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Here’s a spooky thought for Halloween: Sunday is COP26, the United Nations annual climate change conference. Yes, that means there have been 25 previous conferences and we still haven’t shoved a stake in the heart of the climate crisis.
This one will probably also produce ghastly warnings about the state of our planet, and those warnings should probably haunt you a little. But it’s not all doom and gloom out there: Innovators across the planet have come up with unique ideas for saving Earth, from scooping trash out of our plastic-choked seas to an exercise bike that can power your devices.
“There are startups out there making a difference,” Gernot Wagner, a climate economist at NYU and a member of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Panel on Climate Change, told The Post.
While the politicians negotiate, here are some things to give you hope that a new day is coming.
Skimming plastics out of the ocean
The oceans are filling with plastic — one study says the amount will triple by 2040 — congregating at the famous Great Pacific Garbage Patch between California and Hawaii, a swirling gyre twice the size of Texas. It’s made of bottle caps, lighters and other debris gradually breaking down to microplastics that leach into the fish people eat.
The best way to fix this is, of course, to stop using single-use plastic, but one group has a plan to attack the plastic that’s already there. The Ocean Cleanup is a nonprofit that wants to remove 90% of the floating plastic by 2040. To reach that ambitious goal, they’ve deployed a device nicknamed Jenny, a half-mile long U-shaped floating barrier pulled by two boats that catches even tiny bits of plastic and funnels them into a giant net. The plastic is then recycled into products like sunglasses that are sold to help support the cleanup effort.
Dropping trees from the sky
Elon Musk recently tweeted that he would donate $100 million toward the best idea for pulling dangerous CO2 out of the atmosphere. The backlash was brutal: The answer, Twitter responded, is trees, numbskull.
Musk was looking for a tech solution to a problem nature can solve, but here is one tech man-made angle that could actually help. A Canadian startup named Flash Forest is using drones to plant thousands of trees a month as a way to combat deforestation caused by logging, fires and animal agriculture. Flash Forest — and other startups doing similar work — can plant about 100,000 trees a day by firing seedpods into the ground by drone alone, while a human could put only about 1,500 into the earth. Best yet, they can do it at a cost of about 50 cents per tree. That’s a lot less than Musk’s $100 million.
Sucking up CO2
You could argue back and forth about whether Coldplay sucks, but here’s one fact: Coldplay does want to help suck … the carbon out of the atmosphere.
The British pop band behind the song “Fix You” wants to fix the planet by partnering with the company Climeworks for its 2022 “Music of the Spheres” World Tour, with the goal of having a net-zero carbon footprint. That’s where Climeworks comes in: The Swiss company is the first to operate a direct carbon capture and storage plant. It pulls planet-warming carbon directly out of the atmosphere, drawing it in with a fan and then capturing carbon on highly selective filters, and stores it. In September, the company opened Orca, its capture and storage plant, powered by a nearby geothermal plant in Iceland. The company says it can remove 4,000 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere per year. The carbon is stored underground, eventually turned into stone and sold off for a variety of uses — farmers can use it for plant feed and soda makers can even use it for fizz.
“What they do is they commercialize the process that literally takes CO2 out of thin air. That’s fantastic,” Wagner said. “It certainly captures carbon as much as people’s imagination.”
Carbon capture, of course, is just spinning wheels if we don’t cut down the carbon emissions going into the atmosphere — but, Wagner said, we’re definitely going to need the technology.
“Yes, it’s so late in the game it’s already necessary to take CO2 out of thin air,” he said.
Growing meat in labs
For anyone who is tired of pleas to cut down on the meat and animal products in your diet because of their huge carbon footprint, good news! You will soon be able to keep your meat, just without the animal and the energy, land and resources that go into raising it.
“Cultured meat” — a k a “lab meat,” produced in bioreactors using animal cells — was approved for sale by a regulatory agency for the first time last year. Singapore allowed “chicken bites” from the US company Eat Just to go on sale in December. Dozens of companies are developing versions of it for beef, pork and chicken that could hit the US market soon.
Lab meat is still expensive until it scales up (a sampler of three dishes featuring the chicken bites at the Singapore restaurant where it debuted costs about $23), so until then, the vegans of the world remind you that beans are still cheap everywhere and don’t require a laboratory.
Using home exercise equipment to generate energy
An exercise bike that can power your home? Yes, it’s literally a “Black Mirror” episode, but it’s also an innovative new product that combines fitness and renewable energy. UK-based company Energym has released a RE:GEN exercise bike (about $2,700) that looks like a standard at-home stationary bike, except it contains a battery that charges with every pedal. After a workout, you unclip the battery and can carry it around to charge your devices all day. The average hourlong workout, the company claims, generates enough electricity to charge an iPhone 12 times. It’s not a lot of energy, but it’s something, Wagner says.
“If you’re incapable of biking outside, and you have to spend a lot of money on some gadgets to make you bike, yes, spend it on this instead of the Peloton,” he says.
Scaling up production on solar panels
Some of the most important innovations in fighting climate change are the most boring, Wagner said. One of those boring-but-momentous breakthroughs could be happening at a startup called Leap Photovoltaic, which says it has found a way to cut the cost of making solar cells that are used in solar panels in half — making clean solar energy a reality for tons more households. Instead of using the costly silicon wafers used in most solar cells, the company turns silicon directly into cells, similar to 3D printing.
It uses one-tenth of the silicon as a traditional solar panel while taking 70% less energy and 90% less water. That also cuts out the need to build factories dedicated to making solar panels, simplifying the process and opening it up to more manufacturers.
The company launched last year and hopes to serve customers as soon as 2023. It’s exactly the kinds of small revolutions climate scientists hope for.
”Fantastic, let’s do that, let’s scale this up,” Wagner said. “They’re fundamentally better than anything else you can do to produce electricity.”
Blocking trash from getting into the waterways — with bubbles
A startup in the Netherlands have found a simple way to prevent trash from even getting into the ocean: bubbles.
The Great Bubble Barrier shoots a screen of bubbles that blocks plastics from passing through and pushes other debris to the surface. The bubbles come from air pumped from a tube at the bottom of the waterway, lifting buoyant plastic to the surface. The bubble “curtain” is angled diagonally, which uses the natural flow of the waterway to push the waste to a waiting catch area to collect it for proper disposal.
It debuted in Amsterdam in 2019 amid that city’s famous canals, which wind throughout the city, prime basins for catching all sorts of detritus. The bubbles are said to remove 86% of debris from the waterways, preventing them from getting into the open ocean, with no effect on wildlife or boat traffic. It’s now being used in other cities, too, and the startup hopes to make it the standard for stopping ocean pollution before it starts.


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A topless Gisele Bundchen steps into Kate Moss' shoes as the new face of Stuart Weitzman
Gisele Bundchen has replaced Kate Moss as the new face and spokeswoman for luxury shoe brand Stuart Weitzman.
The 33-year-old supermodel and mother-of-two appears in a teaser photo ahead of her first Fall 2014 campaign for the brand, shot by Mario Testino, dressed in a pair of snug white pants, a pair of black stiletto boots and nothing else.
The brand, famous for its sultry black-and-white campaigns, said they chose Gisele for her multifaceted appeal: 'From fashion forward trendsetter to sophisticated tomboy to multi-tasking mom to the quintessential girl-next-door.'
Sneak peek: Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen is the new face of Stuart Weitzman shoes (pictured) - nabbing the role from Kate Moss - and will star in the brand's Fall 2014 campaign
Gisele's new gig sees the end of fellow supermodel Ms Moss' three-season stint as Stuart Weitzman's front woman, and in a fashion-friendly swap, Ms Moss will be returning to her post at David Yurman, a role previously held by Gisele.
It's been a busy year so far for the long-limbed, caramel-tressed Brazilian, who has been scooping up high-profile contracts left, right and center.
She is the current face of high street retailer H&M, and was recently announced as the new face of the iconic Chanel No.5 fragrance, stealing that particular crown from Brad Pitt, who was widely panned for his toe-curling appearance in the brand's latest commercial.
Raking it in: It's yet another win for the world's highest-paid supermodel (pictured at the New York Met Gala), - Gisele is the current face of H&M and the soon-to-be face of Chanel No.5
Gisele remains Forbes' highest-paid model in the world for the seventh year running, making $42million last year thanks to dozens of lucrative deals.
The stunning model earned almost six times more than former Victoria's Secret Angel Miranda Kerr, and outdid her footballer husband, Tom Brady.
But despite her hectic schedule, Gisele is keen to keep her growing family at the top of her priority list.
Black-and-white beauties: Stuart Weitzman's previous poster girls include Kate Moss, seen in the Fall 2013 campaign (left) and Russian born supermodel Natalia Vodianova, seen in the Fall 2012 campaign (right)
Speaking recently to ELLE, she said: 'Sometimes when I go to bed, I’m happy that I did a good job that day. And sometimes, I wish I’d done things differently.
'Now, it’s getting harder for me to travel for my job. I have a son whom I take to school, and I come back quickly to see my baby.'
Gisele's full Stuart Weitzman campaign, and a behind-the-scenes video, will launch worldwide later this year.
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The latest press releases and statements from the Fairtrade Foundation.
At the news that Liam Fox has been appointed as Secretary of State for the Department for International Trade in Theresa May's new Cabinet, Fairtrade called on Dr Fox to ensure that future trade deals do as much as possible to reduce global poverty.
As the Euro 2016 comes to an end and the Homeless World Cup 2016 players prepare to take to the pitch in Glasgow for the Homeless World Cup, the Fairtrade Foundation called for fair play ideals to be mirrored by fair pay for those who ensure the game can be played - the workers in Pakistan and elsewhere that make their living by making the balls on which the beautiful game relies.
Jewellers and partners working with Fairtrade gold performed very well at last night’s 2016 UK Jewellery Awards, the premier event of the jewellery industry sponsored by Clogau.
The first textile manufacturers to sign up to the new Fairtrade Textile Standard have announced their commitment at the Ethical Fashion Show in Berlin. The Fairtrade approach is the first of its kind to cover people working throughout the supply chain from seed cotton to finished textile products. In addition, the Textile Programme helps factories and workers to improve their social and environmental impacts.
Today, 27 June 2016, the Fairtrade Foundation responded to the Groceries Code Adjudicator's survey and annual conference.
The Fairtrade Foundation responds to the UK referendum vote to leave the European Union.
Continental Clothing Company, one of Britain’s largest wholesale t-shirt manufacturers, will launch a new range of Fairtrade organic cotton t-shirts and hooded sweatshirts under its new label FAIR SHARE.
Aldi has become the fastest growing retailer of Fairtrade roses following a 21 per cent surge in year-on-year sales.


