seems open to both.
China’s launch of the digital yuan has prompted a scramble in Northeast Asia among central banks to assess the merits of CBDCs. Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are all at different stages of CBDC testing that they likely never would have begun if it were not for Beijing’s determination to develop a digital fiat currency. That begs an important question: Does the rest of Northeast Asia need CBDCs? After all, the respective initiatives of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are inherently reactive, in contrast to Beijing’s proactive approach.
What crypto bear market? North Korea stole a record amount of digital assets in 2022 despite the industry facing unprecedented difficulties. Perhaps the Hermit Kingdom knows something others do not and is betting all that purloined crypto will appreciate handsomely in the years to come. Or maybe it’s just easier for the country’s formidable cybercriminals to pilfer digital assets than other types of money given that the crypto industry continues to operate in the shadows. Whatever the reason, Pyongyang made off with a quite haul last year.
The whispers about China potentially reconsidering its ban on cryptocurrency are growing. In fact, some credible (not crypto bros) people are starting to openly moot the possibility, albeit in the most cautious way possible. If asked a year or even six months ago, we would have said that it was highly unlikely given the concerns the central government has about the use of decentralized digital currencies to evade capital controls and how they may foment systemic financial risk. Now we would say that there is a real debate occurring, but that the ban will not be reversed unless the Chinese authorities see compelling economic benefits.
We have published a few commentaries over the past year noting how central bank digital currency (CBDC) adoption in Southeast Asia is pretty slow. Cambodia is an exception, but its digital fiat currency is not exactly a CBDC in the traditional sense – an important distinction to make. Bakong is probably best described as a blockchain-powered retail payments system managed by the Cambodian central bank that allows interoperability among the different players in the country’s payments landscape.


text:
CRCOnline is pleased to announce its first online conference
"Worship in a Digital Age"
Saturday 2nd October 2021 2pm-5pm
Stephen Burns, Professor of Liturgical and Practical Theology in the University of Divinity, Melbourne will be our keynote speaker.
And there will be shorter inputs on:
- "Sacramental worship and the digital church" with Revd Sue Hammersley, Vicar of St Mark's Sheffield
- "Making the most of the digital experience" with Dr Peter Phillips, Director of the Centre for Digital Theology, Durham
As well as the opportunity for further discussion in breakout rooms and a final panel.
The fee for the conference is £5 and booking is now open via Eventbrite.

domain: news


text:
If you needed any more proof of the size of Apple's pudding — and the absurd brand power the tech giant wields upon millions of iFans the world over — chew on this.
At last count, Apple had $US194 billion ($A262 billion) in cash and securities.
That's enough to cover the €86 billion ($A128 billion) Greek bailout deal struck overnight twice over — with a cool $6 billion still left over to spend on gyros and ouzo.
And it's all thanks to the iPhone.
According to wealth management firm Canaccord Genuity, in the first quarter of 2015 Apple reaped a whopping 92 per cent of the total operating income of the top eight smartphone manufacturers in the world, The Wall Street Journal reports.
That's a 65 per cent jump on the previous year, fuelled by the September 2014 release of the iPhone 6, which produced record sales.
Apple's biggest competitor, South Korean manufacturer Samsung, reaped 15 per cent of profits out of the top eight manufacturers.
(No, we're not numerically challenged; Cannacord says Apple and Samsung's combined profits exceed 100 per cent because some of the top eight makers actually lost money on smartphones, including HTC and Microsoft, which just sacked thousands of staff from its mobile division).
While we're on the topic of charity, it's worth noting that Apple isn't selling more smartphones than its competitors — its just charging (arguably) extortionate prices.
In fact, it has less than 20 per cent of the global smartphone market, per unit sold.
Telsyte managing director Foad Fadaghi says market share is a contentious point for Apple because it's often measured in terms of how many handsets are sold, rather than the total profit reaped.
"This piece of [Canaccord] research is exactly the way Apple likes to see its market share, rather than by units," he says.
Apple's iron grip on its supply chain and bulk buying power allows it to reduce the prices of components, while its cornering of the "premium" smartphone market means it can get away with charging top dollar.
Its less about ripping people off, Fadaghi says, and more about tapping into the allure of "status" — and consumers' undying desire to pay for it.
"If you look at other luxury brands they don't convey the message of being ripped off to their consumers," he says.
Apple's not all smartphones, it's true — it sells a few MacBooks here or there — but its gargantuan share price primarily hinges on those very profitable iPhone sales, Fadaghi says.
Despite its healthy profit margins, Apple has been criticised in the past for not being more philanthropic, particularly under the leadership of late co-founder Steve Jobs.
Since Tim Cook stepped up as chief executive in 2011, however, the company has been a little more generous — a few mill here, a few mill there; including more than $US50 million for organisations promoting diversity in the technology sector, announced in March.
Cook himself is also opening up the purse strings, pledging to give his $1 billion fortune to charity.
It could buy quite a few Greek islands, but it's not nearly enough to stop the Greek economy sinking into the Agaean.


text:
Digital TV News: DELTA
NAB Show to require proof of COVID-19 vaccination
Aug 18, 2021 – All attendees and participants at NAB Show 2021 wll be required to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination. According to the organizers, there is a strong eagerness among the NAB Show community to return in person.
News categories: NAB Show, COVID-19, Digital TV, NABShow, USA
Sportsnet, Firstlight Media and Deltatre relaunch SN NOW
Aug 5, 2021 – Sportsnet has partnered with Deltatre and Firstlight Media to relaunch sports streaming service, SN NOW, with next generation OTT features and a refreshed UI, on the Firstlight Media platform.
News categories: Firstlight Media, Deltatre, Sportsnet, Rogers Sports & Media, Microsoft, Andre Christensen, Alex Drosin, Bart Yabsley, Alfredo Tan, Kevin Peesker, Canada, Content Distribution, Digital TV, Streaming, UX
DELTA Fiber expands fiber network to 2 million addresses
Aug 2, 2021 – DELTA Fiber has secured €2 billion for the roll out of the newest generation fiber network, XGS-PON, throughout the Netherlands. DELTA Fiber will grow to 2 million fiber connections in 2025 while offering much higher internet speeds.
News categories: DELTA Fiber, Marco Visser, Fibre, Netherlands
Conviva publishes first State of Streaming Advertising report
Jun 15, 2021 – Conviva has released its inaugural State of Streaming Advertising report, revealing gaps in how publishers, buyers and consumers perceive streaming ads, and what this means for the streaming ad industry.
News categories: Conviva, Keith Zubchevich, Scott McDonald, Advertising, Digital TV, Market Research, QoE, Streaming, Worldwide
XroadMedia powers search and recommendations at Delta Fiber Nederland
Apr 20, 2021 – XroadMedia has announced that Delta Fiber Nederland (DFN) is using Ncanto, XroadMedia's content discovery, recommendations and personalization solution, for customers of its Delta and Caiway IPTV services.
News categories: XroadMedia, Delta Fiber Nederland, Adolf Proidl, Bart Smeels, Big Data, Digital TV, Netherlands, UX
Stoneroos improves set-top box UI for Delta and Caiway
Apr 15, 2021 – Stoneroos has announced an improved set-top box user experience for DELTA and Caiway in the Netherlands. As well as faster performance, the upgrade includes a choice of TV guides, List view or Grid view.
News categories: Stoneroos, DELTA Fiber, Digital TV, IPTV, Netherlands, Set Top Box, UX
Delta Fiber selects Agama video monitoring and analytics
Apr 7, 2021 – Delta Fiber Netherlands has chosen Agama's end-to-end video monitoring and analytics solution to be deployed across its video delivery network and across all device types (STB, iOS, Android and web).
News categories: Agama, Delta Fiber Netherlands, Mikael Dahlgren, Bart Smeels, Apps, Digital TV, IPTV, Netherlands, QoE, Set Top Box
OTT NOW! from Stoneroos powers SportsTribal
Mar 4, 2021 – SportsTribal TV is the free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) service specializing in sports. Using Stoneroos’s white-label OTT NOW! front-end solution SportsTribal TV ensured a fast time-to-market for the service.
News categories: Stoneroos, SportsTribal, Annelies Kaptein, Frank Bowe, Content Distribution, Digital TV, Streaming, UX, Worldwide
Deltatre AXIS to power BritBox for a further five years
Dec 2, 2020 – Deltatre has extended its collaboration with ITV and continues to power its 'best of British' content streaming service, BritBox, across all major platforms. The new agreement will run for a further five years.
News categories: Deltatre, BritBox, Gilles Mas, Lee Marshall, Digital TV, UK, UX, Worldwide
- SUPER RTL launch TOGGO multiscreen service enabled by 3SS
- 24i launches 24iQ personalization and recommendations service
- Great Wall Motor selects ACCESS-powered IVI system from BEAN TECH
- Infovista enables user experience testing for OTT and 5G apps and services
- UAE TV viewership research launched at CABSAT 2022
- Another record month for U.S. streaming in April
- Global OTT revenues to grow to $224 billion in 2027
- Conviva data shows double digit streaming growth worldwide
- Nielsen deduplicates audiences across Smart TV and streaming providers
- 605 extends agreement to use VIZIO ACR data
- Pluto TV launches in the Nordics
- U.S. home entertainment spending up 10.9% to $8.7 billion in 1Q 2022
- Major U.S. pay TV providers lost 1,956,000 subscribers in 1Q 2022
- 3SS and ContentWise to use AI to power personalized user experiences
- NOS shows international holographic transmission using 5G
- Telestream acquires Encoding.com
- Hisense unveils its first Smart TV with Fire TV built-in
- Conviva announces streaming audience measurement standard
- iWedia launches ATSC 3.0 software stack
- SVOD reaches saturation in Sweden


