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THE NEW look British Motor Museum has opened its doors following a £1.1million refurbishment.
Previously known as the Heritage Motor Centre, the Gaydon museum is now a modern and immersive display of British motoring history, with themed zones, including ones for Design & Concepts, Jaguar, Land Rover, Royal Cars, Motor Sport, and Film & TV cars.
Many of the displays are on raised plinths, including a series of Land Rovers on an all-terrain ‘mountain’, and visitors can also now stroll along the Time Road, while touch screens provide interactive interpretation telling the cars’ stories in more detail.
MP Gavin Williamson, a British car enthusiast, had the honour of opening the museum.
He said: “I feel very privileged to unveil the new look British Motor Museum as I have loved classic cars since my father took me to the British Motor Show as a child.
“The British Motor Museum is instrumental in enabling visitors to learn more about the past, present and future of the British motor industry, its technology and its people.
“With the exciting improvements and enhancements now made, the museum can now be counted as being amongst the best motor museums in the world.”
The new collections centre has also opened giving visitors access for the first time to an additional 250 cars from the reserve collections of the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust and the Jaguar Heritage Trust.
Visit www.britishmotormuseum.co.uk for further details.


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Amazon has today announced further investment into exclusive and original content in a landmark deal that sees the company acquire UK subscription streaming rights to critically acclaimed BBC period crime drama Ripper Street – voted the best show of 2013 by Radio Times readers.
Amazon will commission from the producers, Tiger Aspect Productions and Lookout Point, a third series of Ripper Street, with brand new episodes made available exclusively to Amazon Prime Instant Video members. The series will continue to be co-produced in the US by BBC America and will screen on BBC1 a few months after it is available on Amazon in the UK. It will be distributed globally by BBC Worldwide. Filming will begin in May 2014, signaling Amazon’s commitment to the production of one of last year’s most highly regarded series, in a move that is sure to delight Ripper Street’s huge global fan base.
Prime Instant Video will also be the only subscription service in the UK where TV fans can watch the first two series of the critically acclaimed drama, viewed by millions on BBC1. From today, followers of the award-winning and BAFTA nominated show will be able to stream all eight episodes of series one in full high definition, with the entirety of the second series to follow soon after – giving viewers the chance to fully immerse themselves in this captivating crime drama inspired by life in London’s Whitechapel in the late 19th century.
Jason Ropell, Head of Amazon Instant Video International Content Acquisition says
“We’re delighted to have secured not only the highly popular first two seasons of Ripper Street for our Prime Instant Video customers, but we can also confirm today that we will making season three, news that we know will delight the millions of fans of this brilliant British drama. Prime Instant Video offers our customers the largest subscription streaming service in the UK with over 15,000 popular movies and TV episodes, many of which are exclusive to the service, and we’re just getting started.”
Ben Stephenson, the BBC’s Controller of Drama Commissioning, says
“This is an exceptional opportunity to bring back Ripper Street for a third series by working with the right partners. This deal gives fans another series of the show they love at excellent value to the licence fee payer, ensuring that the BBC can also commission an entirely new, yet to be announced drama series.”
Ripper Street follows the notorious H Division, the Police Precinct charged with keeping order on the meanest streets imaginable: late Victorian Whitechapel. It is a series of one-hour thrillers that transport audiences into the dark heart of London as it stumbles toward the Twentieth Century.
Starring Matthew Macfadyen (Spooks, Robin Hood), Jerome Flynn (Game of Thrones), Adam Rothenberg (Alcatraz), MyAnna Buring (The Descent, Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part II) and created by BAFTA nominated Richard Warlow, (Waking the Dead, Mistresses), it is a vivid, sensual and violent drama that explores the lives of those who have seen the worst of humankind, but who nonetheless struggle each day to bring law to the lawless.
Another generation of viewers will now be introduced to life on Ripper Street, and both new and existing fans can enjoy series one and two on Amazon Prime Instant Video from the beginning.
BBC’s Ripper Street saved by Amazon

domain: news


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Satellite broadband has been around for years as an Internet offering for rural areas. But with slow speeds, it has never gotten much attention. ViaSat sought to change that earlier this year with the launch of Exede and Hughes launched its own high-speed satellite service over the summer. Now DISH is taking both companies’ offerings and sticking them under the newly announced dish-NET brand. More on the satellite broadband service,
its main competitor in the market, Verizon Wireless’ HomeFusion, and Wells Fargo Securities’ Marci Ryvicker’s take.
More top stories in today’s CableFAX Daily
Lot of noise Thurs over a Bloomberg story quoting unnamed sources as saying DISH is in talks with nets like Viacom, Scripps and Univision about offering their channels as part of an over-the-top service. But an industry source tells us DISH isn’t anywhere close to a deal.
Comcast launched free WiFi in CA
for Xfinity Internet residential subs and Comcast Business Class Internet customers.
Mediacom became the latest cable op to announce a partnership with TiVo
. It will begin launching TiVo’s whole-home product early next year with the rollout to continue across its footprint over the course of the year.


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"I hear his name bandied about a lot, but I don't know him. I don't know who Henson is. He seems to have his hand in a lot of things around here, but I don't particularly know what that means."
In a novel use of the software, National Public Radio is using the Splunk log search engine to analyze Web traffic for its audio streams and downloads.
Polycom said it bought video management firm Accordent Technologies for $50 million in cash,
Microsoft hates when customers buy products that weren't built in Redmond, but Steve Ballmer and crew aren't going to miss a moneymaking opportunity, even if that means managing iPhones, iPads, Androids and, yes, even Linux computers.
Sprint may have groaned after rival carrier AT&T announced plans earlier this week to gobble up T-Mobile, but that didn't stop the carrier from debuting two splashy wireless devices at CTIA Tuesday.
In the wake of Internet blackouts in Egypt and Libya, Google has announced it is awarding at least $1 million to Georgia Tech researchers working on tools that will immediately reveal when governments are trying to shut down or censor use of the Inte...
Google, Facebook and Microsoft are among the heavy hitters of the tech industry that have teamed up to support a new, cloud-focused initiative called Software-Defined Networking (SDN).
The Wi-Fi Alliance plans to make getting onto a public hotspot as easy as connecting to a cellular network, a change that mobile operators are likely to welcome as they look to shift more data traffic onto Wi-Fi.
Sprint is integrating the Google Voice application into all of its phones, giving users a new way to make cheap international calls.
High port density, high throughput, and very low latency are bedrock requirements in the data center, and Force10's new S4810 top-of-rack switch delivers on all three counts.
Results of a five-year study on telemedicine showed that patients can be treated virtually by physicians as effectively as if the patients made physical visits to the doctor's office. In another finding, the remote treatment also improved doctor-pati...
Google must pay a fine of €100,000 ($US142,000) for the unauthorized collection of information about the location of Wi-Fi hotspots in France by its Street View cars, France's National Commission on Computing and Liberty (CNIL) has ordered.
AT&T’s surprise buyout of T-Mobile USA for $39 billion has industry watchers scrambling to figure out what the deal means for subscribers, the U.S. cellular industry and investors.
The $599 price for the Wi-Fi only Xoom tablet from Motorola Mobility has triggered an online debate about whether it's competitive with Apple's iPad 2 or way overpriced.
Android hasn't just surpassed Apple's iPhone in terms of total device sales, but in Web page load time as well.
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Samsung's third generation Galaxy Note will reportedly have 3GB of RAM.
The first Galaxy Note featuring a 5.3in screen comes with 1GB of RAM whereas the current Galaxy Note has 2GB RAM.
The Korean Economics Daily now reports that the upcoming Galaxy Note 3 will ship with huge amount of RAM, at 3GB. If this rumour turns true then Note 3 will be the first in the Galaxy Note line ups to feature such huge amount of RAM. Except the RAM capacity, the publication does not reveal information on other features of the Note 3.
The Galaxy Note 3 has been recently rumoured to feature in either 5.7in or 5.99in Super AMOLED full HD display.
It is expected to be equipped with Snapdragon 800 chip featuring a quad-core Krait 400 CPU, with each core running at clock speeds up to 2.3GHz, and paired with new Adreno 330 graphics unit which reportedly delivers two times more performance for compute applications over the current Adreno 320.
Besides, the new Note is expected to have a 13 megapixel camera. It will run on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and feature Samsung's own TouchWiz nature UX user interface with S Pen function.
Samsung is said to make an announcement about the Galaxy Note 3 at a special Unpacked event which will be held on 4 September. The Samsung Unpacked event will be a part of the IFA 2013, a press event which will be held on the first day of the trade show.


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Fuego Fino has launched Zunte Mezcal. The women-led, eco-friendly alcohol wholesaler previously released Diva del Bravo Tequila and Tequila Peñasco Extra Anejo. This new agave spirit is the second Mezcal the brand has brought to market.
“Zunte” means “Spirit’s Strength” and Fino Fuego remains committed to preserving traditional Mezcal production practices. The brand wants to be recognized for respecting the communities that produce traditional Mezcal.
Fino Fuego produces the Mezcal in San Luis del Río, Oaxaca using agave Espadin. The agaves are cooked underground for 4 days and then crushed by a stone tahona pulled by either a horse or mule. Next, the agave fibers ferment with water for 12 to 15 days in wooden vats. Finally, the mash is distilled twice over a period of 36 hours in copper stills.
Jessica Contreras, CEO of Fuego Fino, explained in a statement, “Mezcal is an emerging segment within the Mexican-spirits market that has recently seen an uptick in demand. While there are many Tequila products lining the shelves, the Mezcal line of products is one of the most sought after by retailers looking to add depth to their offerings. I like the custom-bottle presentation that Zunte selected, and I am honored to start distributing it within the Arizona market.”
Fuego Fino is an eco-friendly wine and spirits house that currently develops a variety of Mexican spirits, including the previously mention Tequila and Mezcal, as well as Bacanora and Sotol. They company minimizes waste and owns the majority of their supply and distribution networks.
Currently, Fuego Fino’s current lineup includes their eponymous Flama de Fuego Fino Mezcal, Diva Tequila, Tequila Penasco Anejo, Tequila Penasco Plata, Tequila Penasco Extra Anejo, and S Bacanora is set to launch September 16th.
Fuego Fino currently runs a crowdfunding campaign that can be found via their WeFunder.