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Following US President Donald Trump’s announcement Australia would be exempt from his controversial metal tariffs, THOMAS FOSTER asked four experts whether the tariffs still mean anything for Australians.
How much do you know about shares and sharemarkets? LUCY MAJSTOROVIC and ANGELICA SNOWDEN make shares, markets and options a bit more fun, and then explore the seriously weird connection between options and terrorist attacks.
Mojo chats to three everyday cryptocurrency investors who don’t fit the stereotype.
Sex workers and porn stars are disrupting the adult entertainment industry by being paid in cryptocurrencies. EDWARD WONG reports
A beer that grew out of a partnership between a female-run brewery and the Bulldogs AFL women’s side will go national this week. NATHAN JOHN reports.
Leave No-One Behind, a competition to address inequality, has challenged student entrepreneurs from Monash University to propose a social business capable of making a real world impact. CONOR ROSS reports
Chinese solar panel imports to Australia are being sold at rock bottom prices to kill local competition, but the Government has failed to help the local industry compete.
Freelancers are calling on the Federal Government to do more to stop the common practice of late payments for freelance work.
The key to success on Instagram is to be your authentic self, says a new marketing force.
Founder of Melbourne clothing label Zachary, Effie Kats, reveals how social media helped her business catch the eye of international celebrities. Small businesses are finding big markets thanks to online platforms.


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This is the 38th in a series of articles analyzing major companies traded on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market. – Ed
CJ O Shopping, a leading home-shopping channel in South Korea, is likely to benefit from recovering consumers’ sentiment as the country is set to hold the presidential election in May, as well as an overall improvement in its competitiveness analysts here predicted.
Shares in CJ O Shopping, the 12th largest on the tech-heavy Kosdaq market in terms of market capitalization with 1.3 trillion won ($1.16 billion) as of Friday, remained sluggish last year hurt by weak consumers’ sentiment amid a political scandal that rocked the country for months and led to the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye.
The company has also been hit by a row with China over the deployment of the US-backed missile defense system due to its exposure to the Chinese market. In recent years, the home-shopping channel has expanded its presence in the world‘s second largest economy in an attempt to target China’s burgeoning e-commerce market. CJ O Shopping has a stake in its Chinese subsidies -- Dongfang CJ, Tiantian CJ and Nanfang CJ.
Analysts said the home-shopping channels overall are likely to enjoy a recent recovery in consumers’ sentiment and the presidential election set to be held on May 9. The composite consumer sentiment index compiled by the Bank of Korea improved for two consecutive months after hitting the lowest level in nearly eight years in January.
Historically, consumers’ sentiment was boosted after three presidential elections in 2002, 2007 and 2012, according to Yu Jung-hyun, an analyst at Daishin Securities.
Samsung Securities analyst Nam Ok-jin said in his report last month that while CJ O Shopping suffered dull growth from the second half of 2014 to the first half of last year due to botched mobile marketing strategies and lowered product competitiveness, it has been posting large operational profit since the second half of last year.
The company‘s operation profit came at 144.9 billion won last year, the largest in the business.
“The company’s total market price comes at around 1.2 trillion won, which is slightly lower compared to about 1.4 trillion won of its rivals. Based on recent changes, the price of CJ O Shopping will increase the largest,” Nam said.
He cited how the previous “discount factors” such as its weak overseas sales and failed sales of its CJ Hellovision are starting to be resolved, such as new potential buyers for CJ Hellovision emerging.
The company is also expected to recover its product competitiveness by reducing the lineup of low-margin products, while continuing to enjoy smooth revenue from retail services.
The company will also enjoy reduced competition with online shopping companies, and see sales growth for the TV channel, Daishin and Shinhan Investment Corp both said in separate reports last week.
CJ O Shopping is expected to post a gross sales of 794.4 billion won in the first quarter of this year, up 7.7 percent on-year, and an operating profit of 38.2 billion won, growing 5.5 percent on-year, according to Shinhan, which has set its target price of 240,000 won for CJ O Shopping.
“The company’s price-earning (P/E) ratio is just 10.9 despite over a 20 percent rise in the share price during this year,” Shinhan analysts Park Hee-jin and Kim Kyu-ri wrote in a report. This is a lower valuation versus peers such as GS Home Shopping whose P/E ratio is 12.7.
Increase in gross sales of the TV channel and lower transmission fee hike would also give a boost to the company’s share price, they added.
On Friday, shares in the firm closed at 209,400 won, up 1.55 percent from the previous day.
By Park Ga-young (email@example.com


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BlackBerry strikes back with new BlackBerry 10 smartphones
Though it has been steadily losing market share in the smartphone arena to Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS platforms, the company behind the BlackBerry smartphone operating system is getting back in the game.
BlackBerry, formerly known as Research In Motion, has just announced a new operating system and two new smartphones to go with it. BlackBerry 10 is the software, which was released for BlackBerry users on Jan. 30. BlackBerry 10 offers a new intelligent keyboard, a new camera app, and support for eight “active frames,” or simultaneously running applications with data displayed in windows on the device’s home screen.
Along with BlackBerry 10 came the announcement of two new smartphones: the Z10 and the Q10. Both are expected out this spring, but even older BlackBerrys can benefit from the new software.
Your favorite electronics stores
Given how long-running and popular the BlackBerry brand is, you can pretty much find yourself a new BlackBerry smartphone almost anywhere. There are potentially lots of deals available, too, especially with BlackBerry in the news of late. Best Buy, for example, offers 2 percent cash back, and Target currently will give you up to 4 percent cash back. Radio Shack and Walmart will dish out 3 percent cach back.
Cellular carriers and cash back
It’s no surprise that another great place to grab a new phone is from the cellular carrier of your choice. You can find BlackBerry devices with just about any of the major U.S. carriers: AT&T offers $100 cash back on many of its orders, for a start. T-Mobile offers $37.50 cash back and Sprint offers $30.
If the reinvigorated BlackBerry is for you, grabbing a slightly older (but still very capable) device may be a better option for you than waiting for the new phones to come out later this quarter. Either way, with BlackBerry 10 now available, it’s a great time to try the brand that got us all hooked on smartphones.
Other articles you might like:
Valentine Day apps to make the day sweet
5 weirdest things you can buy on SkyMall: electronics and home
Beyonce’s Super Bowl style: Iguana skin, moto jacket and knee-high socks
12 “must have” educational apps for teens
Why cheap web hosting is better (Bonus: 4 awesome coupons)
Winter sports apparel for the gadget lover


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NISSAN has unveiled a concept with a difference – a Navara pick-up that can operate as a mobile astronomy lab.
Built in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), the Navara Dark Sky Concept incorporates an ‘observatory-class’ telescope on a bespoke trailer.
It also features Nissan’s ProPilot driver assist technology, which in this case has been re-engineered and upgraded to offer safe and efficient towing.
The ESA is currently creating an intricate map of the heavens with its Gaia satellite – and has already located more than a billion stars.
The Navara Dark Sky Concept has been designed to aid astronomers in making follow-up observations of the night skies in difficult-to-access locations away from light pollution – areas known as ‘dark sky’ locations.
‘The Nissan Navara Dark Sky Concept is a brilliant example of Nissan serving as an authentic partner, empowering our customers to go anywhere,’ said Ashwani Gupta, senior vice-president of Nissan’s light commercial vehicle business.
‘Through Nissan Intelligent Mobility and ProPilot, we are creating the best solutions for the next frontiers of business, no matter how complex the commercial need.’
The exterior of the truck has been painted with nebula motifs, while the interior is finished in orange shades with reflective orange piping on the seats. It also uses red interior lighting to minimise any effects on people’s night vision, since red light affects it the least.
As well as portable battery packs, the Navara features wifi and a UHF transmission system capable of relaying data to any point in the world instantly.
Once at the required spot, the trailer’s mechanical roof can be activated, allowing the PlaneWave telescope to be trained on the sky. The optical device is so powerful that it is capable of viewing beyond the rings of Saturn.
The concept was revealed at the Hannover Motor Show.


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Amazon.com price target lowered to $415 from $455 at Oppenheimer Oppenheimer cut its target on Amazon after the company reported lower than expected EPS and its customer growth rate slowed. The firm keeps an Outperform rating.
Teradyne shares should be bought on pullbacks, says Pacific Crest Pacific Crest identifies Teradyne as a top pick and recommends looking for opportunities to buy the shares at a discount heading into the seasonally softer 2H14. The firm thinks the company is gaining share and it expects the company to benefit from growth in its semi test and wireless test markets. The firm keeps a $22 price target and Outperform rating on the shares.
Under Armour should be bought aggressively on pullbacks, says Janney Capital Janney Capital raised its fair value estimate on Under Armour to $72 from $58 following the company's Q2 report and increased guidance. The firm believes the stock's premium multiple is warranted and recommends being more aggressive in buying shares on any near-term pullbacks in the stock.


