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The NCIS has seen an uptick in darknet purchases using Bitcoin. Blockchain analytic firms discuss procedures to combat crypto-related crimes. Bitcoin for drugs: welcome to the darknetThe darknet markets are fuelled by users who Drug paraphernalia stores even have Buy Bitcoin here signs. Dark Web markets: record spending in 2022. The chart below reveals darknet market revenue and the number of transfers to those markets. The gold. With cheaper deals available to buy in bulk at an anonymous distance, the Dark Net is playing an increasingly major role in illegal drug. Additionally, research stresses the importance of trust between vendors and buyers on darknet drug markets. In a final step, the drugs need to be shipped. 2022) an encrypted web site which provides buyers and sellers anonymity for illicit trading. Research into the virtual darknet market is in its infancy. The mainstream media has now latched onto the arrival in Australia of the dangerous drug fentanyl and its even more lethal cousin, carfentantyl.
2022) an encrypted web site which provides buyers and sellers anonymity for illicit trading. Research into the virtual darknet market is in its infancy. The Darknet is making it easier than ever before for Hong Kong citizens to buy drugs and the police are having a hard time keeping up. The accused has been identified as Makarand Pardeep Adivirkar, popularly known as the 'Crypto King'. The successors to Silk Road, the darknet drug market shut down by the FBI in 2022, are raking in tens of millions of pounds in total revenue. Two years ago, federal agents apprehended Ross Ulbricht at a public library in San Francisco and shuttered the pioneering online market Silk. The shopping bot, called the Random Darknet Shopper, was created last fall by a Swiss art group called!Mediengruppe Bitnik to purchase. Drug cartel scotland. In addition to the bad taste, Paxlovid also has other side effects, including diarrhea, 2022 working darknet market elevated blood pressure, and muscle aches.
We take a look at how internet users buy drugs online using Tor browser and the 2022 darknet market DarkNet, along with the risks that come with it. The successors to Silk Road, the darknet drug market shut down by the FBI in 2022, are raking in tens of millions of pounds in total revenue. Ahaana Bharat Ram of The Shri Ram School is on a campaign distributing free sanitary napkins among women who have no wherewithal to buy. Black market websites may have faced a disruption last week. buying drugs on the darknet. and Western law enforcement agencies attempted to crack down on users of. Two years ago, federal agents apprehended Ross Ulbricht at a public library in San Francisco and shuttered the pioneering online market Silk. Where are kids getting drugs? Twenty years ago, the answer to this question would only have been: from classmates at school, from friends at. Buying drugs from either dark web marketplaces 2022 darknet markets or via communicators apps such as Telegram, Signal, Wickr or Wire is now the safest and the.
The dark web is a type of internet where users are able to buy and sell illicit Dark web criminals switch to popular apps to sell drugs using bots. A growing number of tech-savvy Australian teenagers are turning to the dark web to buy illicit drugs using cryptocurrency. Dark-web drug transactions increased 50 percent between 2022the year the FBI shut down the Silk Roadand January 2022, according to a new. Drug dealers say they are getting their products delivered right to their doorsteps, courtesy of the U. S. Postal Service. Suspicious cryptocurrency transactions can be detected through forensic analysis software and the police is using that to their advantage. An increasing amount of people are ordering drugs over the dark web, according to a Global Drug Survey report released Wednesday. These online markets are known as 'cryptomarkets' because they are rely upon encryption technologies: anonymising networks (Tor) and virtual currencies (Bitcoin).
The shopping bot, called the Random Darknet Shopper, was created last fall by a Swiss art group called!Mediengruppe Bitnik to purchase. 50 s r a 40 ll illi o d 0 f o s n 30 o Purchasing drugs on darknet markets 20 seems to have become more popular M 10 among internet users who use darknet drugs dublin drugs. A growing number of tech-savvy Australian teenagers are turning to the dark web to buy illicit drugs using cryptocurrency. The most reputable dark-net markets Adderall XR (Oral) Reviews 18) Monoisotopic Mass: 511 You darknet drugs dublin can purchase practically any type of medication in Belize. An Australian artist who created a portrait of overdose victim Anna Wood using 20,000 empty pill casings has been flooded with personal stories from young. By J Van Buskirk 2022 Cited by 59 This study is designed to monitor self-reported changes in illicit drug market use and preference across Australia (for full methodology see Sindicich and Burns. So Where 3-MMC Buying WICKR ID:(drdavide1989) Wheel cleaner gbl for sale in who subbed in to run a Cairns drug trafficking business for several weeks.
Cryptomarket trade may have an impact beyond creating a new way for drug users to access a wide range of drugs; based on the extent of wholesale transactions, we believe it is likely that many cryptomarket customers are drug dealers sourcing stock intended for offline distribution. While on the Dark Web, individuals may communicate through means such as secure email, web chats, or personal messaging hosted on Tor. Doch nicht nur im Sommer locken die Ferienwohnungen in Osterreich am See, sondern auch im Winter. Paape importing MDMA from Germany ( mugshot) - possibly from Afterhour? In the UK, vendors have been helped, unintentionally, by the Royal Mail. Quoting information received privately, DarkDotFails mentioned that six new darknet marketplaces have already gone live in a tweet a few hours back. In this dark web weapon store, you can find what you want and purchase one of these products.
“HYDRA responded to RAMP’s attack in kind with its own flurry of botnet and DDoS attacks, at which point RAMP began buying drugs on the darknet to unravel.”
Marketplace, with AlphaBay being the largest darknet markets like Agora Market and Evolution are thriving Tor! Public Key gives market no control of the address, there is nothing unsafe in providing your Public Key. If you are wondering what the dark market is then let me give you some brief details. You will be required to create new accounts before you can sell anything on the marketplace. Whether they are dealers and buyers online darknet drugs australia or on the street - they are exactly the same. EIPs are an important part of Ethereum’s governance system and act as a source of truth for the Ethereum community. Darknet Directory Darknet Market DeepDotWeb dread forum Empire Market Guides Tagged Onion Directory Tor Network Vendor Shop DeepOnionWeb: We do not use referral links or receive payments from any darkweb market. The men darknet drugs australia are aged between 23 years old and 31 years old.


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In the second quarter of this year, online video usage hit 169 billion minutes in South Korea, with YouTube dominating at 81 percent of that time and SVOD taking a 13 percent share, according to a new Media Partners Asia (MPA) report.
South Korea Online Video Consumer Insights & Analytics leverages MPA’s own AMPD Research Platform to track streaming data.
YouTube, which captures over 4 out of every 5 minutes streamed in South Korea, is faring well with K-Pop content locally, including music videos, performances and user-generated “fan-cam” footage. TikTok, meanwhile, takes just 2 percent of viewing minutes, and local AVOD services have just a 1 percent share.
MPA indicates that there were 10 million cumulative SVOD subs in South Korea at the end of Q2, with the market dominated by Netflix, Wavve and TVing, collectively taking an 80 percent share.
“YouTube and Netflix have a strong lead in AVOD and SVOD segments respectively, while local SVODs led by Wavve, TVING and Coupang Play are gaining consumption,” said Vivek Couto, executive director of MPA. “Online video content investment will top US$1 billion in CY 2021 with the majority directed towards driving customer acquisition and retention. Netflix remains the largest investor and more than half of Netflix’s streamed minutes in Q2 2021 was driven by Korean content, which it also monetizes beyond Korea to grow its business globally.”
Netflix is in the lead in the SVOD market with a 5 percent share of streaming minutes, driven by acquired Korean dramas, including titles from output deals with Studio Dragon and JTBC Studios. Waave, operated by SKT, KBS, SBS and MBC, is driving usage with free-to-air, original and Hollywood content. It took a 4 percent share of streaming viewing minutes. TVING (with a 2 percent share) saw gains from its Euro 2020 coverage and inclusion in Naver’s Plus Membership. Coupang Play, part of an e-commerce giant, is using Korean variety and dramas to engage members. Watcha Play’s lineup of medium and longtail Korean, Japanese and Hollywood content (including HBO shows) has commanded a loyal user base.
Netflix leads in terms of net promoter scores, ahead of YouTube. Both have commanding leads on WatchaPlay, TVING and Waave. Coupang Play, U+ Mobile TV and Seezn all had negative net promoter scores.
The SVOD market is set to become even more competitive with the arrival of Disney+ later this year.

domain: news


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People who save money by paying in advance to use the Dartford Crossing are having their discount cut.
The change by Highways England will see thousands of owners of B-class vehicles – cars, motorhomes and minibuses with up to nine seats – who have a pre-paid Dart Charge account having to fork out £2 per crossing instead of the existing £1.67. The increase will come into play on October 1. Those without a pre-paid account pay £2.50 per crossing.
A spokesperson for the government-owned company said: “More people are benefiting from discounted charges at the Dartford Crossing than ever before.
“Since Dart Charge launched in 2014, more than a million people have signed up for a Dart Charge pre-pay account and save money on every crossing. With over 55 million vehicles travelling over the Dartford Crossing every year, there is an ongoing need to manage increasing demand at the crossing. “The Department for Transport has reviewed how fairly the benefits to account holders are spread across different vehicle types and have aligned the Class B rate more closely to Classes C and D. From 1 October 2018, the new discounted rate for Class B vehicles at the Dartford Crossing will be £2.”
Since the Dart Charge was introduced, drivers of Class B vehicles have received discounts amounting to £59.4m. Despite these drivers being affected by the cut in discount, other vehicle classes remain unaffected, as do people who qualify for the Local Residents’ Discount Scheme for those living in Dartford and Thurrock.
All standard rate charges remain unchanged as well.
The Dart Charge payment is no longer made at the barriers. Instead, it has to be done in advance or by midnight the following day. The crossing is free between 10pm and 6am.