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Pitcher & Piano owner Marston's sees its profits overflow after heatwave and World Cup gave thirsty Brits cause to celebrate with a drink
- Marston's said it expects to file record profits this year spurred by the heatwave
- Its pub sales rose 1.6% over the summer and its brewing business boomed too
- Despite the robust trading update, shares fell nearly 3% in early trading
Pitcher & Piano's parent company, Marston's, is raising a toast to record annual profits and sales after the heatwave and World Cup prompted a surge of pub-goers.
The FTSE listed firm said the summer rush helped make up for a rough patch at the start of the year during the Beast from the East.
As a result, Marston's is expecting to post profits of around £104million for the year - up 3.9 per cent, and record sales of £1.1billion - up 15 per cent.
Marston's brewing division rocketed 47 per cent in the last 10 weeks as demand soared
Sales across its pubs, including the Two For One chain, have remained strong, while its brewing business is bubbling over too. Marston’s distributes to a quarter of the UK’s 46,000 pubs nationwide.
Marston's boss Ralph Findlay said: 'We have seen clear benefit from our balanced portfolio, having achieved good growth in wet-led pubs and from brewing, maximising the trading opportunities provided by the good summer weather and World Cup.'
Marston's profits fall short of analyst forecasts of £107million
He added that business was not as strong at its food-led pubs - down 1.2 per cent - as fewer people ate out during the football.
Analyst Greg Johnson, at Shore Capital, points out that the firm's expected profit figure falls short of the broker's £107million forecast, but said it is a 'solid' update.
Shares fell 3 per cent to 96p in early trading.
The summer heatwave and World Cup has had a mixed impact on the UK's pub firms.
Last week, Revolution Bars said the weather and lower footfall were in part to blame for its full year losses of £3.6million as it failed to cash in on the World Cup due to not having TVs showing matches in its bars.
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Officials say 15 new cases of Salmonella have been reported in Canada in relation to an outbreak linked to U.S.-grown peaches.
The Public Health Agency of Canada says authorities have confirmed a total of 48 illnesses in Quebec and Ontario as of Wednesday.
The agency says peaches imported from the U.S. are under investigation, but there’s no evidence to suggest that homegrown peaches pose a risk.
California-based grower Prima Wawona has recalled several varieties of fresh peaches sold in Canada between June 1 and Aug. 22 over contamination concerns.
The yellow, white and organic peaches were sold under various brand names, including Extrafresh, Harvest Sweet, Prima, Sweet 2 Eat, Sweet O, Sweet Value, Wawona and Wegmans.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is urging consumers to not eat, use, sell or serve recalled peaches or products made with them.
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OnePlus 9 Series 5G is all set to globally debut on March 23. The company has scheduled the online launch event for 7:30 PM IST. OnePlus has also announced its partnership with the legendary Swedish camera manufacturer Hasselblad to design the cameras of the OnePlus 9 series.
OnePlus 9 series is reportedly to arrive in two models of OnePlus 9e and OnePlus 9 Pro. The high-end 9 Pro is believed to feature the Hasselblad cameras. The company has revealed the back panel design of the phone that matches the previous leak. There is a Hasselblad branding on its rectangular rear camera setup.
Commenting on the partnership with Hasselblad, OnePlus confirms that the duo will work together for the next three years to manufacture next-gen camera systems for upcoming OnePlus smartphones. The company has also allocated a budget of 150 million USD for the development of enhanced mobile photography capabilities. It will set up four new R&D centers in Japan and the US.
ALSO READ: Samsung Galaxy F62 Review with Pros and Cons
Pete Lau, Founder and CEO of OnePlus said, “With OnePlus’ top-of-the-line hardware and computational photography and Hasselblad’s rich aesthetic knowledge in traditional photography, I am confident that the OnePlus 9 Series will be a major leap forward in our ability to deliver a premium, flagship camera.”
For the OnePlus 9 series, the Shenzhen-based manufacturer has announced to employ the newly developed Natural Color Calibration with Hasselblad. The technology will enable the OnePlus device to provide natural-looking colors in photos. There will also be a Hasselblad Pro mode that claims to offer more control for post-editing and fine-tuning the pictures.
Both the new partners will work together in developing new camera features including ultra-wide click with 140° Field-of-View, free-form lens, and T-lens technology for fast focusing from the front camera. The latter feature will be used in the OnePlus 9 series.
Previously, we had learned from the rumors that the OnePlus 9 Pro will be powered by the latest Snapdragon 888 chipset with up to 12GB RAM and 256GB ROM. The phone could also feature a 6.7-inch 120Hz Fluid AMOLED display, 5G, 65W fast charging, and Android 11 based OxygenOS. The specs will be more clear with the official release. So, mark your calendars for March 23.


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A £100,000 upgrade project is being undertaken at a leisure centre in Buckinghamshire. Work at Chilterns Lifestyle Centre will be carried out over the next four weeks to improve gym facilities and equipment.
Everyone Active, which operates the Amersham-based centre, plans to extend the gym with new exercise bikes, a track and sled area, and an improved offering of weights. Therapy guns will also be purchased while a new machine called InBody will be installed to allow gym-goers to measure their body composition and hydration status.
A new cycling studio will also be implemented, as will a new stretching area, while the main gym will be given a "new look and feel." The centre's general manager expressed his excitement at the plans which would add "even more innovative fitness solutions" to the facility.
Since opening in 2021, the leisure centre has proven popular with locals but has been met with issues of its own. The site has been subjected to vandalism of late with benches and parking machines among the items that have been broken.
But the renovation project should help set that right as nearly two million people have visited since it opened. James Sexton, General Manager at Chilterns Lifestyle Centre said: “We’re excited to make these changes and improvements at the centre.
"The fitness facilities have proved to be extremely popular since the centre opened and it’s really great to be able to make an additional investment to further improve the facilities for our customers. New and existing customers will benefit from even more innovative fitness solutions in a modern facility, supported and guided by our team.”
Clive Harriss, Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, added: “With the Chilterns Lifestyle Centre heading towards its two-millionth visitor in the coming months, I am delighted to see we are able to continue to improve the centre and provide even better facilities for both existing and potential new customers.”
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Another storefront closes in downtown Kearney
Another business is closing on the bricks in Kearney.
The Funshine Shop officially closed on November 21, according to its Facebook page.
The store sold mostly antiques, collectibles and furniture.
Over the weekend, the mother, daughter owners held a final auction. A post said the sale was pushed back a week due to a snow storm.
The storefront is available for rent, and the property owner says he's looking to help a business thrive in the space.
The closure follows several announcements of closures downtown, including the Creative Teacher, Solid Rock, Pet Kingdom, Refind and The Country Nest.
However, according to the City's finance director, these closings aren't always a bad thing.
"We always hate to see businesses close in Kearney," said Wendell Wessels. "We understand that they have to make their own business decision and downtown Kearney has been a good place to do business, and it seems like when one business leaves, somebody else moves in. So, you know, we're optimistic that that's going to continue and keep Kearney's downtown vibrant."
According to the property owner of the funshine shop, there's already interest in this space.


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Poco is a new smartphone company. It was launched in India by partnership of Xiaomi. When Poco released Poco F1 it created a buzz in the market was soon recognized as “Best Mid range Flagship phone”. After the success of Poco F1 in Indian Market, company is releasing Poco F2 in 2019. However the release date has not been finalized yet but its specification and features are out and have become viral.
Poco F2 Lauch:-
Everybody is eager for latest news about POCO F2 Launch.The Company has not declared the release date of Poco F2 mobile but it will be released very soon in 2019. This phone was developed for fast charging and better camera quality and to redress few software glitches of Poco F1 phone. In this way we can say that Poco is trying to build good and reputed brand in 20+K phone company.
Poco F2 Features:-
The upcoming phone Poco F2 is dual GSM sim supported smart phone and comes with 2 variants 8 G and 12 GB ram. It is 5 G phone with best resolution. The screen size is 6.2 inches unlike Poco F1 which was just 6.18 inches. It is expected to be in black color only. You can make 4 K video with 60 frames per second. Camera has advance feature like digital zoom, auto flash, and face detection for better photography experience.
Written by Zezom.com News Staff.


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American Express said that its cardholders charged 12 percent more in the first three months of this year than a year earlier, and past-due accounts stayed at historic lows.
The figures helped the company beat Wall Street’s earnings expectations and added to evidence that the well-off are feeling more comfortable about spending than everyone else.
The company said that it had earned $1.25 billion, or $1.07 per share, in the first quarter, compared with analyst estimates of $1.01 per share.
Earnings were 7 percent higher than the same quarter a year earlier.
Revenue rose 8 percent to $7.6 billion and also beat estimates.
AmEx said its income in the US soared 35 percent to $752 million.
Unlike Visa and MasterCard, which only process transactions, American Express issues its own cards. When cardholders charge more on AmEx plastic, the company earns more in fees.


