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After a couple of critical sends recently (Talkspace and FIGS), now it is time to get our drip back – Mom and Dad drip means swagger/confidence – saved you guys a text – as we will be breaking down Starry, a failed SPAC.
I first broke down Starry back in the 23rd edition of Just Raised on April 1, 2022. Here is what I wrote:
1. A Falling Star
Starry, a company looking to disrupt the broadband industry, announced the completion of a $1.76B SPAC deal with FirstMark Horizon Acquisition Corp. with proceeds of $176M.
The company wants to create an over-the-air internet system (vs. fiber/underground) to give strong internet to the masses. Starry also raised $400M from KKR, FirstMark, and Tiger Global Management before going public.
Will this be the company that turns around SPAC’s fortunes?
I don’t think so. Here’s why:
1. Massive Broadband Incumbents
Off the bat, it’s important to recognize just how competitive and entrenched the broadband market is, including: Frontier, Verizon Fios, Comcast, and Charter. With many seeing the collapse of cable TV revenues due to cord cutting, they are investing heavily into broadband infrastructure.
2. Technology Doubts
There are serious questions regarding the quality of Starry’s technology. Historically, their type of tech has struggled in tough weather conditions like rain, wind, and snow. Imagine it’s a cold, snowy day and you can’t watch your Netflix. Yikes.
“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.” Investing at any stage is all about valuation. Apple is a great company, but if someone wanted to sell you a share at $10T, you would most definitely pass. Starry’s 2020 and 2021 revenue was $13M and $22M, respectively, meaning that the company is trading at an 80x Price to sales multiple. The company projects $1.1B in sales by 2026. I’ll believe it when I see it.
4. Questionable Management
Starry CEO Chet Kanojia is the former founder and CEO of Aereo. Aereo was an online TV platform that eventually shuttered. The Supreme Court deemed Starry illegal because it didn’t obtain the proper copyright permission for its content, then it went bankrupt. This does not hold Starry back from claiming that Aereo was “the groundbreaking online TV platform that kicked off the OTT revolution.” An odd claim for a company that collapsed the way Aereo did. Red flag.
Prediction: Starry will share the fortunes of many SPACs before it and will not be a shooting star.
Alan. Looks like you crushed it buddy.
Fast forward to November 16th and the stock is trading @ $.27 a share and appears to be on the brink of bankruptcy. On April 1, the date I wrote the original write up, the stock was trading @ ~$8.50 a share representing a ~95% drop in the stock price.
In my last newsletter, I discussed why it is so important to learn from your mistakes as an investor, even when it hurts. When I came across Starry, I instantly thought back to the similarities between the two companies including going public via SPAC, questionable management, significant over valuation, among others. This served me very well.
Now let’s take a look at Starry’s journey and their collapse.


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Facebook, the social media giant, launches a new fiat payment system called Facebook Pay. The announcement comes soon after regulators stonewall its Libra stablecoin project. Facebook Pay allows users to buy and sell things online across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. The VP, marketplace & commerce at Facebook, Deborah Liu said that people use Facebook’s […]
Lite.IM, a crypto wallet, has added support for Bitcoin along with other cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin, Ethereum, and its native token, ZTX. Now users can send and receive Bitcoins via Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and SMS with the help of chatbots. The chatbot will help in making crypto transactions and checking balance in the wallets.

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As wholesale cash and carry becomes the next big thing in India, Wal-Mart, Tesco, Metro and Carrefour plan to invest substantially on training and educating their key customers — kiranas, hotels and restaurants. Carrefour plans to roll out its full-fledged training programmes closer to the launch of its first store in the National Capital Region. Metro Cash & Carry, which operates five wholesales centres in India, has recently started a programme for hotels, restaurants and caterers for sharing expertise in areas like thematic cuisine, food festivals and menu merchandising. It has also trained over 44,000 sheep farmers and 1,250 fishermen. The German wholesaler now plans to start training programmes for farmers and traders in India.
Bharti Wal-Mart, which recently launched its first outlet in Amritsar, has rolled out programmes on taxation issues for kirana owners, food safety and hygiene workshops and live demos for hotels, restaurants and caterers. It now plans to roll out targeted programmes for different customers segments to improve their efficiency, enhance businesses and profitability. Around 80-90 % of the merchandise sold in Indian cash and carry outlets of these global biggies will be locally sourced products. This provides an opportunity for them to convert their local suppliers into global ones with adequate training.


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Workers at an Amazon warehouse in a town southeast of Albany, New York, have petitioned the National Labor Relations Board to hold a union election. The camp, codenamed ALB1, hopes to join the Amazon Labor Union, which successfully persuaded a majority of workers at the company’s JFK8 facility in Staten Island to vote to unionize earlier this year. An NLRB spokesman said CNBC that the agency’s Buffalo office is currently verifying that the group has in fact reached the minimum number of signatures required to hold an election.
Unions typically require signatures from 30 percent of eligible members to vote. Corresponding The Washington Post, ALU previously said it exceeded that threshold for the Albany warehouse. Union organizers at the facility have been working for months to join the ALU. After noticing their efforts, Amazon reportedly held meetings to discourage workers from unionizing. An employee also sent us photos of digital televisions at the Albany plant showing anti-union messages. More specifically, the embassies advised against signing an ALU “card,” which refers to the authorization cards workers must sign in order for them to vote.
The ALU has called for higher wages and safer working conditions for warehouse workers, previously accusing the company of retaliation. A few weeks after winning the Staten Island election, Amazon fired two of the employees involved in its organizing efforts. Her co-organizers believed it was a retaliatory strike from the e-commerce giant. Heather Goodall, a senior organizer at ALB1, said: “The main concerns I hear from workers are wages and safety. Also, there is no job security. There is no way to rest in a 15 minute break. Workers want to be able to use the bathroom freely.”
Amazon has long made it clear that it opposes workers’ unionization efforts. A spokesman said The post: “As a company, we do not believe that unions are the best solution for our employees. Our focus remains on working directly with our team to continue making Amazon a great place to work.” The company also appealed ALU’s win in Staten Island, accusing organizers of pressuring workers to to vote for unionization. A hearing for Amazon’s appeal could be announced sometime this month.
All products recommended by Engadget are selected by our editorial team independently from our parent company. Some of our stories contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may receive an affiliate commission.
https://www.engadget.com/amazon-warehouse-albany-new-york-unionize-114602915.html?src=rss Another Amazon warehouse in New York is seeking to unionize


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CBD has definitely entered the hype phase.
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United States Hemp & CBD Expo 2019, Miami Beach Convention Center, 1901 Convention Center Dr, Miami, Florida 33139, Miami, United States. Sun Aug 04
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It is a 2 day event organised by Milestone The U.S. Cannabis Conference & Expo is heading back to Miami on August Europe CBD Expo | London 2019 · AHPA Hemp-CBD Supplement Congress ». 2 Aug 2019 Florida law is hazy, but CBD's popularity is clear at inaugural Miami CBD Expo held at the Miami Beach Convention Center from August 2-4, The CBD Expo Tour. Powered Hurry and grab your tickets for CBD Expo SOUTH! CBD Expo SOUTH 2020 reveals products to the community and the world. 1 Aug 2019 At a critical time for a rapidly growing market, thousands of CBD industry leaders will come together from August 2 to August 4, 2019 for the first World CBD Expo is an event dedicated to CBD. The event will focus on Vendors, Presentations, Seminars from Experts and Professionals as well as Personal 4 Jun 2019 PRNewswire/ -- At a critical time for a rapidly growing market, thousands of CBD industry leaders will come together from August 2 to August 4, 27 Jun 2019 PRNewswire/ -- USA CBD Expo will showcase the newest wellness at the Miami Convention Center in Miami Beach, Fla., from August 3 to Discover the best conferences, fairs and conventions from the CBD sector for Cannabis Capital Conference. Miami 24th-25th. Event website August 2020 About USA CBD EXPO 2019 ✅ Start Aug 2, 2019, 12:00 PM Miami Convention Center Read more about the event → USA CBD Expo is pleased to announce this year's CBD expo that will happen at the Miami Beach Convention Center from August 2 to 4, 2019.
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Jennifer King email@example.com. Tyler Gomez, who works for Green Roads CBD World CBD Expo WORLD CBD EXPO World CBD Expo is an event dedicated to CBD. The event will focus on Vendors, Presentations, Seminars from Experts and Professionals as well as Personal Testimonies from people that have experienced the benefits of CBD. U.S. Cannabis Conference & Expo - Miami | The Cannabis Reporter The U.S. Cannabis Conference & Expo is heading back to Miami on August 3rd and 4th, 2019. With hundreds of exhibitors and educational talks, panels and sessions, attendees get the best of the cannabis industry under one roof. The event will take place at the Downtown Miami Hyatt Regency Hotel’s conference center.


