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As a digital marketer responsible for planning, executing and optimizing campaigns you have a finite amount of “free” time. You are constantly trying to ensure that the objectives of your campaign are met, and you are delivering value to the business. Some days it probably feels like you have very little time to breathe, let alone think about the strategic direction of your organization.
So, when you see announcements or articles in the marketing trade press about news regarding digital analytics, marketing technology or advertising technology it’s likely impossible to keep up. Even more so because digital analytics and marketing technology are two of the fastest growing industries in marketing today. You probably would love to learn more about how these data and tools could be used to help further your business objectives, but there is simply no time.
That’s why our team of experts is releasing weekly recaps to keep you up to speed. Here’s what we’re watching this week.
- Google Brings Digital Media Capabilities to Billboards: It looks like Google is serious about bringing programmatic technology to out-of-home advertising, which could expand the possibilities of cross-channel planning and execution. Connecting online and offline ads has long been a goal of marketers that has not been realized beyond simple geo campaigns. Given W2O’s focus on cross-channel experiences, this functionality is especially appealing to us.
- Amazon Opens Their DSP to Direct Buys: Amazon’s Demand Side Platform (DSP) has quietly been gaining momentum, not only because of the opportunity to run media on Amazon’s owned-and-operated sites, but also the chance to leverage Amazon customer data with other publishers. This new feature seeks to enhance that value proposition by allowing advertisers to procure direct deals through the Amazon’s DSP. So, advertisers will have both the guaranteed placements associated with direct deals, along with the targeting capabilities of Amazon’s DSP.
- The TV Advertising Landscape Continues to Flesh out with Altice and Vizio Partnership: Connected TV, an evolving area that we’re very excited about, continues to build the infrastructure for advertising and analytics that will allow for functionality comparable to digital marketing channels. Just as the digital marketing ecosystem was not built overnight (and is still not yet complete), Connected TV will need to see many deals like this over the coming years
- Whispers of US Data Regulation Get Louder: This year, the European Union implemented the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to give internet users more control over their data. Quickly after that, California passed similar legislation and a host of other states are looking to do the same. Now the US Government is also taking a keen look at the area. For most national and international marketers, uniform regulation across the country is preferred over state-by-state regulation. The effort to standardized data protection will likely get bumpier before it gets smoother but at W2O we also believe it will lead to a more transparent and user-friendly internet.
- Sizmek Moves to Fill the Void Left by Google IDs: When Sizmek acquired Rocket Fuel, an AI powered DSP, it was somewhat unclear what the benefits might be of integrating the two platforms. Last week, Sizmek started to position the new platform as an alternative to the Google Marketing Platform. Earlier this year, Google announced they would be removing user IDs, which caused marketers to wonder how they would be able to execute cross-channel attribution measurement. At W2O, in addition to our proprietary attribution model, we’ve also been looking at alternatives to collecting Google user IDs for the purposes of audience research. This announcement shows that there will be no shortage of creative options popping up in the near future.
- CleverTap Platform Adds Customer Journeys: CleverTap, a mobile marketing platform, announced journey building capabilities last week. Customer journeys, cross-channel campaigns made up of sequenced communication which are triggered by user interactions, contain the promise of right place, right time messaging. However, the technology to execute these campaigns has traditionally lagged behind the ambitions of marketers. Often, we string together multiple platforms for clients to create true customer journeys. Steps like this from CleverTap and others allow marketers to spend a little less time on the technical details and a little more time focusing on the customer experience.
- How to Build Your Company’s Analytics Team: Last and certainly not least, W2O’s Chuck Hemann, Managing Director of Analytics, gives us his take on building a world-class analytics program.
Those are the four pieces of news we are watching closely this week. Watch this space weekly as we’ll continue to keep you updated on digital analytics and marketing technology trends.


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There's one little segment of the economy that continues to show sign of trouble: Department stores. Big retailers have begun to report results for the first quarter, and the news is not pretty.
Macy’s reported Thursday a worse-than-expected drop in revenue during the first quarter as same-store sales marked a particularly large slide. Kohl’s said same-store sales fell more than expected. Nordstrom reported that same-store sales slipped 0.8 percent versus a year ago.
Macy's promptly sank 15 percent. Nordstrom dropped 8 percent, and Kohl's fell 6.4 percent. The three stocks were the worst performers in the S&P 500 for the session. The SPDR S&P Retail exchange-traded funds fell 2.4 percent on the day.

domain: news


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British online supermarket pioneer Ocado has secured more operational capacity following a fire at one of its centres, after it agreed with partner Morrisons to take back sole use of one of its sites in London.
The two companies said on Thursday that Ocado would have sole use of its newest customer fulfilment centre (CFC) in Erith, south east London, until January 2021.
Ocado, which has championed online delivery since it was founded by three Goldman Sachs bankers in 2000, suffered a major fire earlier this year at its flagship robotic site in Andover.
The fire has hit Ocado's operational capacity to deliver orders.
New Terms Of Agreement
Under the new terms of the agreement, Morrisons will return to the Erith CFC in February 2021. It will not incur start up or running costs before then and by the time it returns the new site will be operating at a higher capacity.
In the interim period Morrison's can grow its online business by fulfilling orders from its stores using Ocado's store pick solution.
The two companies have also agreed that Ocado will no longer be Morrisons' exclusive digital partner, giving Morrisons more flexibility.
"Our new agreement allows us to have more than one digital partner, and opens the way for significant potential opportunities and partnerships in this important growth area for Morrisons," Morrisons chief executive David Potts said.
Separately, Morrisons updated on trading, reporting a slowdown in quarterly sales growth.


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The Internet of Things market is certainly heating up, over the last year we have seen a lot of activity in this space, whether it’s with companies working in AI or investors taking huge bets on large acquisitions, for example the Thales and Gemalto merger @ $5.5 billion set to go through in Q3 this year. Many large traditional companies are embracing IoT and building out their portfolio to make them “market ready” for the huge growth of expected devices to be connected over the coming years. Microsoft are ramping up their IoT strategy having recently announced their IoT Sphere program at RSA in April, which aims to provide a “Secure by design” approach, where chip manufacturers license device IP (Containing, Security, ARM MCU IP etc.) to make chips which can be used by OEMs to build secure products connecting to Microsoft’s Azure IoT Hub.
Security continues to be on the top of everyone’s agenda as one of the fundamental challenges to address; each company must have a strategy for addressing how they secure their devices and the data coming from them. Whether that’s companies involved in Medical, Industrial or Automotive applications, they all experience similar security challenges. Increasingly, we see companies who typically reside in the Enterprise realize that security is paramount as their IoT strategy evolves to allow devices from outside the perimeter inside… and how to manage devices at IoT scale is quickly becoming a big realization. We’re not talking about connecting a few hundred here. Interestingly enough, we have seen various governments around the globe start to take a more pragmatic approach to security. The “Secure by Design” report issued by the Department Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) in March sets out some fundamental principles IoT companies should adopt when developing solutions. You can read more on our thoughts in our previous blog here.
Device Authority has also been evolving, building real customer value into our IoT IAM security platform, KeyScaler. Whether you choose an IoT platform which requires certificate-based authentication or choose one that doesn’t, either way KeyScaler can support solving the fundamental challenges, including;
- How to securely onboard, provision and register devices without human intervention
- How to automate the management of certificates to devices and IoT platforms, with public CAs such as Comodo CA, or with a Private CA.
- How to use a tokenization approach for device authentication, authorization and token expiration into platforms such as PTC’s ThingWorx platform
- Selectively encrypting data end to end to maintain privacy for sensitive applications i.e. Medical and Industrial
- How do you connect devices securely from outside the enterprise perimeter, and utilize existing security infrastructure such as HSMs from Gemalto
We are exhibiting at LiveWorx in booth #1214, alongside our partners Gemalto and Comodo CA so please come along and meet us to discuss your security requirements and find out about our Enterprise IoT security solution blueprint! And if you are not already sick of being bombarded about GDPR then we can also discuss this…
Comodo CA will be showcasing their new IoT PKI Manager which provides trusted, mutual-authentication solutions for all IoT devices and networks using PKI certificates. The high-availability, batch-issuance system allows for administrators to easily enroll, download and decrypt certificate batches quickly and efficiently. Device Authority's KeyScaler powers an automated, advanced IoT device provisioning service, using Comodo CA's root of trust.
Register for LiveWorx 18 to learn more about IoT security and the latest technologies. Sign up to be a LiveWorx Insider to get all the news and happenings!


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Just prior to the deadline for issuing a new roof crush standard, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration went back to the drawing board as a result of pressure from Congress and consumer advocates. The final standard has been delayed until October 1st. As we have reported, NHTSA, which has not updated its rollover safety standards in over 35 years, was originally scheduled to send a new roof crush rule to Congress by July 1st. Under the proposed version, a roof would have been required to support 2.5 times the vehicle’s weight, up from the current standard of 1.5 times the weight.
The delay comes in the wake of ongoing complaints from consumer advocates and members of Congress, who correctly contend that the proposal is not strong enough. A bi-partisan group of senators sent a letter to NHTSA in June, urging the agency to take additional time to develop a more stringent standard. Critics assert that most new cars already conform to a 2.5 standard and that the standard should be raised even higher, to 3.5.
The Bush Administration is responsible for putting a proposal in the standard that would preempt state law claims brought by individuals injured in rollover accidents. NHTSA’s proposed roof crush rule puts the profit of car manufacturers first and the safety of consumers last. NHTSA must realize that it would be a tragic mistake not to do its duty when it comes to safety issues. It is abundantly clear that NHTSA should strengthen roof crush standards. A study released earlier this year by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that the stronger the roof, the lower the risk of injury to occupants of a vehicle. That study is proof positive that weak roofs are the main cause of death and serious injuries in rollover accidents. Hopefully, NHTSA will do the right thing and promulgate a stronger roof-crush standard.
Source: Lawyers Weekly USA
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Correct me if I’m wrong but, Boost Mobile will bring to the market the first pre-paid Android device. Up until now every Android device we’ve seen has been tied to a carrier that doesn’t allow you to use it as a prepaid cell phone. Hopefully this device will be a success and we will start to see Android handsets available on more pre paid companies.
For now, let’s chalk this up in the rumor category. A user from 4Chan has posted a few pictures of a myTouch running Android 2.2. He says a new feature in 2.2 will be the ability to set the market to automatically update your apps when they become available.
Looks like PDAnet has some competition now. For the longest they have been the most popular way to tether your Android device without the need for root. Now enters EasyTether. This app works for MOST Android phones, but has been discovered to not be ramped up for 4G phones thus far. We're crossing our fingers really, really hard for this app to work with faster speeds in the future. For now though, 3G.


