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Art in Motion: Schumacher’s Ferrari F1 car sells for $7.5 million
Michael Schumacher knows the sweet taste of victory. So does the car that he drove to his fourth Formula 1 Drivers Championship in 2001. The pair struck gold again on Thursday night.
The Ferrari F2001 that Schumacher piloted to nine victories in 2001, including his last at Monaco, sold for $7,504,000 in front of a packed house at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction on November 16 in New York. The sale not only surpassed expectations—the pre-auction estimate was $4 to $5.5 million—but it set a record for a modern F1 car.
Hagerty auction editor Andrew Newton said the upscale atmosphere and additional wealth in the room typical of a high-end art gathering weren’t solely responsible for the record price. But they certainly didn’t hurt.
“The sale included works by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Francis Bacon…Over 50 works of art sold for over $1 million, six sold for over $10 million, and the top sale was a Francis Bacon that sold for $38,614,000,” Newton said. “The Schumacher F2001 was only the 10th-most expensive item sold, in fact. That doesn’t make the price any less huge or surprising, but it does put into perspective the kind of extreme wealth there was in the room.”
RM Sotheby’s President Ken Ahn called the F2001 “one of the most important and valuable modern Formula 1 race cars in history.” Schumacher drove it in 20 races in 2001–02, claiming the pole 13 times and reaching the podium 19 times. In addition to winning at Monaco, Schumacher drove the car to victory in the 2001 Hungarian Grand Prix, the race that clinched his fourth driver’s championship and the second of an unprecedented five in a row. He also drove the Ferrari in the first two races of the 2002 season, capturing the pole in both and winning in Australia. Schumacher holds the F1 record for wins (91) and overall championships (7).
The Ferrari F2001 is powered by a 3.0-liter, 800-horsepower V-10 engine mated to a seven-speed semi-automatic transmission.
Newton said the F2001’s $7.5-million price tag includes its $6.7-million hammer price and a 12-percent commission, a bump from the standard 10 percent. The Ferrari was the only automobile offered at the auction, and considering its successful sale, Newton suspects others may follow.
“You can’t have this kind of auction success without trying to repeat it,” he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see more historically significant automobiles sneak their way into art auctions every now and then.”


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Carlton London, the UK based high fashion footwear brand plans to expand rapidly by opening new outlets and shop in shop formats by the end of March 2010. In an exclusive interview, Kamal Gupta, CEO, Carlton London, India informs, “We are planning to
open 15 new outlets by the end of March 2010. We will also open 30 new shop-in-shops within the same timeline.”
Elucidating on the business proposition, Gupta states, “While our competitors are Aldo, Charles& Keith, Nine West and Guess, the business focus of Carlton London is to be a leader in high-fashion ladies and men’s footwear.”
On the choice of locations for the new outlets, Gupta further states, “We are looking towards malls and high-street locations. We are primarily targetting Delhi, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore, Cochin and Chennai.”
That said, Gupta also informed about their soon to be unveiled autumn/winter collection for the year 2009. “For the autumn/winter season, we are following the European high-street fashion trends,” he shares.
“We have used Leopard print leather in men’s shoes, while, the latest international trims have been used on ladies sandals and ballerinas. The brand is also coming up with good collection of party wear and casual handbags for women,” Gupta further informs.
— Bhavya Misra

domain: news


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EPB alerts customers of phone scam
EPB Power is alerting customers to a telephone scam making its way around the country.
Officials say customers have reports getting calls from people claiming to be with EPB. They demand an immediate payment for past due electric bills.
They ask the customer to purchase a reloadable MoneyPak debit card and then call back with the account number from the card.
EPB never calls customers asking for payments to be made with pre-paid debit cards and wants to ensure all of our customers' accounts and personal information remain safe.
If you encounter this scam, call EPB and report it at 423-648-1372.


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Lumina Capital Advisers has recently launched its 2022 cross-border insights report assessing the factors that are contributing to the growth in cross-border transaction activity between the UK and the Middle East.
The report notes the growth in UK-to-Middle East and North Africa (MENA) cross-border trade and deal activity between 2018- 2020, fuelled by Brexit, revenue diversification opportunities and the spotlight on MENA non-oil sectors and predicts 2022 to be a record year for cross-border M&A.
UK businesses have been expanding their operations across the Middle East as a result of Brexit-fuelled global geographic expansion. Since 2018, the Middle East’s contribution to overall revenue has increased by 1 per cent Y-o-Y. In 2020, the MENA region generated 14 per cent of revenue for FTSE listed companies, compared to 13 per cent in 2019 and 12 per cent in 2018. Lumina Capital Advisors anticipates that this Y-o-Y growth will continue in 2022, with the percentage of MENA revenues generated by FTSE listed companies exceeding 15 per cent by year end.
While UK companies already established in the region are growing their operations, Lumina also sees new companies eyeing up the MENA opportunity and expanding to the region for the first time. The number of FTSE listed companies with operations in the MENA increased from 22 to 25 between 2018 and 2020. As the Middle East continues its move away from oil, improving business entry and environments and focusing on sustainability and ESG commitments, the MENA region has become an attractive opportunity for businesses to diversify their revenues in a relatively higher growth market.
While there are multiple examples of capital flowing from the UK into the GCC, capital is also moving back the other way, with a number of high- profile investments being announced in recent months. Mubadala’s GBP10 billionn commitment into UK clean energy and tech sectors and SABIC’s Teeside investment provide recent examples of the GCC’s push into ESG. PIF’s investment in Newcastle Football Club is seen as an opportunity to both raise the profile of the region and bring ties closer with the UK.


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Meat products maker Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) Friday said profit in the first quarter improved from the prior year, amid higher chicken sales. While earnings topped Wall Street estimates, revenues fell short of expectations.
Net income attributable to the company increased to $173 million from $156 million. Earnings per share grew to $0.48 from $0.42.
On average, 12 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings per share of $0.42 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.
Sales climbed to $8.40 billion from $8.33 billion in the prior year. Analysts expected revenues of $8.60 billion. Gross profit improved to 6.4 percent from 5.9 percent.
Chicken sales climbed 7 percent to $2.96 billion while volume dropped slightly amid reduced open-market meat purchases.
Beef sales were $3.49 billion, more or less unchanged from last year. Volume dropped 10 percent due to a reduction in live cattle processed because of soft domestic demand for beef.
The pork business generated $1.36 billion in the quarter, down nearly 8 percent year over year. Volume slid 2.2 percent due to balancing of supply with customer demand.
Donnie Smith, CEO, said, "Fiscal 2013 is off to a good start. With earnings of $0.48 per share in the first quarter, we are on our way to producing earnings this year better than fiscal 2012. We knew we'd face headwinds, and that has certainly been the case; however, we're not simply holding our own. We're producing solid results while preparing for growth.''
For fiscal 2013, the company still expects sales to approximate $35 billion, mostly resulting from price increases related to expected decreases in domestic availability of protein and rising raw material costs. Analysts looks for revenues of $35.54 billion for the year.
TSN, which closed at $22.12 on Thursday, is adding 2.1 percent in pre-market activity.
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: email@example.com


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It appears to have been postponed, but how long will this be?
There are reports that DJI’s next drone, the Avata, may not be ready to take flight as soon as previously expected.
While we had hoped that DJI will release their version of the ‘cinewhoop’ drone early this month, that hasn’t happened yet. DJI Avata’s release has been put off, at least according to Twitter’s @DealsDrone, the original source of that rumoured debut date in July.
As a result of a “factory expansion” and manufacturing shifting to a “new site,” the insider hasn’t provided a new release date for the Avata.
It’s a bummer for DJI’s reported 3in cinewhoop model enthusiasts who were expecting to witness the company’s drone optimised for flying indoors around people in limited places before it’s too late.
When the first leaked photographs of the DJI Avata surfaced in May, the rumours of its existence were given a boost of legitimacy.
In order to fly securely indoors, ‘Cinewhoop’ drones are tiny, agile flying vehicles with built-in propeller guards. A drone of this type has been rumoured for some time, and the leaked images from two months ago looked to confirm those reports.
The Mavic, Air, and Mini line of DJI’s latest drones are all primarily built for amazing outdoor filming. As a result, it’s not out of the question that the drone giant is developing a Cinewhoop-style model with its own camera and electronic image stabilisation.
This implies we may have to wait even longer for the new DJI FPV Goggles, which were supposed to arrive at the same time as the drone. However, if the lag is due to manufacturing and logistics, rather than any product-related concerns, then delays should be minimal.
Analysis: If there is a delay in takeoff, it should be brief
DJI has had a busy couple of months, releasing the DJI Mini 3 Pro in May and the DJI RS 3 and DJI RS 3 Pro professional gimbals only last month. Due to a fresh Covid epidemic, the Chinese firm said in April that it will “temporarily cease all commercial activity in Russia and Ukraine.” In June, there were limited lockdowns in Shenzhen (where DJI’s GQ is headquartered).
New DJI products haven’t been affected by delays in the Avata launch, according to @Dealsdrone, who claims it’s because of a “factory expansions” and a relocation to a new site, which might be in reference to DJI’s upcoming move to Shenzhen this year.
In any case, the DJI Avata isn’t the first product to be postponed this year, and it’s still expected in 2022 at the earliest. Given that many of the current ones (such as the arrangement used in Tesla’s Gigafactory tour above) use the DJI HD FPV system, which consists of a receiver, an FPV camera and some sort of remote control, DJI could surely benefit from making a cinewhoop drone.
DJI Avata is said to be an all-in-one version of this technology, including new FPV Goggles and, of course, the sub-500g drone. Let’s hoping we don’t have to wait too long until we get to witness this concept in action.