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Elon Musk Unveils Winged Craft for Manned Mission to Sun
Speaking at a tech conference in Crete, the South-African born business magnate Elon Musk introduced “project Icarus”, a proposal for a manned voyage to the Sun. The world famous entrepreneur behind Paypal and Tesla fielded questions from reporters and tech sector investors at the Google Labyrinth on the scenic Greek island. “It’s quite exciting really” Mr. Musk said “recent breakthroughs in feather and glue technology have given us the ability to send a man to the sun in the next few decades”. When asked about potential safety concerns, Mr. Musk forced a smile and confidently replied “Icarus engineers have produced the most powerful set of wings by a factor of two. I dare say that not even Zeus himself is as strong as my wings!” Musk then proceeded to take flight using the winged apparatus, soaring majestically before swooping down at a stunned and frightened crowd. Laughing giddily Mr. Musk remarked, “This is just a prototype! When Icarus is complete my wings will carry me higher! Higher still! Higher into the heavens! Feel the awesome power of flight, you fools!” Musk expects to reach the son by 2030.


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The Spokane Chiefs’ Team Store at Spokane Arena is open to the public for the holidays, operating under limited hours and COVID-related restrictions.
The store will be open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Thursdays through December 17. The store will not be open on Thanksgiving Day.
Shoppers are required to wear face masks and asked to maintain recommended social distancing. The store has been expanded into the Arena’s lower concourse to allow for easier spacing while shopping, and occupancy will be limited if necessary.
Parking at the Arena is free for quick stops at the surface lot on the south side of the building. These limited use spots are marked for the Chiefs’ Ticket Office.
Fans unable to visit the store in-person can visit shop.spokanechiefs.com for their team gear needs this holiday season. All are encouraged to order early as shipping and processing times have experienced delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


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Enough with the rumours and reports, Jaguar's long-anticipated F-Type roadster is almost upon us - and this thinly-veiled concept is our first look at the new topless Jag.
Wrapped nose-to-tail in effed-up camouflage, Jaguar revealed today that the F-Type's styling will draw on the look of last year's C-X16 coupe concept.
While the finer details are tricky to make out, it is clear that the coupe's vertical headlight design and wide new grille will transfer to the F-Type, along with the long slim tail-lights and tall rear guards.
Without the slope of the coupe's C-pillar, the F-Type roadster will adopt Jaguar's familiar long rear deck, and a single pair of centre-mounted exhaust tips will replace the quad cannons of the C-X16 concept.
"The reaction [to the C-X16] has been so positive that we've accelerated our development of an all-new Jaguar sports car," Jaguar Global Brand Director, Adrian Hallmark, said.
"That car will be called the F-Type, and it will be unveiled in production form later this year. The core appeal of Jaguar's cars is their sporting heart, and that heart will beat stronger than ever before in the F-Type," he added.
Technical information for the F-Type has yet to be revealed.
In concept form, the C-X16 coupe is powered by a 280kW/450Nm supercharged 3.0 litre V6, paired with a 70kW/235Nm KERS-like system that delivers its additional boost via a steering-mounted "Push to Pass" button.
While the F-Type has been confirmed for a late 2012 production debut (confirmation that has been more than four years in the offing), it is unclear if it will be joined by a production version of the C-X16 coupe.
- Related News & Reviews at TMR ▼
- F-Type news and reviews | Jaguar news and reviews
- Sports Car news and reviews
- 2012 New York Auto Show
- Interested in buying JAGUAR F-TYPE? Visit our JAGUAR F-TYPE showroom for more information.


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Turf war adds iPod slots, gel seats, the 'who you are' statement.
(To See Videos, Pictures, Click Here)
Linda and Bob Thayer recently invested in a sporty new set of wheels. It boasts a premium engine, high-backed ergonomic seating and all-wheel steering that can turn the vehicle on a dime.
It also cuts the grass.
They're part of a new trend fueling green envy in America: the rise of the tricked-out lawn mower. Today, speedier cutting technology is practically de rigueur. Mower makers are now focused on mimicking the auto industry with cosmetic and creature comforts. Sun shades, iPod compartments, cruise control, chrome hub caps and even alternative fuels are all part of the mower mania.
Cutting-edge designs start at around $3,000 and go for more than $10,000—or roughly the cost of a 2010 Nissan Versa.
Hustler Turf Equipment offers the $10,000-plus commercial "Super Z" mower, which can jet along at 15 mph and has enough mechanical brawn to cut grass 40 hours a week. The price tag hasn't deterred residential customers, who "simply want the biggest, baddest mower on the block," says marketing director Adam Mullet.
Tim Strong of Raleigh, N.C., recently paid $4,000 for a commercial-grade reel mower from Locke, a brand once used in Yankee Stadium. It lends a striped appearance to his lawn by bending blades in alternate directions as he mows. It's also attention-getting. One neighbor marveled, "That's a pretty big-sized machine you've got there." Strong says that no other machine will give him the scissor-like precision-cut he wants for his Zoysia grass, a cushiony turf common on the golf links. "Quite frankly, I think your lawn and how you maintain it sends a message about how you treat other things you own and who you are," he says.
Despite environmentalists' ongoing campaign to peg grass as water-wasting turf, homeowners are snapping up high-end riding mowers with an appetite not seen since before the recession. After double-digit decreases for the past two years, U.S. shipments of riders are expected to climb slightly more than 6 percent over the next two years, according to the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute.
For some buyers, the new mower mood is a reaction to the economy. As tight credit, unemployment woes and lower home resale values persist, more people are staying put and improving existing dwellings — as well as investing in higher-end equipment to care for it.
For others, a mower upgrade is tinged with a little neighborly competition. "Most of us are guilty of trying to get the yard to look better than our neighbors. That goes right along with equipment having to be cooler than the neighbors," says Jim Bednar, a senior marketing manager for MTD Products' Cub Cadet brand. Last year, Cub Cadet added an iPod holder with earphone slot into its lawn tractors. "It's well beyond cupholders," Bednar says.
To a large extent, there is pent-up demand after a several-year dry spell where consumers belt-tightened and repaired old equipment. Now that they are ready to buy, they are often buying big—especially the pricier "zero-turn" riders, which can make super-tight rotations around trees or flower beds, often cutting mowing time in half.
"Like people buying SUVs, they may be buying more mower than is technically necessary but that will give them a greater degree of comfort," says Kris Kiser, the institute's executive vice president.
The current appetite for high-end mowers is slightly counterintuitive. Some environmentalists and health advocates have been pushing homeowners to decrease pesticide and water usage by dialing back their lawn size. A growing number of towns and utilities offer financial incentives for such moves.
[Mower] Greg Ruffing for The Wall Street Jounal
Cushioned steering wheel featured on the riding mower of Linda Thayer
"Everyone is trending toward less turf, even on bigger estates," says Margie Grace, owner of Grace Design Associates, a landscape design and building firm in Santa Barbara, Calif. She calls it "waking from our lawn coma."
Some towns are beefing up noise ordinances for outdoor power equipment. "It's all leading to less grass possibly," says Greg Weekes, a marketing manager for Deere & Co., owner of the John Deere brand.
Still, Deere says it is seeing a 2010 mower sales uptick that is "far exceeding" forecasts, Mr. Weekes says. The company is currently experimenting with robotic technology for use in future models, while others such as Cub Cadet and Ariens Co. now sell riding mowers running on propane or batteries.
At Home Depot Inc., riding mower sales growth is up low double-digits through April with higher-end products performing best. Sears Holdings Corp., for its part, now runs "Demo Days" at its namesake stores so customers can test-drive mowers. The company is painting its Craftsman brand units in sports-car colors like hot red, yellow and jet black.
Less expensive walk-behind mowers are still the biggest sellers in the U.S. But among those upgrading to riders, and in particular zero-turns, are the 76 million Baby Boomers who are eyeing retirement and crave a less taxing yard routine.
Ms. Thayer of Ohio, a 52-year-old high school administrator who is retiring next year, convinced her husband to buy a $4,200 Cub Cadet "Z-Force S" zero-turn unit because it boasted so many accoutrements—including a car-like steering wheel versus the lap bars used on most zero-turns. "When I cut my grass it shouldn't be uncomfortable," she says.
Similarly, 62-year-old Skip Bilbey plunked down $12,000 to buy a Gravely 260 diesel zero-turn mower with a 60-inch cutting width, and he now grooms five acres in just a few hours, or half the time of his old rider.
His dealer, Howard Welsh at Gambles lawn and garden equipment in Alpena, Mich., has a simple explanation for the uber-mower movement. "People are stressed out and wore out from working way too many hours," he says. Customers "don't live to cut grass."


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Only 58 percent of Romanians have breakfast every day, but most make sure not to skip dinner – 85 percent, reveals a recent study by ISRA Center. A combination of food choices and lifestyle results in 46 percent of Romanians being overweight and 4 percent underweight, as Romanians eat soups, dairy products, French fries and mashed potatoes every week. The consumption of soup (the Romanian ciorba) drops for more educated people, who tend to eat more salads and fried meat.
The majority of doctors think Romanians don’t eat regularly and consume a lot of fat and heavy foods, too much salt and too much sugar, and turn dinner into the main meal of the day. Nutritionists say breakfast is the most important meal of the day and meals should reduce all the way to dinner, while most recommend a light dinner or no dinner at all, for a healthy diet. More than half of family doctors think that Romanians’ diet is far from being healthy and correct. Fatty and fast food are among the biggest influences on the diet.
Romanians tend to skip breakfast, which is often associated with smoking. Around 80 percent of Romanian urban dwellers have lunch every day, and the percentage is higher among those with primary education – 89 percent. As Romanians tend not to respect the three meals a day, they also have snacks between meals, which sometimes compensate for the lack of one of the main meals.
Around half of Romanians who responded to the survey think that fruits and vegetables are at the core of a healthy diet, and a third believe home cooked food makes for healthy eating, but only 14 percent include the reduction in the consumption of sugar, salt and spices among measures for a healthier life.
The ISRA Center study was carried out on 521 respondents in spring 2011, and has an error margin of 3 percent.