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The United States and Japan signed a trade agreement on October 7, 2019, which marked a significant milestone for both countries. The agreement was the result of months of negotiations between the two economies, with the goal of improving bilateral trade relations and strengthening economic growth.
The agreement covers a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, intellectual property, digital trade, and automobiles. One of the most noteworthy aspects of this agreement is the opening up of the Japanese market to U.S. agricultural exports. Japan has agreed to eliminate or reduce tariffs on a variety of products, including beef, pork, and dairy products. This is a significant victory for U.S. farmers, who have been struggling with the impact of tariffs on exports to China.
Another significant area of the agreement is digital trade, which has become increasingly important in the age of e-commerce. The agreement includes provisions to ensure the free flow of data across borders, as well as the protection of intellectual property. This will help to facilitate trade between the two countries and support the development of new technologies and innovations.
The U.S.-Japan trade agreement also includes provisions related to the automotive industry. Japan has agreed to reduce tariffs on U.S. automobiles and auto parts, which represents an important market for American automakers. This will help to level the playing field and create new opportunities for U.S. manufacturers.
Overall, the U.S.-Japan trade agreement is a significant step forward for both countries. It will help to support economic growth and create new opportunities for businesses and workers alike. For the U.S., the agreement represents an important victory in the ongoing effort to address trade imbalances and promote fair trade practices. For Japan, the agreement will help to strengthen ties with a key trading partner and support the growth of their economy.
In conclusion, the U.S.-Japan trade agreement of 2019 is a significant development for both countries. It represents a major victory for American farmers and businesses, while also creating new opportunities for Japanese companies. As the global economy continues to evolve, it is important for countries to work together to promote fair trade practices and support economic growth. The U.S.-Japan trade agreement is a positive step forward in this regard.


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Webinar: The Path Forward: Reopening the Economy after the COVID-19 Lockdown
Date: Wednesday, May 13, 2020, at 3:00 PM CEST / 9:00 AM EST
Duration: 45 mins
As COVID-19 related stay-at-home orders enter their second month in many countries, businesses and governments are starting to consider when – and how – to reopen the economy. Many countries have begun discussing a gradual return to business under certain circumstances.
Some countries, including China, have been open with strict, incremental easing regulations for over a month, and countries such as Sweden and Taiwan have kept businesses open throughout. What are questions to consider as you begin planning how—and when to open your business?
Join Julia Holden-Davis, Globalaw President, for an online panel session with Globalaw member firm representatives from China, Taiwan, Italy, Spain, and the United States to discuss the overall impact of COVID-19, lessons learnt and best practices on how to thrive in the post-COVID-19 world.


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According to numerous news articles, after racking up a $200-plus bill at Smith & Wollensky, Italian attorney Graziano Graziussi realized that he had forgotten his wallet.
He offered his iPhone to the restaurant as collateral. And he offered to be accompanied to his hotel by a member of the restaurant staff. The latter, it would seem, would provide a satisfactory means to resolve the matter.
But for some reason unknown, the staff at Smith & Wollensky opted to call the police, and Graziussi’s nightcap took place at the local jail.
Thanks to the internet, a lie can travel around the world before the truth gets its tweet on
Smith & Wollensky’s apparent bad faith decision to treat a customer who made an honest mistake like a criminal was obviously a poor one, and thanks to the internet and nature of the story, Graziussi’s story spread quickly.
The result, not surprisingly, has been a social media beat-down for Smith & Wollensky. Graziano Graziussi’s tale is making the rounds on Twitter and Facebook, as well as on popular blogs and mainstream news outlets.
And on Yelp, an important site for many restaurants, Smith & Wollensky has seen its rating drop to three stars, not what you’d expect from an upscale steakhouse. There are dozens of reviews lambasting the restaurant for its treatment of a tourist and while some have obviously been written by individuals who never patronized Smith & Wollensky, a number claim to be from past customers who won’t be returning lest they forget their wallets.
There’s just one problem: the story that sparked this social media firestorm may not be accurate.
According to New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, when police arrived at the scene, Graziussi had in his possession a wallet containing $118. And an Italian-speaking officer who interviewed Graziussi concluded that Graziussi “simply did not want to pay” his bill. A CBS New York article reports that Graziussi was arrested for theft of services, later released and will have to settle the matter.
Smith & Wollensky’s Facebook posted this information on its Facebook page, linking to the article containing the details. But this obviously won’t eliminate the damage already done, and even if it turns out that this was truly a case of the customer being at fault, some individuals aren’t willing to accept that reality differs from what was originally reported.
Case in point: despite official statements from the New York City police department, some Facebook users simply don’t believe that the story adds up. Graziussi must have been the victim and even after it has become clear that, at a minimum, there is more to this incident than meets the eye, they continue to blast Smith & Wollensky.
Business as sacrificial lamb
This raises perhaps one of the most difficult questions for businesses operating in the age of social media: should we do what’s right even thought we know we might be portrayed as doing wrong?
If we assume that the Smith & Wollensky incident was one in which a customer refused to pay a bill, which, as it apparently stands right now, is the official story according to law enforcement, it would seem that the restaurant’s decision to involve the police was a reasonable one. After all, most restaurants are not going to let customers walk out the door without paying simply because they don’t want to pay. Nor should they.
But doing the right thing can be a social media liability, and at the end of the day, it’s important for businesses owners to remember that we live in a world filled with injustice, perceived and actual. In the commercial realm, customers are frequently treated poorly, some companies do take advantage of and exploit, and so on and so forth. So when a story breaks — inaccurate or not — that feeds into this, businesses like Smith & Wollensky become perfect sacrificial lambs. That often leads to backlashes that are more fierce and angry than one might otherwise expect given the circumstances.
Frankly, there is nothing businesses can do about this. There are no easy solutions, and few best practices for responding. But companies should never apologize for doing the right thing. Instead, they should continue to do the right thing because living in fear of the social media mob is no way to run a business, even if the mob is capable of taking its pound of flesh.


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Nearly 2 million pounds of ready-to-eat chicken has been recalled because of concerns that the product might not be fully-cooked, U.S. Department of Agriculture officials said.
The chicken, produced by National Steak and Poultry, was shipped to food service locations across the U.S., according to a news release.
It was sold under multiple names, including National Steak and Poultry, Hormel, Shaker Valley, and others, officials said.
The recalled products have the establishment number “P-6010T” inside the USDA mark of inspection, the release states. The chicken was produced on various dates from Aug. 20, 2016 through Nov. 30, 2016,...


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Samsung Galaxy S9/S9+ might be out there in new Dawn Gold & Burgundy Pink colours
Those that actually benefit from the non-traditional colour choices are sometimes out of luck on the subject of getting the smartphone they need on launch day. Samsung has a historical past of releasing further colour variants of their flagship smartphones, which has led to the Burgundy Red version of the Galaxy S8 again in November of this 12 months. Important simply did this a couple of months in the past with the release of three new limited edition colors for the Essential Phone and it’s one thing that a whole lot of smartphone OEMs find yourself doing. Early this morning it was introduced that the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ would each be launching in new Dawn Gold and Burgundy Pink colours in choose markets around the globe.
Upon launch, the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ have been launched with quite a lot of colour choices for the shopper. This included Midnight Black, Titanium Grey, Coral Blue, and Lilac Purple, which is extra choices then we usually see most corporations launch with flagship smartphones. The extra colour choices smartphone launches with, the harder it’s to anticipate which colours might be extra standard. This will typically result in inventory points the place one colour choice will get bought out and it might probably take days to weeks earlier than a retailer can get extra in from the OEM.
Those that have been in a position to get their fingers on the Burgundy Pink variant of the Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ will know the way it makes that system look, so it is best to anticipate the identical with this 12 months’s mannequin. Nonetheless, the Dawn Gold model is the primary smartphone from Samsung that includes a satin gloss end. We’re advised the Burgundy Pink Galaxy S9 and S9+ might be launched in South Korea and China someday this month whereas the Dawn Gold variant might be made out there in Australia, Chile, Germany, Hong Kong, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam beginning in June.
Samsung did level out that further market availability might be coming quickly for these gadgets however they haven’t revealed any particulars about these plans right now.
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It looks like RIM is really serious about tapping into the potential of China’s population of over 1 billion. They just confirmed that RIM Asia Pacific Vice President of Government Affairs Gregory Shea will now get an even longer title. His additional role will be China region president. This is along with a new China subsidiary including RIM’s headquarters in Beijing along with Shanghai and Guangzhou.
RIM must really be aiming at that 500+ million subscribers on China Mobile. I wish them luck! Its also some great news after RIM finally settled their certification in Indonesia.