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It’s an ad for the Sunshine Sakae department store that was not directed by Michel Gondry, despite what Google tells you. (His rep emailed me to clear the air.)
This commercial represents everything that is good about advertising.
It won’t win though because it kind of mocks advertising, which is why I like it. No, some bigger advertiser like Nike or Google will win.
Ad agency: Asatsu-DK, Tokyo.
I will be updating all week on my industry’s disgusting autofellation via the south of France.
- Donald Trump broke with decades of US policy by speaking with the president of Taiwan Friday, a move that could anger China.
- A jury failed to reach a verdict Friday in the case of Michael Slager, a former South Carolina officer charged in the fatal shooting of Walter Scott.
- The CEO of Zenefits plans to step down after 10 months on the job. A legal mess nearly sank the company this year.
- A UFC fighter is asking people to crush apples with their bare hands 🍎💪


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Dirty, dirty Black Ops cheaters that downloaded the new PS3 firmware, update 3.56, are finding out exactly what Sony meant when it said the patch would help bolster "security." A grip of consoles have been permanently banned from Black Ops multiplayer servers for hacking or cheating after their...
Waiting for the press conference tonight? Well, it looks like Sony jumped the gun and leaked the big reveal on PlayStation Blog: "A new PS3 system software update, v3.56, will be released soon." How soon? How about now? The massive update adds tons of oft-requested functionality demanded by users....
Posted on Mar 8th 2014 1:00PM
Super Joystiq Podcast 087: Watch Dogs, South Park The Stick of Truth, The Walking Dead: A House Divided
Posted on Mar 7th 2014 2:00PM
Posted on Mar 7th 2014 12:00PM


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P/K Lifestyles, a division of P/Kaufmann, and HGTV Home are partnering for the launch of decorative fabric collections. Licensing agency Beanstalk brokered the deal on behalf of HGTV Home.
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The 2010 Nike Pro Combat uniforms were unveiled yesterday for the ten participating college football programs which includes the University of Florida. It was announced that the Gators will don the non-traditional uniforms for their rivalry game against Georgia on October 30th.
According to a Nike press release, the uniform was inspired by an alligator-skin motif, which includes a gator-skin helmet. The uniforms are 37 percent lighter than the current uniforms and are designed for greater mobility and speed while not compromising protection. Last year the Gators also participated in the Nike program, and wore redesigned uniforms against Florida State in the season finale.


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“Herd immunity is accomplished when 80% of the population is immune or less susceptible to infection. The key to regain the momentum of economic recovery is attainment of herd immunity at the earliest possible,” the ministry’s latest monthly economic report said.
Coronavirus: Live updates
Besides, it warned of price pressures as high international commodity rates and logistics costs could push up the cost of inputs for manufacturing and services, although a normal monsoon was expected to soften inflationary pressures on food. “The outlook for core inflation (excluding food and fuel) is likely to be impacted by the disruptions in supply chains due to localised restrictions across states,” it said, while pointing to mixed signals as retail inflation had cooled down to 4.3% in April, while wholesale price inflation shot up to 10.5%.
Pointing to the global inflation situation in the wake of rising commodity prices, the finance ministry analysis also cautioned that a prolonged rise poses a threat to investor sentiment and global financial stability. The paper estimated that nearly 113 crore doses would be needed by September-end and suggested that to achieve 93 lakh vaccinations a day, the government needed to double the shifts and vaccinate 24x7 during August and September, when supply will also improve.


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The Ministry of innovation and Technology announced that the Ministry and the Ethiopian Postal Services Enterprise with the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy, have agreed to modernize the Ethiopian Postal Service.
Ethiopian Postal Service is one of the longest-standing establishments in the country. In recent years, the growth of digital services has affected the way business, financial transactions, and other significant social functions are executed. Hence the main service provided by the post is also affected.
Following the fast-growing adoption of digital technologies, the Universal Postal Union has reported that 73 percent of postal services indicate they have increased their investment in digital postal services. This indicates postal services need to add value and diversify the services they provide to stay relevant.
The Universal Postal Union has been pushing African nations to join the trend and digitalize their postal services since 2019.
The new developments show Ethiopia is also joining other nations in adding value to and diversifying its postal services, through digitization. A research study was done to update the postal service. A roadmap to modernize Ethiopia’s postal service has been also developed based on the study, and discussions are underway to implement it.
State Minister for Ministry of Innovation and Technology, Ahmedin Mohammed (Ph.D., PMP) stated, “The provision of IT-supported services is one of the key steps in building a digital economy.” He also added, “Digitizing the postal service would pave the way for the launch of e-commerce services.”
Currently, the Ethiopian Postal Service Enterprise provides an express mail service, letter post delivery, and agent-based financial business services, item tracking and tracing, and philatelic sales to the public.
The new digitization roadmap is expected to modernize the existing services and even add new innovative service packages.
According to a study by the Universal Postal Union potential digital services the post can provide includes online postal shopping portal, online customs declaration, integration of postal web services with e-merchant sites, online bill payment, online postal products shop, online lookup, online customer service, electronic postal invoicing, enhanced item tracking and electronic notification.
Hanna Areyaslassie, CEO of the Ethiopian Postal Service, has called on the German government to strengthen its support for speedy implementation of the postal digital roadmap.
In addition to the implementation of the roadmap, Holzfus Kale, former Secretary-General of the German Ambassador to Ethiopia, reaffirmed that they will continue to work with Ethiopia on various issues.
Ethiopian Postal Service has also recently started a process to establish its own bank and a mobile money service.


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Charter Communications, a cable, broadband, and phone service provider with service areas across the United States, reported reduced loss in the second quarter of 2012, with the loss narrowed to $83 million this year in comparison to $107 in the same quarter last year. According to the Wall St. Cheat Sheet, revenue for Charter Communications (traded on NASDAQ as CHTR) rose 5.2% to $1.88 billion from the year earlier quarter. The cable provider fell short of the mean analyst loss estimate and beat the average revenue estimate.
Cable companies are currently feeling the heat as many customers are “cutting the cord” and turning to web streaming services like Netflix and Hulu to watch cable TV programming. As a result, Charter Communications is focusing more on its broadband internet service in current marketing and promotion. The current service, which offers 30Mbps internet for $29.99 a month to start, is part of a major push from Charter to change its offerings, providing fewer but clearer options for bundles and standalone services. In Q2, Charter lost TV customers but actually added internet and phone customers, somewhat reducing the loss and leading the company to fall below the losses most analysts expected.
Stock market analysts are increasingly pessimistic about Charter Communications moving through the third quarter of 2012, with the average estimated loss at 42 cents per share. Tom Rutledge, President and CEO of Charter, is less so, citing the better-than-expected performance in Q2 as well as the launch in July of new pricing and packaging and a number of operational changes that have been made since Rutledge took over at the top of the company’s organizational chart.
Other cable and satellite providers, such as DIRECTV, have reported total subscriptions going down in Q2. A focus on more broadband and TV Everywhere options should be the focus of these companies moving forward.


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Xero has announced the integration of Apple Pay through Stripe.
Xero subscribers can now offer customers the ability to view and pay an invoice using Apple Pay through Stripe. According to Xero, invoices paid with a payment service get paid almost 80 percent faster than invoices that don’t offer a payment service. This new feature is available automatically to everyone on Xero using Stripe where Apple Pay is available.
“Mobile payments are the way of the future,” said Craig Walker, Xero chief technology officer. “Attaching a payment option to online invoices helps Xero customers get paid almost 80 percent faster than invoices that don’t use a payment service – so they spend less time chasing unpaid invoices for a more productive and cash healthy business.”
Stripe is a payments application. Its Apple Pay integration allows payments to made from an application or website to be verified using a fingerprint via Touch ID. Once an invoice is issued from Xero, the Stripe integration allows the payment to be verified and completed using Apple Pay.
Businesses that want to pay an invoice via credit card today need to enter their credit card details to complete the payment. Credit card payments via Stripe mean that customers can confirm payment with Apple Pay using their fingerprint ID on their Apple device to confirm the payment quickly. Businesses who take payments via Stripe and Apple Pay also have an extra level of security. All payments made require a fingerprint or passcode, decreasing fraud, and with it, chargebacks.
The Stripe payment system, which also integrates with contactless readers, such as Square, that plug directly into an mobile device and integrates with Stripe’s payment service via an app, bring contactless payments to businesses without the need to purchase a payment terminal from a bank.
By connecting Xero users with Apple Pay transactions will be automatically entered and matched against invoices in Xero. Automating the invoicing reconciliation process makes accounting easier for small businesses.
As well as the new relationship with Xero, Stripe works with a number of other platforms including a number of web-based e-commerce solutions and other platforms.


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A new study from AMERIPEN (American Institute for Packaging and the Environment) says that per capita chicken consumption has grown from 53 to 84 pounds over the last 25 years, while chicken costs about eight times less now when adjusting for inflation. Packaging innovation played a major role in those trends. According to Professor Scott Russell of the University of Georgia, "packaging advances have improved the safety and quality of poultry products."
Packaging improvements have led to reduced contamination and food waste as well as increased product variety and convenience. AMERIPAN says whole broiler chickens may be refrigerated for up to 14 days now, compared with "just a few" in the past. To view a brochure describing the study's findings, visit www.ameripen.org or stop by booth C-455 in the Association Pavilion at PACK EXPO.