text:
While the Class 8 used truck auction channel saw higher volume and pricing in September, the retail channel also saw higher volume and generally stable pricing and medium-duty trucks had a relatively strong month, J.D. Power announced in its October 2020 Commercial Truck Guidelines industry report.
With Class 8 auctions, J.D. Power reports September saw higher volume and pricing compared with August, especially for newer trucks.
Average auction prices were as follows:
- Model year (MY) 2017: $51,542 average; $10,033 (24.2 percent) higher than August
- MY 2016: $32,228 average; $918 (2.9 percent) higher than August
- MY 2015: $25,775 average; $920 (3.4 percent) lower than August
- MY 2014: $20,000 average; $755 (3.9 percent) higher than August
- MY 2013: $17,171 average; $2,057 (10.7 percent) lower than August
“There was a large increase in volume of model-years 2015 and 2016 trucks sold. The fact that pricing remained stable for both years points to healthy interest. Demand for newer trucks is evident in the extremely strong result for model-year 2017 trucks. As we predicted last month, pricing strength is no longer limited to trucks with low mileage. Even average-mileage trucks are seeing price improvements at this point,” J.D. Power states.
September’s retail results mirrored August’s. Pricing dipped mildly, due to a combination of a few large packages of higher-mileage trucks sold and natural market movement. A healthy number of check-writers continued to visit dealers’ lots in September.
The average sleeper tractor retailed in September was 69 months old, had 469,858 miles, and brought $42,066. Compared with August, this average sleeper was one month older, had 9,382 (2.0 percent) fewer miles, and brought $24 (0.1 percent) more money. Compared to September 2019, this average sleeper was identical in age, had 12,747 (2.8 percent) more miles and brought $10,183 (19.5%) less money, the report states.
Learn how to move your used trucks faster
With unsold used inventory depreciating at a rate of more than 2% monthly, efficient inventory turnover is a must for dealers. Download this eBook, “Sold! Best Practices for Moving Used Trucks,” to access proven strategies for selling used trucks faster.
Looking at trucks two to five years of age, September’s average pricing was as follows:
- MY 2019: $92,061; $172 (0.2 percent) higher than August
- MY 2018: $72,178; $2,010 (2.7 percent) lower than August
- MY 2017: $51,133; $2,193 (3.7 percent) lower than August
- MY 2016: $39,011; $481 (1.2 percent) higher than August
“Unlike the auction market, third quarter 2020 retail results are still behind the same period of 2019. This is because retail pricing held up better than auction pricing in the 2nd half of 2019, resulting in tougher comparisons on the retail side,” J.D. Power says. “We’re now in the period where we’d expect some market softening due to uncertainty around the Presidential election combined with the lack of a renewed stimulus package. However, freight markets are still hot at the time of this writing, so those headwinds haven’t yet materialized.
J.D. Power says dealers retailed an average of 5.6 trucks per rooftop in September, 0.2 truck higher than August, and 2.5 trucks higher than last September. A typical month in the post-recession, pre-COVID decade was 5.5 trucks per rooftop. “So this month’s foot traffic should have felt like the good old days,” the report states.
Looking at Class 4 conventionals, average pricing for J.D. Power’s benchmark group was $22,798, $1,306 (6.1 percent) higher than August, and $520 (2.3 percent) higher than September 2019. The first 9 months of 2020 are averaging 4.2 percent lower than the same period of 2019. Average monthly depreciation is now down to 0 for the year.
Class 6 conventional pricing averaged $23,102 in September, $969 (4.4 percent) higher than August, and $4,096 (21.6 percent) higher than September 2019. The first 9 months of 2020 are averaging 5.7 percent lower than the same period of 2019. Like Class 4, average monthly depreciation for Class 6 is now essentially zero for the year, J.D. Power reports.
To see the full report, CLICK HERE.


text:
Nike, the world’s largest seller of athletic footwear and apparel, is expected to post tax profit of $ 1.12 per share in the first quarter, representing about 18% year-over-year growth , down from $ 0.95 per share in the same period a year ago. .
The Beaverton, Oregon-based shoe retailer is reportedly posting year-over-year revenue growth of more than 18% to $ 12.6 billion. Over the past four quarters, on average, Nike has beaten earnings estimates by more than 55%.
According to ZACKS Research, for fiscal 2022, the company expects double-digit revenue growth to exceed $ 50 billion due to strong customer demand across all of its segments.
The company expects revenue growth in the first half of fiscal 2022 to be higher than in the second half. The exchange rate is expected to be a positive wind in fiscal 2022, generating 70 basis points of gains, ZACKS Research added.
Nike shares have jumped more than 10% so far this year, but the stock closed 0.75% lower at $ 156.42 on Friday.
“Investors are focusing on the impact of plant closures in Vietnam on the revenue forecast for the year. Our analysis and management. the conservatism of advice suggests minimal risk. But a high valuation requires quarters of beating and rising – a pullback in stock prices is possible and we are long on any weakness. reiterate overweight; raise the target price to $ 221, ”noted Kimberly Greenberger, equity analyst at Morgan Stanley.
“Nike (NKE) is trading at the high end of its all-time valuation range, and investors are expecting quarterly beats and forecast increases. Unchanged or lowered fiscal year guidance on temporary headwinds caused by Vietnam could cause stocks to pull back. We would be buyers on any potential weakness.
Nike stock price forecasts
Twenty-five analysts who have offered stock quotes for Nike in the past three months have forecast a 12-month average price of $ 187.26 with a high forecast of $ 221.00 and a low forecast of $ 168.00.
The target average price represents a change of 19.72% from the last price of $ 156.42. Of those 25 analysts, 21 rated “Buy”, three rated “Hold” while one rated “Sell”, according to Tipranks.
Morgan Stanley gave the base target price of $ 221 with a high of $ 410 in a bullish scenario and $ 127 in a worst-case scenario. The company assigned a rating of “overweight” to the seller’s inventory of shoes and clothing.
Several other analysts have also updated their stock market outlook. Cowen and Company raised the target price to $ 196 from $ 181. Oppenheimer raised the price target to $ 195 from $ 150. HSBC raised the target price to $ 205 from $ 162.
“The disruption due to COVID-19, supply chain pressure and China continue to escalate. Our contacts across the global supply chain suggest that Vietnam could reopen by October. Port congestion and freight headwinds could ease through 2H 2022 and the industry’s 10% valuation correction has improved the risk / reward ratio, ”noted John Kernan, equity analyst at Cowen.
“We are reducing our estimate of Nike sales for fiscal 22 by 300 basis points to reach 9% growth with a robust recovery in fiscal 23.”
View FX Empire’s Earnings Schedule


text:
On September 22, the Bybit exchange announced the suspension of its operations in the UK. This comes amid the news about recently adopted rules for the promotion of crypto assets in the country. However, as stated in the announcement, the exchange plans to return and meet the new conditions.
Details of the announcement
The announcement outlines three significant details:
From October 1, UK citizens will not be able to open new accounts on the Bybit exchange.
From October 8, existing UK users will not be able to make deposits and trade cryptocurrency on the platform.
Until January 8, 2024, UK customers can close their existing positions, such as futures contracts, and withdraw their funds. Later, any remaining positions will be automatically closed, with funds available for withdrawal.
The announcement does not specify a deadline for when withdrawals will be terminated.
Bybit explains that “the suspension will allow the company to focus its efforts and resources on being able to best meet the regulations outlined by the UK authorities in the future".
Why is Bybit leaving the UK
Bybit’s decision is primarily attributed to rules enforxed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regarding the promotion of cryptocurrencies in the country. The new regulations will start to take effect already in October this year. As Bybit CEO Ben Zhou previously stated in an interview with The Block, the regulation is very strict and unclear, so other crypto companies are also facing difficulties. "Everyone is in trouble. So everyone is thinking of plans for how to deal with this new law", he added.
In July, we wrote about the upcoming rule changes in crypto ads in the UK. In brief, the regulator has defined crypto products promotion in broad terms, encompassing even memes as advertisements that should be regulated strictly. Furthermore, companies must constantly warn customers about the risks associated with investing in cryptocurrencies.
Incidentally, on September 21, the FCA published a warning letter, expressing concern over the lack of engagement from several companies.
"We are concerned by the poor engagement from many unregistered, overseas cryptoasset firms who have UK customers on this important change. Many of these firms have refused to engage with the FCA despite our best efforts", the regulator said.
You might also like:


text:
New Year’s has become synonymous with resolving to be a better you in the new year. January 1 marks not just the beginning of many consumer’s journeys to their goals, but also a turning point for industries that stand to profit from these sudden shifts in consumer behavior. After a long holiday season filled with food and drinks, the most popular resolution is to lose weight, but gyms are not the only industry that will benefit from consumer spending in the new year.
As discussed above, the new year inspires many to make changes to their lifestyle by way of fitness. The fitness club industry profits from these ambitious folks, who are determined to change their bodies in the new year. The average gym membership is $58 per month, or $696 per year. A recent study shows that nearly 50% of Americans ditch their gym memberships by the end of January. Overall, only 22% of those who joined a gym made it through the entire year. The gym industry depends on these fitness dropouts, however. In the 2014 episode of the podcast Planet Money, they visited a Planet Fitness and realized the gym had the capacity to hold only about 300 people, but had signed up 6,000 members. Half of the Planet Fitness members don’t ever go to the gym, Planet Money found.
With the excitement of the holidays over, and the dread of the cold winter months ahead setting in, another popular resolution is to travel more, but to do so in 2018 will be expensive. The “2018 Global Travel Forecast” states that travel prices are expected to rise sharply in the coming year. Airfares are anticipated to increase 3.5%, hotel prices by 3.7%, and ground transportation is expected to rise 0.6%. The increase in global airfare comes as crude oil prices rise. According to Hotels.com, in 2017 the average cost of a hotel room per night in popular U.S. destinations ranged between $88-$254, while the average round-trip domestic flight in 2017 was $361.
After spending the holidays alone, or in an unhappy relationship, many people focus on improving their love life in the new year. According to Marketdata Enterprises Inc., dating services are a $2.5 billion business in the United States alone. PlentyOfFish, a popular dating site, reports that the first Sunday in January is the busiest day of the year for new members on their site. Match.com agrees, citing a 42% increase in membership from December 26th through February 14th.
Once the ball drops, it’s game on for those who made resolutions, and for these businesses who will profit. If you are part of the 40% of Americans who make New Year’s resolutions—stay motivated, and you’ll be one of the 8% who achieves your goals.


text:
Mattel Sued for Stealing 'The Toy Box' Show Idea (UPDATE)
Mattel SuedYou Toyed With Us'Toy Box' Show is a Ripoff!!!
1/8/2018 1:24 PM PT
12:53 PM PT -- Herrick just won a big battle in the case -- defeating Mattel's motion for summary judgment. We're told Herrick's attorneys Bryan Freedman and Miles Feldman were, "Ecstatic that Mattel will finally be forced to go to trial now that they lost their motion."
The trial is set to begin August 1, 2022.
8:00 AM PT -- 1/9/18 -- A rep for Mattel says, "We are very proud of The Toy Box, and we continue to be gratified by the positive reactions the program generates from viewers of all ages. As for this lawsuit, we believe it is totally without merit."
Mattel played some dirty pool to get a popular reality show about toys on the air ... so claims a jilted production company in a new lawsuit.
Herrick Productions is suing the toy giant claiming Mattel strung them along with meetings about a show called, "Playmakers," but ultimately kicked them to the curb to produce "The Toy Box" ... which is now on ABC.
In docs, obtained by TMZ, HP says Mattel stole its concept of having inventors pitch their toys to child judges. Mattel would then manufacture the toy. It's eerily similar to the 'Toy Box' premise featuring a panel of child judges and the winning toy is produced and distributed by Mattel.
HP says it had numerous meetings with Mattel execs, but the toy company ultimately didn't move forward due to financial concerns -- and said it would get back to HP when things changed.
HP says that call never came, and it lost out on hundreds of millions of dollars.


text:
It might sound unbelievable, but your smartphone is like having a miniature goldmine right in your pocket. What do we mean by this? The average smartphone is estimated to contain small traces of gold and other precious metals.
A BBC News story in 2014 revealed that a pile of 35-40 smartphones could yield as much as one gram of gold alone. It might not sound like much, but it just goes to show how much hidden value is right under your nose. Read on to learn more about how the Japanese used this information to recycle gold with great success.
Japanese gold recycled into medals.
In less than a year’s time, Japan will be hosting the Summer Olympics in Tokyo. For a number of years, the Japanese government has led an innovative campaign to persuade millions of Japanese citizens to hand in unwanted electronic devices. The campaign doubles as a bid to not only save the environment, but to help make sure the 2020 Tokyo Olympics can offer a whole host of shiny gold, silver and bronze medals.
Between April 2017 and March 2019, as many as six million smartphones and other electronic items were recycled, to produce 5,000 Olympic medals. Just think – all that scrap gold could have easily ended up remaining locked away in millions of homes across the country or lying in a landfill site.
This story highlights just how much gold can end up in everyday items, in the most unlikely of places. But don’t be fooled – if we stopped extracting gold from beneath the earth, and relied solely on the recycled gold from recycled electronic items, it’s estimated that we’d run out of gold within just 23 days.
Great value in recycling scrap gold.
What can we learn from the Japanese about recycling scrap gold? You might be interested to know that here at Cash for Your Gold, we can guarantee that any item of scrap gold you sell to us can be melted down, if you wish. Perhaps you’ve found an old family heirloom, but don’t like the idea of it simply being passed around from person to person.
When selling your scrap gold, why not ask for it to be completely melted down and reshaped into something new? Cash For Your Gold is able to offer as much as £13.27 for just a gram of 9-carat gold, and we accept a variety of items, whether that’s old jewellery, coins or bullion bars, just to name a few forms of scrap gold.
Use our Hallmarks guide, to help determine the purity or carat of your item. If you feel ready to make a sale of scrap gold, feel free to get in touch today – we look forward to helping you with any queries you may have.


text:
-Portland, Oregon agency Undnyable has made a Blockchain puppet to explain how fintech company Figure works with customers and the Blockchain to find people the right loan and payment system. “Blocky” a Blockchain puppet living in the real world, takes questions from potential customers with an “Ask Me Anything” series of ads.
Set up like a press conference, Blocky talks with business people, like a kick-happy dojo owner who needs more room, and a jazz musician who doesn’t like credit card fees.
-Martin Sorrell and his S4 leadership team said their holding network will fold all companies under the newly renamed Media.Monks umbrella.
-VCCP has strengthened its customer experience (CX) arm with the hiring of Scott Ewings as chief executive and Josette James as client partner.
-Adweek’s iconic TV, publishing and digital Hot List, which will be published in print and online on Oct. 25, will reflect the seismic shifts in the media landscape.
–Rishad Tobaccowala, the author of Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human in the Age of Data, writes about four questions that most companies and individuals seek answers to regarding navigating change.
–Frito-Lay has launched a “Space for Her” scholarship fund that will spend $150,000 to send 50 girls from underrepresented communities to space camp over the next five years.
-Intimate product manufacturer We-Vibe is releasing its new “Silver Sex” campaign to encourage more openness and better education around sex for people ages 55 and over.
-Noosa yoghurt wants to send one fan on a foodie road trip. Noosa has teamed up with local foodie experts to curate foodie-fueled travel and eatery guides on the best local stops across the country to ensure the trip of a lifetime.
Through August 11, fans can enter at a dedicated website to win $10,000 towards the ultimate foodie road trip and a year’s supply of noosa yoghurt.


text:
In the survey, which was conducted July 19-23 among 2,201 U.S. adults, 67 percent said they back a company’s decision to ban plastic straws. Consumers are also supportive of recycling efforts: 66 percent said that if a company instituted a new recycling policy to reduce plastic waste, it would give them a more favorable impression of that company.
At the same time, 55 percent of adults believe companies are not doing enough to reduce waste. The poll has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.
“The ban on plastic straws alone probably won’t change too much in the grand scheme of things regarding plastic pollution, but from a business perspective, they are symbolic as a step towards more eco-friendly consumption practices,” said Lindsey Bier, assistant professor of clinical business communication at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, in a phone interview Friday. “Brands that are banning plastic straws are offering customers the opportunity to feel a personal connection, and they make the consumer feel as if they are making a difference.”


text:
OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU) - Watching the commercials that come on during the Super Bowl is as much of a tradition as watching the game itself.
This year, viewers can expect running hot dogs and a musical ad about the Super Bowl sponsored by the NFL.
As usual some big celebrities will be starring in many of the ads.
Amy Schumer and Seth Rogen do a spoof on the ongoing political campaigning in a commercial for Bud Light.
Helen Mirren is featured in a Budwiser ad asking people to #GiveADamn and not drink and drive.
Heinz has released an ad showing a stampede of wiener dogs running toward people dressed up as Heinz products.
Perhaps one that is already getting a lot of buzz is the NFL's ad which features groups of babies, children, and adults who were conceived on Super Bowls Sunday.
They are singing a parody of Seal's "Kiss from a Rose."
The artist Seal makes an appearance in the ad which aims to deliver the message that football is family.
If you love singing animals (especially sheep) this Honda ad is right up your alley.
And California Avocados have some fun with the human race and our love of emojis.
Other commercials include T-Mobile's ad featuring rapper Drake.
There's also a Snicker's commercial starring actor William Dafoe dressed as Marilyn Monroe.
The cost of a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl this year runs about $5 million.
Last year's Super Bowl got about 114 million viewers, making it the most watched broadcast in history.