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Taking on the Building Blocks of IoT Sensors: Size, Range, Power Consumption
As IoT implementations explode in scale, decreasing sensors’ size, lowering their power consumption and extending connectivity range become increasingly critical considerations. Semtech, the $600 million mixed-signal semiconductor maker, is taking on these IoT building block issues, announcing new LoRa devices and wireless radio frequency (RF) technology for lower power wide area network (LPWAN) IoT use cases.
Designed for sensor manufacturers, LoRa radios extend Semtech’s “link budget” by 20 percent with a 50 percent reduction in receiver current (4.5 mA) and a high power +22 dBm option. The result: battery life of LoRa-based sensors is extended up to 30 percent, the company said. “The extended connectivity range, with the ability to reach deep indoor and outdoor sensor locations, will create new markets as different types of verticals integrate LoRa Technology in their IoT applications including healthcare and pharmaceuticals, media and advertising, logistics/shipping, and asset tracking.”
Semtech said the footprint of LoRa sensors is 45 percent smaller than the current generation. The chipsets also support FSK modulation to allow compatibility with legacy protocols that are migrating to the LoRaWAN open protocol. The new platform also has a command interface designed to simplify radio configuration and shorten development cycles by requiring only 10 lines of code to transmit or receive a packet.
“Companies are always looking to make money in the IoT business,” Vivek Mohan, Semtech’s director of marketing, wireless IoT products, told EnterpriseTech. “It’s been in its hype cycle for a while now, there have been a lot of trials, a lot of early proof of concept deployments at a small scale. But now some of those are becoming much larger, there will be mass deployments with hundreds of thousands of sensors talking to IoT networks, so there’s big pressure on cost reduction while maintaining performance benefits.”
Semtech said three new devices, SX1262 (+22dBm), SX1261 (+15dBm) and SX1268 (+22dBm, China frequency bands) are under trial use at customer sites and will be available in full production late in the first quarter of this year. Development kits for various regions and associated software will also be available at that time.
According to Mohan, the new chipsets have been under development for four years and were influenced, in part, by Semtech’s involvement in the LoRa Alliance, which is focused on IoT LPWAN applications and whose membership has grown to more than 500 companies worldwide.
“All together, for a typical application, (the new chipsets) could provide up to 30 percent longer battery life,” Mohan said, “which is a big deal for two reasons: it lets you add more functionality keeping the same battery you have, or it lets you go to a lower capacity battery, which is a lot cheaper.”
“LPWAN IoT applications are going through a massive transformation, shifting from trials to large deployments in smart cities, buildings, healthcare, logistics, and agriculture,” said Marc Pegulu, VP and GM for Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products Group. “LoRa Technology enables an infinite amount of IoT use cases as Semtech pushes for the last mile of connectivity and reinforces its position as the de facto platform for LPWAN.”


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Fans of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt have been eagerly awaiting news of Geralt's final adventure for months now, but developer CD Projekt Red hasn't had much to say on the matter. All that we know for sure is that the expansion, titled Blood and Wine, is still set to launch at some point this year.
However, according to Polish website GRYOnline, the add-on may be releasing a lot sooner than anticipated. As spotted by NeoGAF, the publication has the expansion pegged for launch on the 26th April. Too good to be true?
Of course, this could easily be a simple mistake, but given that the Polish studio has been open about its projects with its home nation's gaming press in the past, the site may be privy to some insider knowledge. In any case, we'll likely hear more in the near future - whether this is true or not.
Would you be hyped if this information turned out to be accurate? Draw both swords in the comments section below.


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Just over a year ago, Microsoft launched the Surface Duo, its first Android phone. In some ways, the Duo was one of the most ambitious Android phones in the world with its unique dual-screen design. On the other hand, it was lacking some key features you’d expect from a $1,400 phone, like NFC, the latest ARM SoC, and a big battery. It also launched with Android 10 in the immediate aftermath of Android 11’s release. Surely, that would just be a temporary issue, right? Well, here we are a year later, and the phone is still on Android 10.
It’s not uncommon for phones to launch on old software in the months after a new version hits, usually with the promise of a quick update. Microsoft, however, has let the Duo languish on Android 10. It has released security patches, which is nice to see. I would consider this a minimum level of support, though. I’m not trying to imply that Android 11 is a dramatic improvement over 10. However, keeping its flagship (and only) phone up-to-date would demonstrate Microsoft’s commitment, and that’s something I for one need to see before I can recommend Microsoft’s phones.
Microsoft is a company with a long, long history of poor commitment to its mobile products. It abandoned Windows Mobile for Windows Phone, and then it abandoned that for Windows 10 Mobile. It also launched and then killed the Kin pseudo-smartphones in there someplace. More recently, it ditched Windows 10 Mobile for Android. Many of us thought back then: maybe this time Microsoft will be able to have some impact on mobile technology. It didn’t have to make the software from scratch, and it didn’t have to convince developers to get on board with a new, untested platform. Even with those advantages, it’s almost like Microsoft doesn’t care about the Duo. It’s more than a year old, Android 12 just weeks away from launch, and Microsoft’s phone still runs Android 10.
And let me tell you, if there’s a phone that could use a major update, it’s the Duo. I have not been shy about my love of foldables, and one of the primary reasons is that they finally make true multitasking viable on a phone. I could theoretically do some of the same things on the Duo with its twin displays, but the experience is fraught with bugs. Apps crash, UI elements disappear, navigation stutters and glitches—it’s not in a good state, and it’s only improved slightly since launch.
Microsoft’s only response to the Duo’s increasingly poor value proposition is lowering the price. In fairness, it has dropped substantially from the original $1,399.99 price to just $699.99. And yet, I don’t think this is even close to the best 700 bucks you can spend on an Android phone. The switch to Android was another opportunity for Microsoft to show that it has mobile ambitions, and thus far, it has failed to live up to our expectations. Everyone else selling phones in this price range can keep up. Why not Microsoft? We reached out to Microsoft to ask about the lack of Duo updates, and we were given a good old “no comment.”
We are expecting Microsoft to unveil the Duo 2 in the coming weeks, and history is repeating itself. Android 12 is about to launch, and I’d be surprised if Microsoft releases its new phone with the latest OS version. Without any sort of promise of update support, I’d be hesitant to buy one. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…
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China Biologic to add plasma collection stations in Shandong
Shanghai. May 13. INTERFAX-CHINA - China Biologic Products Inc., the country's largest private blood products manufacturer, announced on May 12 that it will soon set up new blood plasma collection stations in Shandong Province.
According to the announcement, the company's subsidiary Shandong Taibang Biologic Products Co. Ltd. has obtained approval from Shandong Provincial Health Department to build two new blood plasma stations. This is the first time Shandong Provincial Health Department has granted approval for the construction of such stations since 2006.
China Biologic plans to complete the construction of the new stations by the end of the year. Construction costs are estimated at between RMB 16 million ($2.34 million) and RMB 20 million ($2.93 million).
The two additional facilities will raise the number of China Biologic's plasma collection stations to 18 nationwide, increasing the company's overall plasma collection capacity by as much as 80 tons annually, to reach 660 tons per year.
Blood plasma has been in short supply in China over the past several years because of government orders for local health authorities to transfer ownership of blood plasma collection stations to private companies in 2006. The order led to the closing of many stations. Furthermore, a regulation introduced in July 2008 made it mandatory for blood plasma to be quarantined for 90 days before it can be used to manufacture blood products.
According to industry statistics, Chinese blood product manufacturers processed 2,500 tons of blood plasma in 2008, as compared to 4,687 tons in 2006. China's demand for blood plasma stands at approximately 5,000 tons each year. Human albumin is extracted from blood plasma and is used in the treatment of liver diseases, burns, hypoproteinemia, cerebral edema and ascites.
In January this year, another leading blood products maker Hualan Biological Engineering Inc. obtained approval to set up a new blood plasma collection station in Kai Xian county, Chongqing Municipality.
"China will face a shortage of blood plasma over the next three years because less people are willing to donate blood these days," Tan Xiaobing, a pharmaceutical analyst from Dongguan Securities, told Interfax on May 13.
However, Tan pointed out that North China Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. will start to produce recombinant human albumin by the end of this year. Recombinant human albumin is an alternative to human albumin and is likely to help relieve the blood plasma shortage in China.


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Grabyo, a television clip-sharing platform that informitv first featured in June 2013, has appointed the former product development director of Sky as its chief executive. The move is a major boost for the start-up company, which counts Sky Sports among its customers.
Grabyo aims to support broadcasters and brands by allowing users to share video clips across Twitter, Facebook, web sites and mobile apps, including sports highlights, reality television and breaking news.
Users can grab clips from a television or video feed using cloud-based editing tools and share them instantly online. The company says this can create real-time video inventory for sponsors and advertisers, helping them to extend sponsorship and advertising campaigns to a connected audience.
Gareth Capon, who led social television initiatives at Sky, including its mobile applications portfolio and investment in zeebox, has joined the London-based startup as its chief executive. He hopes to drive the expansion of the business as broadcasters engage with the opportunities around short-form real-time video.
He described this as a new format. “It is highly significant as its solves broadcasters’ strategic challenge of owning and monetising the social conversation around TV.”
“Distributing live TV clips to millions of viewers in real time, through multiple social media platforms and as a seamless experience on any device, is a challenging process,” he said. “There is a real opportunity to build new value from existing rights and to maximise sponsorship and digital advertising opportunities in the real time space.”
Founder Will Neale said the appointment will enable the company to accelerate the development of its real-time clip sharing platform. He said: “His decision to take on this role really demonstrates the potential in this new space.”