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FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars, says it lost 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) in the second quarter as the company booked 4.2 billion euros in one-time charges for troubles with diesel vehicles and air bag recalls.
The quarterly loss reported Wednesday was the company's first since 2009 and a bumpy start for new CEO Ola Kallenius, who took over from Dieter Zetsche on May 22 and since then has had to issue two profit warnings.
— Daimler Truck (@DaimlerTruck) July 24, 2019
The Stuttgart-based company is under investigation in Germany and the U.S. and faces U.S. civil lawsuits in connection with its cars' diesel emissions. It also is facing increased expenses for recalling cars with faulty air bags from supplier Takata, losses suffered by other automakers, too.
Regulators in the U.S. and Europe have cracked down on diesel emissions after Volkswagen was caught in 2015 using software to cheat on U.S. diesel emissions tests. The Volkswagen scandal led to renewed scrutiny of emissions from regulators, forcing Daimler and others to recall vehicles and update their emissions software.
On top of that, Daimler like other automakers has to finance the development of new technologies such as battery-powered cars, self-driving cars and services such as car-sharing or taxi-hailing that work through smartphone apps. Slowing growth in China, the world's largest auto market, and U.S.-China trade tensions are creating further headwinds for the industry.
Daimler and Bosch have won approval from German authorities to operate the world?s 1st fully automated driverless parking system at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Germany https://t.co/Y0AJlH9Zdv pic.twitter.com/iWxeIEgtWc
— Forbes (@Forbes) July 23, 2019
The company said it expected "significant improvement" in its earnings performance during the second half of the year. However, it has already said full-year earnings will be significantly below last year's.
Kallenius said the company would review its product portfolio and intensify efforts to reduce costs.
"Our focus for the second half of this year is on improving our operating performance and cash-flow generation," he said.
Pressed for details about the company's cost-cutting efforts during a conference call with reporters, Kallenius deferred giving details until a presentation for investors in November. The company has said its cost program will not involve layoffs.
Daimler shares traded up 3.2% in afternoon trading in Europe at 49.58 euros.


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It’s been the natural cold remedy du jour since it was first identified in the 1930s. But as is typical with most things in medicine, it has also been demonized according to conventional “wisdom.”
Those of us in the integrative medical field have been using vitamin C and seeing the benefits for decades. So when a recent analysis came out that examined over 70 studies on the use of vitamin C, imagine my disbelief at the conclusion.
This group of researchers admits that vitamin C has a “modest yet consistent” effect on cold duration. But they assert that it has no effect on cold incidence in the majority of people.
Some details: Of all the trials the researchers reviewed, 29 of them–involving over 11,000 participants–sought to test vitamin C’s cold prevention power. And according to results, supplementing with this nutrient will only cut risk of illness by 3 percent in a typical population.
The authors pointed out that this is a non-significant number. But I’m willing to bet that those 3 people in a hundred who didn’t come down with that cold would have a different opinion.
For that matter, do you know what else only works on 3 out of every 100 people who take it? Coumadin. And that drug represents the gold standard of care in its class.
Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
These researchers did concede to some significant benefit, though. In the handful of trials looking at this nutrient’s effects on extremely active people–think marathoners or soldiers in subarctic training–vitamin C was able to cut risk of illness in half.
And among 31 studies–involving nearly 10,000 cold episodes–researchers found that supplementation can reduce symptom duration by 8 percent and 14 percent in adults and children, respectively.
This is, just so you know, far superior to Tamiflu.
But that’s not all. Children taking 1,000 to 2,000 mg of vitamin C daily benefited from an 18 percent shorter cold duration. And the severity of symptoms was also lower among subjects regularly filling up on C.
The study authors may not be impressed with these results. But I am.
Vitamin C is cheap. It’s well tolerated. And it’s certainly better than anything else on the market.
What’s more, humans are among the only mammals that can’t synthesize vitamin C internally. And yet we need, on average, around 3,000 mg per day.
Meanwhile, I’m sure that most of these studies only looked at the RDA dose of vitamin C–which is a paltry 60 mg. This is truly laughable.
No, really… I couldn’t even type that with a straight face. It’s that ridiculous.
When I am facing a cold or flu, I use oral vitamin C doses of 500 mg every two hours. And I will often get an IV dose of up to 50,000 mg.
And you know what? I don’t ever get sick.
So, while there may be some controversy in the conventional world, there certainly isn’t in mine. Take your vitamin C… and take it consistently.
“Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold.” Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2013 Jan 31;1:CD000980.


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Partipost, a nano-influencer marketing and commerce platform, received extended funding on their series A round, with investments totaling $5 million. The funds will be used to accelerate product and market expansion in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, where its app launched this month.
The Singapore-based startup’s oversubscribed round was led by venture capital firm Quest Ventures, with participation from existing investor SPH Ventures, and new investors iGlobe Partners and XA Network.
Jeffrey Seah, a partner from Quest Ventures, will join Partipost’s board as director. He was previously a board observer from Quest Ventures’ earlier investment in the platform.
“They [Partipost’s founders] have balanced the need to recruit brand-safe nano influencers that resonate with commercial partners, and simultaneously pitch to and onboard business partners looking for authentic direct-to-customer relationships… increasing contribution to sales,” Mr. Seah said in a press statement.
Partipost saw a threefold increase year-on-year in the total number of influencers during the pandemic, as the crisis highlighted the need for businesses to build a strong presence online. In the Philippines, where its app was launched at the beginning of July, the platform has garnered more than 4,000 Partiposters.
“In terms of notable Filipino influencers, our niche is in nano influencers, the everyday people, so I wouldn’t say there’s a specific notable influencer,” Ms. Tam added.


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DESOTO—Transformation is in the air in the City of DeSoto. Moreover, the change serves as a godsend for local entrepreneurs trying to get their businesses off the ground.
The business incubator, serves as a sounding board to see if budding entrepreneurs have a product or service that interests the public. The incubator is the vision of Best Southwest developer, Monte Anderson. The makeover allows Anderson to do what he does best – create a new vision from something already existing.
Rising from the flames, a 26,000-square-feet former Westlake Ace Hardware Store, is getting a face-lift. It is part of the 57-year-old Brookhollow Shopping Center on Belt Line Road between Polk Street and Hampton Road.
In this case, it is re-purposing the store into a “business incubator.” He likens the outcome to a flea market or antique mall, adding, “We will borrow those concepts that work and make them better.”
High Quality Goods, With A Local Flair
The incubator won’t have the items one might find at flea markets or antique malls, however. That is because Anderson stressed “We want authentic real local culture expressed in our goods.”
Using the funds he made from the sale of the Belmont Hotel in Oak Cliff, Anderson quietly acquired the shopping center.
“The business incubator is a place for small entrepreneurs to test out the market and their skills. It allows them to see if their product or service can work without going into big debt or long leases,” Anderson explained. “If it does not work, they go back home; no harm, no foul.”
Area business owners are excited about the opportunity. However, re-purposing the space to fit in with the local economy and aesthetic were the real challenges.
“Transforming a suburban junior big box hardware store or the original, Lee’s grocery store, is a big challenge,” Anderson said. “The uses that were approaching us were dollar stores or grocery stores. Neither the Mayor nor I wanted this use. Therefore, we decided to partner to reinvent this space.”
The business incubator, according to Anderson, will be home to retail, restaurants and offices.
“We are looking for authentic local uses,” he added. “Not things you can get in local big box retail stores.”
That means goodies like cupcakes, tacos, fish, barbecue or homemade jewelry, candles, clothing or the resale of music or sports equipment. In fact, Anderson said every tenant must be either a destination or something very special.
Total Community Rehab
In addition, Anderson said there will be RV type trailers in the parking lot that will accommodate businesses. As well as 20 loft style apartment units to the east of the property.
The total cost of the remodel, the new parking lot, the face lift and the additional needs is about $800,000, not including the price of the shopping center.
The DeSoto Economic Development Corporation invested money up front for the start-up costs along with Anderson’s company in a roughly 50-50 split.
“Once the DEDC is paid back from the rental income, we will then split the profits 50-50,” he said. “When we are done, it will be a village environment instead of a consumer only driven property.”
The DeSoto Chamber of Commerce also has a role to play, helping find the proper tenants. It recently hosted an event to introduce the idea and the rehabbed space.
The Chamber of Commerce will also be a tenant for the time being according to President & CEO Laura Terhune. This timing coincides with the Chamber of Commerce vacating its current offices and the completion of the construction of its new offices.
This project is a first in DeSoto. Anderson said the business incubator should be up and running by August or September of this year.


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Tesla Removes ZiDong Jiashi “Autopilot” Translation from China Website
Tesla Customer recent car crash blamed Tesla for strongly promoting term “zidong jiashi” appears several times on Tesla’s Chinese portal, which is most literally translated to mean “self-driving” similar to airplane autopilot.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has removed the word “autopilot” and “self-driving” from its China website after a driver in Beijing, who recently crashed in “autopilot” mode, complained that the car maker overplayed the function’s capability and misled buyers.
“We’ve been in the process of addressing any discrepancies across languages for many weeks,” a Tesla spokeswoman said in a statement. “Timing had nothing to do with current events or articles.”