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With the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL set to launch in a month, this is exactly the time that we’d expect to see a few serious leaks popping up. “Serious leaks” normally means g a couple of spy shots, perhaps a few dummy devices, and some screenshots of retail inventory systems showing color, storage, and pricing. But this year, we’re getting a whole lot more.
Russian site Rozetked got its hands on what sure looks like a fully working Pixel 3 XL model and has given it a complete hands-on treatment. It seems like the device was misplaced (or stolen!) from a Google shipment, which may have been intended for someone like a carrier partner. The site said that “Google made a big mistake and two months before the release of the smartphone misplaced a batch of finished devices,” which is the leaking equivalent of “it fell off the back of a truck.”
Signs that this was a whole batch of devices, and not just one phone, popped up when another Russian leaker posted images of a Pixel 3 XL on Twitter. The last time something like this happened was when an Apple engineer left a prototype iPhone 4 in a bar, and it found its way to Gizmodo; in that instance, the editor’s apartment was raided by law enforcement, so it’s not clear how long the sites are going to be able to hold onto the phones. If an actual pallet of devices got stolen, however, you can bet that we’re going to see every single detail leaked extensively.
Speaking of which, let’s talk about what these images actually show. From a design perspective, previous rumors have been confirmed: Google is making an interesting choice to have a notch and a big bottom bezel on the phone, which makes the phone look decidedly dated. Samsung chose not to go with the notch this year, and pays the price with a slightly bigger bezel. That’s fine, but the Pixel 3 XL design just looks dated and misplaced in these images. The notch is a tiny concession to reality for companies that want to make an all-screen phone; why bother with the trade-offs if you’re already going with a big bottom bezel?
Judging by the grills on the top and bottom of the device, Google is sticking with the stereo speaker design that was a talking point for the Pixel 2 line. That’s welcome news for anyone who uses their phone to watch a bunch of video, or just listen to music on the subway because public space is irrelevant.
Around the back, Google is also bucking anther industry trend and sticking with one single camera, rather than the dual-lens (or even triple-lens) setups that are becoming common. It’s hard to knock Google’s choice here, since the Pixel 2 XL had the best camera on the market when it launched.
Rozetked published an entire story on the Pixel 3 XL’s camera, including a bunch of sample images, and things look about as good as we’ve come to expect. Of course, what we really need are comparison shots pitting the Pixel 3 XL’s camera against the iPhone X and Galaxy Note 9, but at the very least, the extensive landscape shots and selfies should help Google track down the people that stole its phones.
Specs-wise, there are zero surprises. The display is 2960 × 1440 pixels, and there’s a Snapdragon 845 processor under the hood. These are all things that we were expecting to see, and table stakes for anything that wants to pretend to be a flagship smartphone in this day and age.
There are still a few questions that this hands-on doesn’t answer: What’s the price going to be, when are we getting it, and most crucially, does Google have any fun software tricks to make this phone better? Although the writers clearly have the Pixel 3 XL devices up and running, they’re also clearly on airplane mode, otherwise Google would be able to remotely brick them. Without fully setting the devices up and connecting to the internet, we don’t know if Google has some AI ace-in-the-hole to make the Pixel 3 XL a home run.