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According to Forbes, the global travel industry alone lost more than $935 billion in just 10 months after the pandemic in 2020, and the United States suffered the biggest drop in large part due to its staggering number of COVID cases, the highest. of the world. This has left many in the industry reeling and many more trying to figure out how they will bounce back.
Although the active distribution of the vaccine has given much hope, the truth is that the recovery will continue to be slow. On the one hand, consumer confidence is at an all-time low, but even more prevalent are financial difficulties and constraints enforced, as many households are dealing with income losses. It will be a while before business travel, a massive revenue generator for many destinations, picks up again, leaving leisure travel the most predictable generator of visitor investment.
In addition to the psychological and financial impact that COVID has had, there have been social changes that can greatly influence how this demographic will travel when it does again.
Over the years, there has been a change in a consumer mentality and in the travel selection process. I have long warned of the challenges destination marketers and local leaders face if they fail to diversify their marketing and community efforts to be more representative and welcoming of a consumer who is younger, more ethnically and racially diverse, and progressive-minded.
When I travel through rural New York, for example, and see Confederate flags unfurled ignorantly on grass and flag poles, I feel dangerous, violent, and unpleasant. It communicates to me, especially as a Black Latina, that there is a threat and that I need to be vigilant. But the negative reaction is not just mine. Although these discriminatory symbols can alienate a certain demographic group, one that might feel physically threatened, it also influences the traveler who sees it as a symbol and therefore as a community, that is opposed to their moral and ethical convictions. And this is regardless of race.
Since social media has so much influence on the way people perceive and decipher a destination, even without them being there, the viewpoint of a place is vulnerable to the experience of outsiders, even if only in passing. And when there are threats, such as through discriminatory symbolism, it makes it much more difficult for the visitor to invest in a deeper experience that can counter that perception, which in turn becomes a stereotype, resulting in an identity reflected in not only visitor demographics, but also an external investment, talent retention, community growth, and prosperity.
So what can be done?
DO NOT LEAVE THE DEFINITION OF WHAT YOUR COMMUNITY IS OUTSIDE
Fortunately, more and more industry leaders are recognizing how powerful the involvement of local communities in tourism is. This practice not only supports sustainability efforts, as committed communities protect their lands and waters, and other sites more, but also increases job opportunities and economic growth. Of course, this is only possible when local residents also value and appreciate their communities and this is often possible by allowing space for local voices to not only be heard but also participate in the planning and decision-making process. decision making.
It is imperative that local communities are assisted in efforts not only to promote themselves, but also to tell their stories, share who they are, what they do, and what they stand for. In May 2020, the University of Minnesota Tourism Center offered the following national research findings and provided input from industry leaders: “Local residents must love the community as much as their travelers for you to have sustained success. This “reboot” moment is the perfect opportunity for the community to get closer.


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WBL Secures Anchor Institutional Financing and Resumes Full Operations and Funding
World Business Lenders (WBL) is resuming funding this week and relaunching originations through its Traditional, Digital API, and ISO Express channels, following a financing arrangement announced today by WBL CEO Doug Naidus.
“I am excited to welcome our new financing partner, not only enabling WBL to resume loan origination and funding, but affording access to more lending capacity than ever before,” said Naidus. “We are eager to return to market and launch our new business model.”
Initially, WBL will prioritize funding the customers who have remained in its pipeline since December 2022 when the company temporarily paused funding. WBL will begin accepting new loan submissions from its ISO partners, with respect to which additional detail will be provided over the coming days. In parallel with accepting new submissions, WBL will roll out a full-service Digital API business model and a self-service ISO Express business model, for certain qualified ISOs. At the helm of the new business model launch is John Milligan, WBL’s Chief Operating Officer, who now heads loan production.
“The API model will enable larger ISOs to leverage a digital integration that will automatically submit merchant applications straight to WBL. The ISO Express model empowers ISOs with the ability to generate offers for their merchants directly online. Both of these digital offerings are high-growth opportunities that will maximize the earning potential of our ISO partners through a combination of speed and simplicity.” said Milligan.
To learn more about how your business can maximize profits by partnering with WBL and leveraging its new API business model, please reach out to John Milligan’s team directly at firstname.lastname@example.org. Also, be sure to inquire about meeting times with the WBL team at the upcoming Broker Fair on May 8th, of which WBL is pleased to be a sponsor.Last modified: April 24, 2023
This is a press release account. Content posted by me are not editorials or promotions. Share your press release with us at email@example.com | (212) 220-9084


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Security vendor, Trend Micro, has named Tim Falinski to the new role of A/NZ director of retail.
According to the company, Falinski will be responsible for driving all aspects of Trend Micro’s growing consumer business – including enhancing strategy, marketing, channel relationships and introducing new products to market.
Trend Micro A/NZ managing director, Dave Patnaik, said that the creation of this new role reflects a key strategy for the company to capitalise on the growing opportunities in the consumer market and giving a stronger focus into the retail space.
“I want to carry on the success we already have in the consumer space. We’ve got new products coming to the marketplace this year and I want to work on developing a multi-product strategy to cover every aspect of a person’s digital lifestyle,” Falinski said.
The company is currently undertaking a channel review and will soon be looking at extending its retail partners that may not traditionally have been thought of as security vendors.
He also added that Trend Micro will be focusing on verticals in education and expanding into the New Zealand marketplace.
Falinski stated that going forward into Q2, his first point of focus, is to build its strategies in mobility, as well as strengthening partnerships with its channel partners in bringing the new products and offerings into the market.
He brings more than 20 years’ experience in the IT industry to the role, with almost 15 years at NEC Computers Australasia, where he last held the position of regional sales director.


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PSN to get fully restored in Japan this week
Japan will finally join the rest of the world this week as Sony has announced that they will be fully restoring PSN.
The Japanese government has been holding up the return of PSN in the country making sure that the new security measures meet their more strict legislation.
PSN was originally turned off on April the 16th and service was returned in Europe and the US at the very end of May. The service will be restored in Japan this Wednesday the 6th of July.
It is estimated that the breach and the consequent shutdown will have cost Sony somewhere in the region of 170 million USD.


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Rapid growth earns digital marketing agency recognition by local business journal.
Sparxoo, a Tampa-based integrated digital marketing agency, has been recognized by the Tampa Bay Business Journal as number 32 on the annual Fast 50 list, which honors the fastest-growing private companies in Tampa Bay.
“Tampa is such a vibrant business community, and we’re proud to be a part of it,” said Sparxoo CEO and founder David Capece, “We are fortunate to have built strong local partnerships as we grow alongside other Tampa Bay businesses, and hope to continue to elevate our local community to a world-class city by working with other growth-driven businesses.”
Sparxoo’s mission is to accelerate growth and has continuously cultivated a culture around that mission. The agency proudly achieved 271% three-year growth from 2014-2017, earning recognition on lists like TBBJ Fast 50 and the Inc. 5000, as well as earning finalist rank for Tampa Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business of the Year and TBBJ’s People First awards.
The Fast 50 honorees are all privately held, for-profit companies locally owned in Tampa Bay with three years of consecutive growth and annual revenues of at least $1 million in 2015 or $5 million in 2017.
To learn more about the Fast 50 list and other honorees, please visit the Tampa Bay Business Journal.
Sparxoo is an award-winning digital agency that delivers strategically creative impact to empower market leadership for clients. With a results-driven mindset, Sparxoo’s team of creative storytellers and expert digital marketers help clients accelerate growth. For more information, visit www.Sparxoo.com


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July 21st, 2015
We’re sure many are looking forward to the next-gen iPhone. After all if the rumors are true, it could finally be the bigger iPhone that everyone has been waiting for. That being said, a new rumor has surfaced from Mac Otakara with some pretty wild claims.
According to the report, it seems that there is a possibility that the next-gen iPhone could sport curved edges, as opposed to the slightly more squared-off edges that Apple has favored in its design over the past few years.
The report also claims that in order to facilitate this design, Apple will require that the display glass be slightly curved as well. If you’re trying to imagine what this looks like, you can think about the Samsung Galaxy S3 whose edges are more curved compared to its predecessor and its successors, which have gone back to a more traditional design.
It’s a pretty wild claim, like we said, and it does not seem to be in line with the rumors and leaked schematics we’ve seen so far which has suggested a more iPad Air-like design. However these are just rumors for now and with Apple, there’s really no way of telling until the device has been officially announced.
In any case we are a little skeptical, although in all fairness Mac Otakara has been right in the past regarding Apple-related rumors, so perhaps they could be right about this as well, but what do you guys think?
Register for an account it’s free to participate in the discussion or share your thoughts in the Facebook.