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Pokemon Go just got a massive update with dozens of new Pokemon to collect, but that isn’t going to stop The Pokemon Company from trying to completely take over your home screen with entirely new Pokemon apps. An all-new Pokemon game is headed to iOS and Android, and it focuses one of the most peculiar, pointless, yet adorable pocket monsters ever to find its way into a Pokeball: Magikarp.
Trending right now:
- If you have an iPhone 7, you got the wrong iPhone
- Our favorite Roku TV ever is only on sale for one more week
- Trump’s claims are so ridiculous, not even Fox News can take it anymore
Read more here:: Boy Genius Report


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USA: Daikin Comfort Technologies, the Japanese air conditioning manufacturer’s North American unitary, ductless and light commercial and VRV products subsidiary, has acquired US controls manufacturer Venstar Inc.
Founded in 1992 and based in Southern California, Venstar is a prominent controls and energy management systems provider whose technology and indoor comfort solutions are used in millions of residences and light commercial applications across the United States, Canada and Mexico. More than 10 million of the company’s broad range of thermostats have been installed.
The company’s Surveyor energy management system allows retailers, restaurant chains and other multi-location businesses to remotely monitor, manage and control energy consumption while reducing maintenance expenses. It is currently used to control more than 100,000 HVAC systems and building lighting in more than 30,000 retail locations throughout North America.
In addition, Venstar’s Skyport Cloud service enables businesses to control their HVAC systems from anywhere in the world.
Following the acquisition, Venstar will continue as a Daikin subsidiary under its existing management team with Steve Dushane, founder, president and CEO.
“Venstar’s advanced smart thermostats, controls technology and outstanding energy management systems will help support Daikin’s leadership role in connected solutions, ensuring safe, environmentally friendly, peak performance operations of HVAC systems through cloud-connected monitoring and control,” said Takayuki Inoue, Daikin’s executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer.
“We are committed to facilitating North America wide adoption of energy-efficient inverter, heat pump and R32-based systems. These Daikin systems provide superior environmental benefits, energy savings and indoor comfort performance over traditional HVAC systems that currently cool and heat most North American homes and businesses,” he added.
“Venstar’s energy management expertise and smart, communicating controllers will help contractors, homeowners and businesses optimize the energy-saving and performance benefits of inverter-driven HVAC systems,” insisted Daikin’s vice president of controls and solutions Dennis Thoren.
“Smart thermostat and cloud service solutions represent the future of indoor comfort beyond controlling temperature and ventilation,” said Thoren. “Monitoring and controlling performance, indoor air quality, predictive maintenance, and optimising service truck logistics are just a few of the benefits that innovative thermostats and cloud-based services can provide contractors and customers. It’s an effective, easy way to manage energy consumption remotely, even eventually collaborating with electric utilities to improve demand response. These are powerful benefits that provide value to utilities, contractors and customers.”
The acquisition is one of several Daikin has completed during the past few years as it works to transform the North American HVAC industry. The $500m Daikin Texas Technology Park, located just northwest of Houston, now employs more than 7,000 people.


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Finance Minister Piyush Goyal; Prices of food items have consistently come down
Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said that the government has managed to substantially bring down inflation and hence prices of most food items have come down too.
He also added that during the question hour session in Rajya Sabha, Goyal was asked if prices of food products had risen due to rise in the price of petrol and diesel. Goyal emphasised that prices of most food items have come down during the rule of the present government. “During our term, prices have consistently fallen.
“Inflation based on Consumer Price Index (Combined) for the month of June 2018 stood at 5% as compared to 4.9 % in May 2018 and 4.6 % in April 2018. There has been a significant moderation in overall inflation over the last three years owing to astute macroeconomic management and price monitoring by the government,” the minister said.
The Consumer Price Index (Combined) which averaged 4.9 % in 2015-16, to 4.5 % in 2016-17 and further declined to 3.6 % in 2017-18, he said.
Goyal further added that similarly food inflation based on the Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) has declined from 4.9 % in 2015-16 to 4.2 % in 2016-17 and further to 1.8 % in 2017-18.
The Finance Minister said that the food inflation in June 2018 was just 2.9 %.
He said that if inflation figures for the last ten and not just three years, are looked at, they will reveal what is price rise and how it hurts the common man. He said while there may be a temporary rise in the price of a certain commodity largely inflation had remained under control.
Responding to a question on economic growth, he said,”International Monetary Fund had not reduced the country’s growth projections and the economy was expected to show robust growth of over 7 % this year as well as the next. “We will be the fastest growing large economy.”
To stress his point that prices have come down, Goyal shared the data of several food items. Arhar Dal was priced at Rs 109.63 per kg in 2015 but now the cost has come down to Rs 71.76.
The prices of Urad and Moong daal have shown a similar decrease, he said.
Goyal also said that subsidised food was provided to a large section of the population and a scheme first initiated in Chhattisgarh was being extended to the rest of the country.


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The end and start of the year is often a time for reflection, and as the hospitality industry’s most challenging year came to a close, we wanted to take the time to reflect on what has changed in hospitality, what lessons can be learned and what needs to be prioritized for 2021.
Our first panel discussion focused on helping hotels navigate COVID-19 related shifts effectively and efficiently. Moderated by Sarah Mulder, Co-Founder of Fire on the Hill, our panel of experienced hospitality professionals included, Julie Grieve, Founder and CEO of Criton, Caryl Helsel, Founder and CEO of Dragonfly Strategists and our very own CEO Katherine Grass. The discussion provided a number of key insights to highlight the importance of the right tech investment to help hotel operations teams achieve long term success in the new normal.
The year of change
This year has inevitably seen huge changes in the hospitality sector. Hotels have had to pivot their services and offerings as their guests have changed.
Julie said, “The big thing has been the shift to leisure travel from business. We have also seen a huge shift in preferred destinations. The UK resorts at the seaside and forests are beating last year’s numbers compared to the city centre. So, adapting offers to meet the new traveller needs compared to the trends of last year is crucial.”
One of the biggest changes from this pandemic has been that hoteliers at the board level now understand how technology can underpin their offerings. It’s not machine vs person, it’s about how technology can help enable operations. Guests want to understand what you’ve changed, and digital technology will be a key in achieving this.
Technology has a big role to play
Technology is key. The need was always there from the guest, but hotels are now forced to provide this. We use technology in all other aspects of our lives so we can expect people will be receptive from staff to guests. It’s never a good time to do something new, but if this pandemic has taught us anything it’s that you just have to get on and do it! For example, resorts with lots of activity-based items are now using technology to enable them to run, from wearable tech, to mobile and kiosk tech for ticketing.
Our industry has lost people, but we still need to service guests and when guest numbers increase hotels won’t be able to hire people back as quickly as you’ll need them. Now is the perfect time to invest in technology, as you have a smaller group of people to train and there will be less disruption to guests as occupancy levels are still low.
Katherine said, “Legacy systems that are complicated and pen and paper processes aren’t going to cut it. Hotels need long lasting solutions. You want solutions that will help you adapt when the occupancy changes suddenly but isn’t complicated to use. Operations solutions and installing technology needs to deliver real and measurable value, and insights and information so hotels can see if they are doing something faster than before and how it has helped them operationally.”
Looking to 2021
All of the panelists agreed that 2021 will be a challenging year as we continue to adapt to the new normal and that areas such as corporate travel will take a longer time to recover. However, with every downside there is an opportunity, and in this pandemic, we have seen great opportunities in areas like domestic travel, so adapting models and packages tailored for these needs will be essential for success in 2021. Most importantly, hoteliers will need to be as efficient as possible in the next six months, so they are prepared for when numbers begin to see a return to normal.
Caryl said, “2021 is likely not going to be back to the levels of 2019 but we are seeing positive trends and seeing small growth in the US. We have to build trust in travel and areas like effective and rapid testing will be really important to help do this. I’m hopeful but I think it will be 2022 before we are back to the familiarities of 2019.”
Thanks again to all our panelists for this insightful discussion, it has been a challenging year but by embracing technology and pivoting business priorities there is a great opportunity for hotels to build back better.
Read the insights of our next two panel discussions:
"Traditional hotel roles have changed: Ensuring staff productivity and memorable guest
"Hotel risks and rewards in 2021: Optimizing profitability"


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Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL, GOOG), the parent of internet search platform Google, reported a 34% growth in first-quarter revenues, mainly reflecting the continued strength of its search business. The results also topped the Street view.
First-quarter revenues climbed 34% annually to $55.3 billion. Revenue from Google, the largest segment, increased by 34%. Analysts were looking for a slower top-line growth.
The company said net income for the three-month period rose to $17.93 billion or $26.29 per share from $6.84 billion or $9.87 per share in the corresponding period of last year. Earnings also exceeded the consensus estimates.
Alphabet’s stock set a new record this week. It closed Tuesday’s regular trading lower but bounced back in the after-hours, immediately after the earnings announcement.
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The study finds that most media tablet users will download at least a few dozen apps per year on average. By 2016 ABI expects 80% of tablet app downloads will be focused in four areas: games, digital publishing, social networking and ecommerce.
"Media tablet app consumption will mimic smartphone app use in some ways, but in many ways, it will be very different," says ABI Research senior analyst Mark Beccue. “Digital publishing of books, magazines, and newspapers will flourish on media tablets in a way never seen on smartphones.
Beccue also says he expects consumers to increasingly choose more versatile tablets over dedicated eBook readers over the next four years.
“Leveraging unparalleled interactivity and design, publishers will gain new readers, including seniors (ages 60+) — who won't need custom, large-print publications anymore — and children (ages 1-9),” Beccue said.
ABI Research expects ecommerce to be “transformed” by media tablets as significant numbers of consumers move from desktop computers to the new devices to do their online shopping.
Ecommerce will continue to require websites, but ABI's "iPad, Android Tablet Apps" report predicts apps will become increasingly important to shoppers who will take full advantage of the media tablet's touchscreen interface and even camera and microphone capabilities.