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We've been wondering what that second camera on the back of the HTC M8 (a.k.a. "The All New HTC One") was all about since the first leaks arrived. If an Australian Telstra ad for the new device is to be believed, it is indeed intended to bolster the phone's low-light shooting performance. The advertisement spotted by GSMArena reveals a few things that we didn't already know, and it does indicate that the "Duo Camera" can "create vivid images even in low light."
Low light photography is always tricky, and it's particularly difficult on mobile cameras thanks to their generally small sensors and lenses.
HTC's upcoming flagship is leaking left and right in all sorts of ways. We've seen press images from numerous carriers, and there was that long video "review" as well. Now we've got something you can enjoy on your own device. The wallpapers and sounds from the M8 have appeared online, and you can grab them now.
The wallpapers have a mix of geometric and nature themes – close-ups of flowers, plants, and abstract lines.
Another week closer to HTC's big New York event, another huge leak from the indefatigable Evleaks. This time he's taken to Google+ to show off what looks like a first-party case for the HTC M8 (a.k.a. "The New HTC One"). This case it unlike any we've seen thus far: instead of a transparent "window" like the ones that Samsung and LG have been using for their flagships, this one appears to be covered in tiny holes, allowing the screen below to flash simple messages.
HTC got KitKat out to the HTC One relatively quickly, doing a decent job of updating its Sense UI in the process. Now it's time to get the update out to the flagship's multiple variants. We still don't have news of an impending OTA, but HTC has now made open source kernel files for the HTC One Max available online.
HTC isn't expected to announce the new HTC One until late March, but press renders of the device have already been circulating online. Now things have gotten even leakier with a 12-minute video showing all the angles of the device, as well as some of the software.
Based on what can be seen in the video, HTC's new flagship definitely has a more round appearance and plenty of KitKat transparency with the on-screen buttons and colorful status bar.
If you're a fan of source code (and who isn't?), you might be excited to know HTC has released the code for Power To Give. The Power To Give initiative was officially announced a few days ago at MWC with its corresponding app in the Play Store. Today, the HTC Dev portal posted a full source drop of the project, including the app and various platform-specific versions of the server code.
HTC isn't going to get its big reveal next month – it looks like the new HTC One (or whatever they call it) is going to be old news by then. This time we have a new press shot from @evleaks of the device with AT&T branding.
As Android 4.4/KitKat updates begin rolling out to devices on all the major US carriers, one frequently asked question has to do with whether or not these devices will include Android's new "Tap and Pay" feature. This was one of the major additions in KitKat and allows almost any device with an NFC chip to be used for "tap and go" mobile payments, even if said chip doesn't have a built-in secure element.
For nineteen years now, mobile manufacturers, software developers, and other innovators have received recognition during the Annual Global Mobile awards. This year's event, held yesterday at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, was hosted by comedian James Corden. Of more interest to us, however, are the awards.
LG walked out of the event with the Most Innovative Device Manufacturer of the Year title, having released such prominent devices as the G2, G Flex, Nexus 5, and the G Pad 8.3 this year (along with the LGGPGPE).


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Epic's approach to bringing in customers may be blunt, but having a direct competitor to Steam is a good thing for PC gaming.
Alex gets into the nitty-gritty of how to machine a water-cooling distro plate yourself.
Alex gets a new toy for the workshop.
IO Interactive has changed the new Hitman following community backlash.
We explore the level of abuse that female gamers have to tolerate in online games.
A new study has shown that girls actually own more game consoles than boys, mainly thanks to the Wii which has supposedly shifted the target demographic of the industry.
July 19 2019 | 17:30
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Greg Bohlen understood early on that Beyond Meat might be huge.
When he initially consulted with the business in 2011– 2 years after Ethan Brown established it– Beyond Meat was little bit more than a concept and some university-developed innovation for producing simulated animal muscle. However the business discussed 2 of the huge styles that make Bohlen delighted when it concerns prospective financial investments– openness and effectiveness.
Beyond Meat’s procedure for making synthetic meat was much more resource and energy effective than the method cows and even chickens develop muscle. And while customers usually do not wish to see what takes place on a kill flooring, they ‘d discover absolutely nothing to anger them if they saw Beyond Meat’s production procedure.
“I believed they ‘d alter the world,” stated Bohlen, a handling basic partner at Union Grove Endeavor Partners, which bought Beyond Meat in its series B financing round in2012 “And they are, for the much better.”
Bohlen’s optimism is easy to understand. After all, he’s on Beyond Meat’s board, and he owns a 1% stake in the business. However he’s not the only one bullish on the meat alternative item maker nowadays.
Beyond Meat’s stock has actually skyrocketed
On its very first day of trading in May, Beyond Meat’s stock almost tripled its $25 going public cost Less than 7 weeks later on, it was trading at more than $200 a share. Although it’s fallen off ever since, it increased once again on Monday, leaving the shares up almost 700% given that the business’s IPO.
That’s offered Beyond Meat a market capitalization of practically $12 billion. That figure suggests that public financiers are overlooking the business’s almost $31 million in losses over the in 2015 and valuing the alternative meat maker at 103 times its profits over the exact same duration– or 57 times its anticipated sales this year. Whichever method you look it, that’s a heady assessment– and one that indicates financiers anticipate it to publish super-charged development for many years to come.
The difficulty Beyond Meat will deal with in conference those expectations has actually stimulated doubters to begin speaking up. Of the 7 monetary experts who had rankings on its stock previously this month, none considered it a buy and one, Erlan Abdikarimov, of Kazakhstan-based Flexibility Financing, currently had a sell ranking. Wall Street experts rate couple of stocks as “offers,” and are usually a lot more hesitant to put such a label on brand-new problems.
The increase in Beyond Meat’s stock cost “was sustained by extremely strong expectations, the possibility of which is not apparent,” Abdikarimov stated in an e-mail.
In June, JPMorgan, among the lead underwriters of Beyond Meat’s IPO and the only company that ranked the stock a “buy,” reduced the fake-meat maker to a “neutral” ranking The downgrade was simply due to assessment due to the fact that the stock’s rally indicated it was trading well above its experts’ cost target, JPMorgan stated.
A Beyond Meat agent decreased to comment, stating that the business remained in a peaceful duration.
The meatless meat market has lots of capacity
Whether Wall Street has actually gotten ahead of itself, Beyond Meat plainly has huge capacity. In the United States alone, customers purchased $78 billion worth of raw meat in 2018, according to marketing research company Euromonitor. Other scientists have actually approximated that overall international meat market sales – consisting of purchases by dining establishments, schools, and other organizations– are in the trillions of dollars each year Even if just a little part of meat buyers began purchasing Beyond Meat’s hamburgers and other items rather, the business might see billions of dollars in sales.
There’s factor to believe that’s more than simply a pipeline dream. In 2015, United States customers purchased $1.4 billion worth of meat replacement items at retail, according to Euromonitor, mainly in the type of recognized items, such as tofu hamburgers and so on. Worldwide, such items were a lot more popular, gathering almost $19 billion in retail sales.
That’s still a little part of the total meat market, however the brand-new generation of meat alternatives such as those from Beyond Meat and rivals such as Difficult Foods might assist such items draw in a much bigger audience. Compared to their earlier predecessors, Beyond Burgers and Difficult Hamburgers do a better task of replicating the taste, texture, and consuming experience of meat.
The hamburgers, which, in Beyond’s case, are made from active ingredients consisting of peas, mung beans, rice, and beets, bleed and brown like genuine hamburger. The current Beyond Hamburgers are likewise created to imitate the marbling discovered in genuine meat; rather of originating from little bits of animal fat, the white, mouthwatering areas are made from coconut oil and cocoa butter.
In addition to offering items that taste more like the genuine thing, the brand-new purveyors of meat options have actually likewise begun to acquire large circulation for their items. Customers can discover Beyond’s hamburgers, sausages, and taco meat in Whole Foods, Kroger, and Safeway supermarket. They can purchase alternative meat hamburgers from Beyond or Difficult at chains consisting of Red Robin, Hamburger King, TGI Fridays, and Carl’s Jr., along with at numerous smaller sized, regional dining establishments. Few of these outlets ever used a tofu hamburger or anything like it.
Such elements are “making it much easier for individuals to delve into these things,” stated Dewey Warner, a food-industry expert at Euromonitor. “It’s much easier to bring individuals into the fold,” he continued, “when you have more appealing, much better tasting products.”
Beyond Meat is following the course of plant-based milks
Beyond Meat is likewise most likely to take advantage of the pattern of individuals restricting their consumption of meat and other animal items, Warner stated. For health or ecological factors, a growing variety of customers have actually cut down on their meat intake, even if they have not end up being full-on vegans or vegetarians, he stated.
The milk and dairy market might provide a sneak peek of what’s to come, he stated. Milk intake in the United States has actually been decreasing for many years, in part due to health and ecological factors, according to information from the United States Department of Farming. On the other hand, sales of plant-based alternative milks, such as those made from soy, rice, and oats, have actually been flourishing and now represent more than 10% of the sales of conventional dairy milk, according to figures from Grand View Research Study and Dairy Farmers of America
Sales of plant-based milks have actually “ended up being, certainly, a considerable part of the marketplace,” Warner stated. The huge concern, he continued, “is whether and when plant-based meat alternatives may accomplish a comparable status.”
Beyond Meat’s early outcomes recommend that might occur earlier than lots of people recognize. The business’s sales more than doubled in 2017 from 2016 and grew even quicker in 2015, leaping by a massive 170% to $88 million.
Business authorities are forecasting its sales will once again more than double this year, increasing to more than $210 million. Beyond Meat was well on its method to attaining those lead to the very first quarter, when its sales more than tripled from the exact same duration a year previously to $40 million. Assisting increase its sales, the business not just revamped its hamburger this year, however widened its lineup in 2017 to consist of simulated sausages. It’s likewise gained from Brown’s persistence that supermarket offer its items together with genuine meat.
“Ethan’s persistent drive to ensure the Beyond Hamburger was offered in the meat area of United States grocery stores ended up being transformative for business,” stated James Joaquin, a handling director of Obvious Ventures, in an e-mail.
Like Bohlen, Obvious saw Beyond Meat’s prospective early. Through their Obvious Group business, Twitter creators Ev Williams and Biz Stone, bought the start-up in2012 Williams’ consequently introduced Obvious Ventures made more financial investments in Beyond Meat.
What triggered Williams and Stone’s preliminary financial investment was the belief that factory farming of animals was unsustainable which, as an outcome, individuals would lower their intake of meat, Joaquin stated.
That thesis “still is true today,” he stated. “The starting group’s vision completely lined up with our … thesis: fund start-ups that integrate revenue and function to reimagine substantial classifications.”
JPMorgan approximates that Beyond Meat’s profits might reach $5 billion in 15 years, with plant-based meat options from Beyond Meat and other business catching a 10% share of the total meat market.
The business deals with a huge difficulty and increased competitors
Still, for all the capacity of the alternative meat market and its service in specific, Beyond Meat deals with a massive difficulty in conference Wall Street’s sky-high expectations. And it’s not clear that it will have the ability to do it.
While some customers, especially in more liberal, metropolitan markets, have actually been cutting down on their meat and dairy intake, the business might discover a less responsive audience in other, more conservative parts of the nation, stated Euromonitor’s Warner. In rural or less upscale locations, lots of people see absolutely nothing incorrect with consuming beef or chicken and might be shut off by the concept of consuming something that’s synthetic, he stated.
“They’re simply not offered on it yet,” he stated.
Another turn off for some customers might be the cost. In the grocery store, Beyond’s hamburgers expense more than— in some cases even two times as much as– routine hamburger patties.
Choice, too, might restrict sales. In the meantime, Beyond just provides patties, taco meat, bundles of hamburger replacement, and its sausages. It utilized to provide simulated chicken strips, however does not offer them anymore. Customers likewise will not have the ability to discover anything replicating a ribeye steak or stew meat, much less pork or lamb options.
What’s more, Beyond Meat currently deals with substantial and growing competitors. Difficult Foods has actually raised $777 million, consisting of a $300 funding round in May Its hamburgers are on the menu at Hamburger King, the business prepares to begin using its items in supermarket later on this year.
Food giant Nestlé revealed last month that it will provide a plant-based hamburger beginning this fall. Days later on, Tyson Foods, another market leviathan, revealed it will begin using meatless chicken nuggets this summer season and this fall will present hamburgers that consist of both meat and non-meat active ingredients.
Beyond Meat’s stock fell following both statements, suggesting that even bullish financiers acknowledge that such advancements might restrict its potential customers.
Those type of factors to consider are what resulted in Abdikarimov’s sell ranking.
“The marketplace … ignores the prospective competitors in the artificial meat section from big gamers,” he stated. It likewise, he continued, “overstates the scale of penetration of artificial meat intake in society.”
For his part, Bohlen believes such issues are overblown. The meat market is so big– and the prospective market for alternative meat items similarly– that there’s sufficient space for several gamers to get involved and succeed, he stated. And Brown and his group at Beyond Meat have actually revealed that they are figured out to keep enhancing their business and item, he stated.
To him, the Beyond Meat’s stock cost just shows its substantial capacity.
“I believe individuals, for perhaps the very first time in public markets history, saw a business that was both deeply founded guilty and a market where the world was sobbing for modification,” Bohlen stated. “And it provided that modification in such a way that continually surprises.”
Got a pointer about Beyond Meat or another start-up? Contact this press reporter by means of e-mail at firstname.lastname@example.org, message him on Twitter @troywolv, or send him a protected message through Signal at 415.5155594 You can likewise contact Company Expert firmly by means of SecureDrop