text:
VIDEO: Stylish easy-pour kettle goes viral on TikTok after receiving high praise
An easy-pour and non-clinical-looking mobility aid has gone viral on social media platform TikTok, after a user posted a nine-second video praising how useful it was.
Racking up 1.7 million views on TikTok, the clip features a woman who says her sister bought her 90-year-old grandmother, who cannot lift things easily, the Uccello kettle.
The Uccello Easy Pour Kettle and Tipper operates on a hinge, so the user just needs to tilt it forward to pour the water into a cup without having to lift it. According to its manufacturer, the handy device is safer for shaky hands, as there is no risk of dropping the kettle and boiling water on the floor.
Additionally, the kettle features an easy-to-read water level indicator that allows the individual to boil exactly the amount they need. The clear power on light further indicates when the kettle is switched on and there is also an auto shut-off feature with over-heating protection to prevent any accidents.
Following the popularity of the video on TikTok, Ability Superstore has reported receiving an influx of orders for the Uccello East Pour Kettle and Tipper.
Owner of Ability Superstore Julia Phipps told AT Today: “The Uccello kettle has been one of our own favourite and most popular products for a long time, just not on this scale! The TikTok video certainly has given the Uccello a much larger and diverse audience.
“It is a unique product as it combines a kettle with a tipper, which is ideal for those who struggle to lift the weight of a kettle full of boiling water. Its design is contemporary too which makes a nice change in the world of mobility.
“There is still a stigma attached to mobility aids and the Uccello (or “bird” in Italian) certainly helps to dispel some of this stigma. What this has proved is that if you have a good product that can help people of all ages to solve a problem, make an everyday task slightly easier and looks good too it will be popular.”
Julia said that the TikTok video has received comments from users who want to see stylish mobility aids normalised.
She continued: “It was a pleasant surprise to walk in on Monday morning and see the hundreds of orders, and it is safe to say we have seen more orders for the Uccello every week since the TikTok video was posted.”
The kitchen appliance was designed by Italian-born Andy De Petra, who was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis in 2011 and everyday tasks, such as lifting a kettle full of water, became challenging.
He focused his inventive streak to ease this struggle and the Uccello Kettle and Tipper was born.
See the short video below to find out why the Uccello Kettle is so popular:


text:
The coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers (CASE) segment is growing at a CAGR of over 5%.
September 1, 2017
The global specialty chemicals market is expected to reach $1.79 trillion by 2025, according to a recent report by Grand View Research Inc. The growing popularity of high-value chemicals that are crucial to developing novel products is reportedly a major driving factor for the industry.
Top executives will gather at the Adhesive and Sealant Council’s 2017 Executive Leadership Conference, scheduled to take place October 16-18 at the Westin LaPaloma Resort and Spa in Tucson, Ariz. The event promises to be an opportunity to network and learn from thought leaders in the industry. Topics to be discussed include key chemical industry developments as these relate to the adhesives and sealants industry, acquisition integration, innovation trends, and more.
Laminating adhesives (LAs) comprise a relevant and growing segment among energy-curable product markets. Initially regarded as being too expensive and not technically advanced enough for laminating applications, these adhesives have become major players in the converting and packaging industries, particularly in specialty applications.
Our exclusive annual ranking of the leading 25 adhesives and sealants manufacturers worldwide.
August 3, 2017
This issue of Adhesives & Sealants Industry magazine brings the ASI Top 25, our exclusive ranking of the leading 25 worldwide manufacturers of adhesives and sealants. ASI combined reader survey information with details from company websites, annual reports and press releases to compile the rankings. Included with each company’s listing are contact information, estimated 2016 sales figures (if publishable), a company profile, and news highlights.


text:
|Irish Embassy Paris - Bord Bia Trade Reception Paris Dec 10, 2010: In the Irish Embassy Paris left to right; Aidan Cotter, CEO Bord Bia; Dan Browne, Chairman Bord Bia; Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith; Noreen Lanigan, Manager Bord Bia France and Ambassador to Ireland Paul Kavanagh.|
Irish exports of food and drink increased last year by 11%,
reaching €7.9bn in 2010 after a 12% dip in 2009 and a fall
of 6.5% in 2008 - - 2010 exports amounted to 4.9% of
Bord Bia said the sector was a major
contributor to the economy's strong export performance in
Total exports are estimated to
have been €161bn in 2010 giving the food and drink
sector its 4.9% share.
The increase in food and drink sales last year was
€800m. Bord Bia says this performance was helped by a more
stable consumer environment, reduced exchange rate
pressures, improved competitiveness and rising global prices
for most agricultural commodities.
The chairman of Bord Bia, Dan Browne, said all the main
areas recorded increases - - with dairy exports jumping by
more than €300m or 17%. Meat and livestock exports were
almost €200m higher while beverage and prepared food exports
were also up significantly.
stressed the increased sales on continental Europe.
Overall, prospects for this year remain positive and a
survey of manufacturers shows increased optimism.
Forfás estimate that 65% of
manufacturing exports by Irish-owned firms consist of food and drink.
Ireland: A "smart" economy in food better than pie-in-the-sky aspirations
Foreign-owned firms accounted for 91% of Ireland's tradeable exports in 2009;
Food & drink exports fell 15% - - UK food and drinks exports grew by more
than 5% in 2009 when Ireland's dipped by 15%.
is an increasingly important market for British food/drink exports, accounting
for 27% of total earnings. Imports of food and drink from the UK topped €2.99bn
in 2009, an increase of 6%.
There is a positive trade balance for Ireland of about €500m but it's eroding


text:
Sunkist Growers comprises over 1,000 multi-generational farmers, many of whom specialize in Cara Cara oranges, leading the cooperative to serve as one of the largest Cara suppliers in the game. Super sweet. Uniquely pink.
The 2023 Peruvian orange campaign, which runs from June to December, started on the right foot, with the first two months of the current campaign (June and July) totaling 5.07 million kilos, showing an increase of 210 percent compared to the 1.6 million kilos exported in the same period of last year.
While wrapping up its 130th season, the longest-standing fresh citrus cooperative in the nation is looking ahead, focusing on the highly-anticipated return of California citrus season.
When Life Gives You Lemons, Make a TikTok – Sunkist Growers is keeping citrus celebrations fresh by demonstrating the power of versatility and saluting the co-op’s refreshing summer citrus varieties.
A&A Organic Farms out of Watsonville, Ca. is now shipping Organic Early Valencia Oranges from Mexico.
Pacific Trellis Fruit, one of the nation's top year-round growers, shippers, and marketers of premium fresh fruit, is partnering with the Tunnel to Towers Foundation for a Veteran’s Day promotion.
The California all orange forecast is 47.1 million boxes (1.88 million tons), up 17 percent from the last season's final utilization.
Is citrus a vanishing industry in Florida? Recent figures released by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service …
Overall produce prices continue to fall as late summer demand struggles to gain momentum. Last week’s Western heat wave damaged a few commodities, but the supply drop was insufficient to counter the general economic malaise.
Hurricane Agatha kicked off hurricane season as it battered Southern Mexico, and remnants of the storm drenched South Florida. A solid category 2 storm, Agatha is the strongest May hurricane to make landfall in the Eastern Pacific.


text:
By itself, this story probably wouldn't be a big deal. But this development is the start of an important new trend in the global currency markets. And the following three factors tell me that we should be taking a close look at why China has decided to dump Japanese debt. For instance:
- Given that the same thing happened in August, September marked the second straight month Beijing has sold more Japanese securities than it purchased.
- This marks the reversal of a seventh-month stretch of China being a net purchaser of Japanese debt.
- The two months of sales nearly wiped out the net surplus of 2.32 trillion yen ($27.86 billion) that China had amassed as a result of seven months of buying Japanese debt.
- Finally, the 2.02 trillion yen ($24.26 billion) worth of Japanese debt that China sold in August was China's single-largest monthly sale of Japan government bonds since 1995, when these statistics first started being recorded.
Let me explain....