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NBC 5 and Telemundo Chicago will also host a live on-air chat featuring local consumer experts
CHICAGO, IL – (September 6, 2019) – As part of their ongoing commitment to help viewers with their consumer problems, NBC 5 Chicago and Telemundo Chicago’s consumer investigative reporters Lisa Parker and Zully Ramírez from NBC 5 Responds and Telemundo Chicago Responde will report on viewers’ top consumer issues during the stations’ afternoon and evening newscasts beginning Monday, September 9 through Thursday, September 12. The stations’ weeklong efforts will culminate with a live on-air and digital chat on Friday, September 13 from 4pm to 6:30pm featuring Parker and Ramirez, and local consumer experts answering questions from viewers. NBC 5 and Telemundo Chicago are home to NBC 5 Responds and Telemundo Chicago Responde, the only bilingual consumer investigative units in the market dedicated to answering and resolving consumers’ issues. Since 2016, NBC 5 Responds and Telemundo Chicago Responde have collectively returned more than $3 million dollars for Chicago-area viewers.
Discussion Topics for Monday, 9/9 – Thursday, 9/12:
Live, On-Air Consumer Chat on Friday, 9/13:
To submit a consumer problem, visit NBCChicago.com or call: 844-NBC-RESPONDS. Spanish-speaking audiences can visit TelemundoChicago.com or call 312-836-1444 to submit a consumer tip.
About NBC 5 Chicago
NBC 5 (WMAQ-TV) is the owned NBC station in Chicago. During NBC 5 Chicago’s rich history, the station pioneered a number of television “firsts.” On April 15, 1956, NBC 5 became the world’s first all-color TV station. In September of 1986, NBC 5 became the first Chicago commercial station to broadcast in stereo. In 1989, NBC 5 was the first Chicago station to present closed captioning of all local newscasts. Currently, NBC 5 airs over 39 hours of local news per week in HD on its core channel and the latest news, weather, original franchises and streamed original content on nbcchicago.com and NBC Chicago Mobile App.
About Telemundo Chicago
Telemundo Chicago / WSNS is Telemundo’s local television station serving the Spanish-speaking community throughout the Chicago metropolitan area. Owned by NBCUniversal, Telemundo Chicago produces five daily award-winning newscasts Monday through Friday and four on Saturdays and Sundays. These newscasts all deliver the latest local news, weather forecasts, consumer reports, entertainment and sports updates across a variety of platforms. Viewers can also access up-to-date local news and information online at TelemundoChicago.com, via the station’s dedicated mobile app and social media channels.


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Lotus Partners with Williams, May Be Working on an Electric Hypercar
Companies announce a technical partnership
Lotus announced a technical partnership with Williams Advanced Engineering, the research division of the same group that owns the Williams Formula 1 team. In the announcement today, Lotus explained that the purpose of the partnership is to "share research and development into advanced propulsion technologies." It's not entirely clear exactly what that means, but there's a good chance it involves hybrid and electric powertrains. After all, Williams already supplies Formula E with its battery technology.
"Our new technology partnership with Williams Advanced Engineering is part of a strategy to expand our knowledge and capability in the rapidly changing automotive landscape. Applying advanced propulsion powertrains can provide numerous exciting solutions across multiple vehicle sectors. Our combined and complementary experiences make this a very compelling match of engineering talent, technical ability, and pioneering British spirit," said Lotus CEO Phil Popham in a statement.
While that's generally interesting news on its own, Autocar believes it's the start of something much more exciting. The British publication posits this partnership is actually part of a bigger plan to develop an electric hypercar that currently has the codename Omega. This hypercar will reportedly sell for more than $2.5 million and use a dual-motor setup to send power to all four wheels. It's said to offer more than 250 miles of range, some form of rapid-charging capability, and a racing-derived energy recovery system.
Since no one at Lotus has gone on the record to confirm the Omega project, there's no way to tell how much of Autocar's report will come to fruition. But if it's true, expect to see the Omega sometime in 2021.
Source: Lotus, Autocar
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Jobs in the service industry are once again in demand after over a year of repeated shutdowns, supply chain breaks and business model reinventions by restaurant owners across the U.S.
Warmer weather, higher vaccination rates and easing COVID-19 restrictions are drawing more people out to restaurants nationwide, but owners face a new problem -- staffing shortages in states like California are making it tough to meet the surge in demand.
Brenda Leek has owned Curbside Restaurant in La Mesa since 2019 and, after four shutdowns in the last year, has seen an increase in foot traffic since most recently opening her doors on Feb. 17.
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According to the National Restaurant Association, restaurant sales in March jumped over 13% to $62 billion, the strongest one-month increase in the past 12 months.
Leek told NBC 7 the boost in business is welcomed, but said she’d be able to make much more if she could hire enough people for the restaurant to run how it did pre-pandemic, now that eased restrictions allow her to do so.
“We've had limited hours because there's not enough staff,” Leek said. “I would love to be open seven days a week, but I have a very small staff and I can't work them that many hours. It's just not fair… I need three people in the kitchen, two hostesses, two bartenders, and two servers.”
Leek said the past year has been exhausting.
“I don’t know many owners that are not rolling up their sleeves and getting down and dirty themselves—I know I am,” she said.
Leek told NBC 7 she is at a disadvantage – competing against government stimulus and unemployment checks in the race to staff up.
“When I put out the ad for hire, very few people respond. The few that do respond say that they're going to come in to interview and very few arrive. I have yet to have anybody new show up for their first shift. So, we get excited… and they don't come,” she said. “So you’re open, but there’s no one to hire and our guests don’t understand that -- they have expectations… they get upset because I tell them there’s a wait and they walk off, get angry and give me a bad Yelp review… It makes me nervous because every day we don’t know how many people are going to come in.”
She said the problem is so bad, she’s had other businesses go through the restaurant’s back door to recruit the kitchen staff she does have.
Leek has been able to save her business with the help of savings and PPE loans, but said if unemployment checks continue being paid at the current amount, she won’t be able to compete.
“I don't want to sound unappreciative, but as wonderful as it is to get help -- we all definitely need the help -- we need to get people off of unemployment first,” she said. “In order to have things open, we need staff… the trickling effect that this unemployment is having on everyone, everywhere is a lot, you can't just keep giving money out to people to stay home when you're opening up the states.”
San Diego State University marketing professor Miro Copic told NBC 7 government aid isn't the only thing Leek is competing against. He said while the extra money plays a role in why people may be stalling on re-entering the restaurant industry, other factors are to blame too.
“A lot of people in higher cost cities like San Diego moved out of San Diego, a lot of people found other jobs in other sectors that were more stable and more predictable, maybe they might be going to school, they might be doing other things to change career direction,” he said. “Yes, there are still some individuals collecting more benefits than they were making in their job, but for the most part there are still people looking for work, the unemployment rate in San Diego is still north of 6%.”
Copic said restaurant owners’ patience during this difficult time will pay off.
“Between restaurants and hotels and entertainment venues… there's a lot of jobs opening up simultaneously, and it's just going to take a few months for people to kind of come off the sidelines,” he said. “The state is going to reopen… on June 15th… so restaurant owners will have some time to get ready for this and bring on new staff… they will be frustrated for the next few months, because they may not have the staffing levels that they need, but by the end of the summer they should be kind of staffed appropriately for demand in the future.”
But Leek feels like relief can’t come soon enough.
“I’ve pretty much lost everything so if Curbside doesn’t make it I don’t know what I’ll do,” she said.
Leek told NBC 7 she is planning to apply to the Biden administration’s newly launched $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund, run by the Small Business Administration and authorized as part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package signed into law by President Biden last month.
The Biden Administration says that for the first 21 days of the program, businesses owned and run by women, veterans and economically disadvantaged individuals will be prioritized.
After that, grants will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.
Restaurants and chains can apply for funds for up to $10 million per business and up to $5 million per location; the list of eligible expenses has been expanded to include employee benefits, paid sick leave, payroll, mortgage, rent and utilities, maintenance, outdoor seating construction, PPE and cleaning supplies; food and beverage supplies, operational expenses and principal payments for business debt.
Business owners who apply to the program this week could expect to receive their grant in 14 days. Because the funds are grants, they will not need to be paid back.


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Japanese online shopping giant Rakuten has added another company to its cart with the acquisition of Ebates, a cash-back shopping website.
Japan's Rakuten will acquire instant messaging and calling app developer Viber Media for US$900 million, the e-commerce giant said Friday, highlighting its moves to penetrate new markets.
Rakuten, Japan's largest online retailer, is acquiring a U.S. logistics firm as it continues to build out its infrastructure to compete with foreign rivals like Amazon.com.
The founder and CEO of one of the world's largest e-commerce sites says his firm's moral principles may keep it from defeating rival Amazon.com in the long run.
Visitors to what used to be Buy.com will see a few changes on the front page this week -- including a pronunciation guide for its new name.
Japan's Rakuten said Tuesday it will acquire a French logistics company that will allow it to provide same-day deliveries in Paris as well as next-day services across Europe.
Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten said on Tuesday that it plans to acquire Canadian e-book and e-reader company Kobo in a bid to expand in the area of media downloads for consumers.
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First impression on unpacking the Q702 test unit was the solid feel and clean, minimalist styling.