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How to Help Houston Hospitality Employees Now – Updated
This article is made possible by Fish Company Taco at 1914 23rd Street in Galveston, proudly serving sustainable Gulf seafood. Currently, the company is feeding out-of-work hospitality members and other unemployed professionals for free — and you can help. Support this mission by purchasing an Industry Relief Gift Card in any amount from $5 to $499.99. Chef Daya says, “I can’t hug you, but I can feed you. Out-of-work hospitality staff get to eat free at FishCo. We will continue as long as we can. Just as with the government shutdown, if you want to help, call us at (409) 220-3245 or donate online and we will add your donation to the Industry Relief gift card.”
In 1838, German immigrant Henry Kessler opened one of Houston’s first bar/restaurants. Located just south of Market Square, on Travis between Preston and Prairie, it was called Round Tent Bar. Why? Because it was actually in a round tent with wood chips and sawdust tossed on the muddy dirt floor, a long wooden bar, and cheap booze imported from New Orleans. It and Kessler’s next-door general store (Kessler’s Arcade) were the site of early city council meetings and a community hub where social organizations met and bands played concerts.
From Houston’s beginnings, restaurants and bars have been an integral part of the Bayou City’s social fabric, adapting to whatever swampy mess this humid environment throws at them.
From my research into the history of food in Houston, there has never been a time when there haven’t been restaurants and bars in this town. Through multiple yellow fever outbreaks that killed 100s when Houston’s population was just 1000s, through two World Wars, through the Great Depression, multiple hurricanes, floods and more, there have been restaurants and bars before, during and after those cataclysmic events.
Along with the farmers who make all of this possible, restaurants and bars were playing an important role in helping society survive. As we saw during recent disasters such as Hurricane Harvey, our restaurants and bars were key players in rescue and recovery, filling gaps left by more bureaucratic government institutions — institutions that now need to step up and help restaurant and bar employees and owners who were there when the city needed them.
History shows bars and restaurants will be around after this. People will always need food, drinks, and places to gather.
But that long view is cold comfort for those struggling through the current crisis. Right now 1000s of dishwashers, line cooks, chefs, wait staff, bussers, bartenders, barbacks, and others are getting paid a lot less or not getting paid at all. They are worried not only about getting COVID-19 but also about paying their rent or mortgage, paying their utilities, paying their car loan, taking care of their children now that the schools are closed, and, ironically, buying food.
Owners and operators are worried about the tough decisions they will have to make that will affect staff that are often like family. They are worried about paying employees, leases and loans, paying taxes and utilities, and much more.
As consumers, here are a few things we can do to help:
1) Many restaurants are offering takeout, delivery, and/or curbside pickup. Please take advantage of those opportunities. We at Houston Food Finder have put together a list of restaurants offering these options and are adding to it every day. If you don’t see one of your favorites, call or check their social media. You can also purchase gift certificates and any merchandise they offer for sale online. Many restaurants are even offering deals and gift card bonuses just to keep some cash coming in.
2) Donate to the Southern Smoke Foundation. This emergency relief fund is available to hospitality professionals, including farmers, who may be suffering financially during this crisis. If you know a hospitality professional who is struggling, encourage them to apply for funds on their website.
3) Many restaurants and bars have started fundraisers, raffles and other innovative ways to raise money for employees. For example, Berg Hospitality Group has launched a GoFundMe campaign for its employees. You can check your favorite establishments’ social media and websites to see if they are doing something similar. Added 3/20/2020.
4) Donate to Houston Shift Meal, which is teaming with companies and individuals to sponsor restaurants to provide meals to furloughed or out-of-work hospitality professionals. You can can read more about their efforts here. Added 3/20/2020.
5) If you have a favorite bartender at a Houston-area bar or restaurant, find them on this list (or just pick a couple at random or those that work at your favorite establishment) and send them a virtual tip.
6) Donate to the Local Impact Food & Entrepreneurship (LIFE) Fund, which is paying local restaurants to make meals for medical professionals and volunteers. Added 3/25/2020.
7) Donate to the United States Bartenders’ Guild’s COVID-19 Relief Fund. If you know a bartender who is struggling, encourage them to apply for an emergency grant.
8) Contact state, local, and federal officials and ask them support direct aid to employees and restaurants, as well as temporary relief for taxes, fees, utilities and leases. Bobby Heugel, who co-owns several Houston bars and restaurants, has created petitions and other resources that he’s sharing to his Facebook account. Also, see below for the Texas Restaurant Association’s Requests for Relief. (Note that the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts did not state tax and mixed beverage tax that was due March 20. See our article for the explanation.) Other good resources for legislative action are the newly formed Independent Restaurant Coalition and Unite America’s Table. Updated 3/25/2020, 11:45 a.m.
9) During this crisis, mental health can be as important as physical health. To that end, The Lovett Center is offering a virtual online support group sessions for hospitality professionals. Check the event calendar for dates. Added 3/25/2020.
10) Sign these petitions: a) Cancel Texas Mixed Beverage Tax & Sales Tax During COVID-19 b) Save America’s Restaurants c) Unite America’s Table. Updated 3/25/2020, 11:45 a.m.
11) Encourage and help out-of-work employees apply for unemployment, now that the State of Texas has loosened some of its regulations: “TWC will be waiving work search requirements for all claimants and the waiting week for those claimants affected by COVID-19.”
For over 180 years, restaurants and bars have been an important part of this city and, if tradition holds true (and I think it will), they will still be after this crisis. However, some — especially small, independently owned businesses — may not survive without significant community and government support. This time of social distancing shows just how important these gathering places have been to us now and in the past, and if there’s one lesson to internalize before it is too late, it is, “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.”
So, just as bars and restaurants fed us during Harvey, were there to help us celebrate the good times and comfort us during the bad, it’s our turn to comfort them and do what we can to help during these trying times.
TEXAS RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION’S REQUESTS FOR RELIEF:
Direct Aid to Restaurants and Employees:
– State/Federal grants to small businesses; ensure that such support is not limited to restaurants that have closed but to any that can easily demonstrate significant hardship.
– Tax credits with expedited processing for retaining employees during the COVID-19 crisis.
– Regulatory relief for restaurants regarding unemployment claims.
Taxes and Fees:
– Suspend meals taxes indefinitely or allow restaurants to keep meals tax revenue. If a government maintains a meals tax, money should be used to promote restaurant industry to residents within its taxing jurisdiction once the crisis is over.
– Delay sales tax remittance for restaurants, such as a 90 day extension for remittance.
– Suspend indefinitely business improvement and other hospitality fees/taxes.
– Suspend or defer property, estimated income, and franchise taxes (in effect providing a loan).
– Quickly refund overpayment of estimated taxes.
– Prohibit landlords from evicting restaurants for non-payment of rent during the COVID-19 crisis. Allow restaurants to pay back rent over a series of months after the crisis abates.
– Prohibit utilities from shutting off services to restaurants during the COVID-19 crisis due to lack of payment.
– Extend the window for restaurants to make payments on COVID-19 related expenditures.
– Suspend any government mandates set to come into effect in the next two months.


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Research in South Africa has cast doubt on previous claims about the extent and effects of the illicit cigarette trade in South Africa.
In the conclusions to a research paper published yesterday by Tobacco Control, professor Corné van Walbeek of the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town said that, other than in 2010, there was no evidence that the illicit trade was significantly undermining government revenue.
And claims that the illicit trade had consistently increased during the past 15 years, and had continued its sharp increase since 2010, were not supported.
Van Walbeek indicated that the research had been undertaken after tobacco industry claims that the illicit trade in cigarettes had increased sharply since the 1990s and that government had lost substantial tax revenue.
He set out to determine whether cigarette excise tax revenue had been below budget in recent years, compared with previous decades, and to determine trends in the size of the illicit market since 1995.
The research found that cigarette excise revenues were 0.7 percent below budget for 2000–2012 on average, compared with 3 percent below budget for beer and 4.7 percent below budget for spirits.
It found that there was no evidence that the illicit trade in cigarettes in South Africa increased between 2002 and 2009, though it found that there was a substantial increase in 2010, which probably peaked in 2011.
And it found that in 2012 tax-paid consumption of cigarettes increased by 2.6 percent, implying that the illicit market share decreased an estimated 0.6 percentage points.
The research is published as an open access paper at http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2014/01/15/tobaccocontrol-2013-051178.full.pdf+html.
Six members of the Iowa House and Senate have written to Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller and attorneys general in 22 other states, asking whether new international trade deals will affect the ability of states to legislate in the public interest—for instance in respect of tobacco.
According to a story in the Des Moines Register, the letter refers to deals being negotiated by the U.S. trade representative, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is intended to enhance trade and investment in the nine participating countries.
Thirty-seven legislators from other states have also signed the letter, which they said seeks insight into agreements they believe are being developed in a shroud of secrecy. The letter is addressed also to the National Association of Attorneys General.
One of the Iowa signatories, Chuck Isenhart said he had concerns whether Iowa’s continued support for the biofuels industry could come under outside attack under provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In addition, questions had been raised about the defensibility of tobacco prevention policies and consumer protections, he said.
Geoff Greenwood, a spokesman for Miller, said Miller shared concerns about how the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement could, for example, impact Iowa’s ability to regulate tobacco products. “We will review the concerns that several state legislators have brought to our attention, and we look forward to discussing them,” he said.
Bommidala Enterprises, part of the BBM Bommidala Group, has won the award for being India’s top exporter of cut tobacco during 2013.
The group, whose business interests include unmanufactured tobacco, cut rag, cigarettes and duty-free goods, has now won the Certificate of Excellence for cut tobacco exports for seven consecutive years.
The award was presented at the Tobacco Board of India’s Formation Day, which was celebrated on Jan. 3.
The day saw awards presented, also, to tobacco growers, to the best unmanufactured tobacco exporter and the best packer, and for the company buying at auction the highest quantity of flue-cured tobacco.
The board has declared 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming.
E-cigarette company Logic Technology has opened its new corporate headquarters in Pompano Beach, Florida, USA.
It was previously based in Livingston, New Jersey, USA.
In a press note, Logic said its new headquarters would help it meet the growing adult smoker demand for its products.
“The new facilities will house the executive team as well as a sophisticated warehouse infrastructure for receiving and shipping product domestically and internationally,” it said.
According to Nielsen, Logic accounts for 22.6 percent of the e-cigarette market in the U.S.
American Snuff Company, which is part of Reynolds American and manufactures Grizzly moist snuff, has awarded donations totaling a quarter of a million dollars to two nonprofit outdoor conservation organizations.
Through the Grizzly Outdoor Corps promotion, the company is donating $130,000 and $120,000 to the Boone and Crockett Club and the FishAmerica Foundation, respectively.
Reynolds said in a note posted on its website that registered, age-verified adult Grizzly consumers had voted via the brand’s website, mygrizzly.com, on which organization should receive the larger donation.
“This is a way for Grizzly consumers to show support for organizations that value the outdoors,” said Sean Kinder, director of marketing for American Snuff.
A store owner who sells e-cigarettes is fighting an order from Health Canada to stop, according to a CBC News story.
Ryanne Pineda, whose business at Fredericton, New Brunswick, also produces e-liquids, says he has a growing clientele of more than 2,000 local and online customers for vaping kits, which are sold for between $25 and $200.
Health Canada, which has not approved e-cigarettes for sale, has ordered Pineda to stop such sales, but the store owner is standing firm.
“We actually refuted back, saying that the law states that under Schedule F of the Food and Drugs Act, nicotine is directly exempt with a dose of under four milligrams, from being classified as a new drug or a drug delivery system,” said Pineda, who has not received a reply from Health Canada.
Pineda was quoted as saying that his business imported e-cigarettes under the appropriate regulations, knew what was going into these products and applied quality control.
“We also have the ability to test each part of the product through an independent lab called Enthalpy Analytical Inc.,” he said. “They’re actually Health Canada-accredited; that’s why we use them.”