text:
Cinemark, Cinépolis, Landmark Cinemas of Canada, Emagine and Independent Cinema Alliance among the first to partner with MetaMedia
On the heels of a major new report by The Hollywood Reporter, former IMAX and Disney Studios executive, Jason Brenek announced five new partnerships with major and independent cinema chains across the U.S. and Canada. The chains will partner with MetaMedia, a growing entertainment technology company that creates next-generation solutions for content producers and cinemas.
As movie theaters reopen across the country, more cinema chains are committing to the MetaMedia Entertainment Network, the first global cloud-based distribution platform for content producers and cinemas that provides the secure, rapid and cost-saving delivery of movies, trailers, on-screen and digital lobby advertising programs, live-streamed events and other big-screen programming to cinemas including concerts, faith-based programming, and Esports. The growing list of MetaMedia partners includes Cinemark USA, Inc. (the third largest exhibitor in North America and fourth largest exhibitor globally), Cinépolis USA Movie Theaters & Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas (the largest cinema chain in Mexico and fifth largest exhibitor globally), Landmark Cinemas (Canada’s second largest motion picture theatre exhibition company), Emagine Entertainment, and the Independent Cinema Alliance (ICA), an association of 140 member independent cinemas operating approximately 400 cinemas and more than 2,600 screens in communities throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Emagine Entertainment is recognized as an innovator in the theatrical exhibition industry for many accomplishments including being the first chain in the world to convert to 100 percent digital projection in 2006. Several ICA board members committed to MetaMedia’s platform including Bill Campbell of Orpheum Theatre, Inc. (Chairman), Byron Berkley of Foothills Entertainment, Inc. (President & Treasurer), Brian DiCiancio of Encore Cinemas LLC (Director), Chris Davis of Theater Professionals (Director) and Randy Hester of Hometown Cinemas, LLC , a former Board member of ICA.
Jason Brenek, CEO of MetaMedia said, “Emerging from this challenging period, cinemas are welcoming access to a broader array of content programming options, especially as the Hollywood studios create their new film release plans,” said MetaMedia CEO Jason Brenek. “We are both excited and appreciative to partner with such forward-thinking companies as they get back to the business of entertaining guests in their cinemas. MetaMedia will bring to these partners many of the economic, operational and programming benefits that the industry envisioned with the roll-out of digital cinema over a decade ago, with the added benefit of contactless content delivery for the post-COVID world.”
Mark Zoradi, CEO of Cinemark Holdings, Inc. said, “Cinemark is consistently evolving the moviegoing experience, both for our customers and our team members. We strive to provide the immersive, cinematic experience of seeing content on the big screen in a way that is efficient, high quality and makes the most of today’s technology. The industry-experienced team at MetaMedia has created an offering that is a great example of combining today’s technology and entertainment in a way that makes sense for exhibitors. Through their cloud-based content delivery system, we are able to get the content we need in a way that saves time and money without compromising quality. In addition to delivering films, MetaMedia also provides alternative programming, such as sports, music and other live events, which gives Cinemark the opportunity to further diversify and expand the entertainment experience it offers guests. Now, more than ever, it is critical to be able to operate efficiently and effectively, and MetaMedia allows us to do that. We look forward to growing our partnership as the industry continues to evolve.”
Luis Olloqui Aguirre, CEO of Cinepolis USA said, “For us, it was the mix of saving money and having more content to show in all of our theaters. It is a twofold benefit. We have been connecting to MetaMedia as many theaters as we can and should reach 100% of our theaters connected by the end of the year.”
Bill Walker, CEO of Landmark Cinemas said, “We have long envisioned our ability to bring more live events to our customers, such as live concerts, sports, Esports and other interactive programs that link multiple cinemas together. By working with MetaMedia and their next-generation content platform, we see a new digital era where cinemas are multimedia entertainment venues at the heart of every community.”
Paul Glantz, Chairman of Emagine Entertainment said, “We were on board from the first call we had with MetaMedia. Their network will deliver the operational and content programming benefits we envisioned back when we first converted our theatres to digital cinema.”
Bill Campbell, President and CEO of Orpheum Theatre and ICA Chairman said, “Too many of our members’ locations are still dependent on content having to be hand delivered on hard drives. Now content owners will be able to deliver to our theatres electronically, which will make it more cost efficient for them and for our ICA members, and open up greater availability of content for our members.”
MetaMedia plans to connect more than 25,000 cinema screens across five countries to the MetaMedia Entertainment Network by 2021. The company also recently launched their platform globally into Australia and Mexico. The company expects to announce more partnerships and an acceleration of installations in the U.S. and Canada as cinemas continue to restart operations nationwide.


text: Volkswagen recently confirmed production of its latest generation Golf cabriolet will start at its “new” Osnabrück site in 2011.Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn made the announcement on a visit to the plant formerly owned by Karmann, which was bought by Volkswagen in 2009. “Over the decades, some of the most beautiful models in the automobile world have left the assembly line in Osnabrück. We will be carrying on this tradition from 2011 with the new Golf Cabrio,” Winterkorn said. Volkswagen said it would be creating 1800 jobs at Osnabrück by the end of 2011. Osnabrück-based Karmann filed for bankruptcy protection in April 2009, blaming the fallout from the global financial crisis and the sharp decline in demand for cars for its predicament.The coachbuilder was responsible for the classic VW Karmann Ghia two-seater from the 1950s to the 1970s and had also has built convertibles for Audi and Chrysler.Volkswagen SA has said there are no plans to bring the Golf Cabrio to South Africa.


text:
Apple last week published its first scholarly research paper, an article covering methods of improving recognition in computer vision systems, marking a new direction for the traditionally secretive company.
The paper, titled "Learning from Simulated and Unsupervised Images through Adversarial Training," was submitted for review in mid-November before seeing publication through the Cornell University Library on Dec. 22.
Apple's article arrives less than a month after the company said it would no longer bar employees from publishing research relating to artificial intelligence.
Spotted by Forbes on Monday, the first of Apple's public research papers describes techniques of training computer vision algorithms to recognize objects using synthetic, or computer generated, images.
Compared to training models based solely on real-world images, those leveraging synthetic data are often more efficient because computer generated images are usually labelled. For example, a synthetic image of an eye or hand is annotated as such, while real-world images depicting similar material are unknown to the algorithm and thus need to be described by a human operator.
As noted by Apple, however, relying completely on simulated images might yield unsatisfactory results, as computer generated content is sometimes not realistic enough to provide an accurate learning set. To help bridge the gap, Apple proposes a system of refining a simulator's output through "Simulated+Unsupervised learning."
In practice, this particular flavor of S+U learning combines unlabeled real image data with annotated synthetic images. The technique is based in large part on Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), which applies two competing neural networks — generator and discriminator — against each other to better discern generated data from real data. A fairly recent development, the process has seen success in the generation of photorealistic "super-resolution" images.
While not necessarily presaging upcoming consumer technology, it is interesting to note Apple elected to apply its modified GAN to the evaluation of gaze and hand pose estimation. In addition, the company says it hopes to one day move S+U learning beyond static images to video input.
Apple's first public research paper was penned by vision expert Ashish Shrivastava and a team of engineers including Tomas Pfister, Oncel Tuzel, Wenda Wang, Russ Webb and Apple Director of Artificial Intelligence Research Josh Susskind. Of note, Susskind made the announcement of Apple's newfound interest in scholarly pursuits earlier this month, a move some believe will help future recruitment efforts.


text:
This programme is the most diverse technology programme for news publishers, with support for a total of nine languages. Artificial intelligence is used to translate text into language. The startup raised $2 million from Credo in the beginning of the 20th century.
This feature is currently being tested and would allow users to share short videos up to 60 seconds in length. Meta, the parent company of the messaging service, has begun testing the ability to send a message on both mobile devices. The emergence of generative artificial intelligence has become the fastest growing application in history. The pressing need to address concerns related to this new form of artificial intelligence was highlighted by the UN Secretary-General. He said that he would establish a high level advisory body on artificial intelligence by the end of the year. The main goal of this body is to regularly assess existing governance frameworks and give recommendations to ensure their alignment with human rights, the rule of law and the collective welfare.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us on our journey, our investors, customers, suppliers and most importantly our incredible team. Tech investment in the UK fell by over 50% in the first half of the year. Wragg said in February that 2023 is the year of maturity for Karakuri and also for the wider restaurant robotics industry.
Our advertising business is the focus of the investigation by the commission. Cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy, e commerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and consumer electronics are his areas of focus. He has edited and written for many publications, including the Boston Business Journal, Boston Phoenix, and Government Security News.
According to a new report by Counterpoint Research, almost 50 per cent of the world’s smartphones sold in the first quarter of 2023 came with anOLED screen. Counterpoint Research’s Global Handset Model Sales Tracker shows that the share ofOLED display smartphones in global sales hit a record high in the first quarter. More than 150 million people have sent 10 billion messages to the chatbot since it was launched on the messaging app. The company says that the new features will improve the privacy and security of Messenger users.
Customers will look at insourced to capture all the productivity gains which will help them cut cost and improve competitiveness. IT industry executives say it’s early days to tell what type of trends would emerge, but one thing is certain, some of the deals may face harder scrutiny with changing technologies. The outsourcing business offered by Indian IT companies is facing a challenge due to macro economic and emerging technologies. Neovision Glass does not have its own processing power and only provides connection to external devices, this is a continuation of the model’s advantages. The ElevenLabs Series A received support from a number of people, including the likes of Credo Venture, Concept Venture, and Brendan Iribe, who is the co- founder of the virtual reality company. Adobe’s purchase of the Figma cloud platform for designers is about to be investigated by European antitrust authorities.
The Nubia Neovision Glass Augmented Reality Glasses Are $529
There is a chance that the investigation will take many months. If you want to check if the calls are important, the calls will still show up in the Recent Calls list on the Calls tab. The national final will be held at the new Ignition North facility in Manchester in July, where eight regional finalist will go head to head. The first event in the facility will be held in September.
He told TechNewsWorld that it is the mindless use of artificial intelligence that can be disruptive by workers. John Bambenek is the principle threat hunter at Netenrich, an IT and digital security operations company in San Jose, Calif. If an employee uses artificial intelligence to produce code or process documentation that feeds into an organization’s systems, there can be problems.
More From The News Network
The Indian government threatened to close Twitter’s offices and conduct raids on employees’ residences if it did not comply with their demands, according to Dorsey. He mentioned in an interview that he received requests to block accounts related to the farmers’ protests and journalists who criticized the government. The commission believes that the only way to address competition is for the company to sell some of its ad business. Sky News said that the likely administrator was Karakuri, who has been working with the accountancy firm for some time. A spokesman for the company said that a rescue deal is unlikely and that they were working with advisors to wind down the company. Any text can be transformed into speech using synthetic voices, cloned voices, or entirely new artificial voices.
The model is able to create a virtual image in front of the eyes, which is the same size as a 120 inch display. The model offers an adjustment of 0 500, which is useful for people who wear medical glasses. The glasses weigh only 79 g, which is quite comparable to ordinary glasses, Display Compass although the model is still slightly different from the classic options. Thanks to the omnidirectional speakers in the temples, high quality Hi Res Audio sound is maintained.
Part Of Ad Tech Must Be Sold
He said that no one was imprisoned and that there were no shutdowns. If companies are forced to sell parts of their business, years of machine learning could be lost. The regulator concluded that Google had abused its power by forcing a monopoly in the advertising business. The EU has been investigating the ad tech business for two years and has ordered it to be sold.