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17-20 November 2017 $7,600-8,100 Briefly topped at USD $8004.59/BTC at 01:14:11 UTC before retreating from highs. At 05:35 UTC on 20 November 2017 it stood at USD$7,988.23/BTC according to CoinDesk. This surge in bitcoin may be related to developments in the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état. The market reaction in one bitcoin exchange is alarming as 1 BTC topped nearly US$13,500, just shy of 2 times the value of the International market.
On 18 March 2013, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (or FinCEN), a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury, issued a report regarding centralized and decentralized "virtual currencies" and their legal status within "money services business" (MSB) and Bank Secrecy Act regulations. It classified digital currencies and other digital payment systems such as bitcoin as "virtual currencies" because they are not legal tender under any sovereign jurisdiction. FinCEN cleared American users of bitcoin of legal obligations by saying, "A user of virtual currency is not an MSB under FinCEN's regulations and therefore is not subject to MSB registration, reporting, and recordkeeping regulations." However, it held that American entities who generate "virtual currency" such as bitcoins are money transmitters or MSBs if they sell their generated currency for national currency: "...a person that creates units of convertible virtual currency and sells those units to another person for real currency or its equivalent is engaged in transmission to another location and is a money transmitter." This specifically extends to "miners" of the bitcoin currency who may have to register as MSBs and abide by the legal requirements of being a money transmitter if they sell their generated bitcoins for national currency and are within the United States. Since FinCEN issued this guidance, dozens of virtual currency exchangers and administrators have registered with FinCEN, and FinCEN is receiving an increasing number of suspicious activity reports (SARs) from these entities.
On 1 August 2017, a hard fork of bitcoin was created, known as Bitcoin Cash. Bitcoin Cash has a larger block size limit and had an identical blockchain at the time of fork. On 24 October 2017 another hard fork, Bitcoin Gold, was created. Bitcoin Gold changes the proof-of-work algorithm used in mining, as the developers felt that mining had become too specialized.
If fewer people begin to accept Bitcoin as a currency, these digital units may lose value and could become worthless. There is already plenty of competition, and though Bitcoin has a huge lead over the other 100-odd digital currencies that have sprung up, thanks to its brand recognition and venture capital money, a technological break-through in the form of a better virtual coin is always a threat.
Computing power is often bundled together or "pooled" to reduce variance in miner income. Individual mining rigs often have to wait for long periods to confirm a block of transactions and receive payment. In a pool, all participating miners get paid every time a participating server solves a block. This payment depends on the amount of work an individual miner contributed to help find that block.
The receiver of the first bitcoin transaction was cypherpunk Hal Finney, who created the first reusable proof-of-work system (RPOW) in 2004. Finney downloaded the bitcoin software on its release date, and on 12 January 2009 received ten bitcoins from Nakamoto. Other early cypherpunk supporters were creators of bitcoin predecessors: Wei Dai, creator of b-money, and Nick Szabo, creator of bit gold. In 2010, the first known commercial transaction using bitcoin occurred when programmer Laszlo Hanyecz bought two Papa John's pizzas for 10,000 bitcoin.
By 2017, Bitcoin dominance had plummeted from 95% to as low as 40% as a direct result of the usability problems. Fortunately, a large portion of the Bitcoin community, including developers, investors, users, and businesses, still believed in the original vision of Bitcoin -- a low fee, peer to peer electronic cash system that could be used by all the people of the world.
Illiquidity. This is mostly moot due to Bitcoin’s $47 market cap but it still makes users sweat. It’s highly unlikely that Bitcoin’s price would plummet and you’d be unable to take action, but it’s still unsettling. As more investors invest, however, illiquidity becomes a negligible risk, as there will likely always be a buyer for Bitcoins waiting.
Jump up ^ Beikverdi, A.; Song, J. (June 2015). "Trend of centralization in Bitcoin's distributed network". 2015 IEEE/ACIS 16th International Conference on Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Networking and Parallel/Distributed Computing (SNPD): 1–6. doi:10.1109/SNPD.2015.7176229. ISBN 978-1-4799-8676-7. Archived from the original on 26 January 2018.
More recently, at a congressional hearing on Capitol Hill, global economist and New York University professor Nouriel Roubini said, "Crypto is the mother or father of all scams and bubbles." He called out "swindlers" who tapped into investors' fear of missing out and took them for a ride with "crappy assets that went into a bust and crash — in a matter of months — like you have not seen in any history of financial bubbles."


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The firm, which has so far made nine investments out of its fourth fund, is working on one more opportunity in the next two to three months before it
Going forward, the startup plans to consolidate its operations, expand the team and execute its marketing strategies to generate more business leads.
NBFCs often act as shock-absorbers when the banking system is constrained, says the former Deutsche Bank Asia Pacific CEO.
Carousell will also roll out its car marketplace in HK - a service that is currently only available in its home market, Singapore.
Binance CEO Zhao Changpeng says, "blockchain fundraising has many advantages over traditional VC fundraising. It will not go away."
Edelweiss’s status as India’s top buyer of bad loans has attracted funds such as Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec.
The company operates four media websites and three agencies and claims to be profitable.
IFC's Ralph Keitel talks about the findings of the gender diversity and financial performance report, exodus of talent from the PE/VC industry, emerge
Last year, the company had raised $600 million for the first close of its latest vehicle.
In November, the HK-headquartered microlender secured a $105-million Series A round from Sinar Mas Group, Berjaya and JG Summit Holdings.
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- Nexo announced plans to acquire Vauld immediately after Vauld’s troubles came to light, with the two parties signing an exclusivity period, which, according to the crypto lender, is not over.
- Previously, Darshan Bathija, founder and CEO of Vauld, said that its discussions with Nexo have not come to fruition. However, Nexo said it didn’t agree to terminate the exclusivity.
- It’s reported that the company has sent Vauld’s creditors an open letter and a final amended proposal for acquisition.
According to Decrypt, Nexo has presented a new acquisition bid to Vauld’s creditors and has refuted the report that it has halted the planned acquisition of Vauld.
Vauld’s founder and CEO, Darshan Bathija, had stated in an email to the company’s creditors that talks with Nexo had stalled and that Vauld was seeking a consensual agreement with the crypto lender to end the current exclusivity deal. The company claimed it didn’t consent to end the exclusivity, though.
Nexo’s managing partner Kalin Metodiev said:
“Nexo has not given up on its attempt to save Vauld and help its creditors recover the maximum possible platform funds.”
According to reports, Nexo has written an open letter to Vauld’s creditors and submitted a final, modified acquisition deal. It sought to acquire Vauld’s clientele, all crypto that Vauld owned and that could be attributed to its customers, as well as any liabilities related to the ownership of the assets it had acquired.
Effective immediately, all consumers will be able to borrow against the digital assets assigned to their new accounts, earn interest on them, and trade them for other items.
In a step that is very similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, Vauld filed for protection against creditors and lawsuits in a Singapore court at the beginning of June after ceasing withdrawals from its platform. Vauld owed its creditors, including the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, a total of $402 million.
DISCLAIMER: The Information on this website is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment advice. We encourage you to do your own research before investing.
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AL FRESCO: After Paris and London, Milan is hosting an exhibition of designs by Azzedine Alaïa that in terms of setting is among the most spectacular yet.
At the opening night on Thursday, 21 looks were unveiled in the Galleria degli Arazzi of the storied Palazzo Clerici, under frescoes by 18th-century artist Giambattista Tiepolo.
Guests including Silvia Venturini Fendi, Delfina Delettrez, Fausto Puglisi, Alberta Ferretti, Anna Molinari, Caroline Vreeland, Giuseppe Zanotti and Carlo Capasa joined Alaïa’s partner Christoph von Weyhe and close friend Carla Sozzani at the event.
Olivier Saillard, the fashion historian who curated the show, said seeing the outfits in the gilded reception room, which also features tapestries and a wood marquetry floor, cast them in a fresh light.
“There are clothes I have handled dozens of times, and for example this little white dress, I think, looks a lot more alive here,” he said, pointing to a short Grecian-style draped jersey dress.
“It’s the first time that Azzedine Alaïa is the subject of an exhibition in Milan. It’s like a little appetizer in the hope of perhaps doing something bigger one day,” he added.
Supported by the Azzedine Alaïa Foundation and Vogue Italia, in partnership with Place Vendôme Qatar, “Azzedine Alaïa Couture Sculpture” is open to the public until Sept. 25 during Milan Fashion Week.
For Sara Maino, deputy editor of Vogue Italia and head of Vogue Talents, it was a family affair. Sozzani, her mother, worked alongside Alaïa for decades and is still closely involved with the brand.
“I used to call him papa. He saw me since I was, like, three years old, so it’s really kind of a family passion,” she said.
While some of the outfits were also shown at the Villa Borghese in Rome in 2015, the foundation has stepped up the rhythm of exhibitions since the couturier died last year.
“Azzedine Alaïa: The Couturier” runs at the Design Museum in London until Oct. 7, and a new exhibition will bow at his exhibition space in Paris during couture week in January, Saillard said.
“We try to favor venues that have never hosted a fashion exhibition before, which is the case here, but now we are going to give the clothes a little bit of a rest,” he said.


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Remember when a transcontinental flight meant free booze, a delicious meal and an after-dinner cigarette? We don't either, but a Belgian company hopes its "electronic cigarette" once again makes lighting up part of the in-flight experience.
SuperSmoker says its electronic cigarette delivers nicotine through tobacco-flavored vapor without the annoying smoke of a true cigarette, which means "this device can't be placed under the smoking prohibition" that bars smoking on flights. The smokeless cigs were launched in Europe last spring, and now SuperSmoker says it is talking to at least one unnamed airline about allowing the battery-powered butts aboard long-haul flights. It also will be showing off the technology at the Aircraft Interiors Expo next month.
As for the company's claim that it's just a matter of time before frequent fliers are able to smoke at 30,000 feet, it's news to the airlines.
Steve Lott of the International Air Transport Association told Wired.com his organization, which represents 230 carriers (that's 93 percent of the industry), hasn't heard of any one negotiating with SuperSmoker.
SuperSmoker has no tobacco and doesn't emit smoke. It's basically a tube containing a vaporization chamber and a cartridge filled with food-derived liquid that produces a tobacco-like flavor. Yum. When a smoker takes a drag, it activates a battery that vaporizes the flavor chamber. It works a lot like the NJOY electronic cigarette. Each replaceable cartridges is equivalent to 15 or 20 cigarettes, and the battery must be recharged every day or two unless you smoke like Amy Winehouse. An LED tells you when the battery is about to die.
With its typo-filled website and cheesy promotional video (below), it would be easy to write off Supersmoker if its electronic cigs weren't selling. You can find them at Harrods, and the supply sold out when they went on sale in Holland in 2007. Ruyun, the world's market leader, says it sold 300,000 of them last year, and electric cigs got a boost in America when they received a thumbs-up on the thoroughly ridiculous daytime talkfest The Doctors.
SuperSmoker and NJOY aren't the first companies trying to profit from nicotine fit-prone passengers. A German entrepreneur announced in 2006 that he was launching a smoke-friendly carrier called Smokers International Airline, or Smitair. It was to be an all business-class affair with plush sleeper seats, good food and flight attendants asking "Kaffee, Tee oder eine Zigarette?" The airline, which never got off the ground, promised on its now-defunct website to "bring back the exclusivity in flying encountered in the
Depending on your point of view, the chance to puff away in flight might be a good place to start.