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Recession fuels private label beverages
November 12, 2009
by Author Of Article Goes Here.
BASINGSTOKE, ENGLAND — The global economic downturn is providing perfect conditions for private label beverage products to grow and thrive, according to beverage research agency Canadean. In fact, private label products in the total soft drinks sector now account for more than 1 out of every 10 liters traded in the global marketplace.
The rise of private label is becoming a considerable threat to branded soft drinks. The shift from on to off-premise sales has boosted the private label segment as well. While there are fewer consumers ordering beverages in bars and restaurants, consumers are compensating for this by drinking more at home and buying soft drinks in the off-premise, where the majority of private label products are found.
There also is a trend for convenience retailers to adopt their own private label brand with many fast-food chains and sandwich stores doing just this. Overall, how vulnerable the soft drinks category is to private label alternatives depends on various factors, which has resulted in varying levels of private label penetration across the sports drink spectrum. Juice is more susceptible than other categories because it is a relatively mature category and many juices are difficult to differentiate in terms of taste. As a result, almost a quarter of all juice volumes are private label.


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The suit seeks an injunction and damages, as well as $763,375 Nissan said the store owes for 25 vehicles it bought in 2021 and another $152,994 it said the ex-dealership owes for parts, tools and services.
According to the complaint, Ed Corley Nissan also has failed to pay the 1 percent monthly delinquency charge under its sales and service agreement.
The suit, filed Aug. 10 in federal court, alleges Ed Corley Nissan illegally used Nissan’s trade and service marks at the site of its former store and in its email address, advertising and website address.
“In doing so, it improperly conveyed to consumers that it remained an authorized Nissan dealer” and “intentionally created and is likely to continue to create confusion and mistake among the public, customers, prospective customers, creditors, suppliers and/or others to deceive them,” the suit said.
In a statement, a Nissan spokesman said the company “has made considerable investments in our brand. We always want to ensure that when customers see the Nissan name, they will have a positive sales and service experience. As such, we limit the use of our trademarks only to active Nissan dealerships or other authorized users, and, when necessary, we will take action to protect the Nissan brand.”
Neither a lawyer nor a representative for the former dealership could be reached for comment.


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Over the past week, there have been a flurry of reports in the media that may restrict the export of rare earth minerals to the United States as the trade conflict between the two countries escalates.
Eleven months ago, I anticipated that the nascent China trade dispute would eventually bring rare earth minerals to the fore. On June 28, 2018, I wrote a Seeking Alpha article entitled, “A New China Rare Earth Embargo Would Damage Several U.S. Companies' Technology Competitiveness.”
I emphasized in the summary bullets for the article:
- The U.S. and China are embroiled in a trade dispute, and the Chinese could readily impose a tariff on rare earth elements as it did in 2010.
- China supplies between 85% and 95% of global demand for the 17 rare earth powders and metals used in high-tech applications such as smartphones, catalysts, LED screens and polishing.
- U.S. companies whose products incorporate rare earth materials would be at a competitive disadvantage if the Chinese were to impose a rare earth tariff.
I refer readers of this visionary article to the companies and applications that I discussed in that article, which I summarize in Table 1. Also, eight years earlier, on November 5, 2010, I wrote a Seeking Alpha article entitled, “How China's Rare Earth Embargo Impacts High Tech Companies,” and I refer readers to my discussion on applications for semiconductor companies.
Table 1 links several companies and the rare earth materials they use in their products. But there are many more applications, both high-tech and non-technical, which I list in Table 2. Any one of these applications will impact a company importing finished rare earth-based products from China.
Implementation of an embargo can weigh heavily on U.S. industries, as listed in Tables 1 and 2. This would not be the first time China limited exports of rare earth minerals. Back in 2010, Japan detained a Chinese fishing boat skipper whose trawler collided with two Japan Coast Guard ships near uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that both sides claimed.
An embargo of rare earth minerals by China restricted exports and resulted in skyrocketing prices. Shown in Chart 1 and 2 are prices for neodymium and cerium before, during and after the embargo, according to The Information Network’s report entitled, “Rare Earths Elements in High-Tech Industries: Market Analysis and Forecasts Amid China’s Trade Embargo.”
The U.S. has essentially no domestic production of rare earth minerals nor facilities to purify the minerals into metals. In 1998, the US National Defense Stockpile sold the entire strategic reserve of rare earths. The same year, the last U.S. producer of rare earth metals and alloys, Rhodia Incorporated, closed its processing facility in Texas and built a new one in Mongolia.
MP Materials, which runs the Mountain Pass rare earths mine, America’s sole rare earths mine, will kick-start its own processing operation by the end of 2020. MP exports pellets - ground-up ores that contain oxides of rare earth elements - to China for processing into neodymium, cerium and other elements used in magnets, electric vehicles, smartphones and a myriad of industrial applications and electronic products.
The deposits at Mountain Pass, discovered in 1949, contain cerium, lanthanum, neodymium and europium. It was exploited by Molycorp for more than half a century until the company filed for bankruptcy in 2015, as tight environmental laws in California made the processing of rare earths - a highly polluting and potentially radioactive process - commercially non-viable.
And therein lies the problem - there is one domestic supplier, and that company sends the minerals from the mine back to China for processing. Some activity is underway to establish refineries in North America. Defense Metals Corp., a British Columbia company, is aiming to bring a deposit of rare earths into production. A pilot refining plant is planned, but the company is funded only for the initial testing stages.
China was able to dramatically impact the REE prices because the country excavated more than 90 percent of rare earth elements produced in the world in 2010. Then, it acquired nearly all of the ability for processing the rare earth ore into end products.
These processing capabilities include:
- Separating the rare earth ore into individual rare earth oxides;
- Refining the rare earth oxides into metals with different purity levels;
- Forming the metals into rare earth alloys; and
- Manufacturing the alloys into components, such as permanent magnets, used in defense and commercial applications.
In other words, even if there are alternative sources of rare earth minerals mined in the U.S, there are no sizeable refineries for converting the rare earths from rock to separated elements. Currently, the only sizable producer of rare earth materials outside China is Lynas, an Australian mining and refining company that supplies around 12% of global output.
Rare Earths for Defense
Defense contractors BAE Systems (OTCPK:BAESY), Northrup Grumman (NOC), General Dynamics (GD) and Lockheed Martin (LMT) are among those that would be impacted by a rare earth embargo. According to Reuters, the U.S. Defense Department is seeking new federal funds to bolster domestic production of rare earth minerals and reduce dependence on China, recently submitting a Defense Production Act III rare earth mineral report to Congress.
Rare earth metals are used in commercial and defense applications. For example, the directional capabilities of precision-guided munitions in missiles and guided bombs rely on rare earth materials, as do lasers used in target interrogators, target designators and rangefinders. Rare earth materials are also found in electronic counter measures, coatings, optical equipment, as well as in the electrical systems in aircraft, which use samarium-cobalt permanent magnets to generate power.
Virginian-class nuclear-powered submarines each use 9,200 pounds of rare earth metals, while Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyers require about 5,200 lbs of rare earth metals - there are 66 destroyers in service and 14 either under construction or on order.
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighters each requires 920 lbs of rare earth metals - 380 have been built so far, and the total buy for the US alone is 2,663 aircraft, with Japan now about to order an additional 105 F-35s.
Much has happened since the Chinese rare earth embargo in 2010:
China has by far been the largest source of imported rare earths into the US for a number of years, totaling almost $92 million in 2018, according to the US International Trade Commission. But Japan, the U.S.’s second-largest source, contributed $23 million worth of imports in the same year. So, there are key suppliers of rare earth materials outside of China. Large Japanese companies Shin-Etsu, Hitachi Chemical and TDK (TTDYK) supply Nd magnets to customers in the U.S.
Secondly, there have been sources of rare earths in development outside China. Japan has discovered huge deposits of rare earth materials at Minamitori Island (Minami-Tori-shima), about 1,150 miles (1,850 km) southeast of Tokyo. The estimate of the Minamitori deposits indicates that there is enough yttrium to meet the global demand for 780 years, dysprosium for 730 years, europium for 620 years and terbium for 420 years. U.S. policymakers could seek a partnership with Japan in commercializing Minamitori’s rare earth resources and arranging assured supplies for defense and vital commercial applications.
Thirdly, the U.S. government appears to be placing trade restrictions based on security concerns, such as the Huawei ban. In 2016, and based on the embargo of 2010, the US Government Accountability Office, an independent, non-partisan agency, warned that China’s dominance “may pose risks to the continued availability” of rare earth materials for defense applications in the future. So, I am assuming that in the past three years, and certainly with this current administration for the past two years, the government has been stockpiling rare earth materials.
But one thing remains the same between 2010 and 2019 - rare earth price increases. Investors need to consider when playing the market that rare earth prices will rise. Already, prices have been rising just based on the rumor of a rare earth embargo. Chart 3 shows that on May 30, 2019, rare earth Dysprosium Oxide closed at $353.4/kilogram. On May 1, before the rumors came to light, Dy was trading at $246.5. That’s a 43% jump in one month and based on rumors alone.
Investors should invest in those companies in the rare earth supply chain. I refer readers to a list of stocks provided by Outsider Club.
Keep in mind that the high prices of rare earths will impact prices of items utilizing them. For example, the weight of rare earth in an EV is approximately 1 kg (2.2 lbs), meaning that the price of rare earths is approximately $150 per EV. If prices quadruple like they did in 2011, that increase would raise the EV price approximately $450, approximately 1% of the MSRP of the vehicle.
A savvy investor will recognize that HDDs contain Neodymium magnets, and cerium oxide is used as a slurry to polish glass disks inside the housing. As a result, HDD prices should rise, impacting Seagate Technology (STX) but benefiting NAND suppliers such as Micron Technology (MU), which makes memory chips that compete against HDDs.
Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.