text:
iPhone 15 series price in India, release date, and more will be revealed in just a few hours from now. The Cupertino tech giant is holding its ‘Wonderlust’ event on Tuesday, September 12th. The event will see the launch of the iPhone 15 models, which is widely believed to include the vanilla iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max. There are rumours about an iPhone 15 Ultra model as well. One of the biggest changes to look forward to is the shift from Lightning to USB-C port. Let’s take a quick look at the iPhone 15’s release date, rumoured price in India, specifications, and more.
iPhone 15 launch event date, release date
Apple iPhone 15 launch event, called ‘Wonderlust’, is set to take place on Tuesday, September 12th at 10:30 PM IST.
The new iPhones, at least the standard models are expected to go on sale in the US (and possibly in India) from September 22nd.
iPhone 15 series rumoured price
iPhone 15 price could start at $799 (roughly around Rs 65,981) as per a Barclays analyst. The highest-end variant could carry a price tag of $1299 (roughly Rs 1,06,500).
iPhone 15 series design
The iPhone 15 is tipped to feature one of the biggest design changes. As per reports, all the models in the iPhone 15 series will ditch Apple’s proprietary Lightning port and instead opt for a USB Type-C charging solution.
This move could be in place to comply with the European Union’s mandate to implement USB-C across all electronic devices sold in the region which Apple may have to consider seriously while making it put USB-C on all iPhones irrespective of the country.
Besides that, regular iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus both may carry the same transfer speeds as current lightning iPhones, while the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max could come with faster speeds to have a differentiating factor.
Coming to the side frame, rumour has it that the iPhone 15 Pro models may feature solid-state volume and power buttons, similar to the home button found on iPhone SE and other iPhones before 2017. The concept here is to replicate the effect and functionality of the Force Touch feature of the trackpad on MacBooks.
The iPhone 15 series is also tipped to feature curved side frames, something similar to the iPhone 5C along with a titanium frame and body.
Also, the placement of the power and volume buttons could be a bit lower than their position on the precursors. Speaking of buttons, the Ring/Silent Switch is also rumoured to be replaced with an Action Button.
The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max could get Titan Gray colour and ditch the Gold colour. The special colour this time around could be Dark Blue. There’s been some chatter around a green-coloured iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus too. Even the USB-C cables could come in with matching colours to the phone.
iPhone 15 series specifications (expected)
The iPhone 15 lineup is expected to retain the same display sizes across all the iPhones.
This means the standard iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro should have a 6.1-inch display while the iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 15 Pro Max may carry 6.7-inch displays.
Furthermore, to enhance the display experience, the non-Pro iPhone 15 models may carry the pill-shaped Dynamic Island introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro series instead of the ageing notch.
Unfortunately, Apple may once again reserve the high refresh rate (ProMotion) and Always-On Display support for just the Pro models in the iPhone 15 lineup.
As for the optics on the iPhone 15 lineup, Apple may have no plans to bring significant hardware upgrades to the cameras, especially since it introduced a bunch of new sensors on the iPhone 14 series including a 48MP primary lens on the Pro models.
However, there is chatter about this main camera on the iPhone 15 Pro Max sporting an “almost 1-inch” camera sensor.
Also, owing to image sensor readiness, the top-end iPhone model with the “most advanced camera system” could get pushed to October.
The performance side of things on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max could be taken care of by the yet-to-be-announced Apple A17 Bionic while the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus may run on the A16 Bionic found on the iPhone 14 Pro.
Utilising previous generations’ chipsets on the standard iPhone 15 variants allows Apple to differentiate the Pro from the non-Pro models.
Now coming back to the Apple A17, the company’s chip manufacturer, TSMC is said to use a 3nm process to develop the chipset that will result in better battery efficiency and provide a performance boost by 10 to 15 percent over the current chip.
Apple could once again pack in Qualcomm-made modem chips for mobile connectivity across all the iPhone 15 models.
The vanilla iPhone 15 could bear a 3,877mAh battery (18 per cent bigger). The iPhone 15 Plus could ship with a 4,912mAh battery (13.6 per cent bigger), the iPhone 15 Pro with a 3,650mAh battery (14.1 per cent bigger), and the iPhone 15 Pro Max with a 4,852mAh battery (10.9 per cent bigger).
Among other things, there are rumours that the iPhone 15 series will be coming with upgraded UWB (Ultra Wide Band) for better connectivity with the Apple Vision headset.
iPhone 15 will be manufactured in India
Apple has reportedly begun assembling the iPhone 15 at Foxconn’s Sriperumbudur plant in Tamil Nadu. Its other manufacturing partners are Wistron and Pegatron and it could start some of the iPhone 15 assembly in these facilities too.
Also, in related news, an Apple device supposedly the iPhone 15 has been spotted on the BIS certification site in India.
So, as the Apple Wonderlust event is right around the corner, it shouldn’t be long before we have confirmation on many of these rumours and speculation.


text:
WASHINGTON - If Wall Street struggles to see the logic in Apple's $3 billion deal for Beats Music, it may look across the river to Brooklyn, hometown of Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine.
Apple's biggest-ever acquisition includes the maker of high-end audio equipment and a streaming music service, but more importantly, the talent of Beats brains Dr. Dre and Iovine.
The wild card in the deal could be Iovine, a Brooklyn native and son of a longshoreman who started in the business by cleaning studios and later was a recording engineer for John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen, before becoming a producer.
"He's a real music guy and well-liked by artists," one industry executive told AFP.
"He is old-school. He didn't come out of management school, but had music in his blood, and artists connect to that," said the executive, who asked not to be identified.
Iovine, a producer for U2, Dire Straits, Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, and Patti Smith, is seen by some as a visionary for recognizing the trend of online streaming and subscriptions -- and away from Apple's model of purchasing individual songs on the Internet.
"The way to find out what's really going on in music is to talk to record producers," Iovine said in an interview at the 2013 Grammy Awards, where he was recognized for his contributions to the industry.
"They have their pulse on everything. They live in the recording studio. They have the feel of the artists."
Iovine was key in helping persuade Apple chief Steve Jobs in 2002 to launch the iTunes store, according to several accounts of Apple's history.
Yet for some, Apple's tie-up with a company best known for its high-end headphones is a mismatch.
"While there are some positives to the deal, the deal seems to be out of line with Apple's history of acquisitions of technology, and we struggle to see the value," said Bank of America-Merrill Lynch analyst Scott Craig, in a research note.
"We doubt this deal will spur a significant, new and necessary product category."
Bob O'Donnell, analyst and founder of Technalysis Research, said the deal appears a mismatch on the surface, but says Apple may find a way to benefit.
O'Donnell said Beats "appeals to a demographic that is different from some of the typical Apple demographics" and has a streaming music service with "a relatively limited number of customers."
Other analysts see more harmony in the deal for Apple, a pioneer in digital music but which appears to have been overtaken by the successful models of streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and others.
The news comes after Spotify's announcement that it had 40 million users, including 10 million paying customers, and Pandora had over 76 million listeners while leading the ad-supported model.
"Apple believes it's acquiring a leading team -- headlined by Jimmy Iovine, Dr. Dre (Andre Young) and Ian Rogers -- that can help Apple improve and launch new services," said Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty.
A better strategy?
Amit Daryanani at RBC Capital Markets said the acquisition can help Apple improve its music strategy.
"In our view, the iTunes music strategy, which has been challenged recently, could benefit from the new hires," Daryanani said in a note to clients.
"Notably, Iovine was one of the first industry executives to anticipate the download business decline and advocate for subscription and streaming services as music's future."
Trip Chowdhry, analyst with Global Equities Research, said Beats can help Apple improve its iTunes Radio, which he called "a total disaster."
"Our research indicates that Beats Music streaming service provides the user with one of the best streaming music experiences," Chowdhry said in a research note.
He said that Beats has just 250,000 subscribers "but with Apple's power in distribution (iOS devices and AppStore), subscription to beats music streaming service can easily grow to 20 million subscribers within the next 12 to 18 months."
Also related to this story
Fill in your Name and Email Address to receive a Free Newsletter
Apple dances to new tune with Beats deal