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With bloated prices at the pumps, it should come as little surprise that Americans say fuel economy is the number one factor when considering the purchase of a new car.
Read This Article
Hyundai and Kia have steadily positioned themselves onto America's automotive map, and with a slew of new and refreshed offerings to come, the Korean twosome look to only further expand market share.
More than 220,000 Hyundai vehicles will be headed back to dealerships to fix two different airbag issues.
Are Hyundai engineers and designers listening to The Beatles "Getting Better" on repeat?


text: We have released our Dublin Residential market report and our Dublin transactions up to the end of August show our selling prices are 2% above our asking prices. 66% of our buyers are owner occupiers, where 64% are Irish and only 53% require a mortgage. In the rental sector our average rent per month is now €2,314, 4.2% higher than 2018. 81% of our tenants are non-Irish and 54% work in the technology sector. Strikingly only 7% of our tenants in Dublin Docklands are in fact Irish. The average household salary of our tenants is €125,385, up 8% on 2018. We continue to achieve the asking price and higher on 78% of our sales. See full report below.


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There’s smart wallets, and then the “Volterman”, which comes equipped with an integrated alarm system, global GPS tracking system, RFID protection, Wi-Fi hotspot, and a built-in front-facing camera that snaps photos of whoever tries to steal it. To keep things extra secure, the distance-sensitive alarm system is activated once you’ve paired the card holder with your smartphone – every time the distance between phone and wallet goes over a certain threshold, it goes off. Continue reading for a hands-on review and more information.
“The high-tech accessory also comes with a built-in power bank (2,000mAh to 5,000mAh capacity) which provides wireless charging on the go, Bluetooth 5.0 technology, and a built-in WiFi Hotspot, which provides Internet roaming service in 98 countries at prices 10 times less than that of standard roaming. Volterman recently started a crowdfunding campaign for the smart wallet, on Indiegogo. They were aiming for a $45,000 goal,” reports Oddity Central. Indiegogo Page.


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Federal Tire North America LLC is increasing the price of its tires in North America on April 1, 2019.
Federal Competition Tyres, which drew praises and commendable remarks from racers on its performance and quality at Sepang Circuit last year, will continue extend its participation as the official racing tyres for the new season of the Malaysian Super Series (MSS) and the third edition of the Sepang 1000 Kilometer endurance race (S1K) in 2011.
Federal Tyres recently hosted four tire dealers from Spain who had earned incentive tours of Taiwan and the company's production facilities.
Federal Tire Corp. is developing an extensive marketing plan for tire dealers termed the "Federal Image Corner."
Federal Corp. is phasing out the use of polycylic aromatic hydrocarbon-rich extender oils in its tires in its commitment to a safer and greener society, the company reports.


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If you are trying to shop for the popular ETON Emergency gadget, Amazon has started selling one of those since last March 15. Yes, ETON American Red Cross Emergency Weather Radio has been sold via Amazon for $39.99 as one of the most reliable emergency radio you’ll ever need if bad things happen.
The emergency weather radio is called MICROLINK-FR170, featuring unique 3-in-1 charging solution, which including solar panel, AC adapter charging, or you can manually recharge the internal Ni-MH battery by using the dynamo hand-crank.
MICROLINK-FR170 has features AM/FM radio, NOAA weatherband (up to 7 channels), 3 built-in white LED light source, and this emergency weather radio could be used as an emergency charger to charge your USB devices! It has the USB dump usage
that could instantly charge your USB device after cranking the dynamo hand-crank.
For $39.99, this emergency weather radio is really a good investment that you’ll really appreciate it when something bad happen. Get it at Amazon if you are interested. You can also find other version of Eton emergency radio with more features.


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Andres Verde Heads Latin American TeamSEATTLE, WA — July 20, 2015 —Andres Verde has joined AeroGo, Inc. as the Regional Manager for Mexico, Central America and South America. Andres has a considerable background in industrial equipment sales as well as distributor development. He will represent AeroGo engineered and standard Aero-Caster and wheeled products used in vehicle manufacturing, aerospace, power, manufacturing, rigging and cleanroom applications.
Paul Jakse, Vice President of Sales stated, “We are committed to providing the most practical and innovative load moving solutions to the Americas and Mexico. Andres focus on solution-based sales fits perfectly with how we do business. He has worked in the region his entire career and brings a wealth of cultural expertise and knowledge.” Andres can be reached via phone at 832.330.7851 or via email at email@example.com.
Founded in 1967, AeroGo is the world leader in providing innovative load moving solutions for heavy, awkward, delicate or exceptionally heavy loads. Visit www.aerogo.com for more information.
For more information, press only:
Barb Kiliz, Marketing Communications (206) 357-7870
Comments are closed.


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We all remember when Alt-Right darling, Milo Yiannopoulos, was dropped by Simon & Schuster after a few controversial mishaps. Well, Milo decided to self-publish his new book, Dangerous. You know how the saying goes: “what goes around, comes around”. When taken to Amazon, his PR agency then stated that Dangerous sold over 100,00 copies. Tsk, tsk. Not true.
The Nielson Bookscan which scans and monitors book sales from almost every digital outlet to retail outlets, including Amazon, claims that Dangerous has only sold 18,268 copies to date across the United States. Adding insult to injury, 152 copies sold in the U. K.
Obviously, being Milo, he’s visibly upset about it not being the astounding success he expected. Milo is now throwing around “fake news” to the reports of the book failing miserably.
“By now, you may have heard reports claiming we only sold 18,000 copies of Dangerous and that our 100,000 copies claim is exaggerated. I’m happy to report that this is fake news,” he said in a statement. “It’s true that the major booksellers only managed to ship out 18,000 copies to retail customers by the list cutoff. But that’s because they didn’t order enough ahead of time, and have been scrambling to play catchup ever since. The real news is that we’ve received wholesale orders and direct orders of such magnitude that our entire stock of 105,000 books is already accounted for.”
It seems to us, Milo anticipated a higher demand for his hate filled rhectoric than there really is. The Neilson Bookscan does not take into account wholesale orders into their statistics as most unsold copies end up being returned to the publisher of said book.
[Images via Milo Yiannopoulous’s Instagram]


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Can society be as smart as our cars?
With the smart car coming of age, our businesses and communities may have to become smarter as well.
BMW will be hoping its i3 gets an electric reception. Source: Supplied
Two conferences earlier this month illustrated a profound shift in the economies of the western world that will changing the design of our communities and the way we do business.
Probably the biggest event on the technology world's calendar is Las Vegas' International Consumer Electronics Show, a week later the automobile industry has its annual showcase event at the Detroit Auto Show.
In the last few years the focus of car manufacturers has shifted from Detroit to the Las Vegas show as CES has become the place to launch automobile concepts and products.
Two reasons have driven this shift; the dramatic increase in the automobile technology in the last two decades is seeing motor cars having more in common with computers and consumers are moving away from owning cars and driving everywhere.
In Australia that shift was illustrated earlier this week with the release of bureau of statistics figures showing car sales have been, at best, stagnant for the last year, this echoes other studies finding journeys by motor vehicle have fallen steadily for the last decade. Like the rest of the western world, Australians are using cars less as work patterns and lifestyles change.
Automakers are responding to these changes by integrating more with the technology that interests today's buyers which is why we are seeing the focus on smart, connected cars.
Probably the leading example of the integrated car is the BMW i3 electric car that synchs with smartphones, wearables and in the not too distant future the smarthome. The German automaker has identified the future motor vehicle is going to be just one of dozens of connected appliances that consumers are going to take for granted in coming years.
Another German manufacturer, Audi, illustrated a good example of how that integration will work. In a concept video released last year the company showed how a self parking car may work; a businesswoman arrives at a parking station, sets her app and walks off to a meeting leaving the car to drive itself to a space. At the end of her meeting she uses her smartphone to tell summons the car back to the pick up point.
Changing the property market
That concept itself has many implications for councils and property developers – at the very least you can squeeze more parking spaces into a building if people don't have to open doors to get into their vehicles and precision guidance systems mean less margin for error needs to be built into parking stations – this gives the opportunity to rethink garages.
Another consequence for businesses and governments is that much of the new technology improves the utilisation of motor vehicles with services like Uber, GoCatch and Ingogo making taxis, rental and hire more accessible and efficient. Last Sunday at the LD Conference in Munich, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick claimed his service could take up to four hundred thousand cars off Europe's roads if it was allowed to operate freely.
Those ride share and taxi apps appeal to Gen Ys and Millenials who don't see car ownership as an essential part of life in the way their boomer grandparents did while increasingly the older generations are finding the cost of an expensive depreciating asset that sits unused for twenty hours a day doesn't make sense when readily available alternatives are available.
Driving the battle against Google
For auto manufacturers and the associated industries all of these factors spell trouble, which is why they are keen to show shareholders and loyal customers that they are on the cutting edge of innovation and that the future lies with them and not Google.
In responding to Google's driverless cars, companies like Volkswagen and Mercedes are keen to show off their autonomous vehicles with the latter showing off their concept project which reinvents what an automobile will look like when there's no need for driver.
One suspects though that those driverless cars will prove more of an opportunity for ruthless capitalists like Uber's Kalanick to drive costs down while increasing safety and efficiency. The autonomous vehicle could prove to be further bad news for manufacturers with business models based around suburban families owning two or more cars.
Defining the twenty-first Century
As the motor car was the defining technology of the Twentieth Century, its reinvention as a smart consumer advice will change more than the automobile industry; everything from property development through to retail and logistics are affected by the radically different consumption patterns of a connected society.
Governments too have to face radical changes with grandiose road project risking being spectacular white elephants unless they are carefully designed to accommodate changed vehicle usage. Urban planning around Twentieth Century car use also risks repeating the same mistakes of 1960s housing estates while falling registration fees and fuel tax receipts threatens to reduced government revenues.