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|By PR Newswire||
|November 6, 2012 08:54 PM EST||
NEW YORK, Nov. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- The Digital Diversity Network (DDN), a new, national trade association focused on advancing diversity in leadership and ownership in the digital media and hi-tech industries has announced the speakers for its highly anticipated "Cloud Gathering" Conference: Connecting Diverse Talent to the Hi-Tech Economy, to be held at The New York Times Conference Center in Manhattan on November 14.
This inaugural DDN event, targeted to everyone interested in influencing diversity in the hi-tech sector, comprises a highly diverse assembly of industry experts. Corporate executives, entrepreneurs, inventors and financiers will share strategies and tactics for professional breakthroughs, business growth and development from across a broad spectrum of mobile, digital, social and hi-tech entities.
Sheldon Gilbert, Founder and CEO of Proclivity Systems will be interviewed in a one-on-one "Tech Talk" during lunch. This is the first in a monthly series of DDN "Tech Talks" designed to showcase diverse talent and career opportunities in the digital and hi-tech sectors. The 36-year-old Gilbert has been deemed one of CNBC's "Top 10 Titans of Tomorrow" and his e-commerce analytics company helps global retailers figure out fashion trends and consumer preferences to determine the clothing and home goods customers want to buy before customers actually do. His clients—including Barneys New York - saw online sales increase by as much as 30% after utilizing his company's offerings.
The robust session offerings during the "Cloud Gathering" include:
The Digital Meritocracy: Myth or Reality? Panelist are Alvin Bowles, CEO Grab Media; Duane McKnight, managing member, Syncom Venture Management Company, LLC; Michelle Fisher, CEO and founder, Blaze Mobile; and Rishi Malhotra, president and COO, Saavn.
The App Economy with Jonathan Carson, CEO, Digital Nielsen; Salil Dalvi, senior vice president, NBCU Digital Distribution and Co-GM of Dyle; Paul Smurl, vice president Paid Products, The New York Times; Dhanusha Sivajee, head of Global Marketing Bloomberg Mobile; Glenn Outerbridge, founder & CEO eyeMe; and Navarrow Wright, CTO, Interactive One.
The New Paradigm: The Socially-Enabled Business moderated by Omar Wasow, founder BlackPlanet.com & Internet/media correspondent features panelists Kay Madati, head of Entertainment & Media Global Marketing Solutions Facebook; Emily Anadu, director product marketing, Zynga; and Omar Suardy, marketing director, Terra Networks.
Start-Ups: From Rough Ideas to Viable Ventures featuring Chuck Cordray, president, Volly, Pitney Bowes; Fernando Hernandez, director of supplier diversity, Microsoft Global Procurement Group; Sheila Marmon, founder & CEO Mirror Digital, Inc.; Denmark West, principal, Forrer Street Co Advisors; and Walter Delph, CEO of Ad.Ly, Inc. will be moderated by Janice McNair of J Advisory Group. The day will conclude with a cocktail party and networking event.
"This conference was created to meet the growing demand for thought leadership and action around the issue of diversity in the digital space", says DDN Board Chair Tracy Lawrence, a Los Angeles-based leadership consultant and executive recruiter in the industry. "We are very excited by how our message is resonating with leaders in the field and their willingness to share their expertise with our members during our first symposium."
The Cloud Gathering Conference is hosted in partnership with News Corporation, The New York Times, Time Warner Inc., and Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. Conference sponsors include Comcast/NBCUniversal, Pitney Bowes, Bloomberg, The Walter Kaitz Foundation and the Minority Media and Telecom Council (MMTC).
DDN plans to roll out a number of programs in the coming year that address the needs of sponsoring companies, entrepreneurs, investors and other stakeholders. These include customized recruiting programs; leadership development; building the diverse talent pipeline by encouraging students and young professionals to enter the industry; and sponsoring national events to facilitate and promote thought leadership. Plans are underway to host events in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley in early 2013.
Founding Directors of the DDN are: Dana Canedy, Senior Editor, The New York Times; Albert Cheng, Executive Vice-President and Chief Product Officer, Digital Media, Disney ABC Television Group; Walter Delph, CEO, Ad.Ly; Marcelino Ford-Livene, general manager of Advanced Advertising Development, Digital Home Group, Intel Corporation; Tracy Lawrence, managing director, Tracy L. Lawrence, LLC; Kay Madati, Head of Entertainment & Media Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook: Dhanusha Sivajee, head of Global Marketing, Bloomberg Mobile and Kiko Washington, EVP, Worldwide Human Resources, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. Kathy A. Johnson, a veteran media association executive, is the DDN's Chief Operating Officer. News Corporation, Time Warner, Inc. and Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. are also founding sponsors of the organization.
Visit www.dddno.org/events to register for the Cloud Gathering Conference. Pre-registration is required and open until November 7. The conference begins at 9:00 a.m. with registration and continental breakfast opening at 8 a.m. Conference registration includes a complimentary one-year DDN membership. For more information about conference sponsorships or membership call (646) 202-2643. You may follow the conference on Twitter using #DigitalDiversityNet.
The Digital Diversity Network (DDN) is a 21st Century trade association founded in 2012 to advance diversity in leadership and ownership within the digital media and hi-tech sectors. With a specific emphasis on recruitment, leadership development and pipeline expansion, the DDN works to ensure that the hi-tech producer/earner economy mirrors the demographics of key consumer/user groups. While primarily an on-line community, the DDN will engage members and sponsoring companies through high-level leadership forums, on-line education, social media and networking events. www.ddno.org.
Media Contact: Patricia Andrews-Keenan The Tallulah Group, 312-206-2821, [email protected]
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SOURCE Digital Diversity Network
It is one thing to build single industrial IoT applications, but what will it take to build the Smart Cities and truly society-changing applications of the future? The technology won’t be the problem, it will be the number of parties that need to work together and be aligned in their motivation to succeed. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Jason Mondanaro, Director, Product Management at Metanga, discussed how you can plan to cooperate, partner, and form lasting all-star teams to change the world and it starts with business models and monetization strategies.
Jun. 30, 2015 02:15 PM EDT Reads: 2,064
Internet of Things is moving from being a hype to a reality. Experts estimate that internet connected cars will grow to 152 million, while over 100 million internet connected wireless light bulbs and lamps will be operational by 2020. These and many other intriguing statistics highlight the importance of Internet powered devices and how market penetration is going to multiply many times over in the next few years.
Jun. 30, 2015 01:45 PM EDT Reads: 1,914
Internet of Things (IoT) will be a hybrid ecosystem of diverse devices and sensors collaborating with operational and enterprise systems to create the next big application. In their session at @ThingsExpo, Bramh Gupta, founder and CEO of robomq.io, and Fred Yatzeck, principal architect leading product development at robomq.io, discussed how choosing the right middleware and integration strategy from the get-go will enable IoT solution developers to adapt and grow with the industry, while at the same time reduce Time to Market (TTM) by using plug and play capabilities offered by a robust IoT ...
Jun. 30, 2015 01:45 PM EDT Reads: 1,792
To many people, IoT is a buzzword whose value is not understood. Many people think IoT is all about wearables and home automation. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Mike Kavis, Vice President & Principal Cloud Architect at Cloud Technology Partners, discussed some incredible game-changing use cases and how they are transforming industries like agriculture, manufacturing, health care, and smart cities. He will discuss cool technologies like smart dust, robotics, smart labels, and much more. Prepare to be blown away with a glimpse of the future.
Jun. 30, 2015 10:20 AM EDT Reads: 444
The Internet of Things is not only adding billions of sensors and billions of terabytes to the Internet. It is also forcing a fundamental change in the way we envision Information Technology. For the first time, more data is being created by devices at the edge of the Internet rather than from centralized systems. What does this mean for today's IT professional? In this Power Panel at @ThingsExpo, moderated by Conference Chair Roger Strukhoff, panelists addressed this very serious issue of profound change in the industry.
Jun. 30, 2015 09:45 AM EDT Reads: 813
SYS-CON Events announced today that BMC will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. BMC delivers software solutions that help IT transform digital enterprises for the ultimate competitive business advantage. BMC has worked with thousands of leading companies to create and deliver powerful IT management services. From mainframe to cloud to mobile, BMC pairs high-speed digital innovation with robust IT industrialization – allowing customers to provide amazing user experiences with optimized IT per...
Jun. 29, 2015 12:15 PM EDT Reads: 2,597
There will be 150 billion connected devices by 2020. New digital businesses have already disrupted value chains across every industry. APIs are at the center of the digital business. You need to understand what assets you have that can be exposed digitally, what their digital value chain is, and how to create an effective business model around that value chain to compete in this economy. No enterprise can be complacent and not engage in the digital economy. Learn how to be the disruptor and not the disruptee.
Jun. 29, 2015 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,138
The Internet of Things is not only adding billions of sensors and billions of terabytes to the Internet. It is also forcing a fundamental change in the way we envision Information Technology. For the first time, more data is being created by devices at the edge of the Internet rather than from centralized systems. What does this mean for today's IT professional? In this Power Panel at @ThingsExpo, moderated by Conference Chair Roger Strukhoff, panelists will addresses this very serious issue of profound change in the industry.
Jun. 29, 2015 09:45 AM EDT Reads: 2,477
Business as usual for IT is evolving into a "Make or Buy" decision on a service-by-service conversation with input from the LOBs. How does your organization move forward with cloud? In his general session at 16th Cloud Expo, Paul Maravei, Regional Sales Manager, Hybrid Cloud and Managed Services at Cisco, discusses how Cisco and its partners offer a market-leading portfolio and ecosystem of cloud infrastructure and application services that allow you to uniquely and securely combine cloud business applications and services across multiple cloud delivery models.
Jun. 28, 2015 11:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,187
In his General Session at 16th Cloud Expo, David Shacochis, host of The Hybrid IT Files podcast and Vice President at CenturyLink, investigated three key trends of the “gigabit economy" though the story of a Fortune 500 communications company in transformation. Narrating how multi-modal hybrid IT, service automation, and agile delivery all intersect, he will cover the role of storytelling and empathy in achieving strategic alignment between the enterprise and its information technology.
Jun. 27, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,203
Buzzword alert: Microservices and IoT at a DevOps conference? What could possibly go wrong? In this Power Panel at DevOps Summit, moderated by Jason Bloomberg, the leading expert on architecting agility for the enterprise and president of Intellyx, panelists peeled away the buzz and discuss the important architectural principles behind implementing IoT solutions for the enterprise. As remote IoT devices and sensors become increasingly intelligent, they become part of our distributed cloud environment, and we must architect and code accordingly. At the very least, you'll have no problem fillin...
Jun. 26, 2015 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,191
Growth hacking is common for startups to make unheard-of progress in building their business. Career Hacks can help Geek Girls and those who support them (yes, that's you too, Dad!) to excel in this typically male-dominated world. Get ready to learn the facts: Is there a bias against women in the tech / developer communities? Why are women 50% of the workforce, but hold only 24% of the STEM or IT positions? Some beginnings of what to do about it! In her Opening Keynote at 16th Cloud Expo, Sandy Carter, IBM General Manager Cloud Ecosystem and Developers, and a Social Business Evangelist, d...
Jun. 26, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,058
Converging digital disruptions is creating a major sea change - Cisco calls this the Internet of Everything (IoE). IoE is the network connection of People, Process, Data and Things, fueled by Cloud, Mobile, Social, Analytics and Security, and it represents a $19Trillion value-at-stake over the next 10 years. In her keynote at @ThingsExpo, Manjula Talreja, VP of Cisco Consulting Services, discussed IoE and the enormous opportunities it provides to public and private firms alike. She will share what businesses must do to thrive in the IoE economy, citing examples from several industry sectors.
Jun. 25, 2015 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,997
In his keynote at 16th Cloud Expo, Rodney Rogers, CEO of Virtustream, discussed the evolution of the company from inception to its recent acquisition by EMC – including personal insights, lessons learned (and some WTF moments) along the way. Learn how Virtustream’s unique approach of combining the economics and elasticity of the consumer cloud model with proper performance, application automation and security into a platform became a breakout success with enterprise customers and a natural fit for the EMC Federation.
Jun. 25, 2015 01:30 PM EDT Reads: 2,144
SYS-CON Events announced today that the "Second Containers & Microservices Conference" will take place November 3-5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA, and the “Third Containers & Microservices Conference” will take place June 7-9, 2016, at Javits Center in New York City. Containers and microservices have become topics of intense interest throughout the cloud developer and enterprise IT communities.
Jun. 22, 2015 02:15 PM EDT Reads: 2,747
SYS-CON Events announced today that the "First Containers & Microservices Conference" will take place June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City. The “Second Containers & Microservices Conference” will take place November 3-5, 2015, at Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA. Containers and microservices have become topics of intense interest throughout the cloud developer and enterprise IT communities.
Jun. 20, 2015 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 3,845
With major technology companies and startups seriously embracing IoT strategies, now is the perfect time to attend @ThingsExpo in Silicon Valley. Learn what is going on, contribute to the discussions, and ensure that your enterprise is as "IoT-Ready" as it can be! Internet of @ThingsExpo, taking place Nov 3-5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, is co-located with 17th Cloud Expo and will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world. The Internet of Things (IoT) is the most profound change in personal an...
Jun. 15, 2015 08:45 PM EDT Reads: 4,075
17th Cloud Expo, taking place Nov 3-5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world. Cloud computing is now being embraced by a majority of enterprises of all sizes. Yesterday's debate about public vs. private has transformed into the reality of hybrid cloud: a recent survey shows that 74% of enterprises have a hybrid cloud strategy. Meanwhile, 94% of enterprises are using some form of XaaS – software, platform, and infrastructure as a service.
Jun. 15, 2015 07:15 PM EDT Reads: 3,872
The 17th International Cloud Expo has announced that its Call for Papers is open. 17th International Cloud Expo, to be held November 3-5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, brings together Cloud Computing, APM, APIs, Microservices, Security, Big Data, Internet of Things, DevOps and WebRTC to one location. With cloud computing driving a higher percentage of enterprise IT budgets every year, it becomes increasingly important to plant your flag in this fast-expanding business opportunity. Submit your speaking proposal today!
Jun. 15, 2015 10:15 AM EDT Reads: 5,937
In his keynote at 16th Cloud Expo, Rodney Rogers, CEO of Virtustream, discusses the evolution of the company from inception to its recent acquisition by EMC – including personal insights, lessons learned (and some WTF moments) along the way. Learn how Virtustream’s unique approach of combining the economics and elasticity of the consumer cloud model with proper performance, application automation and security into a platform became a breakout success with enterprise customers and a natural fit for the EMC Federation.
Jun. 11, 2015 08:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,337


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Parts suppliers suggest long wait for new iPhone.
But beefed up sensors won’t be available on iPhone 8.
Other models set to be called iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.
Voice control is currently reliant on home button.
Apple announces due date for tenth-anniversary smartphone.
It all hinges on whether new campus is ready in time.
Report makes bold claims about Apple’s plans.
New mock-up shows so–called floating dock and status bar.
Augmented reality software is direct challenge to Apple’s ARKit.
California company brings together app big hitters to show off clever new functionality.


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Gorgeous Unreal Engine 4 Space Adventure ADR1FT Gets 9 Minutes of New Gameplay Footage
Adam Orth, co-founder of Three One Zero, the development team behind ADR1FT, has recently announced via Twitter that ADR1FT will be launching on the PC in Q1 2016, a launch title for the Oculus Rift, with a simultaneous Playstation 4 and Xbox One launch to follow. Adam has released some amazing new gameplay footage of what is described as "The ultimate immersive VR experience and the potential is limitless".
ADR1FT is promised to be the ultimate VR experience
Adam Orth, in an interview with Redbull.com explained:
We’ve been lucky in that the challenges have really only been technical, which are always solvable somehow. Our game is uniquely suited for VR due to the fantasy, setting and movement style. It’s the ultimate immersive VR experience and the potential is limitless.
You can view the beautiful new footage below.
ADR1FT is an Unreal Engine 4-powered first person survival space experience
At its core, ADR1FT is an emotional journey through action, consequence and redemption. In the end, the player will be left to contemplate the parallels between the choices he makes within the game and the ones he makes in real life.
“I’m very happy to be partnering with 505 Games for ADR1FT” said Orth.
“From the very beginning, Ian Howe and his team have passionately understood thegame Omar and I are trying to make. They have empowered us with the freedom to explore and create something special with ADR1FT, both traditionally and with VR technology. It’s clear from games like Payday 2, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and some of their upcoming titles that 505 is not afraid to take chances and give gamers something fresh and new. That’s important to us. That’s what we’re all about. We’re excited to be part of that.”
ADR1FT is due out in Q1 2016 for the PC, and follows an astronaut, who must determine the cause of a catastrophic event that took the lives of everyone on board the space station. We will bring you any more information on ADR1FT prior to its release as soon as it becomes available.