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roundup Everyone who's got cybersecurity on the brain--politicians, Web giants, and security vendors alike--are descending on RSA this week.
roundup Software makers, social networks, and even hardware makers shake hands and link their products at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.
At the annual developer forum, Intel shows off what it can do with silicon and what to look forward to from systems built around its chips.
If you talk to your favorite telecommunications company, you find them concentrating on how they will compete in cloud infrastructure, platform and software services.
Microsoft aims to make a much different first impression with Windows 7 than it did with Vista, its oft-maligned predecessor.
Financiers and entrepreneurs try to get a read on how climate policies will take shape, while technology to concentrate wind to make more power is picking up.
roundup The search giant rallies attendees at the developer conference around the next generation of Web technologies, in which the browser will become the desktop.
The RSA Conference brings security specialists together in San Francisco to talk about the latest developments in protecting consumers and businesses online.
roundup Annual conference of Web innovators may be smaller this year, but it's still a place for big ideas, with a particular focus on mobile applications and solid business plans.
At the GreenNet conference in San Francisco, Ethernet co-inventor Bob Metcalfe talks about Internet principles that should be applied to building a "smart" energy grid.


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The FCC (US Federal Communications Commission) reports its ‘Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Chief Jon Wilkins sent a letter to mobile carriers asking questions about their processes for reviewing and releasing security updates for mobile devices.’
In order to gain a better understanding of security in the mobile ecosystem, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) reports it has ‘issued orders to eight mobile device manufacturers (PDF Link) requiring them to provide the agency with information about how they issue security updates to address vulnerabilities in smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.’
The FCC says that ‘as consumers and businesses turn to mobile broadband to conduct ever more of their daily activities, the safety of their communications and other personal information is directly related to the security of the devices they use.
‘There have recently been a growing number of vulnerabilities associated with mobile operating systems that threaten the security and integrity of a user’s device, including ‘Stagefright’ in the Android operating system, which may affect almost 1 billion Android devices globally.
‘Consumers may be left unprotected, for long periods of time or even indefinitely, by any delays in patching vulnerabilities once they are discovered. To date, operating system providers, original equipment manufacturers, and mobile service providers have responded to address vulnerabilities as they arise,’ continued the FCC.
The FCC warns, however, that there exists ‘significant delays in delivering patches to actual devices, and that older devices may never be patched.’
The FCC says it will ‘continue its longstanding partnership and work cooperatively with the FTC on this issue,’ and that ‘responses to the letters will inform discussions with industry about possible solutions and be shared with the FTC.’
More below, please read on.
Meanwhile, the FCC says that ‘among the information recipients must provide under the orders are:’
- the factors that they consider in deciding whether to patch a vulnerability on a particular mobile device;
- detailed data on the specific mobile devices they have offered for sale to consumers since August 2013;
- the vulnerabilities that have affected those devices; and
- whether and when the company patched such vulnerabilities.
The FTC says the ‘orders issued today are part of the FTC’s ongoing efforts to understand the security of consumers mobile devices, including a workshop in 2013 and a follow-on public comment period in 2014.’
The FTC notes the FCC ‘is conducting a separate, parallel inquiry into common carriers’ policies regarding mobile device security updates.’
The FTC notes it is ‘authorised to issue Orders to File a Special Report by Section 6(b) of the FTC Act,’ and that the FTC vote ‘to issue the orders was 3-0.’


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Image: Esther Nisanova/NFL
Fashion forward NFL fans can finally follow their favorite team in style as fashion house Marchesa teams up with the league to create a limited-edition shirt that will keep cheering on the sidelines fashionable.
Representatives from the NFL have been tight-lipped about the details surrounding this collaboration, however they did confirm that something is in the works with luxury label Marchesa. Pricing information, availability and exactly details on what kind of t-shirts will be made is still unknown.
According to sources, the limited edition t-shirt will be launched during the NFL’s two weeks of kickoff events in New York, which will occur around September 5 when the New York Giants open the season against the Dallas Cowboys.
The NFL is also working on a female-focused print advertising campaign featuring high-profile fans like Condoleezza Rice, Melania Trump, Summer Sanders, Suzanne Johnson, Kym Johnson and Peta Murgatroyd.
Over in the NBA league, there have also been recent efforts to strike a cord with female fans as the Association collaborated with Herstar to create two styles of high-heeled women’s footwear, entrusted with crystal logos of NBA teams.
Source: Los Angeles Times


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The World Health Organization (WHO) is working on launching an app to help people living in countries with limited resources determine if they may have been infected with the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease covid-19.
According to a report by Reuters, the WHO coronavirus app will work as a “symptom checker.” Similar to other tools, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Clara chatbot, the WHO app will ask users about their symptoms and “offer guidance on whether they may have covid-19.” The app will also include information on how to get tested, which will be personalized to the user’s country. The WHO plans to release the app later this month.
Bernardo Mariano, the WHO’s chief information officer, said that the organization will release a version of the app globally. Any government will be able to take the app’s underlying technology, add features and release its own version in app stores, he told Reuters.
“The value is really for countries that do not have anything,” Mariano said. “We would be leaving behind the ones that are not able to (provide an app), that have fragile health systems.”
The WHO app is open source and is available on GitHub. Per Reuters, engineers and designers have been volunteering to develop the app for weeks. About five of them are overseeing its development.
The WHO is also considering whether to include a Bluetooth-based contact-tracing feature, which would inform users if they had recently been in contact with someone who has tested positive for covid-19, to the app. The organization has talked to Apple and Google about adopting their joint method. Some countries, such as Australia, the UK and Singapore, are already using contact-tracing apps.
Nonetheless, legal and privacy issues have prevented the WHO from committing to a contact-tracing feature. One such concern is that the businesses that make proximity tools will use the personal data they gather to make money later on, Mariano said.
However, Apple and Google have said that health authorities that use their contract-tracing APIs to build coronavirus apps will not be able to track users’ locations or use the data gathered to advertise to users. In addition, both companies said in mid-April that they will disable the APIs after the outbreak had been sufficiently contained.
This isn’t the only app that the WHO is working on. Reuters reports that the organization is also working on an app for healthcare workers. The app, which is expected to be released next week, aims to inform healthcare workers about best practices for putting on protective gear, washing hands and treating novel coronavirus cases.