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Wyndham, Salvation Army making Morris County business news
New VP at Wyndham Exchange & Rentals
PARSIPPANY: Lisa Calicchio has been named executive vice president, Global Human Resources for Wyndham Exchange & Rentals, which is part of the Wyndham Worldwide family of companies.
Based in the company’s Parsippany headquarters, Calicchio will lead strategic efforts to enhance the vacation exchange and rental company’s human resources (HR) function across the organization.
Calicchio brings more than 25 years of experience to Wyndham Exchange & Rentals. During her career, she has worked at companies, including Merck and Johnson & Johnson as well as across all HR disciplines. Most recently, she held an operations position running a service line within Covance, a premier drug development company based in Princeton.
Lisa holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Kean University and a master’s degree in human resources management from Seton Hall University.
New Salvation Army store set to open
HACKETTSTOWN: The Salvation Army will open a new store on Wednesday.
The store was designed to improve the shopping experience for its customers and includes 10,000 square feet of shopping space filled with bargain-priced clothing, household items, electronics, books, toys, furniture and collectables, according to a press release from the Salvation Army, which said the store will offer special “Family Day” discounts on Wednesdays.
Located at 199 Mountain Ave, the store will open its doors for the first time at 9 a.m. Opening day shoppers will be offered free coffee, donuts, hot dogs and soda, the release said.
The new store will bring more than nine new jobs to the area and make it possible for The Salvation Army to provide better assistance for people in the community who are struggling with alcohol, drugs, and other life issues since revenues from the store will support the charity’s rehabilitation center, the release said.
This center offers services free of charge, and sales from the store are its sole source of funding. Families in need may also receive vouchers for free furniture or clothing from the store through other Salvation Army programs.
Tax receipts will be provided on-the-spot for any donations received during store hours Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. After-hours, clothing donations can be dropped in the bins located in the parking lot. For more information, call 973-742-1126 or 800-SA-TRUCK.


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The Samsung Galaxy F23 appeared on our radar about a month back and now we know an official launch date. This morning, Flipkart has set up a landing page that reveals the phone’s features. the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750 chipset and confirm the launch date is in the next week.
Samsung Galaxy F23 Arrives on March 8
The complete information will be made public on March 8th at 12pm IST.
The Samsung phone will come with three cameras at the back as well as the selfie camera is placed on a waterdrop notch. The display will feature Full HD+ resolution, and Samsung announced that it would be the first phone in the F-series with a 120Hz refresh rate as well as Gorilla Glass 5 protection.
Samsung Galaxy F23 Camera
Flipkart further revealed that Galaxy F23’s features. Galaxy F23 will have a 3.5mm audio jack at the bottomof the phone, right close to the microphone. USB-C port and grille for speakers
The original Samsung Galaxy F22 was released with a hefty price. We anticipate the next Galaxy F23 to be in the same price


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Amazon has announced that its second Australian store is now open, having been completed in Sydney and with a massive footprint of 4.3ha of indoor floorspace.
The new centre in Moorebank has a 43,000sq m footprint, nearly double the size of the Melbourne fulfilment centre, Amazon said today.
That new fulfilment centre would provide opportunity for thousands of small and medium sized Australian businesses, it said.
The new southwest Sydney base was built to continue growing product selection and would be an important part of the company's Australian fulfilment network providing faster shipping to even more customers, the business said.
"The Sydney facility in Moorebank will help Amazon ensure that customers enjoy fast and reliable delivery across more areas of the country," said Robert Bruce, Amazon director of operations.
"The new Sydney centre builds on the capabilities of our first fulfilment centre in Dandenong South in Victoria, and expands our ability to service the growing customer demand."
Sellers would automatically have their products eligible for Prime, Amazon's newly launched subscription service that provides customers with benefits such as free two day business delivery, entertainment, and access to members-only deals events, such as Prime Day, the business said.
Amazon opened in Melbourne in December last year.


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London, Manchester, Birmingham have announced a £1.2 million tourism campaign to make it easier for Chinese visitors to explore England.
The cities and surrounding areas are working on a project called Experience England, which will offer tailored packages for Chinese tourists looking to visit London, Manchester and Birmingham, as well as trips to surrounding villages and areas such as The Lake District.
Led by London & Partners, the mayor of London’s official promotional agency, the project will include Marketing Manchester and the West Midlands Growth Company.
It will be financed by a £1.2 million grant awarded from the £40 million Discover England Fund administered by VisitEngland.
Experience England aims to provide a seamless “one-stop-shop” for flights, hotels and transport between destinations alongside fixed and flexible itineraries in multiple English destinations.
Packages will be available via leading Chinese travel provider, Qunar.com, and could include shopping trips to London’s West End, a VIP trip to English Premier League Champions, Manchester City, and a tour of Shakespeare’s birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The partnership between the three cities and Qunar was announced in Shanghai by London’s deputy mayor, Rajesh Agrawal and Weiping He, chief technology officer and hotel business vice president at Qunar.
London & Partners estimates the number of Chinese visitors to London will increase by more than 100% by 2025.
Manchester, served by two direct flights from Beijing and Hong Kong, welcomes the second highest number of Chinese visitors in England. Marketing Manchester has been working in China representing a consortium of Northern England partners such as the Lake District, Liverpool and York.
Agrawal said: “London and China have deep-rooted cultural ties and this partnership is further proof of our special relationship.
“London’s world-class attractions, shops and restaurants makes our city a fantastic choice for Chinese visitors looking for a unique holiday experience.
“But we are also committed to working with other cities and regions across the country to showcase the very best of England’s diverse visitor offering.
“As the UK’s most connected city, London is an ideal starting point for international visitors wanting to explore the rest of the country.”
Sally Balcombe, VisitEngland chief executive, added: “The Experience England project inspires Chinese visitors to explore more of the country, making it easier for them to experience the cultural heritage, vibrancy and diversity of our regions and boosting growth from tourism across England.”
Family enjoying a day out in Chinatown, London, during Chinese New Year. Walking along a street decorated with red Chinese Lanterns.
Picture credit: ©VisitBritain/Andy Hall


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Alibaba Group Holdings (BABA) reports earnings Thursday before the open, and the bulls and bears are fighting for the headlines.
RBC Capital Markets analysts think Alibaba's adjusted fiscal fourth quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization could come in at 15.4 billion renminbi ($2.24 billion), below the 15.6 billion RMB consensus estimate among analysts. RBC's revenue expectation for the quarter, which ended March 31, is 35.7 billion RMB, slightly below the consensus of 35.9 RMB. They see adjusted earnings per share of 4.53 RMB, in line with the street. RBC's $120 price target on Alibaba stock is 3% below today's price of $124.
Analysts Mark S.F. Mahaney, Andrew Bruckner, Jim Shaughnessy and Dylan Haber think that Wall Street estimates for the quarter are "ballpark reasonable." They don't expect more than general commentary about Alibaba's fiscal 2018 outlook, with more to come on Alibaba's investor days of June 8 and 9, in Hangzhou, China. They are watching for data on Alibaba's strategic partnerships with U.S. toy retailer Mattel (MAT) and Chinese retailer Bailian, and Alibaba's entry into India with Paytm Mall, which promises to offer access to one billion products through an app that competes with Flipkart and Amazon.com (AMZN) in India. One of the risks to downside is slower-than-expected international commerce and cloud computing revenue growth. They write:
" ... We are looking for gross margins of 58% (down 200 basis points year on year) and EBITDA Margins of 43% in the March quarter (down 448 basis points year on year from 48% in the March 2016 quarter ... For the March quarter, we forecast 25 billion RMB in China Commerce revenue, growing 29% Y/Y and marking 70% of total Revenue. We also forecast 3.5 billion RMB of International Commerce revenue, growing 76% Y/Y and marking 10% of total Revenue. ... Cloud computing is still small (3% of revenues) but represents a potentially very large $30-$40 billion market opportunity for Alibaba. For the March quarter, we forecast that the cloud computing revenue will grow 80% Y/Y to 1.9 billion RMB in revenue ..."
MKM Partners on Tuesday raised its price target to $155, which is now the highest on Wall Street. In the news Tuesday: the initial public offering of Alibaba payments affiliate Ant Financial Services Group will be delayed until late 2018 or early 2019. See our post, Alibaba Earnings Point To 25% Upside, MKM Says.