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Oct. 3 kicks off Advertising Week, New York’s premier annual gathering of marketing and communications leaders from around the world.
Begun in 2004, Advertising Week now draws over 70,000 people who will attend some 200 events featuring the industry’s best and brightest thought leaders. The panels, programs and parties during Advertising Week are divided among multiple locations.
In honor of the week, The Huffington Post has dedicated a new site to cover the events, news, people, articles, blogs and buzz for the week: The Huffington Post Advertising Week 2011. This is a helpful resource.
Here are a few of the articles and insights from Day 1:
- Andrew Robertson On Advertising Week: 10 Questions With The BBDO CEO
- Four Thoughts about the Future of Advertising
- The New Golden Age Of Advertising Icons
- Capturing the Spirit of Advertising Week
- Is the Chief Marketing Officer Role Giving Way to the Chief Community Officer Role?
- If Mad Men’s Don Draper Had Social Media
Google and Facebook to Take Advantage of Advertising Week
Both Google and Facebook are announcing new ad formats that each hopes will increase engagement between consumers and brands. According to Bloomberg, Google is launching Web-based circular ads that will “make Internet advertising look more like the Sunday paper.” Facebook is also planning to announce its own new crop of “expandable” ads, Mashable reported. Read more
For additional updates from Advertising Week:
- Follow on Twitter: @advertisingweek Hashtag:
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/advertisingweek
- LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/advertising-week
- YouTube’s Advertising Week Channel
- Advertising Week Blog
- Website: www.advertisingweek.com
- Forbes: A CMO’s Guide to Advertising Week
- Advertising Week Brought to You by Bloomberg: Daily reports and video from NYC’s Big Event


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British newspapers have drawn attention to the rise of halloumi cheese and hummus. Famous TV chefs also regularly feature these Mediterranean dishes on their cooking programmes. The UK is now Europe’s hummus capital and the second largest halloumi market in the world after the cheese’s home in Cyprus.
Halloumi, also known as hellim, is a Middle Eastern cheese traditionally made with a mixture of goat’s milk and sheep’s milk. It is remarkable that no acid or acid-producing bacteria are used in its preparation. Halloumi can be cooked without melting which makes it ideal for grilling
According to the British press the amount of halloumi entering Britain is worth over £70 million. This figure makes Britain the largest halloumi importer, three times larger than second placeholder Sweden.
Until the ‘90s halloumi was a niche food in the UK. Now it is a staple of the British barbecue season, and one of the most popular cheeses competing with traditional British varieties such as cheddar and stilton.
The cheese has come a long way since it first hit British shelves around thirty years ago. Increasing familiarity with the cheese has made the British the largest consumer of halloumi after the Cypriots themselves! What is even more striking is the fact that the cheese grew in popularity incredibly quickly.
According to the Food Standards Agency (FSA), halloumi is indispensable for the millions of vegetarians across the UK. Surging demand for halloumi in the UK, the rest of Europe and in China where consumers have recently developed an appetite for the cheese has sent prices soaring by around 12%. In 2017-2018 producers in Cyprus warned that they were already struggling to keep up with demand and an export deal with China might lead to shortages in the UK. This has pushed the average price up by almost 20% in the last year alone.
HALLOUMI AND HUMMUS
BRITS LOVE HUMMUS
Hummus is also incredibly popular despite the chickpeabased dish having received some bad press recently. In November, major British supermarkets began recalling hummus dips amid fears they could contain salmonella.
The recall instigated by a Greek hummus producer in October has now been extended to include products from a number of large chains. Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Asda, Lidl and Morrisons are among the stores affected, according to a full list of the products in question published by the FSA
Hummus still remains one of the most popular foods in Britain today regardless of this disappointing episode. According to a 2013 survey, 41% of Brits had it in the fridge – making the UK Europe’s hummus capital.
There is disagreement over how to spell it – hummus or houmous – but no debate over its rising popularity. Waitrose is thought to have been the first British supermarket to stock hummus, introducing it in the late 1980s
Marks and Spencer followed suit in 1990 and today four of its top five best-selling dips are variations of hummus.
This ancient peasant’s dish – usually made up of cooked and mashed chickpeas, tahini (sesame paste), lemon and garlic – is produced in countries throughout the Eastern Mediterranean, where unleavened bread is used for dipping.
Hummus, like halloumi has been co-opted into Britain’s cosmopolitan national cuisine. It has moved beyond the Lebanese or Greek and Turkish Cypriot restaurants to plastic pots filling row after row of the supermarket chiller cabinet.


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Today Lenovo showed off a brand new video for a foldable concept tablet called the Folio.
The concept tablet was first revealed at Tech World last year and this year they showed it off once again at the 2017 edition of the Tech World event, from which the guys over at MSPowerUser released a new video of the tablet that looks just like a normal tablet but with a display that can be folded in half.
It is an idea that has been played with for some time now.
A number of manufacturers have been working on foldable display designs and it is widely thought that this will be how we interact with our devices in the future because it allows for greater customisability and better capabilities.
MSPowerUser says that this new Lenovo tablet will have a display that can be folded down from 7.8-inches to 5.5-inches that has a 1,920 x 1,440-pixel resolution and all with a Qualcomm Xia Long 800 processor.
And all of that reportedly comes with Android 7.0 pre-installed.
We don’t have details about when we might see this in the real-world, however, we will be sure to update should we hear more.
In the meantime, you can check it out in the video below from MSPowerUser.
You can read more about it at the source link below.


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Bandai Namco Europe has been announced as an official partner for Gamescom 2022, which takes place from August 24th to 28th. It joins the likes of Ubisoft, though what it will showcase remains to be seen.
In terms of upcoming projects, there are quite a few to look forward to from the Elden Ring, Scarlet Nexus and Tales of Arise publisher. Team-based competitive shooter Gundam Evolution could receive some new gameplay along with a release date – it’s still to launch later this year. Then there’s One Piece Odyssey, a turn-based role-playing game based on the super-popular series with an original story by author Eiichiro Oda.
The fighting game JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R could also make an appearance since it releases on September 2nd. Who knows? We may even see Dragon Ball: The Breakers, the asymmetrical multiplayer survival game, get a release date since it’s also slated for this year. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.
From Open-World RPGs and Fighting games to Racing and Flying simulators, this publisher can do it all!
We're excited to announce @BandaiNamcoEU is coming to #gamescom2022! pic.twitter.com/3PlHvpkVMv
— gamescom (@gamescom) July 6, 2022
Share Your Thoughts Below (Always follow our comments policy!)


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INDEPTH: AUTO INDUSTRY|
Betting on cars powered by batteries and gas
By Zerah Lurie, CBC News | April 3, 2006
When electric vehicles first came on the market about 10 years ago, they were greeted with enthusiasm. Here were vehicles that produced no emissions – an important advancement considering that transportation emissions account for roughly 40 per cent of our greenhouse gasses.
However, these cars failed to live up to their hype. The biggest problem is that electric vehicles lack range. Most of them can't even go 100 kilometres on one charge. This might be OK for weekdays when you can stay in the city, but impractical for weekends when you want to go on a longer trip. Electric vehicles are still around, but they are for a niche market with a few aficionados and backyard mechanics taking up the fight.
CBC's Eve Savory on the new hybrids. [Runs 2:32]
Hybrid cars, which run on both gas and electricity, seem to be another story. In 2005, more than 200,000 hybrid vehicles were sold in the United States.
These vehicles typically work by using an electric motor, powered by a battery, whenever possible (such as when idling or during short trips), and then switching to a gas engine when more power is needed. With this dual system, a hybrid like the Toyota Prius can get you where you're going with a combined fuel efficiency of about 4.3 litres per 100 kilometres. In comparison, the Toyota Corolla uses 7.1 litres per 100 kilometres.
But, because the electric vehicle market flopped, the big carmakers wanted to make sure hybrid cars did not suffer the same fate. Hybrids were marketed by bombarding customers with the fact that they were self-contained. You didn't have to – in fact, you couldn't – plug them in for the car to work. This was to allay consumer fears that they would run out of power, stuck without an electrical socket somewhere on a highway with all the other dead electric vehicles.
But in the end, was that the right thing to do?
Plug-in hybrids are hybrids with a battery charged through a simple electrical outlet.
Enter an American coalition of self-declared tree huggers, politicians and foreign policy hawks that have come together to launch the Plug-In Partners, a national campaign to lobby both big automakers and the U.S. president. Their goal: to popularize plug-in hybrids – hybrids with a battery charged through a simple electrical outlet.
The advantage of plug-in hybrids is that they have enough electrical energy to drive a car the distance most of us go during the day to and from work, about 50 kilometres. This means that you could go weeks, maybe even months, without using a drop of gasoline, and all you would have to do is plug in your car at night for it to be fully charged and ready to go the next morning. And, unlike simple electric cars, if you want to go long distances, you can always rely on your hybrid's gas engine.
Comments made by U.S. President George W. Bush recently suggest he supports the idea. In his state of the union address in January, for example, Bush said: "America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world. The best way to break this addiction is through technology." And in February, he pushed plug-in hybrids while touring a Milwaukee battery.
While big automakers have been slow to respond to the plug-in concept, a few enterprising entrepreneurs have taken up the challenge. People like engineers Akos Toth and Ricardo Bazzarella from southern Ontario.
While they met working on fuel cells and think that these will eventually be the solution to oil dependency, they aren't holding their breath for the technology and infrastructure to catch up.
Conversion kits changes hybrids into plug-in hybrids.
They decided to branch out and started a company called Hymotion, producing conversion kits to change hybrids into plug-in hybrids.
In a garage just north of Toronto, they converted a Prius by adding a second battery in the back of the car. This extends the distance the car can drive on electric power alone. Fifteen minutes into a test drive, or about 10 kilometres of city driving, the gas engine still hadn't kicked in.
And while driving electric is cleaner than using gas, it's also cheaper. At current energy prices, it costs about 55 cents to charge the extra battery. If you can get 50 kilometres on a single charge, this would cost about a quarter the amount if you were driving the same distance in an unconverted hybrid.
So why aren't plug-in hybrids in stores yet?
Toyota, for one, doesn't think the technology is ready. Batteries are still quite expensive and not completely reliable. Also, they point out that the best part about hybrid vehicles is not their fuel efficiency, but their reduced emissions.
"Canada is very fortunate, we have an abundance of hydroelectricity," said Wesley Pratt, a spokesman for Toyota Canada. "But that's a unique model in the world. Most people are still dependant on fossil fuels, coal, things like that, to generate electricity."
Adding a second battery in the back extends the distance the car can drive on electric power alone.
Plugging in these cars at night also won't tax the power grid, meaning millions of plug-in hybrids can be driven before even a single additional power plant needs to be built.
Both sides acknowledge that plug-in conversions are expensive and still need to be tested for reliability.
Hymotion's conversion kit will run you about $9,000, and even though it costs about a quarter as much to travel on battery power as compared to gas, it would take a lot of kilometres to make up that difference.
Still, supporters are determined to see the idea through.
"I think the plug-in hybrids are the way of the future," Toth said. "I am pretty sure 10 to 15 years down the road, this is the car that we'll be driving in the cities."