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They are taking steps to further define their directions and, just as importantly, highlight their staying power. This is the time for retailers, wholesalers and suppliers to pay close attention and figure out where they fit in.
But first, a brief recap. The exchanges were launched with a flurry of announcements earlier this year. Their selling point is the ability to use the Internet to facilitate trading among distributors and suppliers. They promise to reduce procurement costs, cycle times and data entry errors, while enabling the auctioning of products.
Often they began without personnel, headquarters, technology providers or growth timetables. They include the WorldWide Retail Exchange and GlobalNetXchange on the retail side and Transora on the supplier end, with UCCNet waving the banner for industrywide standards.
Gradually top executives were named and more details of plans were unveiled. Now the exchanges are making their biggest strides to date, including the testing of their models through auctions.
They are also expanding membership bases. While the largest companies were the first to join, medium-sized players are now getting on board, confirming the industrywide nature of the initiatives. The WWRE, whose first members included industry giants Albertson's, Safeway and Ahold, recently signed on midsized operators Meijer, Wegmans and Winn-Dixie.
Exchanges are also reaching out with partnerships. Transora announced an alliance last month with UCCNet that ensures all trading partners are speaking the same language. GNX has a new arrangement with TradingProduce.com that represents an early step to outsourcing by the big exchanges.
But even as some questions are answered about the strategies of the big exchanges, many aspects of their directions remain a mystery. Industry executives I've talked to have a lot of questions. Exactly how much savings will exchanges provide and where will it come from? Will there eventually be a merger of the major exchanges?
What about the role of smaller retailers in this new equation? Some observers believe exchanges will help level the playing field for smaller retailers, who can get the benefits of scale in buying that result from the participation of the largest companies.
If that's true, how will wholesalers operate in an environment in which their retail customers can make major purchases without them?
All the uncertainty shouldn't discourage companies from following the developments and taking an active role. More industry involvement would help strengthen the efforts of these consortiums at a time when they are far behind the advanced state of Wal-Mart's exchange, Retail Link.
So far the membership growth for the major exchanges has been primarily momentum-driven. A company joins because it doesn't want to be left out of the game.
I like what Danny Wegman, president of Wegmans Food Markets, Rochester, N.Y., said about that momentum game recently. He urged the industry to educate itself about technology and consider the business benefits of joining an exchange rather than just doing it for competitive reasons.
It's an important point. Consortiums like WWRE, GNX and Transora seem like good concepts worth supporting. But first executives need to understand how these new entities operate and how they will play into their companies' strategies. There's never been a better time to pay close attention.


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Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav thinks consolidation is in the cards for streaming platforms, but not necessarily through traditional M&A. “There should be a consolidation, but it is more likely to happen in the repackaging and marketing of products together. That’s what I think makes sense. We have to, as industry, reach that point,” he said during a Q&A at a media conference today.
Mergers carry regulatory risks and can take years to close. In a fast-changing industry, “Who knows what the world looks like?”
More from Deadline
His comments at the MoffettNathanson event come as WBD prepares to launch Max next week, a combo of HBO Max – that name will disappear — and Discovery+ content. Disney last week announced plans to combine Disney+ and Hulu in one app. Executives fighting to attract new subscribers and reduce churn all agree that bundling really helps. Yet overall the streaming environment remains fragmented for viewers.
“It seems very clear that if we were to package this great product that we have with others, we would wake up tomorrow, and in each market, if we are the number one, or two, or three product, if we were marketing with the number two or three for a specific price it would be great for consumers. It would probably reduce churn. We would [all] be marketing one product. And it would provide a meaningful consumer experience.”
He sees that happening in one of two ways. “We could do it — the content owners in markets or, more broadly, across regions, could do it. Whether we do it this year or in three years. I think something like this will eventually happen.
“If we don’t do it to ourselves, I think it will be done to us. It will be Amazon who does it, or Apple who does it, or Roku who does it. They’ve already started,” he said.
Of course, a great bundling of streaming services would face some thorny questions. If the streaming bundle replicates the pay-TV one, wouldn’t the result be yet more fights over carriage fees and resulting blackouts hitting consumers? Would the new package need to be structured as a joint venture and, if so, how would it surmount the challenges that doom most JVs? In addition to money, there’s the issue of data. Having spent years and spent billions to try to tap into their consumers in a way the traditional pay-TV ecosystem has allowed, how will companies retain those insights?
Media companies are looking to trim content spend, or reallocate it, and turn streaming red ink into profits, all on a slightly different timetable. Most have said 2023 reps the year of peak losses. For WBD, streaming was already a bright spot in the first quarter, with a positive $50 million in ebidta (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). Zaslav called it a “meaningful turn” and said streaming would be profitable for full-year 2023, a year earlier than anticipated.
Dade Hayes contributed to this story
Best of Deadline


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A New NFT Venture Has an Innovative Idea: Make Buyers Prove They Know Something About an Artist Before They Bid
Xin Li-Cohen, dubbed Christie's 'secret weapon,' is co-founder of TR Lab. Artists including Cai Guo Qiang are on board.
Amid the explosion of NFT initiatives of the last year looking to cash in on the crypto-art craze, how do you stand out? The six-month-old TR Lab (for the Latin term “tabula rasa” or blank slate) thinks it has the answer, with a considered mix of newbie artists and seasoned art-world stars, a focus on measures to build real community—and, above all, a powerhouse leadership team.
For more than a decade, former model and basketball player Xin Li-Cohen has been a rainmaker at Christie’s, advising and bidding for contemporary art collectors including some of the top buyers in Asia. In a 2014 profile, the Wall Street Journal dubbed her the auction house’s “secret weapon.” Now, she serves as both co-founder and chairwoman of TR Lab (she is also maintaining her responsibilities at Christie’s under the slightly modified title of non-executive deputy chairman).
TR Lab’s other founder and CEO is Audrey Ou, a New York-based specialist who has worked closely with the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai, founded by her parents in 2010. Ou worked on solo shows of artists there, including one dedicated to Cai Guo Qiang. She’s also a member of the Guggenheim Museum’s Young Collectors and Asian Art committees.
Both Li-Cohen and Ou told Artnet News that becoming acquainted with the crypto-art field had involved curiosity, research, and a lot of time spent on both Twitter and Discord, learning both to speak the NFT lingo and to explain it to others in layman’s terms.
“Even in February I didn’t really know anything about NFTs,” said Ou. “So it has really been a crazy learning curve. I’m always asking questions.”
Li-Cohen added that “everything changed” after Christie’s sold Beeple’s Everydays for $69 million last March. Ever since, she has been focused on the fast-growing NFT space.
“When we were preparing for the [Beeple] sale, I was really interested in the innovation around it,” said Li-Cohen. “I also love building something new.” She says that she has also been fielding a plethora of NFT-related inquiries from clients, even more traditional ones.
TR Lab was incubated by Dragonfly capital, a high-profile cryptocurrency fund based in China that wanted to invest specifically in art NFTs, as well as to reach more Chinese collectors. When Dragonfly had trouble finding a team that they felt were “properly equipped” to do so, Ou recounts, they approached the Rockbund museum. (Other backer/partners of the venture include Artsy, the art commerce website, and Art021, the Shanghai contemporary art fair.)
One of the site’s first drops, in July, was Chinese art star Cai Guo Qiang’s first-ever NFT, a unique or “one of one” work, titled Transient Eternity-101 Ignitions of Gunpowder Painting. It was commissioned by the Rockbund for its 10th anniversary charity auction and sold for $2.5 million on the TR Lab platform after a 48-hour offering. Cai has more drops planned for this year.
Meanwhile, TR Lab is also backing AI2041, an ongoing multi-artist and cross-medium collaboration between authors and artists that has a new drop each week. The grand finale of the project will be a drop this month featuring well-known A.I. artist Refik Anadol.
Behind their strategy is a feeling that fatigue has already set in with the available NFT collecting models. “Our thesis is that collectors are looking for something curated and new…,” Ou explained. “This can be taken in a lot of different ways, whether it’s innovative drop mechanics or innovative community involvement and benefits.”
In the case of artists who are new to NFTs, TR Lab helps with the process from start to finish, including an in-house digital support production studio. It was support from the platform that helped Cai turn a meditation on time into his first NFT, notes Ou.
Even where experienced digital artists are concerned, she noted, “they are finding it tough to work with different platforms and maintain scarcity.”
As for the community component, TR Lab organizes weekly AMA (“ask me anything”) events between its artists and WHALE, a popular NFT collecting community created by a major Hong Kong-based collector who goes by the name WhaleShark. It has some 20,000 people on its Discord site.
Another innovative measure undertaken by TR Lab is a bidding intake application form known as a “white sheet,” aimed at weeding out bots, or robots.
“We really try our best to make sure that the artworks are going into the hands of collectors who appreciate the pieces and are not just bots who are trying to flip it on the secondary market,” says Ou. “You can only successfully apply to be a part of the white list if you answer all the questions about the artist, their background and previous works.”
Observers of the scene are taking note. “You can see that the leadership team has a lot of experience in the traditional art world,” said Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile, a top NFT collector who has bought and sold major NFTs, including Beeple’s Crossroads for $6.6 million. “They know how the system works.”
He also praised the TR Lab’s white sheet. “It’s sort of like a test… I find that fascinating. It’s very, very smart.”
What’s next? Li-Cohen says that the TR Lab team is focused on creating a combination of physical and virtual experiences that “bridge the traditional art world and the digital art world.” One recent event was a virtual studio visit where roughly 100 people observed and asked questions about the process of Cai’s gunpowder paintings.
“We want to create [a sense of] community and give experiences that no other platform would provide,” she says. So far so good.
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Crypto exchange Coinbase is stopping the issuance of new loans through its Borrow service, a product that allowed certain United States customers to post crypto as collateral to receive a cash loan.
In an email sent to Coinbase Borrow customers on May 3 that was shared by recipients on Twitter, the exchange said — without providing a reason — that from May 10, customers wouldn’t be able to take out new loans using Coinbase Borrow.
It added that there would be no impact on outstanding loans, and customers did not need to take any further action.
Coinbase has not publicly addressed why it was closing Borrow. A Coinbase spokesperson told Cointelegraph:
“We regularly evaluate our products to ensure we’re prioritizing the offerings that our customers care about most.”
The service allowed users to borrow from the exchange against up to 40% of their Bitcoin (BTC) holdings, with a $1 million limit. It required no credit check, with users paying a nearly 9% annual percentage rate for the service.
The announcement is in the backdrop of a regulatory scuffle between Coinbase and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which sent the exchange a Wells notice in March that the exchange said was in relation to “possible violations of securities laws.”
Related: Coinbase officers, board members face suit over alleged insider trading during listing
The email to users also precedes its first quarter results announcement, which is expected on May 4.
Investment analysts from Citi downgraded Coinbase shares from “buy” to “neutral” ahead of the exchange’s Q1 earnings. Analysts from Mizuho also reportedly maintained its “underperform” rating on Coinbase, saying its “fundamentals remain weak,” citing lower average daily trading volumes.
Earlier this week, amid an apparent crackdown on crypto firms in the U.S., Coinbase decided to take its exchange global, launching the Coinbase International Exchange derivatives trading platform on May 2.
Magazine: Whatever happened to EOS? Community shoots for unlikely comeback