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War of the self-driving taxis? Uber announces plans to build fleet of autonomous cars as Google refuses to deny rumours that it's working on a taxi rival
- Bloomberg tweeted that Google and Uber are 'going to war over taxis'
- Google's official handle replied: 'We think you'll find Uber and Lyft work quite well. We use them all the time'
- This fuelled speculation, as the reply was neither confirmation nor denial
- It came on the same day Uber hinted it was working on self-driving cars
- The taxi app is collaborating with roboticists at Carnegie Mellon University
- Uber's range of autonomous cars would rival Google's driverless project
Reports that Google is planning to launch an Uber rival took a turn late last night when the tech giant took to Twitter to reply to the claims.
Bloomberg Business tweeted that Google and Uber are 'going to war over taxis', to which Google's official handle replied: 'We think you'll find Uber and Lyft work quite well. We use them all the time.'
This fuelled speculation as the reply was neither a confirmation nor a denial of the rumours.
It also came on the same day Uber hinted it was working on its own range of self-driving cars.
This range would directly compete with Google's autonomous vehicles.
In a blog post, Uber said it would be partnering with roboticists at Carnegie Mellon University to create a centre devoted to research and development of mapping, car safety, and 'autonomous technology'.
'As a global leader in urban transportation, we have the unique opportunity to invest in leading edge technologies to enable the safe and efficient movement of people and things at giant scale,' Uber chief product officer Jeff Holden said.
GOOGLE TEAMS UP WITH HAILO
In addition to the rumours and Twitter exchanges, taxi app Hailo announced it had partnered with Google for its Now cards.
Now cards are information boxes that appear in the Google app and offer tailored information at the right time.
The Hailo card will offer users the chance to order a cab home when they leave the office work, for example.
For people who have opted in to Google Now and have downloaded the Hailo app, the taxi company will send a Now card alert to anyone who has booked a journey from outer London zones in to Central London between 7am and 10am, and an offer a cab home if the passenger is in the same location after 5pm.
'This collaboration and the creation of the Uber Advanced Technologies Center represent an important investment in building for the long term of Uber.'
Uber lets consumers use an app to locate a driver and instantly book a ride.
Google was an early backer of the San Francisco-based firm, investing $258 million (£170 million) in the controversial ride-sharing service through its venture capital arm in August 2013.
David Drummond, Google’s chief legal officer and senior vice president of corporate development, then joined the Uber board of directors.
Google Maps software is already integrated into Uber to let users check progress of drivers on their way to pick them up.
But, an unnamed source told Bloomberg that Google is preparing to offer its own service, and it was likely to use its driverless cars.
The report continued that Mr Drummond had told Uber's board of this possibility, and executives had seen screenshots of what appears to be a Google ride-sharing app, currently being used by employees.
The news came on the same day Uber hinted it was working on its own range of self-driving cars. In a blog post, the taxi app (pictured) said it would be partnering with roboticists at Carnegie Mellon University to create a centre devoted to research and development of mapping, car safety, and 'autonomous technology'
San Francisco-based Uber has grown into one of the world's largest startups, and now operates in more than 200 cities in 54 countries around the world.
But the app's growth has also cause friction with existing taxi operations, and posed challenges for regulators.
Uber does not employ drivers or own its vehicles, but instead uses independent contractors with their own cars.
Since launching in 2010, Uber has also been dubbed a prime example of a 'disruptive' economic force, and taxi drivers in dozens of cities have staged protests against the firm.
This range would directly compete with Google's autonomous vehicles (pictured with Google Chairman Eric Schmidt (left) and US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx (right). An unnamed source told Bloomberg that Google is preparing to offer its own service, and it was likely to use its driverless cars
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Project #ShowUS isn’t just about imagery; it’s about language and locale too. The new Getty Images library of over 5,000 photos was created by Girlgaze photographers, “women and non-binary photographers who understand the beauty landscape of that country for a more authentic, hyper-local and inclusive representation of beauty,” according to the Dove media release.
And the photographers chose the search descriptions and tags for their photos—a first for Getty Images—and a strategy that will help diversify digital search terminology and allows the photographers to “define their beauty in their own language,” as Dove puts it.
Women and work
In 2014 Sheryl Sandberg’s non-profit Lean In partnered with Getty Images on a library of photos meant to more accurately depict working women.
“Men and women should be equally represented at the boardroom table and at the kitchen table,” Sandberg told the press. “To get there we need reform of our policies, we need to encourage women to fulfil their ambitions and we need to encourage men to do their part in the home – but we also need to address how women and men are depicted….We are thrilled to be able to partner with Getty Images on this project and our shared commitment to literally repicture women, men and equality.” The Lean In Collection is still available and has grown to include 6,000+ images available for license.
Women and beauty
The new #ShowUs Collection has been a year in the making because as Sophie Galvani, global vice president at Dove, explains in the media release, “Dove understands the impact unrealistic images of beauty can have on a women's body confidence and their subsequent ability to reach their full potential. For over 60 years, we have believed in liberating women from narrow beauty ideals and have showcased beauty diversity in our advertising. However, this is not enough, and we cannot make the systemic change we need alone.”
And Leslie Golts, marketing lead at Dove Canada emphasizes that “Project #ShowUs is the result of real women demanding representation in an industry that often dictates the very image we have of ourselves,” adding, “We're thrilled about this project and partnership as it gives us the opportunity to represent the powerful women who make up the rich tapestry of Canada as we know it.”
As a visual media company, Getty Images seems interested in advancing meaningful change as well: “Whilst we've seen a positive shift in the popularity of photography that realistically represents women, there's a lot more to be done,” says Dr Rebecca Swift, creative insights director at Getty Images. “Project #ShowUs will break visual clichés on an unprecedented scale, and we invite all media and advertisers to join the movement,” she says.
Dove is inviting consumers to be a part of the #ShowUS project as well: “we are also offering women around the world the opportunity to become part of the change and add their images to the library,” says Galvani.
Deanna Utroske, CosmeticsDesign.com Editor, covers beauty business news in the Americas region and publishes the weekly Indie Beauty Profile column, showcasing the inspiring work of entrepreneurs and innovative brands.


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SAN FRANCISCO (KTVU) - Artisan cupcakes are part of a growing trend, in cities across the country, and it turns out, they’re not just delicious, and beautiful. Cupcakes are a booming business.
Kara Lind is the daughter of a dentist, and wasn’t allowed sweets growing up. But that didn’t stop her from eating sweets, and loving them
She was an advertising executive in San Francisco with Conde Nast. She says it was a glamorous job. She traveled around the Northwest, with fun clients, and a big expense account.
But she traded in all in for flour, sugar, and a payroll. She went to pastry school and started Kara’s Cupcakes. She says for her, it’s about the art of design, and color, combined with taste.
As she carefully squeezed red frosting onto a heart-shaped cookie, she described the feeling she gets in her bakery.
“You get into a Zen of painting, and it's almost like coloring," she said. "You know all those coloring books we have now, and in the end, you get to eat it"
And a lot of people wanted to eat her creations. She opened her first shop in the Marina in 2006, and could not keep up with demand. They ran out of cupcakes, on a daily basis. On Valentine’s Day, they had to shut the door, saying they had to bake more, and will open in a few hours. as the frantically tried to re-stock, people continued to bang on the windows and door.
She now has nine bakeries and shops all over the Bay Area, including Emeryville, San Jose, Palo Alto, Walnut Creek and Napa, where they sometimes mix a nice cabernet, right into the batter.
Lind prides herself in using all local ingredients, including C&H Sugar out of Crockett, Guittard Chocolate, based in Burlingame, and Diamond Crystal Salt, and Giuosto’s Flour of San Francisco.
Lind also makes cupcakes that are vegan and gluten free, and every month, they have a cupcake that gives back to the community.
This month, they are honoring the art hearts of San Francisco with beautiful, edible images. The proceeds benefit Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.


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Plastic politics are within the information. Three converging debates will form the way forward for plastic manufacturing and recycling: At the worldwide stage, the United Nations is negotiating the phrases of a worldwide plastics treaty, whereas within the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency has launched a draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution and the Federal Trade Commission is engaged on updating its Green Guides, the foundations that govern the promoting of environmental and recycling claims. Dr. Anja Malawi Brandon, affiliate director of U.S. plastics coverage for the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy, returns to the present to debate the state of plastic packaging rules and extended producer responsibility legal guidelines.
Anja is an environmental engineer who helped draft landmark state and nationwide laws regulating plastic air pollution in recent times. She final appeared on the present to discuss unnecessary plastics in March 2022. She not too long ago authored Ocean Conservancy’s recommendations to the FTC about labeling plastics to point their recyclability. Anja summarized the difficult recycling data all of us battle with when she wrote, “Consumers shouldn’t want a Ph.D. in plastics to know what to do with their plastic packaging.”
Recyclability and compostability must be clarified phrases, and native companies, not nationwide guidelines, ought to decide the pure choices accessible to every of us. The Ocean Conservancy has known as for stricter regulation of plastic recyclability, recycled content material, compostability, and different environmental claims by the Federal Trade Commission when it updates the Green Guides. Like the European Union and Britain, which have launched way more stringent guidelines about sustainability claims, the FTC’s guidelines are anticipated to introduce penalties, reminiscent of bans on promoting and fines when firms make imprecise claims.
At the identical time, the plastic business is ramping up claims that it may well recycle extra plastic utilizing superior strategies — the chemical and molecular recycling approaches described throughout our latest interviews with Nexus Circular and Carbios; the business desires to “retain the societal advantages of plastics.” Economic and coverage tensions are rising as international, nationwide, and state leaders launch applications and insurance policies designed to curb using plastic, observe and regulate the delivery and recycling of plastic waste, and set up clear, useful labeling steering.
You can study extra concerning the Ocean Conservancy at oceanconservancy.org.