text:
Baseball season is in full swing, and fans are heading to ballparks across the country to see their favorite teams. However, attendees aren't just enjoying the game with family and friends - they're also making plenty of purchases, making it necessary for vendors within stadiums to upgrade their cash counting machines.
Higher attendance could mean more food purchases
Consumers are more willing to spend as the economy improves, and may be attending more games as ticket prices drop. According to Fox Business, attendance at Major League Baseball games last year jumped 1.8 percent, while ticket prices experienced a 2 percent year-over-year decline. With more people buying tickets, there will also likely be more people frequenting the concession areas and purchasing snacks and drinks to enjoy during the game.
Baseball fans will consume a significant amount of beer, peanuts, pretzels and soft drinks this year, but they'll also be purchasing plenty of other snacks. Parks are making it a point to create new and unique snacks to lure in fans, and unusual ballpark food is all the rage these days. Despite the popularity of more innovative edibles, traditional hot dogs are still the ultimate fan favorite. According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, attendees will eat an estimated 20.4 million hot dogs during the 2013 baseball season. This translates into an significant number of sales for vendors, and vendors that cater to Dodgers, Red Sox, Rangers, Tigers and Yankees fans are expected to see the highest number of hot dog purchases.
Vendors need to handle increased number of purchases efficiently
Fans may be more apt to carry and rely on cash at games, as some vendors may not accept credit cards. Others may want to track their spending more carefully and feel they are better able to budget and manage their funds with paper currency. Because cash use is so prevalent among these fans, concession stands need to be prepared to handle an increase in purchases and have a cash counter that is able to efficiently and accurately handle a large number of transactions. Those that fail to accommodate attendee needs and handle purchases quickly may see a slump in sales or notice fans are leaving their line because of long waits.
June 11, 2013


text:
Nissan has set a Nurburgring lap record with a new race-inspired version of its supercar-slaying GTR. On sale in 2014, the GTR Nismo is the latest iteration of Nissan’s flagship sports car and features a raft of race-derived improvements which have helped it set a new volume production car record at Germany’s Nurburgring Nordschleife of 7:08.679.
Mechanical changes undertaken by Nismo, Nissan’s performance and motorsport division, start under the bonnet where the 3.8-litre V6 engine now produces 591bhp, a 49bhp power-hike over the current GT-R, and 481 lb ft torque, an increase of 16 lb ft, thanks to new high-flow, large diameter twin-turbochargers, individual cylinder timing control and an upgraded fuel pump. Handling improvements come via custom Bilstein DampTronic dampers, complete with ‘Comfort’, ‘Sport’ and hardcore ‘R’ modes, exclusive Dunlop tyres and a more rigid bodyshell.
Exterior changes have been driven by the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics to analyse airflow over and around the car. The Nismo GTR’s aerodynamics package includes a new front bumper, under-bonnet strake and carbon-fibre rear wing which combine to both increase downforce and minimise drag.
Other exterior touches include black six-spoke alloy wheels and five body colours; Brilliant White Pearl, Meteor Flake Pearl Black, Ultimate Metallic Silver and Vibrant Red and Dark Matte Grey.
The motorsport-inspired theme continues in the cabin too, with carbon-backed Recaro seats and an Alcantara-trimmed steering wheel.
The record time was set by Nissan test-driver Michael Krumm who says he “had a fantastic time attacking the Nürburgring. I had so much fun out there”. The GTR is no stranger to Nurburgring records, having previously set three others since 2008.
There is no word on prices yet but expect a significant premium over the standard car.
Nissan GT-R Nismo Pictures


text:
The American Surgeon General published the very first federal government report linking smoking and ill health half a century ago. The report also demanded that the American government take proper remedial action to reduce the harm caused by smoking.
Ever since then the portion of Americans who light up has fallen from 42% to 18% and then in some states the portion of regular smokers can almost be counted in single figures. Similar reductions have occurred elsewhere. Almost half the UK population smoked in 1974. Now, less than a quarter do. The figures around australia are even healthier.
This is good news because smoking causes a number of different diseases and is also the main reason for preventable deaths in numerous countries. Indeed, smoking might have killed as many as 100m folks the 20th century and the World Health Organisation estimates the figure for the twenty-first century can be quite a mind-boggling 1 billion.
About 50 years ago another significant “smoking related” event happened: the first e-cigarette was patented. This was a device that produced vapour from tobacco without combustion. For a lot of decades “vaping” remained a minority activity. But over the past several years these not-quite-so newfangled nicotine delivery devices are becoming rather popular. And concern has become raised over their use and particularly uptake among young people. While figures from Ash advise a negligible number of vape pen explodes, a newly released US-based study found that the proportion of middle and school students in the usa who had ever used an e-cigarette a lot more than doubled between 2011-2012. Some analysts have even predicted that vaping can become popular than smoking inside a decade.
Modern e-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that vaporise nicotine for inhalation. They normally contain a cartridge containing liquid nicotine and a heating element designed to produce an aerosol. Many also include flavourings like menthol – a fact which was criticised on the grounds that flavourings could make e-cigarettes more attractive to children.
Although vaping (and passive vaping) may be safer than smoking (and passive smoking) numerous toxicological analyses have revealed that e-cigarettes contain many dangerous chemicals. The great thing is that e-cigarettes are primarily used by people as being a popular smoking cessation aid. But it’s far from clear how effective e-cigarettes have been in helping people to quit smoking in the long term. More worryingly, some studies have shown that a number of “never smokers” have tried vaping. This can be of particular concern because e-cigarettes could act as a “gateway drug” to conventional cigarettes.
The relative lack of evidence concerning the safety, effectiveness and ultimate impact of e-cigarettes has resulted in the adoption of radically different strategies to the import, production, sale, distribution and advertising of these devices. Some countries, such as Argentina, effectively prohibited them. But most jurisdictions allow e-cigarettes to get sold and consumed susceptible to varying degrees of regulation. The EU, for example, is taking a relatively hard line, however it is unclear at this stage what impact these new rules will have.
Ethically speaking, it would seem smart to be wary. E-cigarettes may not represent a modern Trojan horse, however the recent interest shown by tobacco companies in these devices should provide us with all pause for thought. This does not necessarily mean that vaping ought to be entirely proscribed. Quite apart from the simple fact that our liberty rights dictate otherwise, there exists, as noted above, good reason to consider that e-cigarettes are less dangerous than regular cigarettes so the net impact on health (and longevity) could very well htkcbf positive.
But because of the serious risk that vaping might re-glamourise smoking, especially amongst the young, a cautious regulatory approach is warranted. This ought to add a ban on the sale of e-cigarettes to children as well as a New York City-style ban on vaping in public indoor spaces and private offices. Additionally, it seems eminently sensible to put in place regulations to make sure that the marketing of e-cigarettes is fixed to current smokers.
Many will complain this too many restrictions on the sale and consumption is going to be counter-productive. Some experts have even claimed that quality control regulation is, pretty much, all that is required, and that vaping could make smoking redundant. But this approach seems overly lax. All things considered, there’s (usually) no vapour without fire.


text:
Posted: 12 November, 2014
by Web Guy Josh
NSFW: Kim Kardashian Reveals More Than We Bargained For
Breaks The Internet With Latest Risqué Magazine Shoot
We’re pretty sure everyone has already seen enough of Kim Kardashian’s derrière but this photo seriously takes the cake!
Kim appears on the cover of New York fashion magazine PAPER’s latest issue which they’ve called Break The Internet… and when you see the photo they’ve chosen, you’ll know why:
“For our winter issue, we gave ourselves one assignment: Break The Internet. There is no other person that we can think of who is up to the task than one Kim Kardashian West,” PAPER Magazine said of the cover, which was shot by legendary French photographer Jean-Paul Goude.
“A pop culture fascination able to generate headlines just by leaving her house, Kim is what makes the web tick.”
The magazine has also released a much tamer alternate cover, for obvious reasons.
Cue the hilarious viral memes... which probably will break the internet!
We know that Kim has a rather large behind but do you think it’s been Photoshopped? Let us know on our Facebook page.
We're not so sure about this one...
Kim Kardashian made a rare fashion faux pas over the weekend and it has not helped the pregnancy rumours.
Kim Kardashian may have just put her foot in it…


text:
Subscribe to our newsletters & stay updated
ICC Evaluation Service (ICC-ES) has launched a new online Customer Portal System to support new and existing building, plumbing, mechanical and gas product manufacturers clients.
The portal system will allow clients to apply, track and review the status of their report application, while being able to apply for report revisions and review/pay invoices online via credit card. Users will first need to register and create an account.
“This new system will be key to managing the applications of new reports for both the client and company, providing real time updates and status reports and revisions,” said ICC-ES President Shahin Moinian. P.E.
ICC-ES plans to further develop the Customer Portal by adding the ability: for plant inspectors to directly upload manufacturers' inspection reports; for report holders and technical staff to communicate/message each other regarding existing projects, updates or questions: for registered users to communicate directly with ICC-ES Connect+ staff regarding customer service inquiries.