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Apple has been in the process of discontinuing iTunes for almost five years. It’s a process that is still ongoing with Windows PCs today. Starting today, Apple Music and Apple TV apps on Windows are no longer in a preview state. iTunes, however, still has a role on the platform. Separately, Apple has redesigned the iCloud for Windows app experience.
iCloud for Windows
Let’s start with the newly designed iCloud for Windows. The new look is meant to make it more clear where to access it on a PC. It also focuses on making it clearer what content syncs with devices.
Apple has also introduced a new onboarding process while including a progress indicator for syncing content with iCloud. Other key changes include improved sync performance with Microsoft Photos, physical security key support for Apple ID, and perhaps most importantly, fewer sign-in prompts.
The other big step today is that Apple has taken Apple Music and Apple TV for Windows out of preview status. This continues the transition from the all-encompassing iTunes for Windows app to separate apps for each service (like the Mac already has).
While the Mac has Finder for device syncing, Windows has Apple’s Devices app. It’s officially joined by Apple Music and Apple TV as those apps exit preview status. Then there’s a fourth app… iTunes.
While much functionality is being removed from iTunes for Windows, the legacy app will still have a purpose on PCs. Namely, playing podcasts and audiobooks. No word on whether or not Apple plans proper Podcasts and Books apps for Windows.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.


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It also looks totally wild
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The camera lens manufacturers at Venus Optics have just launched their latest creation: a foot-long, skinny camera lens that’s meant to give you a macro view of the tiniest parts of the world.
这 Laowa 24mm f/14 2x Macro Probe was developed to give photographers and videographers a “new perspective” and remove traditional barriers that come with using macro lenses. Traditional macro lenses aren’t a foot long, meaning that photographers need to get super close to their subject. This design allows photographers to get those clear, crisp, and close-up shots from a distance and fit their lens in tinier spaces. This is great for shooting wildlife, like tiny bugs or quick-moving animals that might be scared off if a bigger, bulkier camera gets too close.
The lens’s 24mm focal length is also meant to give a wide “bug’s-eye view” that provides more background detail. This combination of features, according to Venus Optics, offers a point of view that no other lens on the market can provide. The company also says the lens’s skinny size means it blocks out less incoming light than a traditional barrel lens would. And for extra brightness, there’s a USB-powered ring-style LED light on its tip.
The lens is being offered with adapters for Canon EF, Nikon F, and Sony FE mounts, as well as Arri PL.
Right now, the lens is being supported through a Kickstarter campaign, similar to the successful campaign that the camera lens manufacturer ran back in 2016. Though this bug’s-eye lens isn’t available for wide release (yet), some of the lucky backers are supposed to start getting their Laowa lenses by October 2018. When it’s on shelves, it’ll retail for about $1,500 USD, according to the site, but advanced backers can get it for just under $1,300 USD.


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Exclusive: Tibco CEO Vivek Ranadive Talks Valuation; Takeout Rumor Swirling
Tibco (NASDAQ: TIBX) trades at a discount to many of its direct competitors, despite being one of the few profitable players in the space.
In an exclusive interview with Benzinga, Tibco CEO Vivek Ranadive recently discussed how Tibco’s value differs from what the market is currently assigning. In previous interviews, Ranadive has called shares at $20 the best buying opportunity since the stock was trading at $5.
“I think that clearly there is a huge discrepancy in valuation,” stated Ranadive. Ranadive specifically noted Tableau (NYSE: DATA), the biggest competitor to Tibco’s primary growth engine, Spotfire. Tableau’s price-to-sales and PE ratios are 11.7 and 2,084. Tibco, on the other hand, trades at just 3.1 times sales and 40.2 times earnings.
The CEO further emphasised that the discrepancy in valuation exists, although most competitors "have never made a profit and it appears unlikely that they will." Tableau reported 82 percent sales growth in the most recent quarter, but was unprofitable. Tibco’s revenue increased 2.6 percent during the same quarter.
Wall Street is concerned that Tibco’s competitors are not making money, according to Ranadive.
"If Wall Street stops funding them, then what happens to them? It's starting to become a sales advantage for us."
Ranadive said the only advantage Tableau has over Tibco is that its software is easier to consume, an advantage Tibco is attempting to eliminate by rebuilding its sales process.
He concluded by commenting on the company’s success.
“Our focus has always been on growing and being profitable. Over the last 10 years our revenues have grown four fold, and our profits have grown 10 fold.”
Dow Jones reported Wednesday that Tibco has reached out to both strategic and financial buyers.
Dow Jones reporting that $TIBX, the ONE green flag on Reality Check, has reached out to potential suitors. Makes sense!
— Herb Greenberg (@herbgreenberg) August 6, 2014
Benzinga is waiting to hear back from the company for comment.
Shares of Tibco were last trading 10.10 percent higher at $21.25 on the news.
© 2017 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.


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Brno-based software developer Kentico has raised CZK 1.5bn from
Expedition Growth Capital. Roughly CZK 1bn will go to the newly spun-off
company Kontent.ai, the rest may go to Kentico within a year.
Kontent.ai plans to use the investment to strengthen its teams, with
staff numbers rising to 220 from 120. It plans to recruit product
specialists from among developers and designers in the Czech Republic.
It will strengthen sales and marketing in New York, Amsterdam, and
London. Kentico plans to hire more than 60 people and increase
investment in development and product innovation, including in its new
cloud platform Xperience. It plans to use the promised investment to
grow in the US and Western European markets over the next 12 months.
Kontent.ai was created as an internal startup, the independence
associated with the billion-dollar investment follows the previous split
of Kentico into two product divisions. Kentico will be led by Dominik
Pintér and Kontent.ai by Bart Omlo. Current CEO and founder Petr Palas
will serve as Chairman of the Board of both companies. (Source: www.cianews.cz/en)


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Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996 and now aged 22-37) make up one-quarter of Latin America's total population and represent 24% of the region's total spend on fast-moving-consumer-goods – equivalent to US$30bn, according to Kantar Worldpanel's recently published report Demystifying Millennial Families.
So, does this generation present promise for those in the health and nutrition space?
“LATAM millennials connect with sustainability, health and wellness and should be an opportunity for manufacturers,” said Cecilia Alva, clients and new business director for LATAM at Kantar Worldpanel and author of the report.
But, Alva told NutraIngredients-LATAM that targeting this generation required a solid marketing approach.
“Build a 360 degree strategy to grow with millennials in the long-term: they are mobile, they connect with brands online, they seek for better health and nutrition options. Engage with them today to be relevant also in five or 10 years.”
Importantly, she said industry should build connections through “providing [millennials] options covering different occasions” through developing a portfolio of brand tiers, packs and retail environments.
What's new? 84% of LATAM millennials now have kids
Within all this, Alva said it was critical industry understood how millennials had evolved in recent years. Millennials were once known as the super-connected, carefree and self-centered generation – assumptions that had driven marketing decisions for years, she said, but times had changed.
The majority of millennials in Latin America now had children (84%), 42% had up to five kids, and a significant number were under financial pressure, with just 27% working full-time and 49% out of work, according to Kantar Worldpanel.
All of this, Alva said, “definitely” impacted their spending on health and nutrition products but also the types of products they prioritized.
“Millennials with children are tight on budget, as most young families tend to be at that life stage. So, they would be open to prioritize healthier options when its positive impact is proven and immediate for children. Many times, it will require a de-prioritization of other budget destinations,” she explained.
Budgeting was important for a large number of millennials in Latin America, Alva said, given 66% were low-income and more likely to be large families with just one working parent. For example, 58% of women did not have a paid job in low-income millennial families.
“Within the millennial group, there are clear differences between high-income families and low-income families which have a significant impact on their consumption habits and shopping behavior,” she said.
Categories prioritized by low-income millennials, she said, largely centered around their children, for example, with diapers, powdered milk, snacks, biscuits and bread making up 15% of their spend. High-income shoppers by contrast could afford to be more indulgent, she said, prioritizing UHT milk, beer, yogurt, pet food and cheese.
The 'clearer' high-income opportunity
High-income millennial families in Latin America represented just 34% of the total millennial population in the region and were less likely to have kids or tended to have smaller families made up of one or two people.
Alva said it was this smaller millennial group that presented the “clearer opportunity” for dietary supplement and functional food and beverage companies. “Health and nutrition is relevant to them,” she said.
E-commerce could be one platform to target this sub-group and other millennials, she said, given Latin America millennials led engagement in this space. Although she added that associated delivery costs and poor promotional offers versus those available in brick and mortar could restrict traction.