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Passengers at London Luton airport can access the hub's new mobile website. The website lets users view flight information and book car parking. "We are delighted with this great-looking mobile website. We are thrilled that it is now live, and will be able to help the thousands of passengers transiting through our airport this summer," said Oliver Jaycock, an airport marketing official.
Published in Brief:


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Sports News and Press Releases about Outdoor Industry Sponsorships
Want to stay up to date on the latest press releases and news about sponsorships in the outdoor sports industry? Scroll below to view all outdoor sports sponsorship news.
April 7, 2020
KINeSYS Champions Ambassador Program
After a well-received inaugural campaign in 2019, leading sun protection brand, KINeSYS, is preparing for the launch of its 2020 Ambassador Program. The 2020 KINeSYS Champion Program will feature over 40 Ambassadors – an increase on last year’s numbers – from around the globe, who embody the KINeSYS brand ideal,...
March 25, 2020
The rabbit Team Adds Top Ultrarunner Hayden Hawks
March 25th, 2020, Santa Barbara, California - The rabbit team continues to grow in both quantity and quality after a second major signing this month. Hayden Hawks, one of the best U.S. male ultrarunners in recent years, has officially been added to the rabbitPRO roster. Along with the signing of...
March 10, 2020
MOTUS Off-Road and BASE Performance Ink Partnership
BOULDER, CO March 10, 2020 – MOTUS Off-Road, one of the largest off-road production companies in the United States, names BASE Performance as the Official Energy Gel, Bar and Hydration of the 2020 MOTUS Off-Road series, starting in Myrtle Beach, SC on April 19. BASE will support participants at all...
March 10, 2020
Professional Ultrarunner Amanda Basham Signs with rabbit
Santa Barbara, California - Amanda Basham is the latest addition to the rabbitPRO team after she recently signed with the cutting-edge running apparel brand rabbit. With top results at some of the world’s most prestigious mountain-ultra-trail races in recent years, Basham brings her speedy experience to a talent-laden rabbit squad...
March 3, 2020
US Trail Running Conference announces renewed sponsorship agreement with Race Roster
Estes Park, CO – The US Trail Running Conference has announced that Race Roster, the fastest growing endurance registration platform in North America will be the presenting sponsor for the Race Director days at the 2020 event. This announcement marks a renewal of the sponsorship that is now in its...
February 25, 2020
10th Annual Carolina Cup Gains Key Supporter for 2020 Paddle Races
WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NORTH CAROLINA, USA– The Carolina Cup, one of the largest gatherings of water paddlers in the world, gained key support from SweetWater Brewing Company as title sponsor in 2020. Founded 23 years ago in Atlanta, SweetWater Brewing Company is one of the top 15 craft breweries in the...
February 21, 2020
GORE® Wear Introduces itself to the American Cross-Country Industry at The Birkie
Hayward, Wis. (February 21, 2020) –America’s biggest cross-country ski event, The American Birkebeiner, is underway in Hayward, WI, and GORE® Wear is proud to be present at this iconic event as a sponsor. With a full week of events, “The Birkie” draws an estimated 40,000 skiers and spectators, representing an...
January 7, 2020
NOCCO Signs Bodybuilder and Fitness Enthusiast Cassandra Martin as Brand Ambassador
LOS ANGELES (January 7, 2019) – NOCCO – a leading no carb, branched chain amino acids (BCAA) beverage company – announced today that it signed Cassandra (Cass) Martin as a brand ambassador to promote its brand within the workout community. The new partnership marks another major step forward for NOCCO...


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PCP and Hire Purchase both showed strong growth in new and used car sales during May according to our Finance Data here at enquiryMAX
The Finance Data indicates a 37% increase in PCP and a 34% in hire purchase on the same month last year. Contract Hire continued its strong growth in 2018 with a 27% rise.
Commenting on the trend, David Boyce managing director of enquiryMAX said: “The second quarter of the year is seeing demand strengthen over the same period in 2017. While trading continues to be tough, it is clear that finance is a key part of the retail mix and understanding the customer’s requirements is key to closing the deal with the appropriate funding.”
The data shows an increase in used car sales of 8% against a small decline of 4% in April against the same months in 2017.
The data, from over 700 dealers also showed the average part exchange value has increased from £8,960 to £9,237.
The average sale price of a used car increased from £20,497 in 2017 to £21,008 in 2018. The sales window continues to shorten with a 76% rise in the number of sales closing on the first day.
Find out more about our data trends and news here


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On October 19th, Lei Jun told an investor conference that construction had progressed more than expected and xiaomi was expected to produce more in the first half of 2024.
In March 2021, a "Smart Electric Vehicle Business Project" announced Xiaomi's official entry into the car-making industry. In early September, Xiaomi Group Chairman Lei Jun announced via Weibo that Xiaomi Automobile Co., Ltd. officially completed the industrial and commercial registration, registered capital of 10 billion yuan, headquartered in Beijing Economic Development Zone, Lei Jun as a legal representative.
Public information found that Xiaomi has invested in four power battery enterprises, two of which involve A-share listed companies, respectively, Zhuhai Guanyu, WeiFeng lithium industry, and the other two hive energy, China Airlines lithium power, is the domestic and foreign power battery loading volume of the top enterprises.
By the time of writing, Xiaomi Group was up 5.15 per cent at HK$22.45, with a market capitalisation of HK$563.4bn. (| AI Finance News Agency Tianyu)


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Napier Lopez is a writer based in New York City. He's interested in all things tech, science, and photography related, and likes to yo-yo in Napier Lopez is a writer based in New York City. He's interested in all things tech, science, and photography related, and likes to yo-yo in his free time. Follow him on Twitter.
Ford promised us an electric version of its F-150 truck was on the way back in 2017, but it’s been mostly silent on the matter since. Though the vehicles is still years from launch, today the company came out in a big way, showing a prototype electric F-150 towing a train weighing over a million pounds.
In the video, Ford invites some current F-150 owning-men to a train yard. They are apparently unaware of the company’s plans until the electric F-150’s chief engineer, Linda Zhang, reveals the new model and its burden of the day. It’s an ad, so of course the F-150 owners were impressed when the electric vehicle managed to tow the million-pound freight train across 1,000 feet, seemingly without breaking a sweat.
After that, Ford went a step further, loading the train with 42 gas F-150s, bringing the total weight to over 1.25 million pounds. Watch for yourself below:
Of course, it’s not as if Ford would show the truck failing at the task. Physics tells us that overcoming the initial static friction is the tricky part, but it’s certainly an impressive-looking demo. For reference, the current gas F-150 maxes out at a rated towing capacity of 13,200 lb, though to be fair, Ford does caution in its video that this is a “one-time short event demonstration.” A more revealing demo would’ve been to see how the classic F-150 compares.
So yes, this is Ford flexing its marketing department, but it’s the kind of marketing that’s actually directly relevant. There is many a truck owner who distrusts electric vehicles, seeing them as a hippie novelty; this ad is meant to dispell any notion that an electric F-150 would be underpowered. Until I see a gas F-150 pull a similar feat, I’m going to assume the electric model has got a fair bit more torque to it.
With electric trucks from Ford, Tesla, and newcomer Rivian on the way, maybe America’s gas holdouts will finally see that electric is the future.
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The original article was published at CIO.com
The IoT platform market has been growing at a record pace. Just a couple of years ago, the market only counted a few early vendors that were starting to court enterprises and device manufacturers. Today, the IoT platform space is a hypercompetitive market encompassing a broad set of companies from telecommunication operators to platform as a service (PaaS) providers. However, for being such as fast-growing, emerging market, the enterprise IoT platform space hasn’t seen a large number of startups become relevant. Today, the bulk of the innovation in that arena appears to be coming from big corporate labs instead of garages.
IoT is challenging the traditional enterprise technology cycle
The patterns in the enterprise IoT platform sector certainly challenge the conventional wisdom of how fast-growing enterprise technology markets evolve. Traditionally, the initial wave of innovation and early adoption in an enterprise software market is driven by innovative startups that are able to move faster than the incumbents. As the market develops, incumbents enter the fray, relying heavily on acquisitions helping to consolidate the market. That wave of M&A activity is a clear sign of a mature enterprise software market that is approaching its peak. Subsequently, the market evolves into a phase dominated by the incumbents and a handful of startups that survived the M&A phase and became strong independent companies.
From every angle, the enterprise IoT platform space is challenging the traditional enterprise software market cycle. Almost since its inception, incumbents like GE, Microsoft, IBM and Amazon are leading the innovation in the enterprise IoT market. More importantly, despite a handful of early platform vendors like Xively or ThingWorx, the IoT platform market is lacking startups that can claim significant market share. Here’s a look at the factors contributing to the enterprise IoT market’s unique dynamics.
5 factors that are conspiring against enterprise IoT platform startups
Enterprise IoT systems require professional service
Enterprise IoT systems are incredibly complex and often involve integration with existing enterprise technologies and processes. Consequently, many enterprise IoT systems require a significant level of professional services in the form of consulting and implementation assistance. This factor is challenging for many startups that don’t have the resources to invest in large professional services groups or haven’t developed the sufficient number of strategic alliances with system integrators and IoT professional services firms.
Partnerships with device manufacturers are slow and challenging
Many industrial or enterprise IoT systems start with the goal of deploying specific types of hardware and sensors that can optimize enterprise business processes. In these scenarios, hardware manufacturers can be incredibly influential in recommending and selecting an enterprise IoT platform for the solution. This dynamic typically favors enterprise IoT incumbents like GE or IBM that have spent significant resources developing strong strategic alliances with device manufacturers and optimizing the interoperability of their platforms with those specific devices. IoT platform startups would have to devote precious resources to nurture relationships with smart device manufacturers so they are not at a disadvantage with the incumbents in the space.
Industry expertise is required
Developers of industrial IoT systems are trying to reimagine existing mission-critical business processes and solutions or implement brand-new business processes. From this standpoint, enterprise IoT systems typically require a certain level of domain or industry knowledge in order to have a meaningful impact. Companies like GE, IBM or Microsoft have decades of experience across dozens of industries — which is very relevant in enterprise IoT scenarios. In contrast, enterprise IoT platform startups often have to travel the tortuous path of developing strong credibility in specific industries before they are considered serious contenders in the enterprise IoT segment.
Sales cycles are long
Enterprise IoT solutions are notoriously complex and many times require significant investment from the buyer. This translates into long sales cycles and never-ending pilots and proof-of-concept implementations. Many of the self-service models that disrupted other enterprise software markets simply don’t apply in the enterprise IoT space. Over the years, incumbents have mastered the long sales cycle game as a way to challenge leaner and more innovative startups in that market. In the enterprise IoT market, long sales cycles are the rule and not the exception. Consequently, enterprise IoT startups are forced to recruit B2B-savvy sales executives to be effective competing with bigger companies.
The incumbents entered the race early
Unlike other enterprise software markets, incumbents like IBM, Microsoft, Amazon and GE managed to enter the IoT market from the very beginning. More impressively, these incumbents managed to build incredibly innovative platforms that can compete with some of the more advanced offerings of IoT startups. Beyond companies like Xively, ThingWorx and a handful of other early IoT platform startups that managed to establish a relevant market share, the rest of the enterprise IoT platform startup ecosystem is extremely challenged when it comes to competing with larger and truly innovative IoT incumbents. As a result, many of these early IoT platform startups are likely to become M&A targets in the near future which will help to consolidate the market even more.
Does this mean that enterprise IoT platforms are exclusively a big boys’ game?
Not necessarily but it is important to recognize that the enterprise IoT platform market is exhibiting unique characteristics. In order to stay relevant, IoT platform startups should build very strong network effects in areas that can have a big impact and might not be the immediate focus of the incumbents. Here are some ideas:
- Developer communities: Even though IoT platforms like Azure IoT Suite or AWS IoT enjoy vibrant developer communities, there is still room in the market for an enterprise IoT platform with a massive developer following.
- Open-source distributions: Complementing the previous point, an open-source distribution model with a large developer community could also help to disrupt the enterprise IoT platform incumbents.
- Partnerships with hardware startups: There are many super innovative hardware startups that don’t get any attention from companies like IBM, Microsoft, Amazon or GE. This creates an opportunity for an IoT platform startup to develop a new distribution channel by partnering with fast-growing smart device companies.
There are other factors that can help IoT platform startups to remain competitive in the enterprise. However, recognizing the unique DNA of the enterprise IoT platform ecosystem is vital to developing comprehensive business models that allow startups to become and stay relevant in this important enterprise software market.