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I read an article today about Twitter selling ad space. Back in April Twitter introduced Promoted Tweets, a platform to allow businesses to promote themselves within the Twitter stream. Now it seems Twitter is about to launch Promoted Trends, a feature that would allow advertisers to insert their own terms into Twitter’s trending topics.
Want to get up-to-date training for Mobile Marketing in 2012? No problem! We have just launched our Pin Point Programs, which are 90-minute social media online training classes about the


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Good Morning!! As we enter a new week, let’s take a look at the latest trending startup news insights.
LinkSquares, a company developing intelligent software that helps brands maintain and ink new contracts, today announced that it raised $100 million in Series C financing led by G Squared. Read More
Peanut, a social networking app for women, is launching a new “Peanut Pro” expansion designed to give women access to information from trusted experts. The company has partnered with 100 experts from its existing network. Read More
“I think every company in the world should be using Rattle,” says Sahil Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO of the San Francisco-based company. It announced the successful completion of a $26 million Series A funding round that comes just five months after its seed raise. Read More
With the funds raised, Phool plans to scale operations, explore the untapped domestic and global growth opportunities and build India’s largest fragrance brand. The round also saw participation from existing investors, Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt and IAN fund. Read More
Virtual real estate is booming. In December 2021, one buyer spent $450,000 on a plot of land in rapper Snoop Dogg’s virtual world. Which brings us the question, What will be built there? Read More
The San Francisco-based startup has developed software and a marketplace that connects homeowners that want an ADU with contractors who can build them. And it just closed on $15 million in a Series A funding round led by a VC firm. Read More
As we start to see AI advance in business, the ways in which we interact with machines are beginning to change. Companies like Salesforce are looking for new opportunities for AI to have a more direct impact on customers. Read More
Digital currency trading platform eToro has just unveiled a new initiative to help bolster the intersecting worlds of art, brands, and crypto assets. Aptly coined eToro.art, the program itself works as a digital gallery with NFTs. Read More
Transformers, the type of neural network behind OpenAI’s GPT-3 and other big natural-language processors, are quickly becoming some of the most important in industry, and they are likely to spread to other areas of AI. Read More
VinFast Trading & Investment Ltd., a Singapore-incorporated subsidiary of Vingroup Joint Stock Company, submitted a draft registration to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said in a statement on its website. Read More
Mercedes is aiming to be the first automaker to bring legal Level 3 automated driving off the test track to the masses in its full-size, luxury S-Class vehicles. The economic opportunities include cornering a piece of the estimated $220.4 billion. Read More
For a firm like Glossier, looking like a tech company is the difference between having a price to sales ratio of 5.44, like Estée Lauder, or 31.6, like MongoDB. Glossier founder and CEO Emily Weiss knows it, and her investors do, too. Read More
Amazon is handling a rapidly growing number of returns that are causing a massive problem for the e-commerce giant and the planet. That amount surpasses what the U.S. spent on national defense in 2021, which was $741 billion. Read More
While many funds are returning to more conservative check writing, with a focus on profitability and business fundamentals, crypto remains a sector in the spotlight that attracts dedicated billion-dollar funds. Read More
If you missed out on the previous week or entire month's updates of startup world news, follow the link to read it now and stay tuned with us for more updates.
We, at OpenGrowth, are constantly looking for the latest news in the startup ecosystem. If you want to share any important news from last week, then do let us know in the comment section below.
*Note: The content published above was made in collaboration with our members.
Sajitha is a content writer who predominantly writes for EdTech Industry and also pens poetry, eBooks, and fascinating content. She believes writing should intrigue her audience and work with passion. She is an avid reader and holds her master's in literature. Her hobbies include traveling, music, and self-publishing!


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Some 4 million Indian sellers will be impacted by the closure of eBay India with Flipkart not yet ready to launch their replacement platform, which may well be six months into the future, and eBay also not ready to launch their promised cross border focused eBay India offering.
Flipkart’s eBay India shutdown timeline
From the 28th of July
Transactions worth less than INR 250/- and greater than INR 8,000/- (roughly less than £3 or greater than £90) will not be allowed on eBay India.
From the 5th of August
eBay India branded packaging supplies will no longer be available to purchase.
From the 1st of August
Sellers will not be allowed to create new listings on eBay India or to enroll in Powership program.Buyers will no longer be able to select ‘replacement’ as an option for any claims. However, buyers will still be able to request refunds.
From the 14th of August
Users will no longer be able to transact on eBay India. Sellers are requested to fulfil all orders placed on eBay.in through August 13, 2018. Per applicable eBay.in Rules and Policies:
- Payments for all eligible transactions will be settled according to the applicable timelines.
- All eligible buyers claims or seller protection claims will be reviewed.
- Settlement of sellers’s accounts will occur in September 2018, timelines will be published shortly.
Closing your eBay India Store
Sellers should unsubscribe from any eBay store subscriptions before August 14, 2018 in order to avoid monthly billing to their account.


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Microids announced this week that it has struck a deal with Tatio to produce two new games from the iconic Japanese developer. The titles are still under wraps, but they are already under development and should be released in 2022.
“Microids’ international development strategy remains strong and we are proud to collaborate with Taito. We are delighted that the Japanese giant has completely trusted us to develop these titles.” – declared Stéphane Longeard, CEO of Microids.
Microids, so far, has invested more in game production in the West, such as the recently announced Vertigo, based on the work of Alfred Hitchcock. The producer therefore wants to increase its portfolio and expand its reach into other territories, especially Japan.
“We have complete confidence in Microids’ ability to revive two of our licenses through the titles they will offer in the coming months. Gamers will be surprised to witness these games returning to current consoles.” – said Katsuhiko Iwaki, president of Taito.
Currently Taito has not appeared much in major releases, but the company is emblematic of the history of video games, being none other than the creator of Space Invaders, and also famous for the Darius and Bubble Bobble series.
An interesting curiosity about Taito is that you can play Space Invaders on its official website, by accessing one of its error pages.


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Vehicle software developer sets up global tech facility
An automotive software developer has chosen Leeds as the home for its new international technology hub.
Mad Devs operates directly across Europe and through partnerships in Australia.
The move will see the company recruit up to 10 new roles in its IT and support team over the coming months as it accelerates plans to launch new digital tools to help motor retailers and manufacturers benefit from digital transformation.
Adrian Favill, chief technical officer and director at Mad Devs, said: “Leeds is home to our technical and account management teams.
“The city has a wealth of digital talent that will support our plans to develop an ecosystem of tools that help automotive retailers operate more efficiently and deliver a better customer experience.”
The technology Hub will bring together data experts, developers and automotive analysts to devise software and integrations for the global market.
Mad Devs supports over 600 dealers across the UK. Its portals provide over 260,000 customers with a better car ownership experience and now hold over 5,000,000 documents, ensuring greater transparency and improved adherence to compliance requirements.
Mad Devs operates iStoreDOCS, a document storage platform and iTrackLEADS, which helps dealers respond, allocate and measure sales enquiries.
It also launched iConnect, which connects dealers with their customers post-sale and maintains a connection over the ownership of the vehicle.


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Macy’s has named Patti Ongman as the retailer’s chief merchandising officer, succeeding Jeff Kantor who is retiring.
Currently, the department store chain’s evp/general business manager for home, Ongman will officially take her new position on March 1.
In her new role, Ongman will be responsible for leading Macy’s merchandising, with oversight of merchandising, private brands and planning for the company’s five “families-of-business” (Ready-to-Wear, Center Core, Beauty, Men’s and Kid’s, and Home).
“Patti is a world-class merchant with a stellar reputation in the market. As a 33-year veteran at Macy’s, she’s a trusted leader to our colleagues and a valued partner to our vendors,” said Hal Lawton, Macy’s president. “I am confident that Patti is the right person with the right experience to continue transforming our merchandising organization to move faster and be more flexible.”
Ongman has been with Macy’s for more than 30 years. In her most recent role as evp/general business manager, for home, Ongman was responsible for all aspects of the Macy’s home business, including merchandising, private brands and planning.
“I’m excited to lead the Macy’s merchandising organization along with my team of first-class merchants. We will build on the great work the team has done, and we will continue to get better every day. I know this will be a smooth transition with Jeff’s support,” said Ongman.


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Pop culture has a growing fascination with the occult. From zombies and vampires, to Hogwarts and horoscopes, and even witches and Ouija boards — the mystical, unknown and undead seem to dominate TV and movie screens. While many celebrate this phenomenon, is it appropriate for Christians to get caught up in the zombie zeitgeist?
Apologist and New Testament scholar Jeremiah Johnston discusses paranormal entertainment, conjuring the dead, and “ordained” mediums in a section of his new book Unanswered, a volume intended to shed light on several hot-button topics that loom large within the Church. By and large, a majority of Americans say they’ve had a personal connection to the paranormal. According to Johnston’s book, 71 percent say they’ve had paranormal experiences, and 37 percent believe in ghosts, while 56 percent believe those ghosts are spirits of the dead. FULL REPORT


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The American Trucking Associations will salute the importance of the trucking industry at the Great American Trucking Show, set for Aug. 23-25 at the Dallas Convention Complex in Texas. ATA programs dedicated to enhancing and expanding the industry will be showcased during the three-day event.
ATA’s newly launched National Truck Driver Recruitment Campaign, a nationwide effort to promote truck driving as a career, will host a booth to showcase www.gettrucking.com. The website will be featured prominently throughout the show with an advertising campaign designed to let the public know the industry is putting new drivers behind the wheel every day. In addition, representatives will be on hand at Booth No. 2037 to explain the site’s registration process and the benefits of signing up.
Captains of America’s Road Team will be on hand to discuss the importance of professionalism and the image of the industry. ART Captains will relate their million-mile accident-free records and discuss the significance of making safety an underlying aspect of being a driver. Captains will be located in the ART Booth and also throughout the show.
Share the Road professional drivers will be available to discuss the public education highway safety campaign during the show. Drivers will be located throughout the show to talk with attendees and other professional drivers.
Finally, the ‘Good stuff. Trucks Bring It’ campaign will drive home the integral role the trucking industry plays in making our nation’s economy work. The ‘Good stuff’ campaign lets the public know the importance of the men and women making just-in-time deliveries. The image-enhancing campaign will be displayed throughout the show, including a ‘Good stuff’ decaled tractor-trailer located in Hall D at the entrance to the Pride and Polish exhibit.
For more information on GATS, go to www.gatsonline.com.