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Retailers worldwide are going through a turbulent period. All offline activity was largely halted by the COVID-19 crisis, while online shopping skyrocketed. Over a quarter of European consumers will remain shopping more than they did before the COVID-19 outbreak. 56% have bought three or more products online per month during COVID-19 according to Capterra.
96% of European consumers say that they sometimes buy something online. However, the COVID-19 crisis has seen a lot of changes in the number of products purchased online each month in recent months. Shops were closed, leaving people with little choice but to buy online. If shops were already open, it was unwise for vulnerable groups and the elderly to physically go to the store. As a result, much more products were bought online than usual.
Clear growth of online purchases
In particular, the number of e-shoppers making between 6 and 10 digital purchases per month has risen sharply from 10% to 17%. The number of buyers who make between 11 and 20 digital purchases every month has even doubled. Therefore, there is a clear growth in the number of online purchases in the past period.
The digital sales channel was the salvation of many stores. Earlier research showed that 58% of the Dutch retail sector has made adjustments to make the product range available digitally.
Purchasing behavior has changed permanently
The purchasing behavior of more than half (59%) of the surveyed European consumers has changed permanently since the COVID-19 crisis. About a quarter of e-shoppers will continue to make more digital purchases, despite the fact that the shops are opening again. In addition, a small group (10%) indicate that they continue to avoid physical stores for the time being because of the risk of contamination. Furthermore, 22% will continue to buy products online that they always bought in brick-and-mortar stores before the pandemic.
3,243 (55%) of the 5,897 surveyed e-shoppers bought a product or service online during the crisis that they had never purchased digitally before. The most frequently mentioned new digital purchases consisted of clothing, food, games and household or electronic appliances.


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Barnes & Noble E-Reading Device Rumored
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TheStreet.com reported earlier this week that Barnes & Noble may be working with a device maker and Sprint on its own e-reading device to rival the Amazon Kindle, Sony Reader and others. The report cited "one wireless industry insider" as the anonymous source of the information.
For more information, you can read the full story at TheStreet.com.


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Chinese online wealth management firm Shenzhen Jinfuzi Network Technology Co., Ltd. has completed US$50 million series B round of financing led by New York Stock Exchange-listed Chinese social networking firm Renren Inc., according to an announcement posted on the company’s Weibo account.
Existing investor Sequoia Capital also participated.
Founded in 2012, Jinfuzi raised around US$10 million series A financing from Sequoia in December 2014, according to its website.
Shenzhen-based Jinfuzi sells wealth management products including mutual funds, trust and asset management products, via its website and mobile apps geared toward retail investors.
It claims aggregate value of wealth management products sold on its platforms reached RMB10 billion (US$1.61 billion) in January, 2015.


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Interesting articles and insights into social media. Jan 14
Get flash to fully experience Pearltrees
This is a page of the DIRECTORY OF LEARNING & PERFORMANCE TOOLS Want to add a tool to this page, email Jane.Hart@c4lpt.co.uk
Patrick Moorhead is president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy , a highly regarded high-tech industry analyst firm focused on the disruptive ecosystems of smartphones, tablets, personal computers, living room devices and social media. New social media service Path promises to bring your true friends (not just acquaintances) together in a much more personal way. However, neither Path, nor Facebook , nor Google+ have fully comprehended that personal circles vary by context, and that context changes rapidly and infinitely.
I’ve begun to dig through the net as part of my Internet Tools Wiki project for the most useful articles on specific Internet Tools. Every once in a while, I will post collection updates on the blog.
Click for larger size After taking some inspiration from Boris Simus and his Minimal Contact/Biz Card design , I went ahead and tried one on for size myself.
Social media is coming of age. Since the emergence of the first social media networks some two decades ago, social media has continued to evolve and offer consumers around the world new and meaningful ways to engage with the people, events and brands that matter to them. Now, years later, social media is still growing rapidly, becoming an integral part of our daily lives. Social networking is now truly a global phenomenon.
Paris metro on a weeknight and numerous heads are tilted towards a book or a Smartphone that holds their attention. Of those engaged with the latter, many are using a social network, or are busy tweeting. The emergence of social networks dates back to approximately 2004, but only since 2008 has their rapid growth reached the general public. Professional social networks have also developed in parallel, but their use remains marginal.
Social network ad spending is one again on the rise, argues a recent study by eMarketer, which predicts that US advertisers will spend nearly $1.7 billion on social sites this yea. This estimate is a noticeable increase from initial 2010 projection made by eMarketer, which forecasted $1.3B for this year, as well as a 20% increase from 2009 spending.
2010 marked an important milestone in the young social media industry. Mainly because businesses began to leverage social media to be closer to their customers, have a better and almost real time understanding of their markets and reduce marketing expenditure while growing brand reputation and market share. Businesses who are not leveraging social business technology to monitor, research, connect and collaborate socially with their clients will have a competitive disadvantage over those companies who do.


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Boone County signs off on tax breaks for gun and outdoor goods company
COLUMBIA - The Boone County Commission is giving some tax breaks to a gun distribution plant.
The commission has signed off on a Chapter 100 plan and bonds for the American Outdoor Brands project. The bonds will be issued in the principal amount not to exceed $23 million.
American Outdoor Brands is building a site on 210 acres along Route Z north of I-70.
Under Chapter 100 the facility, construction materials and certain tangible personal property may be purchased tax exempt by the county and then leased back to the company.
No public comment was made at Thursday's hearing.
Presiding Commissioner Daniel Atwell said the Chapter 100 is essential to the construction of the gun distribution center.
"Without the Chapter 100, there wouldn't have been any project at all," he said.
Atwell said the commission has come to an agreement for American Outdoor Brands to receive these tax reductions.
"They have to fulfill certain promises in order to receive these benefits," he said.
The bonds that will be used to pay for the materials needed will be paid back only by the revenue of the distribution plant.
"The county assumes no responsibility for payment of these bonds, that's one of the nice things about this kind of project," Atwell said. "We can assist in major projects without taking any risk."
If the distribution plant does not produce the expected revenue and is unable to pay the bonds then the county would not be forced to pay the bonds.
"It's a complicated process and it actually works very well in certain circumstances," Atwell said.
Liz Sharp, a representative with American Outdoor Brands, said the distribution center should be finished by the end of 2019 and is already hiring.


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September 4, 2014
We had reported earlier regarding ISIS Wallet's plans of rebranding when the company had announced the decision few months back in July. ISIS Wallet, known for its mobile payments services, is now going ahead with the rebranding initiative. The company would be changing its name to Softcard officially in a few weeks to avoid association with the militant group known as ISIS. ISIS wallet had been struggling to gain traction in the market despite the backing of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. The company made serious considerations regarding the rebranding effort as it wasn’t helping from marketing perspective.
The company wanted to brand itself with a name not associated with violence. The CEO of the company, Michael Abbott, said in an official announcement on company’s website: Our search for a new name has been rooted in our founding vision: to use the power of the mobile phone to help consumers find a safer and better way to shop, pay and save. But we also wanted a name and visual identity that had the power, flexibility and simplicity to define our category.
The ISIS Wallet flagship app will continue to work as usual and the transition to Softcard app would be taking place by releasing official app updates in a few weeks. The development of ISIS Wallet has been backed up by carriers like AT&T and Verizon. Its technology uses NFC giving consumers a new way to shop and make purchases from their smartphones.
ISIS Wallet’s lack of traction in U.S. market can be attributed to many stores still not having NFC readers installed and the popular iPhone not having NFC. Also it is facing serious competition from other wallet providers like Google Wallet. The mobile wallet space is indeed highly competitive with companies like PayPal, Google trying to make a name in the space. No firm has cornered the market as yet.
The lack of market leader still gives ISIS Wallet some flexibility by rebranding to Softcard. It will also be looking forward to Apple unveiling a mobile payment platform with the launch of iPhone 6. The new Softcard brand would also get a boost if iPhone 6 brings integration of NFC as that would really help the wallet service grow.