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Faster speeds. Less power consumption. Easy scaling. Reduced latency. Toshiba Memory’s innovative flash products and software have enabled applications to take advantage of these features – and we were on hand as the platinum sponsor at the recent 2019 NVMe™ Annual Members Meeting and Developer Day to showcase just how we do it.
With the theme of Driving Simplicity with NVMe, the meeting was the ideal forum for developers from all application areas to get the latest information on specifications, products and ecosystem support. Our director of SSD industry standards, John Geldman, kicked things off by giving the platinum sponsor’s remarks at the beginning of day one. Back at the Toshiba Memory booth, our team was busy showing the latest versions of our XD5 Series of data center NVMe SSDs and KumoScale™1 NVMe-oF™ (NVM Express™ over Fabrics) shared accelerated storage software.
We are pioneers in the development of NVMe-based SSDs and in the creation and implementation of standards for NVMe-oF architecture, hardware and software – and were excited to talk about what the future holds for our ever-expanding portfolio of NVMe solutions. We are proud to put forth hardware and software offerings that push the envelope, enhance the value proposition for NVMe, and drive adoption of the standard.
As the platinum sponsor of the Developer Day for the second year in a row, and as members of the NVM Express™, Inc. board and promoter group, Toshiba Memory is fully engaged in the development and promotion of the NVMe standard. Personally, having been recently appointed co-chair of the NVMe marketing committee, I can’t wait to witness the standard’s continued evolution first hand. Hope to see you at the next event!
1 KumoScale is a trademark of Toshiba Memory Corporation.
NVMe, NVM Express, and NVMe-oF are trademarks of NVM Express, Inc.
All company names, product names and service names may be trademarks of their respective companies.
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of KIOXIA America, Inc.


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New owners take charge of theater
RATON, NM — There are new owners for the El Raton Theatre that hope to pour some money into it and keep it going.
When Kerry Medina last August began checking out the El Raton – the downtown Raton movie theater had been put up for sale – he found out the 78-year-old building needed a lot of work, but he also “thought it would be a pretty neat business to own.”
On Thursday, Medina and his wife Kristie, along with their friends – and now business partners – Ted and Traci Kamp and Neil and Donna Emiro, became the new owners of the historic El Raton. All of the new owners are from Raton.
Read more in the Raton Range.


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Amazon Boasts Best Holiday Kindle Sales To Date – Sells Millions Of Kindle Fires
This holiday was a record breaking year for many devices, and it seems Amazon’s Kindle family set a few records of their own, as Amazon was proud to announce its best holiday ever for the Kindle family. Without going into any details, Amazon announced that it had sold millions of Kindle Fire tablets as well as millions of Kindle e-readers. They go on to give more Kindle holiday facts such as:
- – Throughout December, customers purchased well over 1 million Kindle devices per week.
- – The new Kindle family held the top three spots on the Amazon.com best seller charts – #1: Kindle Fire, #2: Kindle Touch, #3: Kindle.
- – Kindle Fire is the #1 best-selling, most gifted, and most wished for product across the millions of items available on Amazon.com since its introduction 13 weeks ago.
- – Kindle is also the best-selling product on Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es and Amazon.it this holiday season.
- – Kindle Fire is the best-selling product on Amazon.com’s mobile website and across all of Amazon.com’s mobile applications.
There’s no question Amazon’s sub $200 Android tablet was a success for Amazon, but I’d love to see some more specifics to get a better sense of just how well they did.
Did any of you pick up a Kindle family device this holiday? Was it for yourself or for a gift? How’s it holding up? I, for one, am happy Amazon released its Kindle Fire into the mobile ecosystem as it seems to have sparked a revolution of affordable tablets and price rethinking among the tablet manufacturers. Kudos Amazon and here’s to next year.


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New images of a potential iPhone 6 design have been created based on an alleged test prototype, sporting a similar shape to the latest iPod nano.
At a gathering of designers from Samsung's Korea headquarters, the company made it clear that it will continue to push toward being a lifestyle brand, and one that emphasizes connecting consumers with their personal electronics.
Vendors developing gear with G.hn, a home networking standard that can work with four different types of wires, say Asia is shaping up as a land of opportunity.
In 2013, a high-end smartphone should have a full-HD 5-inch screen and a 13-megapixel camera to remain competitive, if products launched at International CES in Las Vegas this week are an indication of the state of the art for mobile devices.
Panasonic has grabbed headlines this week with impressive 4K TV and tablet demos, but the company is also stressing expansion beyond its struggling consumer electronics business, announcing partnerships with the likes of IBM and General Motors.
Sphero the robotic ball made a bit of a splash at CES last year and it's back again with the first augmented reality games built around it.
Jumping on the big-screen smartphone bandwagon at CES, China's ZTE on Tuesday unveiled a flagship Android phone with a 5-inch full HD display.
Television at four times the resolution of today's high-def images is turning out to be one of the most popular bets among consumer electronics makers in Las Vegas at this year's CES.
Raising the bar for image quality on television sets, Panasonic unveiled a 56-inch OLED TV that shows images at 4K resolution, four times the overall resolution of current 1080p high-definition TVs.
As TV makers show off UltraHD TVs at CES, communications chip maker Broadcom is introducing the guts of future gateways that will be able to bring video for those sets into viewers' homes.
New 802.11ac routers launching at International CES promise users gigabit-speeds and better performance when streaming video.
Chinese handset maker ZTE plans to pre-load a new "Car Mode" app in its Android devices, allowing users to issue voice commands to make phone calls, play music and get text messages read out while driving their car.
Qualcomm's keynote at the International CES was packed with big names and even a Big Bird, but CEO Paul Jacobs' focus was on something much smaller -- a new family of processors aimed at high-end smartphones and tablets.
Qualcomm called on some big names to ensure its opening-night keynote at the International CES wasn't a dud. Steve Ballmer, Big Bird, the pop group Maroon5, and even former Archbishop Desmond Tutu all made appearances to keep things rolling along.
As TVs get higher resolution and bigger displays, while getting cheaper over time, cable operators may be able to cover an entire wall of your home with a screen that includes two full-size TV shows plus weather, upcoming show information, a social m...
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First impression on unpacking the Q702 test unit was the solid feel and clean, minimalist styling.
For work use, Microsoft Word and Excel programs pre-installed on the device are adequate for preparing short documents.
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(Reuters) – Drugmaker Endo International Plc said it would buy privately owned DAVA Pharmaceuticals Inc for $575 million in cash to bolster its generics portfolio.
Shares of Endo, which makes branded and generic drugs, rose as much as 4 percent in early trading.
The deal, expected to add to Endo’s 2014 adjusted earnings per share, has an additional cash consideration of up to $25 million on achieving certain sales milestones.
The deal gives Endo access to DAVA’s generics portfolio that includes 13 products which are on the market and more than five products expected to be launched in 2015.
DAVA had revenue of about $131 million in 2013.
Endo has seen decreasing sales for its top products, pain treatments Lidoderm and Opana ER, due to generic competition and has been lately acquiring companies to boost profit.
Last year, Endo bought Canadian peer Paladin Labs Inc to expand its presence in Canada and emerging markets, and also bought privately held generics-maker Boca Pharmacal.
Endo’s shares were up 4 percent at $71.53 on the Nasdaq.