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The Hamburg Cruise Center has commissioned its new mega berth in Altona after seven months of construction.
On Aug. 15, the new berth went into operation. The first ship to dock at the refurbished and extended Edgar Engelhard Quay was the AIDAaura. The Queen Mary II docked simultaneously at the HafenCity cruise terminal.
Plans call for 50 ships a year to call at the Altoba berth and terminal. The berth can accommodate vessels up to 300 meters in length.
Senator for Economics and Labour Axel Gedaschko commented: ‘For Hamburg it is a matter of major significance that the new berth for cruise ships has been able to go into operation without a hitch. The new facility means that Hamburg will be in a better position to establish itself in the highly competitive cruise sector. This will now give rise to further opportunities of employment for our local service industry. And last, but not least, it results in a new point of call for Hamburg as a centre of the tourist industry.’
The range of companies involved in this value creation chain is wide, extending from port operators to entertainment companies and technical supplier firms. In terms of economics, the importance of the cruise industry is thus far more than the sales revenue from the tourist industry that has been quantified so far.
Gerd Drossel, managing director of the Hamburg Cruise Center, said: “The demand for cruises is high; it is a steadily growing market. With the additional handling facilities for big ships in a prestigious building that CC II now offers, we can continue to boost Hamburg’s image as a cruise destination.”
For the moment ships are still being handled by a provisional facility. The actual terminal building is currently in the planning stage, but the request for planning permission has already been submitted. Construction operations will be completed in the summer of 2010.


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Birmingham-based Hollywood Monster secures £250,000 loan to safeguard 40 jobs
Birmingham-based Hollywood Monster has secured a £250,000 loan enabling it to safeguard 40 employees whilst creating seven new positions over a three year period.
The business received the funding from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF), provided by The FSE Group, Debt Finance Fund and backed by the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).
With the continued growth of the company and securing new clients, Hollywood Monster will be expanding its workforce to strengthen the current team ensuring both existing and new contracts are delivered.
Hollywood Monster specialises in producing digital wide-format print and signage solutions for companies across multiple UK industries, including fast food, entertainment and retail. The business offers a full end-to-end service from design through to installation.
Tim Andrews MBE, Founder and Chairman of Hollywood Monster, said: “Covid-19 has definitely had an impact on many businesses across the globe during the last year and a half. This funding will enable us to maintain our current workforce, putting the company in a strong position to fulfil its growth plans. We have successfully replaced 90% of our products with sustainable alternatives and this will help us fulfil our target of being 100% sustainable by 2022. Our thanks to Kerry, The FSE Group’s Investment Manager, who guided us through the funding process to secure the loan, assisting the business to achieve its aims.”
In 2019 across Europe, 340 million square metres of printed graphics ended up in landfill. Hollywood Monster took this opportunity to work with the UK reseller of a new PVC free range of materials and were the first business to successfully trial and implement these products into their range.
Kerry Haughton, Investment Manager at The FSE Group, which manages the MEIF Debt Finance Fund, adds: “Hollywood Monster is a well-established business with over 30 years’ experience in the industry and they have a strong, forward thinking leadership team. It is proud to be seen as an eco-responsible business which has a loyal customer base. It was encouraging to see Tim and his team be able to operate during the challenging lockdown period. The business has welcomed more new contracts and is well positioned to win even more as the UK fully opens-up. We look forward to working with the business as its team grows.”
Ryan Cartwright, Senior Manager at the British Business Bank, said: “This latest investment from MEIF, will be key in enabling Hollywood Monster to both maintain and grow its workforce. By increasing its capacity, the business can take on more contracts and continue on its growth journey. This shows the versatility of MEIF finance and its role in ensuring Midlands’ businesses have access to the funding they need to succeed.”


text: MGM have announced that the first restaurant from Hong Kong based hospitality company Lai Sun Dining called China Tang is coming to the former Pearl space at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. This is Lai Sun Dining’s first restaurant in the United States although the restaurant group has numerous restaurants across China and has received ten Michelin stars. China Tang will be in a good location at the MGM Grand across from Tom Colicchio’s Craftsteak one of our favorite steakhouses and near the always popular Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House. The new restaurant will serve Cantonese cuisine with influences from provincial dishes across China from places such as Shanghai, Beijing and Sichuan. The MGM Grand has a collection of some of the top chefs and restaurants in the world, with the details releases so far this restaurant could do well, no opening date has been announced other than the opening has been planned for later this year.


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Bot has introduced its new Bluetooth earbuds Airdope 181 TWS in India. The company’s new earplugs powerful TWS earbuds that come with ENX technology are priced at Rs 1,499. You can buy these earbuds from the e-commerce platform Flipkart and Amazon India. These new Boat earbuds come in four color options – Bold Blue, Carbon Black, Cool Gray and Spirit White. Boat Airdopes 181 TWS comes with a battery life of up to 20 hours and many other great features. Let me know the details.
The company has specifically tuned these drivers for its signature audio quality and that is why these earbuds give the user a clear sound as well as a strong bass experience. For best calling in earbuds, the company has used ENX technology.
Beast mode has been given to these buds for gaming, which comes with a quick response time of 65 milliseconds. These latest buds from Boat come with up to 20 hours of playback time including the charging case. The company is also offering fast charging features on these buds that come with voice assistant support.The company claims that these buds get charged to give 1.5 hours of playback in just 10 minutes of charging.


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This is an article “The Fate of Small Businesses Post COVID-19” by Marc Primo
Keeping your business afloat on normal days is challenging enough. For the 30.7 million that are operating in the U.S. alone, the COVID-19 pandemic delivered a sudden and seemingly insurmountable impact that offers a bleak future ahead as the world is set to experience the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
However, despite the current scenario, a study by Guidant Financial earlier this year showed that small business owners remain happy and confident in terms of weathering the pandemic storm. Sixty percent of over 3,100 respondents said that they are either ‘very confident’ or ‘somewhat confident’, despite uncertainties.
For the other small businesses that are currently struggling, wrapping their minds around the following business prospects can help them prepare for the post COVID-19 phase.
Adjustment in business models
At the onset of the pandemic, over 40% of US consumers already resorted to browsing online to purchase what they needed. This gave more small businesses, such as restaurants and retailers, the opportunity to carry out decent operations via curbside pickups and deliveries—even during the crisis.
This win-win process for both business owners, employees, and consumers soon got its name BOPIS (buy online, pickup in store). In fact, it looks like BOPIS is here to stay even after COVID-19. This is after a good number of consumers found the service more practical in terms of shipping costs, allowing for faster turnarounds, and offering more discounts via online platforms. All that and they don’t even have to wait in line for their food orders or cashier payments.
While BOPIS is a very good idea as we all face the new normal, other adjustments might be necessary and will most definitely entail some cost. Production companies may have to establish more stringent safety and health protocols to meet new standards from the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as switch to more adaptive business models that can address the consumers’ changing behavior.
Continuous need for solutions
There’s no doubt that making huge adjustments in your operations can make a dent in a business’s budget. Many small companies would probably struggle to find the right capital to finance new technologies and hire more people, in contrast to the ease with which the more established companies are able to.
This means that operations will need to shift to a lower capacity and production in order to offset the lack of transitional budgets for essentials like digital marketing, BOPIS services, and safety and sanitation improvements.
While businesses can also add their employees’ training upgrades to cost, empowering them allows for better capabilities to take on more roles and decrease operational risks. Keeping your mind on the ROI of whatever new innovation you set up, be it digital or practical, can help increase sales faster and make turnarounds more streamlined.
Another sensible solution that can help small businesses is seeking support from networks, suppliers, and partners who can extend some form of aid to the business. These may include e-commerce reliability, free online advertising credits, service solutions (curbside deliveries that have tied up with transport and courier groups), and productivity diffusion.
Moving forward, all companies who are into business to business (B2B) networks can create more profits for both large and small businesses in terms of production and supply tiering, as well as long-term supply chain partnerships that could spell mutual increases in profits.