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Australia-based casino slot machine maker Ainsworth Game Technology Ltd said it had launched its new A600 cabinet at the Australasian Gaming Expo (AGE). The trade show began in Sydney on Tuesday and runs until Thursday.
Ainsworth’s new cabinet includes dual 24-inch (61-centimetre), high-definition liquid crystal display (LCD) screens, the company stated in a filing to the Australian Securities Exchange. The product additionally features a mechanical, programmable touchscreen using either organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology or an LCD format.
The firm said the unit also has a modular internal design to make it easier to service, and is “future technologies compatible”.
The new A600 cabinet has received regulatory approval in both New South Wales and Queensland, the company added.
Danny Gladstone, chief executive of Ainsworth, described the A600 as “Ainsworth at its best”. “A focus on research and development enables us to drive machine innovation to deliver our customers the finest gaming experience possible,” added Mr Gladstone.
The company will report its full-year 2015 results after market close on August 18.
Apr 23, 2021Macau casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd says its Cotai property, the HKD39-billion (US$5-billion) Grand Lisboa Palace (pictured), has now passed the government’s “final inspections”. The...
Apr 22, 2021
”The [VIP and premium-mass] segments are following very different trajectories, and we would expect that to continue for the time being”
Chief operating officer of Macau casino operator Sands China


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Beginning in 2011, a patent troll named Innovatio IP Ventures, LLP, began a massive shakedown campaign. Armed with some patents purchased from Broadcom, Innovatio sent thousands of letters targeting hotels and cafes that provide Wi-Fi for customers. The troll demanded as much as $2,500 per location. Router manufacturer Cisco stepped in to defend its customers and yesterday settled with Innovatio for just 3.2 cents a unit. The settlement counts as a victory. But we still need reform to stop the next abusive troll.
The Innovatio story illustrates just about everything wrong with today’s patent system. It is a classic patent troll whose entire business model is to buy patents and sue. Even worse, rather than sue manufacturers, Innovatio targeted end-users that had simply purchased off-the-shelf routers. Many of these end-users, like mom and pop coffee shops, lack the resources to defend against an expensive patent suit. As a result, the cost of litigation, and not the value of the patents, drives settlement – a hallmark of lawsuit abuse.
If that sounds bad, it gets worse. Many of the largest chip makers (such as Broadcom) retained licenses to Innovatio’s patents. So a café with a router containing a Wi-Fi chip from one of those companies was already protected by a license (this is known as patent exhaustion). Of course, Innovatio did not tell its targets that they might already be protected. Frankly, that is deceptive conduct.
And if that sounds bad, it gets worse still. All of Innovatio’s patents were subject to FRAND promises. These are important promises companies make to license patents—usually patents relating to industry standards like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth—on “Fair, Reasonable, And Non-Discriminatory” terms. A judge recently ruled that even if its patents were valid and infringed, Innovatio would, at most, be entitled to a FRAND royalty of 9.56 cents per device. Recall that Innovatio was demanding as much as $2,500 per location (like a café with a Wi-Fi router). To give you an idea of just how extortionate this demand was, Innovatio’s markup was the equivalent of charging $120,000 for a Big Mac.
When it began fighting back, Cisco took the unusual step of bringing civil RICO (fraud and racketeering) claims against Innovatio. The judge rejected those claims. We believe that Cisco did plead facts establishing a campaign of fraud (such as Innovatio sending demand letters to targets protected by a license and failing to disclose that some of its patents had expired). Fortunately, Cisco continued to fight until it secured a settlement much lower than the billions Innovatio claimed to be entitled to.
Without seeing the Cisco settlement, it is difficult to know if Innovatio will continue its campaign against businesses using non-Cisco routers. If Innovatio continues to breach its FRAND commitments by demanding thousands of dollars per location, we hope that the Federal Trade Commission or state attorneys general will consider taking action against it.
Unfortunately, Innovatio is just one part of a disturbing trend of trolls targeting end-users. Each of these trolls is imposing a massive tax on productive businesses (Cisco spent $13 million on legal fees in just this case). Copycat trolls, such as Innovative Wireless Solutions, LLC, are adopting the same tactic of sending letters to businesses that provide Wi-Fi. We urgently need reform from Congress and the courts to slow down the trolls, protect end-users, and defend innovation.


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Moscow, Ankara ‘to discuss Russian grain supplies to Turkey’
REUTERS photoRussian and Turkish economy ministries plan to hold consultations on Russian grain supplies to Turkey soon, Russia’s RIA news agency cited Russian Deputy Economy Minister Alexei Gruzdev as saying, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on March 29.
“We expect consultations to be held soon, where we will talk on how we interact further,” Gruzdev said.
“We do not consider the issue closed as we do not have any notification from Turkish authorities on how these decisions will be specifically implemented,” he added, as quoted by Anadolu Agency.
Turkey put purchases of wheat, maize and sunflower from Russia on hold earlier in March.
Ankara officially denies it has imposed any bans on imports from Moscow.
The Russian Agriculture Ministry reportedly received official information about the new import duties for agricultural imports. Russia and some other countries were claimed not on the list of states with duty-free imports that can deliver commodities for further processing and export free of payment of the duty amounting to 130 percent.


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Sony may have managed to keep The Last of Us a secret (well mostly), but Konami haven’t been so fortunate. The trailer for Metal Gear Rising (Solid has been dropped) has been leaked online, showing Platinum Games as the developer.
Originally leaked onto YouTube, the video has already been taken down, but backups are being kept on NeoGAF, and we have a copy of the trailer below. The trailer, which is 3 minutes long and in-engine, looks a lot more like an actual game than past footage that looked like a tech demo. The big reveal of the trailer is that the game is now in development by Bayonetta and Vanquish studio Platinum Games. The trailer shows a game unlike any previous Metal Gears, and definitely looks influenced by Bayonetta.
Stick to PSLS as we’ll bring you more coverage of the VGAs as it nears.


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Dry ingredients are being used as edible ink to “print” foods like chocolate and pasta, as just one of the far-out developments emerging from food-related experimentation; others include “in-vitro meat” and a plant that grows both tomatoes and potatoes.
A report by ABC News on “Five Trends of the Future That Are Already Here” highlighted these developments from food-related technological experimentation:
- Several companies are already experimenting with using three-dimensional printing technology to “print” foods like chocolate and pasta, by mixing together one or two dry ingredients to use as a sort of edible ink. One new device, the “Foodini,” takes 3-D food printing a leap forward, ABC News reported, by using stainless-steel capsules packed with fresh edible elements that it then “prints” out into a wide variety of dishes, including everything from juicy burgers to tasty dips to luscious desserts.
Right now, the Foodini only prints up the precooked version of a meal and it then has to be cooked, ABC News reported. But future models will have the ability to print up exactly what consumers crave, fully cooked and ready to eat.
Scientists hope 3D-printed edibles have the potential to revolutionize space travel, ABC News reported. NASA has awarded a Small Business Innovation Research contract to Systems and Materials Research Consultancy, based in Austin, Texas, to study the possibility of printing food for space travel.
This would help to solve the long-standing problem of how to feed astronauts after a long flight to say, Mars. It could be that the first humans to set foot on the red planet would celebrate by printing up a cake, ABC News suggested.
- Earlier this year, Dutch scientists grew hamburger from the muscle tissue of a cow and invited journalists into the lab for a taste test, ABC News reported. Reviews were mixed, but the science behind lab-grown meat is still in the embryonic stage. If perfected, it could end the suffering of farm animals and help fight world hunger, ABC News noted.
Beyond the yuck factor, cost and time are also major stumbling blocks for the technology. The test-tube burger took two years and $325,000 to create, ABC News reported.
Undeterred, however, the Next Nature Foundation posted the In-Vitro Meat Cookbook on the fundraising site Indiegogo. Among the questions the cookbook hopes to answer, ABC News reported, would be the one of “Is lab-grown meat kosher?”
- What would you call a plant that grows tomatoes up top and potatoes down below? A pomato? A tompato? The breeder of just such a plant, British seed catalog Thompson & Morgan, has settled on the name TomTato, ABC News reported.
The multitasking plant is not genetically engineered in the modern sense of the word. Instead, it’s a hybrid made by grafting the two plants together, the cataloger explained in a statement.
Normally, this is a difficult horticultural feat to pull off, but it’s possible in this case because the tomato and potato are closely related and share enough genetic traits to happily cohabitate on the same stem, ABC News reported.
The ketchup-and-fries potted plant will only be sold in the U.K. for now. It’s an annual, which means growers must buy new seedlings every year. A similar plant called the Potato Tom is available in New Zealand.
- Molecular Gastronomy is another culinary trend that borrows techniques from the science lab. By cooking with a pinch of physics and a dash of chemistry, chefs can transform the tastes and textures of food, ABC News reported.
For example, apple caviar can be whipped up by using a method called basic spherification. This involves submerging apple juice that has been mixed with the chemical sodium alginate into a bath of calcium to form a sphere. The juice transforms into tiny balls with thin, barely detectable membranes that burst in one’s mouth like fish eggs when it’s bitten into.
Molecular gastronomy has led to some pretty interesting ideas, ABC News noted. For example, one scientist has whipped up a kind of water bottle that surrounds the water with an edible bubble. Once perfected, it could eliminate the waste from plastic water bottles.
- Rob Rhinehart, the Chief Operating Officer of Soylent, notes that many people find food preparation boring and expensive, ABC News reported. His answer is his company’s 33-ingredient, grayish-colored liquid supplement designed to provide all the essential nutrients. And it can be customized for preferences, allergies and disease management.
It’s possible to subsist on Soylent exclusively, Rhinehart said, but most of the testers who tried it drank it for breakfast and lunch, then had a regular meal for dinner. Because it is classified as a supplement rather than food, it is not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The company has 1.5 million pre-orders, and the product ships in January, ABC News reported.
Because production is relatively inexpensive and scalable, Rhinehart said, Soylent is more than just a convenience; it has the potential to help solve the food crisis in the developing world.
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khaskhabar.com : Tuesday, January 11, 2022 4:36 PM
San Francisco. Developers selling digital goods and services on the Apple App Store have made over $260 billion since the App Store’s launch in 2008, and in 2021 alone, the tech giant paid out a record $60 billion to developers Is. In 2020, Apple said it had paid $200 billion to App Store developers so far.
Apple said in a statement late Monday that the App Store’s global platform connects businesses of all sizes with more than 600 million people every week in 175 countries.
Developers have generated more than $260 billion in sales of digital goods and services since the launch of the App Store in 2008.
“This significant number sets a new annual record for App Store developer earnings, while representing only a small portion of the overall commerce of App Store conveniences, how the ecosystem continues to create opportunities,” the company said. and serves as a worldwide meaningful drive to economic expansion for nearby entrepreneurs.”
This holiday season alone, App Store customers spent more than ever between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, registering double-digit growth compared to last year.
Apple Music now offers listeners one of the largest music catalogs of all time, with more than 90 million songs all available in lossless audio, so fans can listen to music the same way, the company said. Artists made it from.
Apple has announced that “in just two years, Apple TV Plus has made streaming history by achieving major milestones in a short span of time. Apple TV Plus has been awarded 763 award nominations and 190 wins, including Academy Awards and BAFTA Award nominations, including 12 Primetime Emmy Awards.
Last year, Apple Arcade’s library of award-winning games saw the largest expansion ever, now offering more than 200 premium, family-friendly games, including new releases from the world’s best developers.
Apple News remains the number one news app in all markets where it is available.
In 2021, Apple News launched local news experiences in six additional cities—Charlotte, Miami, Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego and Washington, D.C., and introduced the hugely popular “Read Local” collection, which delivers local publications to a national audience every week. Encourages you to connect with the best stories of.
In the annual roundup, the company said that Apple One Individual and Apple One Family are available in more than 100 countries and territories, while Apple One Premier is now available in more than 20 countries and territories after expanding to 17 new markets last year.
Apple said, “With Family Sharing, Apple One Family and Apple One Premier customers can share access to each service among up to five family members.
read this also – Click to read the news of your state / city before the newspaper