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Disney CEO Bob Iger has announced plans to increase the company’s cost-cutting goal to $7.5 billion, up from the previous target of $5.5 billion.
The company reported a 5.4% increase in revenue and a 62.9% increase in net income for the fourth quarter.
Disney’s direct-to-consumer streaming services produced $5.55 billion in revenues, and the company is confident it will achieve profitability in Q4 of fiscal 2024. (Trending: Supreme Court Dismisses Case To Keep Trump Off Ballot)
Disney CEO Bob Iger Announces $7.5 Billion In Cost Cuts
“And I’m bullish about the opportunities we have to create lasting growth and shareholder value and to strengthen Disney’s position as the world’s leading entertainment company,” he said. pic.twitter.com/66tRP31c5H
— AnalyzingAmerica (@AnalyzAmerica) November 13, 2023
Iger expressed confidence in the company’s future growth and shareholder value.
“Our results this quarter are a testament to the work we’ve done across the company this past year,” Iger said.
“And I’m bullish about the opportunities we have to create lasting growth and shareholder value and to strengthen Disney’s position as the world’s leading entertainment company.”
Trump Reveals ‘Exonerating Document’ He Showed Judge
GOP Subpoenas Hunter and James Biden to Testify
The Democrat Disaster Is Unfolding


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OnePlus One already scores itself an upgrade: going with Snapdragon 801 after all?
For the past few weeks now, OnePlus has been filling us in on some of the specifics behind its upcoming CyanogenMod-running One smartphone. A lot of that has sounded really good, like the swappable backplates made of a variety of interesting materials, or the 13-megapixel Sony Exmor camera. Really, if there’s just one spec we were a little less than impressed with, it was the decision to go with a Snapdragon 800 SoC. Granted, the 800 is still an absolutely fantastic chip, but it’s also last year’s design – and if we’re talking about a 2014 flagship, we’d sure like to see a slightly more recent processor. Well, while we haven’t heard an official retraction of that 800 announcement, a new image OnePlus just put up on its Facebook page sure has it looking like the company has decided to bump things up a little, and go with a Snapdragon 801 after all.
Again, the 800 would have been a perfectly fine SoC, but the 801 is all that and a bag of chips. Earlier, OnePlus framed its decision to go with the 800 as one that hinged among other things on availability – that if the company wanted to put a newer chip in the One, that it might miss its goal of a Q2 release.
Assuming this new One teaser is accurate, we’d assume that means that OnePlus finally managed to secure these new Snapdragons in sufficient quantities to meet expected demand.


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November 30, 2018 Updated with the latest Linux workaround.
The AMD RX 590 graphics card has been lighting up gaming PCs across the land thanks to its combination of a decent price and updated 12nm Polaris GPU. At least it has on Windows-based systems. On machines running the sysadmin’s best buddy, Linux, however, it’s not been looking too good for some RX 590 cards.
In fact, it doesn’t sound like it’s displaying anything at all, according to recent reports by Michael Larabel at Phoronix. Since the RX 590’s launch the Sapphire card he picked up for testing hasn’t been lighting up his monitor to allow for any Linux GPU testing, even after contact with AMD and a whole host of different tries over the last couple of weeks.
Apparently there is light at the end of the tunnel, however, as the AMD Linux driver team has now picked up the same Sapphire RX 590 and are working on a fix for the new Polaris card to allow the burgeoning Linux gaming community some Radeon GPU love. There is a workaround to at least get the Polaris 30 card displaying, but performance is some 76% down compared with a functional RX 580.
The issue is reportedly something to do with the vBIOS used with the beautiful-looking Sapphire Nitro RX 590. The Phoronix report suggests that the vBIOS is doing something that the Linux AMD driver doesn’t know how to deal with. The result is that when the system is powered on, and starts booting a modern Linux kernel, the fans will spin up but the display output goes dark.
It is also not necessarily just an issue for Sapphire versions of the RX 590 either, as there are similar reports of the XFX RX 590 Fatboy – yes, there’s a graphics card called the ‘Fatboy’ out there, don’t ask me why – having the same problem with Linux.
Quite why the Linux failure wasn’t reported during QA sessions with the RX 590 – whether at AMD or with the add-in board partners – isn’t known. There are suggestions that the quality assurance testing was done on final hardware, and that the vBIOS was altered slightly just prior to launch, but altered enough to brick it on Linux. It’s likely then that final testing by the board partners was subsequently just done on Windows-based test rigs to make sure the hardware was at least stable.
A Phoronix reader experienced the same output problem, but has uncovered a workaround that will at least allow for a display and some modicum of 3D acceleration. Unfortunately the workaround is to disable the card’s dynamic power management (DPM), and that severely impacts upon the performance of the GPU.
Without DPM on the clock speed of the Polaris 30 remains cripplingly slow, and that results in performance which is some 76% slower than an RX 580 running in the same system. So, it’s not a workaround that will have you running your Steam Library with the funky Proton wrapper, but it will at least give you access to your desktop.
With the way all the previous Polaris GPUs are more than happy to rock and roll with a Linux-based gaming rig, it’s a huge surprise that what is seemingly only a 12nm refresh of the exact same RX 580 GPU is having such difficulties. The driver team was apparently initially told that no changes were needed to get the new cards running, but hopefully with the AMD Linux team working on a suspect RX 590 right now it shouldn’t be too long before a patch comes out for it.


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NEW YORK (
shareholder meeting isn't normally one of the most noteworthy events of the financial year. But this year, as investors anxiously await news of whether or not the movie-rental retailer will file for bankruptcy, the annual meeting promises to be a, well ... blockbuster.
Blockbuster is currently in the process of trying to find ways to repay its nearly $1 billion in debt. Heightened competition with
Redbox DVD kiosks and
has put pressure on Blockbuster's sales, and earlier in the year CEO James Keyes said if the company did not shore up enough cash it might be forced to file Ch. 11.
Last week, the
Wall Street Journal
reported that Blockbuster is currently in the process of attempting to secure a $150 million debtor-in-possession loan, which is sometimes arranged as a backup plan in the event that a company and its bondholders fail to strike a deal.
CEO James Keyes would not confirm or deny this claim, saying: "This is a work in progress; you can't pick anyone piece or make any speculation. I wish I had answers, but all I can say is we are making progress."
Investors will hope to get more answers than that at the meeting meeting, as the stock currently trades at about 30 cents a share, having lost 40% of its value since mid-May.
Another hot topic will be the outcome of a proxy battle with dissident shareholder Gregory S. Meyer, who is attempting to get elected to the board of directors. Blockbuster has said that Meyer's bid is a "hostile, self-serving proxy contest," and if elected, would be a risk to the future of the company.
Still, several advisory firms, including RiskMetrics, have thrown their support behind Meyer. RiskMetrics said last week that "
Meyer would be aligned with shareholders, has demonstrated that change is warranted, has relevant skill sets and industry knowledge and, therefore, is likely to add value to board deliberations."
Meyer founded a DVD rental kiosk business in 2001 called DVDXpress and later sold it to Coinstar.
-- Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York.
Follow Jeanine Poggi on
and get more stock ideas and investing advice on our sister site,