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Weve polished up our crystal ball and asked some industry experts to see what technology trends small business entrepreneurs should pay attention to in 2010.
The news in 2009 was dominated by the gloomy economy, as small business entrepreneurs hunkered down to weather the downturn. Looking forward to 2010, it wont rain money, but there are still some glimmers of a recovery. Not surprisingly, the technology trends shaping up center around getting the biggest bang for your IT buck and quantifying the return-on-investment for your marketing dollars.
Cloud Computing Goes Main Street
So-called cloud computing, where online services take the place of traditional desktop- or server-resident software, was a buzzword in 2009, and the din will only get louder this year.
Even if youve been following cloud computing since it was called SaaS (software-as-a-service) or, showing your age, ASP (application service providers), if youre like most small business owners you still havent taken the plunge. But according to research by Microsoft and others, thats likely to change.
We feel interest and adoption of cloud computing among small and midsize businesses will really take off in 2010, says Christoph Wilfert, corporate vice president and general manager for Microsofts small and mid-market business solutions in the U.S. Our research and conversations with SMBs show they are very interested in cloud computing, but are not yet fully aware how easy it is to employ the technology, its widespread availability and full benefits.
Wilfert notes that the cost benefits of cloud computing are too good to ignore. For example, Microsoft Online Services provide enterprise-grade e-mail communications, Web videoconferencing, CRM and collaboration solutions to as few as five employees through a monthly contract that costs less than an average cell phone bill.
Helping drive the awareness of cloud capabilities will be high-profile product launches due this year, such as Microsoft Office 2010. Office 2010 will blend the traditionally installed version of Office with cloud computing features, says Wilfert. He reports that the suites Office Web Apps will offer lightweight online versions of Word, OneNote, Excel and PowerPoint accessible via a Web browser; these features will be available through Office 2010 to small and midsize business owners at low cost or for free.
The major applications in Microsoft Office 2010 will have online counterparts, bringing cloud computing to the mainstream.
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Office Web Apps will extend the Office experience on the Web and to mobile devices, said Wilfert. Simply put, were there is a browser, there is Office. Weve also stretched our offerings to include Web-based applications to complement Office 2010 and to give SMBs the ability to work remotely at an affordable price.
Microsofts Wilfert isnt the only company bullish on cloud services for 2010. Steve Cakebread, a cloud-computing evangelist and a former president and chief strategy officer of SaaS pioneer Salesforce.com, thinks that small businesses especially could benefit from the trend. Business of all sizes should consider using cloud solutions, he says. However, for small businesses it can be even more effective, because you gain access to world-class solutions but only have to pay for the solution as you need it.
Opting for an online service rather than on-site software can also help a small businesses cash flow, notes Cakebread. Its a subscription, so you can buy annual services and pay quarterly or annually versus typical computer solutions where you have to pay in advance.
Of course, if your Internet service gets interrupted, so, too, does access to any software applications you use via the Web, and the service provider itself could experience a problem, making your applications and data inaccessible. But Cakebread thinks this is less of an issue than the press reports make it out to be.
You will experience service outages it is technology, after all but if you select world-class providers your service issues are typically less than you have in your in house operations, he said. Think of cloud providers like your electrical service or phone service: They do have service issues on occasion, but most respected suppliers have minimum interruptions.
Before making the move to an online service, however, business owners need to know what to expect. With so much hype surrounding the cloud, it makes sense to set expectations, notes Rob Walters, director of product management at The Planet, Inc., the worlds largest privately held dedicated-hosting provider.
For example, the utility-billing model is not always cheaper in the long run. If flexibility is your goal, then great. But if cost-savings is the goal, thats not a given with an online service.
If youre moving business functions to an online provider, Walters advises that you start with something thats not mission-critical, such as e-mail, which is a service most online providers should have down pat. Another ideal choice is backup/disaster recovery.
Moving disaster recovery to the cloud makes it affordable for more businesses, since you dont have to pay to replicate all your hardware, Walters explains. There are also plenty of services you can subscribe to such as CRM that also let you do away with the server-management aspect of software, as well.
Social media marketing efforts will need to pay their own way in 2010, and services such as Delivra make it possible to track the ROI of online campaigns.
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Social Media Marketing, Meet ROI
In addition to cloud computing, the other technology hot-button last year was social media. In addition to a compelling Web site, suddenly every business needed a Facebook presence and then a Twitter feed. Most business owners have no idea if all this friending and tweeting is adding anything to the bottom line. So in 2010, the name of the game in social media is quantifying a return on your investment.
As a small business owner, you want to maximize the return of the time and money youre spending, says Carissa Newton, director of marketing at Delivra, one of the original e-mail marketing service firms. You want to be able to see who is viewing and sharing your social media content and see where those leads are coming from.
Delivras service, for example, lets you embed a video clip in an e-mail or a social-media page of feed, then track the leads that come from that campaign. You can see whos sharing the video and see what networks they are sharing the video on, says Newton. You can see who is watching and, more importantly. who is watching for more than 30 seconds.
Cynthia Francis, CEO of Reality Digital, a provider of social-media marketing tools, sees a continued emphasis on social media in 2010 but with a more unified approach.
In 2010, we see businesses moving away from piecemeal social media marketing tools to a cohesive, integrated strategy, says Francis. Its great to have all these points of visibility, but more than that you need to have a plan. The goal of social media is to have a conversation with your customer, and its better to bring those customers home to have that conversation at your branded site.
For example Harmony, Reality Digitals offering, is an entry-level social media platform that delivers a forum, blog, embedded audio and video and more for a participatory experience for customers.
Cost-Saving Tools Become the Default
Entrepreneurs who survived the downturn did so by watching every penny, and this cost-savings mentality promises to be the new normal, especially when it comes to IT spending. Services that replace an essential but often expensive business function will be hot commodities in 2010.
One such area is virtual PBX services, which can replace a traditional physical phone system with a more feature-rich and affordable solution while delivering the side benefit of making your business appear larger than it is. For example, VirtualPBX.com Inc., the pioneer in the industry, lets a company can give its remote employees an 800 or local number that makes it look as if the individuals are working out of an office. The service routes the calls to whatever phone number the employee prefers, such as a mobile or even a VoIP number.
Similarly, Cbeyond, which offers managed Internet and phone services to businesses in 13 major U.S. markets, rolled out the Cbeyond Virtual Receptionist. This cloud-based service helps small businesses project a professional image to incoming callers, routing calls efficiently and automatically without the hassle or expense of deploying an on-site automated attendant.
Protus recently launched its My1Voice service, which combines a virtual phone service, a virtual receptionist, smart call-forwarding, enhanced voicemail and call screening in a cloud-based solution.
The touch-screen abilities built into Windows 7 will mean more people should reach out and touch their PCs in 2010.
(Click for larger image).
Other cost-saving tools will continue to gain traction among small businesses in 2010. For example, Skype Limiteds Skype for Business delivers more than just VoIP calls, but also face-to-face video calls, large file sharing, collaboration and more. And the company offers a Business Control Panel that lets you easily set up employee accounts, allocate credit, set up online numbers and more.
Similarly, look for more businesses to turn to online meeting services such as Citrixs GoToMeeting and Ciscos WebEx to save on travel costs.
Reach Out and Touch Your PC
On the hardware front, experts expect 2010 to be a touchy year. The emergence of touch screens and touch-aware apps will accelerate, predicts Michael Deutch, director of product marketing at MindJet, a developer of unique personal productivity and collaboration solutions. Instead of pressing a button, youll control the device with a gesture.
Brought to the mainstream by the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, touch interaction with PCs, smartphones and other devices will get a boost from products such as Windows 7, which offers native touch-aware abilities, and the new Google Nexus One phone. And if Apple unveils its long-rumored tablet, touch-screen abilities will generate even more buzz.
Jamie Bsales is an award-winning technology writer and editor with nearly 14 years of experience covering the latest hardware, software and Internet products and services.
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On Thursday the 36th issue of Club Penguin’s magazine was released in the United Kingdom. This new issue’s theme is Halloween! Bloxxerman has provided me with all the info on what is inside the new issue. Club Penguin Magazine Issue 36 comes with a free 7 day membership code, codes to unlock 1,500 coins, and…
Just like the newspaper mentioned, SoundStudio has been updated with new spooky sounds.
First on mobile, now on the desktop. Just like Megg promised earlier this week, the order of items in our inventories is now different.
One of Club Penguin’s biggest parties of the year, the 2014 Halloween Party, begins next Thursday! When you log on sometime this week you will be greeted by Gary and Gariwald. Plus, if you go to the Puffle Hotel, you will see some spooky decorations.
Club Penguin has released a new newspaper! This is their 16th of October edition. This is the forty second issue of 2014 and brings us to a total of 469 published newspaper issues. The main headline is this week’s newspaper is about decorated your igloo with a haunted theme.
Two weeks has passed since Club Penguin released the Scout Scart Pin so a new pin has been hidden on the island!
Although many of us already know what the Puffles are and look like thanks to blog posts and hackers, today on the blog Megg has posted sneak peeks of the new Puffles that will be coming to the island soon.
Club Penguin is updating tonight. This is their forty second update week of 2014. This week contains a minor amount of updates.
You may have already noticed this change on mobile within the past week or two: beginning this Thursday on normal Club Penguin, instead of newer items being at the bottom of your inventory and older ones at the top, the order is going to be the opposite: new on top, old on the bottom.
After the Halloween Party later this month, the next party on the virtual world we all love will be the 2014 Pirate Party. It has been a very long time since Club Penguin had a Pirate Party.
Earlier this week Disney Channel began to air a Game On commercial with Hallie, the host, featuring Club Penguin’s upcoming Halloween Party. It look many hours of recording until I finally got a copy, but alas now I do! This post does contain many Halloween Party 2014 spoilers.