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Limited to hire 2,000 for holidays
Six-month stints could lead to permanent job
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Limited Brands has already started its holiday wish list, and it’s topped with new employees.
The Columbus-based retailer, parent of chains such as Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, plans to hire nearly 2,000 seasonal employees to work primarily at the company’s Reynoldsburg distribution centers.The company’s hiring plans are slightly stronger than a year ago, providing “an early indicator that hiring might be up” nationally, said Ellen Davis of the National Retail Federation.
“It’s a better economy now than this time last year,” said Bill Lafayette, owner of Columbus-based economics consultants Regionomics. “We’re growing — slowly, but we’re certainly growing, nationally and locally. And, locally, we’re doing better than the national average.”
The increased hiring plan follows surveys showing that holiday sales will be just a bit better than last year, said Pam Goodfellow of Worthington-based research firm BIGinsight.
“It’s cautiously, slightly optimistic, given that it is so early,” Goodfellow said. “But compared to the past couple of years, it is looking a little bit better.”
The best bet for more spending comes “among the younger generation,” she said. “We do see optimistic trends in spending among younger ages.”
While 28.1 percent admitted that it was too early to tell how much they would spend during the holidays, 10.2 percent say they’ll spend more this year than last year. That’s up from 6.5 percent who said the same thing last year, Goodfellow said.
Other retailers in the area have yet to announce seasonal hiring, so it might seem early for Limited Brands to be hiring holiday-season workers. But the timing makes sense, Davis said.
“There is a myth among a lot of people that the holiday hiring season gets under way after Thanksgiving,” she said. “But retailers really want their temporary staff in place by October so that they’re trained and ready. As the holiday season gets earlier every year, it stands to reason that retailers need more seasonal support earlier.”
The seasonal positions that Limited Brands is seeking to fill include merchandise handler and merchandise processor, according to listings on the company’s website.
“If you’re looking for a seasonal job, retail is clearly a good place to look,” Lafayette said. “ But there are other places to look, as well. This shows that it’s also distribution and all the support services that you might need toward the end of the year as you’re getting product out for the holidays.”
The full-time jobs, which have a six-month term, could lead to permanent employment, Limited Brands officials said.
People interested may apply at www.limitedbrands.jobs. Hiring will conclude on Dec.2, the company said.


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- Green Growth
- Your Consultant
11:19 | 21/12/2019
As the world modernises at a mindboggling pace, more and more companies are switching to blockchain technology.
07:00 | 01/10/2019
Vietnam's industrial future requires close collaboration among industry sectors, the government, and the educational sector. Tindaro Danze, head of digital industries and vice president of ...
13:00 | 28/08/2019
In the context of foreign products occupying the domestic market, it is necessary for Vietnamese enterprises to increase their competitiveness and create trust for their ...
17:13 | 20/08/2019
Blockchain technology can be used in many different fields of modern economics, especially banking activities, banking expert Can Van Luc has said.
07:11 | 02/07/2019
The East Asia Blockchain Summit 2019 held by Vietnamese startup KardiaChain has made waves in Vietnam’s blockchain communities.
10:00 | 22/06/2019
A fair and efficient supply chain plays an important role in the development of any sector. Quan Le, founder of Binkabi.io, provided an insight on ...
10:00 | 06/06/2019
As Vietnam has posted impressive development in the realm of blockchain technology over the last two years, future applications into financial technology and property will ...
08:00 | 01/04/2019
Matthew Kuan, solutions marketing director for Fortinet in the Asia-Pacific, told VIR about securing the future of blockchain in the region, including Vietnam.
14:00 | 01/03/2019
Vietnamese blockchain startup Tomochain is gunning to grow into Coinmarketcap’s top 100 cryptocurrencies by the end of this year.
09:00 | 10/02/2019
In healthcare, tremendous amounts of data are generated by medical documentation, regulatory requirements, and patient care.


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The lockdown rules in England are set to change on Monday.
The easing of rules means people will be able to meet outside in groups of up to a maximum of six - or with one other household.
Separate households still need to observe social distancing.
But the two households (or six individuals) can meet in public outdoor spaces and gardens.
Indoor mixing will still be banned, meaning supermarket shoppers will not be able to visit with anyone outside their household or bubble.
Several supermarkets will also continue to ask shoppers to shop alone where possible.
Here are all the rules shoppers need to know about, according to the Express :
To help more people in store at times that are quieter or more convenient, the supermarket has extended many of its stores' opening hours, although the majority remain closed overnight.
At the time of writing, Tesco is also still asking customers to shop alone.
Its website explained: “Please shop alone unless you’re a carer or with children. We also encourage you to shop only when you need to, in line with Government guidance to stay at home.”
The retailer continues to limit the number of people in stores and queues likely at peak times.
Those who are not wearing face coverings are also not allowed in store and Tesco asks shoppers to make sure they are wearing them correctly.
Tesco also has a traffic light system at more than 1,3000 stores which will light up green when customers can enter the store and light up red when they must wait outside.
Like other supermarkets, Asda is limiting the number of customers in store at any one time which means there may be queues outside at peak times.
Additional hand sanitising stations have been placed at store entrances and the supermarket has put antimicrobial handles to both trolleys and baskets.
The website explained: “Keeping our customers and colleagues safe has been our priority throughout and this remains unchanged as social distancing measures are gradually eased.”
Some of its stores are now open 24 hours to help customers shop at quieter times and customers are encouraged to only shop when they need to.
Like other supermarkets, those who are not wearing face masks without a medical exemption will not be allowed in store.
Aldi was also one of the first retailers to introduce a traffic light system and queues are likely to build up at peak times.
The discount supermarket is still asking customers to shop alone and adhere to its one shopper, one trolley rule.
Aldi said: “Our shelves are well stocked throughout the day. Our busiest time is between 11am-3pm, so by extending our hours you have more time to shop safely.”
The supermarket has also extended its click and collect service as well as being available on Deliveroo.
Sainsbury’s has said that they are challenging anyone who isn’t shopping alone.
Its website said: ”To help manage the number of customers in our stores you must also shop on your own, this will help make your shop quicker.
“We will also challenge customers who are shopping in groups.”
This continues to help the flow of shoppers in-and-out of the supermarket due to Sainsbury’s significantly reducing the number of customers inside at any one time to ensure social distancing is maintained.
During busier times of the day, queues are likely to build up at Sainsbury’s stores and the supermarket asks customers to queue at a safe distance of two metres apart.
For those who don’t want to go to store, Sainsbury’s is now accepting new customer registrations online for home delivery and click and collect slots.


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FORT DODGE, Iowa — The iconic Crossroads Mall in Fort Dodge will soon be no more. The city is working on a development to remove most of the mall and replace it with a $90 million Corridor Plaza project.
“We are working with ATI group on looking at how we recruit retailers and restaurants to the site,“ said Chad Schaffer, the Economic Development Director for Fort Dodge. “There will be multiple strip centers looking at multiple restaurants, retailers, that kind of fits in with the entertainment component of this whole project.”
The goal, said Schaffer, is to create a place that would draw people to Fort Dodge. The large pavilion will host events during the winter and summer which could bring people to town.
“From a strategic planning standpoint, the Council has really directed staff to, to look at your how do we attract tourists to Fort Dodge and Webster County and we bring in folks from a workforce standpoint,” said Schaffer. “How do we bring those, those young folks, those young families to Fort Dodge?”
The current Crossroads mall has two tenants: a restaurant and a store called Shoe Sensation. It is the last store open inside the mall. Others have ceased business or found new quarters.
“Some days it’s wonderful some days it’s kind of creepy but it’s fun, we have a ball, customers come in and they’re fascinated by the fact that we are the last standing store,” said Laura Lloyd, the Shoe Sensation Assistant Manager, “With the construction going on, it’s throwing some of the traffic off, but we do do a fair amount of business.”