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With newly expanded Google and Yahoo guidelines for high-volume emailers coming into force from the 1st of February, we look at what needs to be done to comply.
As Google says about the reason for the new guidelines: “we’ll require bulk senders to authenticate their emails, allow for easy unsubscription and stay under a reported spam threshold.” Yahoo echoes this, saying: “Sending properly authenticated messages helps us to better identify and block billions of malicious messages and declutter our users’ inboxes.”
What Is A Bulk Sender?
Google categorises a “bulk sender” as those who send more than 5,000 messages to Gmail addresses in one day.
Bulk Sender Authentication – Leverage Industry Standards
It’s clear from Google and Yahoo’s new guidelines that validation is to be a focus and reputable messaging is to be prioritised, i.e. making users feel more confident about an email’s source. For this reason, Google and Yahoo will require bulk senders to implement stronger email authentication and to leverage industry standards such as SPF, DKIM and DMARC. One of the key benefits of doing so, as outlined by Google, will be that it “will close loopholes exploited by attackers that threaten everyone who uses email.”
Easy To Unsubscribe – One Click and Within Two Days
One of the issues that leads to email inbox clutter is not just the number of regular subscribed emails that users receive but also how easy it is to unsubscribe. As Yahoo says: “Users should be able to unsubscribe from unwanted emails without any hassle. It should just take one click.”
Yahoo also says that it has tried to promote solutions to this issue for some time but adoption of these “common-sense standards” has been low among bulk senders. This means that Yahoo and Google’s updated guidelines will require senders to not just “support one-click unsubscribe” but to honour users’ unsubscribe requests “within two days.”
Spam Threshold To Be Enforced
One other major bulk, commercial email issue that Google and Yahoo are to tackle with the new guidelines is by making sure that companies only send emails that users actually want to receive, i.e. not irrelevant / spam emails. After measuring user-reported spam rates for some time, Yahoo and Google’s solution to this problem, and an industry first, will be to start enforcing a clear spam rate threshold that senders must stay underneath if they want to reach Google and Yahoo users’ inboxes.
Yahoo says the updated guidelines will apply to all the domains and consumer email brands that Yahoo Mail hosts, and has been clear that Google is in complete agreement. For example, Yahoo’s blog even features a quote on the issue from Google’s Neil Kumaran, Group Product Manager, Gmail Security & Trust, who says: “We firmly believe that users worldwide deserve a more secure email environment, with fewer unwanted messages for an improved overall experience. We look forward to working with peers across the industry to boost the adoption of these email standards that benefit everyone.”
What’s In It For Google And Yahoo?
The introduction of the new guidelines is expected to significantly benefit both Google and Yahoo in terms of streamlining the email ecosystem, making it easier and cheaper for Google and Yahoo to manage and monitor email traffic effectively. The changes may also enhance the overall image of the security and trustworthiness of their email services which could, of course, lead to greater user satisfaction, which in turn may translate to customer retention and attracting more new customers.
What About The Bulk Senders?
For legitimate bulk senders, the guidelines provide a clear framework for compliance. By adhering to these guidelines, legitimate bulk senders can ensure their emails reach their intended recipients without being marked as spam, thereby protecting their reputation, brand, and potential profits. That said, the guidelines will mean that legitimate businesses will now have to take the time to rigorously audit and upgrade their email authentication protocols, ensuring compliance with minimum DMARC requirements and proper configuration of SPF and DKIM to maintain the integrity of their sent emails. This could involve meticulous management of subscription and unsubscribe processes to ensure smooth and prompt opt-out mechanisms and having to diligently monitor and maintain spam complaint rates well below the stringent thresholds set.
For legitimate bulk senders, it’s essentially a matter of having little choice regarding the extra work, costs, and changes involved. However, it shouldn’t be solely about finding new ways to avoid the spam folder.
The hope is also that the regulations will make life much more difficult for the bulk spammers. These new guidelines should mean that spammers will find it increasingly challenging to penetrate these defence mechanisms which could force them into a position where they must align their practices with the guidelines to preserve any kind of reasonable email deliverability and subscriber-reach.
Although the idea of ‘forcing spammers out’ is a laudable one, legitimate bulk senders might face several challenges while trying to comply with the new guidelines. For example, they may need to upgrade their systems to ensure robust email authentication with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. This would require a degree of skill and resources to implement. Also, implementing a seamless one-click unsubscribe feature that adheres to the guidelines while ensuring that legitimate users are not inadvertently removed may potentially be an issue for some people.
There may also be the need for some significant effort in content-management and user-engagement analysis to make sure email content and communications are desired and relevant.
That said, Yahoo says help for bulk senders will be on hand via information provided on its Sender Hub (coming soon), and senders can email Yahoo their questions on the subject.
What Does This Mean For Your Business?
For businesses, the new guidelines from Google and Yahoo signify a crucial (and many would say necessary and not-before-time) pivot towards more stringent email authentication and streamlined subscription management for the bulk senders that fill up our inboxes. If the guidelines work as intended and spam and malicious emails are curtailed, users may place greater trust in the emails which they do receive, potentially increasing engagement rates for compliant senders. Bulk sender businesses that adapt swiftly and adhere to the regulations may also benefit from improved sender reputation and deliverability. On the flip side, these regulations will hopefully pose a significant challenge to spammers, helping cleanse the email ecosystem of unwanted clutter. This may not only enhance user-experiences but also level the playing field for businesses committed to ethical email marketing practices.
In summary then, while compliance may initially be demanding, these guidelines at least offer a clearer path to enhanced email deliverability and reputation for legitimate bulk senders. Those businesses who are proactive in adapting will benefit from the decluttered inbox landscape, ensuring their communications are both seen and trusted by recipients.
Perhaps a pragmatic stance to take is that this shift isn’t just about having to adhere to certain annoying rules to enable communications to get into mailboxes, it’s more about embracing a culture of transparency and respect within digital communications that all businesses could benefit from going forward.


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T-Mobile still hasn't made any official announcements about their version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab (unlike Verizon), but that's why we've got rumors to quench our tablet thirst until they do. We've already heard that that the T-Mo Tab could cost around $400 on-contract ($650 without) when it launches, but just when exactly will that be? According to a document leaked to our friends at TmoNews, the Tab's coming out day will be November 10th, precisely one day before Verizon is slated to release their version of Samsung's tablet into the wild. The news comes from a dealer, but some corporate-side tipsters have confirmed Nov. 10th as the planned date.
Considering that Verizon has set their Galaxy Tab launch date on November 11th, one would imagine that the other carriers would want to release their Tabs around the same date. After all, it's not like each carrier has one big stand-out feature that customers would be willing to wait days or weeks for (at least that we know of). If a customer plans on picking up a Galaxy Tab on contract, though, a carrier's coverage could play a part in deciding which Tab to pick up. So readers, are you planning on snagging a Galaxy Tab? Which carrier do you plan to go with?


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The iPhone 5 rumour mill was in full swing again this morning after further reports suggest the revamp of Apple's tech talker will arrive this September with a more powerful processor and an advanced camera.
Now Bloomberg has added weight to the debate, after speaking with two insiders who also confirmed the predicted release. Apparently, the next iPhone will look like an iPhone 4, but is set to include the iPad 2's A5 processor and an 8Mp camera.
It was claimed that as the device will upgrade to an all-new operating system, iOS 5, the company may cease to guarantee all iOS apps run on older models.
The same source also spoke of a new iPad display with a resolution one-third higher than the that of the iPad 2.
As usual, the insiders failed to clarify which next-gen phone is on the way, so the question still remains: will it be the iPhone 5 or the iPhone 4-something? ®


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MSN Becomes Exclusive Sponsor of Cyber Lions 2004
The sponsorship is billed as one of the most significant in the festival's history. Around 8,000 ad industry executives from 40 countries are expected to congregate at Cannes, France, to witness the Cannes Lions awards, slated for June 20-24
The Cyber Lions category honors creative excellence and the use of the Internet as part of the media mix. That ceremony takes place June 23.
As part of the deal, the MSN cyber lounge is back for the third straight year. Located in the central hub of the Palais des Festivals, the lounge will let visitors check e-mail and surf the Internet through wireless terminals.


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Cadillac CEO Johan de Nysschen Steps Down
A lack of crossovers and slumping U.S. sales have squeezed the ambitious CEO out of Cadillac.
Johan de Nysschen, the man entrusted with turning the Cadillac brand around, is stepping down from his CEO position effective immediately after a somewhat tumultuous relationship with the brand since he took over in August 2014. He is being replaced by Steve Carlisle, the head of General Motors Canada who led Canadian sales growth of 21 percent from 2015-2017.
When de Nysschen began his tenure at Cadillac, GM's luxury brand was on an upswing. The brand had been improving its image during previous years, but still needed some help becoming a major player again in the luxury car world. GM’s solution was to bring in Johan de Nysschen who previously ran Infiniti for two years and before that lead a sales renaissance for Audi in the U.S. GM thought that if anyone could vault Cadillac to the position it deserved to be in, it was de Nysschen.
Well, it didn’t work out. Under de Nysschen’s leadership, Cadillac made some fabulous advancements like the industry-leading SuperCruise semi-autonomous system and Cadillac still makes some of the most killer sport sedans on the market. Where de Nysschen failed is with crossovers. When he took over in 2014, Cadillac’s only SUVs were the aging SRX and the monstrous Escalade. The only thing de Nysschen did about that was rebrand the SRX as the XT5 and introduce the compact XT4 much too late to the game. The fact that Cadillac only has three SUVs in 2018 is embarrassing, especially considering Mercedes-Benz has seven and BMW has six with both brands beating Cadillac in its home market of the U.S.
One of de Nysschen’s most notable moves while leading Cadillac was moving the company’s headquarters from Detroit to New York in order to make the brand look more modern and fashionable and less old-fashioned. Distancing Cadillac from the rest of GM could have been a great move in making it seem more exclusive, but the execution arguably wasn’t good enough to make the move worthwhile.
De Nysschen also butted heads with Cadillac dealers with his ambitious Project Pinnacle plan which, for now, is still in place. It’s an expensive program that rewards dealers for not only its sales performance and customer satisfaction, but for offering things like an Escalade roadside-assistance vehicle and virtual showrooms with a virtual reality headset. The program was criticised for putting small dealers at a disadvantage and just being too expensive.
According to de Nysschen, it was a mutual breakup. “We agree to disagree and we move on,” de Nysschen told Bloomberg. “There wasn’t a fight. Let’s call it philosophical differences.” Apparently GM’s philosophy is selling cars and making money and de Nysschen’s is something different.
“We appreciate Johan’s efforts over the last four years in setting a stronger foundation for Cadillac,” GM President Dan Ammann said in a statement. “Looking forward, the world is changing rapidly, and, beginning with the launch of the new XT4, it is paramount that we capitalize immediately on the opportunities that arise from this rate of change. This move will further accelerate our efforts in that regard.”
In other words, Cadillac should have been printing money with crossovers during the past few years, but failed to cash in adequately on the explosion of popularity in the luxury SUV segment.
The fact that GM is replacing de Nysschen, a GM outsider, with Carlisle, a GM insider, speaks volumes. In the end, it sounds like de Nysschen was just too ambitious in ways that the top brass at GM weren’t and de Nysschen’s ambition did not translate into sales success in the U.S. Now is Cadillac’s chance to catch up on the luxury crossover game, we’re just hoping that doesn’t mean it’s tremendous sedans need to die.


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By Jennifer Creevy2008-03-27T09:38:03
Blacks Leisure chief executive Neil Gillis has set his sights on acquiring rival outdoor retailers and expanding overseas once he has whipped the UK business into shape.
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