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Contract negotiations between the United Auto Workers and Ford, General Motors and Stellantis (which includes Chrysler) began in July. Instead of engaging in the traditional handshake across the table with company executives — a photo op implying the parties were working together to achieve a “competitive agreement” — UAW President Shawn Fain visited auto plants to shake hands with the UAW rank and file. This represented a break with the class-collaborationist former leaders of the union.
Both parties have submitted written proposals to the other side. For the first time in decades, the UAW is making bold demands on the companies,
including substantial pay increases, elimination of tiers in wages, benefits and pensions, restoration of the cost-of-living allowance (COLA) and, significantly, a 32-hour work week at 40 hours pay.
Currently, workers at the Big Three who were hired after October 2007 are termed “in progression,” in contrast to higher-seniority “traditional” workers. After eight or more years, in progression workers make the same pay as traditional workers, but they still don’t get a traditional pension or health insurance when they retire.
Before they begin the eight-year wage progression, they may spend a number of years as a “supplemental employee,” making less pay with fewer benefits. While the UAW agreed to these tiers in the past, now “equal pay for equal work” is a key contract demand, and the workers are ready to strike over it.
The union has been stressing that over the past 10 years the three auto companies combined made $250 billion in profits off the backs of the workers. Stellantis raked in net profits of a record $12 billion for the first half of 2023.
Company proposals called ‘trash’
Fain made waves on Aug. 8 when, in a live Facebook appearance, he held up the written proposals from Stellantis and then deposited them in a waste basket. He took issue with Stellantis’ Aug. 1 statement that the company was “not seeking a concessionary agreement,” pointing to a number of concessions the company is demanding, and reiterated what the UAW is pushing for.
Fain’s righteous gesture drew howls of indignation from the corporate media and from Stellantis Chief Operating Officer Mark Stewart, who sent an email to UAW-represented employees calling the union proposal “a losing proposition.” The company claims that what the members are demanding will raise labor costs to $100 an hour, or even $150 an hour, according to “two people briefed on the matter.” (Reuters, August 11)
That is supposedly up from $63 an hour that the company, using fuzzy math, claims are current labor costs. Actually, it is a drop from the figure of $75 claimed 14 years ago, before Chrysler and GM filed for bankruptcy. The cost of living has risen significantly since 2009, but auto workers’ wages have not kept pace. With all benefits included, average hourly labor costs are probably closer to between $40 and $45 per hour.
Moreover, labor costs for the auto companies have fallen, due to a steady drop in the number of hours needed to produce a vehicle. Even if the hourly labor costs remain the same, the costs per vehicle are lower if it takes 20 hours of labor to build a vehicle instead of 25 hours.
Those five hours mean more profits for GM, Ford and Stellantis. But these cost savings — generated by the ongoing introduction of the latest automation technology, combining jobs, speedups and other capitalist means of eliminating workers — are never mentioned, especially not at contract time.
As production transitions from fossil-fuel burning cars and trucks to electric vehicles, which have fewer component parts, an estimated 30 percent fewer workers will be needed on the assembly lines. This latest restructuring could mean a huge loss of jobs.
That’s why the demand for a shorter work week — not only to give workers more leisure and family time but to offset the need for fewer workers — is absolutely critical in this round of negotiations.
It’s possible that workers at all three auto companies will be striking for a bold program of demands when contracts expire on September 14. The UAW’s current slogan, “Back in the fight,” signifies a new, overdue and welcome mood of resistance.
Martha Grevatt is a retired Stellantis worker who served on the executive boards of UAW Locals 122 and 869.


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On September 19, TOPCARS learned from the public platform of China's Shanghai Municipal Government that the second phase of the Tesla Shanghai Super Factory) production line optimization project was completed and started commissioning on September 1, with an expected acceptance period of September 1 to November 30.
TOPCARS has learned that the total investment in the project was $170 million, of which $12 million, or 7.08%, was invested in environmental protection, and that the actual construction started on December 21 last year and was expected to be completed in April of this year, although it was eventually delayed until September.
The production line optimization project is Tesla's expansion within the existing factory, mainly by increasing production tempo to expand production capacity. According to the environmental assessment report published in November last year, the production line optimization project is mainly for the expansion of the stamping workshop, body shop, painting workshop, final assembly workshop and logistics operation center.
In the report, Tesla revealed that the project would increase production capacity by increasing working hours, increasing the number of employees and increasing the frequency of material turnover, but the EIA report did not disclose the amount of capacity increase. According to Tesla's estimates, the line optimization project will increase the number of employees by 4,000 upon completion, bringing the total number of employees to 19,000.
The line optimization project further expands Tesla's capacity in the Shanghai Super Factory and solidifies the Shanghai Super Factory's position as Tesla's largest factory in terms of global capacity. According to Tesla's second quarter earnings report this year, the annualized production capacity of the Shanghai Superfactory is already higher than 750,000 units, followed by the California plant with an annualized capacity of nearly 650,000 units.


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By Chris Blasinsky
ALEXANDRIA, Va.—With social media, the opportunities, techniques and methods for telling stories are boundless, and oftentimes the proverbial rules of traditional media do not apply.
Digital marketing analytics firm Rival IQ recently tracked social media engagement among 20 convenience retailers and revealed some interesting digital insights.
“Standout convenience store marketing transcends geographic limitations by smartly captivating audiences on social networks. We turned to the data to discover how best-in-class performers remain top of mind among target audiences,” noted the firm on its website.
Here are two social media trends among convenience retailers that Rival IQ observed:
- Partnerships for a cause
To “surprise and delight fans,” convenience retailers often team up with industry brands to support a cause. For example, Kum & Go and Budweiser partnered to produce a limited-edition t-shirt and tank top.
The shirts reflect Budweiser’s partnership with Folds of Honor, a nonprofit organization that provides educational scholarships to family members of military personnel who have fallen or been disabled in combat while serving in the U.S. armed forces. By turning to social media to promote the shirts and program at large, Rival IQ noted that the campaign produced a significant engagement rate for Kum & Go, along with 4,600 likes on Twitter.
“This partnership is about celebrating our country and two iconic American brands while creating a fun way to support our veterans,” said Tanner Krause, president of Kum & Go.
Ohio-based convenience store United Dairy Farmers partners with USL Championship soccer club FC Cincinnati to raise awareness for the team’s philanthropic arm, the FC Cincinnati Foundation.
The retailer leveraged “mouth-watering product shots on social media” of its Caramel Pretzel Kick ice cream, the official ice cream of the soccer club, to encourage customers to make a purchase. A percentage of each sale goes to the FC Cincinnati Foundation, which seeks to improve the lives of children in the Greater Cincinnati area by playing soccer.
“These types of posts are popular among fans because customers can score a sweet treat while also supporting their local team and community,” said Rival IQ.
- Going the Extra Mile
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Love’s expressed its gratitude for another group of essential businesses—truck drivers—who were going the extra mile and delivering products and goods to retailers and consumers across the United States. Teaming up with vendors, Love’s relied on its social platforms to offer truck drivers a $5 coupon as a token of appreciation that could be used at any Love’s for in-store purchases, per Rival IQ.
In terms of employment, 7-Eleven used social media to promote current job openings. The retailer noted in March that it expected tens of thousands of new store employees to be hired to meet increased demand for 7‑Eleven products and services amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“7‑Eleven is a neighborhood store and it’s our priority to serve the communities in which we operate during this unprecedented crisis,” said 7‑Eleven President and CEO Joe DePinto. “Between 7‑Eleven Inc. and our franchised business owners, we expect as many as 20,000 store employees to be hired in the coming months. This will provide job opportunities and ensure 7‑Eleven stores remain clean and in-stock with the goods our customers need during this critical time.”
Rival IQ evaluated 20 convenience stores profiled in its 2020 C-Store Digital Ranking and rated their social media performance on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter relative to audience, activity, engagement and top content over a six-month period. The firm defines engagement as measurable interaction on social media posts: likes, comments, favorites, retweets, shares and reactions.
Kwik Trip ranked as the front-runner, with retailers like Sheetz, Kum & Go and QuikTrip close behind. Rival IQ notes that one of the reasons why Kwik Trip performs so well on social is that the company knows its audience and knows its fans “have a strong allegiance to the brand and a competitive spirit…Most of all, they know they talk about their KT passion among friends in person and on social media.”
David Jackson, digital marketing and loyalty manager at Kwik Trip, told Rival IQ that the company does “a lot of listening and community management to see what our followers are excited about when they visit a Kwik Trip. There’s even a Facebook Group called the Wisconsin Kwik Trip Enthusiast Club created by our fans which we actively pull inspiration from. …Our fans as a collective are infinitely more creative and humorous than us, so we’re always looking for ways to amplify their voices rather than our own. This results in easier content for us and ultimately more relatable content for our fans.”
A communications strategy amplifies what retailers already do every day when talking about their business and telling stories that support their core values and brand. From crafting a press release to social media engagement, NACS communications resources provide insights and tips for convenience retailers to enhance, refresh or develop communication strategies.
Also, be on the lookout for the upcoming October issue of NACS Magazine, where author Renee Pas delves into how social media followers are falling in love (or like!) with convenience retail brands that create connections through humor, values and authenticity in messaging.
Chris Blasinsky is the NACS content communications strategist; she can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org, and on Twitter and LinkedIn.