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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Winn-Dixie Stores announced that it is offering special bundles for tailgate, school or office parties, and for trick-or-treating to help customers get ready for Halloween. The grocer said it also is holding special pumpkin-decorating workshops for children this Saturday and Sunday afternoons at select stores. Any child visiting a Winn-Dixie store while wearing a Halloween costume on Saturday, Sunday or Monday will receive a fresh-baked cookie from the Winn-Dixie bakery.
“This weekend is one that will be fun for children and adults, and we’re ready to help them celebrate,” said Mary Kellmanson, Winn-Dixie’s group vice president of marketing. “Whether they’re tailgating before college games in Miami, Tallahassee, Jacksonville or Auburn, planning a party or gearing up for trick or treat, we have all the ingredients with special savings.”
For tailgaters, Winn-Dixie offers eight pieces of fried chicken from the deli, Sabra Hummus and Stacy’s pita chips for $11.99 (a savings of $2.58) with the Customer Reward Card. For school parties, customers can purchase a dozen Halloween cupcakes from the bakery for $9.99 and receive a free 18-inch Mylar Halloween balloon. For trick-or-treaters, customers can purchase a 10- or 11-ounce bag of Snicker’s, Reese’s or Kit Kat snack-sized candy for $4.99 and receive a free Halloween bag with a clear window that shows how much more space is available for candy.


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The growth of the UK economy has slowed to its weakest pace in three years. Economists had forecast a fall but the figures were even worse than expected.
Gross domestic product grew was just 0.3pc in the first quarter of the year, half what it was in the last three months of 2014, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday.
The growth data are the last to be published before the election, and represents the last big update on the health of the economy before polls open in nine days' time.
At 0.3pc, growth in the quarter was at the weakest level recorded since the final quarter of 2012. The pound slumped against the dollar as the data were released.
George Osborne, the Chancellor, said that it was "good news" that the economy continues to grow. "This is a critical moment and a reminder you can't take recovery for granted," he said.
The economy has been held back by weak output in the construction, industrial, and services sectors. An unexpectedly large fall in retail sales in March led analysts to downgrade their hopes for growth at the start of the year.
Jeremy Cook, chief economist at currency firm World First, said: "Industrial and manufacturing numbers from the UK economy through January and February have been poor and for once, the services sector has not been able to make up that deficit."
Economists polled by Bloomberg at the start of the year expected the ONS to say that the UK would grow by 0.7pc in the first quarter. Before the GDP data were released on Tuesday, analysts anticipated growth of just 0.5pc.
Vicky Redwood, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, said: "With the election just days away, the news that the UK's economic recovery slowed sharply won't help the coalition parties."
"But this slowdown should just be temporary," she added. "We doubt that the recovery is on the cusp of a sustained slowdown." Ms Redwood highlighted upbeat business surveys and real wage growth which should mean that "the economy will grow by close to 3pc this year as a whole".


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Japan Government allows entry of individual travellers from today
The Government of Japan announced a policy which allows entry to individual traveller for tourism purpose beginning on 11th October. Earlier the government had allowed the entry of group travellers to Japan from September 7.
JNTO looks forward to welcoming group tour and individual travellers back to Japan with the long-awaited lifting of entry restrictions. These measures are long-awaited news for tourists around the world who have been looking forward to visiting Japan.
Commenting on the development, Satoshi Seino, President, JNTO, said, “The Japanese government has at last announced the resumption of individual travel for tourism purposes and visa waivers. I am incredibly pleased to finally welcome back individual travellers after coping with the pandemic during a wait of two-and-a-half years.” He also added, “ In response to the announcement, JNTO will be doing everything we can to provide you with the latest information on coming to Japan so that many tourists can visit and journey throughout our country. So you can do more than take in Japan’s captivating culture, history, nature, and cuisine, we are also working hard on projects for sustainable tourism, adventure travel, and luxury travel. Japan is a highly attractive country not only for tourism, but also for international conferences and incentive travel. With the relaxed travel measures, Japan is fully prepared to host these events. Along with reveling in the many ways to take in the allures across Japan, now is a time when international visitors can take advantage of shopping opportunities. Japan has been busy over the past two-and-a-half years with preparations to welcome back everyone. Come see the new Japan. We eagerly await your arrival.”


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- President Donald Trump scored an outright victory in his ongoing trade spat when Chinese President Xi Jinping backed off his "Made in China 2025" push.
- Made in China 2025, the plan to make Xi's China a tech and manufacturing superpower, bore Xi's name, making it a humiliating defeat for him to revisit it.
- China has also slowly started to cave in on the tariff war as the US addresses other irritants in the US-China relationship, mainly with the Chinese tech company Huawei.
- The US has sounded alarm bells about Huawei as a security risk and asked Canada to extradite the company's CFO.
- China responded in anger but continued to appease Trump on trade, and Xi may be playing the long game and throwing Trump some positive headlines while nothing changes on the ground.
President Donald Trump scored an outright victory in his ongoing trade spat with Chinese President Xi Jinping as the strongest leader in Beijing since Chairman Mao had to back off a key policy push.
But Xi may have lost the battle to win a larger war.
The policy, which Xi intended to turn China into a manufacturing and tech superpower, emphasizes "indigenous innovations" and "self-sufficiency" in advanced industry and tech, to the exclusion of other nations.
But now China will reportedly ditch its quotas and open up its economy to foreign firms.
"It's amazing that they've backed down because Xi put his name personally on it," John Hemmings, the director of the Asia Studies Centre at the Henry Jackson Society, told Business Insider.
The tariffs stood at 25% before the start of the trade war, making this an overall cut.
"The fact that Xi is dumping a policy that has his name all over it is huge," Hemmings said of the Made in China reversal.
He added that the new willingness to play ball with Trump on trade amounted to a "very slow incremental cave-in on the tariff war."
Huawei on its knees
On the surface, these favorable developments seem to follow a pleasant dinner on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina, where Trump and Xi talked trade and left with a 90-day period to iron out their differences and perhaps to get all tariffs removed.
But just after the dinner, the US had Canada detain the CFO of the Chinese tech giant Huawei, the world's biggest maker of smartphones, on allegations of bank fraud.
China reacted with its usual fury, demanding the release of the executive, Meng Wanzhou, while making a tenuous argument that Canada had violated her human rights.
In the same period, the UK and Canada, staunch US allies in a tight-knit intelligence-sharing network, denied Huawei the ability to build 5G networks in their countries.
Both countries cited security concerns, with Huawei largely seen as an extension of the Chinese government that many fear will spy on the West.
In response, Huawei sought to get back on the West's good side.
"Anything needed to do this transformation we are committed to do this," Vincent Peng, the head of Huawei in Western Europe, told the Financial Times. "Restructure the organization, rebuild the processes, rebuild the products ... Process, personal skills, engineering capability, anything," he added.
"Chinese tech guys realize if they don't have access to US markets and components," they could go bankrupt within days, said Hemmings, the analyst.
The day after Canada detained Meng, global stocks tumbled for fear that the trade talks would run astray. But that didn't happen.
China's government said it would "immediately implement" the Argentina agreement "on farm products, cars, and energy." So far, China has done so.
So, while apparently outraged over the fate of the Huawei CFO and willing to take action against unrelated Canadians, China has quickly given in to Trump's trade demands.
Lose the battle, win the war?
China's new willingness to smooth over the trade war may acknowledge a simple fact of the tariffs: They're small potatoes.
In August 2017, retired senior Department of Defense officials wrote in The New York Times that Chinese intellectual-property theft cost the US as much as $600 billion a year, calling it "the greatest transfer of wealth in history."
This theft, which the US alleges that China carries out via forced technology transfers, espionage, and cybercrime, greatly overshadows any trade deficit.
China may have been willing to sweep the tariffs under the rug to ease US pressure on its tech ambitions, according to Hemmings.
"China still has grand geopolitical ambitions to which its industrial and tech companies are a big part of," Hemmings said.
"Xi seems to have taken a hit personally" by scaling back the grand Made in China ambitions, he said, "but we'll see how real it is on the ground, whether tech transfers actually stop."
The most recent major set of US negotiations with China closely resembled those involving North Korea. On that score, Trump held a feel-good meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with broad talk of denuclearization that hasn't even come close to happening six months later.
Perhaps cooler heads in China watching this display feel they can throw Trump a few positive headlines, take a face-losing defeat, and then press on with a plot most experts agree has the end goal of replacing the US as the world's great superpower.


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Troutman Pepper recently published its 2023 Privacy Year in Review, a comprehensive analysis of the year’s key developments in privacy, security, and artificial intelligence, which offers practical advice for companies navigating the bewildering number of virtual threats and technological advancements. This annual guide to global trends, risks, best practices, and detailed case studies is a collaborative effort of our Privacy + Cyber and Regulatory Investigations, Strategy + Enforcement (RISE) teams. It aims to serve as a vital resource to help companies address current cybersecurity, privacy, and data protection challenges and prepare for future ones.
Editor’s Note: In recent regulatory and enforcement developments, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) proposed a regulatory framework for automated decision-making technology (ADMT) and revisions to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) regulations. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted rules to protect consumers from SIM-swapping scams and port-out fraud, and is investigating the impact of AI on robocalls and robotexts. The FCC plans to expand its data breach reporting rules, while the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved the use of compulsory process in nonpublic investigations for AI-related products and services. In litigation, a class action lawsuit was filed against Northwestern Mutual for alleged violation of the Illinois Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA), a growing sourcing of litigation for Illinois plaintiffs, and the FTC’s privacy complaint against mobile data broker Kochava has been unsealed. Law firm Warner Norcross + Judd LLP has been granted permission to appeal a standing issue related to a ransomware attack, and the Ninth Circuit has restricted the scope of personal jurisdiction applicable to e-commerce platforms and sided with car manufacturers in a privacy claim. Internationally, the EU is establishing a European Health Data Space (EHDS), the UK government proposed amendments to the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, and the G7 countries signed a code of conduct for AI development.