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After just a year on the market, Amazon’s most powerful Echo has gotten a makeover.
Last month, Amazon unveiled the redesigned Echo Plus, a $150 smart speaker that also works as a smart-home hub. It has a whole new look and feel, and some updated insides, too.
The device is one of Amazon’s most expensive Echo products, and it’s only a year old. The first-generation model – which Amazon unveiled alongside the redesigned Echo last year – has since been replaced in Amazon’s product lineup by the new and improved Echo Plus.
So whether you’re considering an Echo Plus for the first time, or are considering replacing the one you already have, here’s how the new Echo Plus compares to the previous version.
Source: Business Insider
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In the past, companies have approached human rights issues through their corporate social responsibility (CSR). This, however, gave them the freedom to choose which initiatives to undertake. As a result, many companies violated human rights, while hiding under the cover of CSR. But as Mercy Mutemi, a digital rights lawyer of MS law, the business models are problematic, to begin with.
Speaking at our webinar on Business and Human rights, she reiterated that businesses are supposed to think of the rights they are going to violate before they even start a business, not the other way round. She was joined by other panellists, Liz Orembo, a policy associate at KICTANET and Claris Kariuki, the senior state counsel in the Office of the Attorney General and the department of justice. Our director partnerships, James Wamathai moderated the webinar.
On the subject of business human rights, it is safe to say that some, if not most of us are clueless when it comes to our rights when we are interacting with businesses, which is often. We interact with different businesses in every aspect of our lives, from the rent we pay every month, to the electricity and water bill to the grocery store where you buy your food, to the airtime you buy every day. But companies, especially those operating in the technology sector have been accused of enriching themselves at the expense of the customers they swore to serve diligently.
There have been accusations that they collect data from customers to sell it to other businesses without prior approval, there have been complaints of money lending companies getting access to contact lists and sending unsolicited messages to them, asking them to ask a loanee to pay a defaulted loan. International telcos have been accused of spying on its users. So many violations, but who is to blame?
Kenya has among the best laws in Africa that protect citizens from such violations, they include legislations like the Data Protection Law, The Consumer Protection Law, and the Kenyan constitution. Also, in line with the United Nations Guiding Principles on business and human rights, Kenya came up with the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, a policy document that outlines expectations for companies to respect human rights wherever they operate. But as Claris Kariuki put it, “The problem with Kenya is in the implementation. Kenya has many beautiful laws, especially after the promulgation of the new Constitution in 2010. The gap is in implementation and capacity building.” The government is mandated to bring people who violate human rights into account, but is it doing its job?
We have labour laws, but they are greatly ignored. Most workers also do not report these cases because of fear of losing their job, or lack of finances to do litigations. The ball has been thrown to companies’ court, to include human rights in their business model, but also, you as an individual has the mandate to speak out about these violations. Even something as your employer putting a biometric keypad at the door without your consent is a violation of your privacy rights.
As a business, ensure you familiarize yourself with the privacy and data laws in the area with which you operate. In future, it will be exceedingly difficult for businesses to operate if they do not incorporate human rights into their models.
Businesses will have the right to reply in the second segment of the conversation which will be held on 27th August. In the meantime, catch the highlights of the conversation using the #BizHumanRightsKE. Here is the whole conversation.


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The scent of dried tobacco permeates the car as we drive into Harare’s industrial area. In a spread-out suburb of the city, tobacco farmers compete to sell top-quality leaf, trucked in from the far reaches of Zim.
Tobacco leaves are some of Zimbabwe’s most precious cargo. While vendors set up their stalls outside — selling everything from belt buckles to baked goods — farmers gather on the auction floor for a day of negotiation and money-making.
In the 1990s, Zim was a chief exporter for top-quality tobacco worldwide. At its peak, it accounted for more than 50 per cent of Zim’s total agricultural exports, with export earnings between US$270 and $593 million. But a decade of agricultural turmoil resulted in plummeting output. Now, the industry is in a state of revival.
Boost Africa is one of Harare’s smaller auction sites. A thin layer of dust covers everything in sight, while buyers mull about to inspect dried bails of tobacco.
The white-washed warehouse is packed wall-to-wall with bails, which will sell from anywhere between US$1.50 to $5 per kilogram (according to local farmers). Each bail weighs an average of 100 kg.
Getting a good price for your product depends on who you know. Nepotism rules business in this country. One farmer says he was able to double the buying price for his crop, just by linking up with the right crowd.
A word of warning on the auction floor — men holding large metal dollies race down the aisles to collect what has been sold. For Sam, it was a close call when one of these hit her from behind, but luckily it ended in entertainment rather than injury.
It’s encouraging to see the hustle and bustle of the market place, showing the slow recovery of a once robust industry, but it’s a different story outside the auction house.
The street is lined with hundreds of trucks, charged with transporting bails of tobacco from farms all over Zim to the auction floor. Some farmers have driven more than 1,000 kilometres to bring in produce, only to join an unending queue. They will sleep overnight in their trucks, sometimes for days, in order to bring their produce onto the floor.
While the industry is dominated by men, Zim’s newspapers publish occasional stories about women who are breaking into this lucrative trade.
Once farmers make their sales, they carry wads of cash out into the street—many of them will ask friends to pick them up from the area, all too aware of the risk of theft.
For now, Zim’s tobacco farmers are enjoying an era of revitalization, despite global tobacco control and fluctuating demand for the product. And while many former tobacco farms are now growing a host of other crops for diversification, the golden leaf is still Zim’s agricultural mainstay.


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Apple’s biggest move of the year on the software front, the Mac Store, has already been attacked by pirates. The Apple Mac Store has gone only yesterday and it’s already affected.
Now that’s some speedy response from pirates. Or is it a possible Apple security problem? This means an imminent Apple press release is on the way.
So far, Steve Jobs has been praising the new Apple Mac Store even more than he welcomed other Apple products. On this front, nor he, or the Californian company didn’t comment on the pirate situation.
The whole idea behind the Apple Mac Store is for the company to replicate the success they had with iTunes. Once Internet pirates got wind of how the Mac Store system works, things went downhill.
It would seem that there are some loopholes in Apple’s verification of many of the Mac Store’s product. Because some applications don’t carry out a thorough verification, some of the paid-for software is vulnerable to unauthorised copying. To find out just how the hacking works, some Internet pirates had to be called upon.
According to the actual pirates, software such as the infamous Angry Birds, check for a valid Apple purchase code before activating themselves. In theory this sounds great but in practice the security measure can be fooled. If somebody was to leak out this sort of purchase code, the application will run.
This is a flaw because on this basis, with only one real purchase, somebody could sell off thousands of copies of the software.
Ideal conditions would imply that Apple would set their Mac Store to verify the purchase code as well as a matching download ID code.
Until that is sorted, if you get a hold of an Apple purchase code, you got yourself a free game.
Imagine that, just one day since the launch of one of the most anticipated online stores out there and security issues are massive. I just love it when things go wrong for Apple. Is that bad?


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- SENATE PASSES ANDEAN BILL: The Senate unanimously passed a 10-month extension of trade benefits for Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador on Thursday, giving some relief to importers that shipped $1.23 billion worth of apparel made in the region to the U.S. last year, and domestic textile producers that exported millions of dollars of fabric and yarns to the region. President Bush is expected to sign the bill. The preference program, which was due to expire today, gives duty free status to apparel made in the four Andean countries and exported to the U.S. Textile producers benefit from the program because the rules require that U.S. importers largely use American-made fiber, fabrics and yarns in the apparel they make in the four countries.
A Stella McCartney sketch of a custom dress made from protein-based silk in partnership with biotech lab Bolt Threads. The dress will be displayed at The Museum of Modern Art's upcoming design exhibition, "Items: Is Fashion Modern?"


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New owner of Sweet River plots turnaround - Meat export to Caribbean markets an ‘immediate target’
The new owners of Sweet River Abattoir hope to turn around the loss-making operation through additions to the product range, meat outlets and new markets in the region.
Sweet River, which has struggled to generate big revenues and and deliver sustained profits since its listing on the stock exchange more than five years ago, was delisted on Monday after a period of suspension and subsequent to its forced sale at auction.
The assets and business of Sweet River were purchased last November by Richard Lake’s company Lydford Logistics Limited for $160 million, after the Westmoreland-based company fell into arrears on its bank loan.
The meat processing operation has been renamed Lydford Manufacturing Limited, but will trade as Sweet River Meats from its current base.
The new head of the operation Victor Wright is looking to make a comeback for the company over the next six months. His first order of the business is to get the plant up to international standard for Sweet River to eventually become a supplier of meats to Lake’s chain of restaurants.
The businessman controls the local franchises of Burger King, Popeyes and Little Caesars through Restaurants Associates Limited.
“We have already invited the health department and the veterinary services division to come and audit the facility and to make recommendations as to what will be required. We also have a consult on board,” Wright, the general manager of Sweet River, told the Financial Gleaner.
Under its former owners, Sweet River procured pigs, sheep, and goats from farmers in Western Jamaica and beyond. The company’s main customers included Grace Foods Processors Limited, Caribbean Producers Jamaica Limited, and Hamilton’s Smoke House, which is owned by the Jamaica Broilers Group.
Under the direction of Lake, Sweet River is looking to add ham and bacon to its product lines.
Sweet River is looking within the region to the Burger King outlets in Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados as a source for the hams; and has its eyes on Cuba and Haiti, as potential markets for fresh pork and its by-products.
“Burger King is a user of bacon, pepperoni and ham. That’s as far as we would integrate; but we intend to also be dominant in the fresh pork market as well,” Wright said.
“Export is an immediate target and that’s why we’re having the facility audited. Burger King has a certain demand but it has its own supplier, so in terms of new markets, we will be substituting some and grow out the market by advertising and promotion,” he continued.
Locally, Wright is targeting the hotel industry for fresh pork as well as strengthen previous supply relations Sweet River has with CPJ and Grace Foods. Plans are also underway to partner with the Pig Farmers Association of Jamaica as a supply source.
“The market is so much and no more. Our target will be the hotels and we will have fresh meat market outlets across the country,” the general manager said.
Sweet River is investing in new equipment, a new cutting facility, incinerator for waste disposal and the retooling of some machinery to take on the new markets. Wright noted that the company is looking to slaughter up to 200 per day in the first instance.
The company also anticipates a doubling of its employment numbers which now stands at 33.
“We are not going to building a cold room because we have space at our sister facility, Lydford Logistics, but we will be improving the structure that we currently have to make it more efficient,” Wright said.
A budget has not yet been determined for the development of the facility, but Wright noted that Sweet River does not intend “to hold anything back” in bringing the facility up to standard.