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Food, drink, automotive brands see lowest email CTR
Marketers shouldexpect 2.6% of recipients to click a link in emails sent, according to an analysis of over 30 billion emails sent in 2019 by worldwide clients of email marketing platform Campaign Monitor.
Food & beverage along with automotive and aerospace brands perform the worse. Both verticals saw an average Click-Through Rates (CTR )of 1.2% in 2019, less than half the average level across all categories. Automotive and aerospace also recorded the largest decline in CTR, dropping from 2.2% in 2018. Food and beverage fell from 1.7%.
The best performing emails came from government (4.1%), followed by real estate (3.6%) and agriculture-related brands (3.5%). Government was up strongly, from 3.0% in 2018, while real estate rose by 0.5 percentage points (pp) and agriculture-related dipped 0.2pp.
Nearly one-third of consumers say weekly marketing emails is the digital channel most likely to influence their purchase decision, marginally behind search. Which emails consumers open and engage with can also provide quick customer feedback for brands.
While recent data privacy regulations have reduced the amount of emails sent, this has allowed marketers to focus on the audiences most engaged with the brand.
For marketers looking to improve their click-through rate, hyper-personalisation is one possible approach as financial services provider American Express and retailer Kroger have found. Integrating email marketing into other channels is also vital, as luxury retail brand Jo Maloned in improving its repurchase sales. Email marketers in Asia Pacific would benefit from alerting consumers to their abandoned carts – currently only one-in-three do so.


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A deadly double standard on safety
Is there a deadly double standard in car manufacturing when it comes to the safety of entry-level vehicles built in emerging-market nations?
An online article by the Associated Press (AP) contends so. In Brazil, now the world’s fourth largest auto market, safety experts say thousands of Brazilians are dying every year in auto accidents due to unsafe cars and the nation’s often dangerous driving conditions. Per an AP analysis of Brazilian Health Ministry data on deaths compared to the size of each country’s car fleet, the Brazilian death rate from passenger car accidents is nearly four times that of the United States. In fact, the two countries are moving in opposite directions in survival rates—the United States recorded 40 percent fewer fatalities from car wrecks in 2010 compared with a decade before, while in Brazil, the number killed rose 71 percent according to the latest available data.
Experts and engineers inside the car manufacturing industry say that the culprits are the cars themselves, produced with weaker welds, scant safety features and inferior materials compared to similar models manufactured for US and European consumers. Four of Brazil’s five best-selling cars failed their independent crash tests. Dr. Dirceu Alves of Abramet, a Brazilian association of doctors that specializes in treating traffic accident victims, said that poorly built cars take an unnecessary toll. He said that the gravity of the injuries arriving at the hospitals is just ugly—injuries that should not be occurring.
SAFETY LAWS. Automakers in Brazil claim that their cars meet the nation’s safety laws, with some building even tougher cars because of the country’s poorly maintained roads, and rejected any notion that cost-cutting in production leads to fatalities. But the country’s few safety activists perceive a deadly double standard, with automakers earning more money from selling cars that offer drivers fewer safeguards. “The manufacturers do this because the cars are a little cheaper to make and the demands of the Brazilian consumers are less; their knowledge of safety issues is lower than in Europe or the US,” said Maria Ines Dolci, coordinator of the Rio de Janeiro-based consumer defense group Proteste.
Manufacturers earn a 10-percent profit on Brazilian-made cars compared with 3 percent in the United States and a global average of 5 percent, according to IHS Automotive, an industry consulting firm. In Brazil, as in other emerging markets, the surging spending power of new middle-class households has outpaced consumer protections taken for granted in more developed countries. The problem extends beyond Brazil, with economic forecasts showing the majority of global growth in auto sales taking place in emerging-market nations as the world’s auto fleet doubles to 1.5 billion by 2020.
Frontal airbags and antilock braking systems (ABS) have been standard in industrial countries for years, but will be required by new laws only next year in Brazil. The country will also have new impact regulations on paper at least, but regulators don’t have their own crash-test facility to verify automakers’ claims about vehicle performance, nor are there independent labs. Experts say those requirements alone do not guarantee safety standards. Some models in Brazil have air bags and ABS like the Chinese-made JAC J3, but it scored only one star in a recent crash test.
BLEAK RESULTS. The Latin New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), an independent pilot effort supported by the London-based FIA Foundation for auto safety and Euro NCAP, has run initial tests of Brazil’s most popular car models and the results are bleak. The cheapest models of four of the five top-selling cars made by General Motors, Volkswagen and Fiat rated only one star out of five stars while other top-sellers also scored poorly. A one-star rating means the car provides little protection in serious head-on crashes, compared to four- or five-star rated cars which are virtually the minimum that US and European consumers buy.
One American manufacturer whose car scored one star in the Latin NCAP test admitted that it is built on an outdated platform compared with the European four-star version of the same, but said it will have all its Brazilian-made cars built on updated, global platforms by 2015. Another US brand had no other comment than to say that its cars in Brazil are legal, after its top-selling model’s door unhinged and the passenger cabin bent into an inverted V shape during its crash test. An Italian automaker, whose best-selling car in Brazil also rated only one star asserted that in general, Brazilian projects receive more reinforcements within the car bodies to fortify them against the nation’s harsher roads and terrain. A French carmaker claimed that the safety record of its cars is on par with autos of the same class in Brazil although one of its popular models scored only one star.
An engineer for a major US automaker, speaking only on condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job, said he has watched for years as his company failed to implement more advanced safety features in Brazil, simply because the law did not require them. “The automakers are pleased to make more profitable cars for countries where the demands, whatever they may be, are less rigorous,” he said. “It happens everywhere—India, China and Russia, for example.” (Sourced with permission from AP)
Meanwhile, the Asean NCAP, which is supported by the membership of the automobile associations of Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, recently released the first crash test results for cars in the region. The testing is a collaboration between the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros) and Global NCAP. Asean NCAP carried out frontal off-set crashes at 64 kilometers per hour to assess results for driver, passenger and child safety, applying the United Nations’ regulation for frontal impact according to the recommendations on vehicle safety included in the Global Plan of the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020. The 2012 Ford Fiesta LX Ti-VCT with seven airbags and the Honda City Grade S with two airbags scored five stars each for adult occupant protection, while the Toyota Vios 1.5J MT with two airbags and the Nissan March E MT with one airbag earned four stars each. The Perodua Myvi SX with two airbags got three stars, the Hyundai i10 1.1 Epsilon with two airbags, two stars and the Proton Saga Standard with one airbag, one star. (Source: Auto, the international journal of the FIA)
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June 4, 2015
Mouser Electronics, has opened a new service center in Tokyo. This enables the company to expand customer service and technical support and establish a stronger partnership with local manufacturers.
“In Japan, our business grew 36% last year, and our customer base grew 23%,” said Glenn Smith, Mouser Electronics’ president and CEO. “Japan has always been a pioneer in robotics and automotive technologies, and we look forward to being able to serve engineers in Japan with the world’s newest semiconductors and electronic components from our vast lineup of the world’s leading manufacturers. We will provide one-stop shopping with a fast delivery time of about three days.”
For more information, visit Mouser Electronics.
Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.


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Battle Royale games that include survival, exploration and scavenging items have grown in popularity since the launch of Fortnite and PUBG on various platforms such as PS4, Xbox, PC, Android, iOS among others. Two of the larges titles have been competing for userbase and revenue and while Fortnite has previously grossed higher with respect to in-app purchases, PUBG has reportedly outperformed its rival in collections during the BlacFridayay week.
Tencent's PUBG Mobile witnessed a worldwide player spending in the game across App Store and Google Play increase by 2.7x last week compared to the several days prior to it, according to Sensor Tower Store Intelligence data. PUBG Mobile in-app purchases rose 16 per cent to $12 million from $4.5 million, the report said. In comparison, Fortnite grossed 43 per cent lower revenue on iOS devices during the same period.
When considering revenue earned from iOS devices alone, PUBG Mobile reportedly grossed just 20 per cent less than Fortnite last week but 'out-earned' it on two of the seven days (November 21, 22), according to the report. Overall, PUBG Mobile closed the week having earned around $1.7 million per day and Fortnite at an estimated $1.2 million per day on iOS during the same period.
Meanwhile, PUBG Vikendi snow map has been leaked for players. The Vikendi snow map is the fourth map that will be made available on the platform aside from Erangel, Miramar and Sanhok maps in the online multiplayer game. With Winter soon approaching, PUBG Vikendi snow map is said to have a snowy terrain with the absence of foliage.


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Uber, the company that offers taxi rides and food delivery through mobile applications is currently down & having an outage at many locations. Many Uber drivers are unable to login & access their app.
The issue is widespread & has affected many users. They have taken the route of social media to express ongoing issues & outages. Have a look at a few complaints down below.
A quick look at an outage map of Uber also confirms that there is some technical glitches. Below mentioned outage map has been taken from one of the renowned outage tracking website, Down Detector. Have a look at the current outage map down below.
Let us know in the comments section if you are also facing a similar issue.


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The Bill would regulate the sale, packaging and advertising of tobacco products —including electronic or e-cigarettes. If passed, the legislation would, for instance, ban smoking in cars carrying children under the age of 18 and enclosed public spaces.
It would also require standardised plain packaging for tobacco products such as that adopted by countries including Australia, the United Kingdom and France. New photos of smoking's harms and the benefits of quitting are also likely to be introduced under the Bill. A 2016 report by the Canadian Cancer Society found that more than 100 countries already featuring these kinds of warnings.
People caught lighting up in no-smoking zones could face a fine and/or up to three months in prison. People who import illegal cigarettes could face sentences up to 10 years in prison.
Read the full Bill.
Have something to say? Tweet or Facebook us on @Bhekisisa_MG
The Constitutional Court has legalised the personal use of pot. Take a look at the future medical marijuana in this piece from our archives.
Reusable pads are cheaper and better for the environment, but are you willing to try them?
Bleeding every month is a costly affair. Pads and tampons cost a person R40 000 in their lifetime. Here's a way to get round the price.
Bhekisisa means "to scrutinise" in Zulu
In South Africa, Zulu patients who would like to be thoroughly assessed by a doctor, would ask the physician to "bhekisisa" them.