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Since last week, I’ve been searching eBay.com for a reduced-size multimedia card for Oriah’s new phone. I found some items with “interesting prices,” but I lost the bid on a low-priced item. I’ll keep on looking until I find a good one.
The introduction earlier this month of PayPal payment processor in the Philippines, despite its limited features, was still good news for us, online shoppers. All we need to do now is to enter our credit card details on our PayPal accounts, and we can do business with online merchants that used to snub Philippine-based netizens. It’s sad that we can’t receive funds, yet.
By the way, those who sell items on eBay could take advantage of some stuff available online such as this free eBay auction software.


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I read with interest your article “Capital rules waves after Virgin buyout” (MW May 15). I would like to take issue with the statement from a “senior radio source” quoted as saying that “no-one in radio thinks that digital will be a success in the next ten years”. Rather a sweeping statement, surely.
The BBC has taken a leadership role in the launch of Digital Audio Broadcasting, and switched on its DAB services in l995, broadcasting Radios 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5Live and two new services – BBC Parliament and 5 Live Sports Plus.
Additionally, two restricted service licence multiplexes are on air in London, transmitting ten commercial stations (including Classic and Talk Radio). After industry lobbying, the Radio Authority announced a “fast burn” approach to licensing plans for a speeded up commercial roll-out in spring 1998.
The European DAB Forum became the World DAB Forum at the start of this year, reflecting the breadth of interest in the adoption of DAB. What is more, we are expecting to see at least ten manufacturers launch DAB receivers at the IFA technology show in Berlin in September.
I have recently been addressing a number of retailer conferences and found that their enthusiasm for DAB is high.
DAB offers an opportunity to transmit text and data as well as audio in CD quality and the scope that it offers broadcasters is immense. DAB offers the opportunity for radio to reinvent itself. Like any new technology, we are at the start of a new product lifecycle, but with the considerable interest that is already being shown, we are sure that digital radio has a rosy future which is starting now.
Digital Audio Broadcasting


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American martial artist and actor Chuck Norris has filed three trademark applications for “CHUCK NORRIS,” “CHUCK COIN,” and “CHUCK”, expressing his intention to enter the metaverse and embrace the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
According to the trademark application, Norris aims to provide virtual goods, including collectible coins and tokens for use in virtual worlds.
Also, the applications mention the provision of entertainment services, namely “production and distribution of ongoing animated and digital programs and motion pictures for distribution by television, the internet, and social media, featuring characters based on animation, digital art and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).”
Plus, Chuck Norris also indicated his plans to provide a platform for cryptocurrency and NFT trading.
Michael Kondoudis, a trademark attorney, announced the news on Twitter earlier today.
Chuck Norris is coming to the Metaverse.— Mike Kondoudis (@KondoudisLaw) March 16, 2022
The iconic actor has filed 3 trademark applications for
These filings indicate plans to offer
✅Virtual and digital tokens
✅Cryptocurrency and NFT trading#NFTs #Metaverse #Web3 pic.twitter.com/IlSti6cAoN


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Recall that Ubisoft release schedule that promised both Assassin’s Creed III and a new Splinter Cell in 2012? According to Ubisoft itself, said schedule is “inaccurate.”
While “thrilled and kind of amused to see this line-up news,” the publisher has put out a statement saying “this reported line-up is inaccurate.” Bummer.
“We guarantee you that you’ll hear directly from us soon about the amazing variety of games Ubisoft has slated for fiscal year 2012-13.”
Chances of a new Assassin’s Creed coming this fall are still very good, mind you, with CEO Yves Guillemot himself saying the next game will be the biggest yet. As for the Ghost Recon games, they’re confirmed to be out this year. As are I Am Alive and Far Cry 3, which has just received a September date.
Furious 4, unless delayed, was annonced as a 2012 release as well.
That leaves the new Splinter Cell as the potential no-show?


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It was just yesterday that the professional tipster Evan Blass shared a press render of the highly-anticipated Samsung Galaxy S8. And now a new batch of images have surfaced again revealing the design of the upcoming flagship. The purported images that come from BGR corroborate the render that was posted by Blass on Wednesday. BGR, however shared the top and bottom side of the device giving us a glimpse of what the new smartphone will look like.
The alleged picture exhibits the physical design of the supposed Galaxy S8 device with minimal bezels on the front and curved corners. If we take a closer look, we can spot the iris scanner on the front with power and volume buttons placed on the left side, while an extra button pitched on the right side which we assume to be the dedicated button that would activate Samsung’s new virtual assistant ‘Bixby’. The purported image also outline the bottom side of the device that reveals a 3.5mm audio jack with the speaker grill and USB-C port alongside. The report claims the smartphone will house a 12-megapixel primary camera that sits on the rear panel of the alleged Galaxy S8 with flash and ‘sensor array’. An 8-megapixel front-facing camera is said be present just above the screen. As purported image shows the physical home button has been removed from the front and the report states that the fingerprint sensor is now relocated on the back side of the device. The BGR report also suggest that both the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus will be somewhat identical in terms of design except for the Plus variant will have a bigger battery than the base model.
Previous leaks indicated that the Galaxy S8 will feature a 5.8-inch display meanwhile the Galaxy S8+ will come with a big 6.2-inch +QHD display. The smartphones will be powered with Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 system-on-chip (SoC) paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB storage (expandable up to 2TB). The new Galaxy S8 series are said to come with IP68 water and dust resistance.
The South Korean electronics giant is set to announce the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ at a press event in New York on March 29. The new Galaxy S8 series is expected to hit the shelves globally on April 21.


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Mirabel and VÔG unite under new brand name
By Food in Canada StaffBusiness Operations Fruit & Vegetables Cultures Gen V Editor pick Quebec
The multigenerational family business, a leader in greenhouse production in Quebec, introduces a new direction as Cultures Gen V, unifying all its brands under the new banner. With this name change and a new visual identity, the company, which operates four greenhouse complexes in Quebec, across 30 hectares, is joining forces with the next generation to breathe new life into the business, and to embrace the values of tomorrow’s society.
Gen V’s history is first and foremost a family affair : a group of people who are passionate about modern agriculture and entrepreneurship with the ambition to farm better, to eat consciously and to create a future that mirrors this. In line with the Terrault family values, the second generation aims to continue to grow vegetables organically, hydroponically, without GMOs and without the systematic use of pesticides. They want to prioritize the use of green and renewable energy, the use of recyclable materials and the production of eco-conscious packaging. The company also wishes to continue to support the well-being of its employees and the communities it employs locally. It believes in Quebec’s food autonomy and is convinced that this will happen through organic and hydroponic greenhouse crops.
“We are Generation V, bringing you new ways to eat fresh. Our products are alive and thriving. So are our values. Responsible production is at the heart of our promise, honouring sustainability for our planet and respect for our community. We are the vision of a new generation, serving up vitality in every crunchy vegetable and vibrant green,” said Valérie Terrault, brand manager at Cultures Gen V.
The company also wishes to embody this vision of modern agriculture through its operations and by promoting the well-being of all of its employees including local and seasonal workers, as well as the small communities of Mirabel, Ham-Nord, Ste-Clotilde and Portneuf, where they operate. The company is also aiming to obtain B-Corp certification by actively improving its internal processes.
“The human aspect is extremely important to us in this process. We bring people closer to what they eat by growing fresh, tasty and healthy local vegetables. But more than anything, we want to grow these products in a way that respects people, communities and the environment,” added Simon Terrault, general manager at Cultures Gen V.
The new Gen V brand will permanently replace the former Mirabel and VÔG brands. Gen V products include hydroponic lettuce, organic cucumbers, peppers and mini-cucumbers produced locally, all year-round.
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One local organization is hoping to help control the pet population.
The Zanesville chapter of Paws held its 20th annual cookie walk today at Coburn United Methodist Church. The organization is raising money to assist low income families of Muskingum county with the spaying and neutering of their pets.
"We had a line at 8 o’clock this morning when i got here and we had a continuous line for at least the first 45 minutes," says Paws President Kris Medley.
The sales not only benefit the families and their animals, but also the convenience of gift giving this holiday season.
"A lot of people come to buy gifts for like nursing homes, neighborhoods because everything is packaged in one pound packages and packed nicely so they can just take them and give them without having to repackage," says Medley.
Medley says over 400 pounds worth of cookies were sold within a three hour span. She says she expects to raise a couple thousand dollars this year.