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Some 95 per cent of automotive businesses are back to work and trading, new data shows, but no direct support from government is limiting dealer cash flow and putting 6,000 businesses at risk.
That’s the view of the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) in its latest report after analysing Office of National Statistics (ONS) data. It believes that while the sector has show ‘admirable’ resilience, hard decisions are now being made.
The data showed that 95 per cent of automotive businesses are now trading, with a further 2.5 per cent planning to re-open by mid-July.
Some 20,000 businesses reported an increase in turnover by early-to-mid-July, the highest percentage of all business sectors.
However, while 34 per cent of automotive businesses said their cash reserves would last more than six months, 6.4 per cent said they have no cash reserves whatsoever – an increase of 0.3 per cent since previous reports, which potentially puts 6,000 businesses at risk.
The data also showed that 81,000 employees had returned to work from furlough, but 177,000 jobs are still on the job retention scheme.
The IMI says businesses are now having to take hard decisions in the light of no direct support from government in the shape of a scrappage scheme or VAT cut.
IMI boss, Steve Nash, said: ‘The resilience of our sector is admirable – many businesses stayed open during lockdown to provide motorists with vital support to ensure their vehicles were roadworthy.
‘Now, with a month’s trading under their belts employers are starting to plan ahead and work out strategies for recouping some of the lost income from the lockdown period. And we are sure they will be encouraged by the prime minister’s recent call for businesses to bring workers back to offices which, in turn, is likely to increase vehicle usage.
‘Our analysis does however, also show that some hard decisions are now being made. Automotive businesses are, on average, advertising external vacancies at much lower levels than many other industries. And although still relatively small numbers, redundancies are now being reported in the sector.
‘Clearly the chancellor wanted to stave off job losses with his job creation plans announced earlier this month. But the lack of any direct support for the sector through a VAT reduction or a scrappage scheme was disappointing.
‘A VAT cut on car sales would have made a big difference in encouraging consumers to get back into the showrooms – virtual or physical – and that would have in turn helped with the government’s “road to zero” objectives, as would a scrappage scheme.’
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- Car Dealer Magazine Issue 148 can be read for free here.


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Meet these 5 entrepreneurs who quit their corporate jobs and built successful businesses
Leaving behind a stable, corporate role is no easy decision, but many entrepreneurs find success and big rewards along the way. Here are the stories of five founders who made the difficult choice to leave their comfort zones and step into the world of uncertainty, only to find success.
Quitting a steady job can be a risky move, especially amidst the surge in unemployment due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recent data from Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) revealed that the national unemployment rate jumped to 8.32 percent last month from 6.96 percent in July this year.
Leaving the corporate sector can be even more nerve wracking for those who want to start their own business, as many view it as replete with risks. But India is an ambitious country, and many budding entrepreneurs have taken a leap of faith to quit their jobs and start a business.
SMBStory has curated a list of five founders who made the difficult choice to leave their stable jobs, stuck with their decision and eventually, found success with their businesses:
Bharat Kalia - Lifelong Online
In 2015, sitting in his Gurugram office at Bain & Company, Bharat Kalia mulled over the idea of launching a consumer durables brand.
Bharat had been using the same home appliances his parents used for around 20-30 years. And now he was convinced the consumer durables sector needed a digital revamp.
He felt ready to leave behind his cushy corporate job and take a leap into the unpredictable world of entrepreneurship.
“So, I decided to start making these products myself, according to customer needs and at price points that were honest and transparent,” he says.
Bharat’s strong conviction led him to quit his management consultancy job and startin Gurugram in 2015, and came out with the first product – a mixer grinder.
Over a span of five years, Bharat added a wide range of products in the home, kitchen, grooming, and lifestyle categories, and built Lifelong Online into a fast-growing, digital-first consumer durables brand
As of last year, Lifelong Online team saw Rs 40 crore revenue in the peak months, Bharat claimed.
V Srinivasan - CFO Bridge
On his daily morning walk, V Srinivasan used to encounter founders of SMEs and startups who lived in the same apartment complex. Over time, they became walking buddies.
At the time, Srinivasan worked as CFO at Bharti Axa Life Insurance. But during his walk, his new friends would tell him the challenges their companies were facing, especially in attracting and hiring top talent in finance.
“They told me that only large corporations and firms like the Big Four would visit campuses and hire the top talent. Also, they said not all SMEs and startups could match the salaries offered by the bigger players. Looking at this gap, I decided to quit my job and start a shared financial governance service for mid-sized enterprises and startups,” Srinivasan says.
In 2012, he launchedin Mumbai to provide shared CFO services in the form of bookkeeping, MIS, analytics, business planning, fundraising, taxation, and more.
Srinivasan claims, over the years, the organisation has worked with over 350 mid-sized enterprises and startups across manufacturing, services, trading, and other sectors.
Kishore Indukuri - Sid’s Farm
Like many of his peers born in middle-class families, Kishore Indukuri aspired to study and work in the US. He managed to achieve this dream and landed a US job at Intel.
But six years in, Kishore realised his real passion was agriculture. His family back in India owned some land in Karnataka, and Kishore used to join them in visiting the fields and interacting with farmers.
He says, “I decided to quit my job and return to my agricultural roots. Moving back to Hyderabad, I realised that there were limited options for affordable, unadulterated milk. I wanted to bring a change not only for my son and my family but also for the people of Hyderabad.”
This inspired him to start his own dairy farm and milk brand. In 2012, he bought 20 cows from Coimbatore and set up a dairy farm in Hyderabad. Kishore started supplying milk directly to consumers in the city on a subscription basis, and his business began to grow.
Now, the brand, named, delivers milk to over 10,000 customers daily, and achieved Rs 44 crore turnover last year, Kishore claims.
Arun Nathani - Cybage Software
After five years of working at a US-based manufacturing company, Arun Nathani decided to pack his bags and return to India.
Arun’s story began in 1987, when he moved to the US to complete his masters, find a job, and settle there. He graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and found work in Chicago.
But he still wasn’t happy.
“I fit the bill of a regular, next-door Indian who had an extended overseas stint. My favourite weekend hobby was to discuss returning home,” he says.
Arun maintains he was never a visionary who had spent his time thinking about how to build a business empire. Yet, today, he is the Founder and CEO of Pune-based Cybage Software, a technology consulting organisation he started after quitting his US job and returning to india.
Providing technology consulting and professional services to global Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), the 6,300-employee strongrecorded Rs 1,106 crore revenue in 2019-20.
Rahul and Rohit Verma - Frubon
For over 40 years, DD Verma was actively involved in the dairy industry. Besides setting up Rajasthan’s first private sector dairy under the name Lotus, Verma worked for state cooperatives as well as a dairy plant and machinery manufacturing company.
So, it was only natural that when his sons Rahul and Rohit expressed their interest in working in the dairy industry, they would team up with their father.
“Rohit and I worked in the corporate sector. But, having seen our father work with dairy farmers throughout our childhood, we longed to join this industry. We didn’t think twice before quitting our jobs. In 2017, we started- a dairy and ice cream brand along with our father, ” says Rahul.
Leveraging DD Verma’s extensive experience, network and strong relationships with dairy farmer societies and cooperatives, the bootstrapped business claims to have scaled up to 250 societies with over 2,500 farmers supplying 20,000 litres of milk per day, and is now a Rs 36 crore revenue firm.
Edited by Anju Narayanan


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It’s a $1 trillion cage match.
Apple’s earnings beat this week pushed it back toward a $1 trillion market cap to snap at the heels of Microsoft for the title of world’s largest publicly traded company. The iPhone maker is just another rally from eclipsing Microsoft’s $1.07 trillion market value.
Craig Johnson, chief market technician of Piper Jaffray, is betting on one of those to keep rolling further beyond the trillion-dollar milestone.
“When I look at the chart of Apple versus Microsoft, no question that since 2017 Microsoft has been a better relative outperformer,” Johnson said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Trading Nation. ” “But, when you look at the absolute performance on the chart … you can see that Apple’s been forming this sort of symmetrical consolidation over the last 18 months and with the recent earnings announcement, we’ve now just broken topside of that consolidation.”
Apple has trailed Microsoft over the past 12 months, though broke out in July. The stock climbed nearly 8% in July, four times the increase for Microsoft.
Johnson sees Apple’s set-up pushing its stock back to retest its old highs at around $230.
“From my perspective, relative outperformance from Microsoft might be coming to an end. And I think at this point in time, Apple is probably a better trade on a relative basis versus Microsoft,” he said.
Apple has another believer in Quint Tatro, president of Joule Financial.
“Our pick here is Apple. Microsoft has done an exceptional job. The cloud is no joke, the margins are unbelievable — but that’s what you’re banking on with Microsoft. With Apple, you know there’s so many areas that they can go into in the future where I think they’re going to just surprise us,” said Tatro.
Apple’s services segment, which includes Apple Pay and the App Store, has grown to encompass a larger portion of the company’s revenue. It currently generates 14% of total sales, and is seen as the future for growth as iPhone sales slow.
“The stock is not cheap, selling 17 times forward earnings, growing those earnings just by a hair above double digits. But ultimately, the stock that yields 2% is a huge support by [Warren] Buffett, and then has the buyback as well,” said Tatro. “Our bet is betting on the future, and our bet in this camp is definitely Apple,” said Tatro.
Disclosure: Joule Financial owns AAPL.