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Snap Inc. made long-awaited strides toward profitability, posting record quarterly revenue and narrowing its loss considerably on the back of a boom in online advertising.
The fourth-quarter results released late Tuesday sent Snap shares up more than 22% in after-hours trading, easing the pain of sizable stock losses incurred during a rough 2018 for the social-media company and its Snapchat app.
Some analysts cautioned that questions remain about Snap's business model and suggested the quarter's improvement reflects more the bustling advertising market, which as well powered strong revenue for tech giants Facebook Inc. and Google parent Alphabet Inc.
Snap's biggest challenge is how to become more than a niche platform popular among teens and young adults. Snap's number of users stayed flat at 186 million -- better than the third quarter's decline but not the reacceleration of user growth that company insiders had hoped to see.
Snap's revenue rose 36% to $389.8 million in the fourth quarter, typically the heaviest spending period for advertisers, up from $285.7 million a year earlier. Those results topped analyst projections of $377 million, according to FactSet. The tally marked the most money Snap has ever brought in during a quarter, although its revenue growth is decelerating.
The company's loss in the fourth quarter shrank to $191.7 million, or 14 cents a share, from $350 million, or 28 cents a share, a year earlier. Snap, which went public in March of 2017, has yet to report a profit as a publicly traded company, although Snap Chief Executive Evan Spiegel has said it is his "stretch" goal for the company to be profitable in 2019.
Before Tuesday, Snap shares had lost more than half their value in the past year as the company struggled with a poorly received redesign of its flagship app and dealt with a wave of executive departures.
"Although 2018 was challenging in many ways, we are proud of the significant changes we have made to strengthen our company," Mr. Spiegel said. "We are substantially closer to achieving profitability."
Snap's upbeat results drew mostly from industry trends rather than improved performance in its own business, said Youssef Squali, lead internet analyst at investment bank SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. "Their business remains somewhat challenged," he said, pointing to the lack of user growth and continued losses as evidence that Snap's business model remains unproven.
Snap, which is based in Santa Monica, Calif., is going up against online behemoths Facebook and Google in its attempt to gain traction in digital advertising. Snap is projected to control about 0.5% of that ad market this year, behind Google, which is expected to account for 31.3%, and Facebook's 20.5%, according to research firm eMarketer.
Facebook's market share includes the photo-sharing app Instagram, which competes closely with Snapchat for users and advertisers.
"I don't think they're out of the woods," said Victor Anthony, internet analyst at Aegis Capital. "I think Instagram will put significant pressure on Snap this year."
To be sure, Snap's competition with Instagram cuts both ways. Instagram's success has helped establish advertising formats that Snap originally pioneered, such as story montages of photos and videos.
Snap launched its Snapchat redesign a year ago, in the belief that users would be more comfortable expressing themselves if the app separated the social aspect of the experience from the news. But an algorithmically ordered feed of content frustrated users who said they missed certain posts; and they panned the design.
Since then, Snap has tweaked the design -- which appeared to help in the fourth quarter. Snapchat users on Apple devices increased and they spent more time on the app.
The redesign helped Snap increase the average revenue it makes per user to $2.09, from $1.53 in 2017's final period. The new layout for content in the redesigned version of Snapchat displays more premium content, and now 30% more people are watching publisher stories and shows a day, compared with a year earlier.
But Snap is still losing users on Android devices. Mr. Spiegel said the company has started rolling out the new version of the Android app "to a small percentage of our community" that he promised in the third quarter. He said Snap will expand the new version of the app to more regions over time.
Write to Georgia Wells at Georgia.Wells@wsj.com


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Former US President Barack Obama drew a huge crowd and overwhelming cheers when he visited an office building here, media reports said.New Yorkers... ...http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a721364.html
Rabab Musa, 34, alleged in the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit that she was "unlawfully arrested" last September as she left a Starbucks in Midtown. ...http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report-nypd-cops-forced-muslim-woman-to-remove-hijab-lawsuit-2332588
Popularity of mobile ordering leads companies to retool stores ...http://www.business-standard.com/article/international/order-ahead-makes-starbucks-victim-of-own-success-117022201312_1.html
By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union finance ministers agreed on Tuesday to close loopholes multinational corporations use to... ...http://www.sify.com/news/eu-agrees-new-rules-to-tackle-multinationals-tax-avoidance-news-crime-rcvsH1cgfchdj.html
Tech giant Apple has been named the most admired company in the world, followed by Amazon and Starbucks in a list compiled by Fortune magazine, but... ...http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/apple-tops-fortune-s-most-admired-companies-list-117021700519_1.html
In this era when every product has...
C-201, Ground Floor, M-Block Market,...


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SAN JOSE, Calif. - On Semiconductor Corp. has bought another company.
The analog and mixed-signal chip maker has acquired the CMOS image sensor business unit (ISBU) from Cypress Semiconductor Corp. in an all cash transaction for approximately $31.4 million.
As part of the transaction, approximately 80 Cypress Semiconductor ISBU employees will join On Semiconductor. The ISBU will become an integrated part of On Semiconductor’s Digital, Military/Aerospace and Image Sensor (DMI) division.
The move expands On Semi's efforts into the CMOS image sensor arena. On Semiconductor’s current products target one dimensional image sensing with particular focus on contact image sensing and ambient/proximity sensors. Once the acquisition is closed, the company will have a complete image sensing product offering between 1-D and 2-D sensors and across multiple end-markets.
Cypress’s portfolio of high-performance custom and standard CMOS image sensors are used in multi-megapixel digital photography and cinematography, machine vision, linear and two dimensional (2-D) bar code imaging, medical x-ray imaging, biometrics and aerospace applications.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of 2011, subject to customary closing conditions.
“The sale of our image sensor business will enable Cypress to continue to focus on programmable products including our flagship PSoC programmable system-on-chip solution and our TrueTouch touch-sensing controllers,” said T.J. Rodgers, Cypress president and CEO, in a statement.
Meanwhile, following its spin-off from Motorola Inc., On Semi several years ago acquired Cherry Semiconductor Corp. for $253.2 million. Then, starting in 2006, On Semi accelerated its efforts to reshape the company from a commodity discrete supplier into a higher-value analog/mixed-signal vendor.
Several years ago, it raised eyebrows by buying LSI Corp.'s 8-inch fab in Gresham, Oregon for $106.5 million. In 2007, On Semi acquired AMI Semiconductor for $894.1 million. The move enabled On Semi to enter the ASIC, custom chip, foundry and other markets. At the time, On Semi also purchased Analog Devices Inc.'s voltage regulation and thermal monitoring products for $148 million
Then, in 2008, On Semi purchased Catalyst Semiconductor Inc., a supplier of EEPROMs and related nonvolatile memories, for $121.7 million. Continuing on its buying spree, On Semi recently completed the acquisition of EMI chip specialist PulseCore Holdings (Cayman) Inc. for $17 million.
In 2009, On Semiconductor acquired California Micro Devices for $108 million in cash under the terms of a definitive agreement signed by the two companies.
In an effort to expand into medical chips, On Semi last year acquired privately-held Sound Design Technologies Ltd. (SDT) from an affiliate of Global Equity Capital LLC, for approximately $22 million in cash.
In July of last year, Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. has agreed to sell its loss-making semiconductor subsidiary to On Semiconductor for $366 million in a mix of stock and cash.
On Semiconductor recently announced that total revenues in the third quarter of 2010 were $600.7 million, an increase of approximately 3 percent from the second quarter of 2010. During the third quarter of 2010, the company reported GAAP net income of $87.8 million, or $0.20 per fully diluted share.
The third quarter 2010 GAAP net income included net charges of $20.0 million, or $0.05 per fully diluted share, from special items. Also included in the operating expenses during the third quarter of 2010 was approximately $5 million of acquisition related expenses. During the second quarter of 2010, the company reported a GAAP net income of $78.7 million, or $0.18 per fully diluted share.


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Ally Winning, European Editor, PSD
The Chinese have a curse that says, “may you live in interesting times”. I’ve no idea if someone cursed the world, but the last couple of years have definitely been interesting times for all of us. Hopefully things start to settle down a little this year and both the world and its economies start get back to some kind of normality. Just now, it looks that way. In November, I visited the electronica trade fair in Munich, and even though it wasn’t as busy as usual, the crowds were definitely coming back. According to the organizers, 2,144 companies exhibited at the exhibition, with 64% coming from overseas. 70,000 attendees also came to visit the show. Even though the numbers may have been down on previous years, the scale of the event is still very much larger than other shows in the industry and the overall success of the show boded well for the industry.
The companies I mainly spent time with were based in the centre of the Messe’s exhibition area and obviously concentrated on power. Again and again, the same overriding themes came up – GaN and Sic technology for renewable energy, industrial drives and automotive applications. Each of the innovations shown on the stands will provide additional range to an electric vehicle or extract more power from wind turbines and solar panels. Power electronics companies are really at the heart of the fight against climate change as was seen in Munich. Innovations for the automotive industry especially stood out and I hope to bring you much more on that in the near future.
We also look at the automotive industry in this month’s Special Report on EVs, Hybrid Vehicles and Infrastructure. Infrastructure is often left out of topics like this as most people relate more easily to the sexier topic of the vehicles. However, it would be a real omission, especially as infrastructure is currently as important in buying decisions as the vehicles themselves. Most vehicles currently have a range that is acceptable to the majority of potential EV drivers and their main concern is charging – both the location and proximity of chargers, and also the speed of charging. Currently there are many initiatives to increase the amount of chargers available, but the charging speed is a bigger sticking point. While it takes minutes to fill the tank of an ICE vehicle, it can take hours to charge electric ones. This will become less of a problem as better batteries and charging infrastructure is put in place. There is currently a move from 400V to 800V for automobile charging, and even higher for industrial and commercial vehicles. The higher voltage, along with the power electronics innovation seen at electronica, will allow batteries to charge much faster, alleviating some of the concerns of potential EV purchasers. Hopefully, the voltage change happens sooner rather than later.
European Editor, PSD


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BRYN MAWR, Pa (CBS) — One of the last of its kind, a neighborhood hardware store, will be closing its’ doors.
Suburban Hardware on Lancaster Ave in the heart of Bryn Mawr has been an institution on the Main Line for more than 90 years.
Long-time co-owner 66-year-old Charlie Waters, has no heir apparent.
He’s been working there since he was 17-years-old.
“I had to sweep the back stairs, he said. “The owner said if you do a good job, then we’ll talk about a job for you.”
His son went a different direction, becoming a mechanical engineer, and there were no takers when the business was up for sale.
Customer Rollin is sad to say so long.
“I asked them, what are we going to do without you?”
Waters says while those big chain stores attract consumers looking for big ticket items, leaving the scraps for old school hardware stores, like Suburban, the neighborhood institutions “know their repeat customers, who like to be waited on.”
When asked what he thinks will become of the space Waters said, “If I had to guess, a restaurant.”