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Carlos Slim’s America Movil Pumps $40 Million Investment Into Shazam
Shazam, the maker of the popular mobile app that uses an audio technology to help users identify songs and TV shows, has received a $40 million investment from Latin American wireless giant America Movil. As part of the deal, Carlos Slim’s Mexico City-based company will work to pre-load Shazam onto mobile phones in the regions in which it operates, said Shazam CEO Rich Riley, the Yahoo veteran who was hired as CEO in April.
The investment consists of a “substantial secondary element,” though Riley refused to disclose how much of the investment happened through a secondary sale. It is believed that early employees and investors — who had shares in the 11-year-old company prior to its first venture investment — were the sellers in the secondary offering. Shazam has now raised $104 million in venture funding, with contributions from Kleiner Perkins, Institutional Venture Partners and DN Capital.
Riley said the company has substantial funds in the bank and will use the new infusion to make its app more of a destination for music fans, expand its TV partnerships and look at possible acquisitions.
While Shazam gets a cut of the $300 million in affiliate music sales its app users purchased in the last 12 months, it is focusing a lot of energy on pitching TV advertisers on its service. This is a tricky proposition, though.
The beauty of the main music-discovery feature of the app is that it allows you to get the name of a song you simply can’t identify in another way. But when you are watching television, you can most likely identify the show (or can simply click “info” for that information) and commercial you’re watching, so it’s not nearly as serendipitous of an experience. Still, Shazam is trying to make this transition by delivering additional content about both shows and TV commercials to the mobile app.
Yet it’s nearly as simple for a person to just Google an advertiser or type in a URL if they really want to act on that commercial right then and there. In that way, Shazam for TV has similar challenges to the rest of so-called second-screen apps: Twitter and, to some extent, Facebook have started to dominate the online conversation around television programs and commercials, leaving limited market space for other players.
Riley’s answer to this predicament is that brands should be advertising on Shazam in addition to these services, that there’s a population that discovers on Shazam that doesn’t do so on social networks. Advertisers can customize their Shazam campaigns to deliver any type of content they want when a viewer “Shazams” a commercial.
Shazam has 70 million active monthly users globally and 17 million in the U.S. It’s not clear what percentage of that total are actually using it while watching TV.


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Early Monday, a developer announced the release of the first porn app for Google Glass only to learn that Google had banned porn apps for its computerized eyeglasses.
The average smartphone user checks their phone about 150 times per day. A lot of what they are checking for could be on their wrist.
The Colour the Bridge project, part of the annual Vivid Sydney light festival, lights up the Sydney Harbour Bridge with 3200 programmed LED lights and fiber optics, giving the otherwise gray concrete-and-steel structure a totally different appearance...
When Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke at length to kick off the D11 conference, he ignited a new firestorm of speculation regarding Apple's stake in the wearable computing market. Rumors have long told us that Apple is working on a smartwatch, but now Cook's...
Google Glass likely marks an important milestone in the evolution of personal electronics. And even though Glass makes its wearers look foolish, you're going to hear a lot about in the coming years.
Most people's knowledge of Google Glass has been informed by a comedy skit, and that's a dangerous situation. Sure, Fred Armisen's SNL portrayal of Glass is hilarious, but it's also full of gross inaccuracies that paint the headset as half-baked tech...
Apple patent filings offer hints of what the iWatch might look like
In the world of tech, where eyes are typically focused on "the next big thing," the speculation and noise surrounding Apple's next big move continue to grow louder.
Recognized as one of the 100 most memorable and creative toys of the 20th century, the Etch A Sketch has served as both a children's toy and a platform for those looking to prove they can make art on even the most ridiculous things.
Is Google Glass a gimmick or the next revolution in post-PC computing? Time will be the judge--the head-mounted augmented reality device isn't even commercially available yet except to those few who attended last year's Google I/O event and ponied up...
What’s Google Glass worth without apps that make use of its technology?
While Google promotes its Glass head-mounted display as a new way for people to receive and document information on the fly, several social networking companies including Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr now want a piece of the action, by offering social...
Google kicks off its I/O developer conference next Wednesday and if there's one thing that could steal the limelight from Android, Chrome and all the other Google projects, it's Glass.
A year before Google's futuristic-looking, computerized eyeglasses are even expected to hit the market, they have been banned -- again.
Google has released a getting started video for its Glass wearable computer, demonstrating some of its basic interface features.
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Amazon leads over Flipkart in India but the gap is narrowing
India’s largest domestic e-commerce company is trailing Amazon on its home turf.
As of April 2018, Amazon’s share of the Indian e-commerce market had shrunk to 44%, down from around 50% at the start of the year. Despite the decline, Amazon still retained a slight edge over Flipkart’s 40%.
“Amazon India has been quietly expanding its footprint through diversified offerings that encompass multiple services, providing consumers with lower prices at higher scale,” Brian Chaitoff, director of insights at New York-based market research firm 7Park Data, told Quartz.
Its annual membership scheme, Amazon Prime, which includestwo-day delivery, video streaming, music streaming, and more for just Rs999 ($15), has won over large segments of price-sensitive Indian consumers. Amazon also leads in terms of monthly active users (MAU). In April 2018, the Jeff Bezos-led company’s MAU growth rate stood at 40%—Flipkart’s was at 30%.
“Part of the app usage growth is related to the entry of Indian mobile operator, Reliance Jio, and data price wars that lowered data costs, driving a higher value proposition for Amazon Prime Video to Prime members,” Chaitoff said.
Among video-watching Indians, who spent around 93% of their stream-time on local-language content, Amazon’s loaded library is a hit. Earlier this year, the Seattle-based firm debuted in India’s music-streaming market, once again boasting of a vast catalogue.
Given its successes, Amazon’s bullishness about the Indian e-tail sectordoes not come as a surprise.
“Internet penetration in India is still relatively low compared to developed countries, which creates long-term opportunities for Amazon,” Chaitoff said. “A country with over a billion population and a growing middle class is exactly where Amazon needs to focus in order to maintain its global momentum.”
But the verdict on its rivalry with Flipkart isn’t out yet, since Amazon’s homegrown rival is closing the gap, according to this data. At the start of 2018, the US firm claimed 50% of the market share while the Indian company had a mere 33%. Four months on, there’s only a four-percentage-point difference between the two. Flipkart is reportedly trumping Amazon in crucial segments like mobile phones and apparel and fashion, other research has found.
There is little that separates the two competitors, depending on what data you look at. On one hand, some surveys show consumers searching for Amazon more often than they do for Flipkart, thinking the American e-tailer offers a better shopping experience. Others show them trusting Flipkart more.


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SaarGummi Tennessee, Inc. will expand its manufacturing operations in Pulaski, Tennessee by purchasing additional finishing equipment and improving existing infrastructure. SaarGummi Tennessee, a leading manufacturer of innovative sealing systems for the automotive industry, will create more than 150 new jobs over the next five years.
“We are grateful for SaarGummi Tennessee’s ongoing commitment to our state and for the new jobs that will be created in Pulaski,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said. “The momentum of our automotive sector is a direct result of the success of the many manufacturers, suppliers, and other automotive-related companies that call our state home, and today’s announcement brings us one step closer toward our goal of becoming the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs.”
Tennessee’s automotive sector employs 111,000 people at more than 900 establishments throughout the state.
SaarGummi is a leading manufacturer of extruded and injected molded elastomer products for the automotive industry. The company operates worldwide out of 15 locations in Europe, North and South America and Asia with a total of approximately 5,000 employees.
Hiring will be done through Staffmark at 1197 W. College St. in Pulaski.


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CAMDEN, N.J. - A man who had his proposed class action lawsuit over the digits of his credit card that were included on a receipt from J.Crew dismissed has appealed that decision.
On June 20, Ahmed Kamal filed his notice of intent to appeal a New Jersey federal judge's decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Earlier this month, Judge William Martini, of the District of New Jersey, ruled in favor of J. Crew in a putative class action in which the plaintiff claimed the retailer printed receipts that potentially made him vulnerable to identity theft and violated the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA).
That marked the second time the court ruled in favor of the retailer stemming from claims made by Kamal, who charged on three separate occasions in 2014 the retailer printed the first six and last four digits of his credit card number on transaction receipts.
In the most recent ruling, U.S. District Judge William Martini granted J. Crew’s motion to dismiss because the plaintiff “failed to allege a sufficiently concrete injury.”
Further, the court noted, the digit printing “does not implicate the historic ‘right to be let alone,’ particularly when the first six digits do not pertain to the customer’s individual bank account.”
Having closely followed the lawsuit, Reed Smith associate attorney Brian J. Willett, based in Pittsburgh, told the Pennsylvania Record, "Judge Martini found that the allegations of the proposed class just didn’t adequately demonstrate an injury ‘concrete’ enough to achieve constitutional standing to proceed with the case. Here the complaint does allege a violation of FACTA, but that wasn’t enough to constitute an injury for which the court could provide legal relief.”
As part of its decision, the court also ruled that the degree of potential risk for future identity theft was too low to constitute a concrete harm. The ruling also stipulated the way J.Crew did things didn’t provide any added data for would-be identity thieves.
“Litigation over the privacy of personal information has been steadily increasing,” Willett added. “Interestingly, in addition to seeing more states considering legislation specifically focused on newer technologies, there are still many suits brought under older statutes, such as (FACTA), which was the case here.
"While decisions like this are favorable for defendants, suits like this are unlikely to go away any time soon.”
Willett also noted the Kamal verdict was rendered without prejudice, meaning he could file another amended complaint at any time.