text:
Jean Paul Gaultier marked the end of an era last month, embarking on his final ever show for the fashion house. Featuring the likes of Dita von Teese to Bella Hadid, the spectacle was a commemorative one, celebrating his divergent vision, consistently challenging gender norms. Taking a bow after fifty years in the business, the French designer leaves behind a bountiful legacy, from the cone bra, the cropped sailor top for men and the iconic JGP corset.
Departing from the role, the House has now announced their latest initiative, continuing the Haute Couture line with a new designer for each season, invited by the namesake and founder to translate their own perspective on the future vision of the house. Commenting on the next chapter, Gaultier shares that the strategy has been one of development. "The idea came to me in the nineties for a Parisian Haute Couture House who found itself without a designer."
Taking the helm of a collection that will beckon the eyes of the industry, the first since Gaultier's retirement, the founder of Sacai - the Japanese luxury brand - Chitose Abe will feature as the first guest desinger. "I have a long held admiration for Jean Paul Gaultier's unique vision of subversive femininty and his originality," shares Abe. "It's a true honour to be given to opportunity to be custodian of his house as the first designer of this project." Set to present the next Haute Couture collection in July this year, Gaultier's visionary approach is the exact optimism and cooperation between designer's that the industry needs right now.


text:
The full-HD monitors are available in 24-inch (S24E370DL) and 27-inch (S27E370DS) displays and feature AMD’s anti-flicker gaming tech and 178-degree viewing angles.
The monitors consolidate the multiple charging ports found in other displays with a circular wireless charging area integrated in the monitor’s stand. All that you need to do is place your device on the stand’s charging area to initiate charging. These monitors promise functionality in office spaces if users have a wirelessly charging phone.
Only those devices which have wireless charging capability can be used with the new monitor.
Samsung hasn’t revealed the price or launch details of the new monitors. However, a report on Engadget notes that the innovative displays are expected to be launched at Europe’s biggest electronics show, IFA, scheduled in September.
The new monitor is further compatible with the upcoming Windows 10 platform.


text: A contradiction of everything Oldham Council promised 12 years ago which was that the Foxdenton development would be an high end business park creating high end jobs. After being refused planning permission Aldi commissioned an economic report showing the land will never be used for the high end businesses promised by Oldham Council after 8 years of marketing didn’t attract a single business. Now we have the council leader Arooj Shah at another photo op acting as though this supermarket and policy failure just 5 minutes from an existing Lidl store at a destructive scheme pushed through by her boss Jim McMahon is a success indicative of a progressive council. Isn’t it amazing that the town centre with the highest unemployment and worklessness rates gets tens of millions in new green infrastructure and leisure services yet Foxdenton which when the scheme was approved was the MSOA with the lowest rate of working aged benefit claims in the entire borough loses million of square feet of green land. The first release of the Foxdenton development plan 12 years ago which got the scheme approved predicted the site would create over 4,000 jobs, since then the job predictions have fallen by over 50% and the number of houses to be built has increased by 33%. Labour Oldham promised an high end employment park what people got 12 years later was an Aldi and a drive through coffee shop.


text:
Spectrum 2.8 is the latest release of this company’s browser-based software, designed to meet complex, high volume customer and regulatory labeling requirements across global enterprises. The software reportedly introduces new multi-site capabilities, allowing customers to use a single deployment of Spectrum across multiple geographies and remote facilities while synchronizing with a central location. The release also provides new levels of control over global printer networks and enhanced print job visibility.
With the new multi-site capability, companies reportedly can standardize labeling across their global operations while also utilizing centralized and decentralized deployment models. Business users at facilities including manufacturing plants, contract manufacturer sites, warehouses, and distribution centers can manage labeling independently when required, while accessing standard and approved label data and templates from a company’s central location. This empowers facilities to run without depending on a full-time connection to headquarters while ensuring that they comply and stay current with corporate labeling standards.
For more information, visit www.loftware.com.
Report Abusive Comment


text:
Written by Linc Bedrosian
ANCHORAGE — The National Marine Fisheries Service announced Thursday it will consider listing a population of harbor seals that live in a freshwater Alaska lake as a threatened or endangered species, a decision that could affect the massive Pebble Mine development project.
The agency said it has accepted a petition filed in November by the Center for Biological Diversity, kicking off a status review of the seals that live in Iliamna Lake 200 miles southwest of Anchorage.
The animals are the only known U.S. freshwater population of harbor seals, but a listing carries the added importance of possible effects on the Pebble Mine. The proposed open-pit copper and gold mine would require a 140-mile road to Cook Inlet. About 50 to 60 miles would pass along the lake shore, where the seals hunt for salmon.
Read the full story at Juneau Empire>>
National Fisherman Live: 3/10/15
In this episode, Online Editor Leslie Taylor talks with Mike McLouglin, vice president of Dunlop Industrial and Protective Footwear.
National Fisherman Live: 2/24/15
In this episode:
March date set for disaster aid dispersal
Oregon LNG project could disrupt fishing
NOAA tweaks gear marking requirement
N.C. launches first commercial/recreational dock
Spiny lobster traps limits not well received
The Gulf of Maine Research Institute is partnering with restaurants throughout the region for an Out of the Blue promotion of cape shark, also known as dogfish. Starting Friday, July 3 and running until Sunday, July 12, cape shark will be available at each participating restaurant during the 10-day event. Cape shark is abundant and well deserving of a wider market.
As a joint Gulf of Mexico states seafood marketing effort sails into the sunset, the program’s Marketing Director has left for a job in the private seafood sector. Joanne McNeely Zaritsky, the former Marketing Director of the Gulf State Marketing Coalition, has joined St. Petersburg, FL based domestic seafood processor Captain’s Fine Foods as its new business development director to promote its USA shrimp product line.


text:
On May 10th there will be an informative event for entrepreneurs and aspiring small business owners; the “What Every Small Business Owner Should Know About the Law” conference will benefit those who own small business, or who are beginning their venture.
Avoid not taking the appropriate legal steps in business that may lead up to complications and a possible expenses. Take advantage of this free opportunity to receive legal advice.
Senator Gipson will be in attendance to relay the latest legislative news regarding women owned businesses. This information is also important for men that work in women owned businesses, deal with women business owners, and men who know the important role that women owned businesses play in our regional economy.
For any questions or to register please email: firstname.lastname@example.org


text:
Neeraj Chandra: Tap changes through innovation to strengthen brand
Delivering his keynote address at the Bangalore leg of the three-city Pitch CMO Summit, Neeraj Chandra, COO, Britannia Industries, talked about innovation to build brands and businesses.
Britannia Industries has launched a new biscuit under its health brand NutriChoice called NutriChoice Thins. Itscampaign for the recently launched Rusks too will go on-air soon. The announcement was made by Neeraj Chandra, COO of Britannia Industries, while delivering his keynote address at the Bangalore edition of the Pitch CMO Summit 2011 on Wednesday.
Chandra mainly spoke about being innovative and bringing in small changes to build brands and businesses. He said, “When we look at some of the categories consumed over a period of years, change is almost imperceptible. We all have been consuming biscuits and usingsoap and laundry powder for many years. Change is more imperceptible in these areas and yet there is something very basic about harnessing change here. Big brands tap change in the environment through innovation, use them to grow powerfully thereby strengthening the brand, and delivering results.”
He gave an example of how small changes in Britannia products have been able to strengthen the brand.
He pointed out that an innovation need not necessarily be at the product level. It can be a simple renovationof packaging or even repositioning, to keep pace with the evolving consumers. Chandra pointed out two such instances – Marie that went through a renovation process to see a growth of one and a half times the rest the market; and Bourbon which has been repositioned as a brand for young adults. The repositioning – pulling it out from the Treat category that mainly caters to kids –has helped the Bourbon category grow by 50 per cent.
Talking about some of the growth areas, he said that aspiration lines between rural and urban areasare blurring. The success of the Rs 5 pack in the rural areas is one such example of growing consumerism in the hinterland. “Other areas that offer scope for change and innovation arise from new consumption moments such as out-of-home consumption due to increase in travel time, new channels such as consumption at the workplace due to rise in formats such as BPOs (institutional sales),” he added. Britannia has tried to draw upon the appeal of onecategory such as chocolate and using it to leverage another category such as biscuits in terms of flavour, product form and shape. New categories are being created, like rusks and cakes, which till lately appeared only in the unbranded space. Even bread too has been launched in four to five categories.
Meanwhile, Britannia has also set up the Brittania Nutrition Foundation with a focus on building child nutrition in India. “We have a huge malnutrition problem in India with around 60-70 per cent of the Indian population suffering from micronutrient deficiency. While Thailand and China have moved ahead over the years in this respect, India has not been able to do so. In our own small way, we are trying, but all the stakeholders need to work on this,” Chandra added.
While Jagran was the presenting sponsor of the Pitch CMO Summit 2011, in association with Zee Bangla, the other associate sponsors included Times Television Network and Open magazine.
Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook & Youtube