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Vivo India has launched its latest smartphone named Vivo V7+ at an event held in New Delhi earlier today. While it is essentially a selfie-centric smartphone with a good front camera, it is also the newest entrant to the club of smartphones featuring a bezel-less display with 18:9 aspect ratio. Like other brands, Vivo has also given it a fancy name which is FullView Display.
The Vivo V7+ sports a 5.99-inch HD (1440 x 720 pixels) IPS FullView display with 2.5D curved glass and Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Under the hood, it marks the debut of the octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor which is clocked at 1.8GHz and is coupled with 4GB of RAM. On the storage front, you will get 64GB of onboard storage with support for microSD cards.
The smartphone has a 16-megapixel rear camera with f/2.0 aperture and LED flash. On the front, there is a 24-megapixel camera with f/2.0 aperture and Moonlight Glow soft selfie flash. Since it is a selfie-centric phone, you also get features like Face Beauty 7.0 and Portrait mode. There is 3325mAh battery to keep the lights on for the day and it will be running Funtouch OS 3.2 based on Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box.
The Vivo V7+ has been priced at Rs. 21,990 and comes in Matte Black and Champagne Gold color options. It is currently up for pre-orders via Flipkart and Amazon India but will go on sale via both online sellers as well as offline channels starting September 15th.


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Chrysler's Nardelli Hints Further Production Cuts May Be Necessary
Last year sawclosures and halted production atnumerous U.S. automotiveplants, a trend that appears to be set to plauge 2009 as well. This weekend at a press conference during the Detroit Auto Show, Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli indicated to reporters that further production halts may be necessary in order to cope withthe ever-worsening economic climate.
Last December 17, the automaker revealed its extended holiday plan to halt production at many of its plantsthrough January 19. The move resulted in a December 2008 output drop of 53%, the largest volume plunge of any U.S. automaker.
Under that initiative, most factories were scheduled to reopen at the specified January date, with the automaker's Windsor, Ontario and Connor Avenue Plant in Detroit delayed until February 2. But with sales weakening and forecasts showing no improvement in 2009, Nardelli and company are mulling more manufacturing stoppages. Plants currently affected by the extended holiday vacation are expected to be looked at on a case-by-case basis in order to determine the future opening and closure schedule.
Notably, during the press conference, Nardelli noted that Chrysler is not seeking -- and doesn't need -- an alliance to survive. Prior to the automaker's $4 billion government funding loan awarded late last year, it was reported that a corporate alliance with rival automaker General Motors was being hashed out by executives.
Source: Automotive News (Subscription required)


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The 1,000 trainees will work in its stores for six months, before starting a foundation degree in retail management at the University of Bradford School of Business. Apparently, it’s targeting students who might be put off university by the rising tuition fees.
Morrisons isn’t the only supermarket to target school leavers. Last year the Co-operative Group launched an apprenticeship academy to train young people in various parts of the business, with the promise of a job at the end of it. Tesco also sponsors a pre-degree foundation course in retail at Manchester Metropolitan University.


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Suzuki has announced that the all-new Celerio city car, which made its debut at this year’s Geneva Motor Show, will go on sale in the UK from February 2015.
The new Suzuki Celerio will offer an elevated driving position, interior space that surpasses most conventional A-segment cars and a class-leading luggage capacity of 254 litres.
Suzuki’s new city car challenger has a compact 3,600mm body, width of 1,600mm, height of 1,530mm, and 2,425mm long wheelbase. The non-slanting roofline allows greater headroom for occupants, while the wheelbase gives plenty of space in the cabin for five occupants.
Standard kit includes air conditioning, alloy wheels, DAB radio, USB and Bluetooth connectivity, ESP, CD tuner, and six airbags.
Suzuki has stated that full pricing and specification details will be announced by the end of the year.
The new Celerio city car will return average fuel economy of up to 65.7mpg, while emitting just 99g/km of CO2.
Next summer, a new engine will become available that offers even higher fuel economy, while CO2 emissions will fall to just 84g/km.
In the same summer, Suzuki will make its newly-developed Auto Gear Shift (AGS) available, which features an Intelligent Shift Control Actuator that is positioned at the top of the transmission and operates the gearshift and clutch automatically.
When it goes on sale in the UK next year, the new model will be available in six colours: five optional metallic finishes and one solid paint colour.


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Revenue becomes even more precious among live streaming services with the launch of HBO Now. One of the biggest fallout of the new live streaming service would be the viewership battle between Netflix and HBO Now.
While HBO Now will soon be available to viewers as a standalone channel without any cable subscription, Netflix has topped them in terms of revenue generation so far. News also has it that Netflix has made a huge bank of original content, which will create pressure on HBO Now.
HBO started operations back in the early 70s and has some of the blockbuster franchises like True Blood and Game of Thrones. They have also declared premiering a new season of Game of Thrones when they launch the standalone streaming service in April 12, 2015.
In this race, Netflix is not lagging behind. With experience of only seven years, they have updated their library with a whole lot of original content and have high rating shows like Orange in the New Black as well as House of Cards.
The addition of original content to the Netflix library is sure to take away the supremacy HBO Now used to enjoy. However, Netflix remains a great choice for watching non-fiction films.When it comes to cost and technology, there is no doubt that Netflix enjoys supremacy compared to any other channel. Though both have some advantages and disadvantages, Netflix is posing a strong competition to HBO Now, which is still the most popular choice among audiences.


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UPDATE 1-Co-founder of Zara-owner Inditex dies in hospital-report
(Adds reported death)
MADRID Aug 15 (Reuters) - The co-founder of Spanish retail giant Inditex, owner of fashion chain Zara, has died in hospital after suffering a brain haemorrhage, newspaper El Pais reported on Thursday.
Rosalia Mera, ex-wife of Inditex's other founder Amancio Ortega, held almost 7 percent of the company and was Spain's richest woman, according to Forbes magazine.
Hospital officials declined to comment.
Mera had been transferred to San Rafael hospital in the northern city of La Coruna after being taken gravely ill in Menorca, hospital sources told Reuters earlier.
The 69-year-old is not represented on Inditex's board.
Ortega, the group's former chairman, is still represented on the board but without executive functions. He holds a 59 percent stake in the company and is the world's third-richest man, according to Forbes. (Reporting By Robert Hetz; Editing by David Goodman)
- Putin dissolves state news agency, tightens grip on Russia media
- North Korea says Kim's powerful uncle dismissed for 'criminal acts'
- Thai PM calls snap election, protesters want power now |
- Record cold, ice grip U.S.; more snow to blanket East
- Protesters fell Lenin statue, tell Ukraine's president 'you're next'


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Famous fashion brand Mulberry is coming to Leeds and promising lots of festive treats.
They will be launching a new store in Leeds city centre's Victoria Quarter shopping arcade on Wednesday, November 27.
Coinciding with their opening will be Mulberry’s new Christmas gift ranges. Visitors to the shop can also create their own festive greeting card at the photo booth based at the shop.
The booth will be at the store from Thursday, November 28 until Monday, December 2.
Ian Earnshaw, Mulberry commercial director, said: “I am delighted that we are launching our new store concept in the Victoria Arcade.
“Leeds has always been, and will continue to be, an extremely important market for the brand.”
You can find out more about their products by visiting the Mulberry website.
To find out more about what’s on in Leeds and Yorkshire visit our Best in Leeds Facebook page. You'll find the latest food and drink reviews, gigs, events and lifestyle news.


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Hard days for Garmin are passed away. Early on July 23 morning the fitness tracking company Garmin was hit with a ransomware attack that shut down the company’s website, phone or chat support, prevented emails and stopped activity uploads.
This issue continued for four days. On last Tuesday, Garmin said the issue has been resolved. The company’s website and Garmin connect service are back online and activities are beginning to sync.
This news gave some comfort to the millions of Garmin users worldwide who were unable to get any analytics for their runs and rides. Garmin also said that it may take some days for normal operation to resume.
The attack affected not just activity tracking but also other services of the company such as flyGarmin and Garmin Pilot Apps, which is used for flight plan filling.
Garmin’s communication during this hard time has been fairly non transparent, the company referred to the issue in external communications only as an outage or maintenance. However, according to some anonymous sources within the company revealed to tech websites that the company was the victim of a ransomware attack. The attack was executed with a ransomware software called “WastedLocker”. The Software is developed by the Russian Evil Corp criminal hack group. The price for the ransom was reported to be US $10 million.
After four days from the attack, Garmin released its first formal statement stating it was the victim of a cyber attack:
It would be illegal for Garmin to have paid them the ransom because Evil Corp( the source of the hack) was sanctioned by the US Treasury in December.
However, a news report reported that Garmin “obtained the decryption key to recover its computer files”.
Sources also claim that the company didn’t make a direct payment to the hackers. Meanwhile, Forbes thinks that the payment of the ransom could be written off by Garmin as a tax deductible business expense.